The usual disclaimer applies. I derive no monetary gain from the story you are about to read. No infringement to the owners of Garrison's Gorillas is intended...if they are reading this... please release the original show on some decent DVD's!!!

And my thanks to my beta readers Chris and Beth for offering to go over this for me when my eyes gave out! dale

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Enemy Within

part one

The three cons had been scrambling all afternoon to cover for their missing member. Every time the Warden asked for Casino they'd managed to distract him or accomplish the job he'd set for the safecracker so that he wouldn't find out he was gone. The effort was beginning to wear on them, having to do it was causing tempers to flare, and this wasn't the first time it had happened. Now they were snapping at each other, but as soon as the wayward Casino returned he was in for it.

"Well, all I gotta say is that bird a his better have some friends next time we get t'go to town." Goniff grouched from the corner of the sofa where he was sprawled.

"I take it Casino hasn't come back from town yet?"

None of them had seen him leaning in the door way and all three men jumped, turning to stare as Garrison walked into the room.

Actor studied the Warden for a moment. He was trying for a firm, command look, but he was carrying himself in far too relaxed a manner and there was a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth "You knew!"

Garrison leaned a hip against the sofa, his arms folded across his chest. "Of course I did. He asked me and I let him go."

"You mean all that muckin' about today was for nothin'?!" Goniff asked in openmouthed disbelief.

Chief's eyes narrowed and there was more than a hint of irritation in his voice. "If you knew he wadn't here, how come you kept askin' for him?"

"To see what you guys would do." Garrison laughed. "It was good practice."

"What!?"

The Warden shrugged "You've got to cover for each other all the time over on the continent… I was just keeping you on your toes."

Actor took the pipe from his mouth and let is arm drop onto the table in front of him staring at their commander. "Very amusing."

"Yes. It was." Garrison returned their stares, holding them until he started to see smiles break down the irritation. "Alright, tell him I need to see him as soon as he gets back."

"That's not all I'm gonna tell him." Chief promised quietly from his corner near the window.

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"Congratulation, Casino. It's all been approved." Garrison immediately questioned his timing and deployment as the safecracker caught him up in an exuberant, bone crushing bear hug.

"That's great! I can't believe it! We got the OK?… It's no joke? We can do it?"

The Warden managed to step away and put the desk between them before he answered. "You did. It's not. And, you can. In that order." Dropping into the chair he avoided another rib bruising hug but didn't escape the back slapping pounding that threatened to jar his eyes from their sockets. "You just need the documents to come through. That may take a few more weeks."

"I can't believe it! I can't wait to ask her…"

Garrison frowned and shot a look at the man standing over him. "Wait a minute!" Raising his hand to ward off another blow he stared up in disbelief. "You mean you haven't even asked her yet?!"

"Well, I,,, ah, I didn't want to get her hopes up." Casino dropped his head and shoved his fists deep into his pockets. "You know,,, in case I couldn't get the OK and… and I…"

He continued to look at the man in amazement and asked quietly, "Casino, I'm no expert, but don't you think you ought to go ask her?"

"Well, yeah, I guess…but… What? You mean now!?" It was Casino's turn to stare in disbelief. "You mean I can go now?"

Garrison raised an amused eyebrow and nodded. "I think you'd better."

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It had taken another two hours to go out and talk to her, tell her what he'd wanted to tell her for weeks now. When he walked back into the Warden's office her answer was plainly written on his face. Garrison was glad for him. Something good ought to come out of this mess the world found itself in. When Casino made his request it had been easy to come up with an answer.

"So it would be OK?" Casino was sitting on the edge of the desk, arms crossed over his chest staring down at the Lieutenant.

"I can't see how it could do any harm. Sounds like a nice break. Sure, you can do it." Garrison answered him with a chuckle. "Besides I'd kind of like to meet her myself."

"Are you gonna tell 'em, or should I?"

"Oh, you!" The Lieutenant laughed outright, and waved him out of the room. "By all means."

A smile crept over the safecracker's face as he stood and started for the door. He'd been waiting for this for weeks. As he mounted the stairs to the quarters he shared with the other three he started planning just what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. He didn't think he'd have any trouble getting the guys involved, but wanted to put it to them in just the right manner. Casino stopped when he reached the door, cocked his head and looked up for a moment before giving a quick nod and then laid his hand on the door and pushed it open.

"Did you finally decide to come back!?" Goniff snapped from the table.

"We been coverin' for you all day, man." Chief accused, then asked in disgust. "Where in the hell you been?"

"Casino, the Warden wanted to see you as soon as you returned." Actor's voice was carefully neutral, but the look on his face as he glared at him over the top of his book was anything but.

"Yeah, he spotted me in the hallway when I came in, I already talked to him." He stretched out on his back on his cot, his hands clasped behind his head and started to whistle.

Goniff narrowed his eyes at the safecracker and shot a look at the other two before moving over to sit on the edge of his cot, next to Casino's. "You been down in town seein' that girl again, ain't ya?"

"What's it to you?" Their volatile safecracker bristled.

Goniff shrugged, and did his best to look harmless, "Well it don't seem exactly fair for us to be covering for you all the time and not get any of the,,, uh,,, the benefits. Now does it?"

Casino frowned, considering the fairness of the statement for a few moments before answering. "Nope, I guess it doesn't."

Encouraged, Goniff grinned and slid forward, a little closer to the other man, and continued. "I don't s'pose you remembered to find out if she's got some friends for your mates, then?"

Swinging his hands forward and rolling up to sit facing the cockney thief Casino frowned at him, "I dunno. I never asked her." Then he ran a hand through his hair. "Jeeze! I'm sorry! I guess I got all caught up in… well… in what I was doin' and forgot all about…" He stood up and started to pace the room. "That's just not how you'r 'spose to take care a your pals." And turning to face them he continued. "I don't know what I was thinkin'." Watching Goniff grin around at the other two men he smiled at him. "Lemme make it up to you. I'll go down and get the Warden to let us outta this place for a few hours on Saturday…. Yeah! We can all go down into town and have some fun." He moved quickly to the door and stepped through pulling it closed behind him, calling over his shoulder as he went. "You guys stay there, I'll be right back."

Casino went half way down the stairs and stopped, leaning against the wall he checked his watch and waited.

Several minutes later Goniff declared in a hoarse whisper, "Here he comes!" as he scampered away from the door and back to the table in the center of the room. When the door opened he looked up hopefully. "Any luck?" He didn't know what kind of magic Casino had been using on the Warden, but it had been working for weeks. He kept his fingers crossed and prayed it wouldn't fail him now.

"Nah! He says we can't go down there, might be a job on…" He watched the disappointment settle over the room and was especially amused to see even Actor's face fall a bit, before he continued. "…but he says they can come out here!"

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"I don't believe Casino talked the Warden into lettin' him bring a bunch a dames out here." Chief said quietly. He was sitting on the sofa in the library decked out in his favorite red turtleneck and a sport coat.

"Have a little faith, mate. Casino can charm the birds if he wants to bad enough."

"The Warden ain't no bird."

"Not those kind! The ones with feathers… 'Sides the Warden knows how hard we been workin'. He knows a little, uh,,, recreational activity'll be good for us."

They'd worked all morning setting up tables and chairs on the terrace and on the lawn, some under the trees, some over by the fountain. They nearly cleaned the mess out of the darned things. Casino worked on the cook to supply sandwiches and drinks. 'Course it was only tea and lemon aide. The Warden had been very firm on not having real drinks, but if they were under threat of a mission that made some sense. They'd even managed to get an order out to the pastry shop in town and had an assortment of cakes on the way. All the work was done now, all they had to do was wait. Casino said he'd sent a driver down to pick them up. Everything was fine,,, until the Warden walked in on them.

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"What's up?" Chief stood, alerted by the look on the Warden's face.

Garrison laid a hand on the safecracker's shoulder as he walked by him on the way to the desk. "Sorry Casino."

"Lemme guess. We got a mission." Army timing was lousy, Casino knew that, but this took the cake.

"Yeah." He paused, amending his answer. "Well, Actor and I have one."

Chief frowned at him, he didn't like the smell a this. "What d'you mean?"

There was a smug look on Actor's face, and just the hint of a superior tone to his voice. "Obviously it is something quite delicate and your services are not required."

"Actually it's something quite simple," Garrison smiled at the slight drop in Actor's shoulders. "And we're giving them a break." Then he turned back to the others. "It's just a quick in and out to check on an operative we haven't heard from for a while."

Goniff dropped the letter opener he'd been toying with. "Hey! The biggest reason for that's bein' dead, isn't it?"

"Or being too closely observed by the Gestapo." The con man was no longer pleased at being singled out for this little job.

Ordinarily Casino would be enjoying the prick Actor had just received to his inflated ego but this could get a little too dangerous for jokin' around. "Or decidin' to go work for the other side."

"None of that sounds 'simple'." Chief observed in a monotone.

The Lieutenant shrugged his shoulders and agreed, "Could be any of those things, but we won't know until we get over there."

"How come just the two a you?"

"Because all we're going to do is ask questions and take a look around. Since you guys can't ask any questions…" The Warden let the implication lay there. He'd tried to get the three of them to learn the language, and while they had all improved at understanding German, French and even Italian, none of them would claim to really speak anything other than English, and the Sergeant Major kept telling them they didn't even speak that.

"But what if you guys get into trouble?" Seemed like there was always trouble when they split the group up. And even though he should be happy as hell to be staying out of it, Casino found himself getting mad at being left behind.

Chief was taking a page from the safecracker's book and doing a bit of pacing. "Who's gonna be there to pull you out?"

"I don't like it." The little cat burglar shook his head.

"How come they aren't usin' somebody who's already over there?"

This was turning out to be harder than he'd expected. He'd expected they'd be thrilled to be staying behind. Garrison shook his head, he still had a lot to learn about these guys. "Because they're afraid the guy's laying low because he's being observed."

"Great! So if you go lookin' for the guy they'll make you too?" Chief stopped in his tracks and just stared at the Warden.

"Maybe, but we're supposed to be smart enough to spot them before they spot us."

"But that means you blokes could be walkin' right into a trap!"

Garrison finally surrendered. "Look, I don't really like this any more than you do, but they've ordered it out this way. We're stuck with it."

Actor had let the conversation go on around him but now he looked up with a slight smile, "You've already gone over Reynolds' head?"

"Reynolds isn't here, remember?" They hadn't seen anything of the Colonel for the last few missions. "This one's being run by a guy named Wilhoitz, and he doesn't allow that kind of thing."

"And he's the one that thought this beaut up?" Casino's judgment on the mission could be heard clearly in his tone of voice.

"He's the guy." Garrison hadn't liked the man, some sort of intelligence analyst fresh in from the States. Colonel Wilhoitz had made his dislike and distrust of the Lieutenant's particular little group of operatives quite clear, and told him he'd be going over all the reports on the results the group had achieved, balancing them against all the complaints they had against them to determine the 'over all effectiveness and profitability' of the team. The jerk had probably never dealt with anything other than paperwork and numbers, the Warden thought, and wouldn't know an 'effective' group if it collectively bit him in the ass.

"When do we have to leave?" The con man heaved a resigned sigh and headed for the door.

Garrison followed him across the room as he answered. "They're sending us in by sub tonight. We've got forty-eight hours to get our information and then they pick us up again."

"What if we don't find him?" Actor turned in the doorway and waited for the answer.

"Then he's a write off." The tone of his voice told them all what Garrison thought of that, and the man that had issued the order.

"Say, Warden… Since we aren't goin', it'd be a shame to disappoint the.."

"Forget it Goniff." Garrison called back over his shoulder as he headed down the hall towards the stairs. "You know the rules. The place is on lock down 'til we get back. I've already canceled the car and sent your apologies."

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"Jeeze! I hate this." The safecracker had been restlessly pacing the house and grounds all day now. He'd never had an abundance of patience and waiting around like this had used up just about all he had.

"Take it easy Casino, they'll be back here tonight."

"Maybe!"

Goniff sat at the table absently chewing on the last of the pastries that had been meant for the aborted party. They were a little stale now after two days. "D'you think they'll send us over there if somethin' happens to 'em?"

"Are you kidding?!" Casino planted his fists on his hips and turned on the little cockney "They're ready to write the other guy off. What makes you think they won't do the same thing to Actor and the Warden ?"

"Aw, Reynolds wouldn't do that!" Goniff looked to the other two for reassurance, "Would he?"

"Reynolds ain't runnin' this thing, remember?" Chief didn't like the sound of this new guy, he hadn't liked Reynolds either, especially right after they'd met him, but he'd been out with them and had come back from that little outing with a grudging respect for the group and the man who led them. At least he wasn't always trying to have them busted up and shipped home now. From the sound of the Warden's voice when he talked about this Wilhoitz guy it seemed like they had to start from scratch with him. They were gonna need to watch themselves for a while.

"What time is it?" Casino had started to pace again

Chief continued to stare out the window as he answered. "S'not time yet. You better find a way to calm down."

"You calm down, Indian!"

"Guys, guys!" Goniff moved quickly to stand between the two hot headed members of the team. "Come on! Fightin' each other'll take you'r minds of it, sure, but the Warden'll be that mad at ya when he gets back…"

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Goniff was exhausted. He'd been playing referee and peace keeper for over three hours now. The more worried Casino got the more short tempered and sharp tongued he got. Even though they knew that it didn't make it any easier for Chiefy to put up with. He was worried too. They all were. If the pick up was delayed for any reason and they had to wait another day, the second story man was pretty sure there'd be blood spilled, and the way his nerves were being frayed by the other two he was real sure he'd be the one to do the spilling!

"There's a car." Chief heard the tires on the gravel drive before he ever saw the vehicle itself.

Goniff slapped Casino on the shoulder as they both headed for the windows. Finally! Maybe they could get a little rest now. And maybe, just maybe they could finally get to meet those girls. "It's them. See I told you it'd be alright."

"Yeah!" Casino called over his shoulder as he turned from the window and headed out the door. "If it's 'alright', how come there's only just Actor gettin' outta that car!?"

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"What happened?" The con artist looked like he hadn't slept for the whole forty-eight hours he'd been gone. Casino moved up and relieved him of the bag he had slung over his shoulder, closing the door behind him.

"Oh everything thing went smoothly." Actor followed the group as they made their way into the library. He'd just been through the debriefing with that idiot Wilhoitz and knew he was destined for another session before he would be allowed to sleep. "We found the man and got the communication lines set up again."

"Where's the Warden, then? Still getting the third degree over at headquarters?" Goniff had gone immediately to the locked cabinet, well it was supposed to be locked, but Casino had taken care of that as soon as the Warden was off the grounds, and brought out the brandy and glasses. Pouring a measure he downed it in one quick swallow and then refilled the glass, tipping a shot into a clean glass he walked over and held it out for Actor, leaving the bottle and two more glasses on the table. The other blokes could take care of themselves.

Sinking gratefully into the chair by the fire the aristocratic con artist leaned forward into the warmth and glow of the flames. He'd been cold since they'd transferred from the small fishing boat into the sub that brought them home across the channel. "They've taken him over to the hospital. He will be there at least overnight."

"How'd he get hurt?" Chief turned away from the cabinet and started back towards Actor.

The glass stopped halfway to Casino's lips, "How bad is it?"

"He's not injured…" Actor held his hand up for quiet and finally took a sip of the brandy.

Goniff tossed the contents of his glass down in a quick swallow and settled himself on the arm of the sofa facing the con man. "Then what n'Bloody Hell happened?"

"He's ill." As the others settled onto chairs and listened he told them about the mission and the trip back.

They'd gotten into the town with no trouble and with what they already knew and a little digging had discovered the whereabouts of the missing operative. Being concerned about the man possibly being watched, the Lieutenant used most of their time looking for any sign that he had been discovered by the Germans, or had any contact with them. The man had left his own area after a bombing forced him from the job he was using for a cover and had not been able to establish himself in a new position yet, as all of his papers had been destroyed in the fires that swept through the town. The young man was a single operative, using a hidden radio to transmit directly to England. The radio had been damaged and he did not have contact with any other groups in the area so he hadn't been able to let anyone know what had happened. When they'd finally decided that it was safe to make contact and Garrison had approached him with the proper code phrase Actor thought they were lucky he hadn't given them away by fainting dead away in the street, his relief was so great. They'd managed to put him in touch with an underground group and gotten him a new set of papers. The Warden offered to bring him out with them, but the man had elected to stay on so they had left him behind and headed back.

"He seemed to be fine through the mission, it was on the trip back he started to have chills and the fever came up." He sat back in the chair and remembered the trip back…

Actor watched him. Garrison was leaning back against the bulkhead with his eyes closed, but he certainly wasn't resting. He was too still, his breathing too regular. The con man knew what his answer would be before he asked the question. "Warden? Are you all right?"

Garrison frowned slightly, opened his eyes and squinted as if even the subdued lighting hurt his eyes. "I'm fine, just tired. You should be too, Actor. Why don't you get some rest?" And with that he'd closed his eyes again, effectively ending their conversation.

Actor watched him a moment more before he decided to take his advice. They were headed back, and only a few hours out. There would be a doctor to greet them when they arrived, and for once he was glad of that extra step between getting back, and getting back to the estate. But when they landed it seemed the routine had changed. A Sergeant waited for them at the end of the ramp, gruffly presented the Colonels' compliments, ushered them to a waiting car and drove them back to the headquarters building. They'd gone straight into the debriefing with the new man.

"When we got in that fool Colonel Wilhoitz insisted on holding the debriefing anyway and we've been going over and over the same thing for the last several hours."

As the discussion continued hour after hour the Warden became more short tempered. Actor had finally reached a hand out and laid it on his arm to caution him before he officially stepped across the lines of military courtesy. He'd finally called a halt to the process himself and probably hadn't earned a spot in the Colonels' affections. He looked at the officer sitting across the table from them and turned on his most charming and persuasive smile. "If I may, Colonel? Lieutenant Garrison is ill, and this was not a complex mission. Surely you have all the details you require for the moment?"

As always the con man's timing had been perfect. There was a clerk and another officer in the room at the time. The Warden was flushed and sweating and had just suffered an obvious chill. There was no way the man could reject the implied request.

The smile remained on his face, but as he shared a long staring match with the Colonel his eyes hardened in judgment. The man was a ass, Actor decided. And if he didn't care any more than that about the health and condition of the men under him he wouldn't last, none of them would.

Casino had been after Reynolds blood on that mission they'd been on together, but since then he'd developed a working respect for the commando officer. He was their usual contact, handing out the missions and doing the debriefing. Reynolds hadn't liked them at first either, and had been more than willing to sacrifice them to accomplish his objective, but at least he'd had the guts to admit it and the courage to follow their lead when Actor and the Warden came up with a scheme to get them all back home alive and get that damn General back to England. Since then he'd proved himself in the safecracker's eyes. He was fair and reasonable. When he felt they were out of line or hadn't done their best he'd let them have it, but if they'd pulled one off, against the odds, he let them know that too. And even though it was rare, if they'd done their best and failed, he'd stand up for them against the brass that still didn't believe a group like theirs belonged over here "We're not stuck with this jerk are we? Reynolds didn't get himself transferred or somethin' did he?"

"I don't know. His aide was still there, I suppose I can try and find out tomorrow." Actor rolled his eyes and sighed, downing the last of the brandy. "I have to go back in the morning so we can go over all of it again. If the Lieutenant is improved he will be there as well, if not Colonel Wilhoitz is determined to continue the discussion at the hospital"

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A car had come for Actor in the morning and taken him back to face Wilhoitz again. The others had tried to con their way into going along but had been firmly rejected by Sergeant Major Rawlins. There weren't any orders directing them to be anywhere other than right there on the estate, and that's where they'd stay, until he heard different. The only thing he'd agreed to was trying to find out if the Warden was alright. They'd waited through the whole morning and he still hadn't been able to come up with an answer. The men had just decided to make a break over the wall and go find out for themselves when a staff car pulled through the gate. When it stopped at the front of the building both of their missing men climbed out and headed for the entrance.

"So how are you Warden? How'r you feelin' mate?"

"Not too bad Goniff. I'll be fine."

Goniff couldn't figure it, maybe it was the Warden's voice, kinda breathless and whispery, but he looked sort of breakable. Made the skin prickle on the back of his neck. "What's wrong with you then?"

"Just tired out I guess. They said since we had Riley around I could come back here to rest up."

"If you give me a description a that Wilhoitz guy, I'll tell the guards down at the gate to keep him outta here. That oughta get you some rest." The safecracker hadn't met the guy, didn't want to, what he'd heard made him know he wouldn't get along with him.

Garrison laughed and struggled to control the cough that followed, "Well Casino he's about five inches shorter than you. He's got you by at least thirty pounds. Wears glasses that he shoves back on the top of his head and he squints all the time. And thanks, I think I've had about all of him I can take for a while."

"You find out what happened to Reynolds?" Chief asked Actor as he followed the group up the stairs towards the Lieutenant's quarters. But it was Garrison who responded, not Actor.

"Reynolds' father died, and they've sent him home on leave to be with his family."

"They do that? They'd send a bloke home for that?"

"They do if you're the last male member of the family. Reynolds' brother was a pilot, he was killed in North Africa back in August of forty-one, at Berbera."

"Are we gonna get him back?"

"I don't know. They'll leave that up to him." He'd never been so glad to reach the top of the stairs before. It seemed they'd gotten steeper while he and Actor had been across the channel. The bed looked awfully good too, he just hoped he had the energy to make it across the floor to it. "I guess I'll do like I'm told for a change and sack out for a little while." Unbuttoning his jacket and slipping it off he tossed it on the chair that sat next to the door and was surprised to see Actor reach out to hang the garment carefully across the back of the chair. "Casino, we won't be going anywhere for a while, I'll talk to you later about rescheduling that party, alright?"

"Sure, Warden, that'd be great." The others had already turned and left the room, Casino sat Garrison's bag down at the end of the bed and then stopped in the door way and looked back. "You just holler if you need anything." But he didn't get a response, the guy'd probably fallen asleep before he'd gotten stretched out flat. The safecracker shot a look down the hall to make sure it was empty before he stepped quietly back to the bed, pulling the extra blanket off the footboard he shook it out and draped over the sleeping man before he turn and left the room.