Chapter Eleven
February 2, Afternoon
As Zabronski sprawled into the bed of the moving halftrack, he turned the air blue with his cursing. Tielson remarked calmly, “He warned you.” Zabronski scrambled into his seat, “I’ll get even with that little,” and again he used several words not used in polite company. Fredericks piped up, “I don’t know if you could, he’s one tough cookie.” Zabronski glared both of them into silence. After a while he kicked one of the cases, “Makes a fellow think, doesn’t it?”
Tielson looked at him, “What do you mean?”
“I mean all this stuff here, just waiting to be picked up.”
Tielson shrugged, “It doesn’t belong to us.”
“You know what she said, the owners were all killed. That means it’s finders keepers.”
“It means that this stuff belongs to the heirs. It’s not ours.”
Zabronski turned to the others, “What do you think? If all the kids were killed too, then there are no heirs. We have just as much right to this as anybody else.” Webster didn’t say anything, but Zabronski could tell his words had a powerful effect on him; he was sure that he could talk him around. Fredericks shrugged nervously, “The corporal would never stand for it, and I doubt the captain will either.”
“They are probably planning on keeping it themselves,” Zabronski was quick to plant a seed of doubt in their minds.
Webster gaped at him with wide eyes, “You really think so?” The other two looked at each other and shook their heads. “Not the corporal,” Tielson stated, “and you had better stop talking about it.”
Zabronski shut his mouth; he knew that what he had said would start working on the others’ minds, except maybe Tielson’s. He might have to get rid of him. That should be easy to do in the middle of a war.
Up in the cab, Angelique was once more being steadied by the captain. She looked over to Dane and asked curiously, “Why do you bow your head before you eat?”
“I am thanking God for the food,” he answered calmly, dodging a hump as he did so.
“But why do you do that for?” she asked again.
“It is God who brought the sunshine and the rain and caused the grain to sprout and grow. It is God that has the animals that supplied the meat to reproduce and grow. It is because of his goodness towards us that he meets our needs, so therefore I thank Him and praise Him for it.”
Drew cleared his throat, “I don’t think that I have seen anybody reading their Bible like I have seen you read yours, why do you do it?”
Dane swerved to avoid a nasty bump and at the same time silently asked God for wisdom in witnessing to these two precious souls. “The Bible is God’s Word to us, He tells us how to act towards other people, how to live our lives, and most of all, it explains about Jesus Christ.”
“But not just everyone can read the Bible,” Angelique interjected, “one must have special training to interpret and understand it.”
“Why?”
She looked at Dane in perplexity, “Because it is too hard to comprendre.”
“Is it? Have you ever tried to read it for yourself?”
“Non, of course not!” She was shocked at the suggestion. Dane pulled his Bible out of his pocket and handed it to her, “Here, you can read this one.” Just then they hit a dip and their heads almost hit the roof. They all laughed, “Well, maybe after we stop you can read it.”
The hot afternoon passed as they bounced and jostled their way closer and closer to their destination. Suddenly Drew shouted and pointed to their left, “Look out! There’s the highway!” Dane shot a look in that direction and saw the road through a break in the hills, about a mile away, with traffic on it. He twisted the wheel and drove into a ravine and stopped. “That was close,” he breathed.
Drew scowled, trying to remember the map. “The road is heading southeast, straight to Sfax. We’ll need to stay south of it from here on.”
Dane tapped the fuel gauge, “We are also getting low on fuel, I’ll get a fuel can out and put some in.”
“Good idea,” Drew agreed. “We all can get out and stretch our legs.” They clambered out and walked to the back of the halftrack to let the men out. Suddenly Dane stopped and a look of horror spread across his face. Startled, the others look around, but could see no danger. “Of all the stupid, stupid, idiotic idiots!” Dane shouted, absolutely furiously angry. “How could I have been so stupid!” He was so mad he snatched his helmet from off his head and dashed it to the ground; it bounced up and almost hit him. The others gaped at him, “What’s wrong?” Drew asked.
“Look at that!” the corporal pointed to the ground behind the vehicle. Now that he had pointed them out, they could see the faint and sporadic tracks of the halftrack in the rocky soil. Tielson whistled softly while Dane raged on. “And I drove straight from the buildings to here, anybody seeing those tracks will know exactly where we are heading!”
“Corporal!” the captain thundered, “Get a hold of yourself!” The two men glared at each other while Dane gradually calmed down. Finally he reached down, picked up his helmet and jammed it on his head. “Yes, sir.”
“Now, it might not be that bad. The tracks are hard to see and they might be missed,” Drew reasoned.
Dane shook his head, “If I can see them just a little, it would be just like a road map to those Arabs.” Drew looked skeptical, but Tielson agreed, “Corporal Shaw is right, sir.” Dane went on bitterly, “If only I had driven north when we left, that might have thrown them a little, but I didn’t think of it.”
“Corporal Shaw,” the captain squared his jaw, “I am the one in command, not you. It is just as much, if not more, my fault as yours. Now, stop blaming yourself and let’s come up with a plan.” The two of them moved away from the others. “But sir, if anything should happen to Angelique because of my stupidity…” his voice trailed away as the shorter man turned agonized eyes to his superior. The captain gripped the other man’s arm, “We’ll just have to do our best to see that nothing does.” Dane looked up at Drew and regained his composure, “Yes sir, we will.” Drew was amazed at the look of sheer determination that was on Dane’s face. He also gave a wry smile at Dane’s words. His first thought was for Angelique; apparently, Dane was falling in love with her. Drew squared his jaw; he would just have to give the corporal a run for his money.
Dane took a deep breath and looked around, trying desperately to come up with a plan. He silently asked God for help. An idea came to him. “I think we had better ditch the halftrack, sir. If I turn and drive it north and the rest of you start walking towards Sfax,” he pointed southeast, “that should throw anyone off the trail, at least for a while.” He was in command of himself now.
The captain slowly nodded his head, “Sounds good to me. We can’t be too far away from Sfax now, but I think I should go with you. There should be two of us who knows where the halftrack is in case we need it and something happens to you.”
They went back and told the others the plan. While the men got back into the vehicle, Drew made sure he helped Angelique into the cab and received her smile as a reward. Dane slowly drove it to a place where the rocks would not show footprints. He stopped the halftrack and all the supplies were unloaded. Drew walked up the ridge and carefully looked all around with binoculars, and then called Tielson up. “See that hill over there? The one with some green showing, there might be water there. It’s a couple of miles away, head for it but be careful. Shaw and I will meet you there. I thought I saw some movement back behind us, but quite a ways off, so watch your back also.” They rejoined the others and the captain continued, “Tielson, you are in charge. Take the party to the hill I showed you.” Dane added, “And Tielson, if you have any trouble, I will back you up in whatever action you take,” with a meaningful look at Zabronski’s back. “I understand,” Tielson nodded.
As the two men drove off, Drew recounted to Dane everything he had told Tielson, “I might have been mistaken about seeing something behind
us, though.” Dane shook his head, “I have a hunch that you did see those Arabs behind us. I would expect them to follow us at a distance and attack our camp tonight. I am praying that this ruse will throw them off the scent, at least for a day or two.”
Drew looked at him quizzically, “Do you pray often?”
“Not as much as I should. Since He is the source of all wisdom and is all-knowing, it just makes sense to ask Him for direction and wisdom. James 1:5 says ‘If any one lack wisdom, let him ask of God’, and I know that I lack wisdom.”
Drew digested the fact that someone actually seemed to like to pray. They cautiously approached the road. After watching for a break in the traffic they sped across, leaving telltale tracks in the ground. After traveling about five miles, Dane pulled to a stop. “You know,” he said conversationally, “I would hate for anyone to stumble over this halftrack and find all that loot. How about if we hide it separate from the vehicle, like in one of those crevasses over there?”
Drew looked the side of the hill which had several such hiding places, “Hey, that sounds good to me. Did God tell you that idea?” he added a trifle sarcastically.
Dane shrugged, “I don’t know, it just came to me when I saw that hill.” Drew stared at him. He knew that no such idea had come to him when he looked at that hill, and he doubted that it ever would have. Maybe there was something to this praying after all. Again, the ground was stony and didn’t show their footprints as moved the three cases and hid them in the crevasses. It took them only a few minutes, and they were on their way again.
The draw they were in turned northeast at the place where they hid the cases, and they followed it. A few minutes later, they came to the road that went between Sfax and the Kairouan-Sousse road. They carefully reconnoitered and found a draw on the other side, and when there was no traffic drove across and into the draw. After about a quarter of a mile, they found a ravine just wide enough to drive the halftrack into. They looked at each other and nodded. Dane backed the vehicle in as far as it would go and checked to see if the front end protruded out. It didn’t. Dane cut a couple of dead bushes and planted them to hide the vehicle, and then cut two more and the two of them carefully brushed out the tracks all the way to the road. By then the sun was low in the west, and they started walking towards the rendezvous with the others.
Meanwhile, Tielson led the party towards the hill. As they walked along Zabronski placed himself beside Angelique. All of them were carrying a backpack, the men had the supplies and Angelique had her clothes and personal items.
“I could carry your pack for you,” Zabronski offered.
“Non, thank you monsieur,” was Angelique’s reply as she looked away from his intense black eyes.
“But I am strong, it would be nothing for me to carry it,” he boasted. He doubled up his arm, expanding his bicep. “I bet you haven’t seen anybody as strong as I am. Just two days ago I snapped an Arab’s neck with my bare hands.” He looked her up and down, his black eyes glittering. “I could just as easy carry you, and then you wouldn’t be so tired out.”
Angelique shuddered, both at the reference to the dead Arab and the suggestion. She definitely did not want him touching her. “Non, I can walk.” She walked faster to catch up with Tielson, but Zabronski easily kept pace.
“You shouldn’t be so standoffish,“ Zabronski remonstrated. “We are all in this together and we will all need to work together if we are going to survive this mission. You may be glad that I am so strong and can take care of you,” he added meaningfully.
“Zabronski!” Tielson snapped at the bigger man. “Leave her alone.”
“Says who?” Zabronski sneered.
“I do.” Tielson glared at him with glacial blue eyes. “The captain put me in charge, and the corporal gave me full authority.”
Zabronski hesitated and looked at the others. Judging by the looks he was getting it would be him against three. It wasn’t time yet, he also didn’t care for that ‘full authority’ phrase. He smiled ingratiatingly and backed off. “I was just trying to be friendly,” he excused himself and fell back into line.
Angelique gave Tielson a grateful glance. She only felt secure when Dane or Drew were close by, and she felt the warmth that came from the knowledge that even now Dane was doing his best to protect her. She had an idea what Tielson meant, but she would make very sure not to be alone with the big Russian.
When they got to the hill, Tielson left them at the foot while he carefully scouted around, but found no sign of life. On the west side of the hill, there was an open, level place, large enough for them to camp in, backed by a sheer face. On the east side of the hill, a stream of water came out and tumbled down into a pool, the outflow running on down the hill. On that side were some trees, bushes and grass. Tielson knelt and plunged his hand into the water, and was surprised to find that it was warm. He took a mouthful of water and spat it out, “Well, it’s wet,” as he tasted the mineral rich water. From the top of the hill, he could see the buildings of Sfax in the distance, and he estimated they were about two miles away. He went back to the others and told them what he had found. “We’ll camp on the west face,” he announced, “and wait for the captain and corporal.”
“Did you say ‘warm’ water?” asked Fredericks. Tielson nodded. “Like as in bath water?” Tielson smiled and nodded again. “Good, I haven’t had a bath for days, and with a beautiful girl around I need to make the best impression I can.”
Tielson laughed, ‘Okay, we all can use a good cleaning up. Fredericks, you and Webster go first. Ma’am,” he suggested diffidently, “you should remain here until we are done.”
“Oui,” she answered wearily, “I’ll start supper after I rest, if that’s acceptable to you, monsieur?”
“Yes, yes of course,” and he hastily retreated.
After Webster and Fredericks had bathed, Tielson and Zabronski took their turn, and then the four men cleaned their uniforms. While they were doing so, Angelique took the opportunity to wash one set of clothes and left them hanging on some bushes to dry. By then it was full dark and they started eating. In a few minutes they heard a whistle, and Drew and Dane joined them.
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