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chapter 2 - silence

silence - The fact of abstaining or forbearing from speech or utterance (sometimes with reference to a particular matter); the state or condition resulting from this; muteness, reticence, taciturnity (source: Oxford English dictionary)

After they had changed into black, Hogan, Carter, LeBeau and Kinch left the tunnel and made their way through the woods to meet the Underground agents. It was a warm night in spring and the sky was full of clouds. When Hogan saw two people in German uniforms, the four ducked behind a tree but were seen by the Germans. Hogan was relieved when he recognised two Underground agents, Walter Bauer and Johann Herder.

"Your uniforms are very convincing, gentlemen", Hogan said to the men who smiled as a reply.

Kinch and Carter left them, they had to go to the Düsseldorf bridge to blow it up in time. Meanwhile, Hogan, LeBeau, Bauer and Herder went to the old Checkpoint. In fact, it did look as if it was still in usage. There was a manual barrier and a little hut, nothing special but perfect for their purpose.

Hogan looked at his watch. Ten minutes to ten. So far, so good. In the distance he heard a noise. Kinch and Carter had done their job.

"LeBeau, let's get into the woods", Hogan ordered.

For a few minutes – that seemed like an eternity for everyone – everything was quiet. The silence surrounded them so that they barely dared to breath. Hogan used this time to think of the argument he had with Newkirk. He had thought that the Corporal was just bored. Now Hogan realised that there had also been concern in Newkirk's eyes. In the dark woods while he was soaked with silence, Hogan started to understand Newkirk's worries.

The time for thinking ended abruptly when a truck came down the road. Behind him, Hogan could hear Kinch and Carter coming to his and LeBeau's position.

The truck slowed down when the driver saw the barrier. Finally, the truck stopped.

"Ihre Papiere, bitte", Herder said.

The driver gave them to Herder who went to the hut to "check" them. Hogan and LeBeau, two shadows in the dark, were already in the back of the truck. All they saw was ammunition at first, but then LeBeau found the plans. Using a torch to illuminate the darkness, they took photos of each paper and put it back to where they found it, all without a sound. Still soaked with silence.

At first, nobody noticed the black car. When they did, it was to late. The car had driven its way a few minutes behind the truck. Now it has reached the checkpoint, too.

Three men jumped into the truck. Obviously they had seen the light. One of them had a torch straightly shining into Hogan's and LeBeau's eyes. The others seemed to have rifles in their hands.

"Aha, look what we've found here", the man with the torch said.

"Major Bergmann, hier draußen sind noch zwei!", someone shouted from outside.

Kinch and Carter.

"Are there more than you four? Who are you?", Major Bergmann asked.

Despite the situation, Hogan still wasn't able to break the silence. But this time, the silence was in his head. And his mind was not soaked with silence but wrapped in it so that it couldn't even realise that there was more than this mind-freezing silence. Hogan could not think of any word to say.

It was the first time he didn't know what to say or how to react. His mind was stuck. His body appeared unable to move. From this position he did not see a way out of this.

"You don't want to talk? No matter, I know a nice place where we can speak. And you will speak.", Major Bergmann menaced.

Hogan wasn't impressed by this threat, he was far to surprised and confused. He saw his men staring at him, apparently wanting a plan. He felt the weight of responsibility sitting on his shoulders but he couldn't help. He had no plan.

It was quarter past ten. It was a warm spring night. The clouds prevented the moon and the stars from shining on the earth.

A few Germans caught four men who obviously were spies.

These few Germans brought their prisoners away.

Two German Underground agents looked on helplessly as they left.

And Hogan's mind was finally able to think one word.

silence – the absence of any noise or thought

Translation of the German phrases:

Ihre Papiere, bitte - your documents, please

Major Bergmann, hier draußen sind noch zwei - Major Bergmann, there are two more out here