The Expendable One
Chapter 10
Garrison was dropped off at the mansion. The Packard and the MG were there so he hoped that meant everything was okay. With his sister and his group, he doubted it. Letting himself in the front door, he was greeted by Chris; the wrong sister.
"Hi Craig," said Chris with a smile.
"Okay, where's Terry? She didn't go in with Randy."
Crystal made a face and shook her head. "She's on the Continent, but I don't know who she went in with. She called me to come here and then she took the motorcycle instead of her car."
Garrison looked at his men and counted heads. Amazing. They were all there.
"Carter?"
The con man looked at him steadily. "Haven't any idea. She doesn't talk to me."
Garrison realized that was true. Where she had begun informing Actor of her plans or missions, she did not share her confidences with the newer man.
"How was Norway?" asked Christine cheerfully.
"Cold."
GGGGG
Actor napped off and on the rest of the morning. His rest was fitful due to frequent bouts of coughing. Bernardo left him for short periods of time but made sure water was close at hand for his to drink.
Duchess breezed into the bedroom in early afternoon, looking as radiant as Actor had remembered her in Cannes. She took up the vigil with him to the relief of her husband. It was after Bernardo had gone to the casino that she began asking Actor questions about what had happened to him. It did not take long for him to figure out her concern was more for Garrison.
"What happened to the others?" she asked. "Were they captured too?"
"No," replied Actor. "It was just Garrison and I. He was able to get away."
"He did not come back for you?" asked the blond woman in surprise.
"I don't know," said Actor. "I was taken to a hospital in Berlin. I don't know if the lieutenant even knew where I was, or if I was alive for that matter."
"Still, he should have come after you," she puzzled.
Actor gave a small smile. "I doubt the Army would allow him to. Besides, he would not have known where to look."
"I don't understand," Duchess said with a frown. "You are part of the team. Why would the Army keep Garrison from returning for you?"
Actor was not sure if and how he should explain they were all considered 'expendable' by the Army. Four of them were 'low life' cons and the lieutenant was lumped in with them as far as the Army was concerned. In the end he simply said, "It is the Army's way of doing things."
The doctor returned that evening and was pleased that Actor had made it through the night and seemed to be slightly improved. He explained the pneumonia, not knowing of Actor's medical background. Even without that, the con man recognized his symptoms were much the same as Teresa's when he had taken care of her after the misadventure in Belgium. Actor was informed he would be here for at least a couple weeks.
The con man wasn't sure how that would go over with Bernardo. He had not planned on staying with Duchess and her husband. Then again, he had not planned on anything. Now he thought about it. He had plenty of money in two accounts in one of the Swiss banks. He just needed to be strong enough to leave and access it. Actor could take a suite in one of the hotels, but he preferred to keep a low profile for now. He had always wanted an apartment in Zurich, maybe now was the time to buy one.
By the end of the first week, Actor was pushing himself to gain strength. Duchess and Bernardo both brought him food that tempted his discerning palate. The couple still took turns sitting with him. As it was Actor and Bernardo began talking. They compared notes on the French Riviera. The man was almost as old as Actor's father would have been, but better preserved. Actor found he had more in common with the French man than his own father.
By the end of the second week, Actor felt able to go for short walks outside. Duchess gave him some money for a cab and the Italian was able to get to his bank. It took most of a day to gain access to his accounts with no identification. In the end, he rode back to the suite with money, a store-bought suit, how degrading, and peace of mind. Exhausted, he went to sleep right after supper.
The next day, Actor, went looking for a suite. The fourth one he looked at fit his needs, now and in the future. There was the usual bargaining, but cold hard cash won out and he found himself with a set of keys.
Actor met Bernardo at the casino and had a private chat in the man's office. Bernardo was surprised when the confidence man attempted to reimburse him for the money they had spent on him. The older man refused to take it. He had come to like the con man. The Italian reminded him of his younger days. And, true to his word, he had made no play for Duchess. Now it remained to be seen if the same would be said about his playing the casino.
The move to his new abode went seamlessly as he had no belongings other than the suit he was wearing. Mornings were spent buying necessities and getting a few more custom made suits. He kept it to a minimum knowing at some point he would regain the weight he had lost in the last two and a half months. Afternoons, he followed the time honored Italian custom of pausa, finding he still needed a rest before any evening activities. He ate his meals in restaurants and his life took on the style he had previously had before moving to the United States. There was only one thing missing and had been missing for way too long.
Actor pushed some of his chips onto two numbers on the table and watched the roulette wheel spin. One of his numbers hit and brought him a tidy little sum. He was fully aware of Bernardo and sometimes one of his men keeping him under surveillance. He had no intentions of cheating the man who had helped him. And he did not even realize the change in him from when he had worked casinos before.
A perky little brunette was openly observing him from the other side of the table. Eye contact was made and smiles exchanged. Actor bought her a drink. One thing led to another and he broke in the new bed in the new apartment.
The next morning, Actor was leaning against the headboard, smoking a cigarette. The woman was in the shower. Her name was Liesel. She was a lovely young woman, but her name brought up visions of another Liesel, one of his partner's aliases. Actor pushed that thought away. He was nicely tired, but his ribs hurt from the exertion. The woman had been pleased with his performance, but it wasn't up to what Actor knew was his standard. Well, on the way home, he would take her to a perfumery and buy her whatever she wanted.
GGGGG
Terry blew in two days after Garrison's return. She was soaking wet. The rain was cold and the wind had made riding the motorcycle difficult. She pushed her dripping hair out of her face and headed for the stairs, not paying any attention to the men in the common room.
"Hey, Babe," Casino called out. "You always take a shower with your clothes on?"
"And the horse you rode in on, Casino," she grumbled back at him.
It brought a roar of laughter from the safe cracker. And grins from the other men. Garrison called out to her to come in his office.
Terry walked to the doorway and glared at him. "You want me to drip on your floor? I'm not mopping it up."
Garrison looked at his sister and was reminded of a half-drowned cow dog. He could not prevent a grin. "So next time take your car."
"Too conspicuous."
"Never stopped you before."
She smiled insincerely. "Depends on where I'm going out of."
"And where was that?" he asked.
"Somewhere the MG would have been conspicuous." She curled her upper lip at him. "Mind if I go take a shower and get into something dry?"
"No," said Craig innocently. "You have time before you have to make dinner."
"Dinner! Where's Chris?"
"She had to visit Auntie. You know how sick Auntie gets."
"You know entirely too much, Craig Garrison."
"You're the one who told her I have enough clearance," he teased.
Grumbling, the girl went upstairs. A half hour later, she came back down and stood surveying the men.
"Okay, what do you want for dinner?" she asked.
Goniff piped up immediately. "Pork chops."
Three more 'pork chops' came from the other cons.
"Pork chops," came from Garrison's office.
"Pork chops," muttered the girl, turning and heading for the kitchen. She swore when this war was over she was never cooking or eating another pork chop. Carter and Chief were even asking for pork chops, and neither man usually asked for anything specific.
GGGGG
The tall, thin, suave man cut a little bite from his schnitzel. He liked schnitzel, but somehow he just did not have an appetite. He would have skipped dinner entirely if he had not known he needed to put a lot more weight on. Taking a sip of the excellent house white, he pondered how things for him had gone back to the way they had been before the war, but he simply was not enjoying it. He did not understand why. He would not have lacked for female company, and part of him wanted to indulge in that. However, it had taken him two days to recover from the night with Liesel. His chest still hurt with exertion, but his breathing was almost back to normal.
Actor did not know what the problem was. There was restlessness in him. He spent time furnishing the new suite with the basic necessities. He took long walks to build his stamina back up. After a nap in the afternoon, he had a late supper and then gambled at Bernardo's or one of the other casinos. So why wasn't he happy?
GGGGG
Two more weeks went by with two more missions. At least there had been no injuries, thought Garrison. Now they would see if they could make it three. Craig was on his way back to the mansion from London. He had just briefed with Gen. Abrams. This one sounded easy enough, but a bit strange. Maybe he was just getting paranoid. It was the odd ones that usually went well and the normal ones that turned out bad.
Craig bounded up the steps and into the mansion. The men looked at him and the briefcase cuffed to his wrist.
"Now where?" asked Casino disgustedly.
"Switzerland," said Garrison.
Chief pulled the match from between his teeth and pushed the chair back from the chess table. "Not Basel again?" he asked, drawing the name out to show his disgust.
"No," said Garrison, "a little farther from the border. Come on in and I'll brief you."
"Me too?" asked Terry eagerly, mending forgotten in her lap.
"Not this time." He did not miss the disappointed look that crossed the girl's face.
The men all went into Garrison's office. The officer unlocked the briefcase with the key in his desk. His Ike jacket was removed and draped over the back of his chair. To the men's surprise, the officer did not bring any papers to the conference table.
"So wot kind o' caper is this?" asked Goniff with a frown.
"Go in, pick up an agent and get out." Garrison took a seat at the head of the table. "We fly in tonight, rendezvous with the agent, and fly back out."
"We jumpin'?" asked Casino.
Garrison smiled. "No, this time we're going to land at a small air field."
"So what's the story with this one?" asked Chief.
Garrison looked around at his men. "An agent has asked to be removed. This agent has been in Germany for some time and thinks it's getting too hot to stay."
Now it was Carter's turn. "You refer to the person as 'agent'. Male or female?"
"I don't know," replied Garrison. "The brass doesn't know either. The person has been vetted by the resistance in Switzerland, so they think it's legit."
Casino shook his head. "Knew it. It couldn't be that easy. Somethin's fishy about this."
"Maybe," agreed Garrison, "but we still do it."
"So how are we going to identify this person if we don't know who it is?" persisted Carter.
"Apparently the agent has it all planned down to the last detail. We meet in a park, on a specific park bench and I will have a specific book with me. The usual code words."
"Sounds funny to me," said Chief. "We don't even know if this guy or dame is worth all this."
"Chief," said Garrison with patience, "they don't send us unless the person is 'worth all this', do they?"
"I guess."
GGG
Chief leaned casually against a tree and watched Garrison sitting alone on a park bench. The scout's eyes kept scanning the area that was mostly grass and a few clumps of trees. The lake was a sparkling blue with no waves. Two little boys with their nannies, or whatever they called them in Switzerland, were playing with toy sailboats along the cement edge of the water. It reminded Chief of the little boy in Norway. There were no soldiers and only a couple elderly women walking the graveled paths.
Garrison held an open book with a French title and pretended to read. It was not that he couldn't read a little French, but his attention was on who was around him. He waited a long ten minutes without any sign of a contact. Stretching, he glanced around. Down by the lake's edge, a misshapen, gray haired grizzled man with a cane and rough clothing had stopped to talk with an elderly woman. Garrison went back to his book, knowing Chief would have an eye on the old couple.
A few minutes later, the old man took a seat on the other end of the bench and scratched under his arm. Garrison fervently hoped the man stayed on his end of the bench. He didn't look any too clean. The clothes were dirty and there were holes in the elbows of the ratty coat the man wore. His shoes were scuffed and worn beneath pants that had definitely seen better days. He did not seem too healthy. The clothes hung on him.
"Hello, Warden," the man said softly with amusement.
It took all of Garrison's self control to not look at the man and to keep a grin off his face.
"Are you our contact?" asked Craig in a low voice. Hardly daring to believe it was his second.
"Really, Lieutenant, no password or countersign?"
"Looks like rain."
The sky was clear and blue. The air was slightly cool.
"I believe it will snow tonight."
"Where the hell have you been?" demanded Garrison in a calm quiet voice.
"That is a very long story. One I do not wish to discuss here. Is there a safe house?"
"Yes." Garrison gave him the address.
"I will see you in an hour," said Actor.
Garrison now turned his head and eyed the gray haired, disheveled man with disdain. Closing his book, he stood and walked away. The old man remained as if to soak up the warm sun and scratched his belly.
Garrison was almost to the entrance of the park when Chief fell in beside him. Neither looked at the other.
"Seen him dressed like an old man before," observed the Indian, lips barely moving. "He comin' with us? Actor, I mean."
"Safe house in an hour," said Garrison. "Yes, he's coming with us."
The two men entered the attic room to see the wrong end of gun barrels. The three occupants at the table put their guns away.
When nothing was forthcoming, Casino asked with his blustery manner, "So did you make contact?"
"Yes," said Garrison.
Chief took his usual stance by the window, watching the street below for loiterers who might not have their best interest in mind, nor that of the man who was expected to arrive.
"And?" asked the safecracker. It was like pulling teeth to get anything from the officer about this odd mission.
Garrison tossed the book on a nearby table and removed his coat, hanging it on a coat tree that had been moved away from the only door. "The contact will be here in a short time."
"So who is he?" asked Carter.
"An operative who needs to be returned to England before the Germans tumble him," was all Garrison would say.
Something was funny here, but the three cons did not know what. Carter recognized there was a con going on, but he could not tell what it was. A half hour later, Chief snapped his fingers, signaling Garrison from the window. A couple minutes later, Rene, owner of the bookstore that was their safe house, cautiously opened the door to the attic. He glanced at the men, looking for weapons aimed in his direction and addressed Garrison.
"Your package has arrived," he said dubiously.
"Thank you," said Craig. "You can send it up." Rene left and Garrison looked at Chief. "Was he followed?"
"Don't look like," said the Indian continuing to watch the street.
There was a tap at the door before it opened to admit the crooked old man. Garrison walked up and shut the door behind him. The man scratched his ribs.
"You better not have lice," said Garrison severely.
The brusque rudeness earned him surprised looks from three of his men and a sparkling hazel-eyed glance of humor from beneath bushy gray brows. The old man straightened and rolled his shoulders to ease the ache from the long period of being twisted up. He stretched and stood at his full six feet four inches.
"Bloody 'ell!"
"Figures," said Casino with a grin.
Actor looked at the two men with something that might have been misconstrued as affection, but his eyes lingered on the other blonde man.
"Ah, a newcomer?" he asked Garrison.
"This is Carter, our new confidence man."
The bushy eyebrows rose as the old man gave the younger one a once over.
Carter studied him with the same amount of interest. "I assume you're Actor."
"That's what they call me," said the older confidence man. "Among other things."
Unable to resist, Actor scratched his chest, grinning when Garrison took a step away.
"It's all right, Warden," said the Italian with a big grin. "I have been deloused."
"Where you been?" asked Goniff, keeping his distance. Actor still looked like he might be crawling with lice.
"A prison camp in Germany," said Actor, taking off his jacket. "A very strange prison camp."
"Yeah, well, G-2 would love to hear about this very strange prison camp," said Garrison. "I would bet you met some interesting people there too."
Garrison studied his former second. He looked fairly healthy, but much thinner. Whether this was from his injury or lack of food, he would have to find out later. The clothes still hung on his tall lanky frame and the cheekbones were even more prominent. The hazel brown eyes were bright and sharp. The full shaggy mustache matched the bushy eyebrows in color and appearance. Garrison wondered if they were fake. He bet the stubbly beard was real with coloring to make it match the man's hair.
"Yes," agreed Actor, hanging his coat next to Garrison's; a move the younger officer did not seem appreciative of. "Unfortunately they have probably relocated at least the prisoners, if not the entire camp, since I managed to escape."
"What brought you to Zurich?" asked Carter. He wanted to learn more about this man he had heard so much about.
Actor was not trusting of his replacement yet. "A train and a vegetable truck."
Casino, Goniff and Chief chuckled at the answer. Carter just took it in stride.
Garrison was interested in hearing the entire story, but had a feeling they would be back in England before he got more than an abbreviated version. Actor's glance at him told him he was right. Craig leaned against the wall and watched the con man take a seat at the table.
"How are we getting out?" asked Actor, looking up at him.
"This is a neutral country," said Garrison. "A plane will pick us up at an airport outside of the city."
Actor nodded.
"So what happened?" asked Casino in exasperation.
Actor began to weave the story, mostly true, but missing a few points. He explained about the hospital in Berlin, his con with the interrogation and the unexpected response to it. The description of the prison, the inmates, and the commandant had Garrison's attention.
"So how'd you get out?" asked Goniff.
"I merely joined the troupe of actors when they left."
"Aw, come on!" scoffed Casino. "Now you're connin' us again."
"I assure you I am not," said Actor. "That is exactly how it happened."
He continued with his story about taking the train to the border and riding the bottom of the train car into Switzerland. He explained the vegetable farmer had taken him into Zurich and he stayed with friends until he had recovered from the pneumonia.
Again Casino shook his head. "Actor, you got marks. You don't have friends."
"You might be surprised, Casino," replied the con man.
Garrison almost believed him. It was possible he supposed, but he bet there was a lot more to that story than the Italian was letting on.
"So what'd yuh do for money?" asked Chief, glancing away from the window for a second.
"I have money in a bank there," admitted the con man.
"Swiss accounts," mused Carter. "Not bad."
"So how come you didn't get money from that bank heist in Basel?" probed the safecracker.
"I was not in need of any at the time," answered Actor smoothly. He turned to Garrison before any more questions could be broached. "When are we departing?"
Craig watched him. "Twenty hundred hours." He eyed the man's apparel. "You planning on going dressed like that?"
The con man shrugged elegantly. "I could use a bit of assistance with that. I have a bag in a locker at the train station, if someone could go get it."
"Guess that would be me," said Carter. "I speak German if there's a problem getting the bag."
"There should be no problem," said Actor. "I would appreciate it." He looked down at himself. "This is not how I am accustomed to dressing," he said with distaste. He rubbed a hand over the stubble on his face. "I have a razor in the bag also."
"All that on your face yours?" asked Craig with humor.
"All except the mustache," replied Actor with a grin.
Garrison chuckled. "Okay, Carter, you can go." He looked at his scout. "Chief, go with him, just in case."
Carter got the location and information from the con man. Garrison waited until the younger con man and the Indian had left. He followed Actor to the window as the tall man watched the street until he could no longer see the two men. Actor glanced at the lieutenant.
Garrison's voice was low. "I'd really like to hear the rest of the story sometime."
"I'm sure," smiled Actor.