A Conman's Birthday

Actor woke up and stretched his long frame, a couple of cracks from his shoulders reminded him that time was catching up with him. The exertions of the past few months along with the wounds he'd acquired had taken their toll on his body and he wasn't getting any younger, he grimaced as he swung his long legs out of the bed and slid his feet into his slippers. Then again things could have been a lot worse, he could still be in Alcatraz with its cold, damp conditions, miserable food and intolerable inmates. He knew to count his blessings, Garrison had come in and whisked him out of that terrible place to join his team of cons, men that he'd now come to respect and regard as very good friends.

He washed, dressed and then combed his thick, black hair, he checked his face for more wrinkles and decided they added character. He opened a small case took out a thin moustache and carefully glued it to his upper lip, a pair of round, wire-rimmed glasses were taken out and put on.

Actor stepped back, turned and admired himself in the full-length mirror, the SS Major's uniform fitted him perfectly down to his shiny black boots. He silently thanked Garrison for arranging to have bespoke uniforms made to measure in England, they were so much better than the ill-fitting, blood-stained and bullet-hole riddled clothes they'd had to use in the past. He ran his finger around the collar of his jacket, the rank insignia of two SS lightning bolts on the right lapel and the four dots indicating his rank on the left gleamed along with the epaulettes on each shoulder.

A knock on the door interrupted the conman's thoughts. "Obersturmbannführer König, are you ready?"

Actor walked across the thick, luxurious carpet and opened the hotel room door. "Hauptsturmführer Krüger, I hope you had a good night's sleep at the barracks with the rest of the men."

Garrison stood in the corridor and looked past his friend at the lush interior of the bedroom that had been assigned to him, he snorted softly as he walked in. "It was wonderful, thanks for asking. Casino didn't stop complaining for an hour before Chief reminded him he could be camped out in the rain, in a wood, in the middle of nowhere." He looked around. "No lady friend Actor?"

The tall Italian closed the door and shook his head as he recalled that time in Rome when he'd gone off to spend the night with a female friend; that had resulted in Chief being taken prisoner and put their mission in danger. The still vivid memory rose of a sharp blade being held against his throat and a low, menacing voice threatening to castrate him as punishment for not doing his job. "I don't want Chief reminding me of the perils of 'messin' about with dames', as he put it."

Garrison raised an amused eyebrow. "He does have a unique way of putting a point across." He handed over a pair of soft, grey gloves.

"He certainly does." Actor took the gloves, picked up his cap, brushed the peak with his sleeve, put it on at a slightly jaunty angle and waited for Garrison to open the hotel room door. "Shall we have breakfast first? This hotel has an excellent restaurant."

The two officers walked out of the elegant hotel the SS had requisitioned as quarters for high-ranking military personnel visiting Paris. Actor paused and looked around at the familiar surroundings; before the war this area had been so colourful and vibrant with wonderful food, entertainment and good society, now it was grey, dismal and full of dispirited civilians and sullen German soldiers keeping an eye on them. A couple of passing soldiers saluted the two officers as they walked to the waiting staff car, the driver leapt out, opened the back door and saluted as they got in.

Goniff was sitting in the front passenger seat, he turned round with a grin. "Wotcha Major, get a good night's sleep did ya?"

Actor settled himself on the leather seat next to Casino, Garrison climbed in after him. "Yes I did, thank you Goniff. Breakfast was excellent too."

Casino shuffled over a little to make room and snorted. "Better 'n what we got. How come you always get to have the good stuff?"

Chief started the engine. "Knock it off Pappy, when you can pull off cons like Actor then you can get the good stuff too."

"Can it, all of you." Garrison gave the men a stern look. "Let's get this mission over and done with.

GG-GG-GG

The mission went smoothly, Actor and Garrison kept Meier, the Wehrmacht Colonel, occupied with questions about security, policing the civilian population and what arrangements were in place to protect documents and records from being damaged during Allied bombing raids. While they were talking Goniff and Casino were rifling through and taking photographs of those same documents and records and Chief was standing guard making sure they weren't disturbed.

A couple of convivial coffee and brandies later the conversation turned to logistics and supplies, this naturally lead on to Actor asking which restaurants in the city were still serving the best food and wines, the Colonel happily informed him and also added where they could find entertainment and female company.

A discrete cough outside the Colonel's office door informed Garrison that the team had finished their task and were back. He looked at his watch and politely informed Major König they had to go to keep another appointment. Actor nodded curtly and motioned for Garrison to open the door, he held back and talked quietly and intently to the Colonel who gasped, nodded and quickly scribbled a couple of words on a piece of paper which he handed over. Actor smiled as he tucked the note in his pocket, saluted and left the office. As soon as he had gone Meier grabbed his phone and started issuing orders.

GG-GG-GG

Chief parked the car in a quiet side street and the team waited as Garrison entered a small cafe to rendezvous with a member of the Resistance to hand over the camera and the valuable information it held. He walked back, got in, took off his cap and ran his fingers through his hair.

Chief glanced in the rear-view mirror. "Everythin' go alright Warden?"

Garrison nodded. "Yeah, the film's on it's way to the Allies. Now we've got to find somewhere safe to wait for our extraction early tomorrow morning." He turned to Actor. "I'm sorry you get to spend your birthday here instead of celebrating it back home."

Casino nudged the conman in the ribs. "Hey, yeah. It's your birthday today ain't it? Happy Birthday babe, I ain't singin' no birthday song for ya."

Goniff twisted around in his seat. "Happy Birthday, wish we could've made some arrangements for a party for ya."

Actor smiled and leaned back with a triumphant look on his face. "Actually you needn't bother, the good Colonel is making all the arrangements as we speak."

Garrison looked at the conman in astonishment. "What?"

Actor's smile widened into a broad grin. "Meier is reserving a private room in Maxim's Restaurant for us, I told him the meeting we were going to was with a very high-ranking official and very hush hush."

Casino raised his eyebrows. "Maxim's, ain't that place real swanky?"

Actor nodded. "Yes, it's the most popular Parisian restaurant with the German High Command, Hermann Göring goes there whenever he's in Paris and I might have hinted that he was the person we were meeting."

Garrison's eyes were wide open with disbelief. "You told Colonel Meier we were meeting Göring?"

Actor's expression was one of innocence. "I merely hinted it was him, I don't think he would have believed me if I said it was Hitler! The Colonel assured me he would see to everything personally, I believe we have the room and first-class service from noon until midnight."

Garrison burst out laughing. "Well it looks like you arranged somewhere safe for us to stay, no-one's going to disturb Göring when he's having a meeting."

Casino clapped Actor on the shoulder. "Oh you got some big ones babe. I love ya."

GG-GG-GG

A short time later the staff car pulled up outside No. 3 Rue Royale in the 8th Arrondissement. Garrison and the men got out and inspected the frontage of Maxim's Restaurant: the windows were covered against bomb blasts, the facade was looking grubby with plaster blown off in a couple of places but the red sign that, with one word written in gold, proclaimed that this was indeed Maxim's stood out boldly against the dreariness of the surrounding area.

Actor adjusted his cap and gloves before marching haughtily through the beautifully varnished wooden entrance, the men looked at each other. Garrison inclined his head to the door. "Shall we?"

Once inside the team were taken aback by the restaurant's exquisite Art Nouveau interior décor, the war suddenly seemed a million miles away until the sight of a German uniform brought an unpleasant reminder.

Goniff let out a low whistle as he stared around. "I bet this place was somethin' before the war," he whispered.

Casino nodded. "It's still somethin' now babe."

Garrison sidled up to them and murmured out the side of his mouth. "Knock it off until we can talk in private." He noticed that Chief hadn't said a word, he wasn't looking at the décor but was closely observing the German soldiers around them. Garrison knew his scout wouldn't relax or give up watching their backs until they were safely back in England.

They found Actor deep in conversation with a smartly dressed man, he waved the group to accompany him and lead the way to a sumptuously appointed room where they were made comfortable.

Garrison looked at Actor. "Who was that? I couldn't quite get his accent."

Actor picked up a crystal glass and inspected it. "That's Otto Horcher, the man the occupying Germans have installed as the manager of Maxim's. He's from Vienna, Austria. He operated a restaurant in Berlin very popular with the cream of the Nazi Party as well as high-ranking military personnel. He was telling me he's catered meals for events at Göring's country estate, Carinhall."

Chief glanced across the room from the position he'd taken up near the door. "Won't him knowin' Görin' put a crimp in your plan for stayin' here Actor?"

The conman shook his head. "No, I'd told the Colonel not to say who we were meeting."

Casino snorted. "Yeah, don't want any Allied spies findin' out do we?"

Garrison smiled, took out a pack of cigarettes and offered them round. "Looks like you got everything covered."

Goniff took one and shook his head. "Everythin' but the bill, how we gonna cover that?"

Actor lit his cigarette. "Don't worry Goniff, Colonel Meier generously offered to pay for everything, he'll get the bill in a couple of days."

"Eat, drink and be merry guys!" whooped Casino as he surveyed the wide range of wines, spirits and liqueurs lined up in the drinks cabinet.

Garrison gave his men a stern look. "You can eat all you want, but there'll be no drinking. We're not ending up in a POW camp because you got drunk and careless."

Casino sighed. "Party pooper."

"Knock it off Pappy," came a quiet, warning voice from the other side of the room.

Actor picked up a bottle of champagne that had been chilling in a large, silver ice bucket and inspected the label. "We do have to toast my birthday and this is an excellent vintage, it would be a shame to let it go to waste."

Garrison regarded his men's expressions and gave in. "Alright, just the one bottle." He waited as the cork was popped and the champagne poured out, everyone raised their glass and toasted their conman.

"Happy birthday Actor."

GG-GG-GG

It was four in the morning and a small plane landed in a field just outside Paris. The co-pilot watched as five happy, very well-fed men clambered in and settled down to the accompaniment of lots of bottles clinking in the jackets of their German uniforms and mission bags, he knew this team from previous pick-ups. "What have you lot been up to this time?"

Goniff settled himself down. "Hello mate, we've been on an urgent mission o' mercy." He smiled as a pun rose to mind. "Couldn't bottle out of this one."

Garrison glanced at Chief. "Oh good grief," he muttered.

"Yeah, we had to go in 'n liberate all this champagne, wine 'n brandy from the Krauts," added Casino happily as he patted his share of the spoils, more clinking sounded.

Actor nodded. "The bottles wouldn't crack but we will be giving them a thorough interrogation when we get back."

"Yeah, they'll spill eventually," chuckled the safecracker.

Chief looked at Garrison. "You want I should kill 'em now?"

Garrison leaned back against the fuselage and rolled his eyes. "Don't tempt me, maybe later."