The Eagle and the Clover

Chapter 9

Kit stalked back behind Terry. "You have company," she said in disgust.

Terry gave her a quizzical look as she took a pint of bitters down the bar and handed it to a patron in return for the correct change and the clink of a coin in the tip jar. When she turned back to go to the cash register, she couldn't miss the man sitting on the end stool. Now what? She did not acknowledge him until she had rung up the drink and put the money in the till. She still did not acknowledge him as she walked past to the back room. Returning with a bottle in her hand, Terry reached under the bar for a clean glass and poured a healthy two fingers of Courvoisier in it.

Actor lifted the glass in a silent toast to the woman and took a sip. He set the glass down on the bar and studied the young woman who was watching him warily. "Your leaving is not my idea, Teresa. I have no problem with working with you. I thought we had come to terms with that. I admit I did not handle things well at first . . ."

"I hadn't expected you would when I went up to Andre," said Terry quietly. "I thought we were fine after talking at that last safe house."

"Will you come back now?" he asked.

Terry sucked in a cheek. "It's not my call," she said. "Craig made it very clear to me before, if there was trouble in the group because of you and me, I would have to leave."

"I don't believe the Warden has a problem with us," said Actor. "You were out the door when he threatened Casino with spending the rest of the war in the stockade or back in prison. He told Casino he could always get another safecracker."

Terry's eyebrows rose. "I'm sure that went over well."

Actor gave a crooked grin. "It shut him up."

Terry gave a little laugh.

"Ah, that is better," said Actor with a smile.

The curtains to the back room parted and the brown-haired girl stepped through and walked up beside Terry, bending down to retrieve a bottle of Coke, from the little refrigerator under the bar. She glanced up over the bar at the man on the stool and stared, rising slowly.

Terry barely held her amusement. "Melinda, this is . . ."

"The 'Big Bloke'," filled in the girl. She presented Actor with a wide smile.

"Ah, Melinda," said Actor, holding his had out for hers and bringing it up to brush his lips over her knuckles. "I believe we have spoken on the telephone before."

"Yes, we have," agreed the girl. "It's nice to put a face to the voice."

"And it is a pleasure meeting you," said the Italian politely.

"Hey, Terry!" The said person turned to look at the red head. "Seeing as you're fraternizing, I'm out of gin. Could you get a bottle?"

"You're always out of gin," muttered Terry. "Be right back," she called out to Kit. She smiled at Actor, "Be right back."

Turning, she hooked an arm in Melinda's elbow and guided her, and her bottle of Coke, away from the bar and the Italian. The radio operator waited until they were behind the curtains before taking her arm back.

"Madge is right. That is one . . . handsome . . . man," she breathed.

"Yup, that's Actor." Was there anyone besides Kit who was immune to the Italian's charm? Probably not.

Actor sat contemplating his drink until the stool beside him was taken by a familiar Army Lieutenant.

"How did you get here?" asked Garrison, grimacing as he pulled his leg up so his foot could rest on the lower brace of the stool and take the strain off the hip. "The jeep and the Packard were there."

Actor shrugged. "I did not feel like pushing one of the vehicles halfway down the driveway before starting it. So, I took Teresa's blasted motorcycle. It's in the alley."

Craig grinned. "I don't think I've ever seen you ride one before."

"I am quite proficient in it. I simply do not find it a preferred method of transportation, especially at night."

Terry came out of the back room with a bottle of Boodles in her hand. She hesitated a half step before taking the bottle down to Kit.

"Are they all coming in here?" asked the Gallagher girl. "Craig doesn't usually come."

"I have no idea," said Terry.

She went back to the end of the bar and the two men.

"Well, Brother, what's your poison tonight?" she asked.

"Bourbon and branch," said Craig. "I have to drive the Packard back."

Both Actor and Terry stared at him.

"How did you get here?" asked Actor.

"I drove. How else would I get here? They are all confined to base," said Garrison.

"You drove, clutching with that leg?" demanded Actor.

"Yes," said Craig, "And I admit it was not the thing to do."

Terry shook her head. "So, we have all three cars here?"

Actor took another sip of cognac. "No, your motorcycle is parked behind your Tickford in the alley."

Now it was Terry's turn to stare at the con man. "You rode my bike?" she asked in amazement.

"I am perfectly capable," replied Actor indignantly.

"Of course you are," said Terry. Why on earth would she ever doubt that.

She turned and reached for the bottle of bourbon. She poured some into a glass with some water and set it in front of her brother.

"The others will be here or the Doves soon," she said.

"They won't be driving," said Garrison, taking a sip of diluted bourbon. "The distributer cap is on the floor behind the front seat of the Packard."

That brought a guffaw from Actor and a grinning chuckle from Terry.

"Okay, she said to the con man, "leave the motorcycle here and drive him home. Two of them can come get the bike tomorrow."

"In that case, put a little more bourbon in this," said Craig.

Terry obligingly poured another finger of liquor into the glass.

Garrison looked at his sister. "Are you coming home tonight?"

Terry went still and frowned at her brother. "I thought I was out?"

"No," said Garrison. "Chief said you two were fine by the time you left France. I assume Casino is being Casino again." He turned to his second. "Unless you have a problem with her."

"Not at all," replied Actor.

"Okay," said Terry. "When you gentlemen are done, let me know and I'll follow you."

She went back down the bar to help Kit. The two men exchanged looks and touched glasses in a toast.

GGGGG

The next morning, Terry was in the kitchen making breakfast for the guys when Casino walked sullenly in. He saw her and stopped short.

"You're here," he said.

Terry gave him a jaundiced eye. "Yes, I'm here." Her tone was neither warm nor particularly friendly.

She reached for a coffee cup and filled it, setting it on the table in front of him. He sat down, keeping an eye on the girl.

"You know," began Terry, turning bacon in the fry pan, "you can be so nice. And then you pull crap like that yesterday. If you're trying to make points with me, you aren't."

"I just don't like seeing him treatin' you bad," said Casino, still sullen.

"If I need your help, I'll ask for it," said Terry coolly. "In the meantime, stay out of it. Yes, we argue or worse, don't argue. Neither one of us likes to be 'in charge'. We straightened it out between us. Stay out of it, Casino. It's between him and me. And if you ever say anything again like you did yesterday, I will punch your lights out."

Casino pushed his chair back and took his coffee out of the kitchen. Terry shook her head and sighed. Perhaps it was too much to expect him to change and let the nice version of himself out on a full-time basis.

Goniff was the next one in the kitchen. He was as surprised as the safecracker to see the girl he thought had been banned from the Mansion. "You came back!" he said cheerfully.

"Yes, I came back," she smiled. "Sit."

Goniff took the seat that Casino had recently vacated. Terry set a coffee cup in front of the pickpocket, took a tin of tea leaves from a cupboard and a spoon. A pot of water was put on the stove in place of the coffeepot to heat up.

"How are you doing this morning?" asked the girl.

"It's getting better," said Goniff. "Still hurts to move and breathe."

Terry went back to frying her streaky bacon strips. "Did Actor look at it yet this morning?"

"I don't think 'e's up yet," replied Goniff. With a twinkle in his blue eyes, he added, "I think it must 'ave been a long day yesterday. I didn't 'ear you get back. Late?"

Terry shot a surprised look at him. "How did you know they were gone?"

Happy to be the first to tell it, the Cockney grinned widely. "Well, Chiefy heard the motorcycle start up in the distance. Weren't sure 'ho it was. Then the Packard took off. Didn't figure the Warden could ride a bike right now. Wasn't sure he could drive a car yet. So, the bike must 'ave been Actor. Didn't know he could ride one either."

"I don't think there's anything that man can't do," muttered Terry with good humor.

"Don't look like it. And 'e knows it too."

Terry had to laugh at that one. "Yes, he does, doesn't he?"

"Wot? Did the Warden change his mind about you leaving?" asked Goniff curiously.

"So he says," said Terry. "We haven't straightened out everything yet."

"I hope you stay." Goniff looked at her back. "Your cooking is better 'n ours."

Terry chuckled. "What did you eat for dinner last night?"

"Spam sandwiches," replied the blond man with disgust.

"Well, I'll see if I can't come up with something better than that tonight."

GGG

It was mid-afternoon by the time Terry had the kitchen cleaned up and had gotten the courage to tell Actor the rest of the story about Jaguar. He had said he was willing to help, but when he saw what a mess it was in, he might change his mind.

Terry approached the Italian's chair with a bit of trepidation. She had several fears mulling in her mind. She was afraid of rejection when he found out what all was going on. And she was afraid the knowledgeable con man would tell her what an idiot she was. Still she had to try.

Actor looked up as she came to stand in front of him. She was uncertain about something. He did not know what. He waited for her to speak.

She finally screwed up the courage to ask, "Would you come for a walk with me?"

Ah, here it was, the talk about Jaguar. Actor placed a marker in his book and laid it aside. He stood up and indicated she should lead the way. One hurdle passed Terry proceeded out the front door and down the steps. The Italian kept a slow pace with her as she walked around the mansion and out to the back lawn. Terry strolled alongside Actor across the back lawn towards the woods. Neither said anything until they were into the trees.

Terry still didn't look up. "Vittorio, I am sorry for the way things went on this mission. I don't want to lead you, but at the same time, I don't want to meekly follow behind you. I had information that could help. I am sure that you could have taken care of everything, but it was looking tense and I knew I could make it easier. I promise to disappear when we have to go on a mission without Craig. I know having me along as the 'leader' on paper is . . . difficult . . . for you. And stupid. If you need me as a confidence woman, I'll go. But I don't see any reason for me to go otherwise and it just makes your life more difficult. I don't want to do that. And I know you don't want me along."

Actor stopped in the path and grasped Terry's upper arm lightly, stopping her. When she still wouldn't look up, he tilted her chin around and up with two fingers. Her eyes looked at his and he bent down, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. Pulling back, he gave a crooked smile.

"Carissima, I want you along. You are very good at the things you do. You have your own connections. And you are a big help. I am just hard to live with, as you know," he said quietly.

"You're not nearly as hard as some other people in the group," said Terry ruefully. She looked up at him. "Caro, I want to work with you. Like we do when we're pulling a con. I want to be free to step in and make suggestions and ask questions, so you can shoot me down."

Actor chuckled, "Perhaps not shoot you down so much as guide you."

Terry nodded. "That's why I want to talk to you about my other business. I need your expertise. I need you to guide me. I'm barely treading water with . . . Jaguar."

"I can't say I have expertise in being an underground leader," he said.

"Probably not," she smiled. "But like I told you, you have connections, you know how to set up a network, you have an analytical mind. I need your help."

She looked down again, sure he was either going to laugh at her, or flat out refuse.

Instead, he said, "All right, let's go to our other office by the pond. However, I find a rock as a seating arrangement less comfortable than a chair. But I will just have to put up with it. I want you to tell me what it is you do, what you have set up, what your cells are doing and how you get your missions."

Terry looked up hopefully. "You'll help? Really?"

"Yes, cara. I have to be out of my mind, but yes, I will help any way I can."

Terry's face broke into a grin. "Come down here," she said.

He bent his head to accept the kiss she offered. Her arms stayed around him.

"I'll try not to get you killed," she said.

"That is precisely why I am agreeing to become involved in this. I will try to keep you from getting killed doing your own missions."

Terry studied the ground as they walked. "You know what it is I actually do?"

Actor looked sideways at the girl. "That you are running an underground that is wanted by both sides? The answer is yes."

"Good," replied Terry, "because I don't."

Actor's eyebrows rose at that. "You are going on missions and getting yourself shot up. That is obvious."

Terry looked up at him in frustration. "Okay, you don't know what it is I'm doing."

"Enlighten me," Actor said.

"I took over the running of Jaguar when Jake was killed."

Actor's expression never changed. He chewed on that bit of information for a minute. "It is as I thought."

Here it comes, thought Terry. Now the lecture on what an idiot I am. He did not say anything more. Terry waited and when nothing more was forthcoming, she said, "I'm trying to run it and I don't know what I am doing. It's very different being in the planning sessions with you and Craig and being responsible for the lives of six people than it is being responsible for the lives of a couple hundred people."

Actor reacted to that. "Jaguar is that big?"

"It's that big and needs to be bigger." Terry shook her head. "We don't have near enough cells and safe houses in near enough countries to handle what we are getting involved in, which is everything."

They reached the pond and the large flat rocks they came to sit on to think away from the others. The confidence man took the higher rock and Terry took the lower one. The girl did not look up but concentrated on pushing a stone around with the toe of her boot. The air was calm and water still. She waited for the man to speak. It took him a minute.

Actor frowned. "How did Shiv have it set up?"

"Compared to the way you and Craig plan things out, it's sloppy. Very, very sloppy." She felt like she might possibly get some help from the con man after all. "There is very little communication between the cells. There is some cooperation between us and the Maquis in France. I still can't figure out what we have set up in Germany. Italy is a mess. I just don't know."

"And you think I might be able to help out in this?" he questioned dubiously.

"Well," said Terry, "you are very knowledgeable, and you have an organized, analytical mind. I was just hoping you wouldn't mind helping me. If you don't want to, I understand."

Not refusing outright he said, "How do you propose we do this? I cannot just go to the Fox with you. And you cannot bring your papers here."

Terry shrugged. "I guess we might have to do some extra walking of the perimeter. I ask questions and you give me answers and suggestions."

Actor nodded. The girl was serious. Well, he had asked to be let in on this aspect of Teresa's 'work' at the Fox. It would be a challenge and he loved challenges. He had no experience in setting up an underground, but he had established a network of contacts all over the Continent when he had been a working confidence man. There were similarities.

Terry remained silent while Actor seemed to be thinking it over. That he had not rejected her proposal outright gave her a little hope. She went back to playing with the stone with her toe.

"I would want to know your communication system, your transportation system, what types of activities you are involved in, how your cells are set up. For a start," said the Italian.

Terry smiled. "I can provide that. I will also give you the number to the basement. Madge is there most of the time and Melinda is her relief."

"Your underground is run by all women?" asked Actor somewhat surprised.

"Just the home base," said Terry. "It just worked out that way."

"Who is your mole in G-2?" asked Actor curiously.

"Meg Schaeffer."

"Schaeffer's daughter is slipping information to you?" Now he was surprised.

"Why not?" asked Terry in return. "Would you suspect Meg?"

"No, I would not," admitted Actor. "You are correct there." He frowned. And what is Major Richards' role in this?"

"If this group and Randy's group are busy or can't take a mission, it is given to us to set up, whether by one of the cells or myself. Mostly, I do dead letter drops, take in codes and supplies. I've blown up a trestle or two," she admitted with trepidation.

"You have done what?" Actor stared at her, face livid.

"I know how," said Terry. "Remember training? I was taught this time. And sometimes it is in an area the local cell does not have a demolitions person."

Actor crossed an arm over his chest, rested his elbow on his wrist and held his forehead in his hand. This was unbelievable. Perhaps it was a bad dream and he would wake up, but he knew it wasn't. The rock was hard and cold on his backside. He turned his head to look at her.

"You are what? Twenty-five years old and a woman and you are blowing up trestles?" he demanded.

Terry nodded. "Blew up a train track once. Like Casino did that time I got hurt." It was said rather flatly.

Actor swore in his mind and not at the girl. "All right, Teresa. From now on you do not do the dangerous things." At her raised eyebrow, he capitulated. "The most dangerous things. Each cell must have members who are maybe not with our backgrounds, but capable of doing the things we do. As the only leader, you cannot put yourself at that much risk. It will still be risky setting up new cells, but I will help you with the planning and what to look for."

"He straightened and lit a cigarette, taking a slow inhalation. "Here on in, you sit in with the Warden and I on the planning sessions for our group."

"How do we explain that?" asked Terry. "I try to now."

"I will tell him if you continue to go in with us without him, I want you to know what the plan is and to learn how to change it on a second's notice. I think he will agree to that."

"What do you suggest I do about Andre?" Terry watched him.

Actors mind was running on high. "We don't know that he is double agent or anything like that, but we need to learn if he is that stupid as to infer to someone not of the group that you are 'more than what you seem.' Get someone you trust from another cell and move him into Andre's cell to observe and report back."

We. There was that word. We. Terry felt relieved. We meant Actor was in.

"We should get back now," said the Italian. "Someone might come looking if we are gone too long or ask questions."

"Tell them we went for a swim," suggested the girl.

The man gave a dramatic shiver. "Too cold."

"Okay, we were having sex."

The woman was impossible. "Too cold," he repeated. He glanced at her grinning face and shook his head. Getting back to the topic at hand, he said, "I will have to think about how we are going to do this in the future."

"Easy," said Terry with a grin. "We'll start running the perimeter." At his dubious look, she continued. "You want to get into better shape."

"And what is wrong with my shape?" he asked indignantly.

"Nothing that I can see," replied the girl. "But you tend to be sedentary and you don't want to get flabby."

"Ter-e-SA!" Actor shook his head. "Nobody would believe that one. And besides, I hate to run."

"It's good for you."

Oh, what had he gotten himself into now?