Recovery
Chapter 4
Actor stalked back into the common room, a thunderous look on his face and entered Garrison's office without knocking. Craig looked up, surprised at the con man's countenance.
"That woman is impossible!"
"What did she do now?" asked Craig, not even wanting to have to do damage control.
Actor opened his mouth to speak and then realized how embarrassing it would sound. His lips clamped tightly shut. "Never mind." He turned and strode out of the office, resisting the urge to rub the still stinging part of his offended anatomy, choosing to sit on it in his chair instead.
Garrison leaned an elbow on his desk and rested his forehead in his hand. Why couldn't he have chosen to take that promotion in rank and be free of dealing with the sometimes-childish behaviors of his sister and his men? Well, at least with this group, life was never boring, and he would not give them up for the world.
GGG
Actor only had a one-day reprieve from what seemed to be the bane of his existence. He made no move on the girl and hoped she would do the same. Of course, she didn't.
He was in his usual spot in his chair, with pipe and a new book from the mansion's delightful library. Terry casually walked past him, but then turned and leaned over his left shoulder. He felt her breath on his ear. Actor turned his head to give her a narrow-eyed glare from flashing dark chocolate eyes.
"Easy," she whispered. "I'm supposed to kiss you, aren't I?"
The woman nuzzled his neck. He pulled away, not knowing just exactly what she was going to do. He felt soft lips kiss a spot behind and slightly below his ear. Unable to totally stifle a little shiver, he glared back at her. It figured. She knew where one of those "sweet spots" was she had been so eager to find on him when they had spent the night at his house in London, what seemed so long ago.
The girl was unaffected by the glare and simply gave a pleasant smile before leaving him and continuing down the short hall to the room they were using to store supplies.
GGGGG
Their couple days reprieve ended abruptly with a jangling telephone in the dark of night. Garrison rolled over and looked at his alarm clock. It was ten minutes to four. The ringing stopped to be followed by a loud "Leftenant Garrison!" Now what, wondered the officer, wide awake. He threw on a robe and went downstairs. Five minutes later, his running feet could be heard returning up the stairs.
Saying nothing to the men who had come bleary-eyed to their doors, he went in his room and opened the armoire doors. A pair of uniform dress pants and shirt landed on the bed. A quick shave in his bathroom and he dressed hurriedly. His hat and his Ike jacket were in his office. As he strode down the hall toward the stairs His sister came to her door, hair down, robe open to reveal her long cotton gown.
"Craig," she called out, "Where are you going?"
"Allied Command, London." Garrison paused at the top of the stairs. 'Whatever it is, it's big and probably bad."
Actor had reached the girl's room. "We will be ready," he assured Garrison.
They heard him bound down the steps to the office and then the bang of the front door.
"Terrific," grumbled Casino. "At this hour, this can't be good."
"Is it ever?" asked Goniff.
Chief was leaning against his door jamb. "What do we pack?"
"Have everything ready," replied Actor. "We can put what we are going to need in the kits when we find out where and what."
"Sgt./Major!," yelled Terry.
"Yes, Miss!"
"Coffee, real and strong! And a big breakfast." She looked at Actor for guidance and counted on her fingers. "It's four-thirty. Figure two hours there, a minimum of one hour in briefing, and another two hours back. That would make it nine-thirty at the earliest?"
The con man nodded. "Sgt./Major, breakfast at eight."
"Right you are," the non-com called back.
Actor turned his attention to the girl. "We do not know if you are coming with us."
Terry shook her head. "I'll be ready anyway. I can always put it away again." She looked up at him. "Pants, shirt, skirt and blouse, ball gown, boots, shoes and heels."
"Not the green gown. It's been seen too many times in the past couple weeks," he advised.
"Cream or black?"
"The cream one and the fox."
Terry turned and went back into her room. He returned to his room to begin putting things together. No use going back to bed. He was wide awake now. Instead of getting dressed and beginning the process of deciding what he would need to take, Actor sat on the edge of his bed and lit the first cigarette of the day. As he blew a haze of white smoke toward the ceiling, the sound of water rumbling through the old pipes told him someone had already hit the shower.
It was ten o'clock when Garrison returned. He immediately called for a briefing in his office. Terry got his plate of breakfast out of the warmer and set it in front of him.
"Eat while you talk," she suggested. "Am I going?"
Garrison nodded. "We have no idea what we need to do to accomplish this mission. We may or may not need you."
Terry took her place at the table between Actor on the end and Casino. Garrison took a bite of scrambled eggs and swallowed them almost whole.
"We're going to Limoges in France. We need to recover some Allied plans that got in the wrong hands. There is an offensive being planned. Seems a general in Lyon, thought he could do it better. He drew up his own plans and sent them with a courier who was supposed to take them to England. He was caught in Limoges. The Gestapo figured out they had a goldmine and notified Berlin. The SS is coming tomorrow to get the papers. Our bombers seem to be keeping Berlin a little busy." Craig smiled and ate some more from his plate.
"So how did this courier get tumbled?" asked Casino.
"We don't know."
Casino frowned. "If they aren't the right plans, who cares?"
Garrison took a sip of coffee. "He based them on the real plans. There's enough information there to kill a lot of troops. Command is scrambling to change some things, but with what the Germans have planned, they have to go through with the original plan only move it forward. That leaves us less than 24 hours to get the wrong plans or they have to scuttle the whole thing."
It was Actor's turn. "Can we get to Limoge before the real SS?"
"We don't know."
"Is there anything we do know?" asked Goniff sarcastically.
"Not really," admitted the Lieutenant.
Even Chief looked up dubiously at that. "This is going to be fun."
"Probably not," said Craig.
"So, when are we leaving?" asked Terry.
"Eleven-thirty," replied Garrison around a bite of toast.
"Tonight?" asked Goniff hopefully.
"No," said Garrison. "In an hour and a half from Archbury."
As usual, Casino went ballistic. "We're flying in? In broad daylight?"
"Fastest way in," replied Garrison.
"Fastest way to get killed, you mean!"
"Whose brilliant idea was it to send us like this?" asked Terry.
"Your uncle," said Craig pointedly.
"Sam?" the girl asked in disbelief.
"No, your other uncle."
Terry frowned and then her eyes widened. "The big uncle?"
"Yes," replied her brother with a warning look. "Your big uncle."
"Oh." She smiled. "Say hi when you debrief."
Craig gave her one of his looks.
An hour and a half later the Dakota with all six of them squashed in it with their bags, circled over the airfield and headed toward France. It was unusually quiet inside the plane. None of them liked this mission. Garrison hated going in without a plan and several backup plans. Goniff just didn't like it one bit. Casino felt like the Army was doing anything in their power to bump them off. And Chief had a bad feeling something was gonna go really bad. He just couldn't say what. Actor tried to think of a dozen different scenarios he could play, but not knowing what they were walking into made that next to impossible. Terry just sat in her seat and watched the scenery pass outside her window.
It was a zig-zag flight that almost doubled the time to get to the drop-off point. The pilot flew low, skirting known flak installations and fighter bases. At the final five minutes, the co-pilot called back they were coming in. Everyone was alert and ready. They touched down in an unplowed field, bumping and hopping to a stop. The door was opened by Actor, who with relief, found himself facing French civilians. Bags were tossed out and the group followed. They were ushered into the back of a waiting market truck and herded forward. Large boxes of vegetables that were really half empty were piled up at the tailgate to hide the people inside.
The men changed into peasant clothes. Terry spent the time digging into the duffle bags she shared with Actor, slowly removing the clothing she wanted and making room for the clothes she and the confidence man were changing out of. It kept her head down. All she would be able to see from that angle were Actor's shoes and socks. When it was Terry's turn to change, if she was uncomfortable changing in front of the men, they didn't know it. Goniff fiddled with his duffle bag. Chief gave an inordinate amount of attention to cleaning his blade. Actor, who had seen it all, and Casino, who had seen most of it, averted their eyes to give her the most privacy possible. Garrison, having grown up with the girl and the swimming hole they all swam together in without suits, could have cared less but his mind was so engrossed with devising scenarios he couldn't have told anyone what she was changing into.
The truck rumbled to a stop in an alley behind a shop. The boxes were off-loaded and the people came out, one at a time, to disappear into the storage room that was lit by a single bare light bulb dangling from the ceiling. A door in one wall led them into a cool, damp basement room that was just as dimly lit as the storeroom. Their resistance contact, George, followed them down. The man almost looked like a caricature of what a Frenchman should look like; short, thin, dark-haired with a pencil thin mustache. Casino lounged atop a wooden crate. Chief sat on his heels, back against a wall. Goniff perched on another crate. Garrison and Actor sat at the scarred wooden table with the resistance man. For whatever reason, the girl pulled out a chair and sat at the table with them.
"Do we know where the plans are?" asked Garrison.
"Qui, they are in Gestapo headquarters. In the safe of a Major Stein. It is not going to be easy," warned George.
"We wouldn't know what to do if it was easy," grumbled Casino.
Garrison's eyes narrowed in contemplation. "Do you have anything on the SS general who is coming to get the plans?"
"It is a General Wagner. We do not know what he looks like. He will be here early in the morning."
That meant they had to act now and be far away before the real general arrived. The plane they had arrived on could not come back for them. Another plane would meet them at Nantes. Garrison plotted it out in his mind as Actor watched him.
"George can you get us papers?" asked Craig. 'General Wagner," he pointed to Actor and then himself. "And Major Schmidt."
"I can have them within the hour," assured the resistance man.
Garrison turned back to Actor. "Did you bring that uniform?"
"Yes," replied the con man, "however it has the insignia of a major. I have the correct one, but I will have to change them out."
"I can do that," said Terry quietly.
Craig nodded. He looked at his other men. "Goniff, I need a uniform for a major and lesser ranks for the rest of you. Chief we need a large staff car."
Both men nodded and rose to follow George up the stairs. Garrison would have swapped out with Actor, but his uniform had been made to especially fit his taller frame.
Garrison was thinking. Actor could see the wheels rotating in the man's mind and smiled. The Italian had recognized from the first mission the Lieutenant had a keen and quick mind for a con.
"Okay, this is what we'll do," said Craig.
Terry got the duffle she shared with Actor and rummaged through, taking out the make-up box she knew had a small sewing kit in the bottom along with the other insignias. The wool uniform came next. Getting right to work, she carefully snipped the major's insignias off and began replacing them with the general's. The Wehrmacht pieces on the collar and the hat were replaced with the lightning bolts and death's head. She kept one ear on the plotting of the men.
"Actor will become General Wagner. I will be his major. Casino, you will come in with us. If we have to take out the officer in Gestapo headquarters, you might have to open the safe. Goniff will come in too as a guard. Chief will drive." Garrison was coming up with this as he went.
"I stay here?" asked Terry.
"No," Craig shook his head. "You'll have to come with us. We'll be making a dash for the rendezvous."
Terry's eyebrows rose and dropped. "Goniff better find me a uniform too."
"No." Actor picked up the thread of plan. "You will stay as you are dressed."
"What's a dame doin' with a general who's doin' something like this?" scoffed Casino.
Terry glanced at Actor. "I imagine what dames usually do with generals."
"No," said Actor, rolling with it. "She is the daughter of a Field Marshal in Berlin. We picked her up and will deliver her to her father."
"Daughter?" asked the girl dubiously.
"More believable," added Garrison. "A daughter is safer with the plans in tow than a 'girlfriend'."
"Well, that'll be a new one. First time to be a daughter." She gave Actor a dubious look as she handed him the hat and jacket.
Casino knew exactly what she was thinking. "Naw, Babe, he may be old and all, but you're too old to be his daughter."
"Nothing with him would surprise me," said Terry dryly. "He probably started when he was eight."
"Knock it off, both of you," said Garrison before his second could have an explosion.
GGGGG
The large black car pulled up to the curb in front of the gray stone building with a swastika flag draped from the roof. Casino was out of the front in an instant, opening the door while standing at attention. Garrison came out first, followed by Actor. Goniff got out behind the safecracker.
The guards flanking the entrance snapped to attention at the sight of the general and major. One opened the door for the four men. Actor went in first, with Garrison on his heels. Casino and Goniff followed.
The blond man behind the desk in the foyer rose to attention and snapped a stiff-armed Heil Hitler to the officers. Actor at his SS best with a stern no-nonsense expression, gave his usual half salute back.
"I wish to see Major Stein at once. I am General Wagner," said Actor.
"May I see your papers please, Herr General," asked the man.
Actor puffed up. "I am SS. You do not need to see my papers. You will take me to Major Stein, sofort!"
Papers forgotten, the hapless corporal began to stutter. "I -I'm sorry, Herr General. Major Stein just left for supper. He eats in a restaurant six blocks from here. He walks. He will be back in an hour."
Actor's glare would have wilted any flowers that were close by. "You will show us to his office and send someone to get the Major."
"But – but . . . "
"You dare question an SS general?" demanded Actor. "I will see you are shipped to the Eastern Front immediately."
The man's face lost all color. "No, no, Herr General. Right this way please." He motioned down the hall. Threat of the Russian border sent all thoughts of protocol from his mind and he led the men down the hall and partway down another hall to a room. He opened the door inward and backed out of the way. The four men went inside. Instead of leaving, the corporal asked if he could get them some refreshment while they waited. Actor's glare could now have peeled the paint from the walls.
Garrison took a step forward. "Are you an idiot?" he demanded. "General Wagner is here to see Major Stein. You will go get him now! You will get him yourself!"
"Jawohl, Herr Major!" The man turned and fled.
Casino had already spotted the safe in the corner of the room and went to work on it. Garrison touched Goniff's arm and pointed for him to stand watch in the hall. Actor, fully in his role, tapped his foot impatiently. Craig started looking through the papers on the desk.
"Might as well see what else we can find," he said to Actor.
A couple pieces looked important and were set aside. A briefcase was under the desk. Those papers were put inside.
Chief and Terry waited just as impatiently in the car. A staff car tore out of the alley beside the building and sped down the street.
"That don't look good," remarked Chief.
"No."
Chief pulled the car up a little further, so they wouldn't be blocked if someone tried to park in front of them. He wanted a clear shot out. It was a good move. Not more than five minutes later, the staff car returned and made a fast U-turn to park at the curb behind their vehicle. Terry did not turn around but stared straight ahead. Chief watched in the rearview and side mirrors.
"That looks like a major," said the Indian.
"Oh, that's terrific," said the girl.
They barely turned their heads enough to see the major storm into the building, followed by whoever had been driving the staff car. Chief kept the engine of their car running.
The plans were tucked inside Garrison's shirt for safety. As a decoy if need be, the other papers were in the briefcase dangling from Craig's hand. The four of men headed for the outside door, hoping to be gone before the Major returned. The door opened and a short, blond, obviously annoyed Major halted in front of Actor.
"Major Stein," said Actor haughtily. "I am General Wagner. I am here for the Allied plans."
Stein frowned, and suspicion crossed his face.
"You are early," he said. "And you are not General Wagner. I know the General personally."
Before Stein could give a call for his guards, Garrison leapt forward and grabbed him, snapping his neck. As he dropped to the floor, the corporal pulled a gun. Goniff, being the closest, shot him. The gunfire prompted the two outside guards to open the door and start inside.
"Help them!" ordered Garrison in German, pointing to the downed men. "They went back that way."
Goniff skirted around and held the outer door open. Actor pushed through the two guards with Garrison and Casino behind him. They made it out the door, but not far enough. Casino was in the rear.
"Halt! Hande hoch!"
Casino whirled around, gun in hand and fired at the guard in the doorway. He downed him, but not before taking a bullet. The safecracker turned and started to run to the waiting car. Garrison shot the other guard who came through the doorway, and grabbed Casino, hurrying him to the car.
Terry scooted over to the middle of the seat, reaching to open the other door. Chief leaned over and opened the front passenger door. Garrison shoved Casino in the back beside Terry. She tried to move back to the far side, but Actor was already getting in that door, leaving her stuck in the middle. Goniff dove into the middle of the front seat, with Garrison right behind him. The Lieutenant had just raised his right foot off the pavement when the car took off with a squeal of spinning tires. He tucked his foot inside and slammed the door shut.
8
