war and his extensive knowledge of geography are priceless. He says the monastery is close. We have been travelling without lights for more than half an hour. My eyes are finally adjusted. The snow cover on the ground has lightened the terrain a bit.
Em closed his journal and sat up in his bunk. The memories of that night were etched on his mind. Just when he had been thinking how peaceful it was, he heard the rocket launch. He remembered tucking his journal under his seat in the truck and thinking that was the last time he would see it. Sergeant Cannon pulled the truck over, and everyone got out. The colonel looked strange with camouflage on his face. Everyone else looked normal. Captain Murphy made one of his racist jokes about Jeff not needing much camouflage. Jeff laughed like he always did but said nothing. Em never thought it eased the tension like Captain Murphy did. The colonel was looking to the south, the way in which they had been travelling.
“Jeffrey, that was close.” Colonel Roth pulled Sergeant Cannon to the side of the truck. They spoke rapidly to each other.
Jack and Jeff were behind the truck going through their ammunition supplies. Sergeant Barnes had climbed into the front of the truck and sat down. Captain Murphy made his way toward Sergeant Cannon and Colonel Roth. Em stood in the middle of the road and looked into the sky. He saw no other evidence of rockets being fired. Em knew that the rocket had been fired from somewhere close because, when they heard it accelerating, it had sounded extremely close. The colonel looked more worried than Em had ever seen him look before. He kept pointing in the direction of the fired rocket. Em was afraid of what his plan was going to be. As if on cue, Sergeant Cannon called for Jeff to join him and Colonel Roth.
Jack came to stand beside Em, and the first thing he said was “This shit’s going to stop. I want to know what they are thinking.” Then he walked directly toward the other three airmen.
Em quickly followed. The three of them were oblivious to their presence and kept on talking.
“We are too close not to do something,” Sergeant Cannon said.
Jeff uncharacteristically spoke without being prompted, “We have enough ammo to take this thing out. They obviously do not know we’re here, so surprise is on our side. That launcher has to be a hundred feet long, so I believe we can sniff them out. I bet they are pretty comfortable here in the forest. The whole German army invaded France through these woods, and still, no one defends this area. They are close enough to Antwerp here, and I know Hitler wants that port back. He will stop at nothing. The way I see it, if he drives a wedge through this corridor on his way back to Antwerp, he will split the British armies and the American division in half. Each side will be on their own, and the Germans will retake the port. This launcher is a big part of that plan.” Jeff stopped talking, and the others all looked in anticipation, waiting for him to continue. “There should be no more than a ten- or twelve-man crew per launch vehicle. If we could get our hands on that launcher, we could prevent a lot of unnecessary deaths.”
The decision was made without anyone uttering a word. All of them proceeded to make their way to the back of the truck to arm themselves. Sergeant Barnes remained inside the cab of the truck. Each of them knew that Sergeant Barnes would probably stay inside the truck. He had trouble climbing into the truck. It had become an unspoken agreement between him and the whole team that he was along for the repairs. None of them wanted to be responsible for him in the field.
Em felt his flesh begin to tingle with fear and anticipation. He looked at Jack and thought he saw a look of hunger in his eyes. Jack had yet to fire any weapon during any of their missions. He was more than ready to now. He was reapplying grease paint to his face and offered it to the rest of them. Colonel Roth and Sergeant Cannon were formulating a plan. Jeff was studying his maps. Em retrieved his journal and stuffed it inside his fatigues. With everything else happening so fast, he was astonished at himself for thinking of his journal first. He looked around for Captain Murphy and saw him inside the driver’s side of the vehicle talking to Sergeant Barnes. Em wondered what that was about.
Jeff was going to navigate them. He had studied his terrain maps. He was sure there were some hills and plateaus that would be the most likely places for the Germans to set up. Jeff estimated them to be close. The men were used to one another by now, so they lined up for travel in the usual order. Colonel Roth led the team with Jeff close behind him. Then Em and Jack in no particular order. Sergeant Cannon followed them, and Captain Murphy usually brought up the rear. Now and again, Sergeant Cannon would take that position. Jeff always accompanied Colonel Roth. He also handled all reconnaissance. He could disappear and reappear without making a sound. The six of them had been the action part of their squad since its inception. Sergeant Barnes sure was a damn good mechanic. Em did not think he minded at all when asked to stay with the vehicle. He sure was good at finding things in the black market too!
Noiselessly, the six of them followed Jeff’s lead and were confident he would lead them true. Before they had gone a mile, Jeff suddenly stopped and turned, putting his finger up to his lips. Em stopped and listened for any sound. The cold night was bright and silent. He heard nothing.
Jeff pointed to Sergeant Cannon. Sergeant Cannon walked up to meet him. Em could barely hear what they were whispering. “Just over that ridge. I heard some talking. They were kind of loud, so maybe we’ll get lucky. We need to get up on top of that ridge. We will be able to see them and see if there is more than one launcher. Don’t use the radio unless you absolutely have to.” Jeff was sure of their position. He indicated where the six of them should climb the embankment. He led the way, and soon, they were on top of the ridge.
Em still had not heard anything or seen anything except forest. He couldn’t believe there was going to be a place for a rocket launcher anywhere on this hillside. Em knew where he was and also knew that these ranges were called the Ardennes and were considered a mountain range, but he had seen hills in Kentucky that were just as big. Jack was so close to Sergeant Cannon that Em thought if Sergeant Cannon farted, Jack’s hair would blow back. He could not believe where his mind would wander at a time like this. He tried to concentrate on Jeff. He knew that when something was about to happen, Jeff would be the first one to react. He looked up the hill to see Jack and Sergeant Cannon. Beyond them was Colonel Roth, and then he saw…nothing but trees and moonlight. He did not panic. He inched a little closer to Jack and turned to see Captain Murphy close behind him. The look on the captain’s face was terrifying. The camouflage only seemed to brighten his other features. The moonlight was so bright that Em thought it might give them away.
Colonel Roth stopped and stooped low to the ground. He whispered to Sergeant Cannon. Then the whole column stopped and stooped. Jeff was gone. Em knew he would return with the information they needed to formulate an effective plan.
After fifteen minutes, which felt like five hours to Em, Jeff returned. He said the launchers were only a quarter mile ahead of them. All Em heard was launchers. How many were there, and what could the six of them do about it? Then he listened to Jeff finish. “I watched for a few minutes. It looks like the other one is being prepared for launch. One crew was celebrating. There were about seven soldiers clearly drinking alcohol of some sort. They had plenty of it. Each of them had their own bottle. The other crew was a couple hundred yards away. There was a crevice between them. The one crew definitely wanted the other crew to know that their rocket had successfully launched. I think we can take care of them quietly. The other crew is so busy that they will not notice. I only counted six on the second crew. There may be another, but if he is there, he must be asleep. Let’s take care of the first site, then see what we can do with those other Nazis.”
The plan was to stay hidden until one of them ventured into the forest to urinate. Hopefully, this would be the quietest way to eliminate them one at a time. Jeff convinced the rest of them that he could do more damage alone and quietly disappeared. Sergeant Cannon became the impromptu leader. Once again, Em’s thoughts went to the irony of the situation. It seemed the rank-and-file order of their team went from lowest ranking to higher ranking. Em knew that if Sergeant Cannon disappeared, then the captain would be in charge next. When they were on the ground, the two pilots knew who was the wisest. Colonel Roth listened and took orders as if he were the enlisted man.
Sergeant Cannon picked a spot above the roadway behind a giant rock. It was a good place to hide.