ggg

Vachon's wife was gone. He'd made a mad rush around the place when they first arrived and found her missing, and then a more systematic search with Actor once he'd calmed down. There was no sign of a struggle in the house or yard. Most of her things were there. She was wearing one of her better dresses he said, her favorite shoes, and the coat he'd purchased for her before Christmas. She only had one bag, and the other things that might be considered fine; her wedding ring, and the necklace he gave her when he proposed, she wore every day. He didn't expect her to do anything with the animals outside, and the house was kept in its usual manner.

The tire tracks in the yard belonged to a vehicle lighter than the one they were using; they didn't need Chief to tell them that. There was one young woman, Etalon remembered, that had a small car. She and Manette had been friends when she lived in town, before they were married. The young woman was married herself now he thought, and he heard that she was expecting…

...And that was the last they got out of him as they sat around the table in the kitchen. When Garrison asked him, he said he understood how important it was for them to know what he'd told the Germans, but he wasn't going to say a word until he knew his wife was safe. Casino growling threats didn't frighten him, even if Garrison had allowed him to make good on them. His first round of questioning had followed a course favored by the Germans. It was obvious from the condition of his face that he'd stood up to them; at least until they told him they knew where to find his wife.

g

Picking up information from roadblocks and German patrols led them to Etalon. Since there was no mention of a woman, they had no reason to look for one when they got into the complex. Since the man didn't know he was being rescued when they took him out of there, he had no reason to mention her until they were outside the gates. Even though there was no evidence of it, she could have been grabbed. Since Vachon was cynical or savvy enough to believe that, once he told them what they wanted to know, he probably wasn't going to get any help in finding out what had happened to his wife, and since Garrison wasn't the type to beat what he wanted out of someone who was supposed to be an ally, it looked like they were headed back to that newly built compound. The only question was, how they were going to do it.

It could be subtle, but the Warden's face, especially around the eyes, changed when he was cooking up an idea. Most of the time their lives depended on what was going on in that head, so it hadn't taken them very long to recognize those changes.

"Jeeze! Now what?" Casino groaned.

"What if that guy did check us out, and the information he got back told him that we were fakes?" Garrison swiveled in the chair to face his second. "What do you think he'd do with that?"

"Well," the conman rocked back to consider his answer a moment. "The sensible thing to do would be to report to his superiors…"

"But people don't always act sensibly."

A black eyebrow arched up as his agile brain followed the Warden's line of thought. "True. Especially if they feel they may already have acted foolishly, and if the sensible thing to do doesn't cast them in a very flattering light."

"So, would he ignore the whole thing?" Garrison asked. "Do nothing?"

"I doubt that. If his superiors ever were to find out, even in another posting, sometime in the future, he would be condemned for doing nothing. He'd have to take some sort of action."

"Yeah? But what? And would he tell anyone?"

"Mind lettin' me in on the joke?" He'd seen Garrison light up. You couldn't miss that. And then Actor caught the bug, but that always happened these days.

"Casino, you screwed up big time, and I'm not there, I don't know about it yet. What do you do?"

"That's easy," the safe cracker grinned. "When you show up and call me on it, I blame Goniff."

Garrison smiled slightly and shook his head. "Goniff's with me…. So's Chief."

Casino shrugged. "Then I fix it myself, before you find out…" And from the look that just passed between the Warden and his Italian teammate, even though he didn't know exactly how he'd done it, he thought he might have just made his life a whole lot less comfortable. "Or go on the lam," he grumbled under his breath.

g

"He could be playing us."

"He could." Garrison shifted to ease the muscles cramping in his side. They were parked in the shade at the top of the town's small park. Actor was sitting on a bench watching the apartment where Manette had lived before marrying Vachon, where, Etalon said, he thought her friend still lived…

g

Once they decided they had to find out what had happened to the woman, they managed to convince the worried husband the safest thing was to check out all the other options before going back into the compound they'd liberated him from. They asked him about the church and the priest. They wanted to know if there were any shops his wife frequented, if she saw a doctor in town, or had a favorite café. They needed to know all about any friends she had. When he told them he only knew about the one girl, they made him tell them everything he could remember about her, anything he knew about the girl's husband, and every detail he could recall about the car. Actor listened and asked questions as he applied the items he'd selected from the small makeup kit he always carried. Then he studied the wedding photo Vachon gave him when he'd asked for a picture of Manette.

g

The car door opened and Chief slipped out. Garrison's hand curled around the butt of the pistol laying on the seat by his leg as the scout fell in behind two German soldiers who'd appeared on the street behind them, and then decided to cut through the park. He rolled the window down to have the glass out of the way as the men approached the back of the bench Actor was on… and he started to breathe again as they kept right on walking. Chief followed them across the park, and halfway down the next block, before breaking off and disappearing down an alley. His conman never gave any sign he noticed any of it…

God, he hated being the one stuck in the car!

g

By the time Chief had returned to his spot behind the wheel the park had picked up another visitor. The older woman hesitated when she caught sight of Actor sitting on the bench, but he'd seen her at the same time. He gallantly got up from the seat and motioned her forward… and she could hardly ignore him. She approached slowly and allowed him to seat her, but sidled off to perch on the very end of the bench when he sat again himself. He smiled and chatted amiably and got a nod or one word answer in return. After a few moments something he said got more of a reaction. The woman's back stiffened and her chin went up, she waved him off when he offered to give her a hand up as she got up to leave, and she walked purposefully away from him without a backwards glance. He folded the paper he had with him and tapped it against his leg as he watched her stalk out of the shade and back out into the bright sunlight.

Chief started the engine and put the car in gear when the Italian conman stood up and started to straighten his clothing. Garrison put the window up as the scout pulled away from the curb and drove around the corner to pick him up.

"What was that about?" the Warden asked as his second closed the door and got comfortable.

"I do not believe Madame Vachon has made a very favorable impression on that particular old woman."

"You asked for her by name?"

"Well, I could hardly ask after the other one. A German officer even knowing her name would ruin her reputation. But no. I merely described a lovely young woman I'd seen in town, and hoped to catch sight of again. She's the one who called her by name."

They'd been stuck here for an hour as they waited to see if there'd be any action around the apartment building. The car Etalon described was no where to be seen. No solicitous husband helped his pregnant wife up or down the steps… and there'd been no sign of the missing Manette. It had been the same in the shops, the one café in town, and the church. The town's doctor didn't have an office of his own, he operated out of the hospital. That was their last hope.

The car pulled in and parked in the lot in front of the small hospital. Actor got out, adjusted his gloves, ordered his uniform, and walked straight for the door. His stride was determined, his back straighter than the more relaxed officer he'd been in the park. Even though it wasn't a military hospital, even though it didn't even have a German flag over the door, by the time he reached the threshold the orderly on the steps had hurriedly stubbed out his cigarette, straightened to a close approximation of 'attention', and snapped the door open for him. The two left behind in the car watched as he disappeared inside.

g

"What took you so long?!"

Actor glanced up and caught Chief's smile in the mirror as the car pulled out of the lot. Casino wasn't the only one who got irritable when he got worried.

"First," he said reasonably. "I took a tour of the main floor to get the layout. Then," he continued as he made himself more comfortable. "I thought it best to check all the exits against possible future need. While doing that I noticed the car Vachon described to us in the side lot, so I found the Matron and told her I'd nearly been run off the road by the driver of that car earlier in the day, and I wanted to speak to them. She told me that was impossible because Madame Dampier had just delivered a child, and she doubted very much that Monsieur Dampier could be convinced to leave her side." He turned a smile on his commander. "It was a girl, by the way. The doctor did not have office hours today, and there was no sign of our missing damsel in any of the waiting rooms, on any of the floors, nor in the small tea shop they have in the basement."

Chief checked the mirror again and studied the two sitting behind him. "Where to now, Warden?"

Garrison checked the watch on his wrist. "Why don't you find us a nice safe spot to use the radio."

g

The were on a bit of a nob to the east of town. Chief had backed off the road, through some brush and into the shade of some trees. While they were hidden from anyone passing, he had a clear view of the road they'd come in on, and the two that branched away to the left. He rhythmically released and re-seated the switchblade in its sheath as the two in the back set up the radio and then made contact. He listened as they talked to the resistance leader, changed frequency and talked some more, and then did it one more time before signing off and starting to pack things away. He understood more and more now, though he'd still never try saying anything. Sounded like they were talking about the Vachon woman… girl he thought as he remembered the picture that had been shared around before they left. She looked like she was only about half her husband's age… But men were in short supply because of the war, husbands were probably hard to come by.