82. Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda, Didn't
Chapter 7
"I didn't hear the General come back last night," noted Chief as they sat at the kitchen table with coffee and scrambled eggs.
"I don't believe he did," agreed Actor.
"Is that good or bad?" asked Casino, around a bite of eggs.
Actor shook his head. "I don't know."
They didn't wait long to find out. The front door opened, and General Garrison came into the dining room and looked at the men in the kitchen.
"Can we get you breakfast, General?" asked Goniff. After all the man was the Warden's and Terry's father.
"No thank you," said Will, ignoring Goniff and looking directly at the tall Italian at the far head of the table. "Actor, I need you now," he said.
Actor looked up at him and down at his half-finished breakfast.
"Bring that with you," said Garrison. "Any coffee left?"
Chief stood up and retrieved a coffee cup from the cupboard behind him and handed it to the older Garrison. "Coffee's on the hob."
Will poured himself a cup and went out of the kitchen, not bothering to see if the confidence man was following or not. Actor slowly pushed his chair back, refilled his coffee cup, picked up his plate of food and strolled out the door.
"Bet the Warden and Terry were glad to see the old man leave when they were growing up." said Casino.
"No bet, Mate," said Goniff.
Actor hid his surprise that Garrison was sitting in the chair facing the desk and not in the Lieutenant's desk chair. Without asking, he took his seat behind the desk with the remains of his breakfast.
"Can you type?" asked Will, following a sip of steaming coffee.
"Yes," said Actor, beginning to feel a bit irritated. "I am sure Major Richards has someone in his office who can type."
"Yes, but not anyone I would trust with this," grinned the General. "I will tell you how to set it up, but I want you to type up the plans for the invasion of Belgium."
The right corner of Actor's mouth turned up into a grin. "I assume we are going through with the plan to give the Prime Minister the papers from the War Department and a set for Major Richards' safe?"
Will pulled his pipe and tobacco pouch from his inside pocket and began to build a pipe. "With a little bit of a revision in the logistics." Concentrating on what he was doing, Will continued, "General Eisenhower is in town. He will give the papers to the Prime Minister and give the copies to Major Richards in General Fremont's office this afternoon."
Actor took paper from the top right desk drawer, turned his chair after a bite of scrambled egg, and inserted the paper behind the roller of the typewriter.
"And General Eisenhower is going to order Gen. Fremont to remove the guards from the here, so you men have freedom to get out of the Mansion and into trouble," added Will.
"Do you think General Fremont is in on this little espionage ring?" asked Actor calmly.
Will shook his head. "I doubt it, but someone has to be listening or talking to someone who is."
Knowing the General, the Lieutenant and Teresa by now, the fact the American head of the European theatre was involved in this did not surprise Actor in the least.
"All right, General," said Actor, "shall we begin?"
GGGGG
Terry had already had breakfast with Kat in her apartment. The older woman was not happy with the plan set for tonight.
"You're going to get yourself killed," she complained.
"Can't," replied the girl. "Too much at stake." She took a sip of coffee. "I am going to my SOE contact in a couple hours, have him stand by near the dead drop site, and he can take the microfilm by plane to Major Richards. If things go well, I should be back here by midnight and the microfilm should be to Major Richards by morning."
"And then what?" demanded Kat. "You are going back to kill these people? Just you?"
Terry shook her head. "No. It'll be up to Richards how he wants it taken care of. If he sends the guys over here, I'll be with them, but I won't try to do it on my own."
"Well, at least you have a little sense left," Kat said with disgust.
GGG
That night, Terry wondered if Kat's assessment of her was a little overly optimistic. She was in the alley behind Miller's shop, in the dark, alone. The girl tried not to let herself think of all the possible bad consequences of what she was doing. She just wished Goniff or Casino were here. She carefully slipped the blade of her knife between the two windows and slowly moved it upward until it came against the latch. With a firmer hold, she applied more pressure to the upward movement of the knife and watched the latch lift. Terry moved the right side of the window away from her to clear the latch and stopped. Fingers gently and carefully felt along the sill and the edge of the window. There were no wires. Closing the knife and putting it in her pocket, and then holding her breath, she eased the window open more. Now she could get her hand inside and she gingerly felt along the other window. No wire. Next, she pushed the right side of the window into the room, looked up and down the alley one more time, and climbed inside.
Holding her breath, Terry listened for any sound that might indicate someone was in the office. It was silent. Carefully she eased the window almost shut and pulled the drapes together. Her eyes were adjusting to the dark so she could tell she was in the room Miller used for his photo shoots. A desk was to her right and close to a wall and open door. Walking on the balls of her feet, the girl made sure the drapes on the front windows were closed and would not allow any light out. Returning to the desk, she turned the desk lamp on.
Terry seriously doubted the man would leave any incriminating papers in the desk, but she checked anyway. Only an appointment book, whose last entry was about the time her brother and his men had gone after the industrial diamonds. Next, she checked all the paintings on the walls for a safe and came up empty. She even lifted the corners of rugs to see if there was a floor safe. Still nothing.
She moved into the large darkroom and closed the door silently behind her before flipping on the overhead white light. Looking around the room, she was vaguely impressed with the quality of equipment the man had. Starting along the wall by the door, Terry slowly made her way around the room, looking in drawers and behind things on the counters and shelves.
Starting on the second wall, she opened cabinet doors and poked through items on shelves. A file folder was almost overlooked beneath boxes of photographic paper. Terry brought it over to the work table and opened it. Her brother's name and face stared back at her from the top sheet of handwritten notes. The handwriting was script-like, though not as flowery as Actor's. Beneath the page on Garrison, was one on the confidence man with his nom de guerre. Casino, Chief and Goniff followed, all with pictures that, if she recalled correctly, were the same as the ones on their dossier's in Craig's locked drawer.
Beneath Goniff's page were more papers. She couldn't believe what she was looking at. Was the man nuts, or just so arrogant and sure of himself that he would include dossiers of the men who were part of his group now, with a candid picture of each attached to their sheets? Definitely arrogant and maybe a little nuts.
The light from the bare bulb above the work table wasn't enough to take good pictures, so Terry took the folder out to the desk in the main room. She replaced the bulb in the desk lamp and took out the tiny microfilm camera. She shot two pictures of each page, put the camera back in her pocket and changed the light bulb back out for the original one.
Now she took the time to quickly read each page. The man had done his homework. There was documentation on how each of them had worked their trade in the bank to get the diamonds from the safe deposit box, right down to the "blond Englishman" dropping the keys while Craig tried to let him open the locked door to that particular safe deposit box. There wasn't much on Chief, probably because he had been doing the driving. The page on Casino had very detailed notes on how precise the man had been with the explosives. The notes on Actor were about his ability to lead the men in the chase after Garrison, his demeaner as a German officer and as a foppish 'cousin' to the deceased mailman. Garrison's cat and mouse verbal sparring in the morgue with Miller was said with some admiration as was the officer's ability to send Miller falling out of the boat and into the river while so badly wounded.
The only thing Terry was vaguely aware of was the fact Miller had been left behind and alive in the guys' haste to get Craig to safety. She would think more about it later. Now she returned the file to its hiding place and wiped down the areas of the desk and cupboard she had touched. Making sure to leave everything just as she had found it, she turned the lights off, opened the drapes over the window on the alley, and let herself carefully back out.
There was a bit of an adrenaline rush to having succeeded in doing this on her own, but she would be perfectly happy leaving this sort of thing to the guys. Going straight to the train station, she boarded the train for Zurich with the ticket she had purchased ahead of time. An hour and a half later, she was in Zurich and on her way by foot to the dead drop. George stepped out of the shadows when she got there. She handed him the camera with the microfilm inside and headed back to Duchess's apartment.
Kat had waited up for her and locked the door behind her. "Did you get it?" she asked.
Terry nodded. "Dossier's on Craig and the guys, and dossiers on his new group."
"Bastardo arrogante," said the older woman in disgust.
Terry grinned to herself. This was the Duchess from her teen-age years, not the one Actor knew.
"I'm almost afraid to stay with you, Kat," said the girl, shrugging out of her coat. "It's dangerous enough for you by me making the calls from here."
The older blonde woman shook her elegantly coiffed head and smiled. "I think we can both handle ourselves." She grinned. "You are not the same girl who was in Roma."
"That was another lifetime," said Terry ruefully.
She sat down on the sofa and pulled the telephone onto her lap and started the call to Major Richards' office. It went through in only twenty minutes this time.
Major Richards waited impatiently for the call to continue through.
"Kevin?"
"Terry, are you all right and did you get the proof?" he asked sharply.
Terry spoke urgently, "I'm fine. Kevin, listen to me. Let the guys out of the Mansion give them free rein to come here after Frank Miller. He's behind all this."
"I need proof," objected the Major. "You know that."
"A courier has a very interesting roll of microfilm and is on his way to you," explained Terry. "Miller has been after Craig and the guys since that industrial diamond caper."
"Why?"
Terry shook her head even though he couldn't see her. "Revenge? Blame them for what he is doing? It keeps the heat off him." Before Richards could respond, she continued. "Kevin, talk to General Fremont. Make him understand the guys need to go after Miller and clear themselves. And stop the stealing of Allied plans and giving them to the Germans."
"Terry, calm down and listen to me," said Richards steadily. "The guards have been pulled off. There is another plan at work here. But I have to have those pictures before I can send Lt. Garrison's men to Switzerland."
"Wait a minute," the girl frowned. "How did you do that? You don't have enough rank to pull that on Fremont."
"No, but I had a little help," grinned Kevin, glancing at the General sitting on a chair beside his desk.
"What kind of help?" asked Terry suspiciously.
"A man from the States . . . with three stars."
"Three-star?" asked Terry quizzically. "Who?"
"Last name should be familiar. It is the same as yours."
Terry sprang up straight as a ramrod. "What's Dad doing there?"
Kevin grinned at the older man. "I believe Actor sent a distress signal to him. He is here and assisting in any way he can."
This was getting crazier. Terry frowned. "Where's my brother?"
Kevin took a deep breath, knowing there would be a blowup on that one. "Stockade."
"What!" Terry went ballistic as expected. "Kevin, get him out of there!"
Gen. Garrison could hear his daughter and took the phone from Richards. "Terry, listen to me. I trust you got proof for us. That proof needs to go to General Fremont. We have a plan to take care of this situation, but I am not discussing it over the phone and your brother is staying right there in his nice safe jail cell. I want you to come back here . . . now."
"Sorry, Dad, I'm in this on this end. Send the guys here." Terry could be as stubborn as the men in the family.
"Just keep in touch," growled Will. His children were sure stubborn.
GGGGG
In the meantime, Casino had strongly suggested they all go to the Doves. Actor thought that was a very good idea on a couple levels. They would be seen, and it would give further credence to them being out and about so another break-in after the plans could be attempted by Miller. It settled Goniff and Casino down. And it might make Chief a little less antsy.
It didn't quite work out that way. The scout was more interested in disappearing into the woods alone than going to the pub and possibly getting into another fight. The three men climbed into the Packard that was now at their disposal since General Garrison had taken a liking to Terry's Tickford. They looked back at Chief to make sure he had not changed his mind, but the man had disappeared into the darkness on the slight breeze.
As the men stepped around the blackout curtain into the bar, the first whiff was of the cigarette smoke that swirled up by the ceiling. It was a busy night and the buzz of voices, punctuated by drunken laughter was the second thing that registered. Yes, it was good to be back. Goniff and Casino went in search of a table while Actor stepped up to the bar to buy the first pitcher.
Robbie, the bartender, spotted him and came over as fast as he could. "A pitcher?" he asked.
"Yes, if you would be so kind," responded the Italian.
The tall thin man returned with a tray holding a pitcher of ale and glasses. He took Actor's money and studied the confidence man.
"I know you can't tell us," Robbie said, "but we have noticed the number of guards at your 'residence' and none of you have been in. And we haven't seen Terry in weeks. I hope nothing has happened to her again."
'No," assured Actor. "She is fine, just not here. The guards were due to a large misunderstanding that was resolved in our favor." He smiled.
Robbie brought back Actor's change. "It's good to have you gentlemen back and the young lady is okay."
"It is good to be back," returned the con man. "Thank you."
He joined the two men at their table. A few poker games for Casino and their presence would be noted and spoken of. The first step in baiting a trap.
GGGGG
Terry, moved out of Kat's apartment, borrowed a flat from the resistance in Basel and became somewhat of a regular at the two cafes in the vicinity of Miller photography shop. She watched the comings and goings of Miller and his new group of presumably convicts or at least felons and kept notes on the times. It only took four days before there was unusual activity.
All five men had staggered their arrival at the shop. An hour later, they left together, all carrying kits. Terry watched them leave and when they were gone, headed back to her apartment. She tossed her coat on the back of a chair and picked up the telephone, first checking it for bugs. The twenty minute wait for the call to go through made her want to grit her teeth. Finally, she was rewarded by Major Richards answering on his end.
"Kevin," said Terry. "I hope you have that trap baited. There is an influx of rats headed your way."
"Ah, that is wonderful," said the Major with a grin in his voice. "Now, I want you to stay in your apartment and be close to the phone." He hung up and placed a call to the Mansion. The person he wanted answered the phone. "Actor, you need to come to my office first thing in the morning. What is it you Americans say? Showtime?"
There was a deep chuckle on the other end of the line.
To Be Continued . . .