Chapter 1

It was noon when Terry came down the stairs. She glanced at the men in the common room and smiled. She noticed the door was open to Craig's office. Hopefully that meant her brother was back. She bounded down the rest of the stairs and walked into the office. The siblings exchanged looks. Craig picked up the notepad he was writing on and flipped it over. This earned him a sour look from his sister. He shrugged and watched her shut the door behind her.

"You okay?" Garrison asked.

"You talked to Actor," she said with certainty.

He nodded.

"I guess I'm okay," she said. Terry sat down in the chair in front of the desk. "Are you okay? You don't look it."

"I guess I'm okay," he parroted back at her.

Terry studied his face. His face was tired, but not a physical tired. His eyes were slightly dull and his eyebrows were slightly pulled together. "You want to talk?" she asked.

Craig shook his head. "No."

Terry's voice was quiet with concern, not anger. "Don't give me that crap about clearance. You're into something bad, aren't you?

Craig nodded. "It's not something I like, but it has and will yield intelligence we need. I just don't want to talk about it."

Terry knew him well enough to read between the lines. "If it's something you can't talk to me about, can you at least talk to Actor? You two seem to get along good."

Craig sighed. "I can't talk to him either. This is something I have to deal with by myself."

"Okay, Craig. I don't like it. It worries me. Just be very, very careful."

Garrison switched the conversation back to her. "You sure you're okay? You want to talk about it?"

"No," she replied. "You seem to have enough on your plate as it is. I have been having nice long talks with Chief about killing people." She tilted her head and looked at her brother narrowly. "Sometime, Brother, you and I need to have long talk over a beer about that boy. I've got some funny suspicions."

Craig smiled, "You mean about age and convictions?"

"Yeah," Terry grinned back. "I'm working on that."

GGGGG

Garrison only managed a twenty-four hour respite between his stint in Norway and the group's next mission. They flew into Belgium with the purpose of obtaining the blueprints from an engineer's safe at his estate for a new type of rocket engine. The weather had turned decidedly colder and a snow had fallen.

The group was holed up in a hunter's lodge about five miles from the estate they were supposed to breach. Chief was sitting by the window as usual, watching outside through the curtain. He was wearing civilian clothes and fiddling with a driver's cap in his hand instead of his switchblade. Goniff and Casino were sprawled in chairs at the table. The Englishman was nibbling on bread. Both wore heavy peasant clothes, laced up high boots and had warm jackets. Terry was sitting in a large stuffed chair. She had on a mid calf length wool skirt and a soft sweater that modestly but effectively showed off her assets. Her feet were covered with fine leather boots. Actor had done wonders with makeup to give her a death warmed over look. The confidence man was perched on the arm of her chair, smoking his pipe. He was dressed like an aristocrat with tweed pants, a white linen shirt covered by a vest, and a dark gray jacket. Garrison was pacing the room. He was clothed the same as Casino and Goniff. He took a last inspection of his team before going over the plan one more time.

"Terry," he said.

The girl smiled and patted Actor's knee. "Mio morito and I are Nazi sympathizers from France. We are wealthy and being groomed by the Reich to gain our financial support. We are on our way to Brussels and our car breaks down in front of the estate."

"Mio what?" asked Goniff with a grimace of not understanding.

"Husband, Stupid!" translated Casino. Goniff shrugged.

Craig ignored them. "Actor."

"We ask for assistance." His hand patted Terry's on his knee. "My wife is ill and needs to lie down while our driver tries to fix our car. This gains us access to the house. While we are providing a distraction at the front, you, Casino and Goniff will come in from the woods and gain entry to the back of the house. Teresa and I will keep Dr. Vangriekken occupied while you liberate the plans from the safe and leave the same way you came in. Teresa and I will return to our vehicle and meet you a mile down the road."

"Chief."

"I'm the driver. I kill the engine in front of the estate. It takes me an hour to get the engine fixed. I'm from Spain and I don't speak Flemish or German, so I don't talk. When the hour is up, Actor and Terry will come back to the car and we get out."

"Goniff."

"I'm with you and I break us into the bloody house."

"Casino."

"I open the safe, what else?" the safecracker said with his usual belligerence.

Terry smothered a grin. Actor didn't bother. He just grinned across the room at a smiling Chief.

Plans in place, the group piled into the car Chief had liberated and started down the road. Chief pulled the big car to the side of the road on a curve where woods hid them from the sight of the house. Garrison, Casino and Goniff jumped out and disappeared into the woods. The car proceeded slowly down the road with the Indian tapping the clutch to make the vehicle jerk. He killed the engine in front of the stone wall to the estate and rolled to a stop in front of the wrought iron gates.

Actor took a last look at Teresa. She was sitting beside him, pasty white with dark circles under her eyes thanks to the contents of the Italian's make up kit. He was satisfied. It looked real except for the grin on her face.

Terry glanced out the window at two guards approaching the gate from the drive. "You're on, Mon Amour," she said to Actor.

Chief was already out of the car and had the hood up, tinkering in the engine. Actor got out and approached the Indian. He began to berate him haughtily in Castilian. The guards opened the gate and one stepped up to the car.

Actor walked proudly up to him and asked in French to speak to the owner of the estate. He explained the car had broken down and while he was certain his driver would be able to fix it, he did not know how long it would take. His wife was ill and he wondered if there was a place they might wait out of the cold until the vehicle was repaired.

One if the guards trotted up the drive to the house. Actor tapped his fingers against his leg impatiently. He opened the back door of the car and asked Terese, in French, how she was feeling. Terry replied she was cold and tired. She asked if there was not someplace where she could rest and get a glass of water to drink.

It was a few minutes later, the other guard returned with a car. Actor helped his wife out of their vehicle and supported her as she walked weakly to the waiting car. The gates were closed and Chief was left to his own devices as the obviously aristocratic couple was ferried to the house.

A well padded, balding, graying man in a tweed suit met them at the open door to the house. He came down the steps at the sight of the wan and frail young woman. He insisted she be brought immediately into the sitting room where there was a warm fire in the fireplace.

Actor introduced them as Antoine and Terese DeGrand. Their host bowed to the young woman and introduced himself as Dr. Vangriekken. Terese asked in French if he was a doctor of medicine. He denied gracefully and said he was an engineer.

Servants brought blankets, pillows and cups of real coffee to the couple. Actor assisted his wife to recline comfortably against pillows on the couch and tenderly tucked blankets around her. Terese ran fingertips down her husband's cheek in appreciation. She thanked the good doctor for his hospitality and closed her eyes, pretending to fall asleep and allowing Actor to weave his con with the man.