Read The Rat Patrol 4 - Two-Faced Enemy for Free Online

slope and a platform at its terminus broad enough for the jeeps to negotiate without difficulty. Tully drove halfway up the first six-foot-wide ledge that looked as if it had been hacked by hand from the face of the bluff and stopped.
    "What is it?" Troy asked, stiffening, searching the empty land below and the sheer rock above.
    "We ought to water the beasts before we start the climb," Tully said, leaving the motor running and climbing out. "It ain't so far and it ain't so steep, but it sure is hot." He lifted the five-gallon water can from the rack. "And another thing, Sarge. I figure maybe you and Doc would like to climb in back with the weapons. From the way this trail's been kept clean, someone's been using it, and recent."
    Troy's eyes slitted and he lifted his glasses, inspecting the path. The angled route was remarkably free of rubble for an old and little-used trail. The Arabs must still be using this way in and out of Sidi Beda, he thought, although nothing was moving on it now in the burning sun. He searched the top of the escarpment but could see no motion nor indication that anyone was watching from the edge.
    "We'd better ride shotgun, Doctor," he called to Moffitt. Nodding to Tully, who was upending the water can into the bubbling radiator, Troy jumped into the rear of the jeep, and avoiding the cases of explosives, ammunition and supplies, he gripped the searing handles of the gun.
    Hitch's eyes were steely when they glanced and met Troy's but he didn't say a word, only banged down the hood of his jeep and jumped behind the steering wheel. In the back, Moffitt leaned away from his gun as his eyes searched the setbacks to the top.
    Tully shifted into four-wheel drive, let out the clutch as the engine roared, and the jeep leaped up the first incline, turning without slackening at the platform onto the second setback. Halfway up he began to lose power and on the third setback, the radiator began to boil, throwing hot smelling steamy vapor back. Both jeeps panted up the final setback and chugged onto the plateau. Tully braked near the edge with the radiator hissing but leaving the motor idling.
    Swinging his machine gun with him in tense hands, Troy swept the rocky terrain with searching eyes as Hitch parked his jeep alongside. In the immediate area, there seemed to be nothing but crusted gray earth and large rocks. Beyond, perhaps half a mile, were the first sands of the desert plateau. The dun-colored sand was hazed with heat. Troy inspected the nearby rocks. Some were large slabs of gray limestone, big enough to conceal a party of men. The trail wound between two particularly formidable stones about five hundred yards ahead. Troy studied them closely through his field glasses but there was no telltale movement, no sign of man nor beast. From this point, at least, the plateau appeared to be empty. Troy turned, grinning tightly at Hitch. Lifting one hand with thumb and forefinger together indicating approval, Hitch smiled back. With his other hand, Hitch put a piece of bubble gum in his mouth.
    Now Troy turned his glasses back north and east along the bluff that overlooked Sidi Beda until he found the first of the Sherman tanks about a mile off. A man stood in the turret observing him through glasses. Four other members of the crew were sprawled in the scant shade under the nose of the tank. Troy waved his hat and the observer in the turret lifted his arm in greeting. Swinging his glasses from the tank, Troy searched the desert to the east and south. He saw no dust trail in the sky.
    "Peaceful enough so far," he called to Moffitt, who was focusing his glasses. "No sign of Jerry. We'll go ahead, follow the trail until we're out of the rocks and then strike south through the desert."
    "How about a bottle of beer?" Tully asked.
    "When we're in the clear," Troy said, "and then you drink it while you drive. No breaks until we know we're behind the Jerry lines."
    "That's okay for me, Sarge," Tully said and pushed his