part 4
"You get the ones you want?" The eyes that considered him as he lay there in his bed were anxious for him but the face had quickly been schooled into a mask of friendly neutrality. Jackman thought the Lieutenant there had probably hunted down a doctor or two before he'd found his way in here. Well, that would save him the trouble of giving him all the details and they could get down to what would probably be one of their last visits together before they kicked him out of here and turned him out of this man's Army.
"Yes, sir. I believe I did." He's old, Craig thought, how in the hell did he get old in just twenty-one days?
"They let you bring them back over with you?" He didn't even try and hide the eagerness in his voice. He'd played a part in getting this ball rolling and he dearly wanted to at least see it hit the first lever.
"No, sir. That wasn't possible." But he'd break any rule in the book to get them in here to meet this man, or him out to take a look at them while they worked through the short intense course of training before they took off on their first mission in France. "They have to get through all their shots first. They're to ship over in ten days."
"Damn." The general turned his face away and pulled at an earlobe. " I thought I might still be around to get a look at them."
Garrison's heart sank. "You got your marching orders?"
"I did indeed." Jackman said in disgust, "Garrison, they are officially putting me out to pasture. My participation in this little to-do is no longer required."
Jackman had been active all his life. He'd gone into the Army as a young man of seventeen, he didn't know anything else. He'd never considered leaving the service, he'd told Garrison, figuring to go out 'in a blaze of glory.' As he'd gotten older he'd changed his view of the perfect end to a military career, explaining that, '...that blaze of glory stuff just means you take a lot of other, probably innocent people along with you when you go.' Now all he hoped for was a day filled with important decisions and a good night's sleep that he never woke up from.
"Maybe it won't be so bad, sir...retirement."
The older man snorted a laugh "Retirement,,, sounds like something old ladies do when they need a little lie-down. And son, the way they have mine planned out it will be,,, bad." Jackman frown his displeasure. "First stop for me is going to be in some hospital in Atlanta to play guinea pig for a damn doctor doing 'research' for the Army. Seems he's come up with a way to take pictures of where the blood goes when it's traveling around the heart, and they are just certain they have to have that information to tell what's wrong with me. I can tell them that without the pictures.... Blood needs to advance through the heart Lieutenant, and too much of mine has gone into retreat." The General took a moment's rest before he continued. "Then when they're done figuring that out they'll hand me my hat and a damn shawl, and invite me to go sit on the porch and drink tea, or buttermilk or something that won't be bourbon, while the rest of the world marches on past me."
"But you'll be with your family, sir, surely that will..."
"Garrison. My oldest boy shuttles back and forth for Eisenhower, I got to see him while you were over there visiting prisons. Warren was here when this happened" Jackman tapped his chest, "and has gone home to 'make all the arrangements'. Good Gawd you'd think he was getting ready for a dance,,, or a funeral. Howard, the younger one's still God knows where over in North Africa. Their wives are busy raising up their kids. And I've been on the move so much their kids, my grandchildren probably couldn't pick me out of crowd if I wasn't wearing my uniform. Be assured they are not going to let me do that anymore. You don't just drop a strange man on a child and tell him it's 'grandpa,' boy, it doesn't go over well."
Jackman took another moment to rest and took a deep breath before he launched off again. "And my wife, bless her, about ten years ago her mind started to wander. A year before this whole mess started it just sort of wandered away and never came back. She's been in a home ever since. The girls go out to 'do' for her and check to see if she needs anything. She's happy enough there I suppose, but she hasn't got a clue who they are, or who she is for that matter. I went out and saw her when I was in the States four months ago. She didn't know me either. In fact, according to the doctors, I frightened her. So it has been suggested that I not come again, and I'll abide by their suggestion. It is what I'm paying them for, after all. Unfortunately that means Warren'll have to find a different home for me, across town somewhere, so I don't come up on her unexpected and scare the poor women into some kind of a fit." Jackman caught the look Garrison was giving him. "Don't look at me like that, boy. We've been married a long time and we've had a good life together, but after the grandchildren started coming she didn't really care if I was home or not."
"Sir, I think you are getting tired." And depressed, he thought, and I ought to be able to come up with a little cure for that.
"Lieutenant, I believe you are right." Jackman leaned back in the bed, he got winded now, not something that pleased him very much, especially faced with this young man. "Not only am I getting tired, I am getting old. And I'm becoming maudlin in my old age. You wouldn't care to spring one of your crazy ideas on me to shake me out of it would you?"
"Actually General, if another ten or fifteen minutes wouldn't do you in. I'd like to talk something through with you."
"Gawd! Not another stint as your sounding board?"
"I'm sorry, sir. Maybe I misunderstood you when you asked if I'd care..."
"...care to spring one of your crazy ideas on me? Go ahead Lieutenant I think I can handle it one more time."
"I'm sure you can General. But as the doctors have assured me that, while I have made excellent progress in my own recovery, they don't feel that I'm quite up to loosing any blood just yet... And as I have been the recipient of daggers being thrown from the corner for the last five minutes, I'd like you to call your guard dog off. If you wouldn't mind, sir."
"Melanie." Jackman leaned forward so he could see around Garrison into the corner. "I don't think another fifteen minutes is going to make a damn bit of difference one way or the other, do you?.... Just nod sweetly girl and go along with me, that's what I'm paying you for."
"General Jackman. Until we get stateside and you are discharged from the hospital to home, you, sir, are not paying me." She'd been baiting him on and off all morning and he hadn't risen to it. It was good to see a little of the old spark back in his eye. "But, in answer to your question, no sir, I don't think another fifteen minutes will matter. As long as you two don't get into one of your arguments." She shot a glance at the Lieutenant to reinforce the warning. "And I'm going to be right outside the door, keeping an eye on the time."
As soon as the door closed behind her Craig turned and asked in disbelief. "You're not really going to take her back with you?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Jackman shrugged, a moment later he continued. "You know Garrison, I think there's something fundamentally wrong with you! I've done my best to throw that girl at you at every opportunity and you haven't made a move on her yet. What's wrong with you, boy?"
"Well, considering it's none of your damned business, sir," Garrison grinned. "and as far as I've been told, absolutely nothing..." He leaned in and lowered his voice. "There is one little problem."
"Go on, you have my permission to speak freely... not that you've ever needed it."
"She's married, sir." Craig smiled.
"What?" The general sat back stunned. "How'd you find that out?"
"Advanced recon techniques, sir." Garrison snorted a laugh "I asked her. And the ring's a dead giveaway."
"Ring? She doesn't wear a ring!" Surely the boy was pulling his leg.
"You're right, sir, she doesn't... at least not while she's on duty. But if you'd taken her out to dinner, sir, like I have, you'd have seen it. Right there, right on her finger. And if you'd been paying close attention, and this is the giveaway sir, because anyone can slip on a ring. If you'd been paying attention you'd have noticed that on her finger, where that ring usually sits, there's a nice neat pale band of skin right where the gold covers it from the sun when she is wearing it."
"Well, I'll be damned." There was a time he had noticed things like that, Jackman thought.
"Now, sir, we only have ten minutes left, would you like to give me your opinions on a couple of things?" Craig pulled the photographs and blueprints out of the briefcase he'd brought with him and laid them on the bed within Jackman's reach.
"Lieutenant, I'd be happy to give you my opinions, but after a royal screw up like you just pointed out to me" Jackman raised his eyebrows and leaned forward, pushing the items on the bed out of their neat stack so he could pick the most interesting one out, he came up with a hand drawn map of the grounds of a large manor house. "I'm not so sure you'd be advised to give them any notice."
"Oh, come on General, this one's easy I just need to come up with a few tests for my little band of experts...."
gggggggggggg
Garrison sat on the steps and read the letter again. He checked the date. It hadn't taken all that long to get here, she must have found a mailbag sitting on the dock waiting to be loaded on board for the return voyage back from New York. Most of the time had been taken tracking him down here in England. She didn't have a contact address for him, she didn't expect to need it, so she'd sent the letter to the hospital knowing they'd find him some how.
I'm sorry Craig. He didn't make it. The night before we were supposed to dock he just went to sleep and he didn't wake up in the morning. There wasn't anything we could do. The Army is taking care of notifying his family, but I knew you'd want to know. Melanie
He'd told him to try and pick a couple of men he thought he could depend on to watch his back. Seemed he'd gotten a few of those sprinkled in his life, they just showed up on their own. Collin and the others he went through training with. There were only the two of them left now, and he didn't know where Wade was. Colonel Catron who'd suggested him for the program in the first place, and then seen them through their first assignments. And one Lieutenant General Jackman himself, who'd been there from the beginning, before he'd been anything more than a misfit cadet with an interesting background.
g
"Give you a lift to the airfield, sir?" The jeep pulled to a stop at the foot of the steps and the British Sergeant Major who'd been assigned to help train the men sat waiting for him.
"Thank you, Sergeant Major." Garrison pushed up onto his feet and slid the letter into the pocket of his jacket before settling himself in the vehicle. "I believe I'll take you up on that."
"I saw you taking a last look around, sir. What do you make of it?" Rawlins hadn't wanted this assignment when it was first offered to him. But this Yank officer had a way of hooking people, playing on their interests. He'd told him the men would need an intense course of commando training before the first mission. Then, if they did well, and didn't get themselves killed, or skip off free as birds once they landed on French soil, which was what Rawlins thought would happen, he'd be in charge of getting them in shape and keeping them sharp for the jobs the military would dream up for them. Since he'd been invalided out of North Africa Gil had been itching to get back on the job. They weren't going to let him go back there so this was the next best thing.
The Lieutenant considered the building as they pulled away. "Well, the bars are in, the gates, alarms, the fence has been raised all around the perimeter." He fired off a quick salute as the barrier was raised and the vehicle waved through. "The guards clearly know their business.
"Thank you, sir." That would be another of his responsibilities, as well as acting as an aid to the Lieutenant
Garrison turned to study Rawlins as he drove. Might as well see what the man was made of he thought. "What do you think Sergeant Major Rawlins?"
"Sir, I think if that new lot of yours can't get off the grounds you're in a great deal of trouble." Gil considered that he might be in a great deal of trouble as soon as the men where handed over to him at the airfield, but he chose to keep that opinion to himself...for now.
"Oh, they'll get off the grounds, Sergeant. The question is, how long do you think it will take them?" Craig smiled at the look of surprise on the other man's face.
"Three days, sir? Three days after you get back from that first one and the shackles are off."
Garrison shook his head and caught the inside of his cheek between his teeth a moment. "Two."
"No, sir!" Rawlins countered with confidence. "They'll play it safe for a while and feel you out before they try anything."
"Care to wager on it?"
Interest lit the British non com's eye. "How much, sir?"
"Five pounds?" Garrison smiled as the Brit nodded his agreement "Alright, who's the stake holder?"
Rawlins down shifted as they made the tight turn on the road that ran through town "We can leave it here, sir, with the owner of the pub."
Craig had been in the comfortable little local before and had already met the man who ran it. "How much time before the plane arrives Sergeant Major?"
"A good hour yet, sir." Gil had let the jeep roll to a stop when the Lieutenant asked his question, they were still idling there in the road in front of the pub.
"Well, come on then. We might as well stop and give the man our money. I can show him their pictures too, my briefcase is in the back. We'll leave the number out at the mansion so he can call and tell us who's won."
"Sir?"
"Don't play the fool for me Sergeant." Garrison laughed and asked, "Just where do you think they'll head, for their first foray off the grounds?"
"But how'll the lads know the pub's here, sir? The orders are to transport them with the canvas sides on the truck down, sir." Rawlins pulled the jeep to a stop in front of the door to the public house.
"I read the orders Sergeant." Garrison assured his Sergeant quietly. "The sides will be down.... But I didn't see anywhere in those orders where it said the flaps on the back of the truck had to be tied closed. Did you?"
"But, sir," Rawlins said, shaking his head. "I'm sure that they were meant to say that."
"And I'm not so sure, Sergeant Major. So, since I'm not sure, I'm going to let a higher authority decide."
"Sir?"
"Well, since I haven't got express instructions to tie the back flaps closed, and I haven't got express instructions to roll them up and tie them out of the way, I'm going to just let them fall lose and.."
"..Let the wind decided. Yes, sir, I see what you mean."
"Thank you Sergeant, I thought you might."
"We're wasting time sir."
"You're right. Let's go in and give the man our money." Garrison dismounted the jeep and headed towards the entrance with the non com trailing along behind.
"You wouldn't want to increase the wager a bit, sir?"
"Are you that sure it will take them three days, Sergeant? You haven't installed any security measures that I don't know about out there, have you?"
"No, sir. Nothing like that, sir... I'm dropping my estimate to one day, sir."
"You can do that?" Garrison stopped with his hand on the door and shot Rawlins a look along his shoulder. "The wager's already been made."
The Sergeant smiled back at him. "Not until the money is in the stake holder's hand, sir"
"Are you certain about that?"
"Yes, sir. Quite."
"Not until then?"
"No sir."
"Sergeant Major Rawlins."
"Yes, sir."
"You are not an honorable man."
"Sorry, sir." Rawlins grinned. "I used to be, sir. Is the bet still on, sir?"
"Of course. I am an officer and a man of my word."
"You wouldn't like to knock the pins out of your estimate and take it down to, say a few hours?" Rawlins didn't want to take advantage. He thought he might get to like this young American officer. He was a bit green perhaps...but then the Americans hadn't been at this thing very long, had they?
"No, Sergeant." Garrison shoved the heavy wooden door open and called over his shoulder. "My bet stands as it is."
"Begging your pardon, sir, but you didn't have any extra security measures that I don't know anything about put up out there. Did you, sir? ...Sir?"
ggg
"Well, whadda ya think big shot?" Wheeler asked from where he slouched in the corner of the room. "Readin' people's s'pose to be your specialty, isn't it?"
"I can't understand why they would pair us with a career military officer." Actor was seated comfortably on the couch in the room. They'd been waiting for several minutes now and he wondered at the lack of strict military punctuality.
The little cockney burglar hunched his shoulders up and asked "'Ow'd you know he's picked it for a living, then?"
"Because he went through the military academy" To the Englishman's questioning look the group's con man explained. "It is like the Army's university."
"You mean he's got a degree in followin' rules 'n regulations?" It was the first they'd heard from the quiet young Indian. He'd spent the flight over staring out his window and was leaning against the wall now gazing through glass and out across the airfield.
"Jeeze! That's just what we need," Casino started to pace. Being cooped up in that plane for so many hours had gotten on his nerves. And now they were stuck here, locked in this small room until their new warden came to pick them up. "Some second looey trippin' over a damn rule book while we're over there could get us all killed!"
"First Lieutenant." Actor correct quietly.
"What?"
"He's a first lieutenant, not a second. I would try and remember that." he advised. "Some young officer's can be quite touchy about the difference."
"Swell! So what does that mean? He's been at it long enough they've taken the trainin' wheels off?!" As far as Casino was concerned it was already a disaster. What was the Army thinkin' turning them over to some green, wet behind the ears kid of a lieutenant anyway?
