He hurt everywhere, and rather than open his eyes he just wanted to sink back into unconsciousness to get away from the discomfort. Unfortunately, there was someone in the room with him that wasn't going to allow that, so instead of escaping back into nothingness he gathered his strength and ordered the muscles of his neck to contract and pull his head upright. The reward for that effort was something steamy and sweet-smelling being placed close to his face. Some words were spoken that he couldn't quite make out, but something warm was bumped against his chin at the same time, and some of that sweetness splashed out on his lips. He sucked it off of his lower lip as an experiment and decided not to pull his head away from the vessel in hopes he'd actually get a drink of the contents. After a few seconds he was rewarded. Whoever it was who was wielding the cup was talking again, and with each sip the words seemed to get clearer. After a few swallows that warm sweetness had given him enough strength to pull his head back and open his eyes. When he did it took another moment or two for the sight and sound to come together to all make sense. When it did, he really questioned whether or not staying awake was his best choice… He tried to take a deep breath to get ready because this was going to take some effort.

"Jeeze! Why in the hell do you always have 't end up like this?"

He knew why, but it took him a moment and some energy to organize his thoughts and then put them into words, and then a little more to convince his mouth to speak them coherently. "Because you needed to get the film back to our contact."

"And you decided getting the stuffings kicked out of you was the best way for us to do that?!"

"Got them off your tail, didn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

They hadn't been able to rush their contact. The guy wouldn't tell them where the Warden had been taken until he had the goods, and he knew they were safely on their way. Actor wouldn't let them work the guy over to get the information out of him, so Garrison was with the krauts for over twenty-four hours before they found out where he was. They went and cased the place and developed a con to go in and get him. Getting the stuff together to pull that off took a couple of hours more. Lucky enough, for all of them, it worked, but the con itself had taken some time to develop too. All the while the Warden was being entertained by his interrogators.

As usual, Actor was dressed to the nines in a German SS officer's uniform. They couldn't find out anything about the commander of the group that had the Warden to use as blackmail, so he'd taken a more casual approach to the meeting he had with the man. Since they couldn't help but hear what was going on down the hall, he inquired about it. After hearing how a security team on the base had captured a spy who was trying to break into the commandant's safe, he asked if there was any sign the man had been successful, any sign he'd passed information on to a confederate. He was told that it didn't appear anything like that had taken place, that the fool was still fumbling at the face of the safe when they'd caught him, and that he was working alone.

Schnaps was poured and the two officers spent a little time making derisive comments about the intelligence of their enemy before Actor asked if they'd gotten any information out of the man they had captured. The commander of the base was disappointed to tell him they had not. Actor then suggested that the officer, and the men he commanded, had better things to do with their time. He said that, as he was headed to Berlin, he would be happy to take the spy off their hands and transport him to people who had more expertise and time to get any information out of him, though he didn't hold out much hope that it would be worth the effort.

Even if the commander of the small base had wanted to do the job himself, Actor held slightly higher rank, and 'suggestions' by the SS were generally seen as orders by most of the rest of the German military, regardless of the rank of the SS officer making the 'suggestion', so the man agreed to the arrangement. It was another fifteen minutes or so before they had Garrison packaged up and bundled out to the large staff car waiting in the yard outside the commandant's office. And then it was a little while longer before Actor finished his friendly conversation with the base commander, settled himself in the front seat of the large car, and waved Chief to drive on.

Of course, everything that happened in the office of that kraut commander had to be interpreted later because Casino, who fit the uniform of the aide this time, didn't understand everything that was going on. Even the stuff that he did understand was hard to concentrate on since he could hear what was happening down the hall.

Once they got Garrison in the back of the car, they had to drive out of the compound like they didn't really care what kind of shape he was in. He'd had his eyes open and managed to hold his head up once as the commandant made introductions, but they really weren't sure he knew what was going on around him. When they made a couple of turns, they started talking to him, and they got a couple of nods out of him and a mumble or two. A little further down the road Chief found a place to pull off and into the trees where they couldn't be seen. They shifted around so Actor could get in the back and see how much damage had been done. He stripped the tattered clothing the Warden had on off him while Chief and Goniff broke the stuff out of the boot they'd swiped for him to wear… They actually had two sets, one a uniform if they found they were just breaking him out of a lock up, and the other was civilian stuff if they were pretending to be taking him out as a prisoner.

Casino stayed in the car and pulled the things Actor asked for out of the first aid kit when he asked for them, so he got a good look at the results of the interrogation. When Actor said it looked like they'd been lucky, that the interrogators had just used their fists this time, he told him he thought both he and Garrison were nuts. He hadn't changed his mind on the long drive to the new safe house, or during the shifts they'd all taken, either patrolling outside to make sure the place was secure, or inside with the Warden to be around in case he needed something, while Actor was off making arrangements with the underground to get them the hell out of here and back to England where they belonged.

"…What's with you, anyway? Are you one a those nut cases that like pain and stuff?"

As soon as they'd finished their first job together the Warden had started to teach them what it was going to be like if they'd ever get themselves caught on a job. He started convincing them that if they ever got caught with him, to give him up as the leader so the Germans would concentrate on him. At first, they were all for it. He'd pulled a switch on them, about that first job leading to a parole and freedom, hadn't he? He deserved whatever he got. But as they worked together, as they got to know one another and depend on one another, they didn't want Garrison to take the fall for them anymore. He was one of them. He'd chosen to stick with them through a suicide mission rather than stay back in England all safe and sound when he had the chance. He came back after them, even though he kept saying they were all expendable. He didn't run out on them…

Garrison gave a snort of laughter and winced at the pain that shot through is battered ribs. "No, I'm not one of those 'nut cases' Casino."

"Then why do you do it? How do you do it?"

Their training in how to be interrogated had been mostly theory. What to look for to decide if the people doing the questioning knew what they were doing. How to judge when to start giving up information. How to decide what information to give up that would keep the interrogator interested enough to keep you alive, and that had to be checked out, so they'd have to give you a little time to catch your breath and recover if you needed to. And how to hold out long enough that if you had to give up everything you had, it did the least amount of damage because, hopefully, someone knew you'd been grabbed and had sent word to anyone who might be hurt when you spilled your guts so they could go to ground. After all the theory they had gone through mock interrogations, but it was a lot of shouting, fists slamming on tables, and maybe a quick slap or two. Each of them had been caught, at least once now. Goniff had the worst of it when they'd gone after Charlie. He'd managed to hold out until Garrison and Actor showed up because there was a clock in the room where they'd questioned him. He said he just fixed on a time on the clock and kept telling himself he could make it to that time. When he did, he picked another spot…

Garrison studied the safecracker a moment. Casino had been picked up and questioned, but by the German police. He'd been slapped around, but he told them it wasn't any worse than he got when he was picked up in the states. Craig knew the man was probably still unsure of his ability to go through more 'intense' questioning…. "It doesn't last Casino."

"What doesn't last?"

"The pain. It doesn't last. As soon as they stop it starts to fade away."

Casino twisted the cloth he had in his hands so the warm water spilled over his fingers and landed back in the bowl sitting on the table next to the chair. He leaned his elbows on his knees as he shook the cloth out and folded it into a pad. "What if they don't stop?"

"You pass out." He gave a slight shrug, "it still goes away."

"And if they keep at it until you croak?" the safecracker asked quietly.

The Warden smiled and the split in his lip started oozing blood again. "Then it's gone for good."

Casino snorted and shook his head as he dabbed the moisten cloth on the cut. "Oh sure! You go ahead and start movin' around a little. You might be singin' another tune."

Garrison leaned forward in the overstuff chair, he put his hands on the arms and made an attempt to stand up… after a moment he dropped back in the seat and leaned back and closed his eyes. "It'll go away," he said to the pain, more than to Casino, "and the next time I try that, I'll make it."

Casino dabbed at the sweat beaded forehead this time. "Yeah, you crazy bastard, I imagine you will."