89. Getting Rid of That Bug

Chapter 2

It was late, or early, when the men returned to the Mansion. Resigned looks were exchanged to see the light spilling out of the open door to the Lieutenant's office. They hurried as silently as possible up the stairs. One was not quick enough.

"Actor! My office."

The men stopped and looked back at the Italian. He motioned them to continue on, turned and went back down the stairs. They stopped in the hall by their bedrooms and had a quiet conference.

"Now wot?" whined Goniff. "He told us we could go."

"At least he didn't yell for all of us," said Chief.

"Still wouldn't wanna be in Actor's shoes," remarked Casino.

They split up and each went to his room.

Actor calmly walked into the office and took the seat in front of Garrison's desk.

"I know the Fox closes at 0100 hours. It's 0230 hours. It takes you thirty minutes to get back here tops. What were you doing for the other hour?" Craig's eyes looked tired, and he did not have his usual military posture.

Actor took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. "We helped clean up the bar. We have done that on occasion, so the girls don't have to do it in the morning before they open again."

"What if we had a mission?" demanded Garrison.

"Do we?" asked the con man puffing on his cigarette.

"No."

"I would assume if we had, you would have called the Fox and told us we needed to get back here. There was no call so we figured we were good until at least tomorrow, or should I say, tonight."

Garrison ignored that. "Was she there?"

Actor did not have to guess the identity of the 'she'. "Yes, she was there."

"Is she coming back?" asked Garrison.

"Apparently not anytime soon," replied the Italian.

Craig picked up a partially smoked cigarette from the overflowing ashtray on his desk, flicked the long gray ash off the end and relit it. He took a puff and blew the smoke toward the ceiling.

"Did she say why?" he asked.

"Not in so many words," replied Actor. "I got the impression she does not like the atmosphere here at present."

"You mean me," said Garrison as more of a statement.

"There is too much tension here right now," said Actor. "Anything between the two of you, you will have to take up with her." He smoked for a bit. "Warden, there seems to be something bothering you, besides us. If you would like to discuss it, I will be happy to listen."

Garrison looked at him sharply. "There is nothing bothering me besides the foul ups we have had lately. Talking about it doesn't seem to get anywhere."

"As you wish," said Actor. He rose and tamped his cigarette out in Garrison's ash tray. "Good night, Lieutenant." He walked to the door but paused and looked back. "The offer still stands if you wish to accept it." Not waiting for a response, the tall man left the office.

The con man entered his bedroom and felt somehow deprived because the covers had not been turned back. He walked up to the head of the bed and flipped the covers toward the foot. It still looked inviting after the very long day returning from the mission and staying to clean up the Fox. Actor removed his clothes and hung them up in the armoire. He took his pajamas from their hook and put them on. Not even bothering with a last cigarette, he climbed between the sheets, pulling the top covers up to his neck before turning over onto his stomach with his feet hanging over the end of the bed.

With the exception of Chief, who was always up early, the men slept longer than usual. They straggled downstairs and went to the kitchen in search of coffee. Garrison and Chief were still out for their morning run, albeit a little later than usual. When they returned, the Warden, while not jovial, was at least no longer angry. After breakfast, they held a short debrief because there was very little to debrief on.

It was around 1000 hours when Garrison finished his report. He was sealing it inside an envelope when his telephone rang. He picked it up and answered it formally. It was Col. Hammond. The Lieutenant listened and agreed to be there in two hours. Hanging up, he sighed. They just kept coming, one on top of the other. He was sure his men would have something volatile to say when they heard there was a mission on for tonight.

The phone had been heard by the men in the common room. They watched their leader walk out of his office, carrying his briefcase. Garrison looked straight ahead and went out the door without a word. The men said nothing until they heard the car leave.

"You gotta be kidding," complained Casino in disgust.

Actor shook his head. "As I have said before, sometimes it feels like we are the only ones fighting this war."

"Do you think they could send us on an easy one?" asked Goniff to no one in particular.

"We just got back from our one easy one for the year," drawled Chief.

Three of the men straggled upstairs to get their gear ready and their beds somewhat made.

Actor sucked in a cheek and contemplated something before getting out of his chair and going into the Lieutenant's office. He sat down and picked up the telephone to dial. He wasn't sure if he was going to get an answer, but as he was about to hang up, the phone was picked up.

"Teresa, it's Actor."

"Oh, darn, I thought it was my other Italian boyfriend," said Terry. "Hey, I'm dripping water on the floor. I was in the shower."

"Ah, what a delightful vision," teased the con man. "I will be quick."

"What do you need?" asked the woman.

"The Warden will be gone for at least five hours. We have a mission," said Actor.

"You just got back from a mission," said the girl in equal disgust as the men.

"When has that ever stopped them?" asked Actor. "Could we impose on you to run out here and make something for us to eat before we leave tonight. Something that doesn't contain rations or Spam? We will happily bribe you."

A delightful laugh burst from Teresa. "A raincheck on your lovemaking?" she suggested.

"At this rate, it will be a long raincheck."

Still chuckling, Terry said, "Okay, let me get dried and dressed and I'll be there. Take something out of the freezer and put it in a pot of cool water to start thawing."

"Bless you, My Love," replied Actor dramatically with a smile. "We will be eternally grateful."

That brought a bigger laugh in response.

In another 45 minutes, the Tickford was heard approaching up the drive. Back in the downstairs window, Chief's face took on a grin.

"Terry's here," he announced.

Casino looked at the Italian, sitting unconcerned in his chair with a book and his pipe. "Hey, Beautiful, is that why you put that scrawny frozen chicken in a pot of water?"

"Merely doing what I was told to do," the con man answered.

Goniff looked up, puzzled. "When did you call Terry?"

Actor put his book up and laid his pipe on the ashtray. "When you were all upstairs."

He rose from his chair and walked to the front door, opening it to the sound of boots trotting up the stone steps. Terry walked inside and smiled up at him. Actor took her face between his hands and gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead.

"I hope you know how much you are appreciated," he said.

Terry stepped back and flicked him on the stomach with her fingers. "If that's all the thanks I get, I can turn around and go back to Brandonshire."

Actor's lips widened into a grin. He cupped her face again and kissed her fully on the mouth, teasing her lips with his tongue. A loud clearing of a throat broke them reluctantly apart.

"Do you two mind?" objected Casino.

"Jealousy does not become you, Casino," said Actor to the laughter of the other two men and Terry.

Casino picked up a cigarette and threw it at the con man. The Italian skillfully batted it back to him.

"Hi, Guys," greeted the young woman cheerfully.

"What's for dinner, Love?" asked Goniff.

Terry frowned and looked up at Actor. "What am I cooking today?"

"Mushroom chicken?" he asked hopefully.

Terry sucked in a cheek. "Mushroom chicken, without the mushrooms. I'm out. You should have said something when you called, and I might have been able to get hold of some."

"Alas," sighed the con man. "I was looking so forward to that."

"You're overacting again," teased Terry. She walked around the tall Italian and headed for the kitchen. "Okay, let's see what I have ripe in the garden and go from there. Any other requests?"

"No Spam," called out Chief from the window.

"You shall be Spam-less," she promised, disappearing around the corner.

An hour later, Terry was prepping carrots, an onion, beans and some slightly soft purchased potatoes left in the storeroom. The Italian wandered in and leaned against the counter watching her. He noted the stew pot on the stove bubbling away with the chicken in it.

"Stew?" Actor asked.

"Yes, unless you want it separately," shrugged the woman.

"Stew is fine," Actor said, thankful it was anything other than Spam with pork and beans.

"Is he in any better mood?" asked Terry.

"He wasn't last night," replied the con man. "He seems a little more settled this morning. And that may be changed when he gets back from Allied Command."

Terry glanced at him. "Major Richards or one of the others?"

"I don't know. He didn't say. In fact, he did not speak to us."

Terry shook her head. "I have to work the bar tonight," she said. "If you can, call the Fox and tell me when you're supposed to be coming back. That way I know when to start worrying."

"I will attempt to call you before we leave," assured Actor.

An hour later, the stew was simmering on the stove and biscuits were in the warmer. Terry was in the common room at the game table, spending some time with the men. Later, she looked at her watch and decided it would be prudent to get away before her bother arrived.

"Listen, if you guys have any laundry you want washed, leave it on your beds. I'll wash clothes tomorrow," she said.

Casino looked up at that. "You comin' back to stay?"

Terry shook her head. "I need to water the garden, so I might as well do laundry too." She grinned at the safecracker. "What do you think? The fairies and the pixies are watering the garden when you're gone?"

"We was hopin' you'd come back," said Goniff.

Terry's smile hid the turmoil in her mind. "I'll think about it."

Her timing was excellent. She was ten minutes down the road toward Brandonshire when the Lieutenant turned up the drive to the Mansion.

Chief was watching out the window. "He ain't happy."

"Is 'e ever lately," groused Goniff.

They studiously ignored the officer when he entered the house. Garrison's eyes swept over them and his nose twitched.

"That smells too good to be rations," he remarked. "Who cooked?"

"Your sister," said Casino grumpily, keeping his attention on his card game.

Garrison headed for his office to get the handcuff open on the briefcase. "Terry back now?"

"No," replied Actor. "I called her with a request to make something for us to eat before we leave. I assume we are leaving. She left a little bit ago."

Garrison was not sure if he was relieved the girl had left or sad because of it. "Yes, we have a mission. We leave at 2000 hours. Come on in and I'll brief you."

Reluctantly, the four men rose and went into the office, taking their seats at the conference table. Garrison removed papers and a map from his briefcase and took his place standing at the table.

"Gentlemen, the mission itself is easy. The pickup is not," he said. "Tonight, we are going to be dropped outside of Aix-en-Provence. The local resistance will take us to a safe house. The following evening we will break into the country home of Henri Garnier. He is a member of the Vichy France government. He has documentation in his safe about the plans for the total acquisition of Vichy France by the Nazis. We are to get pictures of those papers. The home will have a few of the normal staff still there, but the majority of them and Garnier will be on their way to Berlin."

"Why is he not taking the papers with him?" asked Actor.

"Because he has his own plans for how this will work," said Garrison. "He wants Marshal Philippe Pétain out of the way and himself put in the seat of power."

"So whose ruddy side is he on?" asked Goniff.

"Apparently his own," answered Actor.

Now Casino spoke up. "So what's wrong with the pickup?"

"We have twenty-four hours to get those papers before Garnier returns. And we have to get out and hide somewhere they won't think to look for us. Unfortunately, the sub that will be picking us up in Marseille can't get there for another twenty-four hours," explain Garrison. He turned to Actor. "I know you are familiar with Marseille, so it's your job to find us a safe place to hide until the sub can pick us up. There is a Resistance cell there, but Command does not even want them to know where we are until it is time for us to meet the sub. Can you do that?"

Actor's face slowly took on a wolfish grin. "Oh, yes," he replied. "I believe I have a place right under the nose of the Germans, where they would least expect us."

7