Instead of hiding in alleys and watching for patrols, Chief drove boldly down the main thoroughfare, past where he was supposed to be going and turned down a side street. Now he took to the alleys. Another ten minutes of wandering in and out, brought him to the back entrance of a bakery where he parked between the trash bin and the delivery van.
"We're here, Dad," said Chief to the older man in the backseat.
Actor made no move to get out. Rene, he remembered. Password 'ocean' and countersign 'sea.' Not that they were anywhere near that large of a body of water. Cautiously, he got out and removed the tunic and hat, tossing them inside on the seat beside Casino.
"Thanks," came a disgruntled voice from the back.
Actor ignored it and walked up to the back door. He knocked lightly and waited. The covering to a small square peephole slid back.
"Excuse me," said the confidence man, "I was wondering if you could tell me which road to take to the ocean."
There was a pause before a low voice said, "It is a long way to the ocean. The sea is much closer."
"Rene?" asked the Italian.
"You are Actor," said Rene. "You were with Garrison before."
"Yes," affirmed Actor. "He is not with us this time. However, we are in need of lodging until morning."
There was muffled low voices and the peephole was closed. The sound of a bolt being pulled back was heard before the door opened slowly. The balding head of the short man looked around it and up at Actor's face. The man nodded and opened the door wider.
Actor beckoned for the others to come. They got out of the car and silently joined the confidence man, Casino carrying the rest of the 'Colonel's' uniform. They stopped in the little back foyer to the stairs up into the attic and waited while Rene closed and bolted the door.
"You are lucky," said the baker. "The room upstairs is not occupied tonight. How long do you wish to stay?"
Actor shook his head. "Only until morning. We will leave at six-thirty."
Rene nodded. "That will be fine. Make yourselves comfortable and I will send up some food for you."
The four men went up to the dusty attic room. Casino tossed the rest of Actor's uniform on a bench and sprawled in a chair at the long table. He kept quiet until after blankets and a tray of leftover rolls and cheese had been brought up to them. The fiery safecracker broke a roll apart and stuck a slab of cheese between the two halves.
"Okay, Beautiful," he said eyeing the con man. "What was that all about in the general's office? Musta been some con."
Actor sat down at the table. "I appealed to his loyalty to the SS. I said Miller was a spy for the Abwehr, obtaining crucial information from the Allies in London. However he seemed to be playing both ends and was also selling German secrets to the Allies. The Abwehr had taken one of my men and put him with Miller. The man turned up dead. I pointed out it was preferable for the SS to get this Miller and whoever he was really working for than to allow the Abwehr to have him. And I wanted revenge for my dead man."
"He bought that?" asked Goniff in disbelief.
"Oh yes," grinned Actor. "He was most helpful. He is setting up roadblocks to find out which direction Miller is going in. He will notify us in the morning. They will not detain Miller, but they will be looking for the car and the license number."
Chief, standing by the door, smiled. "I don't know who has bigger ones, Actor, you or the Warden."
"They're both crazy," said Casino in a tone that was not particularly complementary.
Actor was beginning to have moments of thinking the same thing. He lifted his tunic and removed the map from the inner pocket before shaking the dust off the uniform, folding it carefully and laying it over the back of a chair. Sitting down at the table, the con man spread the map out in front of him and absently cut off a piece of cheese and took a roll. Making a sandwich as Casino had, he took a bite and began studying the roads from Heidelberg to the various other cities and on to Berlin.
Still never completely comfortable in being the leader of these men, it was times like this he wished Garrison were with them. Very odd for him, he felt he partnered well with the younger regular military man. And, though he had a very good head for planning and cons, it was sometimes that old adage of 'two heads were better than one.' Even if the other head had a tendency for more audacious cons than Actor himself.
Most of the routes led over mountainous areas that could present good places for an ambush and disappearance. If Miller was heading for Berlin, it would have to be done before he reached it.
"Hey, Actor," Goniff broke into the Italian's train of thought. "If we do find out which way these blokes are going, then wot?"
Actor looked up to find three pair of eyes watching him. "It will depend on what Miller's destination is. If we allow him to reach Berlin, it will be more difficult for us to abduct him."
"That's some great plan yuh got there," groused the safecracker. "Okay," he continued. "say we do catch up with them, and we 'ab – duct' them. Then what? What are we going to do with 'em?"
Chief was the one who answered. "We can't let 'em get away with what they're doin'." He looked at the older man. "Yuh know at some point we're gonna have to kill 'em."
"Most likely," agreed Actor. "And preferably some place remote where they won't be found for a very long time."
It was not uncommon for them to kill Germans. However, there was a difference between suddenly having to do it and plotting to kill someone. A confidence man used his superior intellect to con his way into and out of situations. The plan was never to kill his mark.
"We will deal with it when the time comes," Actor added firmly.
GGGGG
There seemed to be an inordinate number of roadblocks tonight, thought Miller. Naturally, they were not informed of the reason. It seemed odd that the soldiers were looking the car over. It made the photographer/spy wonder if they were being followed.
Gagnon seemed unable to come up with a reason for them to be on the road at night, and Miller was forced to show his papers from Berlin. It irritated the man to no end. Gagnon was decent at the con if he was coached on what to say and do, but he was becoming a liability. One that would have to be dealt with soon.
After they were through the roadblock, Miller instructed Wagner, who was driving to turn off on a smaller road. It would take longer to get to Berlin, and it was over the mountains, but it was less traveled, and anything could happen on these mountain roads. It was probably safer from the roadblocks too.
They traveled slowly for another hour before Miller called for a stop. Wagner turned up a track disappearing into woods and stopped when told.
Dummköpf, thought Miller. This one was by no means as good as Otto had been. It was time to do something about it. In the morning there would be one less to worry about. In the event the body was found, it was less suspicious if there was only one. And Miller would make sure it would be a long time before Gagnon was found.
The two men slept in the car, while Miller kept watch down by the road. Nary a car passed by the rest of the night. He waited until it was light and watched the two men in the car from the cover of some bushes.
Luckily, it was Gagnon who got out first and went into the woods. Silently, Miller followed him. While the French con man was addressing a tree, Miller picked up a rock and moved up swiftly behind Gagnon, hitting him hard enough on the head to make him lose consciousness. With no emotion, Miller flipped the man onto his back and reached into his mouth. The rock was replaced by a switchblade from Miller's pocket.
Wagner was suspicious when Miller returned to the car from the direction Gagnon had gone and without the con man.
"Get in the car and drive," instructed Miller steadily.
"What about Pierre?" asked Wagner as he got behind the wheel.
"He won't be joining us."
GGGGG
At seven o'clock in the morning, Col. Meisner, Leutnant Schmidt, and the un-named not quite Aryan appearing corporal were back in the office of Gen. Klein. The general was happy to report the vehicle and men they were looking for had passed through three checkpoints on the road to Berlin. The bad news was they had disappeared somewhere between the third and fourth roadblock. Klein was amenable to showing Meisner the locations of the roadblocks on his map.
"Thank you, Herr General," said Actor, folding the map up and putting it back in the inner pocket of his tunic. "You're assistance has been most appreciated."
"Do you think you can find this Miller?" asked the older man.
Actor gave s small smile. "I am confident we will be able to locate him. We must. We cannot allow the Abwehr to make him disappear."
The general smiled in return. "My thoughts exactly," he said. "You will keep me informed?"
"Natűrlich, Herr General," assured Actor.
With a smile and a crisp stiff armed salute, the conman turned and led his two men out of the office and out to the car. He got in the back, followed by Casino, with Goniff getting in front with Chief.
"Where to?" asked Chief.
Actor pulled the map from his inside pocket and studied the roads. He gave Chief a road number and directions that would take them to the first roadblock Miller had been spotted at. They would continue through the three and try to come across where the spy might have disappeared to.
The drive was long, but the roadblocks were no problem. They were waved through on the basis of Actor's alias being used by General Klein. When they reached the third one Miller had gone through, Col. Meisner asked when the car had come through. It had been several hours ago. Actor instructed in Chief in carefully rehearsed German to continue down the road in the direction of the roadblock Miller had not been seen at.
It had been another long drive. Every car and driver they passed was scrutinized to see if Miller had switched vehicles. There were few vehicles, cars, trucks or otherwise, and none were being driven by one of Miller's men. Actor had been following their route on the map. There was only one side road that would take Miller over the mountains and on to Berlin by a different route. When they were well past the last roadblock, Actor had Chief pull over and showed him where to go on the map.
"When 're we going to eat?" asked the pickpocket in a whiny voice. "I'm starving."
Actor sighed. "I am sorry, Goniff. As you probably noticed, there are no towns on this road, and none on the road we will be turning on. I think you'll live."
Casino laughed, then frowned. "Hey, Actor, what about gasoline for this buggy?"
That thought had been on the Italian's mind. Chief took care of it.
"I talked to that Rene guy," said the Indian. "They put jerry cans in the trunk. We can probably get to Berlin."
Actor acknowledged to himself that Chief had been improving since joining the group. He had come in sullen, only able to do what he was told, and way to fond of that knife. He was still too fond of the knife as far as Actor was concerned, but he was reading, asking questions, and educating himself with assistance from the con man and Garrison. However, he was able to think on his own now to a greater, and welcome, extent. The said younger man handed the map over the back of the seat and pulled the car back out on the road.
They turned right at the dirt side road that Actor had pointed out on the map. Chief slowed the car down and watched the sides of the road while he drove.
"Okay," began Casino yet again. "If we know he went this way and he's headed for Berlin, how come we didn't just go up to the other road and catch him when he got to us?"
It was a valid question, thought Actor. "Because if he turned off, it is because he has figured out someone is looking for him. He will assume that is what we would have done. With the information he has, he does not have to be in a hurry to get to Berlin to hand it over. So, we must assume he is going to hide some place for a sufficient amount of time for us to pass him by."
"If we find where these blokes turned off," Goniff picked up the thread of thought, "then 'e's waiting for us. 'Ow are we not gonna walk into a trap?"
"If we find where he has turned off this road, we split up and circle around until we have them in crossfire," explained Actor.
"Oh." That quieted Goniff down.
Except for himself and Chief, the other two had not deliberately killed someone that was not in self-defense. Jaeger attacking Teresa came to mind. Some of that was pure rage on his part. And it may not even come to that. Miller did have a significant head start. If he had stopped to rest and watch the road, then he might not be that far ahead. If he had gone on, he could be halfway to Berlin by now. Actor doubted he would go that fast thinking there were an unknown number of people looking for him on the main road to the German city.
Chief almost passed the dirt track into the woods. His eyes spotted fairly new tire tracks. He slowed to a stop.
"Did you see something?" asked Actor.
"Maybe," replied the younger man. "Looked like a car might have gone up that track back there."
"Can you hide the car in the trees? We'll get out and circle around. Perhaps we will find them, or signs they have been there."
"Okay," said Chief.
He pulled slowly forward until he found a likely spot with a lot of bushes. He pulled past it and backed the big car in between trees until he had it behind a thicket of solid bushes, unseen from the road.
The four got out and split up to a make a circle around the dirt track Chief had seen. The woods were quiet and dark, with only dappled light filtering through in spots. Casino and Goniff went across the road and made their way up past the track before cutting back across and into the woods. Chief disappeared the minute Actor turned his head, heading farther back to cut down from the top.
The Englishman stuck close to Casino. The safecracker mentally shook his head. Limey was fearless running across roofs and climbing walls like a monkey, but he didn't like doing anything alone.
Actor moved cautiously toward the track, gun held steadily in his right hand. There were no voices, no sounds of anyone's presence. He reached the dirt trail but stayed inside the woods to follow it farther in.
Chief slipped carefully from tree to tree until he came out where the track should be. It had apparently ended closer to the road. There were normal noises of birds and a slight breeze through the tree tops. As he worked his way in the direction of the road, he heard flies. That wasn't a good sign. A few yards farther and he found what the flies had already discovered. Flies and ants.
The Indian looked down dispassionately at the remains of the man on the ground. Rigor had set in and the limbs were stiff. Yup, the ants and flies were having a good feast. Chief sighed and gave the call of a night bird.
Not long after that the other three men showed up. Actor stepped up alongside of the body. Goniff took one look and backed up, swallowing hard. Actor nudged the near arm with the shiny toe of his black jackboot. It was stiff as a tree limb.
"How long ago," asked Casino.
"At least two hours," estimated the con man.
"You think Miller did that?" the safecracker asked.
"Most likely."
"So he's at least two hours ahead of us?" continued Casino.
"Possibly," replied Actor. "He still has one man with him. He seems to be eliminating them one at a time."
Despite his queasy stomach, Goniff had a morbid curiosity. "Uh, Actor, what's that thing between his eyes?"
"His tongue, Stupid," shot back Casino. He looked at Actor now. "That's Gag – non, the con man, isn't it?"
"Yes, that is Gagnon," Actor answered with the French pronunciation of the name.
It was Chief's turn. "What now, Actor?"
"Now I suggest we get back on the road and try to find where he turned off again. I would imagine we will find another body."
"Aw, come on, Beautiful," scoffed the safecracker. "I still think he's halfway to Berlin by now."
"No," answered Actor uncharacteristically. "Miller has one more man with him, the killer from the Wehrmacht. He can't afford witnesses to what he has done. Also, if that man has any brains, he knows his time is very limited before Miller kills him too."
"So we find the next body and then we go after Miller before he gets to Berlin?" It was more a statement from the safecracker.
Actor nodded. He walked away from the body and headed for the road. They went back to the car and waited while Chief and Casino filled the tank from the gas cans. Getting back in, this time with Actor in the front with Chief and Casino riding in the back with Goniff, they continued down the road.
It was another forty minutes before they spotted not only the tire tracks, but the car itself off to the right in a clearing, partially visible from the road in the trees and brush. Chief kept on driving around a curve, stopped and backed into the woods across the road.