Hogan was already aware of the sad faces that enveloped him as he reached the radio room of the tunnels. "What, no little smiling elves for Santa?" he joked to his men, causing them all to smile, but too quickly did they get down to the message that was just transmitted. Kinch was the one who felt the need to tell his commanding officer the news, as everyone agreed. The only black man out of Hogan's group of four, Kinch was already closer to Hogan than the other men and was also his right-hand man.
"Colonel Hogan, there is a personal message here for you from Headquarters in London," Kinch said, gulping as he ripped the message off from the clipboard. Newkirk and LeBeau cringed and, along with the already-leaving Kinch, motioned for Carter to step aside and make room for Colonel Hogan as he read the message. Carter obeyed them, only to watch, as the rest of them did as they exited the tunnels through the ladder to the barracks, the horror on their commanding officer's face as he read the note silently to himself.
Monday, December 21, 1942
Colonel Robert E. Hogan, senior P.O.W. officer of Stalag 13 and former commander of the 504th Bomber Squadron of the United States Army Air Force: urgent message, on a personal note, from Allied Headquarter, London .
As of Wednesday, June 17, 1942, Colonel Nikola Anna Michalovich, also of the United States Army, M*A*S*H 6147th of London, had been assigned as agent for the Allied Forces and has been stationed in Paris, France with Major Nancy Sarah Donovan-White, a veteran of the United States Army. Both were on a mission six miles from Hammelburg with H8WC when they have been captured by German forces near the rocket base. The mission had been a failure for H8WC and needs to be completed as soon as possible. Colonel Michalovich and Major Donovan-White have been sent to a camp, the location known to London's Headquarters as of Friday, December 18, 1942, 0210 hours English time: Auschwitz camp in Poland. The Colonel, from our intelligence reports, is said to be wounded and in all possibility from a drawn medical prognosis, dying of lead poisoning.
The mission, in which H8WC has failed to complete, is vital for your men and for the Allies. Reports will be sent later on the dynamics of the base and what should be done. The oil that was blown has been remade and needs to be destroyed before the Axis launch it. It is vital for you and your men to complete this mission.
Colonel Hogan couldn't read of the rest of the message anymore and didn't wish to care about what he and his men could do to complete this failed mission. He aimlessly dropped the paper to the floor, a slip of news that gently danced in the cold air of the tunnels before heading to its destination below.
His four men, who previously knew the news and probably debated whether or not to give it to him, had disappeared already and were most likely in the barracks, leaving Hogan space to vent his anguish and pain at his loss alone before even attempting to talk about his love. His thoughts even raced. They have no idea who she is, the power she has already in this war and what effect she could have when she to a prison camp in Germany. There is no helping her escape now. But instead of releasing his emotion, Hogan paced the small radio room and thought of his partner, his friend for life.
She's got a ticket to ride and she don't care…she wrote that to him one day, one lonely day when Hogan just got in this rat-hole, just a month after the Gestapo ran after him and successfully caught him near a farmer's barn, less than a mile away from where he crashed. It was the only letter Hogan had received from her when he was here at Stalag 13 and all it said was this poem, and the date, July 16, 1942, her twenty-ninth birthday, a day he appropriately noted in his mind.
That particular letter, from Paris, wasn't censured and blackened but already, the Germans were on his tail about the meaning of the letter, because all it contained was a poem and the possibilities of it being a coded message. The Gestapo had questioned him so many times about this note, especially their local man Major Hochstetter, but the Gestapo had received no information from him but his usual array of jokes and sarcastic remarks, so they took the original letter away from him, most likely for the file that they were creating. Even to Hogan the words were cryptic, and even that was apposite for the lovely colonel he loves.
Hogan already wrote her sad words and tucked it away below the pictures after Major Hochstetter finished his last interrogation with him a week after he received the letter. It was almost as if she knew what I was feeling after I left.
Hogan stopped pacing the radio room and looked to see if any men were around, and to his surprise, there were none around still. Sighing, he sat down in the chair Kinch was just previously in and put his head in hands, knowing all too well the sudden pain in his heart that he felt because of this near-loss…or sudden loss if he didn't do something to get her out of there. Hogan knew that she was a survivor and that if she could get through the tyranny of her childhood and the pain of losing everyone she loved and the relationship that they have had, then she could get through this…but this, this was so different and much more dangerous. He felt the tears that threatened to come down before release themselves. Before he knew it, Hogan was sobbing for the love he was going to lose, something he knew as unusual of him. She promised him that she'd stay away before he left. "Rob, please, I couldn't, wouldn't do that…" she begged after she saw what pain it caused him when he even mentioned the possibility of her being caught by the Gestapo.
Hogan continued to cry, quieted down by a hope that she'll somehow get through this obstacle and somehow, sent through to a prison camp, any camp but that one. Nancy was with her and she was the great mentor to his love, she'll help in getting through in this game. Nancy always had a permanent hold on her and kept her out of trouble so far except in going to Paris with her, so perhaps the two will survive this together and somehow, be transferred or escape. However, it was no guarantee of endurance in the Nazi's game of war and what they could do a human being, even one as stubborn and ill-temper, but more loving and caring as Nikki Michalovich.
Oh, Nikki, Nikki, Desertstar…how could you do this to yourself?
It was the first time in months that Hogan even thought of her.