Lost and found 2
Craig tried to sit up but found that there wasn't a part of him that didn't was having trouble focusing ,everything was just a blur , he could hearsomeone talking but couldn't work out what they were saying . He tried to movebut all that led to was an excruciating pain in his side and a feeling that heneeded to vomit, so as gently as he could he laid back on the bed and waited forthe pain and the sickness to go away .He must have dozed off as the next time heopened his eyes it was darker than before ,late afternoon maybe and this timethere was someone sitting beside his bed. She was young ,maybe in her earlytwenties, with the darkest eyes he had ever seen . She spoke to him in Frenchand when he didn't answer tried again this time in English .`Good afternoon , nice of you to finally join us, can you tell me who you are?`.He looked at her blankly and realized that he had no idea who he was, hecouldn't remember started to panic,asked her where he was ,why hecouldn't remember, tried once more to sit up but the pain hit him hard this timeand she held him,lowered him to the bed.`You must not try to get up ,you willhurt yourself more if you do. Please listen ,you are safe here ,you are in thedepths of the convent ,no-one ever comes here, no-one will find put thecold cloth on the side of his face `Don't worry I'm sure that everything willbecome clearer in time ,right now your main priority is to get better .You arevery lucky to be alive at all you know, being caught in an explosion like thatwould have killed most people , someone was obviously looking out for you thatday`. You have been here six days , unconscious for most of the time, thisafternoon is the first time you have made any sense at all, I've been quiteworried about you` .He looked at her `You've been with me all that time?` Shesmiled at him `I found you ,that makes you my responsibility ,so yes I havetaken care of you, I am only a novice so the Germans would not miss me if theysearched the convent unlike some of the other sisters. I report to the reverendMother every day to let her know of your progress and she comes down here whenthe doctor needs to see you, otherwise he would get lost in the maze of tunnels,he says you have at least three broken ribs and possibly some cracked ones toobut without taking you to hospital he cannot be sure ., your wrist is broken andyou have a bump on your head the size of an egg but that is slowly starting togo down. The doctor said that until you came round he would not know the extentof the damage but was pretty sure that some memory loss would occur with a woundsuch as yours`.. She could see that he was getting tired again `You need to getsome rest now I will see you in the morning and we will talk some more andhopefully I can arrange for the doctor to come and see you again now that youare awake`.Thank you for everything`,he said and took the medicine that she offered him Ishould at least know the name of my nurse`,he said `. She smiled `You can callme Sister Maria`,He looked at her through the haze that was settling in his headand said `Nice name I like it`. And then closed his eyes and drifted off woke the next morning still feeling groggy but he had at least slept straightthrough the night. The sickness had gone which was a relief `Would you likesomething to eat she asked , it has been a week since you had any proper foodyou must be starving,` He realized that she was right ,he was hungrt. `Yesplease Sister I'll take whatever you have to offer , thanks`. She brought himsome soup and bread and then after she had propped him up fed him ,He ate allthat she gave him and said` It tastes really good Sister ,thanks`.`Glad you like it as it will probably be all the doctor will allow you for thenext couple of days`, Oh he should be here too see you sometime today but untilthen it would be best if you could get as much rest as you can.``Can you stay and talk for a while if I promise to lay still and just listen`?,he askedI can stay as long as you need me too but if I think that you are getting tootired I will stop , deal?``That's all right by me Sister you're in charge , I'll just lay here and do asI'm told`.`Do you remember anything at all about what happened or is it still blank?`. Sheasked`Totally blank Sister , so anything you can tell me will be welcome, I don'teven know my name`.`Well we can't have that now can we so ,how about you choose one until yourscomes back to you ?``That is a crazy idea Sister but why not, at least I'll stop being a no-body `.`You will never be a nobody , somewhere someone is waiting for you to come home,of that I am sure, so pick a name that you like and I'll tell you if it suitsyou , how's that?`.`O,K .Sister here goes , he thought for a minute and then for some reason a namecame into his head ,how about David,?`he asked her She thought for a second ortwo and then said `Yes I like that it suits you enough to even be your name`.she said`No it's not , I don't know what mine is but I'm sure that `s not it, butsomehow it feels like it's a name I should know, Anyway Sister how about youtelling me where you found me for starters maybe something will come back if Iknow more about what happened to me.``Very well . I was in the village getting supplies for the convent when I heardthe plane and then I saw smoke and decided to investigate. There was a car inthe middle of the road in flames , but with only one vehicle there it was clearthat this was not just an ordinary accident. Having heard the plane I assumedthat it was trying to shoot the car off the road. I had apparently not been theonly one who had been curious , some of the locals had come to see if there wasanything worth scavenging and decided to look in the ditches to see if anythinghad been blown in them from the road. They found you twenty feet from the car ,you were in the ditch covered by one of the car doors, if they hadn't heard youmoaning I would never have looked underneath . I sent one of the boys to theconvent to get the cart we have and the Reverend Mother came and we loaded youon and brought you here. It doesn't seem that the Germans are looking for you,we think that they assume that you were in the car and burned with the other manwe found. We brought you down here while you were still unconscious and youstayed that way , with the doctors help, for six days , He was concerned aboutyour head injury and decided that it would be best to keep you as still aspossible, as he dare not take you to the hospital for any x-rays and just had todo everything by guess work. He taped up your ribs , and between us we put thecast on your wrist , and stitched up whatever needed stitching. We thought forthe first couple of days that you weren't going to make it , but then youstarted to improve and the doctor knocked your morphine down .He left you withus and said if you came round to let him know as there was not a lot more hecould do for you until you were awake. So you see David you are an extremelylucky man. God was definitely looking after you that day.`Before he could answer her they heard voices outside and as he tried to get upshe told him it was only the doctor and the Reverend MotherAs the doctor entered the room he looked at Craig and smiled.` My you're lookinga lot better than when I last saw you , how do you feel, anything coming back toyou? Any idea who you work for?`.`I don't remember anything doc, not my name , nothing , and it's driving memad`.`Oh don't try so hard ,it will take longer to come back if you do.I have somegood news , I have managed to get in touch with the resistance and they aregoing to contact London to see if anyone is missing, presumed dead, It will ofcourse take some time,and if I were you I would use that time wisely and get asmuch rest as you can , because if they do find out who you are and where youbelong you might have to leave quite quickly. Now lets get you checked out andsee if we can take any more of those stitches out.``When he had finished Craig said `Thanks doc for everything`. The doctor lookedat him and said `My dear young man I am not the one you should be thanking , ifit hadn't been for the care the sisters gave you I doubt you would have lasted aday. , Now I will relay any messages to you through the Sisters and will be backto see you next week , don't try to hard with the memory , it won't come backany quicker if you worry about it. I will let you know as soon as I can if Ihear anything but these things take time , and there are a lot of people inLondon to ask about you, but we will find out who you are I promise, now you doas the Sister tells you and you'll be on your feet in a couple of days , Takecare young man`. On that note he turned and left before Craig had time to thankhim again for all that he had looked so downhearted that the sister took pity on him.`Would you like me to see if I can find you a book to read? `she askedIt won't be much our book department is sorely limited I'm afraid.`Sister I will be grateful for anything you can find, anything to keep theboredom at bay, ``I'll see what I can do `,she said and left. When she came back a little latershe had a copy of Moby Dick tucked under her arm ,`Best I can find , hope it'sall right` I have read it but I`ll give it another go`. He said. She looked at him andsmiled , `just a guess or do you actually know you've read it? she asked. Hesmiled back and she knew that this was something he rememberedAs the week went by he got better and better , everything that is except hismemory. The doctor had returned as promised but with the news that he definitelydid not belong to any of the resistance groups in the area, but they werechecking further out with other groups and would get to him as soon as still had no news from London but one of the groups he had talked to wasdue to get a reply in the next few days so all they could do was hope. Thedoctor stayed with him for a while knowing that the boredom was the worst partfor him now that he was feeling better .` Do you play chess David? he asked Ithought we might have a game if you did`.I do doc , hey I remember that , now if only everything else was so easy `,As they were playing the doc asked `David is it possible that you weren't herealone ? That you were with a group maybe? Some one who left because , like theSister, they thought that you had died in the burning car,? If they had been inthe ditch when the plane had attacked they would not have seen you been blownalong the ditch, and they would probably not have looked for you that far away`,He looked at the doctor and said` Anything is possible doc. I just don't know,maybe that's how it was ,` They went back to their chess game and out of nowherehe saw a face in his head, not a clear face but he knew that he had played chessbefore with this unknown man ,`What's the smile for David? From where I'msitting you're losing`, Craig just smiled ,`Only cos I'm letting you windoc`. They both laughed `Well in that case I'll retire gracefully and go and seeother patients who are entirely more grateful for my services, Seriously Daviddon't give up hope, you are alive and getting better every day , Soon I hopesomeone will be able to shed some light on who you are ,and I promise you this ,I will get you home David you have my word on Maria came to sit with him after the doctor had left and it was obviousthat some thing was bothering him `What's wrong `, she askedHe shrugged his shoulders and ran his good hand through his hair ,`It wassomething the doc said about me not being alone over here . They left me Sister,left me to die,I know I would never have left any of them .`Who are we talking about David ?` she asked`My men `, he answered ``Do you remember them?`Not their faces , those are still a blur , but I do know that I wasn't alone, Idon't even know how many there are , but I know that some one else was with me,`She didn't understand ,`Isn't remembering a good thing ?`, she asked.`You don't get it do you Sister , they left me ,probably didn't even look forme, what kind of team is that Sister ?, how much trust can there be when theycan just walk away and leave me for dead? .Maybe they didn't even try to findme`. She looked at him, `Maybe they did look , but just not in the right place,maybe they thought you were in the car. If they did they would know there wouldbe no hope for you and assume that you were dead.``I just wish I could be sure somehow Sister,I know I should just be grateful tobe alive , but I just need to know what happened , I need to know why they leftme behind `.She left him hoping that some time alone would help him work out his problem ,when she came back with his supper a few hours later he was laid on his bed, `Hedidn't look at her .`Take it away Sister ,I'm not hungry,` She put the tray offood down `If you don't eat it you might not be strong enough to go to the crashsite tomorrow,` He leapt off the bed as fast as his ribs would allow, `What areyou talking about Sister?`,`Well I just thought it might help you if you could see the place where you wereattacked. Maybe it will stir up some memories for you,We will have to be alittle careful , but the Germans don't use the road very often now so hopefullywe should be all right.``Are you sure you want to do this Sister? ,it could be dangerous,`She laughed at him .`You may not have noticed David but I have just spent thelast five weeks harbouring a fugitive from goodness knows where , I think I'vealready done dangerous,He looked serious ,`Sorry Sister I forgot how much danger I'd put you in theselast few weeks should have known better` ,`Well so long as you eat your supper we will consider the matter closed , noweat , and I will take you in the morning right after we've had breakfast, allright`. He picked up his knife and started to eat the bread and cheese she hadbrought him `Now that's better `, she said and walked out the was a long time since he had seen daylight properly and spent some timegetting his eyes adjusted to the suns brightness, The sisters had found him anold gardening hat and he looked the part of the villager he was supposed to was only a half hour walk and they took it at his pace and he enjoyed beingoutside. They soon came across what was left of the car, the Germans had pushedinto the ditch now to clear the road but he cold still see the burn marks on theroad. He was standing there when he realized that Sister Maria wasn't beside himany more. He turned around and looked at the ditch that ran along the side ofthe road , but couldn't see her . Slowly she stood up , she was a good twentyfeet away ,and as he walked towards her he knew that unless his men had seen himbeing blown from the car they would not have looked this far away from it forhim. `They didn't leave me ,they really thought that I was dead didn't they? heasked.`That's the conclusion I came too , but I wanted you to work it out foryourself`. She said `Anything else come back to you?`.`Nothing ` he told her `Nothing at he could see was an accident that had taken a life ,and luckily not his lifebut nothing else meant anything too him. They went back to the convent , wentback to the safety of his room. He was deep in thought and didn't see the doctorstanding there until he saw the shadow on the floor in front of him. He lookedup into the smiling face and saw the outstretched hand. Craig was confused buthe took the doctors hand anyway,. As the doctor covered Craig's hand with bothof his shook it warmly and said``Hello Lt. Garrison it is so nice to finally meet you!`.Craig looked at him opened mouthed. `You found out who I am?` he said , Thedoctor smiled `I've just had confirmation from London, they are ninety ninepercent sure that you are Lt. Craig Garrison, you have a special unit based justoutside London , and about six weeks ago you were sent with your team to get ascientist out if Germany. Something went wrong, your men returned saying that youhad been in a car crash and they had not been able to reach you before the carhad exploded killing both you and the scientist, This all adds up to what wefound so the chances are that you are exactly who they say you are.`Craig looked stunned but he didn't remember any of this, but at least now he hada name, someone knew who he was and maybe when he saw their faces some of hismemory would come back. `If everything goes according to plan you should be homein a week Craig, and don't worry , your memory will come back .Maybe not asquickly as you would like it too ,but it will resistance will get intouch and I'll get you to my house ready for them to pick you up probably theday before`Craig looked at him `Thanks doc ,thanks for everything `.`You're very welcome Craig , I'll see you in a few days, take care my friend `asthe doctor turned to leave Sister Maria touched his arm, `So Craig Garrison wefinally have a real name for you , I think that it suits you even better thanDavid,`He smiled at her`Thanks to you to Sister ,for keeping me sane,I know Iwouldn't have survived without you, I owe you my life `, She smiled at him,`Well just promise me one thing ,be a little more careful with it in future ,next time I might not be there to dig you out. He looked behind her to theReverend Mother .`Permission to hug a nun Mother ? He asked `Only if I get onetoo Lt,she said hugged them both and closed his eyes ,at last he wasgoing arrived in England three days later and was met by Major Freeman. Heapparently knew Craig and his men and thought it a good idea to fill Craig in ona few things while he was getting checked out in hospital.`Your men haven't yet been told that you are still alive , nor has you're sisterin law, that is something that I will deal with in the morning before you arriveat the estate,` Craig looked at the Major `I have a family?` he asked.` Yes I`m afraid your brother was killed more than a year ago,but you areextremely close to your sister in law by all accountsShe took the news of your death very badly and as your men seemed to be helpingher ,and were waiting to hear their fate anyway ,she was given specialpermission to stay at the mansion for as long as she wished. She has actuallybeen a good influence on them as taking care of her has kept hem out of troublemost of the time`Craig was confused `Sir I don`t understand why weren't the men sent to otherunits ?Major Freeman looked at him and smiled, Oh Lt, you're men are special ,they areone of the best fighting unit's the army has, and that is all down to you. Youdon't just send a unit like that on just any mission and as yet we haven't foundanyone else wiling to take them on.``I 'm afraid I still don't get it sir , since when did anyone get a choice inthe army ?.`With these guys it has to be some one special Lt. you see you trained them well, they do as you tell them and get the jobs done but they are no ordinarysoldiers Lt. They are thieves ,killers and conmen , the best that you could findanywhere ,and as far as anyone else is concerned the most unruly bunch of hoodsyou're likely to meet. They don't seem to have any respect for authority , andthe two Lt'.s we've sent to replace you , both asked for transfers in under aweek You're the only one that has ever managed to do anything with those men now you're back they are all yours again, We are not sending you on anymissions until we are sure how permanent your memory loss is and how it willaffect your team. I have a driver ready to take you to your accommodation fortonight and I've enclosed dossiers on all you're men so you can at least havesome idea of who they are and what they are capable of when you meet them, Iwill go to the estate in the morning and explain things to them and thenhopefully they will find the best way to tell Angel that you are still alive.`Craig looked stunned `I have a bunch of cons working for me?` he askedincredulously `This unit really works?`You make it work Lt. and from what we have seen over the last few weeks , youare the only one that can, the only one these men ever showed any respect for,They are extremely good at what they do given the right man to lead them , butwithout that leadership they become just another bunch of hoods , which quitefrankly the army has no idea what to do with, We need them back to the unit theywere before Lt. and we are hoping that now you are back it will only be a matterof time before we can start sending them where they can do some good`.Craig looked at the dossiers that he held in his hands ,`I'll do my best Sir,but to be honest this was hardly what I was expecting`.`That's all we can ask you to do Lt. and if the worst happens and you find thatyou can't now work with these men again then we do have one option left open tous.`What option would that be Major ?`. He asked`We can always as a last resort, and if all else fails we can send them back tothe prisons we got them from Lt. but lets hope that it doesn't come to thatshall we? I'm sure that once you and your men start working together againeverything will fall into place.``I hope so Major `Craig replied ,`I really hope so `.As the Majors driver arrivedCraig snapped off a salute and got in the jeep.`Get some rest Lt .you've earned it and I'll see you tomorrow about elevenshould do ,no rush.`Craig said `Thank you Sir `.As the jeep drove away Major Freeman watched and wondered , he had a badfeeling that this was going to be a lot harder than the Army anticipated , Hehad severe doubts about the Lt, he hoped that his memory loss hadn't affectedhis ability to command or to control his men ,Anyway they could at least givehim the benefit of the doubt , and only time would show them whether they hadbeen right to give him his command back so soon . He hoped that Craig could pullthis off for if he didn't then he would lose a team that had once had thereputation of being the best in the major pulled up outside the mansion the next morning having asked thesergeant major to gather the men in the Lt's office as he had somethingimportant to tell them. They drifted in as if they had all the time in the worldassuming that the Army had chosen someone else to pick up where the Warden hadleft off , and one thing was certain ,they were not going to make it easy forhim.`Right gentlemen I've asked you to come as I have some news that I think willplease you. We received a message from one of the resistance groups asking us ifwe were missing anyone, He said they had found a man buried near a burnt out carbut as this man did not have any idea who he was and had been unconscious forthe first few days after they had found him he had been no use in helping themfind his identity.`Casino butted in` What's all this got to do with us?.The Major looked at them, `I picked up this man yesterday ,his name is Lt CraigGarrison`. They just starred at him` Well gentlemen this is a first all of youspeechless`,`Are you sure ?`,asked Actor `Sure that it's the Warden ?`.`I talked to him yesterday ,it is Craig ,but we do have one small problem ,hedoesn't remember anything, not even his name, he only knows what I've told him,nothing else.``Do the doctors know how long the amnesia will last ? Asked Actor`They have told him his memory will return eventually but cannot give him a time, could be days or even months , we will just have to wait and see`.`Hey it doesn't matter man , he's alive , the Wardens alive , how about that ,We got to tell Angel`, Casino was near to shouting with excitementMajor Freeman couldn't help but smile, these guys were genuinely pleased thatGarrison was alive, He was amazed, Who would have thought an Army Lt. would meanthat much to them.` Craig should be back in the next half an hour so maybe it would be a goodidea to tell Angel what's happened so it won't be too much of a shock to herwhen she finds out he's still alive` he told them.`Angels not here , she's gone to the village and then she was going to see Mary, so we don't know when she'll be back,` Chief told himMaybe one of you should watch out for her and get to her before she gets toCraig `, he said. Chief continued,This ain't going to be easy for her ,she's only just got used to him beingdead , How's she going to feel when she knows he's alive ,but doesn't rememberanything about her or the rest of her family?` Don't know how much more of thisstuff she can deal with, she's been close to losing it a couple of times, and wecan't be with her all the time,Actor turned to look at him,` We'll get her through it Chief ,together we'll make sure that she's O.K. anddon't forget this time the Warden will be here to help, Who knows maybe seeingus or her will help him get his memory back, Lets not look for trouble before wehave too ,lets just treat them both as we did before and see what happens, allright .`All right Actor , whatever you say , I'll go and keep an eye out for her , letyou know when she gets back,` Chief went outside and made himself comfortable onthe steps waiting for her return.`Right , as you seem to totally in control of the situation I will leave you andjust wish you all the best of luck, let me know if you need anything at all ,Goodbye gentlemen`, With that Major Freeman turned and left ,leaving three verystunned cons arrived a few minutes after the Major left, got out of the jeep turned towardsthe mansion and just stood there looking at it. Actor was the first to see thathe was lost, he had no idea where to go once he went through the front doors. Hewent down and opened the door and came face to face with Craig,`Nice to have you back Warden , I know this is not going to be easy for any ofus but we will be as much help to you as we can, just let us know if you needanything`,` Thank you Actor right now I would like to have a tour of the mansion to get mybearings and then later I'll meet with you all and you can maybe fill in some ofthe gaps I have about the last mission, Craig walked passed him and into themansion without giving Chief a second glance, Actor stared at him , this wasgoing to be a lot more difficult than he had there were the other two members of his team, Goniff and Casino if hewasn't mistaken, He had read their dossiers the night before and could notbelieve that these guys were the unit that Major Freeman had told him about,They were soft, not soldiers at all , well that would all change tomorrow , hewould set up some training for them and see what they could really do, but fortoday he would just find his was around, and go through his office and sortthrough the things that needed doing.A cockney voice broke into his thoughts `You o.k. then Warden ?` he asked, `Youwant some coffee or something?.`Coffee would be good thanks Goniff, and then I'd like to see you all in myoffice , and that includes Chief ,if one of you would get him`.Actor looked at him, `Chief is outside waiting for Angel to come back, shedoesn't know that you're alive , it will be quite a shock for her.``I'm sure that I can handle that , thank you Actor ,now if you will just do as Iask I would be grateful.`Actor left and met Goniff and Casino coming out of the kitchen,` He don't give afig about anyone anymore does he ?` asked Casino,`Give him time Casino ,it's all new to him He's probably just worried about howeverything is going to work out , he doesn't remember any thing here , not evenus,` said Actor` Let's give him a little more time, see what happens all right`,`Yea all right , but I'm telling you if he hurts Angel I ain't never going toforgive him , no way man`.`I assure you Casino , it he does that ,none of us will.`They went back into his office and he sat back in his chair and looked at them.`Now Actor why don't you tell me exactly what happened on our last mission`.