Chapter 4 – The Air Raid

The whistling sound of the bombs as they fell to earth became louder, the thuds and eruptions got closer and more deafening. Casino and Goniff ran across the roof, the safe-cracker watched in horror as a line of explosions headed straight for them, a blast knocked Goniff clean off his feet, hurling him into a stanchion, the next explosion propelled him towards the long drop down to the street. Casino flung himself forward, grabbed the thief's hand as he went over the edge and cringed as another detonation sprayed debris over the roof around him. He opened his eyes to see Goniff swinging below him, his eyes as large as saucers in his shocked, white face.

Casino grimaced as the pain in his right arm hit him, he reached out with his left. "Gimme your other hand Goniff, I can't hold you with just one."

Goniff tried to swing up his free hand and panicked when he found he couldn't, he tightened his grip on Casino's arm as the safe-cracker grabbed hold of his wrist with both hands. "Pull me up mate, I can't do it myself, I think I've dislocated me shoulder." The safe-cracker shook his head as he realised that with two hands holding Goniff he had nothing to brace himself with, the debris he was lying on was loose and Goniff's weight was pulling him forward and over the edge with him, his head and shoulders were already in mid-air it would only take a couple more inches before the two of them plummeted down to the street.

Casino dug his feet into the rubble behind him and desperately tried to haul himself and Goniff back from the brink. He let out a cry of pain and anguish as his foot slipped and something sharp dug into his chest as he slid forward another inch. His hands were cramping and painful, he threw his head up, arched his back and tried to pull his friend up by sheer strength alone but only succeeded in sliding further towards the edge.

Goniff looked up at his team mate's desperate expression and shook his head. "No use both of us goin' over, it's more 'n a fifty foot drop, let me go."

Casino shook his head. "No way Limey." He gasped as his shoulder muscles spasmed, his ears were ringing from the explosions, his arms were going numb and his breath was coming in sobs as pain coursed through his body in waves.

Suddenly he felt two pairs of hands grip his legs and hold him steady, Garrison's voice broke through the agony. "Actor and I've got you Casino, can you hold on to Goniff for another few seconds? Chief's downstairs trying to get to him through a window."

Casino cried out loud with relief. "Don't think I can let him go Warden, my hands have seized up." He heard a sound below him and watched as Chief climbed out of the window, he reached out, wrapped his arms round the thief's body and drew him over towards him. Goniff stretched out a leg, got purchase on the window sill and balanced precariously as Chief tried to prise Casino's stiff fingers open from his wrist, Casino gasped with pain as it felt like they were being broken.

Chief's voice floated up. "Got him Pappy, gonna bring him up to the roof."

Goniff looked up into Casino's exhausted face and smiled. "Thanks mate, that's one I owe you." He disappeared through the window.

"Don't think I won't collect Limey!" Casino shouted as he felt Garrison and Actor start to pull him back. He tried to push himself up and found his arms wouldn't support him, he collapsed face down into the rubble, blew away a cloud of dusty grit and grimaced. "Ow."

Garrison hauled Casino to his feet and supported him as Actor quickly lowered the rope ladder down to the street, Goniff and Chief stepped out of the roof door and carefully made their way over. The descent was precarious, Chief went down first and held the ladder steady as he watched the alley for intruders. Actor went down next with Casino one rung above him, their progress was slow as the safe-cracker couldn't grasp the rungs, he had to hook his arms round the side ropes as he climbed down one painful step at a time. The tall conman steadied his team mate and made sure he got down safely. Garrison did the same with Goniff, taking extra care as the thief only had the use of one arm, he held on tight to the ladder either side of Goniff letting him lean against him for support.

Another series of explosions rocked the buildings around them, they ran, ducked and tried to find shelter from the flying debris that was whirling around them. The noise was deafening and the heat from the blasts washed over them, the acrid smoke tasted of gunpowder and smelled of burning flesh, Goniff tried unsuccessfully not to throw up.

Everything went quiet, Casino leaned breathlessly against a wall as Actor strode quickly over to the thief to assess his injuries. "Just relax Goniff, this won't take a second," he said reassuringly. Goniff's pale face went even whiter as the conman took his arm in one hand, put his other hand against his shoulder and gently popped his arm back in place, he slowly put it inside the thief's jacket to support it. "That will have to do until I can put it in a sling, don't move it."

Garrison looked up at the distant B-17 bombers as they turned away, he could make out the sparkles and flashes of their guns blazing away at the the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters that had been harrying them since they crossed the North Sea. "My brother Rick's most probably up there piloting one of those Flying Fortresses, she's called 'Bobby Sue'."

Casino winced as he dusted himself off. "Oh great, we ain't just got one Garrison makin' life interestin' for us, now we got two. Next time tell him you're here babe and not to aim so good."

Garrison looked up at the building. "We've still got to get that list."

Actor shook his head as he watched a couple of trucks full of soldiers pull up at the front of the building, followed by a fire engine. "We might have had a chance before the raid Warden but now the building will be crawling with soldiers, there's no way we can go back in there." He pointed to the foot of the building where the rope ladder lay in a smouldering heap. "We've got no way of getting back up to the roof."

Garrison pointed to a window. "Is that the office?"

Goniff rubbed his shoulder. "Yeah, but I'm out of it, I can't do any second story work one-handed."

Garrison looked expectantly at Casino, he backed away, painfully waving a stiff hand. "Sorry Warden, I've done my back in, I can't move my fingers and, after that explosion, my ears are ringin' so much I wouldn't be able to hear the tumblers if they were church bells." He tried to take a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket and dropped them, Actor retrieved them, offered them round and lit them. The safe-cracker held the cigarette between stiff, clumsy fingers and inhaled deeply. "It's a shame cos I got a glimpse of that safe and it's like the one in your office, would've been a cinch to open."

Garrison stared at Casino as his words sunk in, he turned to look at Chief and discovered his scout was way ahead of him, he was already standing at the foot of the wall looking up, he turned to Casino. "Pappy, you sure it's like the Warden's, can I crack it?"

Casino nodded. "Yeah, just take your time, don't rush it. You can do it kid."

Chief looked at Goniff. "Anythin' I gotta look out for climbin' up?"

The thief studied the wall. "With all that fancy masonry it'll be easy to climb. There's some loose brickwork halfway up but there's plenty of hand and footholds, make sure it'll take your weight before standing on it. Remember what I showed you at the mansion and you'll be fine."

Garrison walked over and put his hand on his scout's arm as he placed his foot in the first groove in the wall. "You sure you want to try this alone Chief? I'm not ordering you to do it, you're not a second-story man or a safe-cracker it's not fair to ask this of you."

Chief took a deep breath. "Don't know if I can do it Warden, but I'm the only one with a chance now Pappy and Goniff are outta action. I'll do my best but no guarantees, ok?"

Garrison smiled. "Ok, your best has always been more than good enough for me Chief, don't take any risks, good luck." He stepped back to join Actor, Goniff and Casino as they watched their scout climb the wall up to the office window.

"Pity there's no ivy on it," observed Goniff. "He'd have been up there in seconds."

Actor peered further up the wall. "At least the window was blown out in the blast, Chief will have no trouble getting in."

Casino snorted softly. "Looks like that brother of yours came in handy after all Warden."

Five minutes turned into ten and then fifteen, Garrison paced up and down the alley looking at his watch and then up at the window, straining to hear if anything had gone wrong. He stopped as he heard a small moan from Goniff as he tried to make his shoulder more comfortable, he also noticed Casino grimacing as he shifted position to ease his back. "Actor take these two back to the house and make sure they're alright will you? I'll wait here for Chief."

Casino stood up straight and shook his head. "No way babe, we're waitin' here for Geronimo, it won't take him much longer, he's my student and I'm gonna be the first to congratulate him on completin' his first solo heist."

Goniff stepped over to remonstrate. "It was my teachin' that got him up there in the first place, so I'm first in line to say well done."

Garrison looked at the two of them and smiled. "We can have graduation when we get back to the mansion. You both need to be seen to by Actor."

A soft whistle from above interrupted any further conversation. Actor looked up and pointed. "Looks like Chief's on his way out."

The four men watched as Chief climbed out the window, he looked down, held out a hand. "Here you go Warden, catch." He dropped a package then swung out onto the wall and climbed carefully down."

Goniff was the first to greet the newly fledged burglar as he jumped to the ground, he noticed Chief's heavily laden pockets and gave him a questioning look, Chief winked. They glanced quickly at Garrison and saw he was busy examining the package, Goniff motioned to Actor and Casino to come over and stand next to him in order to lighten the load and spread it out between them so it wouldn't be noticeable. "Proud of you Geronimo," whispered Casino as he felt Goniff slip a large wad of what felt like cash into his pocket.

"Thanks Pappy, learned from the best," answered Chief with a small, self-satisfied smile.