Two Down

It was another one of the Army's simple little jobs. The Allies were about to make a push north in Italy and all the team had to do was deliver the details on where the enemy might have enough in the way of troops and material to make a stand against them. Three days to get set and five minutes with a safe in a certain German general's office and they had what they needed on film. With all the confusion as the Krauts scrambled to counter the exploratory advances the Allies were making it was no problem getting out of the city. They hooked up with a supply convoy that was headed towards the front lines and just peeled off when they'd gotten far enough away from town. After a quiet little drive in the country the Warden decided it was time for a costume change.

"Chief break out those American uniforms," Garrison stretched as he surveyed the rolling countryside around them. "Actor'll keep watch while you guys change."

"How come you and Beautiful here are stickin' with the Kraut get ups?" Casino asked as he started working the buttons down the front of his tunic.

"Insurance." They were on one of the secondary mountain roads leading south and had pulled off where they had a good view of the road as it curved and twisted below them. If anyone was following they'd be able to see them from here. "If we come across a German patrol you're our prisoners," Garrison shrugged as he turned his attention to the map spread across the hood of the car. "If we find an American one, we're yours, … at least until we can convince them we're all good guys."

"What if we find a bunch of Italians, then?"

Casino snorted a laugh. "Then it depends on which direction they're runnin."

"Knock it off Casino." The others were already changed, the group's safecracker had just come up to study the map over his shoulder.

"How far d'we have to go, Warden?"

Garrison tapped the map. "We're right about here," and let his finger trail along the paper. "Our guys are going to advance along this route. So we should make contact about here." He tapped the map again.

"Wouldn't it be safer to hook up with the underground and just let 'em radio our side that we're comin' instead a just showin' up uninvited?" Casino had just finished buttoning up his shirt and was absently tucking it into his pants.

"Come on, mate…" Goniff laughed and tossed his bundled German uniform to the group's scout. "That'd take all the excitement out a the trip."

"We lost contact with the group that works in this area a week ago." Folding the maps away into the pocket of his tunic Garrison straightened up and surveyed his men. Goniff was shrugging into a field jacket and Chief, already changed, was at the rear of the vehicle stowing their gear. "Casino." The Warden waited for the east coast con to turn and face him before he gestured to his outfit. "Those pants don't really go with that shirt."

Casino glanced down at his mismatched uniform and just stared a moment before it hit him. "Jeeze!"

"What's a matter Pappy?" Chief called over the top of the car. "Gettin' absent-minded in your old age?"

Turning the exasperation with himself into irritation with his Indian teammate he growled, "Shut up you!" in his direction and headed towards the back of the car where the rest of his American uniform was stored away.

Garrison moved up to stand just behind Actor. The mountain road snaked through trees on the way up to this low mountain pass. It was quiet behind them, the only thing that caught his eye was the rocking of the branches as a wind set them in motion. "See anything?"

"Nothing. It's so quiet down there it's hard to believe we are in a war zone." The con man turned a smile on his commander. "It looks like we got away cle…."

There was the sharp crack of gunfire and the aristocratic Italian was knocked off his feet. Garrison threw himself forward over the body of his fallen man, shouting "Take cover!" to the others as they scrambled for the protection of the car. As soon as he heard them returning fire he was up dragging Actor towards the vehicle.

"Where's it comin' from!?" Casino shouted. He pulled the front door to the car open and crouched down behind it searching the area for their attackers. Gunfire was coming in bursts and it seemed to echo off the rocks in the pass. He couldn't pin the direction down, it seemed to him like they were surrounded.

"The hillside above us!" Chief called out and jerked his head back and twisted away when the rear window shattered He turned to help the Warden as he tried to manhandle Actor into the German staff car. Casino and Goniff scrambled into the front and ducked as bullets pinged off the roof of the car and raised geysers of dust in the road around them.

Garrison slammed the door. "Get going!" Kneeling on the seat behind Casino he knocked the remaining shards of glass out of the rear window, making it easier for them to return fire. As they pulled out he and Chief concentrated their shots on the brambles that covered the slope to their right. Goniff sprayed the brush that lined the roadway on their left with one long burst from one of the machine guns they'd appropriated in the town they'd hit.

As soon as the hill disappeared behind them Garrison left the group's security to the others and turned his attention to Actor. Blood streamed down the con man's face and matted the hair over his left ear. He got no response when he called to him.

"How bad's he hit?"

"Looks like it's a head wound… He's bleeding pretty bad." His voice was laced with worry. "Goniff there should be a first aid kit under the dash up there."

Goniff felt under the dash and pulled the toggle that secured the kit. He flipped it open before handing it over the back seat. "Here y' go, Warden. Should we stop?"

"No! … Keep going." They'd left the gunfire behind but there was no way of knowing if they'd be followed. "Casino, get us off this road." He rummaged through the kit and pulled out a handful of cotton wool that he pressed over the wound. Blood saturated it as soon as Garrison applied it and he added another layer. Dumping the kit out on the seat next to Actor he searched until he found gauze to hold the rough dressing down and struggled to get it wrapped firmly around the con man's head and get it taped in place.

"You sure, Warden? This one's gonna be faster." Casino risked a glance in the mirror but all he could see was backs as Garrison continued to work on Actor and Chief kept watch out the ruined rear window.

"I'm sure! Do it, damn it! There may be another ambush on the road ahead. They can't cover all the side roads…. We have a better chance there."

Casino fought the heavy vehicle into a turn when he spotted the next lane that seemed to be going in the direction they wanted. It was rougher along this track and it was all he could do to keep control of the car as they jolted along at breakneck speed. Within several winding turns he'd come to a fork in the road. "Which way, Warden?"

"Warden?!"

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They took the fork to the right, the one that led in the approximate direction of the main road and as soon as he could find one Casino pulled off into a small clearing, using a stand of trees to screen the car from view.

"What'd we do now?" There was a rare edge of panic in the Indian's voice.

"Why'n't we just go back? Those wasn't Jerries that hit us on the road. We'd a seen 'em. It had t'be the underground."

"Jeeze! Look at us! They're not gonna let us get close enough to explain to 'em who we are."

"But…"

"Casino's right, Goniff. They probably watched us while we were changin' out a our German uniforms."

"So they'll just think we're tryin' to pull a fast one on 'em." The east coast thief completed the explanation.

"Well what'r we gonna do, then? We can't just sit here and wait for these blokes t' bleed to death."

"Take it easy." Casino caught his lower lip in his teeth. "We'll think a somethin'." But they didn't have many options. They could just wait around while Garrison and the con man finished bleedin' out. Or they could take off and let 'em do it on their own while they got themselves as far away as they could….

"I still say we ought a go back…" Goniff pleaded. "We could leave 'em for the Jerries to find."

The safe cracker discounted that suggestion with a wave of his hand. "And they'd just patch 'em up so they'd be healthy enough to shoot when they found out who they'r really workin' for."

"How'd they find out, man? Nobody knows we hit that town back there."

"Look, dummy, there's a chance they might a had time to check out the names we gave 'em by now! And if they haven't they'll sure as hell have time to do it while these guys are gettin' taken care of at the hospital."

Garrison had been hit. They didn't know if it happened on the road when he turned to protect Actor or afterwards in the car. He passed out while he was trying to take care of their confidence man and blood continued to soak up into the pad Goniff made from his field jacket. It was obvious both men needed more than just the little first aid the car's kit offered, Actor had already used almost all of it up, and they needed that help a whole lot faster than the time it would take them to find their way to, and get through, the American lines.

Casino carefully pulled the map from Garrison's pocket and confirmed their situation. They were too far from the Allies and they couldn't go back to the German occupied town they'd left behind. Even if he'd been willing to risk the town the only way back was down the road where they'd been attacked. He was sure if it had been partisans that hit them back there they'd be only too happy to finish the job as soon as they saw the car again. They wouldn't have a chance to explain who they were because they probably wouldn't fall for a truce flag. If by some miracle they managed to keep from getting killed and convince them, he thought, those guys lived on the run, they wouldn't be set up to help the two injured men.

"OK. This is what we're gonna do." The faces the others turned to him held a mixture of skepticism and expectation. "There's a town off here to the east, … but we know we gotta go south." Casino rattled the map to draw their probing eyes away from his face. "I'll take these two in the car and head for the town and you guys take the stuff and beat it for our lines." He kept his head down waiting for the arguments he knew would come but the only thing that hit his hunched shoulders was silence. After a moment he risked a glance at his teammates. Chief sat with Actor's head cradled in his lap as he continued to apply pressure to the dressing on the side of his head but he'd turned his face away and was silently studying the trees that surrounded them, Goniff just stared back at him over the body of their unconscious commander.

"You been spendin' too much time around the Warden, mate."

"Yeah." Chief turned back to face the group's explosive expert over Garrison's map. "Nothin doin' Pappy. We all go south, or we all go east."

"And ya better pick a direction pretty fast," the cockney glanced down at Garrison and Actor. "'cause I don't think we got a lot a time."

"Look! I'm tellin' ya it's the only way." He insisted. "I can bluff my way through in Italian and…"

"You'r barking mad, mate! If it was Actor doin' it, it wouldn't even work… You ain't wearin' an Italian uniform."

"We're not buyin'." The words were quiet but there was no mistaking the steely resolve behind them. "Think a somethin' else, man."

He shoved his fingers through his dark hair as he studied the map. An idea was forming and if anyone else tried to pitched it he'd have told them they were nuts. Casino shook his head and tried to dislodge it but it was firmly entrenched, and it was crazy enough it just might work. "OK. What about this? … …"

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