The oppressive humidity didn't stop the kids from wanting to go fishing in the lake just a few miles away from the home of the Pettigrews. Tully didn't want to be cooped up in the house all day, especially since there were thunderstorms in the forecast for later in the afternoon, nor did he want to make Moffitt's family's trip to Kentucky boring, so he packed up some gear and lunches into his pickup truck and drove everyone to the lake.

"Just make sure you keep an eye out for the cottonmouths, kids," Tully said. He paused, noting Anah around Moffitt's neck. "Or, just have her do it."

"Please, do, Anah, it's too hot for you to be on me," Moffitt groaned.

"Too hot?" Anah gave him a stunned look. "The man who loves the desert says it is too hot?"

"It's humid, that's the problem." Moffitt removed her from his neck and set her in the grass before collapsing next to his wife, Vanora, in a lawn chair.

Tully smirked a little. His fourteen-year-old daughter, Eleanor, was tying her hair back as she approached her father. "It is a nice day out," she said.

"Yeah," Tully replied. "If you'd rather sit with us, that's fine."

"Oh, it's alright. I'll keep an eye on Auri and Jules."

Somehow, Tully suspected there was something else on Eleanor's mind. She looked distracted, and kept looking over her shoulder toward where the truck was parked. "What's wrong, honey?" Tully asked.

Eleanor hesitated. She finished tying her hair back, then gave Tully a worried look. "There was a vehicle following us for over a mile here. Something about it didn't feel quite right."

"What kind of vehicle?"

"An old, very dirty one. It looked like it used to be dark blue at some point."

Tully's blood ran cold. "Stay here, and stay close to Moffitt and Anah." He turned and headed over to the profusely sweating, bare-chested Moffitt. "Hey, we got trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Moffitt asked.

"Just trouble." Tully opened the holster on his belt and handed Moffitt his M1911, grip-first. "You and Anah guard the wives and children."

"You're not making any sense, Tully. What's going on?"

Tully had already turned to head toward where his truck was parked. He looked around cautiously before opening the truck and pulling an M1 Garand from the back. Sure enough, a dirty, formerly dark blue car came rolling into the lot.

There was only one occupant, the driver, a stubble-faced man with unkempt dark hair. He stepped out of the car, a somewhat twisted grin on his face. "Pettigrew."

"Dinsmore," Tully said. "Been a while."

"Yeah. A long while."

"I see you're outta prison."

"I've been out for a couple of years." Dinsmore shrugged. "And you have a very nice family now."

Tully said nothing in return. "I'd leave, Dinsmore, if you know what's good for you."

The other man began approaching him, stopping when Tully raised the rifle a little. "Pettigrew, you've had this coming for a long time. We had it good when we ran moonshine, and then you got cold feet. Then you became a goody-two-shoes."

"I was fine running the moonshine when it didn't involve hurting people, but you shot two people over it. Alcohol ain't worth anyone's life. Nothing is. I don't care if they were going to call the cops. We messed up, but they didn't have to die over it."

"We had a good little enterprise going, Pettigrew, and you threw it away. Then, you threw me away. In jail. You squealed, and now you're gonna pay for it. Your whole family will."

Tully's blood boiled. "You can hurt me all you want, Dinsmore, but you leave my family outta this. Besides, even if you get past me, I've got another man with a gun, and a cobra, down by the lake."

Dinsmore snorted. "A cobra? There's no cobras in Kentucky."

"She's visiting." Tully gripped the rifle harder. "Come on, I'm giving you a chance to leave. I don't want to hurt anybody, but you come one step closer, and I'm sending you to hell." Inwardly, he began cursing himself. He threatened your family. You draw the line there.

"Goody-two-shoes Pettigrew. You don't have the guts. Not anymore."

A British voice spoke up behind Tully. "Anyone who says this man has no guts is an utter fool."

Tully turned to see Moffitt coming up the path from the lake, still holding the M1911. Anah was back around his neck, hissing with her hood flared.

"Oh, damn, that is a cobra." Dinsmore paled and stepped back a little. He looked at Moffitt with utter horror. "And it's just riding you? What kinda witchcraft is this?"

Tully smirked. "The best kind."

"So, that's what you associate with now."

"For the record, I'm not a witch," Moffitt said. "Anah sort of… landed in my lap, in a way." He kept his gun trained on Dinsmore. "Look, I don't know who you are or where you came from, but don't ever say that Tully has no guts. He saved my life and the lives of many other soldiers and officers throughout both World War II and Korea."

Dinsmore grinned. "Ah, so you took it one step further, Pettigrew, and became a soldier. Your friends know about your past? Running moonshine?"

"I told them I did it, but I never went into detail," Tully said. "I made some bad choices. No, I made a lot of bad choices, but my friends—no, my family—doesn't think any differently about me because of it, because I went and fixed myself. Turning you in was just the start, and I'll do it again if you come one step further." You can't just let him go. Your girls won't be safe with him around. Your wife won't be safe. You can't always be there to protect them, but you're here now, so do something.

"What do you want to do, Tully?" Moffitt asked.

Tully kept fighting inside. He's unarmed. You really want to gun down an unarmed man? That doesn't make you better than him… Not doing something today means he'll come back, and if he hurts your family, you'll regret not doing something. "I… don't know, Moffitt."

Dinsmore took advantage of Tully's indecisiveness. He pulled a hidden revolver from a holster under his jacket, and took a shot at Moffitt. Moffitt quickly dropped down to his stomach, narrowly dodging the shots, and firing two rounds into Dinsmore's chest. The man was dead before hitting the gravel.

The gunshots echoed for a few moments. Moffitt stood up slowly, and Anah's hood retracted. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Moffitt nodded. He turned to Tully. "I'm more concerned about you."

"Why?" Tully asked.

"In all the years I've known you, you never hesitated in battle."

"This is different to being in combat. This was a man I used to call a friend. I… really couldn't decide what to do. I thought he was unarmed."

"He threatened you, and your family."

"I know, and he probably would've killed me if he hadn't decided to shoot at you first."

"As admirable as I think it is that you wanted to give him a second chance, I don't think that was going to happen. He seemed bent on revenge."

"His vision was clouded by it," Anah said. "Your vision was equally clouded, Tully, by your desire to protect your family, and your sense of forgiveness."

Tully nodded.

"Those are not easy things to have conflicting in your mind."

"Nope. Not at all." Tully glanced at Moffitt. "I suppose I owe you one, now."

"Don't worry about it," Moffitt said. "I wish I didn't have to do it, but no one threatens any of our families and expects to get away with it."

Tully was quiet for a moment. "Yeah, but… I hesitated. How can I be expected to protect my family if I'm gonna hesitate like that?"

"I think the situation would be different had this man been a stranger," Anah said. "You would not have hesitated, but in the case of Dinsmore here, you knew him, and you used to be on good terms with him."

"Even that's really complicated." Tully sank down to sit in the gravel. "I said I made bad choices. Dinsmore was one of 'em. He already had a foothold with running all sorts of liquors this half of Kentucky, and I was a bored kid who learned to drive pretty early."

"How old were you when you started working for him?"

Tully bit his lip. "Fifteen."

A sympathetic look came over Moffitt's face. "Were you in school?"

"I dropped out. My dad had been in an accident and couldn't work, so I had to find something. I looked everywhere for work, but it was Dinsmore who lured me in with the promise of a lot more money than an honest job could pay me."

"Did your parents find out?"

"I lied. I said I was working two jobs, and that hours were all over the place so they wouldn't suspect anything. Few years go by. Just a couple of months before they repealed Prohibition, Dinsmore and a couple other guys and I were taking bottles to a 'client' when a middle-aged couple spotted us. They saw the bottles and ran. Dinsmore shot them both. Up until then, we hadn't hurt anyone—unless there were other murders that I didn't see. That was what made me start thinking this was a really bad idea. The money was no longer worth it." Tully sighed, feeling relieved that he was finally telling his story. "I turned Dinsmore in."

"I get the sense that this wasn't easy for you to discuss."

Tully shook his head. "Not really, but… now you know." He sighed, and muttered, "Lotta bad choices."

"I take it your mother has never found out?"

"No. I don't know if I ever should tell her the truth. It might kill her."

Moffitt squeezed his shoulder. "I won't say anything. It's your choice. Personally, I think you'll be better off telling the truth."

"I probably would be, but I don't want her feeling guilty that I got put in that position in the first place."

"It wasn't her fault."

"No. Still. I'll… I'll think about it."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." Moffitt stood, looking over at Dinsmore's corpse. "I'll keep the children from seeing, or… would you rather do that while I handle contacting the police?"

"No. I'll call the police. They know me." Tully stood up as well. He put the Garand back in his truck, and took one last look at Dinsmore before climbing into the driver's seat. The closest phone was at his house, but he figured it would be simpler to go right to the sheriff's office himself. As he drove off, he wasn't sure how to feel. He was appreciative of Moffitt for taking care of Dinsmore, but he was angry at himself for hesitating. Your family's safe. That's all you need to care about.

The incident remained on Tully's mind long after the body had been removed from the area and he and Moffitt were questioned. Fortunately, they weren't being charged, but Tully wasn't going to forget. The day after Moffitt and his family returned to Britain, Tully waited until Mabel and their daughters were out of the house before making a phone call. He checked his watch. Ten AM now, which means it's four PM in Germany. He'll be around. Sighing, Tully waited, then heard a familiar accented baritone saying hello.

Tully responded. "Hey, Dietrich, it's Tully. You got a few minutes?"

"I do," Dietrich replied. "What can I do for you?"

"I need advice, and… it's something you've got experience with."

"Go on."

Tully summarized what happened at the lake. The whole time, Dietrich was quiet, and stayed quiet for a moment after Tully finished his story.

"I see why you are troubled," Dietrich said. "I doubt this man ever truly cared about you. You were a tool for his, ah, less-than-legal goals at the time."

"Yeah. I… I was."

"Everyone does deserve a second chance, and sometimes we need third and fourth chances before it actually sinks in that we need to change. Based on what I am hearing, it sounds like Dinsmore wasted his second chance, and paid for it."

"You don't think Moffitt was wrong to shoot him?"

"I do not. Dinsmore did threaten your family. I know I would not have hesitated if someone threatened Esther or you or anyone else I have grown close to. You gave him a chance to walk away and never return, but instead, he opened fire on Moffitt, which tells me he was going to make you suffer by dealing with your family first. Honestly, that was quite stupid given that he had already seen and acknowledged Anah."

"He had no idea what she's capable of."

"Good point, but one would think 'magical cobra' is something you do not want to mess around with, especially if you do not know what it is capable of."

"Yeah." Tully wasn't sure what to say next.

"Your attempt to give Dinsmore a second chance is respectable, but rejecting it was his choice. You could not do anything more besides act at that point."

"I just feel… awful that I didn't."

Dietrich let out a sigh. "I do know how you feel, Tully. If you wish to keep discussing this, I will listen as long as you need, and help as best I can."


Author's Note: I never fully developed Tully's backstory while working on The Prophecy Raids arc, as I wasn't sure what to do with it, especially the moonshine running that's referenced in the pilot episode of The Rat Patrol itself. I don't plan on giving Hitch a dark or heavy backstory, so Tully may be in the running for most messed-up backstory of the Rats themselves.