Retribution
Chapter 12
The five men followed the wheelchair out to the Packard parked in front of the hospital door. The green sports car was parked behind it. The girl eyed it as she was being pushed up to the back door of the bigger car.
"Yup, that's mine," she smiled and then frowned. "I think."
"Hey, Warden," said Goniff eagerly. "I never have a chance to drive that blinkin' thing. Can I drive it back?"
Chief had given the keys to Garrison when they had arrived at the hospital. Safer from the pickpocket on the officer than on him. Craig knew if he didn't allow the slight man to drive the car, the long ride back would be noisy and Terry didn't need that. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the keys, tossing them to Goniff.
"You stay behind us," he ordered. "No side trips either."
"Oh right, Warden," said the blond man gleefully.
Garrison held up the Packard's keys. "Which one of you wants to drive."
"I'll do it, Warden," offered Chief. He caught the keys that were tossed to him.
Actor was seeing to it Terry was comfortably situated in the middle of the back seat. He climbed in after her and shut the door. Garrison didn't say anything. He just walked around and got into the back from the other side. Casino took the front passenger seat. It looked like he didn't want to spend two hours alone with Goniff, despite them being friends.
Chief started the engine and pulled away from the curb. Garrison looked out the back window to make sure Goniff was following. The car was behind them. He turned and settled in his seat, keeping up against the door. He saw the con man was doing the same on his side to give Terry more room.
"Fast or slow?" asked Chief.
"Fewer bumps the better," said Garrison. He looked at his sister dubiously. "Can you sit up all the way to the Mansion?"
"Sure," she replied cockily. "I've driven it with a concussion before."
Actor sucked in both cheeks. "As I recall we had to get you from the side of the road."
"I was fine. I just stopped to take a rest and enjoy the breeze."
"Oh, of course." Actor glanced at Garrison and rolled his eyes.
Garrison casually asked, "You remember that or did someone tell you?"
Terry shrugged. "Some things, if I don't think about them, they pop up in my mind. Events. Places. People, no"
They settled in for the ride. Despite the fine driving of the Indian, it was still bumpy. They were almost halfway to the Mansion when Terry wiggled in her seat and leaned her head against Actor's shoulder.
"You know, you don't have to bother him," said Garrison at Actor's familiar put-upon sigh.
Terry just wiggled into a more comfortable position. "That's all right, Craig. There's something peculiar about snuggling up to my brother. Besides, Actor's big and sturdy."
"Lovely, a woman who merely thinks of me as a convenient post."
There was a chortle from the front seat. "What's the matter Beautiful? Losin' your touch with the women?"
Actor was pressed against the door on his right and Teresa was pressed against his left arm. He needn't have worried though. Even with her eyes closed Teresa's arm reached out unerringly and her hand swatted the back of the safecracker's head.
"Hey!" objected Casino.
"Knock it off," said Terry but without her brother's usual vigor.
Sitting in his corner of the backseat, relieved the mission was over, the thieves had been dealt with, and his sister was recovering, Garrison was trying unsuccessfully to stifle a smile. He lost the battle when Actor looked at him with raised eyebrows and a devilishly crooked grin.
"Lieutenant, isn't this where we picked her up the last time?"
"Yes, it looks like it," said Craig through a wide grin.
"I still have a free hand," warned Terry.
"Sit up," ordered Actor sternly.
Surprised, Terry opened her eyes and straightened.
Actor pulled his arm away from her and draped it over the back of the seat, giving a light pat of fingers on Garrison's shoulder.
"All right, now you may come here," Actor said to the girl.
With a smile, Terry burrowed back into the con man. Actor's arm slipped down around her shoulders, and his big hand lightly encircled her forearm.
"Now we are safe," said Actor with a satisfied smile.
Craig lost it and laughed.
The girl stayed tucked up against the tall man for the rest of the trip. To him it was familiar, but he doubted it was to her. He could tell she did not sleep, but her eyes stayed closed. It was two hours from London to the Mansion. They pulled into the drive and Chief stopped in front of the steps. Terry's head came up, she blinked hard a couple times and sat up, away from Actor.
The men got out and stretched. Goniff parked the sports car in its usual spot on the car park and joined the others. Sgt./Major Rawlins opened the front door and stood on the landing watching them. Actor held his hand out for Teresa. She placed hers in his and scooted over, swinging her feet out. Actor felt her grip tighten when she stood and her eyes squeezed tight shut.
"Are you going to pass out?" asked Craig, who had joined them.
"No," denied the girl, not letting go of the Italian's strong hand. "My head is going to explode."
"Let's get you inside and lying down," suggested Actor.
He picked her up, her arm going naturally around his neck.
"You've done this before, haven't you?" she whispered in his ear.
"Unfortunately, many times. You seem to have a penchant for injuring yourself." His voice was low.
"I'm sorry," she said contritely.
"Don't be," he replied. "I do not like what you do when you are not with us, but I understand it. Besides, you have taken care of me . . . and the others . . . numerous times."
She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Were you ever like this? I mean your brains scrambled?"
He couldn't help smiling at her description. "Yes. And it took weeks before any memory returned."
"Did it all come back?"
He didn't answer for a second as he ascended the inside stairs. For the first time, he admitted, "There are a few permanent holes. Not large ones. Nothing I think are of much importance. Just spaces in my childhood."
"That should be important," she contradicted.
"In my case, I think not."
The Sgt./Major had intercepted Garrison, so Actor and Terry were alone when he carried her into her bedroom. Actor set her on her feet and turned the covers back on her bed.
"The trip must have been tiring for you," he said solicitously.
She nodded and sat on the edge of the bed while he brought her a nightgown. When he turned to go, Terry reached out and caught his hand. He stopped and looked questioningly at her.
"Could you come back later?" she asked tentatively. "I . . . I have questions. About us, what we do. Me. You. Me . . ."
Garrison's footsteps could be heard on the stairs. Terry dropped Actor's hand.
"Yes," he said quietly. In a normal firm tone of voice, he added, "And I do not want you attempting the stairs without someone with you."
"What are you, my father?" she shot back at him instinctively following his lead.
Actor gave her a sharp look of indignation. She would remember something like that. Giving him a contrite look, she started to say something, but Garrison reached her door.
"No. I'm your physician here."
"Yes, Sir."
"Now the man's lips tightened in offense.
She looked at him apologetically, "Yes . . . Actor."
"That's better," he said still offended. Actor turned and stepped around the Lieutenant. "Excuse me, Warden." He strode out the door.
Now Garrison could grin while shaking his head at his sister.
"Is he always that easily offended?" asked Terry.
"No," replied Craig. "But you still seem to know how to punch his buttons."
"I'm sorry. He seems like a nice enough man," she observed.
That remark almost had Craig laughing. He somehow managed to keep his face down to a grin. "He's a confidence man, Terry."
"Yes, I know. But he still seems like a nice one, even if he is a bit stand-offish."
Garrison knew he had to get out of there or explain what he found so funny. "Take a nap," he suggested. "We'll wake you for dinner."
He left her and made his way downstairs. About halfway done the chuckle won out. Actor was at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him. Garrison nodded for him to come into the office. The others were bringing their bags and guns from the trunk of the Packard inside. Actor shut the door to keep the others out.
"Now what?" the Italian asked in response to the officer's mirth.
"Terry thinks you're a nice enough man, just a little stand-offish as she put it." Garrison opened his desk drawer only to find the bottle of bourbon and glasses missing. He shrugged at the Italian and shoved the desk drawer closed. "You have your hands full with her," he said.
Actor accepted that they would not be toasting each other unless it was with water. "She's your sister," he said. "You have your hands full." He sat in the chair, facing the Lieutenant.
"You're going to have to retrain her," pointed out Craig.
Actor gave a humph. "I'm sure."
Craig sat down in his desk chair and was finally able to relax. "Sgt./Major says the truck with the rest of the antiques is about an hour behind us." Garrison eyed his second-in-command. "So, we have the intact antiques and the firearms. Care to tell me where the money is?"
"Of course, Warden," said Actor calmly. "It's in my pocket, where it belongs. After all, it is my money."
"And what happened to the three men?" asked Garrison, waiting to see what the official explanation would be.
"I thought it was self-explanatory," said Actor. "Perhaps if we call Kit at the Fox, she will be kind enough to send us more bourbon, Warden."
Yes, there wasn't going to be an easy explanation. "I'm sure if you pay her she will. Now what's the story behind the three unconscious men?"
"Two wanted to run and one wanted to fight. We could not allow that until the MPs arrived. None of them were shot . . . at your request. Chief only slightly nicked one of them to get his attention."
"And the one with the bandage and the bleeding face?" probed Craig.
"Ah, that one. He was the one who wished to fight. Casino was not in the mood for an alley fight. However, he thought the man should have matching injuries, in retribution." Actor gave his patent smile, which told Garrison there was more to the story and he wasn't going to get it.
"Was he the one who hit Terry?" asked Craig.
"I don't know. I am sure Major Richards will find out," replied the confidence man, confidently.
"I'm sure."
"Leftenant Garrison!"
Garrison shook his head and Actor grinned. Both men got up. Garrison allowed Actor out through the door.
"Yes, Sgt./Major?" said Craig from the doorway.
"Where are the things that were stolen?" the skinny man with the beak nose asked in alarm.
"The rest of it should arrived boxed up. We can deal with it tomorrow," said Garrison.
"And what about the guns? The lock is broken on the gun case," asked Rawlins.
"Just put them back in the case. We'll see about getting the case repaired tomorrow.
"Hey, Warden," said Casino. "How about lettin' us go to the Doves tonight? Seein' as we're out of booze and all." The safecracker grinned.
"As long as you don't get in any fights," admonished Garrison. "I'm not up to bailing you out of jail."
"No problem, Babe," said Casino with his usual cockiness.
GGG
Supper that night turned out to be a problem. The fare prepared by the Sgt./Major consisted of over-boiled fresh English peas with marble-sized potatoes, canned pork and beans, and . . . Spam.
"I'm sorry, Leftenant," apologized the non-com. "There weren't much left in the ice box and I couldn't get to the farm market."
This was Friday and the next farm market wasn't until the following Wednesday. They all knew it too.
"Awww , , ," groaned Casino.
Even Garrison wasn't ready for that many more days of rations. He eyed Goniff with a cock of his head. "Goniff, you know who Terry's suppliers are?"
"O' course I do," said the pickpocket happily.
"The ones in London?" continued Craig.
Goniff nodded. "You want me to take a run back to London?" he asked uncertainly.
"Unless you want to keep eating this," said Casino grumpily.
"Tomorrow morning?" asked Actor hopefully. "They took my tobacco. I need to get some more."
"You're the one with the money, Dad," said Chief.
"Chief . . ." objected the con man to the term.
"It's slang, Actor," the Indian grinned.
"HEY!"
All six men swiveled their heads toward the loud yell.
"She's on the stairs," said Chief.
Garrison shook his head and pushed back from the table. Actor followed him as he headed for the stairs.
Terry was only down a couple steps and holding onto the bannister with one hand and her head with the other. "Was anybody going to wake me up and feed me?"
"You were sleeping nicely, when I checked on you last," said Actor
"Do you want to come to the table?" asked the girl's brother.
The rest of the stairs received a dubious look. "Uh , , , no."
Actor glanced at Garrison. "If you can get her back in her room, I will bring up a plate of . . ." he was hesitant to call it food, "what we are eating."
The two men exchanged a look questioning what the girl's reaction to her first meal home was going to be. Actor turned back to the dining room and Garrison went up the stairs to persuade his sister to get back in the bed.
A few minutes later, Actor entered the bedroom with a plate of food and a glass of milk on a tray. He set it across her lap and backed up, noting Garrison had also. The two men watched the myriad of expressions cross the girl's face as she poked dubiously at what was on the plate.
"Peas from the garden?"
"Yes," answered Craig.
"He dug up my potatoes?" she asked sadly. "They have another couple months to go."
Neither man said anything to that.
The fork poked at the slab of Spam. "Rations?"
Both men nodded.
Garrison took a breath. "He said we were out of food in the icebox. He isn't able to drive yet so he couldn't go get anything."
"Oh." It was said in a tiny voice.
Garrison tried to spin it better for her. "Actor's going back to London tomorrow to get food."
Terry glanced up at the tall man. "Take Goniff. He knows who I buy from."
The two men looked at the girl with identical raised eyebrows. She made a face at them.
"It's coming back," said Terry. "Just not fast enough for me and not enough."
"Eat your supper," said Craig, "and we'll go finish ours."
"Maybe," said the Italian under his breath.
GGG
After dinner, three of the cons headed out for the Doves. Actor remained behind. He knew if he went he would be footing the liquor bill. Besides, he had promised Teresa he would come back and talk with her. The Lieutenant was locked up in his office, trying to type some semblance with a report though what had transpired over the past few days wasn't exactly a mission.
The Italian entered the girl's bedroom and took a seat on the desk chair, close to her.
"What do you wish to discuss?" he asked in a friendly tone.
"I can picture you in my mind, but it's like a thick fog around you. If I could just cut through it, I'd remember you. Is that normal or am I really bonkers?"
Actor smiled. "It's normal. And you're only a little more 'bonkers' than you normally are."
"Payback?" she asked in amusement.
"Perhaps."
"Why don't I remember people?" Her eyebrows furrowed.
"Each concussion is different. Perhaps it depends on which part of your brain is injured," said Actor. "For a time, I did not remember you. Then, the flashes began. Just little snippets of places we were together. Things you had done. Things we had done together."
"Sex?" asked Terry, avoiding his eyes.
She would come up with that one, he thought. "No," he replied. It was probably not prudent to tell her they had been lovers if she didn't remember it. "Why that?" he asked curiously though.
Teresa's voice lowered to a whisper. "Clara told me I had spent the night with you and she found evidence we had . . ."
Ehh! Clara was a dear woman, but he wished she would quit playing matchmaker for him. He pondered how to answer this.
"Yes, our . . . relationship . . . evolved into a more intimate one on one occasion."
Terry shot a look of apprehension up at him. "Good heavens! Craig doesn't know, does he? He'll hurt you. One way or another he'll hurt you."
Dio! She still had that fear.
"No, the Lieutenant does not know. Nor does he know about my house."
"Or you're name. You're not Victor, you're Vittorio." She looked at him apologetically. "Clara told me that too. Borghese is familiar, but it doesn't sound right."
Good thing they were having this conversation in private. "It is not correct. If you do not remember it, it is better that way. You won't slip up."
Terry took a different tack. "What exactly is it we do?" she asked. "Major Richards said you and I work cons together. What kind of cons? Cons against the Germans?"
Actor nodded. "Cons against the Germans. I usually portray an SS officer. Depending on the situation, you act as my companion or wife."
Her eyebrows rose at that.
He continued, "We generally go to parties with the intent of my either giving false information to the Germans or gleaning information from them."
"So, what do I do?" she asked curiously.
"Most of the time, you stay with me. You hang back, listening, and you bring me food from the buffet tables if there are any."
"Ah, a good little Deutsche frau."
That brought a raise of Actor's eyebrows. "How much German do you remember?"
She shook her head. "I speak it?"
Actor nodded. "You are fluent in German, French and Italian, and you speak some Spanish, but it is not Castilian Spanish. As the Lieutenant says, you both speak more border Mexican."
"What else does being your wife or mistress entail?"
"Small signs of affection at times. Touching, kissing."
Terry just stared silently at him. She frowned as thought trying to remember. Able to read her mind, Actor leaned forward and placing a light kiss on her lips. She made face as though that was acceptable. She crooked a finger at him and gave him a light kiss in return.
"We'll have to work on that," he said. Maybe it wouldn't be quite so exasperating as the first time he had tried to teach her.
"Thanks a lot," she said in disgust.
With a chuckle, Actor told her to go back to sleep.
GGGGG
Days passed with more heavy rain. It was almost welcome when the phone rang, and Garrison went to Brandonshire to be briefed.
The house had almost returned to normal. The pantry was stocked with Black Market food. The liquor cabinet and everyone's personal supply had been filled. Terry was able to make it downstairs. As usual with her, she was pushing herself. More of her memory was coming back, there seemed to be a block against her remembering Actor, a man she had been intimate with and had some questionable kind of relationship with.
Terry sat in Chief's window seat, watching the transport truck pull out with her brother and the others. She should be with them. The con would be better if Actor had a mistress with him at the party. It would make his con more believable, and it would keep away the distraction of women trying to climb all over him. She gave a little smile. Craig had become used to Terry running interference, even if Actor sometimes found it annoying. Funny, she could remember some things like that, but not him. She was having to learn him all over again, and she still had the feeling he was holding things back from her.
The throbbing was starting up again in her skull. It was too dangerous for her to jump out of an airplane and her reflexes weren't always sharp. That made her a hazard to herself and the others. But sitting in the Mansion doing nothing was difficult. She wasn't trusted yet to drive into Brandonshire by herself and working the Fox would be too much activity for her. She carefully leaned her head back against the cold frame of the window and closed her eyes. That just seemed to make the throbbing worse.
"Can I get you anything, Miss Terry?"
She gave a start and looked at Rawlins, giving him a little smile. "I don't know which would be worse for me, more aspirin or a shot of bourbon."
"Probably neither would be good for you right now," said the Sgt./Major.
She nodded in agreement.
"I'm sorry, Miss. I know staying with me isn't something you want to do," said the man quietly.
Terry studied him. "I don't know. Maybe we are just having a cultural misunderstanding."
Rawlins thin lips stretched into a rare smile. "At the very least, Miss."
Terry cocked her head. "First off, when we're alone at least, drop the Miss and just call me Terry. Gilbert?"
The thin line widened. "Gil."
"Hi Gil," grinned Terry.
"'Allo, Terry," he grinned back.
Terry seemed to ponder a minute. "Well, aspirin and bourbon are out. Ma used to give Kelly a sugar tit for pain. That might work."
"I beg your pardon, Mi . . . Terry?" The Sgt./Major's eyes widened.
Terry laughed. "Not literally. Kelly was colicky as a baby. Ma used to take a piece of wet cloth and tie sugar in it and let Kelly suck on it. Seemed to make the pain more bearable. I was thinking more along the lines of raiding the biscuit stash. Care to join me?"
"Ah, yes," the man said in relief. "And maybe a cuppa would help?"
"Okay." She slipped off the ledge and to her feet to follow Rawlins toward the kitchen. "You realize you and Goniff are never going to turn me into a tea drinker."
"Now, there isn't anything better than a good cuppa for wot ails you," said Rawlins knowingly.
"Yeah there is; a good strong cup of real coffee," shot back Terry.
10
