Chapter Nine
February 2, Morning
Angelique woke up the next morning and stretched. She had not slept so well in months. The shocking events of the previous day had totally exhausted her, and with a full stomach and the knowledge that her hero was protecting her all night long, she had passed a restful night. “What a wonderful man he is,” she thought to herself with a tender smile, as she pictured Dane’s face. So strong, so tender, but then, inexplicably, the face of the captain appeared in her mind, with his rather nice smile. Suddenly she was confused, “Why was she thinking of him also? But it was rather nice to have two men…” She smiled to herself and got up, as she could hear the men moving around in the next room.
She brushed her black hair until it shone and then looked at her two changes of clothes with a moue of disappointment; they were neat, but not all that clean and rather wrinkled. With a sigh, she put on the cleaner outfit and made a mental note to wash her things the first chance she got.
When she opened her door, she saw the blanket and backpack in front of her door. She looked up and saw Dane and they exchanged smiles. She realized he had left them there so she could see he had kept his word, and she felt her heart swell at his thoughtfulness. Then she felt other eyes on her, and turned her head to see Zabronski staring at her. His black eyes made her shiver and instantly Dane was between them. He spoke over his shoulder, “Zabronski, since you are done eating go relieve the captain so he can come and eat.”
Zabronski leaned back in his chair, “Just as soon as I finish my coffee.”
Dane whirled around, “I said now! You can finish your coffee outside.” The two men stared at each other, and then Zabronski got up and stamped off. Dane stared after him with a frown between his eyes, knowing that he was going to have trouble with him in the future.
When Drew came in, the three of them sat down to eat, Angelique sitting between him and Dane and savoring the breakfast. This time they noticed that Dane bowed his head before he starting eating, but they politely ignored it.
“Oh, Mon Dieu, you have no idea how good this tastes,” she beamed at both of them. “The meals I have been eating lately,” and she rolled her eyes. Drew reached out and touched her hand in sympathy, and she turned her hand and gripped his, and then reached out and held Dane’s hand. “Merci, thank you both, so much,” she choked, “when I think of what this morning would be like if you hadn’t come.” She couldn’t go on. The two men, embarrassed at her thanks, couldn’t answer either.
Drew cleared his throat (Angelique thought to herself that he seems to do that a lot), “I was wondering, you said you knew the café Le Belle Francais. I need a guide to take me there, could you lead me there?”
“But how could you go there? You are an American soldier?” she asked wide-eyed.
“I have, did have, “he corrected himself bitterly, “civilian clothes and I do have an id naming me as one Etienne Pinochet, an exporter of fruit. Would you take me to the café?”
Angelique slowly nodded, “I, I guess I could, but what would you wear?” indicating his clothes.
Drew frowned in concentration, “Do you know of a shop where you could buy me a suit of clothes?”
“Oui, but that takes money and I have none.”
“I have francs, more than enough.”
“Well,” she gave a Gallic shrug, “oui, I can do that.”
“Good girl!” and he squeezed her hand in relief.
Dane stood up, “In that case, we had better get moving. With your permission sir, I’ll start loading up.”
Just before they left, Dane made sure the ropes holding the Arab were slightly loose, so he could free himself in a few hours, and then ordered the men into the back of the halftrack. Zabronski very leisurely stood up, stretched, and slowly made his way over. When he finally climbed into the vehicle, he gave the corporal an insolent look. Dane stared back at him, “Zabronski,” he warned quietly, “next time I’ll leave you.” He shut the door and got into the cab.
Dane drove the halftrack, with Angelique sitting between him and Drew. As they started driving cross country, going up and down the ridges and across the rough terrain, Angelique was being thrown from side to side. Drew put his arm around her to steady her, and she relaxed against him. He saw Dane look over at him and could tell that he didn’t like it; he couldn’t resist giving a superior smile to the corporal. He was the one holding her this time. Then he saw Dane glance at her, and saw his eyes soften and the ends of his lips quirk up in a smile and then switch his gaze back to him. Intuitively, Drew realized that Dane was concerned only about Angelique’s wellbeing, and since she needed help that only Drew could give, he was glad of it. Drew’s smile twisted as he wondered if he could be so magnanimous if the positions were reversed.
Drew thought of something, “Angelique, I need some practice with my French, could I converse with you?” He gave an apologetic look to Dane, realizing how left out he would feel not understanding what was being said, but he felt it was needful, and he saw in Dane’s face that he realized it too.
“Mais bien sûr,” she replied, and then translated for Dane, “but of course.” Drew hesitated, wondering what to say. She gave him a hint, “Tell me about the United States.” He started in talking, and as the hours went by he found it easier to speak, and Angelique helped him out whenever he got stuck on a phrase. Her eyes got round as he told about his country. He talked of the vast Texas prairie, of wheat fields in Kansas that extended for mile after mile, of the tree covered and beautiful Smokey Mountains, of the soaring majesty of the Rocky Mountains. He mentioned the Grand Canyon, the Statute of Liberty, and eating oranges plucked from trees in Florida.
“I would like to see your country sometime,” she exclaimed. “Perhaps one day you will,” Drew replied. Angelique smiled shyly and dropped her head, and then glanced over at Dane.
In the back of the halftrack, Zabronski kept his mind on the boxes and the girl, trying to come up with ideas on how to possess both. “Whatcha think of the captain?” he asked in the age old grousing voice of the privates discussing the shortcomings of their officers. Webster tittered, “I don’t think he has much of a plan for getting in, much less for getting us out.”
“No,” Zabronski agreed. “You know, this spying business is supposed to be done by volunteers. We didn’t volunteer. If we all get together and refuse to go any further, what could he do?”
Tielson almost bounced out of his seat as the halftrack hit a hole. “We were ordered to help the captain. I’m relying on Corporal Shaw, he’ll see us through,” he said confidently.
“What makes you think that?” Zabronski queried.
“He’s GOOD. He’s tough and he’s smart and he plans ahead. If we get out of this with all our hides, it will be because of him.”
Zabronski subsided. Evidently when he made his plans, he would have to make allowances for the corporal.
The sun climbed higher in the sky, the day got hotter, and the constant shaking and tossing as they went up, down, and sometimes sideways, was giving them a beating. At last, with the sun high in the sky, Dane asked Drew, “I’m thinking it’s time to break for lunch, what do you think, sir?”
“Yes,” Drew looked ahead, “that looks like as good a spot as any.” Dane pulled into the spot and stopped. The three of them crawled painfully out of the cab and walked to the front of the halftrack. The four privates crawled even more painfully out from the back of the vehicle. “Corp,” Tielson asked half joking, “Did you miss any bumps?” Dane shook his head sorrowfully, “I think I did a few miles back, maybe we should go back and hit it. What do you think?” Fredericks groaned, “If you do, I think I would rather walk the rest of the way.” Everyone laughed.
As the meal was being prepared, Dane asked Drew, “How much further do you think?” Drew shook his head, “I’m not sure. According to the compass we’ve been heading east- south- east. We should either run into the Faid-Sfax Road, or Sfax itself. If we go too far south we’ll
run into the Mediterranean, but I really think we aren’t heading that far south. I think by evening we’ll be pretty close.”
After they ate, they rested for an hour. Fredericks sat by Angelique, trying to make an impression on her. She thought he was a nice boy, which wasn’t the impression he was trying to make.
Eugene Fredericks was a natural born follower. As a youth he had joined a gang in Baltimore, and he equated leadership with size. The gang leader had been a large kid, and when he had joined the squad he transferred his loyalty to the big sergeant. He had always underestimated the corporal because of his small stature. Now he was more impressed by Zabronski and inclined to follow his leading.
Bob Tielson, on the other hand, did not underestimate Shaw. He had recognized early on the ability of the corporal, and realized the better decisions the sergeant had made had actually been suggested by the smaller man.
Bob had grown up in upstate New York. Since he was a boy he had hunted, fished, and camped in the woods surrounding his home. His parents’ main source of income was an orchard of apple trees. A large garden and the game he brought in subsidized their dinner table. His father had gripped his hand hard, and his mother had held back the tears when they said goodbye to him when he left for the war. He thought of them now, wondering how they were doing. He surely missed the cool green forest and his home. He also thought of Mary Schubert. They were never an item or anything, but he had always liked her, liked talking to her. Several of the other boys in the area were sweet on her, but she never seemed to favor one over another. Maybe he would write a letter to her the next chance he had, just a newsy letter, just to see how she was doing.
After a bit, Angelique rose to her feet, “Monsieurs, I need to take a walk.” As she gracefully swayed out of sight, Fredericks gave another wolf whistle. Twin voices snapped, “Fredericks!” and twin glares from the captain and corporal momentarily deflated him. When she returned, Drew announced, “Okay everyone, mount up.” Amid a series of groans, the others rose stiffly to their feet and hobbled to the halftrack, everyone but Zabronski, who continued to lie there. Dane shot him a look, and when everyone else was in, got in the cab and started it. Zabronski sat up, Dane put it in gear and started moving, and Zabronski jumped up and started running and dove into the vehicle. Dane gave a self-satisfied smile. His smile froze as he saw a group of Arabs on camels on a not-to-distant ridge, watching them. The others in the cab saw them too and Drew moved uneasily, “This is a German vehicle.”
Dane shot him a look, “Yeah, but the uniform wasn’t.”
“Did they see him?” this from Angelique as she stared at the Arabs with a white face.
“Unless they are all blind, they couldn’t help but see,” Dane said bitterly.
As the nine Arabs sat on their camels and watched the halftrack disappear in the distance, the leader squinted his sharp eyes. “That was a German vehicle,” one of the Arabs stated in Derja, their native dialect of Arabic. “But that wasn’t a German uniform that jumped into it,” the leader replied. “It was an American uniform.”
“Maybe he is a prisoner?” another opined.
“Son of a donkey,” the leader snapped, “since when would a prisoner jump into his captor’s vehicle, he would jump out of it.” He gave a long look after it. “Apparently those are Americans driving a German vehicle behind German lines. I smell profit here, my children. Let us follow them and see what we discover tonight.” With an evil grin he led his men after them.
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