83. Could, Should, Will, Maybe
Chapter 4
Chief sprinted across the road, ahead of the others and began to circle toward the parked vehicle, watching for Miller and Wagner. The others spread out, but not widely, and followed. The Indian had a pistol in his left hand and his blade open in his right. He circled around the vehicle and noticed tracks leading into the woods away from them. One set of footprints had slid, and heels had been dug into the dirt.
Apparently, Wagner hadn't wanted to go with Miller. Didn't take much brains, with the other two dead, for Wagner to figure out he was next. There was no sound or sign of a struggle up ahead, so Chief figured they had gone farther away from the road. Chief disappeared into the bushes and made his way back to Miller's car. He gave a birdcall before reaching it so they wouldn't shoot him by accident.
Trotting up to the back of the car, he met the others. Looking to Actor, Chief said, "They went on farther into the woods. One of 'em didn't wanna go."
"Understandably," said Actor.
"What now?" asked Casino.
Actor wanted Miller and wanted him badly. He had shot Garrison the last time. Now it appeared he was killing his men without hesitation or remorse.
"Chief and I will go after Miller," said the Italian in a low voice. "Casino, you and Goniff watch the car. He might circle back and try to leave."
"Wot do we do if he does come back?" asked Goniff.
"Blow him away," said Casino with certainty. "Anybody who'd do what he did to those two men of his is askin' to be offed."
"Just be careful," cautioned Actor. "He is not someone to underestimate."
"Yeah, yeah," said Casino. "We know what we're doin'."
Actor sincerely hoped so. He motioned for Chief to go off to the right and he went to the left. The other two went into the woods to watch.
Goniff looked at Casino as they crouched behind a bush. "You think he'll come back?"
"Naw," said Casino quietly. "I got my money on Geronimo findin' him first." He looked around and listened. Not hearing anything he added, "I'm gonna park our car down at the road. Make it a little harder to get out if he does come back and we can't nail him."
Goniff looked at him sharply. "Wot if he comes back before you get back?"
"He won't," said the safecracker cockily. "And if he does, shoot him."
Casino got up and disappeared down to the road and to get the car.
Goniff did not like bein' alone with that nasty bloke out there somewhere. Still an' all, Casino was probably right. Chiefy would probably get 'im in no time. So, the pickpocket stayed squatted behind the bush and watched.
The sun came out from behind a cloud and light through the trees glinted on something bright and shiny on the ground in front of the car. Goniff was torn. It was shiny. He wanted to go look, but probably should wait for Casino to come back. Still . . . there was no noise. He'd be quick. Run up and grab it and come back.
Still he hesitated, but only for a second. Eyes whipping around to see if anyone was there, Goniff ran nimbly to the vehicle. He stooped down and picked up a medallion on a chain. As he was about to straighten, he saw the boots next to him. He lunged toward the man but heard a 'pfft' sound and pain tore into his right arm. Goniff tried again to tackle the man. A hand in a karate chop, hit him between his shoulder and neck, and he went down. Stunned, he tried to turn around, to get away, to look up at Miller. The little derringer in German's hand was aimed at his face.
The sound of an approaching car engine abruptly turned off. Miller had a choice. He could kill the Englishman and the safecracker who would return in a matter of seconds, or do what he really wanted to do, which was track down and kill that verdammt Italian confidence man. He had managed to find Miller and Garrison and not only had gotten Garrison back, but the diamonds as well, killing Otto in the process. The Indian was not here either and Miller wanted him because he had led the others to the boat. Pocketing the derringer, the German turned away and disappeared into the woods.
Casino went back to the bushes he and Goniff had been hiding behind.Limey wasn't there. Glancing around quickly, Casino spotted the blond man lying on the ground in front of the car.
He had to take the chance. Running in a crouch, gun in hand, Casino went down on one knee beside the now moaning pickpocket. He grabbed Goniff by the collar and half dragged him back into the woods.
The man seemed dazed and still moaning. Blood covered the sleeve on his right upper arm. Something was in Goniff's left fingers. Casino pulled it away and looked at it. It was a shiny silver metal on a chain. The dumb Limey just had to go get something shiny.
"Hey, Goniff, look at me," hissed Casino.
Blue eyes opened and focused on his face.
"What happened?" demanded the safecracker in a low voice.
"I don' know," said Goniff shakily. "I never heard him. I saw 'is boots. He shot me. I looked up and he were pointin' a little gun, like Actor has, at me. One second he were there, the next he was gone."
"You just had to go shopping for your mum, didn't yuh?"
Casino helped him sit up and began peeling the jacket off him. It was wet with more than blood. Casino looked closer at it. Radiator fluid? He glanced toward the front of the car. There was a puddle growing underneath the front bumper. Well, Miller wasn't going anywhere with that car. The bullet must have gone through the Limey's arm and hit the radiator behind him. Casino pulled his bandana from his pocket and twirled it into a rope, tying it over the wound. He wasn't about to leave the Cockney to get an aid kit. It would have to wait until Actor and Chief got back. If Miller didn't kill them first.
The con man and the scout had made their own discovery. The body, what was left of it, was lying under a tree. Wagner had been gutted and by the location of his hands over the wound, he had been alive when his throat was cut.
Miller was out there somewhere, and Actor wanted him badly. The methods of killing his three men, meant Miller had planned how to do it based on each man's specialty. The man was sick. Cold-blooded and sick to do the things he had done. Knowing what Miller was capable of made the con man realize if they hadn't rescued Garrison when they had, something worse would have happened to him than just the bullet wound to the shoulder.
"Let us spread out," Actor said to Chief. "We don't know if he is ahead of us or behind us."
"What about him?" asked Chief nodding to the dead man.
"There is nothing we can do for him now," said Actor.
The Italian glanced around and headed off into the woods to his left. He did not see, nor hear, Chief go off to the right. Actor moved quickly and silently from tree to tree, gun in hand, to stop and listen for any movement. As it was, he came to a small clearing and Miller stepped out from behind a tree to face him.
Actor looked calmly at Miller, who had become his nemesis. Both men had a pistol aimed at the other. Miller was as calm in appearance as Actor.
"It would seem we have a standoff, my friend," said Miller in cynical amusement. "if either of us pulls the trigger, the other will also. Hence, we both die."
"Some things, and some people, are worth dying for," replied Actor, realizing that was true.
Miller gave a tiny, crooked grin. "Your loyalty to those men is so noble," he said with derision.
"And your lack of loyalty to yours is so uncouth," said Actor with the same amount of disgust.
He saw Chief emerge from behind a tree and begin to creep up on the German. Actor had to keep Miller occupied.
"Tell me," he asked conversationally, "do you remember any of their names?"
Miller shrugged his good shoulder, his gun hand never wavering. "Names mean nothing. It is how much ability the men have. None of these had enough."
"Mine do and have proven that to you," said Actor, baited him, chancing the man would not squeeze the trigger.
"And soon they will die with you," retorted the German.
Chief acted lightning fast. His left fist came around and hit the crippled shoulder while his knife was buried to the hilt up beneath the man's ribcage. Actor lunged to his right as the gun in Miller's hand fired. Chief twisted the knife and withdrew it at the same time he spun Miller around and shoved him hard. The gun flew from the man's hand and his eyes widened in shock as he crashed to the ground. Chief kicked the pistol away and watched Miller closely. That wound would bleed out in a few minutes, but Chief couldn't take the chance of turning to look at the confidence man. For all he knew, the Italian was dead.
"Actor?" was all Chief could say.
The confidence man knew he was hit. He looked down the length of his body. The only blood, and pain, came from his left shoulder. "I'm alive," he said.
"You hit?" asked Chief with a faint touch of worry in his voice.
"Yes," replied Actor. He sat up on the ground, unbuttoned the two top buttons of the jacket and lifted the edge to peer at the wound. "Same damned place again!"
If things had not been so intense Chief would have laughed at Actor's swearing in English. His eyes never left Miller. He heard Actor struggle to his feet and felt the man stop behind his left shoulder.
Actor stared down dispassionately at the gray face of the German who had tried so hard to kill them all. There was a blue tinge around the man's lips and his breathing was labored.
"Leave him," said Actor. "He can't hurt us now. He will be dead in a few minutes."
Chief shook his head. "Get outta here. I'll catch up."
Actor knew what was on the young man's mind. He was reverting back to his pre-group life.
"You think I can't watch this?" asked the con man.
"Yeah, you can. We all have nightmares. This is one you don't need. Don't mean nothin' to me," said Chief. "Just another face."
Actor unsteadily bent to retrieve Miller's gun.
"Leave him," repeated Actor.
"No," said Chief emotionlessly. We coulda, we shoulda, we didn't, now we will."
Actor stood out of reach to the side of the supine man and aimed the pistol at Miller, not at his head, but at his belly. Let him die in his own filth as he had done to Wagner.
Chief sighed and stepped forward. He kicked the German's shoulder, which brought a sharp cry from the blue lips that were now bubbling blood. In a rapid move, he bent down and shoved his blade up under Miller's ribs and gave a twist. There was the beginning of a moan and the eyes stared sightlessly up at the sky.
Actor stared down at the body and felt nothing. He would later. He watched Chief pull the knife out and wipe the blade on Miller's shirt before putting it back in his harness.
Chief looked at him, seeing the pain in Actor's eyes and blood on his shirt front. With one last look at the body on the ground, he walked over to the con man.
"Yuh didn't have to, Actor," he admonished.
"So? Now we will share the same nightmare."
"You need help?" asked Chief.
"No, I can make it."
The Indian wasn't so sure about that but led the way back toward the road.
Casino and Goniff looked up at the sound of the two gunshots close together. The safecracker got a hand under the pickpocket's good arm and pulled him up on his feet.
"Come on," he said. "I'll leave you in our car. I gotta go see what that was. If one of 'em is hit, they're gonna need help."
He helped Goniff to the car, made sure the Cockney had his gun, and disappeared back into the woods.
Goniff held the pistol tight in his hand. Somebody was either shot or dead. If it wasn't Miller, then it was Actor or Chief. Miller could be coming back. His car was useless, but he might try to take this one. The pickpocket sat and nervously watched.
Chief heard the sounds of someone moving in the woods before Actor could and held a hand back to stop the con man. They silently stepped behind two trees. Chief made a bird call.
"Okay, Geronimo, where are you?" came Casino's voice.
The other two stepped back onto the trail they had been on. Casino came out from behind a bush.
"You get him?" asked the safecracker.
"Yeah," said Chief, "we got him."
Casino looked at the dangling left arm and bloody tunic on Actor. "That looks worse than Goniff."
"Goniff's hit?" demanded Actor.
"Yeah, but not as bad as that looks." Casino shook his head. "Same shoulder. Same place?"
Chief almost cracked a smile. "Ain't it always?" he remarked before Actor could.
"Slug still in there?"
"No," said Actor with a sigh. "This one went through."
Casino shook his head. "As many times as you been hit there you oughta have a regular tunnel through it."
The con man ignored that remark. "How badly is Goniff hurt?"
The three started walking back toward the cars.
"A deep slice through his upper arm. Didn't hit bone or anything."
Each step was torture to the Italian. Every movement made the shoulder burn like fire. Actor could only imagine what the Warden had felt on that mission with Richards to get the German general. They had walked a mile before the wound could be adequately taken care of and then he had flown the plane back to England. This was only a short walk back to the car for Actor.
They paused at Miller's car. Chief looked at the pool of radiator fluid beneath and in front of the vehicle.
"Who shot the car?" he asked, opening the side door and digging under the seat for an aide kit. His fingers touched a metal box and he pulled it out. There was a red cross on the lid.
"Miller," said Casino. "He shot the Limey through the arm and it hit the radiator. Didn't know you could do that with that little pop gun like Actor's."
"At close range, anything is possible," said Actor.
They walked to their car, with Goniff in the front seat. The Englishman jumped out and took in Actor's shoulder.
"Ruddy same place again?" he asked.
"Of course,' answered Casino quickly. "Yuh don't think he wants to get any new scars, do you?"
Actor graced the safecracker with a sharp glare. "Take care of Goniff's arm first."
"You're hurt worse than he is," pointed out Casino.
"Yes, however we need to get out of here," objected the con man. "Fix Goniff up first and he can ride in the front with Chief while you patch me up in the back."
"Yeah, okay," grumbled Casino.
Chief looked at Actor. "Any idea where we're goin'?"
Actor nodded. "Back the way we came, but bypass Heidelberg and follow the river down. We will backtrack the way Teresa went and cross as though we are going to Mulhouse. Once across the river, we will take the road down to Saint-Louis. Hopefully we can find a backway into Basel. From Basel we go back to Zurich and the doctor."
"We gonna stay in your big chateau again, Actor?" asked Casino.
"It is probably occupied," Actor said. "I am sure the good doctor can find us other accommodations."
"Why all the way to Zurich?" questioned Chief.
"Because, as we know, it has an air field." He gave a small, crooked grin. "I, for one, would like to get back to England as quickly as possible."
All Actor wanted to do was sit down and keep his arm from dangling. Any movement was excruciating in his shoulder. He remained standing though so he could oversee Casino treat Goniff's wound. When the safecracker had the pickpocket sitting on the edge of the backseat and peeled the shirt off the wound, Actor leaned against the car to watch.
Casino washed the skin around the bullet crease with peroxide. The crease was deeper than some but did not appear to do much muscle damage. Still it needed suturing. Actor wasn't sure if he would be able to do it adequately. It required two hands and at the moment only one of his worked.
Casino took the procaine out of the aid kit and picked up the syringe. He drew some of the local anesthetic up like he knew what he was doing.
"You may have to tape the wound closed for now," advised Actor. "I am not sure I will be able to suture it."
"Nobody's askin' you to," said Casino, not looking up and injecting the local around the wound. He picked up the packet of suture and opened it.
"You are going to attempt to stitch it?" asked the con man in surprise.
"I ain't attempting it, I'm doing it. Just keep your shirt on," said the safecracker back.
"You know how," said Actor dubiously.
"Yeah, I know how to do it," shot back Casino. "Sister taught me and Chief. Seeing as you keep getting in the way of a bullet and all."
Actor remained silent and was surprised the man did a decent job of it. He watched Casino sprinkle sulfa powder over it when he was done, cover it with gauze and tie roller gauze around Goniff's upper arm.
"Okay, Limey, in the front seat. It's Beautiful's turn."
Goniff got up and peered at Actor. "You don't look good. You doin' all right, Mate?"
"Lovely," replied Actor tersely.
Goniff climbed into the front passenger seat as Casino got out of the car. The safecracker helped Actor shed his bloody tunic and get the injured shoulder out of the no longer white shirt. Casino helped ease Actor into the back of the car, surprised the con man allowed him to. He must be hurtin' thought the cracksman. Casino trotted around the back of the car and got in the other side. He was barely settled with the door closed when Chief took off.
"Cross over to Mulhouse?" asked the scout.
"Yes," replied Actor tightly. "Stop at Freiburg. We will need to switch cars and find new jackets for myself and Goniff. Do you have enough gas?"
"Yeah, and there's a half a can in the trunk yet," replied Chief.
The conman tried to relax back against the seat, but the least little bounce jarred the shoulder. He leaned his head back, closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on his breathing and not Casino's fingers trying to clean the entrance wound. After a few minutes, the safecracker helped him lean forward to he could deal with the wound in back.
"Jeez, Actor," said Casino when he got the blood pretty much cleaned from around the hole. "You did it good this time. You think it clipped your collar bone?"
"No," replied Actor tensely. "I know it did."
Casino wasn't sure what he could do. "Yuh know, I might be able to stitch up that front hole, but I don't know about the back one."
"Don't suture either one of them. Pack them with sulfa and gauze and tape them well with pressure," instructed the con man. "We will go back to Dr. Műller in Zurich. He can deal with it."
"That's a long ride," remarked Casino.
"Yes, I know." He probably knew even better than the safecracker.
Casino followed Actor's instructions. The Italian's lower jaw jutted out, but he made no sound. When the wound was dressed, Actor rested back against the seat. Casino opened the jacket and pulled the papers from the inner pocket, putting them on the seat between them. He opened the jacket up and spread it over the con man so the bloody part was not as visible to anyone looking into the car from the driver's side.
"I got a morphine styrette. You want it?" offered Casino. The exit wound was ugly and must hurt like hell.
Actor shook his head. "I might have to run a con to get us through a roadblock."
The trip back to the river and down to Frieberg, while still long was quicker than it had been from Heidelberg to where they had disposed of Miller. Chief parked the car behind a bombed out building and he and Casino went in search of a new vehicle and some cleaner uniforms for the con man and Goniff.
The two men remained silent. Goniff started fidgeting, which did not help Actor's mind or his pain any. Finally Goniff couldn't stand it any longer and he reached up to turn the rearview mirror so he could see the man in the back seat.
Hesitantly, the little blond asked, "Uh, Actor, you need anything?"
Actor was not sure what the pickpocket could get or do for him but was somewhat surprised at the offer.
"No," he said, "but thank you."
Actor wished he could go to sleep, but the pain in his shoulder and his worrying about the rest of the trip to Zurich did not allow him to rest. He kept his eyes closed to slits in the hopes it would keep the pickpocket from chattering. Though he could not see much from where he was anyway, he kept his ears open for any sounds of unwelcome visitors. Goniff's head moving rapidly back and forth told Actor he was watching for trouble.
It was an hour before they heard a car slow and turn in behind them. Actor struggled to turn so he could see if it was the Germans or the other two men. Goniff was looking over the back seat.
"It's Chiefy and Casino," the pickpocket said with relief.
Casino was opening Actor's car door in a second. "Come on, Beautiful. Let's get you outta there and dressed and into the new wheels.
He helped Actor out and with Chief's help got a new, clean white shirt on him, more gauze over the back of the shoulder, and the new wool tunic on him. The three walked to the back door of the new stolen vehicle and Actor was eased inside. Goniff had followed on his own but had the foresight to grab the remains of the aid kit from the back seat where Casino had been.
"Didn't see any roadblocks, Actor," reported Chief.
"Good," said the con man. "There most likely will not be any until we try to cross the Rhine."
Casino helped Goniff into the front seat and jumped in the back. "Come on, let's get outta here."