part 3
"You told the doctor we could take care of him?!" The east coast thief snorted a laugh. "Jeeze, thanks for volunteerin' us... What d'you think you'd be good for? You can't even get you'r pants on without help."
"Well I could keep an eye on things, couldn't I?" the little man huffed. "I could call out if somebody needed somethin'."
Casino pulled the blanket back over the cockney's legs. "Yeah, that'd be a big help. Look Goniff, they're takin' real good care of him over at that hospital."
"Aw, but you didn't see the look on his face when they rolled me outta there yesterday..." Goniff shrugged up to Casino's skeptically cocked eyebrow. "Kinda lost like."
Actor stuck his head in the door and called to them "Casino I need your help. The hospital just called and they are releasing the Warden. We've got to set a room up downstairs."
ggg
Actor felt like a military aide as he reported on Chief and Goniff's condition while he and Casino settled Garrison in the room they'd made up for him on the ground floor. He considered standing at attention but in his present mood he didn't think the Warden would see any humor in the act. The Lieutenant had been issued a wheelchair and crutches with strict instructions to stay off his feet until the doctors gave him the OK to get up. The confidence man made a wager with himself as to how long the Warden would follow those instructions.
"I'm sure the doctors went over all of this with you before you left."
"I want to hear it from you." Garrison stared back at him from the bed, his arms folded across his chest.
"They are both resting very comfortably upstairs. Chief gets a bit dizzy if he is up too long or tries to move too fast and Goniff still can't bend over or straighten up all the way ... They are going to be fine." He shook his head and smiled at the younger man. "If you rest now I promise we'll try and get Chief down here tomorrow so that you can see him for yourself." but he warned. "Goniff has to stay where he is for another few days." And he added reasonably. "You don't want him to pull those stitches loose, do you?"
"Get Rawlins in here then. I need to get started on the paperwork that came in while we were gone." Reaching out Garrison tried to catch hold of the arm of the wheelchair but Actor was too quick and managed to move it out of his range.
"Sergeant Major Rawlins has completed as much of that paperwork as he can and the rest can wait. He's not coming anywhere near you until at least tomorrow." It had been the Sergeant Major's suggestion that he make himself scarce just as soon as he dropped them at the front door, to avoid this very situation. "So you see? You might as well just lay back and enjoy these lovely accommodations we made up for you."
Casino watched the two of them a moment before he stalked across the room, pulling the blackout curtains over the windows he walked over by the bed and tapped the con man on the shoulder. "You, out." turning he pointed a finger in the Warden's face. "You! Go to sleep." then turned on his heel and frog marched Actor out of the room , cutting the lights off as he passed the switch, plunging Garrison into darkness.
Once the door was closed and they'd gone a few steps down the hall he leaned against the wall and looked at their second. "You just can't reason with him when he's like that, damn it." then he laughed. "Jeeze! I sounded just like my Pop tryin' to get me and Marcus to settle down when we were kids."
Actor laid a hand on his shoulder and guided him towards the kitchen. "Come on. I'll make the coffee... I think we'll be needing it."
ggg
After a frustrating day of trying to get around in the wheelchair Garrison had switched to the crutches, over Actor's strenuous objections and Casino's threats to 'take the damn things away from him'. He was managing very nicely, thank you very much, and doing his best to do as the doctors told him and keep the weight off the leg that had taken most of the damage. He'd all but ordered Rawlins to hand over the paperwork when he'd caught him in the hall in the morning and the Sergeant Major had finally relented, reasoning that at least it would keep the Lieutenant occupied at his desk instead of up on the crutches swinging along the halls. Garrison still required an almost hourly update on the condition of the men upstairs.
"Hey Warden we brought you some company for lunch."
Casino maneuvered Chief through the door, the kid still needed a steadying hand on his arm in case he got dizzy. Actor followed with the tray they'd made up in the kitchen and after shifting a stack of papers out of the way he set about laying the meal out on the desk. The safecracker glanced up just in time to see the Warden lean forward and reach for his crutches.
"If you don't stay right where you are I swear I'm haulin' him back up those stairs." A defiant light came into the Lieutenant's eyes but he finally subsided back into his seat as Casino stared him down. "That's better!"
"Thanks Pappy." Chief settled on the chair that had been pulled up to the desk for him and looked up at his commander. "How you doin' Warden?"
Garrison smiled across the desk at the young man sitting in front of him. "I'm fine."
"Yeah." Reaching up to rub gingerly at the bandage that was still taped to the back of his head the group's scout smiled back. "Me too." Turning in his chair he called to the two men as they moved towards the door. "Ain't you guys stayin' to eat?"
"Hell no! Goniff's asleep and we figure if you two can keep each other occupied with scintillating conversation like that for a while we can finally catch a break."
"Go on. Go upstairs and get some rest. And," Garrison's mouth quirked up in a smile as he looked at them. "thanks."
Garrison turned his attention back to Chief and watched him eat for a while before he pulled his own plate over in front of him. They sat silently together, Chief wasn't much of a talker and Craig was relieved enough by his presence that he didn't feel the need to press him into conversation. He barely remembered talking to the young man when he finally woke up in the back of the van but the images of his injuries when he'd first turned him over in that farmhouse were still fresh in his mind. He could still see the blood, feel it on his hands, smell it when he closed his eyes. The back of Chief's jacket and shirt had been soaked with it and he'd been certain he'd lost him before he managed to clean him up and finally realized most of it was coming from the shoulder wound where the stone fragment was keeping it open.
He remembered making the decision to try and get the damn thing out of the wound. He'd waited for someone to come, praying it would be Actor and Casino even though, at the time, logic told him they'd been killed in the bombing. By the time the third dressing had soaked through he knew he had to act or the scout was really going to die on him. It hadn't taken long to carve the stone out of his shoulder and as soon as he lifted it free and tossed it aside the wound had closed and the bleeding started to slow down. By then Goniff was awake and it was all he could do to keep the little cat burglar still.
Goniff... Actor kept telling him he was alright but he didn't think he'd believe it, not until he saw him for himself. The wound was a bad one, running clear across the man's belly. Every time he moved Garrison expected the contents of his abdomen to push up through the gash and spill out onto the floor. He could remember the pick pocket talking to him, trying to comfort him even through his own pain, convince him that the others weren't lost, that they were alright and would be coming for them. He'd even tried to help him care for his own injuries.
Fault... He told him it wasn't his fault that they'd gotten injured...
The clatter of metal on china brought him back to the office in the mansion with a jolt. The food in front of him had gone cold on the plate. When he looked up Chief had dropped his fork and sat with his head in his hands. Garrison pushed the chair back and used the desk to lever himself up, clutching the edge for support as he made his way around to the young man.
"Chief?!"
"S'OK. Just dizzy."
Garrison hit the button on the intercom on his desk. "Rawlins we need some help in here!"
g
"Is he alright?" Garrison was waiting where they'd left him hanging on his crutches at the bottom of the stairs when they took Chief back up to the room they shared on the second floor.
Actor sighed and studied the man that swayed a few steps below him. He looked like the only thing that was keeping him on those crutches was will power. "He's dizzy and sick to his stomach. I've called over to the hospital and they are sending someone over as soon as they can, but I'm sure he's just gotten too tired." Reaching a hand to the Warden's shoulder as he stepped down next to him he turned him back towards the room they'd made up for him. "You're due for a rest yourself." and when he felt resistance he laughed and threatened. "Don't make me get Casino."
g
By the time the medic made it out to the mansion to check on them it was early evening and both men were asleep. The corpsman roused Chief and made sure there was no reason to take him back to the hospital. Checking Goniff's stitches he assured them everything looked like it was healing up nicely and even cleared the pick pocket to be up and active as long as he didn't let himself get too worn out. When they'd come down to check on Garrison he carefully folded the legs on his pajamas back and checked the dressings. The bandages appeared to be dry and clean but he said he didn't like the heat he felt coming up through them and promised to send one of the doctors back in the morning.
ggg
"W�shd'ee Tsx'iilgo!"
There was a shout and a loud thump as the leg at the head of Chief's bed pull off the floor then crashed back down as his knees buckled and he released his grip on the frame and landed on the floor next to it. His cry brought all three of the men awake, Casino and Actor hitting the floor and heading for him before they were fully aware of what had happened, Goniff turning on the bed and struggling to get up to go to his aid. When they got the lights on the young man still wasn't free of his nightmare and it took both of them to control him while he came to and peered around him.
"Adana'i..."
"Chief?" Actor wrapped his arm around the young man, holding his injured arm down against his side while Casino tried to catch hold of his other hand. "Chief, wake up now. It's only a dream."
They waited for his breathing to slow, until he focused on them and started to stammer an apology before they hoisted him off the floor and bundled him back into his bed.
"Come on junior, back you go."
Actor checked the bandages on his head and the back of his shoulder, crossed the room and did the same for Goniff, and was just turning to snap the light off again when there was a crash in the hall outside the door.
Casino was across the room at a run, pulling the door open he stared down. "Jeeze! Warden, what 'n the hell are you doin' up here?!"
Actor joined the safecracker and ignoring Garrison's mumbled demands for information pulled him over to lean against the wall in the hallway. "He's come right down on this knee. It's bleeding again. Help me get him back downstairs." Stooping next to their fallen leader the con man pulled his arm across the back of his neck and slid his hand under his legs, waiting for Casino to do the same.
"Can't we just keep him up here?"
"And have him go head first down the stairs?!" The confidence man shifted his grip as they lifted the Lieutenant off the floor between them and turned to head down the stairs. "Besides all of the supplies are down in his room."
When they reached the room they laid Garrison out on the bed, Actor pressing a large hand down over his shoulder when he tried to get up again. "No you don't Lieutenant. Casino get that tray out of the bathroom. We're going to have to rewrap this."
"Chief? I heard Chief. What's wrong?" He couldn't fight against the weight of his second's hand and Garrison finally gave up and sank back on the bed.
"It's all right. He's just had a bad dream." Taking the scissors from the tray Casino brought to the bedside he slit the fabric of the Warden's pants. "These dressings have to be changed and I'm afraid it's going to be uncomfortable when the pressure comes off this wound."
Garrison nodded for him to go ahead but stiffened with pain as he cut the bandages away.
"It's a damn good thing that doctor's comin' out here in the morning!"
g
Dr. Samuels gratefully accepted the cup of coffee Casino held out for him. "The wound below his knee doesn't appear to be infected, but the one lower down and a couple on the other leg concern me. I've opened them and cleaned them out again and given him a shot. I'll leave some tablets for him, he'll need two every four hours round the clock."
"Aren't you taking him back to the hospital with you?" Actor asked as he sipped his own coffee, but he already knew the answer. Sergeant Major Rawlins had heard rumors about the beating the Allies were taking in Italy.
"I'm afraid there's no room for him at the hospital. It's all we can do to take care of the men we have there. The only reason I was able to come is it's on the way from a base north of here. We transported some of the patients there late last night and they needed a doctor along, I was on my way back when they radioed and asked if I could stop." He looked at Actor. "I've seen you work, it won't be any problem for you. If you need anything just call over to the hospital and one of the nurses or corpsman will come." Pushing up to his feet he handed a packet of pills and a leather case to the Italian con artist. "He's got a slight fever but I don't want him to have any aspirin for another two hours, I want to give the bleeding time to stop. Have you injected Morphine before?"
"Yes."
"Good" Samuels turned and started for the door. "If he needs it I think in his present state it will only take half a cc to put him out, but you can use three times that much if you need to."
gggggggggg
"I'm beat!" Casino leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes. It seemed like he'd been up for days now. Goniff still needed help gettin' around and if Chief was on his feet for very long somebody had to be close in case he got dizzy. And the Warden... Jeeze! Bein' the Warden he was up in the morning insisting on gettin' into his uniform, acting like Reynolds was gonna issue an order any second and send 'em on a mission. Most a the time they could talk him into stayin' in the small room off his office, but as the day wore on and the light faded he seemed to get more confused and harder to reason with. Actor said it was the fever... Casino was convinced he'd finally just gone nuts.
He cracked his eyes open and looked across the room at Actor as he sat in the chair... reading, of course. "Hey, you really go to medical school?"
"For a short while, a very long time ago." The con man answered without looking up from his book.
"You ever think a goin' back?"
"They won't take me now I'm afraid, not with a criminal record." He looked up at Casino and smiled. "Besides, I couldn't take the hours."
Casino snorted a laugh and sat forward, scrubbing at his face with his hands, then running his fingers through his hair. "What's the longest you ever been awake at one stretch you think?"
It didn't take the con man long to answer. "Ninety hours... Just short of four days."
"Jeeze! What for?" The safecracker yawned and stretched. "Some kinda con?"
"My mother was dying."
a
My mother was dying.....
Actor remembered sitting on the bed next to her. Fear gripping his heart as he listened to her struggle. Pulling her up to lean against his shoulder so she could breathe easier. Talking to her as others moved in and out of the corner of the room where she lay, trying to keep her calm and focused on getting the air she needed to survive. It seemed when they were alone together and it was quiet she improved a little and he began to hope he could carry her through the night on his softly uttered words as he had done for the past few days.
There had been no money for a doctor and he couldn't persuade any of his instructors to come with him to see a patient in the slums. They wouldn't risk coming into the outskirts of the city where the poor massed in their thousands. It was fine to use them as educational subjects, once the police brought them in and cleaned them up after they'd been caught stealing, or collapsed while they worked or somewhere on the streets. But to come into the overcrowded apartments and shacks where they lived? Tramp through filthy streets with broken sewers to reach them? Expose themselves to this epidemic or the threat of assault or banditry. It was unheard of.
"You shouldn't have come back again tonight." Her voice was soft and the hand she reached to his face shook. Her touch was like ice, even with the blankets and fire the warmth no longer seemed to reach her.
"How could I stay away from you?" Kissing her palm before he slipped her arm beneath the blanket he looked at her ravaged face and struggled to smile. She was the most beautiful woman in the world. Even when he'd managed to get away, break out of the mold society imposed on them and meet women who hadn't been worn into aged frailty when work they weren't used to was forced on them by the loss of family fortune and position There was a quiet grace about her, a comfort he knew he would never find in anyone else.
"But you neglect your studies....."
"Mamma, I am far enough ahead in my studies to spend this time with you."
"....and you risk getting this sickness. You have to leave, you have to survive..."
She was becoming agitated again, the gray color creeping back to her lips. "But you are no longer ill..." he lied, "just tired." Turning he poured out a measure of tea the healer he'd found left for her. It was only comforting herbs but it had calmed her before. "Here, you must drink this for me and then you will rest."
"You must survive, Promise me. Promise me you will do anything you must to survive. I couldn't bear it if...."
"I promise you... But you will see for yourself." He leaned down and kissed her forehead then brushed her eyelids gently with his fingertips enticing her to sleep. "When you are well I will take you into the city and you will see where I live and where I go to school. You won't come back here again, you and Papa will stay with me." He promised her quietly. "There are larger rooms where I stay and the woman who keeps the house would be glad of the company... There, my dear, you must sleep now...."
"This is what your fine schools can do for her? If we had the money she sends you she wouldn't be dying now." His father had shuffled into the center of the room and stood swaying there, staring at her as she slipped into restless sleep.
He grabbed the old man by the arm and hustled him from the room as the pain of his father's words burned in his heart, because after seeing her he couldn't help but believe the indictment. When he left she'd been all right, she'd encouraged him to go, to get away to a better life. She'd been the one to help him believe it was possible, the one who sent money, even if it was only a few coins or small bills, as often as she could to help him achieve his dream, their dream..."You mustn't let her hear you say such things Papa!"
"Even if they are true?!" Pulling away from the hand that gripped his arm he turned his back on the boy. "I am not such a fool that I cannot see the truth...."
"No! But you are too drunk to realize what your words can do to her!"
"If I am drunk it is to deaden the pain of a dying wife and another son who has abandoned us!" The old man turned and fixed him with a stare laced with unfocused hatred. "You and your dreams, your fine plans for the future! There is no future... You don't have one! You and your mother, you believe that things can change, but they never will .... The only thing that will stop her suffering is death... "
He lashed out before he could stop himself. The blow sent his father reeling backwards, falling into the dust at his feet, the bottle he'd held in his hand shattering. Looking on with disgust he watched him scrabble through the dirt to the liquor soaking into the ground, and rock there mourning his loss. "There might have been a future for us once, but you wasted it on this Papa!" He stepped across and brought the heel of his shoe down, crushing the fragmented glass into the mud. "She won't die! I won't let her. As soon as she is better I am taking her back with me..."
"Back there?! You couldn't even bring yourself to tell them it was your own mother you were coming too, could you?" His father's bitter laughter echoed off the walls that surrounded them. "As soon as they find out what you really are, that your fine background is a hoax, they will never let you through the doors..."
"And how would they do that? Who would tell them?."
The old man struggled to his feet and glared at him. "I would." he promised and then turned and staggered away down the alley leaving him alone there.
a
Casino stared at him, he was tired and his defenses were down, normally he would never reveal anything of his private life to anyone. Especially something like that. "What was wrong with her, why'd she die?" he asked quietly.
"I don't know." He hesitated a moment, remembering. "It was as if she were drowning... If I sat with her I could get her to breathe properly, her color got a little better. If I kept talking to her... But I fell asleep..." Actor finally realized what he was saying and stopped.
Frowning Casino shook his head when he caught the big man's eye, he knew how it felt to lose somebody, to feel responsible for it. "I'm sorry... That must a been tough."
Actor set his book aside and sighed, looking across at Casino... they all knew about his younger brother. "Yes, it was." Before the safecracker could make another comment there was a loud crash and they were both on their feet heading for the room the Warden was using.
Shouldering the door open they found Garrison on the floor, pushing back under the bed, trying to get away from them.
"Here we go again!"
"Blimey! Why'd they ever let him out a that hospital anyway?"
Casino glanced up at the little Limey hunched against the door and wondered how he'd made it from their rooms so fast. "'Cause they have too many guys there right now, and you said we wouldn't have any trouble takin' care of him out here. Remember?"
"I said that?" Goniff stared down at Warden where he lay crumpled on the floor. He moved into the room and reached to help lift him but was waved off by Actor and Casino. Stepping back out of the way he rubbed at the bandage that was still taped across his belly and watched as they lifted the Lieutenant off the floor and laid him back out on the bed.
"Goniff, you'd best go and let Chief know everything is all right. He's been dizzy again today and if he tries himself on those stairs we may have more to do that just look after the Warden." Actor made a quick check of the bandages that covered the Lieutenant's legs. Good, he thought, no sign of blood. At a nudge on his shoulder he turned and accepted the glass of water and pills Casino held out for him. Slipping an arm around the back of the younger man's neck he helped him sit up enough to take the medication.
"Actor?" Garrison was dazed, confused by pain and fever.
"That's right. Here, swallow these down for me." Pleased that they hadn't had to fight over the pills this time he helped the Warden lay back on the bed and pulled the blankets back over him.
"So who's sittin' up with him tonight?"
"I'll do it. You blokes need to get some sleep." Goniff was back in the doorway, sweat beading across his forehead, pale from the effort going up and down the stairs had taken.
Actor studied the little man a moment, considered the dark circles under the safecracker's eyes and then turned and watched as Garrison tossed restlessly on the bed. "No. I'll stay down here with him. And, Casino, if you'll get that kit the doctor left I think we all may be able to get some sleep."
The east coast thief stepped away into the hall and was back in less than a minute. "He said he didn't want none a this stuff, remember?"
"I know, but we don't have any other choice, we all need the rest." The con man opened the leather case and took one of the bottles out, twisting the cap off he tipped some alcohol on to a wad of cotton wool. Picking up the next small vial he wiped the top clean and set it on the table. Choosing a needle from the case he attached it to the syringe picked up the vial again and slid the needle through the rubber stopper drawing up a measure of the medicine it contained. Motioning the others forward to help he settled himself on the side of the bed.
"Casino, hold on to him from that side and try and keep him still. Goniff, can you take his hand and keep him from moving this arm?"
"Actor? No!" Garrison tried to push their hands away but there wasn't any strength in his movements
"Hold on to him now, don't let him move." Actor slid the needle home and delivered the drug. He wiped at the drop of blood and waited for their commander to relax. Nodding the others away he turned to secure the bottles in their leather case. Casino stepped away to the door but Goniff was still there by the bed, standing in his way as he tried to get to his feet. "Goniff, it's all right now. Go on up to bed and let the Lieutenant get some sleep."
"Uh, I think he's got other ideas." The little man tipped his head down to where the Warden gripped him by the wrist, holding him where he was.
Garrison stared at the man as he clutched him by the arm, there was a note of relief and surprise in his voice. "Goniff?"
"That's right, mate. I ain't seen ya for days!" The cat burglar grinned at him. "What can I do for ya?" Actor slipped away from the bed so Goniff could sit down.
"You got hurt." Garrison frowned up at him.
"It's nothin' Warden." The little man rested a hand over his belly.
His eyes were drawn by the man's movement and locked on his hand as it rested on the bandage. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? You didn't know nothin' 'bout that bombing raid, did ya?"
"No. They didn't tell me."
"Then you got nothin' to be sorry over. Like I told ya, it wasn't your fault Warden. 'Sides, we all got out alright this time, didn't we?" Goniff shook his head, he couldn't imagine the fella feeling sorry for somethin' he had nothin' to do with in the first place. He'd have to have a talk with him tomorrow when he wasn't so tired and his thinking wasn't muddled by fever.
Garrison's eyes had gone closed as the drug claimed him and suddenly he wasn't sure what he had in front of him, that what he had in his hand was real. He struggled to get his eyes open and focused again. "Goniff? Goniff?!"
"Right here, mate, I ain't goin' nowhere." Actor had settled on the cot they'd set up just outside the door in the other room. Goniff smiled across at him, nodding to let him know it was alright to go ahead and get some rest. He'd stay up with the Warden until the shot put him to sleep. For some reason or other it was him the fella needed close right now.
Gradually Garrison's grip on his wrist eased and he watched as his eyes drifted closed again. The man's breathing deepened and evened out and the frown eased off his face. Finally his hand dropped away and released Goniff to go on upstairs again and get some sleep in his own bed.
ggg
Actor sat by the bed and watched as Garrison struggled to throw off the effects of the drug. He'd only used a small amount and was glad now he hadn't given him the whole dose. It had kept him quiet through the night but he hadn't gotten any rest by the look of him, though the rest of them had.
"I told ya he didn't like that stuff." Casino sat a cup of coffee next to their second and sat on the side of the bed before taking a sip of his own.
"I could hear him during the night. He must have been having another nightmare, but I couldn't wake up enough to come in here to him."
Casino watched the big man. He took charge a things whenever any of 'em got hurt without ever bein' asked and he was blamin' himself now for not being there to help the Warden. "Jeeze, Actor! You were exhausted... so was I." He smiled at him when he glanced up. "Hey, babe, you can only do the best you can do, ya know?" In the next moment the safecracker was on his feet, swearing and slapping at the hot coffee he'd spilled on his legs as Garrison sat bolt up right in the bed.
"Shit, that's hot!" Rounding on the bed, "Damn, Warden! Give a guy some kinda warning, can't ya?" but he stopped and stared. "What's wrong with him?"
"It's all right." Actor smiled up at him and then turned his attention back to the Lieutenant. "He's just not really awake yet." Reaching out he gripped Garrison's arm and tightened his hold until the man finally took a deep breath and looked at him. "Come on, Warden, it's just a bad dream... Are you awake now?"
Garrison was still breathing hard but gave a tentative nod of his head. Turning his hand he grabbed Actor's arm. He didn't feel like he was really in the room yet. Squeezing his eyes shut for a moment he opened them and locked onto Casino.
Garrison had gone pale when he caught sight of Casino, Actor watched him for a moment before asking quietly. "Can you tell us about it?" and he prompted him. "Sometimes it will help keep a dream from coming back."
The Warden nodded towards Casino and started off barely above a whisper. "He stayed behind so we could get clear. So the rest of us could get away. The camera jammed... I couldn't get film of the documents we were sent after. So I studied them, memorized them. I have the better memory. He stayed behind and got killed so I could get the information out..."
Trying to turn the dream down a less terrifying path the con artist asked, "Are you sure he wasn't just wounded?"
The End
