Vendetta Di Sangue
Chapter 7
No one said anything when the truck full of supplies arrived and the familiar blond kid, a man and another boy began unloading it. What they didn't know was the real delivery men were tied up back at the warehouse. The first set of boxes went to the storeroom in the basement. The next set of boxes went up to the storeroom on the first floor. There were more boxes for the second floor. A large order had been put in by the regulars who worked that floor. It was quiet and the three were not seen going up to check out the attic.
Casino and Kelly stayed in the second floor storeroom and began setting up the bombs. Terry continued to bring up the smaller, lighter boxes that were still in the back of the truck. It didn't matter the contents would soon be lost in the explosions.
Terry was alone in the hall, carrying the last box of supplies to the room where Casino was working. She never heard the man come up behind her until she was slammed face first into the wall with an arm across the back of her neck. Her box fell to the floor. Hot, humid, sausage breath blew past her cheek from the mouth that was close to her ear. The German man began to tell her what he was going to do to her and it wasn't pleasant. Not again, thought Terry. And not this time either! Anger surged through her. Kelly came around the corner just then. The man looked at the boy.
"Get lost," he said in German.
Kelly replied coldly in German. "That's my brother you have there. He isn't part of this. Let him go."
The man laughed. "He's fresh meat. If you want you can be next." He grabbed Terry's arm to spin her around. Terry was ready to fight. Kelly got there first. The man made a strangled sound and slid to the floor, pulling Terry down with him. Terry rolled away and to her feet. She looked down at the open, shocked, unseeing eyes and the bloody chest. She shot a look at Kelly. The boy was standing there, grimly holding a bloody switchblade in his hand. He wiped it on the man's pants leg and returned it to the sheath on his forearm.
Terry grabbed her cap that had come off and slapped it on her head. Both siblings grabbed a leg and dragged the body into the room that Casino was in. Casino took it in in an instant. "Jeez, Terry."
Terry stared at her baby brother. Kelly returned her look. "Hey, they've done enough to our family already. I'm damned if I'll let them get you too. 'Specially what he had in mind."
Casino eyed the boy, surprised it was him who had killed the man. With no time to spend on that, he handed four of the bombs to Kelly. "Think you can set them the way I showed you?"
"Piece a cake."
"Get the second floor cleaning closet and the attic. I'll get the ones on the first floor and in the basement," instructed Casino.
Kelly nodded toward Terry. "Take her with you. I want her off this floor."
Casino nodded. "Meet you across the street."
Kelly put his bombs in one of the boxes and headed for the attic. Casino loaded the rest of the bombs carefully into another box. Terry watched him, wondering when she had lost control of this mission to Casino and Kelly. For that matter, when had her baby brother become so immune to close killing.
"Come on," said Casino. "Let's get this done so we can get outta here."
Terry adjusted her hair and cap and followed the safecracker out the door, picking up the box on the floor in the hall. They went to the basement first. The unfriendly expression on Casino's face kept anyone from approaching them. The basement was accessed by wooden stairs to a rock floored and walled room. Terry took a smoke bomb and set it next to the furnace where the smoke would be sucked up into the ventilation system. At the same time, Casino set his bomb against a side of the heating oil tank.
They went back up to the first floor and the storeroom. The smoke bomb was set next to the door and the explosive bomb was placed behind stacks of liquor boxes.
"Why do we always hafta waste good booze," muttered Casino.
Satisfied with his bombs, he urged Terry out the door. They went back to the truck and drove it away. Parking down a side street a couple blocks from the club, they were met by Kelly. The three waited at the back of the truck, hidden from the street. Casino checked his watch. It was a tight getaway, but in five more minutes the smoke bombs went off. Dark gray smoke billowed from the windows and doors. People from there and the adjoining building ran outside and across the street. They were probably too close, but at least they weren't inside.
Sirens could be heard in the distance, approaching the club, when the explosives went off with enough force they felt the ground shake. Casino moved forward and leaned against the corner of the building at the entrance of the alley, watching. For a moment, he was afraid something had gone wrong. Windows were blown out around the club. The club itself, smoke and flame billowing from the glassless windows, was still intact . . . for a minute. There was a rumble followed by the collapse of the roof and then the walls. A wide, satisfied smile crossed the safecracker's face. Terry and Kelly peeked around the corner and stared.
"Happy, Babe?" asked Casino.
"Ecstatic," grinned Terry. "Oh you are good."
"Yup."
They hurried to get into the truck and left the area before anyone had the presence of mind to recognize the vehicle and the three people who had been at the club not long before. The truck was returned to the warehouse. Casino made sure the men were still securely tied. Somebody would be along sometime, to find them, but the safecracker wasn't concerned. At least they were still alive.
Splitting up, the three made their way on foot back to the fish market. Upstairs, Terry took off the cap and shook her hair out. Casino threw himself into a chair, a grin on his face. He loved it when a plan went well. And watching the girl wasn't bad either, even with the udders tied down. Kelly cautiously poked his head through the entrance of the trap door and came in when he saw the other two.
Knut arrived a few minutes later. He looked at the three with a touch of admiration.
"Would you like to come work for us?" he asked.
Casino and Kelly laughed.
"We may see each other again sometime," said the boy. "I think I'm out of a job with the supplier now."
The Norwegian grew serious. "I have good news and not so good news." The three sobered and watched him. Kelly translated where necessary. "The good news is I had some people watching the club. It is totally destroyed. And all of the inhabitants are accounted for and alive."
"So what's the bad news?" asked Casino, impatiently.
"I contacted England. There is no sub available to come get you."
"For how long?" asked Terry.
"They did not know. However, I talked to one of my cousins. He is willing to take you to England in his fishing boat tonight."
"Great, more fish," muttered Casino quietly. He looked up sharply when a booted foot, attached to a female leg, kicked him in the shin.
"I will see that your cousin is reimbursed for the loss of his night's catch," said the girl.
The fish monger nodded.
"So where's Alex?"
Knut grinned. "In the hold of the boat."
"Good place for him," nodded Casino.
Just before curfew, Knut drove the three down to the docks where his cousin, Luka, had his boat. He dropped the Americans off and went back home to clean out any sign they had been there.
Casino went down in the hold to check on their prisoner. The Englishman was bound and gagged and glaring hatefully from his bed atop fish offal covered with a tarp. Casino grinned broadly.
"Hope your trip to England is comfortable," he said.
Alex struggled and tried to talk though the gag. If he could have gotten loose, Casino was sure the man would have gone after him.
Terry and Kelly were sitting on the floor in the cabin behind the wheelhouse. Both looked up when Casino entered. The safecracker was still grinning.
"G-2 is going to have to hose him down good before they interrogate him," he said with satisfaction.
"He could have it worse," remarked Kelly. "We could have set him up and let the Krauts interrogate him."
"Nice idea," said his sister, "but he knows too much."
GGGGG
Major Richards arrived at the Mansion at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Actor met him at the door and ushered him in. The major removed his coat and hung it on the coat tree before looking at the two other men in the common room. Chief was watching him with a guarded distrustful expression. Goniff was his smiling self, arm in a white sling. Richards nodded to both of them before turning back to Actor.
"Lt. Garrison is in his room," said the con man. "May I suggest we use the upstairs common room so he does not have to traverse the stairs?"
The major nodded. He preceded Actor up the stairs. At the top, he stopped and quietly said to the Italian, "I will talk to him in his room. Under the circumstances I would prefer to debrief with you in the common room in private."
Actor gestured for him to enter Garrison's room. When the lieutenant saw Richards come through the door, he tried to get up.
"As you were, Lieutenant," said Richards.
He stood looking down at the battered face of the young officer. Actor stationed himself by the door and watched. The major pulled the desk chair out and took a seat.
"Can you tell me what happened?" Richards asked more as a friend and less as a superior officer.
Craig shook his head. "For whatever reason, Alex, our double agent, turned her in to the Gestapo. They beat her, raped her, and pulled her nails out, trying to get her to tell them who she was working for."
Richards frowned. "How did you find out all of that?"
"I was there. I saw it. Neither one of us could talk or they would have killed us and the others we had contact with." His voice was wooden.
Actor quelled a response to straighten in surprise. Garrison had said the woman had been tortured and killed. He had not said he had been a witness to the degradation. That made his response to the event even more understandable.
Garrison continued. "When Miss Harkness refused to answer them, one of the officers lost his temper and shot her in the head."
Richards' eyebrows rose at that revelation.
"I guess they figured they couldn't get anything from either of us, so they decided to turn me over to SS. They didn't work me over nearly as much as they did her."
It was obvious looking at the younger man the Gestapo had worked him over pretty well, and Richards had to assume there were more injuries he was not seeing.
"Rest, Lieutenant," he said. "I will debrief with Mr. Borghese in the common room. I have not asked if the young lady had relatives to be notified. Allow me to take care of that for you."
"She only has an elderly aunt in Dublin," said Garrison. "That's why SOE liked her. No family."
Major Richards merely nodded and turned away. Actor followed him out the door with a brief look at Garrison. The lieutenant's eyes were closed.
The two men went across the hall to the common room and Actor closed the door behind them. He went to the cupboards and joined the Commando officer at the table with two glasses and his bottle of Courvoisier. Without asking, the con man poured and handed the officer one of the glasses. Richards accepted it and lifted it in a toast. Actor returned the gesture and both men took sips.
"He's a strong man," said Richards.
If you only knew, thought Actor in total agreement.
"I assume there has been no word from Casino or Teresa?" said Actor changing the subject before it became a subject.
"No," said the major. "I trust you have heard nothing either?"
Actor shook his head.
"How did you get him out?"
The con man began the tale.
GGGGG
The three in the cabin took turns checking on their prisoner, cautiously stepping around and flattening themselves against the damp outer walls on the top side of the boat to keep out of the way of the fishermen who seemed either inclined to try to gather fish as they went or make it look to other boats or overhead planes they were simply doing what they did every day. It was Terry's turn to check on Alex and she hung onto the railing of the steep steps to keep her balance on the rolling seas. To her alarm, the Englishman had somehow managed to get to his feet and was mincing toward her, gag hanging around his neck. She flicked her switchblade open, but decided a nearby gaff was better for keeping the man at a distance. She grabbed the hooked spike and made a jab at the man.
"That's far enough," she warned him.
Alex eyed her with hate and disdain. "You think you can kill me?" he asked. "You couldn't before."
"Oh, I can kill you," assured the girl. "I just don't like unnecessary deaths. But I can make an exception to that." She took a deep breath and screamed Casino's name.
Alex tried to lunge at her, but his still partially bound feet, the rocking of the boat, and the point of the gaff jabbing his shoulder kept him from reaching her. A cry went out from above in Norwegian as a couple of the fisherman heard her scream. Two men jumped down into the hold followed by the safecracker and Kelly. One of the fishermen sent the Englishman to the floor with a roundhouse hook learned in the wharf bars of the countries they frequented. Casino and Kelly moved around them and heaved the man back atop his smelly bed. Kelly held him with a knee on the back of the neck, though the man was unconscious, while Casino retied him with feet and wrists lashed together behind him. One of the men tossed a net to them and they wrapped Alex up in it, both thinking they should have done this in the first place.
Terry handed the gaff to the other fisherman and retrieved her blade from the floor where she had dropped it, returning it to its sheath. Kelly thanked the men in Norwegian and they climbed back out to resume their work. The three looked at each other.
Kelly sighed. "Guess I'll take first watch."
"Terrific," griped Casino, "now we gotta sit down here with the little bas …"
"Seems so," interrupted Terry.
She and Casino climbed the steps while Kelly took a seat on the lower ones. The safecracker kept a steadying hand on the girl's arm as they made their way back to the cabin. Casino slid down the wall to the floor and pulled Terry down beside him, placing an arm around her shoulders. She turned into him with a long deep sigh.
"Could you have killed him?" asked the cracksman curiously.
She nodded against his shoulder. "Probably. If he had gotten closer . . . definitely."
"And you call me bloodthirsty?"
"Not bloodthirsty. I have to have a reason. He's given me two so far. This would have been the third."
"Three strikes and you're out, Babe?"
"Something like that."
"I'll remember that."
Terry looked up at him and gave a quiet chuckle. "I know where to hide the bodies too," she teased.
Neither slept, but remained as they were, rocking with the rolling of the boat, and listening to the calls of the men on the deck. They had no idea where in England they were landing, nor did they care at this point, so long as it was on British soil.
GGG
British soil proved to be a fishing village on the Scottish border. Alex was off loaded sealed in a large box that should have contained fish. He was placed in the warehouse of a member of the SOE. Casino, Terry and Kelly remained close to the box and watched a man with a wrinkled leathery face from years of working in the elements approach them. The man addressed Casino.
"I assume you would be wanting to contact SOE headquarters," said the man with a strong north accent.
Terry took over. "Actually I need to contact Allied Command."
The older man eyed Casino with question. "She is in charge?"
"She is now," replied the safecracker.
Terry waited silently and watched the man digest this information and accept it, albeit reluctantly. He turned and motioned the girl to follow him.
"We'll just stay here and make sure our friend doesn't suffocate, Sis," said Kelly.
"Aw just stick a hole in the side of the box," said Casino. "I ain't takin' him outta there."
Terry shook her head and left the boys with their prisoner. She followed the man to an office with a telephone. First she called Allied Command and notified them of her location and the traitor they had brought back with them. She asked for transportation of the four of them. Arrangements were made from a truck to pick them up and bring them to London.
It was late afternoon by the time they reached London. Casino was getting tired of being in the back of a truck with the stench of fish that emanated from the box. This was mixed with the acrid smell of urine. The safecracker figured if Alex somehow got out of his box, he'd kill them all with his bare hands.
When they reached Allied Command, the three were shown inside to General Abrams office. Alex was removed from his container, placed in shackles, and put in the stockade under continuous guard. Gen. Abrams looked at the three rather malodorous people in his ante office. He focused on the young woman.
"I have been informed by Maj. Richards you might be returning with a prisoner, but probably not. Would you care to come into my office and explain yourself?"
"Yeah an' what about us?" asked Casino belligerently.
"Casino, shut up," said Terry wearily. "Unless you want him to put you in a cell next to Alex."
"I just want a bath and clean clothes," persisted the safecracker.
They did smell bad. Abrams turned to his lieutenant and said, "Williams, find them a place in the army barracks to stay the night, get them clean clothes and food, and access to showers."
"And the lady, Sir?"
"Obviously not the barracks, Williams."
The corners of Terry's mouth twitched. She followed Gen. Abrams into his office. It was late evening by the time she had debriefed first with Gen. Abrams and then again with Gen. Fremont. Fremont's wrinkled-nosed reaction to her smell was a highlight for her day. She was driven from there to a safe house and given clean clothes, albeit men's army fatigues. Since she was already wearing men's clothes it didn't bother her. She just wanted to be clean and have something to eat.
It was close to midnight when she had finally been able to bathe and eat. A bed beckoned her. It was too late for her to call the Mansion and she was too tired to deal with Actor's ire. With certainty she knew it would be him to answer the phone. So she went to bed.
Casino and Kelly were given beds in a far corner of the army barracks building. They were clean, fed and had fresh clothes. The safecracker had been mulling on something for awhile and now had the boy alone. Casino sat down on the squeaky-springed cot beside Kelly. The young man looked at the safecracker wondering what the man wanted.
"Kid, how old are you?" asked Casino.
"Sixteen in a couple months," replied Kelly. "How old are you?" he shot back.
"Thirty-one."
"You're older than Craig," said Kelly in surprise.
"We all are, except Chief."
"Even Goniff?"
Casino nodded. "Goniff's two years older than me."
Kelly's eyebrows rose at that.
Casino looked at the boy sadly. "Listen, Kid, you don't need to be over here doin' the things you know how to do. You've already lost a chunk of your teens. You should be home, finishing school and make something of yourself. You keep this up and you're going to end up like us."
Kelly looked at Casino gravely. "Too late. I'm in it now. I can't go back now. I've gotta finish this."
"Why?" asked Casino. "You wanna kill Krauts?"
"No," replied Kelly. "I want to help the people who are being hurt by those bastards."
Casino nodded, accepting that answer. "What about when this war ends?"
"Then I'll go back to the ranch. I can finish my schooling. We're home schooled anyway."
"Think you can go back to the ranch after this?"
"I hope so." Kelly pondered on it. "Chris could. Terry probably could. I don't know about Craig. He planned on being career military like Dad. What you guys are doing may burn him out of that."
Kelly looked quizzically at Casino. "What about you? What are you going to do after the war?"
"I don't look that far in advance," replied Casino. "If any of us make it through this war it'll be a miracle."
"Say you make it. What then?"
Casino thought about it. "I don't know. I made some bad choices in my life. I don't wanna go back to that, but I don't know anything else."
"Why don't you come out to the ranch?" offered Kelly. "We'd teach you."
Casino chuckled. "Son, your family would not want me out there."
"Terry would."
Casino smiled, "Yeah, Terry might. Face it, if the Lieutenant busted up your sisters and the Bradfords like I hear he did, he ain't gonna let them anywhere near any of us."
"Craig's pretty fair minded."
Casino shook his head. "Naw, Warden knows what we are."
"He might surprise you," said Kelly.
"Yeah, that'd be some surprise." Casino got up and squeezed Kelly's shoulder, before going back to sit on his own cot. "But thanks for the offer."