by Arnie
His thoughts were interrupted by the phone. Quickly, he snatched up the receiver. If he got the go ahead, they'd have to move fast.
Two minutes later he was running up the stairs and into the cons' room. He looked around; only Actor was missing. Garrison's attention was caught by Goniff, the blond thief was closely examining a small box. Feeling Garrison's gaze upon him, the Cockney looked up and quickly stuffed the box back into his pocket.
"Where's Actor?" Garrison demanded.
"Library," Chief answered quietly.
"Goniff, go fetch him."
"Why me?" the Cockney asked indignantly. What was 'e, a dog?
Garrison laid some papers on the table and started arranging them. "You're closest to the door," he replied, "and if you go, I won't have time to ask you about that box in your pocket." He raised his head and looked directly at the thief.
Goniff tilted his head slightly, tried to smile, then left the room.
Garrison almost smiled. He didn't want to ask Goniff about that box. Sometimes ignorance was the best policy.
"Warden," Actor said in greeting as he entered the room a few minutes later, closely followed by Goniff.
Garrison noticed the way Goniff stayed behind the tall Italian as Actor calmly made his way to the table and took a seat. As soon as Actor was seated, and therefore unable to hide him, Goniff sat down as far from the lieutenant as he could.
Casino lounged in the chair next to Garrison. He flicked the edge of the map, drawing the Warden's attention back to table. "So, we goin' to Switzerland?"
"No. We're going to Austria, the Tyrol to be exact. But we'll go over the border into Switzerland once our mission's completed."
"And what, exactly, is our mission?" Actor asked.
Garrison pulled a photograph out from underneath the map. "Professor Kurt von Richtenstau," he replied, handing the photograph around. "He's an Austrian engineer. Naturally, he's been working for the Germans."
"Naturally," Actor murmured.
"There have been rumours that he's not very happy with the Nazis, but he's always claimed to be loyal to them. Until now."
"Oh yeah, what made him change his mind?" Casino demanded.
"His mother's just died," Garrison said, "and she was his only family. His father and brother died fighting for the Germans. If he'd tried to leave, things would have become very unpleasant for her. He wouldn't risk it. But her funeral's taking place this morning. There's nothing to keep him in Austria, and he wants to get away before he can be taken back to Germany. At the moment he's staying with the local Kommandant. He'll be sent back tomorrow afternoon, so we have to get in there and get him before then. We leave for the airport in half an hour. We're parachuting into Austria and once we've got him, we'll head for Switzerland."
"What's so special about him?" Casino asked. "I mean, why the rush?"
"He's working on a new type of bomb. One that's almost impossible to defuse. Because he's highly thought of, he's been allowed to work on it alone, but Hitler isn't happy with his progress. If we don't get him out, the Nazis will take over the project, and we don't want that to happen."
~'~
The plane shook with turbulence. Normally Goniff would be driving Casino nuts by fidgeting and talking endlessly, but today he was sitting quietly, examining his little box. After a while, Casino realised that Goniff was being uncharacteristically silent and he poked his friend in the side.
"Hey, Limey, whatcha doin'?"
Goniff jumped. He'd been totally engrossed in turning the box over and over in his hands, examining it, so Casino's interruption startled him. His hands tightened on his toy involuntarily, and his fingers slipped on the polished surface. It shot out of his hands and skidded its way down the centre of the plane, Goniff in hot pursuit.
Garrison stopped the box by putting his foot on it. It seemed his ignorance would have to come to an end. He allowed Goniff to pick it up, then spoke. "What have you got there, Goniff?"
Chief opened his eyes and looked over. This promised to be interesting.
"Nothin', Warden," Goniff said, pushing the box into his pocket.
Garrison sighed. Goniff in denial meant trouble. He held out his hand and waited.
Goniff smiled. His gaze slid away from the Warden's and came to rest on the side of the plane. "It's nothin', Warden," he repeated, shrugging.
Garrison didn't bother speaking. He kept his eyes fixed on Goniff's face and waited, one hand outstretched expectantly.
Goniff folded. He sheepishly took the box out of his pocket and gave it to the American officer. It was small, solid, made of wood; Garrison had seen the type before. "It's a Chinese puzzle box," he said, frowning.
"May I, Warden?" Actor took the box from Garrison and examined it. "It's quite old, not an expensive one, but you don't see many of these in England."
Goniff retreated further up the plane and sat down next to Casino, who looked at him steadily.
Garrison sighed again. Why, oh why, oh why couldn't Goniff keep his sticky fingers to himself? And where had he got it from? Garrison couldn't recall seeing any Chinese puzzle boxes around the place. He got up and followed Goniff up the plane and sat down next to him.
Goniff didn't dare to look at him.
"Goniff," Garrison said, quietly.
There was silence from Goniff.
"Where did you get the box?"
"Warden," Goniff said, turning to face Garrison and smiling endearingly, "yer don't think I stole it, do yer?"
"You didn't?" Garrison put as much surprise as he could into that.
Casino snorted.
"Course not! What d'you think I am?" Goniff asked indignantly.
"Limey, you're a thief," Casino answered before Garrison could.
"I didn't steal it, did I? I borrowed it," Goniff protested.
"You borrowed it," Garrison repeated.
"Yeah, I borrowed it." Goniff nodded, smiling.
"And did you tell the person this belongs to, that you were borrowing it?" Actor asked, delicately.
Goniff's smile faded, he opened his mouth to answer, then shut it again. He seemed to be thinking about that one.
"Whose is it?" Garrison asked quietly.
Goniff smiled endearingly, again.
Garrison could tell that he wasn't going to like this one.
"It's the sergeant-major's," Goniff told him.
Garrison's "What?" was drowned out by the noise made by the other three.
"You've gotta be kidding!" Casino said loudly.
"Goniff, will you never learn?" Actor demanded.
"Oh, man, he's gonna be riled!" Chief contributed.
Casino looked around at the Indian. "You got that one right!" He hit Goniff on the shoulder. "He was forever on our case before...what d'ya think he'll be like now?"
Actor sat up straighter. "He'll use us for target practice," he declared.
The hubbub continued for a few minutes as Garrison buried his head in his hands. Goniff was trying to defend himself, but the other three overbore him, pointing out each and every time he'd got them all into trouble by 'borrowing' something.
Finally, Garrison sat up. "Enough!" he said firmly. The noise died down. He looked at the cause of all the trouble. "How? How did you get hold of it?"
Goniff sat dejectedly. It wasn't 'is fault. If Casino 'adn't startled 'im, 'e wouldn't 'ave dropped the ruddy thing and 'e could 'ave returned it once they got back with no one the wiser. But no one was shoutin' at Casino, were they? "'E was showin' it to Greyson," he said quietly. "'Is great-Granddad got it in China or somethin'. 'E left it in the kitchen." He paused, then added, protestingly, "I wasn't gonna do it any 'arm...I just wanted to see 'ow it worked, that's all."
Garrison got up and moved down the plane, collecting the box from Actor on the way. "I'll make sure the sergeant-major gets it back," he said as he shoved it into his pocket.
Goniff looked rather disappointed at not being able to play with the box any more, but he wisely decided to drop the subject.
~'~
Having met his contact, Garrison had learned that von Richtenstau was due to be collected within the next two hours by some German officers. He made his plans quickly. The route the officers would take was easily determined; all they had to do was wait.
"It'll probably be a staff car. There shouldn't be many soldiers to deal with," Garrison explained. "We'll take the car and the uniforms and collect von Richtenstau ourselves."
"Just like that," Casino muttered. Things never went according to plan and it always surprised him that Garrison acted like they would.
"Yeah, Casino. Just like that." Garrison shot a glance at the safecracker.
And it was just like that. Sort of.
The staff car turned up on time and the two Gestapo officers and their driver, who were to take the Professor to the nearest airfield, were easily dispatched.
"Goniff, you'll be the driver," Garrison ordered.
"Why me?" the Cockney demanded.
Garrison held up the uniform. The unfortunate driver had been a small, slightly built man. "Here, Chief, try it on."
Chief gave Garrison a puzzled look, but took the uniform. He managed to get the jacket on, but buttoning it was impossible.
Casino grinned at Goniff. "You're it, baby."
Goniff took the unifrom. "Times like this I wish I was built like a brick sh..."
"Goniff!" Garrison snapped.
"All right, all right, I'm putting the ruddy thing on, ain't I?"
Ten minutes later Garrison and Actor, with Goniff as their driver, drove to the Kommandant's magnificent house in style. Casino and Chief, being without uniforms, left the car before it reached the grounds of the house, and slipped over the wall, hiding among all the vehicles parked in the grounds. If anything went wrong, they were to give backup. If all went well, they'd rendezvous at the end of the lane.
Of course, Goniff wasn't too pleased at being the one left to sit with the car, but he silently watched Actor and Garrison enter the house and then started to bite his nails.
Kurt von Richtenstau smiled politely as Kommandant Schaefer, who had been his host for the past few days, introduced the two officers who were to escort him back to Germany. His heart sank into his boots. He'd hoped that the Allies would save him. He'd been wrong. And, obviously, the German authorities were getting suspicious; why else send two Gestapo officers to collect him? He nodded to the two strangers. Of course he was ready to go, what was there to keep him in Austria now?
Touching his arm slightly, Garrison turned the engineer towards the door. "Professor, if you will follow me." He headed towards the door, followed by von Richtenstau with Actor charming the Kommandant and his wife with every parting word.
Just as they reached the door, it burst open and a large soldier appeared, dragging Goniff with him.
~'~
"Casino!" Chief hissed.
Casino turned his head sharply. "Oh man," he groaned. Trust Goniff.
"Quick. C'mon!" Chief headed towards the vehicles parked nearby. With a bit of luck they could use them as cover to get to the house.
Casino followed quickly and within a few minutes, they were at the side of the house. Chief risked a quick look through the window.
~'~
Goniff felt rather aggrieved. All he'd had to do was wait by the ruddy car and instead this bored Jerry had popped up and insisted on trying to 'old a conversation! 'E'd done 'is best, nodded, smiled, shook his 'ead. Not in the right places, obviously.
The large soldier came smartly to attention in front of the puzzled Kommandant, one hand still clutching Goniff's shoulder firmly.
Schaefer eyed Goniff keenly. He was sure he'd never seen this man before. "Who are you?" he demanded in German.
Actor glanced at Garrison, who gave one quick nod in return.
Goniff looked at the officer in front of him. Since he had no idea what the man had said, he couldn't answer.
"Perhaps I can explain," Actor intervened, also in German. "This man is my driver."
The soldier glanced at the tall Italian suspiciously.
"Crelle?" Schaefer asked. "Why have you brought Herr Oberstleutnant's driver in?"
"Herr Kommandant..." The soldier leaned forward slightly.
"I'm afraid we really must be going, Herr Kommandant," Actor interrupted. "As you can understand, Professor von Richtenstau has a plane to catch."
"Of course, Herr Oberstleutnant, we mustn't keep Berlin waiting." The Kommandant glanced at his subordinate furiously. How dared he embarrass him like this?
Crelle was in a quandary. His training ordered him to obey, but he did not trust this Oberstleutnant. He made his decision. "This soldier does not speak German!" he declared loudly.
"What?" The Kommandant was rather taken aback. He looked from Goniff to Actor in confusion, then suspicion filled his eyes.
"I think that this has gone far enough," Garrison said smoothly. The guns in his and Actor's hands making it quite clear that any sudden movement would be a mistake. "Is there a cellar?" he asked looking at von Richtenstau.
"Er...yes, yes. There is a cellar. They keep the coal there."
"Excellent, we'll lock them in there. Crelle, let go of him," Garrison ordered.
The German soldier looked at his superior. Schaefer nodded his head so Crelle let go of Goniff's shoulder, reluctantly.
As soon as Goniff had taken one step away from him, Crelle acted. He grabbed the Englishman and threw him at Garrison while leaping towards Actor himself. He crashed into the conman and they ended up in a heap on the floor.
Schaefer grabbed his own revolver and aimed it squarely at Garrison, who had managed to push Goniff to one side but not in time. Garrison started to turn to bring his own gun to bear on Schaefer, but the Kommandant fired first.
Garrison felt as though a horse had kicked him. A searing pain shot up his side and he hit the wall with a thump and slid down it, stunned slightly.
Before the echo of the shot had died away, Chief and Casino were in the door. Chief's knife hit Schaefer before he could pull the trigger for the second time while Casino clubbed Crelle over the head with one quick movement of his gun. Frau Schaefer turned to run, screaming hysterically, but von Richtenstau managed to grab her and silence her with one hand over her mouth. He held onto her tightly, his heart pounding as he stared in shock at the scene in front of him.
Chief and Casino looked out of the front door. They could see the soldiers from the gates heading towards them quickly; who knew how many from the rest of the grounds. Casino started firing rapidly, while Chief dived into the nearest truck and reversed it to the doorway, and then starting shooting to give the others some cover. Goniff and Actor hauled Garrison to his feet and bundled him into the back of the covered truck.
"Quickly!" Actor snapped at the Professor.
Von Richtenstau let go of Frau Schaefer, who sank to the floor sobbing, and headed towards the Italian. Within seconds Chief was gunning the engine and heading for the gates, Casino in the seat next to him, the others in the back of the truck. They crashed through the gates, shot out onto the road and headed up it at a tremendous speed. Followed a few minutes later by several soldiers in staff cars.
Garrison sat up, clutching his side. He looked at Actor.
"Well, Warden, we're out," the conman said dryly, pulling open Garrison's jacket to take a look at his wound.
"It doesn't feel too bad," Garrison said. He felt a little breathless and his side hurt like hell, but he didn't feel as if he had a bullet in him somewhere. "We'll have to abandon the truck, just as soon as we get far enough away."
"Blimey, Warden, that guy shot you straight on!" Goniff said, glancing over his shoulder, then turning back to keep an eye out behind them.
"No," Actor said. "It's a ricochet."
Garrison squinted down at himself. From what he could see, the bullet had ripped its way up his body at an angle, scraping along his ribs. "What the hell?"
The truck swerved and started heading uphill. Garrison pulled himself up straighter. "Where are we heading?"
"I've got no idea, Warden," Actor grinned. "I was too busy to enquire about the route."
"We've got company," Goniff said, sharply. He let the cloth covering the back of the truck fall into place again and turned to look at Garrison.
The truck speeded up, showing that Casino and Chief were aware of their pursuers.
"We'll have to dump the truck quickly," Garrison decided. "Is anyone else hurt?"
"No," Actor reassured him, "only you."
"Professor?"
"I am fine, thank you...er, Warden."
Garrison could tell from Actor's face that he found that amusing, but anything he was going to say was interrupted by the truck rounding a bend and then swinging sharply off the road and coming to a halt with a jerk. Goniff peered cautiously out of the back, then scrambled out. Chief had chosen well. The truck was almost completely obscured by the big clump of trees he'd parked behind.
Holding his side tightly, Garrison climbed out, helped by Actor and von Richtenstau. He was just in time to witness three staff cars full of soldiers carry on up the road and out of sight around the next bend.
"Warden?" Chief's eyes were fixed on the side of Garrison's uniform.
Casino swung around. "Jeez!"
"It's not as bad as it looks," Actor said quickly.
"I'm fine," Garrison insisted. "Let's move."
"There is a cave a couple of miles further up," von Richtenstau offered. "We could hide there for the time being."
The others looked at him.
"It is not on any of the maps. My brother and I found it when we were children." He smiled, then shrugged. "We used to hide there when we did not wish to go to the school. No one ever found us."
"The cave it is, then," Garrison said.
They reached the cave quite quickly. They'd seen the soldiers in the staff cars split up, but had managed to avoid being seen. Although some of the soldiers had headed back down the hill; obviously they suspected that they had been tricked.
The mouth of the cave was hard to find. Chief doubted that he'd have realised there was a cave there if von Richtenstau hadn't insisted that it was the right place. Once inside, Actor pulled out the medical kit and insisted on seeing to Garrison's wound.
Garrison sat on the ground, ignoring the sting of the iodine as Actor cleaned the deep scrape.
"It's definitely a ricochet, Warden. But I don't understand how."
As soon as Actor had finished, Garrison dug his hand into his pocket. He'd had his suspicions and the state of the puzzle box confirmed them.
"Warden," Goniff exclaimed, "you damaged the sergeant-major's box! 'E'll ruddy well kill you."
Actor prevented the American officer from getting up and executing the little thief on the spot. "Careful, Warden, we don't want to start you bleeding again." The quiver in his voice betrayed his own amusement.
Garrison glared at the tall conman. "Well, Actor, since I'm injured, I guess that means you'll have to explain things to the sergeant-major."
The twinkle vanished from the Italian's eyes. "Warden," he said thoughtfully. "I think it would be best if you told the sergeant-major."
"Told the sergeant-major what?" Casino asked curiously, having heard Actor's comment.
Actor held out the puzzle box for Casino to see. The safecracker grinned.
"Guess you weren't the right person to take care of it after all, Warden."
If looks could kill....
~'~
They waited until dark and then carried on their journey. Within a couple of days they were in Switzerland and the following day saw them back at the Mansion.
"Yer think 'e's told 'im then?" Goniff asked, later on that evening.
"Told who what?"
The Cockney looked at Casino impatiently. "The Warden. Told the sergeant-major. About 'is box."
"I doubt it," Actor said, lighting his pipe carefully. "You're still alive."
"It's not my fault. I wasn't gonna 'urt it, was I? Anyway, good job I did take it. The Warden would 'ave ended up with a 'ole in 'is side if I 'adn't."
"That ain't gonna stop the sergeant-major," Chief pointed out with a gleam in his eye.
Goniff looked around. "Now, fellas, yer not gonna make me take all the blame, are yer?" he said, smiling.
Chief looked down, hiding his smile, while Actor smoked his pipe in a contemplative way and Casino grinned openly at the Cockney.
Goniff's smile faded. "Now fellas..."
He was interrupted by the door opening.
"Warden." Goniff hurried over to the American. "'Ow's yer side?"
"It's fine, Goniff." Garrison glanced over his shoulder.
The sergeant-major followed him into the room and shut the door behind him.
"Gentlemen." Garrison placed the dented puzzle box in the middle of the table and headed for the door.
Actor almost dropped his pipe. "Warden?"
Chief stopped playing with his knife and got to his feet. His eyes narrowed as he watched Garrison go.
Casino and Goniff stood by the table, staring in horror at the box. He wouldn't, would he?
"I've bin lookin' for that everywhere!" the sergeant-major exclaimed. He picked it up. "'Ere, what the 'ell?"
"Now, Sergeant-Major," Actor started, placatingly.
"Don't you Sergeant-Major me! What 'ave you rotten lot done?"
Garrison shut the door behind him and smiled; another mission accomplished.
The End
