Chapter Seven
February 1 Americans
It was about eight o’clock that morning when Dane roused up and got the camp stirring, and they were on the trail by nine. Woolson kept his distance from Zabronski. Having been bullied all his life, he had learned to spot bullies and he recognized Zabronski as one. All morning long Dane kept an eye peeled for aircraft. Because of the proximity of the Axis all weather airfields and the distance from the Allied airbases, which were under-supplied and many had dirt fields, the Axis enjoyed air superiority here in central Tunisia.
At midmorning they came to a seep. “Hey, look here,” shouted Woolson, pointing to the dead fire. The rest of them looked at it and Tielson, who had done a lot of camping, gave his opinion that it was a day or two old. As they refilled the canteens, Tielson examined the tracks left by whoever had camped there. He was no expert tracker, but it looked to him like there was only one person and it wasn’t a man. “Now why would a child or a woman be here by themself,” he mused to himself. The others started off and he joined them, leaving the mystery unsolved.
It was only a short time later a pair of planes appeared overhead. “Duck!” Dane yelled. Luckily there was a bank close by that they took shelter under, except for Drew who was looking up at the.aircraft. Dane grabbed his arm and pulled him into the shelter of the bank.
Drew shook his arm free and glared at him. “Why did you do that for? I think they were American planes.”
“Captain, even if they are American planes, we are behind the German lines and they are likely to shoot at us. Most likely they are Axis, and if they identify us, they will also shoot at us and radio our position.”
Drew’s face flushed with embarrassment. “Oh,” was all he could say. The planes kept flying on their route and disappeared in the distance, and then the men resumed their march.
At noon they stopped for a quick bite to eat. There was no wood around so they had a cold meal and several of the men grumbled at having no coffee. Tielson came to Drew and Dane with a long face, “We are getting low on food, we’ve only got enough for about another day.” The two men looked at each other, and the captain answered, “Thanks for telling us.”
Quickly they were on their way again. Being fresher and stronger, they were making much better time than Angelique had made, and unknowingly passed by her dry camp in the middle of the afternoon. The sun was sinking in the west when Captain Matthews, who was in the lead, came to a rise and saw two buildings. Immediately he hit the ground, everyone else following suit. Dane squirmed up next to him and cautiously peered out. Below him, he saw the two buildings, and three camels chewing their cuds. Then a door opened, and two Germans walked out. One of them called out and was answered by two voices, one of them frighteningly close to the Americans. Unknown to the Americans, the Arab who should have been watching in the direction they came from had his eye on the building holding Angelique, wondering what his companion was up to in there. Two Arabs appeared and walked over to the Germans. The German that was talking spoke in French, and Drew caught enough to realize that they were probably the only two Germans there. Then Dane saw the front of the halftrack, and silently pointed it out to the captain, who nodded. They slithered back down and joined the rest of the squad.
“It sounded like there could only be two Germans, what do you think?” asked Drew.
Dane considered, “Undoubtedly they have food there, and then there’s the vehicle. We could drive close to Sfax, hide it out, and then have transportation back to our lines. That would shave days off of the trip. It’s a small group out here in the middle of nowhere; they might not be missed for days.”
Drew nodded, “That’s what I was thinking too. The buildings are made of stone, we can’t let them hole up in them and turn it into a fire fight. We need to take out the men outside and get into those buildings fast. Shaw, you take Woolson and break into the building on the left. I’ll take Zabronski and take the building on the right. Tielson, Fredericks and Webster give covering fire and shoot at the people outside.”
Dane hesitated and looked over at Woolson. Andy looked back at him with a determined look on his face and a hopeful look in his eyes. Dane could tell that he wanted to try. To refuse him could destroy what little confidence the boy had gained in the last few months. Dane nodded his agreement, and in a couple of minutes the plan was put into operation. The four enemies were still outside when the four Americans started slipping closer to the buildings. Andy gripped his rifle hard and gulped. He watched as Dane silently, like a cat, sprinted downhill to a boulder. It was only big enough for one to hide behind. After a careful look, Dane advanced to another boulder. Still the enemy hadn’t noticed anything. Dane gestured to Andy, who took a deep breath, rose to his feet and hunched over and moved as quietly as possible to the first boulder. He had done it! His heart was in his mouth. He could do this; he could do something without being clumsy and tripping! With new found confidence he watched as Dane made a rush to some boulders near the target.
Dane peered out, nobody had seen him yet. He caught a glimpse of the captain creeping closer to the other building. He motioned for Woolson to advance again. Andy started a run to join Dane. He tripped and fell.
Instantly, the Arabs and Germans heard him and turned and stared at the fallen figure for a second. Recognizing the uniform, they raised their guns and gunfire erupted. Dane saw Woolson start to rise and then fall back down. He saw one of the Germans throw up his hands and collapse, the Arabs running towards the other building, with the captain rushing to head them off. Dane ran to his building and kicked the door open. He stared into the terrified eyes of a woman, bound and gagged in a chair across the room from him. For a split second he stopped in shock, and then threw himself violently backwards out the door, a bullet fired from inside just missing him and splattering him with bits of stone from where it smashed into the stone doorway. Frantically, he wriggled his way around the corner of the building, away from the firefight raging in front.
He paused, wondering how he was going to get in. The walls were made of stone and the little windows were shuttered. Suddenly he remembered that the woman hadn’t been in darkness, sunlight was shining on her. The roof! That had to be it; there must be a hole in the roof. He silently slipped behind the building. About in the middle of the length of the building and opposite the door on the other side, he laid down his submachine gun, bent his knees, and jumped for the roof only about a foot and a half above his head. His hands caught the edge, and using his powerful shoulder muscles, he silently pulled his head up. He was looking down into the room through the hole, the woman just below him, her gaze fixed on the door. He located the spot from where the bullet had come from, and saw an Arab barricaded in the corner. From here Dane had a clear shot at him. He carefully pulled his .45 out, aimed, and shot. The Arab fell. Dane kept looking to see if there were any others in the room or if the Arab moved, but the only movement was from the woman, who was staring up at him wide-eyed. Dane dropped back down to the ground, picked up his submachine gun, and went around the corner. The firing was over; he saw the other German down, and that the Arabs had surrendered. He walked into the building and removed her gag. Immediately she started jabbering in a language he thought sounded French.
“Ma’am, if you don’t speak English, we are going to have a communication problem,” he said as he cut her ropes binding her.
“Oui, I speak English,” she quivered, and then threw her arms around him and started crying. Startled, Dane stood there for a moment, and then tenderly put his arms around her. Angelique felt a tender touch for the first time since she could hardly remember when, and sobbed even harder, while Dane’s heart softened and reached out to this poor woman.
“What’s going on?” asked a startled voice from the doorway. Dane turned his head to see Captain Matthews standing there, “Rescuing a damsel in distress, sir,” he quipped. Drew shook his head in wonderment, and when she raised her head from Dane’s shoulder, Drew caught his breat
h at her elegant beauty and tearstained face.
Dane looked at her, “What is your name?” he asked softly.
“Angelique, Angelique DuBois,” she answered her rescuer, giving him a wide-eyed look from her dark eyes. Dane felt his heart thud from the look and her nearness, “I am Dane Shaw.” She gave a tremulous heartfelt smile, “Merci, Monsieur.” Drew cleared his throat, drawing their attention, “I am Captain Drew Matthews,” and added something in French. At once Angelique started babbling away, and Dane looked in confusion from one to the other. “Sir,” he snapped, the victim of a strange emotion, “wouldn’t it be better to speak in English so then we will all know what is going on?” forgetting that he was the only one not able to understand. “Of course, corporal,” Drew said loftily, assuaging his own jealousy.
When the three of them emerged from the building, all eyes glued onto Angelique. Fredericks gave a wolf whistle, “Look what the corporal found!” Dane shut him up with a look. He cast a quick glance around, Tielson and Fredericks were holding guns on the two prisoners, and the camels had run off, obviously scared off by the gunfire. Dane tightened his lips at that. He walked over to Woolson and looked down at him, he was obviously dead. Dane tightened his lips again, but in sorrow. The poor kid, he had tried so hard, maybe he should have insisted that another take Woolson’s place. Dane sighed, no; he couldn’t have taken Woolson’s manhood away like that. The others would have known why Woolson was replaced and Woolson wouldn’t have been able to hold his head up among them. Then Zabronski caught his attention, he was staring at Angelique with a hot burning look in his black eyes. Dane instinctively moved protectively closer to her, then became all business.
“Has anyone searched the prisoners?” he asked. By the blank looks he received, he knew no one had. He handed his submachine gun to Drew, approached the first Arab and started searching, Angelique stopping just short of the two Arabs. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Fredericks’ attention was on Angelique, and was about to reprimand him when he noticed the second Arab’s upraised hand start to move to the back of his neck.
Dane shot him.
His flashing speed as he drew and fired his gun caught everyone by surprise and for a second there was silence. Then Angelique screamed and Drew started forward, his face becoming red, “What are you doing? We don’t shoot unarmed prisoners!” he yelled. Dane pointed to the Arab he had started to search, “Tielson, if he twitches, kill him,” he commanded. He strode over to the fallen body and pulled down the back of the robe. In a sheath hanging between the dead man’s shoulder blades was a knife. “Handy place for a knife if your hands are up in the air,” he said conversationally. He looked critically at the harness and then removed it and stood up. Everyone was staring at him as he looked around, “Finish searching the prisoner,” he ordered. Tielson and Webster complied, but did not find any weapons, especially not a knife hanging down his back.
Dane went and looked at the dead Germans, “I wonder why they were here for?” he asked out loud. Angelique spat on one, her face a mask of hate and fear, “Gestapo!”
“Gestapo?” Drew queried, “Are you sure?”
“Bien sûr, I am sure.”
“Why would Gestapo be holed up here for?” The three of them looked at each other in perplexity.
“Hey captain,” Fredericks came out of the building where the Germans had been, “plenty of food in here.”
“Good,” Drew answered, and then, “Let’s check out that halftrack.”
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