Chapter Text
Chapter 1
The five men, hidden behind a boulder and some bushes, looked down on the train depot they were supposed to blow up. A large number of uniformed men were hurrying around, but nobody seemed to know what they were doing.
"Man, this place is crawlin' with Krauts," said Casino in an agitated voice just barely above a whisper.
"Can you get to the fuel dump behind the building, blow it up and take out the depot?" whispered Garrison.
The safecracker eyed the 50 gallon drums of petrol and glanced down at his bag, knowing just how much explosive he had left and one last timer. "Yeah, it might be enough."
"Which will blow up first?" persisted Garrison. "This or the tracks down the line?"
"This," said the safecracker. "I got the track on a 45 minute timer. I can set this on a short one, but it's still gonna be tight gettin' out of here without gettin' blown up."
"We'll make it," said Garrison.
Taking a deep breath first, Casino slipped down the incline, hoping nobody happened to look up. He slid behind a couple of the barrels and glanced around. Quickly he began to attach his remaining wad of plastic explosive to one barrel, just a couple inches up from the ground. He pushed the detonator into it and secured the other end to the timer.
A train whistle sounded and the clacking of the wheels on the track could be heard approaching. Casino paused before setting the timer and looked up at the Lieutenant. Garrison spotted the engine coming slowly up the tracks with freight cars behind it. He held out his hand with all five fingers spread. Casino nodded and went to work setting the timer for five minutes. That would be cutting it close, but they might still be able to get away.
"Warden, planes," said Chief urgently. "Lots of 'em."
The other three men looked up and around, not hearing anything yet.
"Bombers," said Chief. "Sounds like Forts."
At that moment, the other three began to hear the faint distinct sound of the engines. Garrison waved, trying to get the safecracker's attention. Finally, Casino looked up. The officer made a sharp jerk of his arm, telling him to get out of there. The sound of the engines reached Casino now. He glanced up and tried to sprint back up the hill.
"Move out," Garrison ordered the others.
"Halt! Hande hoch!"
A German soldier had spotted Casino and aimed a rifle at him. Given the choice of stopping and getting blown up with the fuel, or running and hoping the soldier didn't have good aim, he chose the latter and scrambled up the side of the hill. A shot rang out and the safecracker felt the burning bullet go through his left shoulder, taking him to the ground.
Garrison stood and fired his pistol, hoping he could hit the soldier. The man dropped. Craig slid down the incline and grabbed Casino under his good arm, trying to pull him up to safety. Bombs began falling all around them. Actor had returned at the first shot and was slipping through the bushes and grass to help the two.
As the train pulled into the depot, a bomb came down, hitting the fuel dump at the same time the explosive went off. All three of them were thrown to the ground. Burning fuel, hot shards of metal and wood came down on them. Goniff and Chief slid down to the three and grabbed Casino and Garrison, whose clothes had burn holes in the back. They dragged the two men up the slope to the trees.
Actor paused, looking back. There wasn't much left of the depot, and the soldier who had fired on Casino had all but disappeared. He turned and caught up with the others. There was no time to look at the injuries as they tried to hurry through the woods. Actor pushed past the areas of burning pain on his back.
Even though it was daylight, the bombs were wide-spread. The ground blew up in a geyser of dirt, bits of trees and bushes, sending them all to the ground, stunned. It took a minute for them to get their wits together. Any plan they had disappeared; their only thoughts were getting away as far as possible. They would look for a way to the pickup later.
As they stumbled out of the woods close to a road. They saw too late the trucks that were stopped about fifty yards away. Men with rifles and machine guns stepped into the open, pointing their weapons at the five men in civilian clothes.
"Hande hoch!" ordered a Leutnant.
Slowly, they raised their hands, except Casino who wasn't able to lift his left arm.
Actor took the lead. "Help us, please," he called out in German. "We were caught in that. Two of these men are injured." He ignored himself.
The Leutnant studied the five men. "You are not Germans," he said. "Who are you. What were you doing down there?
Garrison picked up the story. "We are Americans," he admitted. "Our plane crashed weeks ago. We don't want to go back. We were going to see if there was food and clothes we could steal. We never got down there before the bombs started falling."
The Leutnant's attention went to the wounded shoulder of the shorter dark-haired man. "He seems to have been shot."
It was Actor's turn. "A soldier spotted us and we ran, but he fired and hit him."
"And where is this soldier?" asked the officer suspiciously.
Actor shook his head. "He was close to some barrels of petrol. One of the bombs hit them. I don't think there is anything left of the man."
"Very convenient," said the German officer snidely. He spat an order out to his men.
With several guns pointed at them, Garrison and his men had no alternative but to allow themselves to have their hands tied and be shoved, more than assisted, into the back of the truck. There they were searched and their guns confiscated. The searching was so thorough they found Chief's switchblade in his wrist sheath and the one at his ankle. They were lined up, sitting on the floor, the three injured men leaning forward over their knees to keep pressure off their wounds.
One soldier was by the tailgate with a schmeisser in his hands. Another soldier sat on the floor across from the five men, another schmeisser aimed at them. The engine started up and the truck took off with a jerk, sending Garrison and his men into each other and eliciting a partially suppressed groan from Casino.
They had traveled for about fifteen minutes, with Garrison and Actor both trying to keep an eye on the safecracker who was hunched over between them.
Actor looked up at the soldier seated across from them and spoke in German, "May I look at his wound and see if I can slow the bleeding?"
The soldier thought about it and nodded. Actor twisted to look around at Casino's back. He did not like the amount of blood. Now he leaned forward and tried to see the front of the shoulder that was on the far side from him. His attempt to unbutton and move the shirt was not successful with his wrists tied tightly together. Actor looked at the soldier again and held his arms out in front of him.
In German he asked, "Can you untie me? I can't do anything with my hands like this. And do you have some kind of aid kit?"
The guard shook his head. "I can't untie you. You are a prisoner."
Between the pain of his burns and the frustration, Actor lost a bit of his temper. His face took on the SS sneer. "And what do you think I am going to do? You have our weapons. Both of you have your guns trained on me. What do you think I am going to do? You can tie me back up when I am done!"
Garrison was the only one who understood the words the Italian spat out in German. Actor losing the tight control he always had, surprised the officer. He watched warily to see what was next. They might just shoot the con man.
Casino turned his head and focused pain-filled eyes on Actor. "Hey," he said. "Whatever you're sayin', just leave it be. I'll be all right."
Actor turned his head to look at the safecracker. His voice was a tad bit quieter. "Which would you rather have," he asked. "A firing squad, or slowly bleed to death?"
Casino shook his head. "I don't know. They both hurt."
"Watch him," the guard said to the man at the tail gate.
He got up and leaned his machine gun against the side wall next to the other guard. Turning, he saw the eyes of the two uninjured men, and the one who seemed to be in charge, watching him cautiously. He sat on his heels in front of the tall Italian-sounding man and began to untie the rope around the wrists that were held out.
"Danke," aid Actor quietly. "Wie heissen Sie?"
"Otto," said the guard. He dipped his head in the direction of the other soldier. "Er ist Felix."
"Ich heisse Victor," said the con man.
The rope was removed and Actor rubbed his wrists to get the circulation going again. Otto got up and went to a box in the front corner of the truck. Actor began unbuttoning Casino's shirt. Garrison turned a little bit and helped get the shirt from around the safecracker and down to hang from his arm. Both holes in Casino's shoulder were visible now. Blood covered his chest and down his back, but not completely covering all of the burned spots.
"Well, it went through," said the Italian.
A small canvas package was placed on the floor beside him.
"Danke," said Actor.
Otto retrieved his gun from his friend, Felix and took his place again watching the men.
The con man carefully opened the canvas wrapped kit on the floor beside him. As expected, it had only the bare necessities. There were two packets of sulfa powder, some gauze pads and a single roll of gauze to secure the dressings.
"Can you do anything with that?" asked Garrison dubiously.
"What we usually do," replied Actor. "Put sulfa on the wounds, cover with gauze and tie them in place." He went to work. "It might hold until we get to where they can clean and dress it better."
Casino looked up at him with an expression saying he doubted anybody fixing his shoulder was going to happen. Actor was of the same opinion, but did not say anything more.
Garrison watched him and in a low voice asked, "Is there anything I can use on your back?"
Actor shook his head. "If there was, I would have worked on Casino's back next, then yours."
When he had finished applying the gauze wrap, he and Garrison helped Casino back into his shirt. With his noncommittal mask on his features, he turned around and held his wrists out to Otto. The German raised an eyebrow, placed his gun on the floor out of the tall man's reach, and tied his wrists together again, albeit just the tiniest bit looser so they did not cut into his skin.
When they were done and back in their humped over positions, Goniff leaned close to Garrison and whispered, "Warden? Wot do you think they're going to do to us? Firing squad?"
Garrison had been thinking about that too. He was honest with the slight man. "Quite possibly."
"Blimey," Goniff said softly, wishing now he hadn't asked. He leaned back against the truck wall and curled into himself.
Garrison looked around him at the other member of their group. Chief wore a stoic expression and moved his hands agitatedly, trying to ease the tightness on his wrists. The scout was getting antsy and would bear watching a little closer. It wouldn't do for him to go berserk on them and get them all killed before they reached their destination and learned what their fate was actually to be.
With nothing to do except wait as the truck bounced around on the road to wherever they were going, Garrison couldn't ignore the pain in the burned areas of his back with each jolt. The way he and Actor had been half dragging Casino away from the depot, the safecracker had few spots on his back that were burned. Craig hadn't realized until he had seen Actor leaning forward that the older man had even more burns on his back than Garrison.
The drive seemed interminable. With the back flap down over the tailgate, it was impossible to know where they were going. Wherever it was, was far from the train depot. They stopped briefly at a road block but must have just been passed on through. Now it was a question of which country they were in.
The next stop came quickly. The truck moved forward for maybe 100 yards before stopping again. Garrison listened to the sounds outside. They weren't street sounds and no evidence they were in a town or village. The flap was thrown back and the tailgate lowered by guards outside. Felix, at the opening, motioned them with his gun to get to their feet. Goniff got out first and watched inside the truck. Chief stepped around Garrison and helped Actor pull Casino upright. The safecracker was wobbly, probably due to the bigger stain of fresh blood on his shirt.
"Actor and I got him," said Chief. There wasn't anything he could do to escape so he figured it was better if Garrison was free to do whatever he could.
Craig nodded and got down to the ground without help. A quick glance around answered his first question. They were in a prison camp. The answer to where eluded him. They had been in prison camps before, but this one wasn't familiar. One of the guards motioned him to step away from the truck with the open end of his gun. Garrison stepped aside, but turned back to watch his men.
Goniff moved over next to Chief and helped Casino down. They had to support him as his knees threatened to buckle. Actor jumped down with a grimace as the shirt pulled on his burns.
Goniff got his first look at the con man's back. "Bloody 'ell, You're back is worse'n the Warden's."
"I am aware of that, thank you," said the Italian, hoping the talkative little man would be silent.
An officer strode out to the top of the steps leading to a wooden building. He stood as ramrod straight as Actor usually did. His hair was blond and he looked to be a few years older than the con man.
"You will come into my office now," he said.
Not waiting for a response, the man turned on his heels and strode back inside the building. His office, not a doctor's office, noted Garrison. Maybe they were going to get shot as spies anyway. Even with that thought, Craig felt amazingly calm, and curious.
The five men went up the steps, with two guards behind them, into the anteroom where another lower ranked German officer sat behind a desk. They followed the Commandant into his office. The man came to stand, facing them, behind his very neat large wooden desk. There were five straight wooden chairs in a line, facing the desk.
"Sit down," said the Commandant in Berlin-accented English. "I would not like to have my men clean the blood off my floor if you passed out from standing up."
Garrison and Actor took chairs in the middle, with Casino between them. Goniff took the furthest one and Chief the closest one, next to the Lieutenant. With the exception of Casino, they quietly watched the man behind the desk.
The Commandant looked at the men arrayed in front of him. Three of them needed to be in the hospital, but he wanted to talk to them first.
"I am Colonel Vogel. I am the Commandant here," he said. "I was told you were in a plane crash. Is that correct?"
"Yes," replied Garrison. "We are American Army Air Force."
"You say you are American Army Air Force. Where are your dog tags?" Vogel asked accusingly.
"We aren't stupid," shot back Garrison. "Those are the first things we got rid of."
The commandant seemed to accept that. "And what base are you from?"
"Nine Eighteenth," growled Casino.
Garrison and Actor were both surprised at the safecracker's quick response but didn't show it.
"Ah, yes," said the Colonel. ""A General Savage, I believe."
Garrison took back the answering. "You're a couple years behind," he said. "Savage was killed in 1942."
The commandant seemed to accept that one too. "So who is your commanding officer?"
Craig gave a slight shrug. "Don't know this one's name. He was coming on as we left for our last mission. The one before him was a bastard. We decided not to give the new one a chance to be worse."
Vogel let that one pass. "And what are your names, as you do not have dog tags?"
Garrison's mind was working fast. He was about to take a big chance, but if it didn't work, they'd be dead anyway. "I'm Captain Craig Garrison." He dipped his head toward Chief. "This is Sergeant Rainey Sands." Garrison nodded toward Casino and down the line. "Sergeant Charles Coletti, Lieutenant Victor Borghese and Sergeant Rodney Grainger."
Actor's expression never changed but he was surprised at the use of their real, except his, names. Captain? Well, he had been of the opinion, for the past year and change, that Garrison had big brass palle. He had a good idea what the 'Captain' was pulling, but would have to wait a while to find out.
Craig looked at the Colonel. "I take it we're staying here now. Can we at least get some medical attention for Sgt. Coletti, before he bleeds to death?"
Vogel thought that this Captain might be a more worthy adversary than the other prisoners in this camp. It would be interesting to see. "Your two injured men and yourself will be taken to our krankenhaus and your injuries treated. Your other two men will be taken to the barracks that will be your home for the duration of this war."
Garrison returned his gaze steadily. At least it wasn't an immediate firing squad. There would be time later to figure out what their options were.
"We're all goin' together," said Chief firmly. "We don't split up."
Garrison gave a half nod and said, "For now."
These men did not seem to have fear, thought Vogel. They would bear closer watch. He nodded in agreement.
The men were led away to the infirmary and placed in a six bed ward, by themselves. The medic explained they would take Sgt. Coletti first, and the other two injured men afterwards. The five watched his back as he left the room. Immediately, Chief and Goniff started scouring the room for listening devices. If there were any, the two did not find them.
Casino laid down on one of the metal beds. They all had thin mattresses and he was almost as uncomfortable as he had been sitting up. At least it was better that trying to stay sitting up.
Actor and Garrison sat on beds, facing each other.
Actor looked at Garrison with amusement. "Chicago Daily Times?" he asked.
Garrison grinned. "Casino let you read it first and then I got it."
"Wot are you blokes talking about?" asked Goniff in confusion, throwing himself down on another of the beds. "And why did you up your rank and use our real names, Warden?"
"Casino's mother sent him a copy of the newspaper. There was an article in it about the International Red Cross being allowed into German POW camps. They bring in supplies for the prisoners, and notify their bases that they are alive," Garrison started.
Actor picked it up from there. He looked at the safecracker with a crooked grin. "That was quick thinking, Casino," he said. "Especially with the condition you're in right now." The con man continued the story. "We can't very well let on who we really work for. Being airmen with the 918th would make more sense. Col. Gallagher would be informed at some point that we are here. He knows the Lieutenant and some of our real names. He would know who to notify."
Garrison went on. "If I were a real pilot, I would probably be a Captain or a Major by now. I thought Captain was good enough." He didn't think it necessary for them to know he had been a Captain before taking the group on.
"So you really think they'll send somebody to get us out?" scoffed Chief.
"At least he'd notify Terry and maybe Dad," explained Craig. "Sometimes it pays to have friends in high places, and both of them do."
It was a half hour before two men returned with a gurney and took Casino to surgery. The rest of them were silent for a minute.
"Is 'e going to be okay?" asked Goniff, voicing the worry of all of them.
"How bad is it . . . really?" Garrison asked his second-in-command.
Actor gave a shrug and the pain of his wounds immediately made him regret that action. "It is nothing I could not have taken care of, given supplies. But at least this way, he will be sedated and not feel it."
"Bet he'd be happier if Actor was doin' it, even without bein' knocked out," remarked Chief.
"Probably," agreed Craig.
Now they waited, trying to hide their anxiety over Casino from each other. This was rather bizarre for them. They had been in prison camps before, but this time the con had worked better. At least they hoped so.