part 2
"Of course."
"May I?"
Actor hadn't really believed his request would be honored when he made it, and had to work to control his shock when Reynolds had flipped the switch on the intercom and issued his order. The Colonel was obviously as concerned as he was.
Reynolds studied the man who sat across from him. He was calm and pleasant, outwardly cooperative, and inwardly? Probably trying as hard as he could to protect his commander. He obviously knew, or thought he knew, something that he felt might be valuable but wasn't going to reveal it until he could determine just how much Garrison had already told them. All right, he'd give him what he wanted so he could make his decision. "Bring me Lieutenant Garrison's file please."
"Yes, sir. Right away."
Within moments Actor held the record in his hands and started scanning through it.
Reynolds shoved his chair back from the desk and stood. "I'll just leave you to it then, shall I?" but the other man gave no notice as he left the office, he was already absorbed in his reading.
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Actor had seen Garrison's dossier, the pared down version that told of his military background, starting with West Point. But this was the full file that he held now. He was surprised Reynolds had handed it over so readily and then left him alone with it. Dark brows arched up in surprise as he read, taking special note of the dates of some of the Lieutenant's assignments,,, this explained a great deal. Most of what he saw he already knew, some the Warden had revealed, either directly or by his actions, some of it he had surmised, but some was totally new to him, and further confirmed his theory. He sat the file aside and considered what he would say to the Colonel. Moments after he'd made his decision the door opened and Reynolds walked back into the room. The man had developed exquisite timing since their first meeting.
Reynolds settled in behind his desk. Leaning back in his chair he waited.
"Colonel, have you ever studied psychology?"
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"So you're saying he doesn't realize he's sick?"
It had only taken Colonel Reynolds moments to know he was out of his depth with this man and he'd called for reinforcements in the person of the doctor currently taking care of Lieutenant Garrison.
"What I am saying is that he discounts it. That he has conditioned himself to ignore it." Tapping his fingers on the file that lay between them on the desk he continued. "You have the answer here in this file but you don't understand it." Actor took a deep breath and continued. "It's nearly impossible for him to admit his true condition. From the age of four or five he was confined or physically punished for being anything less than 'Fine.' Illness or injury was something that wasn't allowed to exist by his grandfather. When they finally got away from him, and were making their way out of Europe, there was no time for it. When they reached American there was no money for it, and then his mother fell ill and died, he didn't have time for it again, and he had no one else that cared. At West Point, in Europe, and now in this unit it's something to be overcome as quickly as possible to get back in the field. If he's ill he keeps moving, if he's been injured he's treated and sent right back out, or his condition has been exploited for a mission." He fixed Reynolds with a steady stare, "You've done it yourself, more than once."
"What do you suggest?"
"That as long as you allow him to stay here in England he will not recover. Either he will continue to do things he feels he must," Reynolds was beginning to become uneasy under the unyielding gaze of Garrison's second "Or someone will find a way to make use of him, either by sending him out on a mission that he is not ready for or by capitalizing on his knowledge and ability as an analyst and advisor�.. I am suggesting he be sent home."
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"What do you think?"
"Colonel, I think he makes a valid point. And I think that as someone who works closely with Lieutenant Garrison he probably has better insight into his actual condition than I do."
"But to keep his illness secrete�. That's a serious breach of military directive, doctor."
"And if what that man just told us is true he doesn't even know he's doing it." The doctor leafed through the medical chart before laying it atop the personnel file that sat between them on the desk. "Colonel Reynolds everything in this file points to a condition that is deteriorating and I don't know why."
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to send him home where they don't have to worry about protecting the damned patients from nightly rocket attacks. I want to send him back where all they have to worry about is finding out what's wrong and fixing it."
Reynolds rocked back in his chair and studied the doctor, "Can they fix it?"
"I don't know. I hope so."
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He'd been sent back to the estate again. The doctors agreed they couldn't do any more for him than give him medication for the pain and pills to help him rest. He could do that here and he could keep an eye on the men. The fact that they were keeping an eye on him at the same time was not lost on him. He'd just invited three of them to find somewhere other than his office to spend their morning. "Casino. Stay a minute, will you, I need to talk to you." Watching the others move out into the hallway Garrison motioned for Casino to close the door, and waited for him to come back and stand in front of him across the desk. "The last of the paperwork came through." He smiled up at the shocked expression on the other man's face. It had gotten past him! Wilhoitz couldn't stop this, not with Reynolds as an overseer, but he could have slowed it down to a crawl. He must still be too busy. Wilhoitz had his own troubles now and Garrison didn't feel the least bit sorry for him. "Transportation's been arranged for the end of the week."
Casino stood, speechless for several seconds. He couldn't believe it. He figured they'd have weeks, maybe even months, to wait. "So quick!? How's she gettin' there?" He'd started to pace as soon as he started to speak. "God, what if she's scared� Who's takin' her?" Turning on the Warden he jabbed the air in an almost threatening manner. "I'm not handin' her over to just anybody ya know!"
"Hold on! Hold on." Garrison laughed. "She's going by plane and she won't be scared� And you don't have to worry about who's taking her,,, because you're going to take her."
"Me?!" The safecracker's hands dropped to his sides as his eyes widened in shock. "They're lettin' me� But what if we get a�"
"There won't be any chance of that. Chief and Goniff still need some time to recover and they're rotating me home for a while� So there won't be any missions," The Warden's manner sobered. "there won't be enough of a team to send out. That's why they OK'd it." He didn't know where the idea that he needed to go home had come from. He could rest here, he could recover here, and he could still work. He didn't need to go 'home'. Why couldn't he make Reynolds see that? The only good thing about the whole deal was that since he'd be along they'd given the OK for Casino to take the little girl to his family himself.
Casino still couldn't believe it. She was goin'. They were goin'. They were really goin'! He didn't care how, or why it'd been OK'd, They were goin'. "Well, that's great! I mean, not that Chief� It's not great that� Well you know what I� Jeeze! How am I gonna let them know? How'r they gonna know we're on the way?"
"Look, will you calm down a minute! We got clearance for a call through to your family. I've already sent the telegram, so they know, so they'll be home to get it. They'll ring through here when the connection's set up." Garrison turned his hand and checked his watch. "Casino! You better start breathing again, baby, and collect your thoughts, because you're going to be on the phone with them in about fifteen minutes."
"Jeeze! I gotta tell the guys!" There was a booming crash as the office door bounced against the wall as Casino charged through into the hall.
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All of them were gathered in the Warden's office waiting for the phone to ring, counting down the minutes and seconds until it did. Casino told them in no uncertain terms that he'd go crazy if he had to wait there by himself. As he watched him from the chair next to the desk Actor thought the man had probably covered at least two miles pacing around the room in the short time they'd been there. Chief leaned against the wall near the windows and watched, a smile playing in his eyes as he worked his shoulder back and forth, doing the exercises the doctors had given him. Garrison, as usual, had a report in front of him on the desk. He wasn't getting anywhere with it as every time Casino made a pass by his desk he looked up. Goniff was perched on the corner of the Warden's desk, in front of the phone when it rang, and was knocked unceremoniously on his backsides as the safe cracker shouldered him out of the way and snatched up the receiver.
"Mari! Mari? Can you hear me? We got it, we got the OK! She's comin' and I get to bring her! Do you believe that?!. Mari! Can you hear me?!" The whole family must be gathered around that phone. They could hear them all talking and yelling at once, asking questions and laughing. Casino winced as his sister shouted for them to be quiet so she could hear. "Yeah! Do you believe that! �.. No I just found out. ��. The end of the week. �� Look I don't know all that. The Warden,,, ��. my boss, he just dropped this on me two minutes ago. I'll have to send a cable with the set up. ���.. We only got a couple minutes on here kid. ��..Yeah I know. �.. Tell everybody I love 'em and I'll,,, we'll see 'em in a few days. �..Mari? Mari? Are you there?" The only sound that came across was the loud static of an open line.
Casino put the handset carefully back on the cradle of the phone and stood there in the silence for a moment before looking up at them. His face held a combination of joy and sadness, relief and fatigue. "That was my sister. I can't believe I just talked to my sister."
"And you'r gonna be seein' her in less than four days." Goniff grinned up at him from his position on the floor.
"Yeah." Their tough east coast criminal, their cool explosive expert, the man who had an opinion or an argument for every occasion could only stand there and stare at the phone. "Yeah." He swallowed hard and made a swipe at his eyes with the back of his hand before turning to head out the door. "I gotta go tell Jeannie!"
Garrison shot a look at Actor and waved towards the door. "I really think you'd better drive. I don't think he's actually seeing what's in front of him right now." As the aristocrat moved out he picked up the phone to arrange the car and give his permission for the gates to be opened for it. It wouldn't do for Casino to arrive with the MP's hot on his tail.
Actor breathed a silent prayer of thanks as he followed after Casino. He hadn't been sure the Colonel would listen to him when he requested time to talk with him about the Lieutenant, and he'd been convinced they would discount his concern when the doctor had been requested to come in and hear his suggestion.
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The pain in his side and the ache behind his eyes wouldn't let him sleep. They'd been around and offered pills to help, but he hated the way they made him feel. It was better just to stay awake. Jeanette was nestled against his left arm, stretched across his legs, her feet resting in Casino's lap. She'd pulled herself across there and fallen asleep when Casino got up, and when he'd come back offering to take her, Garrison had refused. She wasn't hurting anything and he didn't want to disturb her. Casino was watching him hold her, an eyebrow raised slightly. He shifted and turned to look out the window. He knew Casino had a soft spot for kids, but he wasn't so sure it was a good idea for the guy to find out he had one too. Smiling he reminded himself he'd probably tipped his hand way back when he'd let Sister Therese sucker him into bringing those kids out of France. Turning back he looked at the other man a moment before asking, "You come from a large family, don't you?"
OK, Casino laughed silently to himself, a diversion, "Yeah, I come from a big family. There were seven of us kids. Seven! Joey died though, when he was just a baby. He choked to death, but you know that already. There wasn't nothin' we could do for him. Ma took it real hard. He was the baby you know. It was real hard on her."
"What about the rest of them?" Garrison knew Casino came from a large family but he'd never figured out exactly where he fit into it.
"Well, I'm the next to the oldest boy. I got an older brother and an older sister, then there's a break a five years and the rest a the kids." He could tell the Warden was hurtin', he had that bruised look around his eyes. Talking helped, he knew that too, so he settled in. He liked talking about his family anyway. "My oldest brother's in the joint for B&E. He's doin' ten right now 'cause a partner a his turned him over to get a better deal on his sentence. Same thing happened to me. I was clear a that job if Eddie Richardson hadn't ratted me out to make a deal for himself." Casino laughed, "'Course you know that too, that's how I happened to be available for this little scam a yours."
Garrison coughed and had the good manners to look a little uncomfortable, before he prompted him to continue. "You have an older sister?"
"My sister? Aw, she's only a couple a years older, but you'd think it was ten the way she tries to take care of me! Wendi's married to a police officer of all things! Seems to be happy though, says he's good to her. She's got two little kids, a boy and a girl. Then there's the younger three. Angie, Marika and Stefan," he ticked them off on his fingers. "They're all good kids. Angie wants to be a nun! She's in trainin' in a convent in Virginia. God's gonna get a good one in her. You never met anybody cared more about people than Angie. And she's always been like that. Even when she was just a little kid we had to keep an eye on her or she'd had all her food, money, even shoes and clothes over to other people if she thought they needed it." Casino's pride was obvious in his voice.
"Marika is about the same, but she didn't want the church, she wanted kids. She ran away and got married when she was only sixteen. My folks almost went crazy. Jeeze! I thought the old man was gonna kill the guy, but she convinced him that she really loved him. It was pretty rocky at first, but now I can't imagine the family without Chris in it. Stefan, the youngest, he's still just a kid, still in school. He's given the folks fits right now, wantin' to join up. Says he wants to go to the Army and fight for his country like I'm doin'." Casino shook his head, amazed that his younger brother could still find it in him to admire somethin' that he was doin', that he'd want to follow in his footsteps.
The rest of the long flight was spent like that as they talked about relatives. Casino contributing the most as he described the various aunts, uncles, and cousins that made up his large extended family.
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The plane had finally come to a stop, they waited for the other passengers to go by and then Casino stood, lifting the little girl into his arms. He stepped back, waiting for the Warden to move into the aisle ahead of him. One of the nurses working the flight was waiting to walk with him to the door and down the stairs that had been rolled up to the opening when they landed, and see him into the car that waited on the tarmac down below. As he stood the Lieutenant slipped his hand into his pocket, turning he held it out to Casino. The safecracker looked down and saw a stack of bills folded neatly in half and an envelope. He looked up, "What's that for?"
"Train tickets, and the cab, food,,, stuff you two might need along the way." Garrison shrugged. "There's extra ration coupons in the envelope for your folks."
"Aw, Warden I can't take your money, and... You'r gonna need it. I got enough�"
"Don't worry, I won't be going anywhere for a while, by then the paymaster will have caught up with me. Besides," he said with a quick smile, "I won it playing poker..." Garrison tucked the things in the pocket of the man's jacket, "It's OK, I'll dock your pay if it'll make you feel any better." Smiling as Casino finally nodded his acceptance. "The phone number of the guy you're to report to is in the envelope too. He's expecting your first call on Monday."
"Just like a parole officer?"
"Just like that." Garrison said firmly as he searched the other man's eyes, "Don't screw it up Casino."
Casino shifted the child, still asleep on his shoulder, and looked back at Garrison. "Don't worry, Warden. I'm not gonna do anything to mess this up."
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Casino watched as the Warden turned and accepted the help waiting for him. That wasn't like him. He was always the one tellin' them he was fine, even when he wasn't, the one seein' to it that they were OK. Now he was worn out and sick, and while his voice still held that stubborn edge when he got mad, all the color had been washed out of him, burned out by the fevers. Even his eyes were different, lighter, like there wasn't enough blood in him to darken them into their usual hazel. The bones of his face and wrists stood out, and when he'd stumbled climbing the stairs to board the plane and Casino had put his hand out to steady him he'd been able to feel his ribs right through his jacket.
Casino'd been so caught up in getting the OK for Jeannette to come to his sister, and then getting her over here, he hadn't really noticed what kind a shape the Warden was in. Not until now. He'd considered a dozen different ways to die, shot down by a Kraut firing squad, gettin' blown up by one of his own charges, even crashing in one of those damn planes they used to get to their jobs, or goin' down in one a the subs. But just getting sick and burning away, had never crossed his mind.
A tremor of fear knifed through his chest. If somethin' happened to this guy they all knew the deal was over. None of them doubted they'd be on the first plane back to the States. The duration and six months! Not one of them trusted the Army brass to honor that agreement on their own, but every one of them trusted Garrison to fight for it, see to it that the government held up their end of the deal. And now it looked like there was a real chance he wouldn't make it,,, wouldn't be going back over there.
Casino watched as the Warden was helped into the back of an Army staff car and then looked up and scanned the area. He didn't know how they'd managed it, but it didn't surprise him to see the small group of people huddled just in front of the fence near the place they were off loading the plane's passengers. Leave it to Ma, she could talk her way in anywhere. He thought she'd probably give Actor a run for his money. Casino shifted the little girl in his arms, "Come on kiddo, wake up! It's time to meet the family." And he laughed as she turned her head and snuggled further down onto his shoulder.
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Garrison sat in the car and waited, the driver was out near the back of the plane waiting for them to unload his gear. As soon as he got it stowed in the back they'd be on their way. He watched Casino shift Jeannette on his hip and hand her over to the man waiting just inside the gate. 'Must be the brother-in-law,' he thought. That tall pale blonde didn't look like he fit into Casino's family anywhere... Neither did the redheaded woman that had just released him from an enthusiastic hug, or the two young fellows who were getting their hair mauled by their returning� what? Uncle,,, surely. He remembered Casino telling him that his brother's family lived with the parents now.
He continued to watch the group as the car pulled away, turning to keep them in sight. The two that had just gotten out of the car, they must be the parents. The way they just stood by, watching and enjoying the younger peoples' reunion, patiently waiting. The formality of the handshake between Casino and the older man that dissolved into a bear hug. The way his hardened east coast criminal turned towards the small dark haired woman that stood apart from the rest, bowing his head as she quietly embraced him...
The car made the turn off the field and out onto the road, and his view was blocked, but as he turned and settled back against the seat he could still see them.