Chapter 3 – Countermove

Richards stormed out of the interrogation room that held the leader of the mercenaries and looked at Garrison and his team. "He won't co-operate, none of them will, I can't get anything out of him. I've tried everything, threats, prison but he won't say a word."

Garrison stood up. "Let me at him, I'll make him talk."

Chief got to his feet and raised a hand. "No use Warden, he knows you can't do nothin' to him, you're army officers and you got a code. Now us on the other hand, we ain't got no rules 'n regulations." He looked at the safe-cracker. "You wanna lend a hand Pappy?"

Casino grinned as he rubbed his sore arm and nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, I owe that punk for doin' this in the fight."

The mercenary looked up as the door opened again, he expected the commando officer to return and was surprised as two dark-haired figures, dressed in fatigues walked silently in. One of the newcomers leaned against the wall, folded his arms and gave him a belligerent stare, the other sat down, leaned back, rested a leg on the metal table between them and put a matchstick in his mouth. They stared steadily at the mercenary for a full five minutes, watching him looking back, trying to gauge who they were, what they were going to do.

The mercenary leaned forward in his chair and glared at the two men. "What you tryin' to do, stare me to death?"

Chief took the matchstick out of his mouth. "You ever been in prison friend?"

The mercenary was confused by the unexpected question. "No, why?"

Chief took his leg off the table and rested his elbows on there instead. "I have, spent almost half my life in there. I hear Leavenworth can be pretty bad. That right Casino?"

The safe-cracker gave the mercenary a cold look. "That's right babe. They'll eat someone like you for breakfast."

"What do you mean 'someone like me'?" snarled the man as he pulled himself together.

Casino kept his voice low and menacing. "I mean they don't like traitors, 'specially those who rat out their own to the Krauts."

The mercenary snorted contemptuously. "I can take care of myself."

Chief leaned forward, his voice was quiet and threatening. "Really? How long can you stay awake? Days? Weeks? The bulls won't be anywhere near when the cons decide to take you down, they'll be havin' a break somewhere far away from your screamin'. If you're lucky they'll kill you quick but I doubt it, there's lots o' ways they can get their fun, I've seen what they can do, it'll take days." He watched the matchstick as he rolled it between his fingers and thumb. "You may think you're strong but believe me friend..." the matchstick snapped in two "...you'll break 'n it won't be pleasant. How long you give him before they get him Casino? One, two weeks?"

"Days," stated the safe-cracker matter-of-factly. "I knew some o' them weirdos in Leavenworth personally, they were just down the block from me, they ain't pleasant believe me babe."

The mercenary laughed. "You're two of Garrison's cons aren't you? Hardin told me all about you, I'm not afraid of some no good thieves."

Chief dropped the two pieces of matchstick on the table. "Did Hardin tell you about Garrison's pet breed, the one who had a knife at his throat, the cold-blooded killer that's sittin' across the table from you now?"

The mercenary shifted uneasily in his chair, he hadn't recognised Chief from the offensive description Hardin had given and he wasn't what he'd been expecting, the shackles clinked. "Garrison's dog, that's you? You can't do anything to me in here, there's people outside."

Casino moved, stood in front of the door, locked it and leaned against it, he fixed the mercenary with a cold, emotionless stare. "Yeah, right babe. It'll take 'em at least five minutes to get in, Geronimo here can kill you in two seconds, I seen 'im do it."

Chief's knife appeared in his hand, he opened it and laid it down on the table with the blade pointed towards the mercenary. "Yeah, I'm 'Garrison's dog'. You think I care if someone's outside? I was nearly killed 'cos o' what Hardin did. I doubt Richards 'n Garrison'll hurry in to save you. I'm a lot closer 'n they are friend 'n I will kill you if you don't tell me all about Hardin, where he is 'n what he's plannin', it's your choice, make it a good'n."

Fifteen minutes after they'd gone in Chief and Casino walked out the room. The safe-cracker waved an expansive hand at the door. "You can go back in Major, he's willin' to make a deal." Garrison and Richards looked at the two men and then at each other, the Major waved for a soldier to accompany him and walked into the interrogation room.

Casino angrily grabbed Chief by the arm, pulled him round and glared at him. "Geronimo, don't you ever let me hear you call yourself 'Garrison's dog' or his 'pet breed' again, it's bad enough hearin' it comin' outta someone else's mouth without it comin' outta yours. You ain't no-one's dog, you're my friend 'n I won't let you put yourself down like that."

Chief put his hand over Casino's. "Thanks Pappy, but 'dog' 'n 'breed' are what I've been called all my life, it's hard to shake off."

Casino raised a warning finger. "Well shake it off baby or I'll shake it off for you."

Garrison listened to the exchange with a concerned expression. "If he doesn't I definitely will." He pointed to the door. "What did you two do to make him change his mind?"

Chief shrugged. "Just talked to him. Did you think we was gonna hang him up 'n torture it outta him Warden?"

Garrison shuddered and momentarily went pale as the image of Chief's lifeless, bloody body flashed in front of his eyes, the nightmares constantly hovering at the back of his mind threatened to rush forward and engulf him, he could hear the screams, his back crawled and he felt clammy and cold. "You ok Warden?" Chief's concerned voice broke through the fog and scattered the horrendous dreams into wisps of nothing. "You feelin' alright?"

Garrison took a deep breath, pulled himself together, leaned heavily on his cane and gave his friend a small, reassuring smile. "I'm fine Chief, it's just my leg playing up that's all. I think I've been pushing my limits as much as you have."

Chief didn't believe a word, he'd seen the look on Garrison's face whenever Caen was mentioned or he saw the wounds on his body, he knew Garrison felt guilty about what happened despite his reassurances that it wasn't his fault. Like most men Garrison bottled things up and tried to tough it out, but Chief knew it had hit him hard. A couple of times recently he'd heard his own voice whispering out of Garrison's office late at night as he replayed the tape he'd taken from Major Richards at the hospital, reliving the horror of Caen and what it had nearly cost him and the team.

Chief was worried, Richards shouldn't have handed the tape over but he couldn't march into the Warden's office and destroy it. He had his own nightmares about his torture in Caen that woke him in the middle of the night and he knew he had to lay those demons to rest or eventually go mad. He wanted to sit down with Garrison and talk about it, but not yet, everything was still too recent and too raw for both of them, all Chief could do was keep an eye on his friend and be there for him when things exploded, he knew Garrison well enough by now to know that would be the case, it was just a matter of time.

GG-GG-GG

Five jeeps were parked outside the mansion and the Warden's office was full of men. Garrison spread out a map on the table. "We know where Hardin is, he's set up base eight miles away on Mersea Island. He's in a farmhouse, our source didn't know exactly where so we'll have to look for him. The island's in the Blackwater and Colne estuaries to the south-east of Colchester and is accessible by one road, the 'Strood', that means we can cut off his only means of escape."

Casino looked at the map. "Unless he's got a boat or can walk on water Warden."

Garrison nodded. "I'll arrange for an MGB to patrol offshore just in case he can do either." He looked at Actor, Goniff and Casino. "We 'persuaded' the leader of the mercenaries to phone Jack and tell him they were successful in kidnapping you. I expect he'll be contacting me soon to gloat about it and arrange your release. Is everything ready?"

Goniff got out his cigarettes, looked around and realised he didn't have enough for everyone. "Me 'n Casino have loaded up the jeeps with radios, weapons 'n ammunition, we got enough to invade Europe let alone Mersea Island."

Suddenly the shrill ring of the telephone on Garrison's desk made everyone jump, Garrison held up a hand for everyone to remain quiet and nodded to Chief who was closest, he put the phone on speaker. A familiar voice echoed round the room. "You there Craig?"

Chief's voice was calm and level. "What's up Hardin?"

"Well if it isn't Craig's breed, you still barking dog? Where's my ol' buddy? I don't wanna talk to his mangy cur."

"Don't rile me Hardin, you already know I bite." Chief felt Garrison's presence as he limped over and stood beside him.

Garrison spoke up. "What do you want Jack?"

Hardin gave a short laugh. "You missing any men?

Garrison looked up at the men gathered around and smiled, Hardin didn't know his kidnap attempt had failed and his mercenaries captured. He took a deep breath and shouted at the phone. "You took my men? Where are they? So help me Jack if you've harmed Actor, Goniff or Casino you'll pay for it."

"They're with my mercs." Jack's voice was contemptuously triumphant, Casino felt his fists bunching. "Spare me your bleeding heart speeches pal, get yourself and that breed of yours to Ardleigh, I'll meet you there outside The Lion pub in an hour, make sure it's just the two of you or I'll kill the ones I got."

"Don't you hurt my men, Jack. Chief and I are on our way." The line went dead.

Drummond looked at the phone. "Pleasant lad isn't he?"

"You don't know the half of it." Garrison looked closely at the map and placed a finger on it. "Ardleigh, that's north-east of here, Jack's leading us away from where he's holed up."

Actor nodded. "What's the betting there'll be another ambush waiting for you?"

"Odds on baby." Casino pointed to the map. "They'll most probably try it along this road. Hardin knows how handy Geronimo is with that blade o' his so there'll most probably be more'n six this time."

Drummond stepped forward. "With your permission Sir, I'll phone Major Richards and arrange a little reception party for Hardin's men, there's plenty of room in the stockade for a few more occupants."

Garrison nodded. "Be my guest Drum, tell the Major we'll be adding to the number shortly."

Drummond picked up the phone and started dialling. "Yes Sir."

After Drummond had made his call, Garrison made one of his own. "The local police are going to help, they'll block off the Strood while we search the island. How well do you know it Drum?"

The large, bearded commando grinned. "We all know Mersea Island very well, we hold regular exercises there, it's mostly farms and there's not a lot of places to hide. What are your orders Lieutenant?"

Garrison had been looking at a larger, more detailed map of the area. "We'll go down, set up the radios so we can keep in touch and monitor what's going on." Garrison looked up at everyone. "I'm sorry I don't know all your names yet so I'll call you by your squad number. We've got five jeeps so you can split up and do your own searches, everyone stay in contact so we can move quick as soon as we find out where Jack is." He looked up at Drummond. "Have we got medical supplies, if anyone's wounded we'll need them."

Drummond nodded. "Yes Sir, each jeep has a medical kit and each team has a man trained in basic first aid."

"Alright, let's go." Garrison picked up his cane and lead the way outside to where the jeeps were parked. Chief swung into the driver's seat of their jeep and watched as Garrison climbed in to take shotgun, he knew it was no use asking him to stay behind, this was definitely personal. Actor, Goniff and Casino sat in the back with their radio. They waited for Drummond and the Navajos to get in their vehicles and then Chief lead the way south to Mersea Island.