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They'd hung around after they let him out and watched him walk up into the large building. He'd told them to go back home after he'd thanked them, told them he'd let them know what was up after the tests were done. They'd argued but he'd insisted, and when that stubborn officer's edge came into his voice Casino had signaled his parents to back down. As soon as he'd moved far enough away from the car so he couldn't hear them they'd started their plotting. Casino spent a little time sitting in the car, just long enough to let the Warden get past the front desk and on where he was supposed to go. "Alright, I'm gonna go in and find out where they're puttin' him. You guys go park the car and I'll meet you back up here on the steps."
He turned the collar on his jacket up and pulled the heavy door open. As he walked across the lobby he pulled his wallet out and held it in his left hand. It felt like any one of the jobs they'd pulled over in Europe, but at least here language was no problem and they probably wouldn't put him up in front of a firing squad if he was caught. "Hey, beautiful! That last guy that walked in here, where'd he go?"
"Why?" The receptionist looked up from her work and waited for his answer.
He shrugged, "Aw, he left his wallet in my cab. Can't have him walking around with out any dough now, can we?"
Extending her hand she continued, her voice the practiced sort of bored that told him she was interested in him. "I'll see to it that he gets it."
Casino started to hand over the wallet, then snatched it back, "Oh, it's no trouble. I can see you're real busy. 'Sides I wanna do it." He turned his best smile down on her. "Might get a big tip, ya know?"
"He's just headed in to Dr. Worthing's office. That's down there, past the second hallway and two doors on your right."
"Thanks, babe." He gave her an appreciative wink as he swaggered towards the hallway, "If he gives me a good tip, what time do you get off?" and caught her smile before he moved off towards the doctor's office.
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Damn! She'd already talked her way into the doctor's office. She and Pop were still in there talkin' to the guy. If he hadn't been so loud about bein' the cabby he'd a been in there too. He'd waited around the corner until the Warden came out with an orderly that was probably takin' him to his room, and then went out to tell them where the doctor's office was, then he had to waste some time finding a side entrance to get back in so the little receptionist wouldn't get suspicious. By the time he'd found the damned office again they were already inside. 'Come on, already!', he thought. 'How long can it take to give somebody the low-down on somethin' like this?' The moment the door opened he stopped pacing, latched on to his mother's arm and towed her down the hall. "What'd he say?"
But it was Pop who spoke up as she fumbled in her purse, "The doctor said we should call the rest of the family."
Casino caught is breath and looked up at the two of them. "That doesn't sound good. What's wrong? Did he tell you?"
She was still searching through her purse, still looking down, until Casino handed her his handkerchief. "He thinks it's cancer." she said quietly and then she looked up at him as she dabbed at her eyes. "The doctor's worried he won't go through with the tests and the surgery."
Casino just stared down at her as a hundred images flashed through his mind: The look on the Warden's face when he'd handed him the cuffs that first time in the plane, the laugh they'd all shared when they left Manners to explain to the Germans why there was no money in the coffin, the glint in his eye when he floated the idea of them dressing up like dames to get those babies out a Germany, even the way he looked laying in that hospital bed on that Kraut air base when they'd gone undercover together. "Damn!" It wasn't supposed to be like this. Casino turned away from them and faced the wall. "Damn it!" and he took some of his anger and frustration out on it with his fist. "But he doesn't have anybody…"
She settled herself firmly on the bench that sat along the wall. "Yes he does," and kissed her husband when he sat down next to her.
"Yeah! He does." Casino kissed the top of her head and then turned, heading back down the hall to that damn receptionist. "I need to send a telegram."
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"They've assigned you a private room, sir." The orderly shouldered the door open and stood waiting for him to cross the threshold.
"Great." Solitary. His eyes went to the window, it was narrow and sat high up in the wall, near the ceiling, and then he checked out the two other doors as he walked into the room.
The young man pulled the closest door open, "Closet's here." And with a jerk of his thumb indicated the other. "John's in there. Do you want me to put your stuff away? You need any help getting dressed?"
I am dressed. "No thanks, I can do it." Moving through the room he opened the door that led to the bath, turning as he closed it, he brought both hands up to hold it closed, leaned his forehead against the wood and closed his eyes.
"Sir, if you need anything my desk is just outside in the hallway."
Swell. A guard on the door. The window's too small to get through too.
"Sorry about the chow, sir. Doctor said you couldn't have anything until after the surgery."
Damn! Not even a last meal!
"But you got all the hot water you want in there, sir."
Well, that's something, anyway. Maybe I can drown myself. "Thanks Corporal. I'll call you if I need anything."
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He'd hung his uniform away, used nearly all that hot water before he changed into the clothes Corporal Innis had laid out for him. They were the simple drawstring cotton pants he'd seen the doctors wearing, and a plain white T shirt. At least I don't have to be embarrassed by one of those damn hospital gowns. It was quiet in the room and he'd spent some time just sitting on the side of the bed. The pitcher of water on the table next to him was empty, he'd downed all of it but his mouth was still dry, and Innis had told him he couldn't have any more until after the surgery, like the food.
This wasn't the way he'd planned things. He didn't consider himself a coward but he didn't know if he could just sit in there and wait for the morning. Pretty clever of them to get you out of your clothes right away. Makes it harder to run… There wasn't a lock on the door. It wouldn't be that hard to get dressed again and just walk out the door. Innis doesn't look that tough. But just as he was considering that option the door opened and he looked up, "How did you get in here?"
"I can leave you alone if you like. But we've already talked to the doctor and none of us are going anywhere until after you have that surgery tomorrow."
Standing there like that she barely seemed taller than the door knob, but she effectively cut off his escape. And if she was staying , it looked like he was too,,, And she was probably way tougher than Innis. Looking past her he searched the piece of hallway visible through the open door. "Where…?"
"They've gone to find coffee."
"Then I guess you'd better sit down and make yourself comfortable." He closed his eyes and took as deep a breath as he could manage. There seemed to be a steel band around his chest and someone had been pulling it tighter and tighter ever since he'd read the telegram.
"Did they feed you?" As she walked across the room to the chair she watched him turn and settle himself on the bed. He was so thin... If he had to face something serious like this how was he going to fight it off? He needed weeks of someone feeding and fussing over him before he'd be ready to do this, but the doctor assured them it wasn't something that could wait.
"Can't have anything because of the surgery."
"Here I get you fattened up a little and they go and undo all my good work." she fumed and he heard a muted version of Casino's irritated manner.
He smiled over at her. "I want to thank you for that."
"You don't have to. The food was there, all you had to do was eat it."
"That's not what I mean." She knew it wasn't, she was hiding the fact by concentrating on the hands she held in her lap. "I haven't… It's been a long time since I had anyone fuss over me. It was nice… Casino's lucky."
"Well, we'll just have to find you a nice girl to…"
"No. I don't think that's such a good idea right now. I don't think I want anyone depending on me right now."
"You don't have a choice, people already do!" She leaned forward and rested her hand on his arm. "My son, those other men. Everyone you know depends on you in some manner. People you don't even know depend on you to do the best job you can to bring their sons and brothers safe through this. People you haven't met yet will depend on you, or the people you keep alive by what you do." She could hear the doctor as he told them how important it was to face something like this with confidence, determination, and belief in the future, supported by friends and family. "You owe it to them to do everything you can to survive."
"I don't know." He closed his eyes a moment before he looked back at her, shaking his head as he continued. "I don't think know how to fight something like this."
"Just like you would any other battle or any other enemy." She sounded just like a DI that last year at the Point, it made him smile and relax a little. "It's no different. You fight with everything you've got, just like you do over there in Europe. And you accept help from other people when you need it." She smiled at him and there was a light to her eyes that let him know she believed in what she was saying. "And besides I was thinking more of someone you could depend on."
They could smell the aroma of coffee before the door opened, and he gave her a quick smile. "I've already got that."
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"Sergeant Major/stop This is for the guys/stop…Very funny sense of humor, that one. I thought I'd best bring it up to you." Rawlins tossed the telegram on the table next to Actor and stalked from the room.
"Go on, what's it say?"
"Sergeant Major/stop This is for the guys/stop
Found tumor/stop Maybe cancer/stop
Surgery tomorrow/stop More later/stop
Casino/end"
"Cancer…" Goniff whispered as he took the telegram from Actor's hand and stared down at it. "That's what killed me Dad."
"What time is it over there?"
"I think there's a five hour time difference."
"Then it's already tomorrow, isn't it? They've already done..."
"No, it's the other way around. Casino sent this at five o'clock their time. They waited to deliver it." Actor glanced at his watch. "It's four in the morning there now."
"When'll they do somethin' like that?"
"How long will it take for 'em to know somethin'?"
"I don't know. But I know who we might ask."
"Riley!?"
Actor stepped to the intercom unit on the wall next to the door, pressed the button for the box in the office downstairs. "Sergeant Major, could you get Corporal Riley on the phone please?"
"Actor?! 'Ow many times do I 'ave to tell you to stay off this intercom!"
"And we'll need you in here as well, thank you."
"Bloody Hell!…" by closing the connection Actor not only spared them the ordeal of listening to the Sergeant Major's ranting, he insured the man's appearance to personally reprimand them for disobeying his orders. The con man was waiting just inside the door and handed over the telegram as soon as the man appeared.
"Now you lot 'ad better start looking sharpish or the Lieutenant…. What's this then?" They all watched as he read the cable and knew exactly when he'd reached the fateful words by the abrupt rise of his eyebrows. "What'd you want Riley for?" He looked up and searched their faces. "'Ee won't 'ave the answers we want. Come on! We'll go over to the base 'ospital and see Dr. Philips."
