Chapter 2 – Garrison HQ

Actor, Casino and Goniff waved goodbye to Garrison and Chief as they got into a taxi to go pick up Madge and Ruby and then travel to the railway station to catch the London train. Ten minutes later a staff car with a General's flag on the bonnet pulled into the drive, the driver got out, saluted, opened the boot for their bags and then opened a back door, he waited silently as they climbed in, returned to the driver's seat and drove away.

The one hundred and sixty mile journey bypassed London and took the car through beautiful Essex, Surrey and Hampshire countryside, untouched by the ravages of war. Garrison relaxed in the back seat and dozed, grateful he had a quiet travel companion. Chief watched the scenery pass by and wondered why he had to be on this trip. They'd gotten halfway to their destination when Garrison spotted a small country pub, he asked the driver to pull over so they could have lunch. Chief got out and stretched carefully, grimacing as his wounds pulled tight and his muscles ached, he turned to see Garrison leaning on the top of the car watching him with concern. "You ok? Did Actor look at your back before we left?"

Chief nodded. "Uh huh, he put some salve on first thing. Just got stiff from sittin' too long."

Garrison gave his scout a knowing look. "Don't try to con me Chief, I can see you're hurting."

Chief pointed to the pub. "Knock it off Warden, you're gettin' as bad as Goniff, we eatin' or not?"

After a leisurely lunch they got back in the car and continued on the journey. Finally the car slowed down and pulled onto a gravel drive leading up to a large country house, Garrison turned to Chief and grinned. "Here we are Chief, HQ. Don't hold this against me, I had my orders."

Chief gave the Warden a quizzical look. "What you talkin' about?"

Garrison nodded towards the house and gave his friend an artful look. "You'll see."

The front door opened as the car pulled up outside, two people walked out into the afternoon sunshine. One was a grey-haired man wearing military fatigues, he was tall, broad-shouldered and stockily built but it looked to be mostly muscle, the other was a striking, light brown-haired woman, she was tall and slim, wearing a flowery summer dress and cardigan. Chief intently examined the man as they got nearer and saw he bore a remarkable resemblance to the Warden, only older. He turned to look at Garrison and saw the self-satisfied expression on his face, the one he wore when one of his plans succeeded.

Chief opened his door and walked stiffly round to open Garrison's to find the driver had already gotten there before him. Garrison stepped carefully out and stumbled on the loose gravel as his plastered leg nearly slipped out from under him, Chief immediately reached out to steady him, wincing at the sudden movement, he reached in the car, pulled out Garrison's ebony cane and handed it to him.

Garrison nodded his thanks and started towards the couple waiting for them, he shook the man's hand and was immediately engulfed in a bear hug, he then turned to the woman, she reached out, put a hand on each cheek, pulled him down and kissed him before wrapping her arms round him, he laughed and enthusiastically hugged her in return. "Ma, Dad it's great to see you." He turned to find Chief was still standing by the car with a bemused look on his face. "Chief, welcome to Garrison HQ. These are my parents, Mary and George Garrison. Guys this is Chief as requested."

"More like ordered," said George with a smile. "You know what your mother's like when she sets her mind to something."

Mary walked up to Chief and took both his hands in hers, hazel/green eyes searched his face in surprise, she hadn't realised he'd be this young. Craig had told her about his scout but she'd expected someone older after hearing what he'd done. She tilted her head and smiled in welcome. "I'm so pleased to meet you Chief," her voice was warm and soothing. Chief realised his sheath was now visible on his right forearm, poking out from under his sleeve, he shrugged uncomfortably, trying to cover it up.

George Garrison strode over. "Don't embarrass the man Mary. Pleased to meet you Chief." He clapped a big hand on Chief's shoulder. Chief tried not to react to the unexpected contact but he couldn't stop himself flinching away, pulling his hands out of Mary's as he winced at the pain in his back. Mary gasped in surprise at the sudden movement and George narrowed his eyes "You ok son?"

Chief nodded, he glanced over to the Warden for reassurance. "Sorry."

George turned to the driver "Corporal get their bags and fetch them inside."

The older Garrisons lead the way into the house, they carried on through to the back kitchen. Chief walked to the middle of the entrance hall and stopped, he turned and looked at Garrison, he saw he still had the self-satisfied expression on his face. "You conned me Warden," he hissed. "You said we were meetin' a General 'n his Commander to debrief!"

Garrison chuckled. "My father is a three star General, remember? And my mother is most definitely our Commander. She's the one who gave the order to bring you along, I was told not to show up unless I had you with me. She can be relentless when she wants to be."

George was in the doorway and heard the exchange. "Craig's right Chief, Mary rules the roost as far as us Garrisons are concerned. What she says goes, even I won't disobey a direct order from her. She even had Ike shaking in his boots last week!"

A voice floated through from behind him. "I heard that. It's true, I did! But I was right, even Mamie agreed with me!"

George sighed. "I'm sure your mother, Mamie and Clementine Churchill are secretly running everything, us guys are just there for appearances' sake!"

Mary Garrison appeared behind her husband and ran her arms round his waist to hug him. "Truer words were never spoken honey. Craig, Chief come on through to the kitchen, you two must be starving after that long trip."

Garrison stepped forward eagerly. "Yes ma'am."

After a quick sandwich Garrison and Chief were shown up to their rooms to unpack. Chief looked out his window to see well kept lawns sweeping away, he could make out a large, forested area just over a mile away that stretched as far as he could see left and right, he could hear it calling, inviting him to come and explore it.

He looked round the room, there was an armoire against one wall, a chest of drawers and a big double bed, he felt tired and sore and decided to stretch out on it for a while. A couple of hours later he was surprised to be woken by a knock on the door. "Chief? You ready to come downstairs for dinner? We've got steak. How do you like yours?"

Chief got up, rubbed a hand through his hair and opened the door to see Garrison dressed casually in a shirt and jeans. "Don't know, didn't get steak in prison, whatever she gives me'll be fine."

"Medium rare it is. Come on, you can help me set the table."

Craig smiled as he watched Chief set out the plates and cutlery, he pointed out where to place the various items while he set out the wine glasses and napkins, he knew this was all new to Chief and didn't correct any errors he made. Chief wondered how he'd ever come to be doing normal, everyday things such as laying a table, he glanced at the man who'd made all this possible and listened to his instructions, trying hard not to do anything wrong.

The door from the kitchen was flung open and George walked through carrying a large serving plate piled with steaks, Mary was close behind with a bowl of fluffy, buttered mashed potatoes. "Craig, be a darling and fetch through the rest of the vegetables will you?" she called as she set the dish down.

Craig stopped and eyed the serving plate. "Where'd you manage to get steak like that? I heard there's a war on."

Mary smiled. "I know the local butcher, I told him I had two hungry war heroes to feed tonight and he was happy to help out."

George opened the drinks' cabinet, took out a bottle of wine and a corkscrew. "Red ok with you Chief?"

Chief recalled his terrible hangover when Actor, Goniff and Casino had plied him and the Warden with red wine laced with brandy to keep them from joining in blowing up up a German munitions factory in France. "Is it French?" he asked tentatively.

George looked at the label. "No, it's Italian, Barolo, it'll go well with the steak."

They all sat down, George poured the wine, the serving dishes were passed round. Chief took a little from each one. "Come on son, don't be shy," said George as he slapped a large hunk of steak on Chief's plate. Mary will you please give this young man a decent serving of potatoes and vegetables."

Chief looked helplessly at Garrison as Mary piled more food on his plate, Craig shrugged and smiled. "Fill your boots Chief, I think my mother's determined to stuff us 'til we burst, I certainly won't say no to a good home-cooked meal, especially if Ma's doing the cooking."

Chief took his cues from everyone else, he reached for the same knife to cut his steak, it was delicious, it melted in his mouth and tasted like nothing he'd had before, the buttered, mashed potatoes were equally as good. He sipped his wine when the Warden did and relaxed into the pleasure of having a family meal.

Conversation was kept light, with no mention of the war or what the team had done. Two bottles of Barolo were followed by a good brandy and cigars, Chief declined the cigars.

"Don't you smoke son?" asked George.

"No Sir." Chief picked up a matchstick. "I'll take one o' these if it's alright with you?"

George regarded Chief through a cloud of smoke. "Good for you. It's a bad habit."

Craig laughed. "Chief keeps telling me that as well. He beats my ass on the running track all the time, I just can't keep up with him."

Chief sat back in his chair. "If you don't mind me askin' what's that big wooded area I can see from my window?"

Mary answered. "It's the New Forest, but it's very old. William the Conqueror named it the New Forest in 1079. In those days, Winchester was the royal capital and he wanted somewhere handy so he could hunt deer, there are Fallow, Roe and Red deer living there as well as the famous New Forest ponies."

"My wife, the encyclopedia," laughed George.

Chief chewed on his matchstick. "Thanks ma'am."

After dinner Chief helped Mary take out the dishes and offered to assist cleaning up. "I won't hear of it," she replied. "You're a guest in my house. You and Craig are here to rest and get better. Why not have an early night, I expect Craig and the General have a lot to catch up on." She watched as Chief went upstairs to his room. "Such a young kid to be in all this mess," she thought as she went back to the washing up.

GG-GG-GG

The two Garrison men sat down in the living room with a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. The General poured two good measures, Mary walked in with a large glass of wine and settled down on the sofa next to her husband. "Chief's gone to bed, poor kid looks tired out."

Craig nodded. "He's exhausted but he won't give in." He took a quick sip of his drink and savoured the taste of the spirit. "Thanks for agreeing to this, Chief and I can rest up without being bothered, he hasn't stopped working with the Navajos since we got back and I was worried he was pushing himself too far."

George humphed. "Your mother jumped at the chance as soon as you suggested it Craig, she's missed you and wanted to meet the man responsible for bringing you home from Norway. I've arranged to work from here during your visit, London can always contact me by phone or courier but I'm sure I'll be dragged back there from time to time, after all there is a war on, but I'll make sure I'm home as much as possible, I've missed you too."

Craig smiled. "Not half as much as I've missed you guys." He paused and added quietly. "There were times I thought I'd never see you again."

George leaned back in his chair, lit and puffed on a cigar. "So tell us about Chief, I can't believe you just found him in prison."

Craig nodded and smiled grimly. "Yeah, it took me two months to find him, if I'd been a few days later he could've been dead, killed in a cage fight, he's tough but he was badly injured and in no condition to do what they were forcing him to do."

The expression on Mary's face showed her disgust. "That sounds barbaric and very illegal."

Craig put the glass down. "It is, I'm glad I was able to get him out when I did."

George leaned back and regarded his son as he sipped his bourbon. "You've certainly changed your tune from when you were trying to convince us that using convicts would be a good idea. What was it you said? Oh yes, it was something along the lines of 'why should these two-bit punks sit out the war in a comfy prison when they could be doing something useful, they weren't important and were a dime a dozen'. What happened?"

Craig gave his father a small, crooked smile. "They did. I found out that they might be cons but they're good men, all of them."

George chuckled quietly. "I'm glad you got that stick out your ass Craig. You were becoming insufferably opinionated, you didn't get that from your mother or me."

Craig looked at his drink. "I know, I guess it was the crowd of idiots I was with, they held strong views."

George snorted. "Speaking of idiots. I saw Jack Hardin a few weeks ago in London, he looked a bit worse for wear. He wasted no time in telling me what happened when he saw you last, he said a 'filthy breed' had a knife at his throat, I assume he meant Chief?"

Craig nodded. "Yeah, Jack insulted my men to their faces and then tried to attack me, Chief intervened and stopped me from beating the bastard to a pulp."

Mary shook her head in exasperation. "You could have been court-martialled again Craig, I for one am glad he stopped you."

"It doesn't matter any more, Jack's dead, Chief killed him a couple days ago. Major Richards found out he was one of the people who betrayed us to the Germans." Craig gave them a quick summary of what happened on Mersea Island.

Mary gasped. "Jack was going to kill you?"

Craig nodded. "Yeah, Chief stopped him."

George sipped his drink and gave his son a concerned look. "Is everything I read in the mission report about Caen correct son? I contacted Major Richards and he told me everything he knew about what happened, he sounded really shaken up about it and he's a commando!"

Craig picked up his glass and took a large swallow, he put it down, looked at his parents and nodded. "Thanks to Jack the Krauts knew who we were and were waiting for us. I broke my leg in the crash and was unconscious, Chief told them he was me. It was terrible, we all thought we'd lost him."

"Oh Craig." Mary saw the haunted expression on her son's face, she leaned forward and put her hand over his. Tonight was the first time Craig had really opened up and talked to them about what he was going through in the war, he usually kept things to himself and toughed it out, but his newfound friendship had started to change that, he seemed ready to talk about his experiences by talking about what Chief had done, Mary felt grateful for what had happened to bring about this change.

"Tell me everything that happened Craig." George said. They listened intently as Craig told them about the mission to Caen, at certain points they paled as they realised how close they'd come to losing their eldest child, Mary knew instinctively there was more. "What else has Chief done Craig?"

Craig emptied his glass and sighed heavily. "Saved my life more times than I care to think about," his eyes took on a distant look as he relived one particularly bad experience. "He pushed me out the way and took a bullet for me in Poland." He took a deep breath. "I didn't put it in my report but I parachuted into the Moselle river and nearly drowned, somehow Chief found me, dragged me out and got me breathing again."

The General raised his eyebrows in shock. "My God Craig. What else haven't you told us about?"

"If you've been reading the reports you'll know some of what happened on our mission in Norway when we were betrayed and ambushed - we found out Jack had a hand in that too. I know Chief didn't tell Fremont half of what happened when we debriefed."

George nodded his head. "Yes I read it and it seemed a little on the, shall I say, understated side."

Craig nodded his head slowly. "Chief's a man of few words, he prefers his actions to speak for him." He looked at his father trying to make sense of everything himself. "I was shot and taken prisoner, I can remember ordering Chief to get everyone out and take them back to England. I was wounded pretty bad and unconscious most of the time everything happened. Chief got the rest of the team to safety and then went back for me on his own, he ran over a mountain in the middle of the night to get to me."

George poured out some more bourbon, leaned forward and rested a calming hand on Craig's arm. "Go on son," he said softly.

Craig rubbed his face and then continued. "Somehow Chief got me out and drove me away. He saw the Germans hadn't treated my wounds and patched me up." George and Mary watched as their son wrestled with feelings of guilt, pain and anguish. "I was told we ended up stranded in a sleet storm in the middle of nowhere. He could've left me but he stayed and somehow managed to get help from the Resistance. We were taken to a doctor in Stavanger, I needed a blood transfusion so Chief offered his." Craig paused and took a large gulp of bourbon, he breathed out as the fiery liquid ran down his throat. "He held the doctor off at knifepoint until he passed out." Craig looked at his parents. "He was prepared to die for me, how can I repay him for that?"

George had a large sip of his drink as he realised the depth of Chief's loyalty to Craig and how profoundly it had affected his son. "Craig, I know that in war you make good friends, I've made a few. I think Chief is the best friend you'll ever have, I'm grateful you've got him by your side."

Craig let out a deep breath. "Me too. Chief has always had my back, he watches out for all of us."

George smiled. "That's why we're glad you suggested you two come here for a rest. As soon as your mother heard about Chief and what he'd done she insisted on meeting him, you know what your mother's like," he looked at his wife. "You're right we do owe Chief a big debt, what can we do?"

Craig reached for his glass and tossed back the last of the bourbon. "He'll never ask for anything, I've already tried."

Mary looked at her son and realised he was exhausted. "It's late, get to bed Craig, we'll have another talk later on." Craig picked up his cane and limped upstairs, he paused outside Chief's door, it all sounded quiet, he went to to his room.

George and Mary watched their son slowly climb the stairs and then went to their room. George knew Mary had been right when she agreed to Craig bringing Chief to come and stay with them, besides he couldn't deny his beloved wife anything where it concerned their children, he'd learned a long time ago you never go against a Garrison woman – they were formidable.