Chapter Twenty-Six
February 5 After Midnight Americans
Drew was carrying the case when a shot rang out, and he felt a white-hot searing pain in his leg. He fell to the ground, holding his leg, just as a group of Germans opened fire and Fredericks fell. Then there was an explosion, and Germans and pieces of Germans flew through the air. A submachine gun opened up from the ridge. It was Dane! Drew felt like cheering and shouting. Zabronski and Webster opened up from behind the halftrack, and more Germans fell.
Angelique was cowering in the cab of the halftrack, sobbing in mingled fear and joy and pain. They were being rescued! But all the shooting and explosions were scaring her, and her shoulder and leg were hurting.
Drew was trying to hide behind the case, and he could hear Fredericks’ groans of pain. As the firing died down, he could hear Fredericks cry out, “Mother, Mother,” and then “Mandie.” Then he went still. “I wonder who Mandie is?” Drew wondered. Then another shot rang out, and he saw Webster fall. Zabronski fired twice and silence fell again.
Zabronski peered out from behind the half-track. He could see the third case out there and thought it was the one with the bags of money in it. He had to have it! He cautiously looked around; all was quiet, except for the moans of the wounded. Making a decision, he raced to the case, bending low, grabbed one end and ran back to the halftrack, the other end of the case bouncing along behind him. He laid his rifle in the bed of the halftrack and heaved the case into the vehicle. He did it! He had the money and the girl, and there was no one to share with. He just had to get in the vehicle and drive off. He had done it, he exalted to himself.
“Zabronski,” came the quiet voice behind him.
Zabronski froze. That hated voice! Not moving his body, he slowly turned his head, searching the shadows. “How did you get here,” he asked, trying to pinpoint where Shaw was.
“I walked. Now turn around slowly and hold your hands up,” Dane commanded.
Zabronski peered into the dark. There, it looked like a shadow beside that rock. His hand closed on his gun. “There’s more than enough here for the two of us,” he suggested, and then paused. Silence. Yanking his rifle out, he twisted and fired. He had done it! Suddenly a gun blazed back at him, BUT NOT FROM THE SHADOW! He felt the shock of bullets, and suddenly the ground reached up and hit him. He stared at it, wondering where it had come from. He felt strange and a deeper darkness settled over his eyes. He shuddered and died. He opened his eyes and felt the fires of hell burning him and started screaming, screams that lasted for all eternity.
Dane appeared from the other side of the rock and carefully approached the body. When he was sure the man was dead, he searched the body and recovered the ammo, canteen, and grenade that Zabronski had been carrying. He hurried to the cab and flung open the door. Angelique’s white and tear-stained face stared back at him.
“Angelique, are you hurt?” He saw that her hands were tied behind her, so he pulled out his knife and cut her bonds. Her arms dropped to her sides, seemingly lifeless from the abuse they had taken.
“Oh Dane, Dane, Dane,” she tried to throw herself into his arms, crying from relief and pain from the returning circulation.
He held her close to him, feeling her shudders. He looked into her dear face, “Are you hurt?” he asked again.
“Oui, my shoulder and leg. Oh Dane, you came! You came! I prayed and prayed, and you came!” She stared crying some more.
Dane shook her gently, “We aren’t free yet. Do you know where the captain is?”
“Oui,” she shook again and pointed, “he was carrying the case when…when.” She couldn’t go on.
“Stay here,” he commanded and slid out. He ran over to the two bodies. One of them sat up. With heartfelt relief Dane recognized Drew. He went to his knees, “Are you hurt, sir?”
“Shot in the leg,” Drew grimaced. Dane took a quick look and bound his leg with a handkerchief for a tourniquet. “We have to get out of here before they come back,” Dane pointed out. At the Captain’s nod, he helped him to his feet, over to the vehicle, and into it beside Angelique. He ran back to Fredericks, and saw with one look that he was dead. He grabbed his canteen, spare ammo, and canteen, then ran back to Webster and did the same. He tossed everything into the bed of the halftrack, jumped into the cab, and took off.
As soon as he could, he got out of the draw and headed southwest. About twenty minutes later, he pulled to a stop and everyone started babbling at the same time. “Where did you come from?” “What happened to you?” “How bad are you hurt?” The three of them stopped talking, looked at each other and started laughing almost hysterically, trying to put their arms around each other.
Dane regained his composure first, “We have to release that tourniquet.” Drew nodded and loosened it. Drew went on, “We have about a hundred miles to go to reach friendly lines, going cross country like we have to, and I don’t think we are going to make it by sun up.”
Dane tapped the fuel gauge, “I don’t think we have quite enough fuel either, but it will be close.” He winced at the pain in his shoulder from the movement.
Angelique noticed, “Are you hurt bad, mon chéri?”
“He got me in the shoulder,” Dane replied as he put the vehicle in gear. “Better tighten up that tourniquet.”
Drew complied as Angelique drew a deep breath to make her announcement. “Mon chéris, I prayed to God that if he saved us, then I would serve him.”
“No!” Both men shouted in unison. As Dane looked at Drew in surprise, Drew tried to explain in halting words what he knew, “You have to admit that you are a sinner and, and that you can do nothing of, or by, yourself to warrant God’s forgiveness of your sins. Only by believing in Jesus Christ can your sins be forgiven, and then you can serve God, like I did tonight.”
Dane looked over at him incredulously, “You got saved tonight?”
“Yes,” Drew averred firmly.
“Praise God, praise God, praise God!” Dane hammered the steering wheel in joy. Then he turned to Angelique, “If you try to serve God without surrendering to Jesus, then you will be serving him in your own strength and you will fail. But if you accept Jesus as your savior first, then you will serve Him with God’s strength and you will succeed.”
Angelique looked at him, “I believe that Jesus died for my sins, and I want him to save me. Will you show me how?”
“Just pray and tell God what you just told me. I’ll pray first and you pray after me. Dear Lord, Angelique knows that she is a sinner, that she cannot save herself, and that only Jesus can save her. Please forgive her sins, wipe them away with the blood of Jesus Christ, and come and enter her heart. Amen.”
Angelique closed her eyes and bowed her head, “Mon Dieu, I have sinned. I cannot wash away my sins, only the blood shed by Jesus can do that. I ask you to forgive me, and enter my heart. Amen.” Angelique lifted her head with the same wonder that Drew had felt before. “I understand,” she breathed. “I understand.” She looked into the face of Dane, sitting next to her, and saw joy and happiness, and something else. She saw that he loved her.
Dane beamed at her, his heart in his eyes. Not only had she accepted Jesus as her savior, but also he was now free to love her, free to marry her. He couldn’t ask her here and now, as they weren’t alone and they were in great danger. He was willing to die to keep her safe, but, ‘Oh Lord, I don’t want to die, not now,’ he prayed. He would wait until they were safe before proposing. He hadn’t been this happy since…since… well, he couldn’t remember since when. He beamed again and then turned his mind to practical matters, like driving.
As they traveled on, the three rejoiced together in their newfound happiness in Christ. They knew that, whatever happened in the future, they would always have this bond between them; they were brothers and sister in Christ first and foremost, and the bonds of a deep friendship were being forged this night.
After about another twenty minutes Dane pulled to a stop, “Time to loosen t
hat tourniquet again. Let’s take a look at it.”
Drew loosened the handkerchief but grumbled, “We can’t be stopping every twenty minutes, we’ll never get back.”
Dane agreed, “We’ll get the wounds bandaged up now and then drive all night long. We can’t afford to lose any more time than we possibly need to.” He examined Drew’s leg and saw that the bullet had passed completely through the thigh muscle. He applied sulpha powder and bandages and then turned to Angelique. When he touched her shoulder she winced. “Try to move your arm, “he commanded.
“I can’t,” she whimpered. Dane felt her shoulder and looked at them both, “I think her shoulder is dislocated. How did that happen?” Drew described how she had been drug, and Angelique shuddered at the look that came over Dane’s face and the green flecks that started burning in his eyes.
“Here,” Drew said, “I know how to pop it back into place.” He bent her elbow to 90 degrees and then rotated her arm and shoulder inward towards her chest. Then he balled one fist and put it in her armpit while rotating her arm and shoulder outward. She stiffened with pain but then it popped into place.
“Ooh, that feels so much better. Thank you mon chéri.”
The two men then examined her leg, and stared at each other, grim-faced. It was scraped and bloody and gravel was embedded in it. When she tried to bend it, she moaned in pain. “Angelique, honey,” Drew explained, “This needs cleaned out, but we can’t do it here and now. Can you endure it until we reach a hospital in the morning?”
“Oui,” she nodded determinedly. The two men looked at each other over her head, “Whatever happens,” Drew said and Dane nodded. The two men sealed their vow with looks of determination. Whatever happened, she was going to make it back, whatever it cost them.
They took off again, and as they traveled, they exchanged stories of what had happened to them since Zabronski’s attack.
As the night wore on, the three Christians talked for a while, and then Angelique started dozing with her head on Drew’s shoulder. As he looked at her, he realized that he was in love with her, but he wasn’t sure how she felt about him. Sometimes he thought she favored him, other times she looked to Dane. As he thought about it, he started to pray within himself, “Lord, whichever one of us is your will for Angelique to marry, let the other accept it. Let there be no hard feelings to mar the fellowship and friendship we have now.” A thought came into his mind. “And if she chooses neither of us, let us both accept it. Lord, whatever is best for Angelique, let it be done. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.” He felt at peace, and furthermore that if she did choose Dane, that he could rejoice for them. He marveled at how Jesus had changed him already
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