Playing the Fool

"What d'we do now?" Goniff turned to Chief ready, as always, to let someone else take charge.

Chief didn't have any problem taking the lead, but he was pretty sure Goniff wouldn't want to follow him once he laid out his plan. "Come on. We go this way."

"That way?! That's not the way to the place where we're s'posed to meet up."

"It's too late to make that meet Goniff."

"But the Warden wouldn't take off without us. He'll wait for us to get there…"

"He's not gonna be there, Goniff. Not this time." Chief watched as Goniff's tenuous hold on confidence and hope evaporated. "Come on. Let's get out a here."

ggg

Chief and Goniff had been on watch at the perimeter of the installation that was the target of the mission. Garrison, Actor and Casino were the ones that went inside, Casino to handle the safe, Actor to provide a diversion if it was needed, and the Warden, as always, to evaluate and snatch the information they'd been sent for. Something had gone wrong though. Gunfire erupted from the building that housed their target first and then the building itself was engulfed in flames, then a few minutes later the area shook with an explosion that blew the northeast corner of the structure into rubble. The flickering glow from the blaze silhouetted the Krauts as they made their move and Chief and Goniff started picking off soldiers that were headed towards the building, all the while desperately watching for their teammates to make their way out of the fire. They stayed and watched as long as they could but there was no sign of the others and they finally had to break off when the forces inside the installation organized then split up and a contingent headed their way. They could see the man in charge wave his men into a flanking maneuver and knew if they didn't make a move soon they'd be surrounded.

The teammates made a tactical retreat, both of them firing back on their pursuers to keep them coming after them. Both of them hoping they were still providing a diversion so that the rest of the team could make their way out of the inferno that now consumed the target building. Neither of them really believing that anyone or anything could survive in that hell of fire and smoke. They kept moving until they were about a quarter mile away. There was another explosion that sent a fireball so high into the sky it seemed to claw at the base of the clouds that had gathered overhead. After that all hope for the others was lost and they just turned and ran, disappearing into the surrounding forest.

Chief kept a steady pace, turning north because the enemy rarely thought to look for them if they moved deeper into their territory. Another ninety minutes into their flight with no sign that they were being followed and he finally gave in to Goniff's pleas and started looking for a place to pull up and rest. There was a shack at the edge of a clearing. Backed into the bluff like it was they'd only have to watch one face of the building; they'd only have one direction of escape too, if it came to that, but it was the only place he could find. Goniff held back, letting Chief check the building out while he kept watch outside. The place was small; it only took a few seconds for Chief to whistle the all clear.

Goniff entered and gratefully collapsed by the front wall next to the only window in the small shelter. Chief stayed on his feet and kept watch out the partially open door. Silence gathered in the room and it was several minutes before the little cockney finally spoke.

"They're dead, aren't they?" His voice was low and quiet, like he didn't want to be overheard.

It was several seconds before the scout answered. If it had been anyone else reassuring words might have been spoken and a tale of hope might have been spun, but Chief was a realist and just said. "Yeah. Probably."

It took a good ten minutes before Goniff worked up the courage to ask another question. "We can get out of here, can't we?"

Turning away from the door Chief settled a determined look on his teammate. "We'll get out."

g

They stayed the remainder of the night there getting what rest they could while they shared lookout duty and avoided talking about the others or how they were going to get themselves back to England. But they couldn't put it off any longer when the eastern sky started changing from black to velvet blue. Chief tried to come up with a way to broach the subject but it was Goniff that got them started.

"So how are we gonna do this, eh? You can do a little Italian and some German, but I'm no bloody good at it. An' it's Warden 'n Actor always come up with new plans for gettin' us home."

"I figger we ought a head for the spot where we were s'pose to meet." He met Goniff's expectant gaze. "One a the contacts will keep checkin' back there for a while.

They all knew the back up plans and where to go if something went wrong… and everything was in sets of three. There was a set time and place to meet and if they missed the first time there'd be two others. If the underground was helping them they might check the pick-up spot for those three times. If it was just a boat sent to bring them back they'd come to the coordinates three times before they gave up. That gave the group some leeway if something went wrong and the job took longer than expected or if someone got hurt and bringing them out took longer.

The time between checks depended on how long the job was and how critical it was to get back to deliver the goods. Once time ran out on the main pick up point there was a secondary meeting point that had its own timetable. Even though there might be reasons that forced them to go straight to the secondary point the people helping them didn't start checking there until after time had run out on the primary site. Once the countdown started there they had those same three chances but if they blew those it was all over. They'd be 'missing in action' after that and no one would be looking for them.

"But it's the gettin' there's the problem." Goniff continued to study his younger teammate for a moment. "You got a plan for how we're s'pose to do that?"

Chief returned the gaze. "Maybe."