part 3
Garrison by-passed the pub this time and climbed through a window at the back of the building and moved quietly up the rear stairs to let himself into Actor's rooms by picking the simple lock. Waiting in the darkened room he'd caught himself nearly nodding off, and cursed the sleepless nights and the minor injury for his lack of energy and less that alert state of mind. He heard the customers making their way out of the pub downstairs and listened as soft steps approached the room.
Actor spoke in the darkness as he turned to close the door. "You're lucky. I could have had a guest you know?"
"I guess I should have given some consideration to your not being alone. By now you should have scored with the help."
"The 'help' is Goniff, the kitchen girl is too young, and the proprietress is hardly my type. Besides she's a married woman." As Actor pulled the blackout curtains across the window Garrison flipped on the light that sat next to him on the table
"That's never stopped you before." He'd seen many a married woman melt under the charming smile and smooth manners of this con artist and imagined Maggie Dunn, the owner the pub was no different, but she was definitely not the suave aristocrats type. Mrs. Dunn was square built and stocky, and tended towards tightly curled, bleached blonde hair and too much powder, rouge and iodine red lipstick. Her hands were broad and her ankles thick, but with her open friendly smile she was undeniably charming, and Goniff had fallen for her as soon as he'd met her. In the pub that first afternoon he'd loudly proclaimed he'd gone madly in love with 'Maggs' after he'd tasted her cooking, and swore he'd win her away from her husband, Frank, using any means he could, short of murder. The laughter that bubbled out of her at his comment was another quality that had probably won her many suitors as a young woman and continued to draw admirers at her more matronly age of sixty.
As he settled into the other chair at the small table Actor frowned across at the Warden, taking note of the pale complexion and slightly hollowed appearance. "You've been injured!"
Garrison raised a hand to the side of his head. "I'm fine. I've done more damage to myself shaving." Waving away the other man's concern he continued. "I have another name for you. William Barton, Corporal."
"What does he do?" Actor shifted and pulled his pipe and tobacco from his pockets and started the ritual of filling and lighting it. "Why are you interested in him?"
Stretching and wincing as the scab on his arm pulled the Lieutenant replied. "I don't know what he does, but he offered me more profitable gambling off base and seemed to think I'd be getting a pass." He checked his watch. He didn't think he was up to another run back to the base and would have to leave enough time to get there at a quick walk, then spend time waiting to get through the fence. Garrison pushed himself up from the table and made his way to the door.
The older man's brows raised in speculation. This was the first indication they might be on the right track. "I'll see to it. You should get some sleep, you look terrible."
"If I can get back with no trouble I should have enough time for a couple of hours. The group's going up later this morning and I'm with Colonel Husoe again."
"Why is he having you fly with him?"
"Beats me. He likes me I guess."
"Or he doesn't trust you, or doesn't want to leave you time and opportunity to check up on him"
Garrison leaned against the door and looked back at Actor. He knew what he was thinking, and he'd considered the Colonel as a possible source for their leak but dismissed the idea. Nothing more than his instincts told him Husoe wasn't involved but he was willing to trust those. "I don't think he has anything to do with this. The project was in place before he took over the base, and I don't see how he'd be able to manipulate his way into this command." He shrugged and waited for the light to be turned off so he could check the hallway and make sure it was safe to leave. "I suppose he could suspect me though. The reason for me being on his base is thin enough, even though there are advisors on other airbases. I'll keep it in mind."
ggg
It had taken more than an hour to make it back to the fence line at the base, and another thirty minutes of crawling through the underbrush and waiting in shadows before he was finally back in his quarters. That left less than two hours for sleep before he'd hauled himself out onto the field for his 'invigorating' run with Chief. Garrison was trailing along after the younger man, waiting for him to make it to the end of the run way and turn back to notice him. Considering the pounding in his head, and the ache in most of his joints, the Lieutenant wondered if it would have been smarter to just stay awake rather than sack out those two hours. It had been hard to roll out this morning, he felt like he'd been buried in sand. Chief made his turn and was headed back, he stopped and waved, jogging in place about twenty yards ahead, waiting to turn and keep him company as he made his own way to the end of the field.
"You guys come up with anything?"
"Not much. Works over around the hospital as an orderly or somethin'. He plays, sometimes. He's not a regular. It's hard to get anything on him, nobody remembers him." Chief noticed the gauze encircling the Warden's upper arm and slowed down to a jog. "You sure you should be doin' this?"
Bristling at the question Garrison shot back. "I did six miles last night and six the night before. Knock it off." Then he shrugged an apology and continued. "You know there could be a real advantage to being so ordinary. Keep trying. If you can't turn anything we might have to get into his records" The slower pace was making it easier to talk but he was beginning to feel the cramp tightening under his arm as they reached the end of the runway and turned.
"If you'r thinking' 'bout breakin' into the records building I guess I better tell Casino to keep irritating that Sergeant."
"He wasn't on the fence last night. What happened?"
Chief laughed. "He pushed it a little too far." It had been almost impossible to get the story out of Casino, he'd had to wade through a whole lot of swearing, a little of it wasn't even in English. "Sergeant sent him out to keep an eye on a very important garbage dump."
Garrison's control wavered, and the pain and cramp that hit as he started to laugh dropped him to the ground. Chief knelt beside him and turned him over, then sent a piercing whistle in the direction of the control tower. When he saw one of the men on the deck turn in his direction he stood and waved his arms overhead until the man brought his glasses up to see what was happening. Garrison rolled forward trying to rise but clutched at his arm and twisted onto his side on the gravel at the edge of the run way. "It's alright. It'll go away. I'm OK"
"Like hell you are! Stay down! Here comes an ambulance. We got a couple a the other runners comin' this way too." As they waited for help to arrive Chief kept a steadying hand on the Wardens' shoulder, he seemed to be havin' a hard time catchin' his breath and it was plain on his face that he was in some pain. The ambulance pulled up just as the other men reached them. Chief hailed the medics and then turned back to Garrison. Alarmed he shook him by the shoulder, trying to rouse him, but got no response.
He wasn't supposed to know him. Wasn't supposed to know anything about him. It was one of the hardest things Chief had done, just to stand there and watch as the ambulance drove off the field.
ggg
The next time Garrison opened his eyes he was in the medical unit on base. His soft, careful cough drew the attention of the doctor on duty, and a moment later he was looking up into the worried face of a man who had been, and fervently hoped to go back to being, a small town family doctor.
"How are you feeling Lieutenant?"
"I don't know." Garrison started at the cold touch on his skin. Obligingly trying an experimental deep breath as the doctor listened he stopped as pain shot into his shoulder, neck and chest.
Taking the stethoscope from his ears and folding it away into the pocket of the white coat he wore the doctor looked into the wary eyes that were watching him. "Who told you it was OK to be out running like that?"
The Lieutenant frowned and seemed to consider his question before answering, "I just thought..."
"You're not taking deep enough breaths Lieutenant. I think your left lung's collapsed a little because of it." Pleurisy he thought, he'd heard the rub, but would know more after the tests. "You had no business being up in that plane yesterday, and you had no business out there running this morning. Didn't they give you restrictions when they released you?"
This must be the medic Husoe dealt with yesterday. "Yes sir, but I thought..."
"Why don't you just leave the thinking to us doctor types for a while, son, you'll live a little longer." All of these young men pushed themselves too far, expected too much from exhausted, injured bodies. He was either dealing with goldbricks that wanted to be taken off the duty rosters, or men like this, who were too eager to prove that they were fit and pushing to go back too soon. "I don't have your records Lieutenant, would you like to tell me what's been going on the last few months?"
"Sir?"
"I need to know why you've been pulled from combat duty, son. Can you tell me that?" The doctor waited to see what version of the truth this young man would come up with.
"Yes sir." He'd studied the file they'd planted on him and the medical records included all the recent injuries, changing only the facts around where they'd happened. He tried to keep his answer as vague as possible. "I was caught in an explosion a few weeks back."
"So you caught some shrapnel?"
"Yes sir. A little."
"Looks like everything healed up. What else is going on?"
"Doctors said something about nerve damage and scar tissue." That diagnosis hadn't pleased him but he was beginning to be able to ignore the sharp pain he got when he took a deep breath now, conditioning his body to work around it by the runs he took on the estate.
That might fit, the kid was tense and pale, and breathing like the ribs were broken, but he hadn't felt any sign of that when he'd examined him before he came to. "Was that from the explosion?"
"No sir. I took a couple of rounds, couple of months before that."
That accounted for the scars on his chest, the ones over his shoulders probably didn't affect these current symptoms, and he didn't seem to have any pain in his belly so he'd let the history on the scar that ran across there wait for another time. "Anything else?"
"Had a hard time getting over an infection that got started." He might as well come clean on that right away, he could feel the dull ache behind his eyes that usually preceded another round of fevers. "But they just tell me to get some extra sleep now."
At least he didn't try and cover that up. Maybe he had more sense than he was giving him credit for. "Seems you've been leading an exciting life lately Lieutenant. Alright. I'm going to get some x-rays and some other tests. We'll probably keep you overnight anyway and see if we can't make you feel a little better." The doctor moved across the room calling over his shoulder as he reach the door. "I'll send the nurse in with something for pain."
"No, sir. I don't need anything."
The doctor turned back and leaned in the door way, his arms crossed over his chest. "I say you do Lieutenant." He'd just heard the slight catch in his breathing as the kid protested.
"Sir, all of that stuff kind of makes me feel like everyone I see is out to get me. I'd rather not..." Garrison couldn't afford to be overruled on this one, and it was only half a lie. He hated the drugs and the way they made him feel. He hated to be in less than complete control.
Well, he'd heard of that reaction and it certainly wouldn't do the guy any good to add that drug induced state of paranoia to his discomfort. "OK. I guess we can back it off to a handful of aspirin and a hot pack and see how you do on that."
"Sir, I was supposed to go up with Colonel Husoe..."
The doctor narrowed his eyes in irritation. "I'll let him know Lieutenant."
"Thank you, sir." Garrison relaxed back against the pillows that had been shoved under his head and shoulders when he got here and hoped Husoe wouldn't catch too much grief from the medic. Watching the doctor leave he took a deep careful breath and felt the stabbing pain that had been a companion now for the last few weeks. He closed his eyes and worked through it, taking deeper and deeper breaths, while he waited for the corpsman to come to take him for his tests. There was a tap on the door just as he was beginning to believe he'd been forgotten and William Barton backed through dragging a wheelchair along with him.
"Your wheels are here Lieutenant. Doc says we're going down to take some x-rays." Barton hadn't looked up yet, he was concentrating on swinging the chair up close to the bed and locking it down so he could help his charge transfer into it without any trouble. The door was still swinging closed and as soon as he heard the slight click of the latch sliding home he looked up and smiled. "Well hello, sir. You back again so soon?" He bent down and flipped the foot supports of the chair out of the way and then straightened. "Come on, I got everything ready down in the x-ray room."
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Barton's manner was friendly as he rolled him through the halls. "They ever catch up with you with that pass?"
"No, not yet."
"Well, we'll let them know where you are now, once you get settled in. Be easier for them."
"I'm not staying." Garrison said with conviction.
Barton laughed "I think Doc Matheson will have something to say about that! Don't you like hospitals Lieutenant?"
"No offense Corporal," Garrison glanced back at the man. "but I think I'd rather be taken prisoner."
"Come on, sir! It's not that bad." Laughing, Barton backed them trhough a door. "Here we are."
"This isn't a very big place, is it?"
"No, sir. We don't need much This isn't a very big base. We can do the simple stuff. If it's something more serious we ship to the big hospital south of here. Or if we know we got something bad coming in a surgical team comes to us. That's happened a couple of times." Sliding the wheelchair to a stop in the room he braced it so the Lieutenant could stand up, and then pointed him towards a contraption that hung on the wall. "I just need you to stand right here for me, sir. Wrap your arms around here, and face this thing. Look I know when you take a deep breath it's going to hurt, but that's exactly what I need you to do." Garrison could hear the man move away from him, his voice called out from the far corner of the room. "OK. Take a deep breath in, nice and slow. Alright, now take in as much more as you can. Hold it! OK, you can relax Lieutenant, I'll be right back." Corporal Barton stepped through the door into the adjoining room, the one that the soft sound of running water was coming from. A moment later he was back. "Here you go sir, We do the same again for the side view and you're out of here."
g
"You the only one that does this Corporal?"
"Just me and another guy that works nights, sir. If they need something after midnight they just come and get me and I start early."
"Must make for some short nights for you."
"Oh, hardly ever happens. Like I said we're a small place. We take care of the crews when they come back, and they don't fly at night. When I get called out it's usually because there's been an accident here on base. Had to come over once because one of the cooks dropped a big pot of oatmeal on his foot. You just have a seat right here, sir, I'll be back in a minute to take you back to your room."
A tap at the door had pulled Barton from the room to go down the hall to find some missing films on another patient. Giving in to the prickling sensation across the back of his neck Garrison got up carefully and moved across to the door labeled 'Darkroom'. It was standing slightly ajar, a hand lettered sign had been tacked to it at eye level. 'Keep closed please, all the dark leaks out.' Standing in the opening breathing the slightly sulfurous fumes he took in the tanks of chemicals and water, the metal frames that hung over head with the films stretched in them dripping water back into the far tank, and the long thin ribbons of dark acetate that curled down just visible at the end of the row.
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It had taken nearly all day but he'd finally managed to convince the doctor that he did not need to be kept at the hospital over night. That had required all sorts of promises on his part to take the aspirin, get some sleep, eat some decent food, do the breathing exercises he'd been shown, and get back to the hospital if anything seemed to be getting worse. He'd even let them wheel him out to the entrance this time and patiently endured it when he'd practically been lifted into the jeep. Garrison had just finished sitting through Chief's 'I told you so' lecture, before issuing his order. "I want to know everything about the guy that just did my x-rays."
"Why?"
"Because it was William Barton and he had strips of micro film hanging in there where he develops the x-rays. Can you think of any reason for that?"
Chief let out a low whistle and cut a look at Garrison as they drove across to his quarters "Well, one big one."
"Yeah It's probably the same one I came up with."
"You get a look at what was on the film?"
"No, he came back in too fast." He leaned back in the seat and took in a slow careful breath, wincing when the muscles under his arm caught. "I barely got back in the chair where he'd left me."
The young man shot a look of concern at the man riding next to him. "D'you think he knows you spotted the stuff?"
The Warden shook his head, "Not unless he can see through walls."
"Anything else?" Chief brought the jeep to a halt in front of the building that housed visitors and junior officers.
"Yeah, Husoe waltzed in after the mission debrief wrapped up and handed me a twenty-four hour pass that starts tomorrow morning."
"Think he's in on it?"
"I don't know." Garrison sat considering the question. "I didn't think so at first, but now... I don't know."
"What'r you gonna do?" Chief didn't think the answer would have much to do with the instructions the doc in the clinic had given the Warden when he turned him loose.
"I'm going to go grab a shower, and then I'm going to look Corporal Barton up. I'll meet you guys over around the mess hall after I've talked to him." The Warden stepped from the vehicle and headed for the entrance as the sound of the jeep engine faded away behind him.
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Garrison went back to the small hospital to find Barton, ducking down a hall when he saw the doctor, he didn't want to have to talk his way out of the building again. He'd been directed to a hall lined with chairs that sat outside the small x-ray and lab area where he waited for the man to come back from delivering a patient back to his bed. Five minutes later they were talking, both of them leaning against the table in the x-ray room.
"I told you they'd come through, sir! So," Barton rubbed his hands together and smiled. "you interested in making a little money?"
Garrison smiled back. "I wouldn't turn the chance down if it was offered Corporal. Where is this 'hot spot' of yours?"
"Oh that changes, sir. You understand. But if you're really interested I can give you a pass into the game and a number to call."
"That's what I'm here for, Corporal."
"Great! I'll just be a minute. I have to finish up in the darkroom. You just have a seat right here, sir." Barton pulled a stool up along side the table and headed into the next room, carefully closing the door behind him.
It took twenty minutes for the man to reappear. He smiled and held a small book out as he approached. "Alright, here's your ticket in, sir. The number's inside. You just call that when you get into London and they'll let you know where the game's being set up. The guy that runs it is partial to these old books."
Reaching out to take the offered book Garrison frowned. "I can't get there tonight..."
"Oh that's OK, sir, the game's always going." He continued smiling and waved away Garrison concern. "The set up works whenever you can go. The number's the same, they just change the location of the game."
"Thanks Corporal Barton," he slid the small volume into his pocket. "I'll tell them you sent me."
"The book'll tell them that, sir. You just have a real good time."
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"So, he set you up?"
"Yeah, he gave me this." The Warden slipped a small book from his pocket and laid it in the safecracker's hand. "And a number to call when I get there." They were standing in the shadows at the back of the mess hall shielded from view by the barrier that enclosed the large garbage cans. The smell wasn't very appealing and Garrison felt a quick surge of sympathy for Casino, and the night he spent patrolling the large dump at the far edge of the base.
"It's a floating game then? There won't be anyway to check the place out before you get there." Chief was worrying over the Warden going alone into a place that could be full of German spies.
"I'll take Actor and Goniff up with me." He knew the young man was chafing at not being able to back him up and tried to reassure him. "And I'll probably have Reynolds and some of his men around too. It'll be fine."
Casino was looking at the small volume the Warden handed him, turning it over in his hands and paging through it. "Aw man, you'r not gonna tear this apart are ya? It's one a my favorites.
Garrison hadn't paid any attention to the book he'd been given, other than to note that it was almost small enough to be secreted in his hand, and it slipped easily out of sight in his pocket. He focused on it now as Casino held it on his palm, stroking the cover. Small, thin, the royal purple leather old enough to have faded to a dusty comfortable sort of blue, gold lettering still glinted on the spine and from the medallion stamped on it's cover. "What is it?"
"Arabian Nights!" Meeting Chief's blank look he continued, "Come on! You know! Aladdin. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves? The Enchanted Horse?" shaking his head in amazement. "Don't you guys ever read anything good?!"
Garrison raised an eyebrow as Chief snorted in amusement. "I need to get this out to Actor so he can go over it. Casino...."
"I know! Night patrol." he groused as he handed the book back to the Lieutenant.
"Yeah, but keep it toned back a little this time. Having you guard some garbage pile won't do me any good."
"It won't do my nose any good either. Jeeze! How 'bout if I just tell the guy I like patrolling the base in the middle of the night?"
"Don't do that Pappy." The younger man advised with a grin. "If he thinks you like it he'll never assigned you again."
"Is that all it takes!" Casino snorted. "OK then I'm telling him I really love the third watch!" Casting a doubtful eye on Garrison, "Are you goin' through the fence again!? Shouldn't one a us do that?"
Chief turned his own critical eye on the Lieutenant. "Yeah man, you look like you'r runnin' outta gas."
"I'll be alright." Garrison waved away their objections. "Besides I don't want to risk Chief getting caught, I'll need him for a driver tomorrow. And you've got fence duty "
"OK but take it easy, will ya? If you run yourself into the ground out there in the woods someplace nobody's gonna be around to pick you up..." They'd already made their own plans. Casino would let the Warden out, but Chief would be out there waiting to trail him in and back, just to make sure he made it.
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"This is a beautiful book! It's a shame to damage it." Actor turned the volume over in his hands, noting its age and fine leather binding.
"Try not to, Casino'd probably kill me. Besides I have to use that to get into the game."
Casino! Actor couldn't believe he'd be able to appreciate anything this fine and passed the comment over as a joke on the Wardens' part. "How do you want to work this?"
"I'll have Chief drive me in later and then we can go up to London in the car you're using."
"Are you going to call that number from here?"
Garrison considered that a moment before answering. "No. I think I'll do it once we get into the city. I can tell them I'm calling from the base. That will leave us enough time to check the place out before I have to go inside."
"You're takin' me n'Actor in with you, ain't you?" Goniff asked, his concern for the Warden was real, but he wouldn't mind a chance at the money either.
"I don't see how I can. Barton didn't say anything about taking friends along." Garrison sat with his eyes closed, rubbing the back of his neck. "It'll give you guys a chance to see Reynolds though. See if they've come up with anything on the names we've given them."
"I wish there was a way to let them see this book, just in case I miss something." Actor was surprised and concerned that Garrison hadn't thought of that himself. It was sloppy and not at all like him. The Warden looked worn and tired. He hadn't gotten much sleep over the last few nights and had been injured, no matter how firmly he declared that only a minor nuisance.
"Good idea." Scrubbing his hand through his hair Garrison shook his head. "I should have thought of that. "That'll mean an even earlier start. Alright, I'd better get back then." He stood and stretched before cracking the door open to see that no one was in the hall to see him leave. "I'll see if I can get off base by seven and meet you here first thing in the morning."
"Great! I'll have Maggs do up a breakfast for you. You like kippers Warden?" Goniff knew the answer to that, the Lieutenant hated the things, but he figured an extra plate of them around wouldn't go to waste.
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"What are you guys doing, waiting up for me?!" Garrison hadn't really been surprised when both of them met him as he slipped back through the fence.
"Yeah!" Casino growled quietly from the darkness. "And you'r past your curfew. You'r grounded!"
"You guys find anything in that book?" Chief carefully checked the area around them.
"Nothing. Actor's going to go over it tonight, and then we'll take it in to Reynolds in the morning before I hit the game. I'm going to put in for a driver around seven, think you can get the assignment?"
"Hasn't been a problem so far." The young man answered with a slight chuckle.
"Yeah!" Casino turned on him. "How come every time he needs a car you been driving it?"
"S'easy. When his name's on the req somebody'll say, 'Isn't that the guy fell over on the runway?' Now it'll probably be 'passed out when he was runnin?'' I say, 'Yeah, that's the guy' and they send me." Turning a smile on their commander. "I don't think any of 'em want a take a chance on you fallin' over on 'em."
Garrison cleared his throat, "Well I'm glad that's been proving useful." He straightened his shoulders a bit. "It's a good thing I thought of it."
"Yeah right!" Casino snorted in disbelief. "And I s'pose you got a bridge you wanna sell us too!" He whispered at the Warden's back as he watched the other two disappear into the darkness.
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Actor had just finished dressing when there was a soft tap at his door. Seven fifteen, the Warden obviously got his car. Opening the door he admitted his commander who got right to the point. "Did you find anything?"
"There's nothing there. At least nothing I can find." Crossing over to the bureau the elegant con man retrieved the small book and handed it to Garrison.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course. You can check for yourself if you wish."
"No, if you haven come up with anything... Besides we can't destroy the damn thing I've got to use it to get into the game. Maybe Reynolds people can come up with something."
"Will you still go into London if they don't?" Another knock at the door and Goniff joined them, sliding in to a chair that sat at the table and helping himself to Actor's cup of tea.
"Yes. At least I'll be able to see what that operation's like. Goniff, you'd better get going." The cockney cat burglar rolled his eyes, downed the last of the tea and scooped the biscuits into his pockets and headed out the door. Garrison had arranged to have breakfast downstairs in the pub, Actor was taking his in his room, which would give Goniff time to make it out of town where they could pick him up without being observed. After they'd seen him disappear down the stairs the Lieutenant moved out and left by the window at the bottom of the back stairs to enter the pub from the front doors.
Actor timed it perfectly and arrived in the pub just as Garrison was finishing the last of his meal. "Lieutenant, Mrs. Dunn mentioned you were looking for a way into London. I'm driving in, would you like a lift?"
Pushing up out of the chair and tossing the money for his meal on the table the Warden smiled, "That's very kind of you, and I'll take you up on it." His eyes flicked quickly to the door and back. Virgil Patrick had just strolled in, settled himself at a table and was staring at the two of them.
"It would be most agreeable to have company on the drive. My car is just outside, shall we go?" Actor stepped aside and graciously waved the younger man towards the door ahead of him. He'd seen the Captain arrive, and judging by the scowl on the Indians' face, so had Chief.
"It was very kind of you to arrange breakfast for your driver, Lieutenant. What a shame he couldn't take you in to the city, but I supposed he has many other responsibilities." Actor kept them talking just near the doors until Mrs. Dunn finally arrived to occupy Patrick by taking his order. They stepped outside and moved away from the door. It didn't take long for Chief to be standing next to them in the shade along the side of the building. "I think it would be best if Captain Patrick was not given the opportunity to follow us."
"Already taken care of, man. I saw him drive up. You guys go ahead and take off. He's gonna find it hard to keep up with you on those two flat tires." He smiled at them as they turned to walk to the car Actor was using. "I'll see to it he gets a nice slow ride back to the base."
Two miles out of town the car pulled to a stop next to a wiry blonde man who was kicking his heels against the stones of the fence where he was perched. He took the last bite of an apple he'd pinched from one of the trees on the other side of the fence before he chucked it back towards the orchard and climbed into the car, closing the door as it moved off down the road. "I don't s'pect either of you blokes thought to bring any of your leavings along for me?"
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Reynolds' people had been over the book and hadn't found anything. They didn't have anything unusual to report on the men who belonged to the names they'd been given either. Nothing out of the ordinary, but they were still looking. Corporal William Barton seemed to be the ideal soldier, never getting into any trouble, and he continued his perfect record for being ordinary by falling in the middle rankings in all of his reported tests and training. That made Garrison even more suspicious of him.
The Warden followed through and called the number on the torn piece of paper tucked inside the front cover of the book. The man that answered asked several question about the volume he'd been given, right down to the publishing house and the date before telling him where to come. Goniff's ears had pricked up at the address, and he'd remembered the bloke who'd run gambling in the back room back in the days when he'd been running numbers and nicking wallets on the streets of London as a kid.
Garrison took a cab from a few blocks away, letting them get in position, and scanned the street for Actor's car as he walked up to the door. At his knock a man opened up and asked what he might do for the Lieutenant. Repeating what he'd been told to say, Garrison explained that he'd brought a book by for 'Eddie' and he was immediately admitted and ushered into the back rooms. The man at the door slipped the book into his pocket as they strolled through the tables.
"We got anything you fancy Gov'ner. But you Yanks seem partial to the poker table." Moving to the table in the corner he pulled an empty chair out and waited for him to be seated. "Jerry here'll take real good care of you. I'll send the girl over with a drink. First one's on the house."
A night's work at the tables garnered Garrison nearly eight hundred dollars. Skill hadn't won all of those hands. Someone was manipulating the cards so they fell in his favor. He played into the early morning before excusing himself by explaining he'd need time to get back to his base before the pass ran out, and left as complaints and complements on his winning followed him out the door. Walking down the street and around the corner he leaned against a building for a while, watching to be sure he hadn't been followed before signaling Actor to pick him up. Crawling into the back he leaned into the corner and closed his eyes, trying to remember the last time he'd gotten a full nights sleep.
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"Hey Lieutenant! How'd you do?" The Corporal stepped out of the administration building just as Garrison was climbing out of the jeep that collected him in town.
"Barton." Strange that this would be the first guy to greet him. "Great! I feel like I ought to cut you in for a percentage. Thanks for sending me up there."
"Glad to do it, sir. If you ever want to go again, just let me know. Maybe next time I'll take you up on that cut." He called over his shoulder as he continued on towards the mess hall.
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They'd finally had some luck. The weather cleared and the group had flown out an hour after Garrison returned to base. Patrick and all of his followers were safely away, over the continent dropping their bombs. They were sitting in a quiet corner of the mess hall over coffee.
"It's Barton. It has to be."
"Well I know the guy looks more and more like a rat every time I see him, but what makes you so sure." Casino took a long pull on his coffee and waited for the Wardens' answer.
Garrison leaned forward, his arms resting on the table. "How'd he know I hit that game? He didn't ask me if I went up, he just asked me how I did."
"Somebody reported back to him." Chief stated simply.
"Yeah. Either the guy that took the book or one of the dealers." The Warden mentally settled on the guy on the door. He would have been able to report practically as soon as he'd seen the mark to his table.
"You think the dealers are in on it?"
"Casino I'm good, but somebody was making sure the cards were falling my way."
The safecracker nodded, "To hook you into comin' back."
"Looks like it."
"What'r we gonna do now? Turn him over to Reynolds?" Casino asked, knowing the Warden would have more in mind than just uncovering the spy like they were ordered.
"No. I think we can get more on him. And I want to know for sure that he's the one that sent that film out with Mitchell."
Chief caught Casino's 'What'd I tell you' look and smiled, "You don't think Mitchell had anything to do with it any more?"
"I can't see how." Garrison was intent on his own thoughts and missed the exchange between his men. "We haven't been able to find anything that would make him do something like this. They've even been digging into his family. He had a wife and a baby back home. They've traced every step he's taken, and so far they haven't found him put so much as a foot wrong."
"What d'we do now?"
"Now we go after the records building."
"When d'you wanna do it?"
"Tonight. So, ah... Casino."
"I know. I know." The east coast thief heaved a resigned sigh. "You know if I keep this up that guy's gonna organize a firing squad just for me, and you promised we wouldn't have to worry about one a them this time out!"