GGG

Actor felt a slight nudge on his shoulder and turned from scanning the surrounding forest to find Chief silently pointing back towards the complex. He sighted along the scout's upraised arm and concentrated on the building the young man was pointing out. It was the one Garrison and Goniff had disappeared into. For the briefest moment he thought he could make out the profile of a small, pale, face peering around the corner of the building but it disappeared too soon for him to decide if it was reality or a trick of vision. Chief bumped his arm again and directed his gaze in another direction.

"Uh oh!"

That quiet exclamation was all that was necessary. Moving towards the building where their two teammates were ransacking an engineer's office for plans were two German guards. The soldiers had their heads together, talking, their rifles ready in their hands, one of them was gesturing towards the building. Actor quickly scanned the area visible to him and then turned to the younger man and raised a questioning eyebrow. Chief shook his head. He hadn't seen anyone else either.

Actor gave a quick nod and Chief started off through the underbrush. They stayed out of sight but moved down where they could see the entrance to the research building. Chief pointed again and they both saw a tall shadow slide around the far corner and disappear.

Both of the men made a quick check of their weapons and ammunition. There was only a slight chance the Warden and Goniff would make a try for the fence where they'd originally gone through, but they'd have to be ready to cover them if they did. It was far more likely Garrison would make his way away from the research lab and go out on the other side of the complex. In that case they needed to be ready to provide a diversion to cover their escape if their activities inside were discovered too soon…. But right now they didn't know what their part would be. For now all they could do was wait, and watch. The waiting seemed interminable.

g

Actor checked his watch again. The second hand was just sweeping up to the time the Lieutenant planned to blow the lab. Fifteen seconds passed, then other fifteen. He was just about to risk a comment suggesting that there hadn't been time to set the charge, that something must have gone wrong inside, when the building was engulfed in a fireball. They were close enough that the explosion left their ears ringing.

Within moments alarms rang out throughout the complex. The fire lit up buildings along their side of the facility and they could see soldiers quickly moving in to fight the blaze. For a several minutes that's all the Germans seemed to be doing, but as soon as a small group of them broke off and started away towards the far fence both men took careful aim and fired. The effect was immediate.

All attention returned to the fence line nearest the destroyed lab. Someone turned a machine gun in their direction and strafed the fence. Several soldiers dropped onto their bellies and fired out into the underbrush, but by that time Actor and Chief had withdrawn. They held back until they were well out of range before they shot off a few rounds again. The Germans' returned fire and, through the flickering light provided by the flames, they could see someone gesturing, organizing the men into a patrol. Within moments they saw a truck, a dark shadow against the fire, pull to a halt and the soldiers were silhouetted as they loaded on the back.

They took off at a dead run and slid to a halt just in time to see the truck rumble through the gate. Dropping onto a knee Chief took careful aim and squeezed off two shots. The truck, just gaining speed, started to swerve and fishtail. The driver lost control and ended up in the shallow ditch that carried rain off the road that led to the complex. Two of the soldiers from the back of the truck were thrown out. Only one of them got up.

With their pursuers on foot now Actor and Chief did their best to draw them away from the facility to give Garrison and Goniff time to make their escape out the other side and get away. They took 'pot-shots' at the on-coming Germans to keep them interested as they led them away from the complex, and occasionally they took more careful aim and brought a man down to keep them wary. Just as the group that was following them started to thin out to a more manageable number they heard a large vehicle screech to a halt somewhere ahead in the darkness. They heard the distinct sound of boots hitting gravel and then the shouts of soldiers as they took up the hunt. Reinforcements had arrived. The pair turned and ran in earnest now, the prime objective; their own escape and survival.

ggg

Chief laid his hand on Actor's arm and brought him to a halt. They'd outrun the patrol that had been chasing them and seemed to be in the clear, but they'd been on the run for hours now and fatigue was making the con man careless. Their twisting course away from the facility had brought them close to the original safe house where they'd left Casino. Even though, by this time, the others should be long gone it would make a good place to rest, to catch their breath before they started off for the next gathering point. The young scout motioned for Actor to stay where he was and rest and he made his way towards the foundry alone. Within moments he was back. Actor stiffened at the look on his face and braced himself for bad news.

"There's a fire. You can smell it up ahead." He left the decision on what they'd do up to the older man.

"Is it the safe house?"

Chief didn't shake his head, his face never changed. "No way a tellin' without gettin' closer."

Actor took a deep breath and shoved away from the tree he'd been resting against. "Let's go."

g

They saw the damage before they ever got close enough to see the old abandoned foundry itself. Dust and ash still seemed to be sifting down out of the sky to coat the surrounding trees. Branches were bent and broken where they'd been struck by falling debris. A pall of smoke still hung over the forest. And the smell of burned wood and scorched flesh was growing stronger.

They found their first casualty, or part of him, at least thirty yards away. Incongruously a boot stood upright before them on the ground, the foot and a part of the leg with the uniform trouser still secure within it.

"Madre di Dio!"

Chief stepped a little closer to inspect the grisly artifact. German boot, wool trouser… They didn't need German uniforms for this job. Not one of us, he thought as he moved away towards the foundry.

Only the far corner of the building and a section of the stone furnace remained standing, the rest was mangled debris thrown towards the path that led to the site. Embers still glowed throughout the devastation. Flames continued to flicker where the heavy timbers rested together offering morbid comfort amid the ruins.

Actor stepped close, his voice low. "How long ago did this happen, can you tell?"

"Long enough to burn down to this." Chief directed the older man's gaze up one of the large trees at the edge of the clearing. The bark was scorched, the leaves withered. "Flames got all the way up there during the worst of it."

"Then there is no way to tell if Casino was still here when it happened…"

"Not without lookin'.

Taking opposite corners they sorted carefully through the wreckage, working their way in from the edges. It was grim, dirty work. Actor, sifting through the front section of the building, found what was left of a German patrol. Judging by the number of helmets, one of which he had in his hand, it appeared at least four of them had been inside when the explosion occurred. The con man studied the mangled item for a moment and wondered if they would even be able to identify Casino's body if they found it.

g

Starting in the back of the building Chief methodically worked his way towards the con man. There were two offices, neither of them appeared to have been occupied when the building blew. He moved into the corridor that led to the front of the building and continued to sort through the wreckage. Shifting the remains of a door that had separated the hall from the rest of the production area Chief's heart turned over in his chest when he caught sight of a familiar ash-covered shape. "Casino!" Heedless of the hot embers that still glowed red in the ruins he started pulling timbers and debris aside to get to it. By the time Actor reached him he'd turned the body over and found a dead German soldier staring up at him….

"Buon dio, le vostre mani!" Actor pulled him out of the wreckage and away into the safety of the trees. He found a boulder and pressed down on the young man's shoulder until he relented and finally sat down. Turning back the con man scavenged the bodies and came up with one canteen of water that was still intact. The water was warm as he poured it out to clean the grime off Chief's hands. The scout winced once and then held perfectly still.

It was hard to see in the dappled moonlight. Actor unbuttoned the jacket he wore and unzipped the pouch strapped around his waist. He extracted a small penlight and thumbed it on. He went over the young man's hands carefully "You are lucky," he told him. "It appears to be mainly blisters." But some of them were bad, and there was one area at the heel of the left hand where the flesh had torn away.

Using the tepid water Actor ruthlessly exorcized every particle of grit and dirt, every splinter of charred wood and ash he could see before he powdered the wound with a packet of sulfa and loosely wrapped the hand. He reached out to make a start on the Indian's right hand but Chief pulled it back and shook his head.

"Leave it be. It ain't that bad and that stuff'll get in the way if I need to use the blade."

Rather than waste time arguing Actor simply nodded and started packing the first aid supplies back into the pouch. He glanced up when the other man stood and started to walk away. "Where do you think you are going?"

"He could be out there somewhere. I'm gonna go find Casino."

He knew Chief would never admit that the injury he'd suffered was causing him any pain, but the shock he was experiencing from it now was certainly capable of clouding his judgment. Actor kept his voice calm, reasonable. He believed that Casino was either dead or gone, searching for him would be a waste of time but he needed to let Chief reach that conclusion in his own time. "If he was out there he would have seen us going through the wreckage and he would have come down to meet us."

"And if he's hurt?" Chief shrugged away from the hand the con man put out to restrain him. He knew Actor thought Casino was dead, … he probably was, but, somehow he couldn't give up on him. "I gotta look for him." Turning away he started to scan the ground around the ruined building, searching for foot prints, scuff marks, for drag marks, anything that would give evidence that someone was left alive after the blast. He didn't notice Actor quietly following him until he'd made a complete circuit of the foundation. Not giving the older man a chance to object he widened his circle and made another search further out, and then one more, out far enough that the blast and fire hadn't disturbed the signs left on the ground.

g

"Well?"

"The place is clean. Only tracks are the ones along the path we used." And there had been too much activity there to tell if one lone man had made his way along it away from the site of the explosion and fire. "What d'we do now, wait for Goniff and the Warden to show up?"

"I doubt that the Warden would come back here." The elegant Italian confidence man checked his watch in the moonlight. "It's almost one in the morning. He expected Casino to go on to the next safe house at eleven, remember? He would expect us to be there by now as well." He glanced at his companion. "It's nearly six miles. Can you make that?"

There was no question in his mind that he could make that, so he didn't answer. He asked a question of his own instead. "You think you can keep up with me?"

Actor gave a quick smile. "I believe so."