a/n: Again, I appreciate all comments and support! Keep 'em coming!
Characters from Hogan's Heroes do not belong to me.


The Thrilling Adventures of a Boy Spy

:: Part, the Third ::

All right! I'm back. So where was I? Oh, right. Papa's lookalike was growing more and more worried looking. He set me down on a chair in the corner of the room (right next to the big setup!) and took my shoulders firmly. I wondered what I'd done wrong, but I was glad he didn't take his belt off.

"Listen," he said. "It's very important that you tell me who your parents are and why – and how – you came here. Can you do that for me?"

I looked around. Everyone was looking at me. This was it! It was time for me to stand up and be brave – like a good spy. So I asked, "What side are you on? Spies don't tell just anything to the other side."

"Papa" looked away and said something to the people behind him. "Newkirk, check the tunnel and emergency exit. LeBeau, go up and take a look around. Kinch, get to the coffee pot. Tell me what the—" He looked at me. "—just what in the world is going on." He sighed. "Sonny, I don't think you know what you're getting into. I can't tell you anything until I know who you are."

"Are you a spy, too?" I ventured. He sure acted in that confusing way – like the "Top Secret" files I saw. Maybe I ought to be friends with him, so I could learn a thing or two. Then I saw three people go to a certain dark corner and climb a ladder up past the tunnel walls. So there was another way out!

"Can I go up with them?" I asked.

"Listen, kid, you're going to stay right here until they come back." He sure sounded severe.

I made a face. "Ooooh, okay." I slumped back on the chair. The setup to my left was absolutely fascinating – all sorts of wires and trinkets. Maybe if I pressed this lever...

He grabbed by hand suddenly. His eyes were hard for a moment, then he sighed, took me in his arms again, and looked around the people in the room. "Anybody here knows how to handle a kid?" he asked.

"Here, let me," said a woman in the corner. She looked like my aunt (a real aunt) from Berlin. I didn't like my aunt. She always kept the cookie jar up on a high shelf and always gave Mama a hard time. No, I liked Papa. I kept my grip tight in his arms. "I'm not going anywhere!" I declared. It was my turn to be impudent (don't I got a fabulous vocabulary?).

Anyway, I think I must have gotten him upset. He put me down and gave me a stern look. I could feel a lecture coming.

Then the man in the red scarf came down the ladder. "Mon colonel, he's coming here – Major Klein."

Suddenly I remembered Papa. I rushed towards the ladder, right behind Papa's lookalike. I think he wasn't thinking about me at the moment, because he jumped up the ladder so quickly, it was like the end of the world. Seems like everyone was frazzled by the thought of Uncle's arrival. I wondered why. Nobody paid any attention to me. But, really, as a spy, I didn't have a problem with that. In fact, that was good.

So I followed "Papa" up the ladder and jumped out into an odd compartment. It looked like a cabin in the mountains Papa took me to once. So many beds here! Though judging by the amount of puff on them, I'd probably rather call them tables.

Anyway...

The man was rushing everyone onto the table in the middle and getting everybody doing something. A man in blue flipped out some cards. Another grabbed a book and stuffed himself into one of the beds. "Papa" was about to grab a mug when he saw me. He grabbed my arm and was about to shove me someplace when the door burst open and a rush of people stepped inside.

"Uncle!" I shrieked, wondering myself why I thought that seemed like a bad thing. I guess because everyone else was scared at his coming, it sort of rubbed off on me.

"Papa's" hands suddenly went limp around me.

A tall fellow screeched: "Colonel Hogan, what's the meaning of – of?" I think he was looking at me.

Uncle stared between me and "Papa," no expression on his face. Then I saw Papa standing behind Uncle, looking all hard and serious in his black clothes and swinging his big rifle in his arm. I could barely recognize him with that look. But when he saw me, he became like Papa again – the shocked Papa, at least. Like when I dropped that milk jar last week.

But before Papa could react, Uncle jerked his arm out to prevent him from stepping towards me. "What is you son doing here?" he asked, quite sharply in my opinion.

"Sir, I – I—" Poor Papa!

"How did he get here?"

"Sir, he came with me."

Uncle slapped him. I couldn't believe it. "Papa!" I shrieked, running towards him. Uncle batted me away.

"Liar," he hissed at Papa. "I didn't see him in the car. What do you take me for, a fool?" What had happened to Uncle? The dinners at eight? The trinkets he used to get me? He wasn't like himself anymore. Uncle used to smile. And Papa... His eyes were hard and yet at the same time, terrified. Don't ask me how I came to that mixed-up conclusion, but it was there. I'd never seen Papa like that. The tears started busting out of my eyes. I tried to stop them, but look at Papa! Something really bad was going on.

"Get that man away from me!" Uncle boomed. Some other people, dressed like Papa, came near. They looked a little sad and paused.

"I told you, arrest him."

"For what, sir?" Papa said.

"Insubordination. Suspicion of treason."

"Treason?"

A black-dressed man took Papa's gun away. Another took his arm. The spindly guy in the corner stepped up to Klein. "Major," he said, "you may use our cooler."

"Thank you, Klink." Uncle smiled finally. But it was an awful smile. It made my stomach feel all queasy.

Uncle suddenly looked at Papa and laughed. Then he walked past the table in the room and stopped in front of "Papa."

"Colonel Hogan," Uncle said. So that's what his name was.

"Yes, Major?"

"Your men are confined to barracks."

I rubbed my eyes frantically from their tears. This had to stop – my eyes, firstly, and, secondly, this crazy thing that was happening to Papa. I still hadn't told Mama where I was. I hadn't figured out who these other people were. I didn't know what was happening with Uncle.

Uncle leaned towards Klink. "Post a guard in every barracks," he whispered.

"There is a guard posted—"

"Inside every barracks."

"Yes, sir, yes, yes, of course! Schultz! We need all our men..."

Uncle looked down to me. "And now, you're coming with me." He swooped me in the swash of his coat.

I jumped out quickly. "Papa—" I looked for him. One of the people around Papa tugged at Papa slowly. "I'm really sorry, Ernst," the former said. But Papa just stared blankly. They started to take him out the door. Uncle held me back. I squirmed. "Stop it," he hissed. Then Papa caught my eye quickly, his glance moving from mine to Papa's lookalike, the one called Hogan. It was just for a moment, but the instant he did so, Uncle stepped towards Hogan, his big hands gripping mine.

"Schultz!" Uncle shouted, without leaving his eyes from Hogan.

A round man tumbled into the room. He was panting terribly and his huge figure blocked my view of Papa leaving the room. "Put this man in the cooler," Uncle said.

"What have I done?" Hogan snapped. He sure didn't look like Papa anymore. Papa never got mad.

Uncle swooshed by the round man, dragging me with him. "Do it."

I was led out of the room. I didn't feel very good anymore. Spy stuff wasn't too fun right now. Then I realized all these people were probably spies; that would explain how crazy mysterious they were. Papa was caught up in it somehow. Boy, if there was a time I had to be a good spy, this was it. I saw Papa being pushed around into a blank gray building. Papa's lookalike followed him, an angriness in his step. Poor Papa. I could feel the tears want to bust out. But I was in the middle of this mess. I looked up at Uncle's totally un-Uncle-like fierceness. I was the sensible one in this mess, and I wasn't going to cry. No I wasn't. I was going to figure this out.