A/N: Apologies for the very tardy update. I've had a lot going on that interfered with my writing. This chapter is Klink's POV. This chapter includes a partial scene of my own invention. In the episode, the final scene between Hogan and Klink begins mid-way through their conversation. I have supplied the beginning of that scene.
The Late Inspector General - 4
The inspection of Barracks 2 became a nightmare for me. What I thought would be a simple formality instead turned out to be a humiliation worse than I ever could have imagined. The Englishman Newkirk began harassing von Platzen about a loose button on his uniform, and in the confusion I somehow ended up holding the General's monocle in addition to my own.
I apologized, but von Platzen only scowled back at me. Just as Hogan was about to launch into more of his silliness, the sound of a radio broadcasting the BBC filled the air! I turned to Schultz and demanded him to tell me where the radio was.
The dummkopf replied that the prisoners refused to tell him!
Schultz knew the prisoners had a radio! I am going to kill him!
The worst was yet to come, however. The General noticed that his wallet was missing, and, like his monocle, it turned out to be on my person.
"Pickpockets to be running our prison camps we don't need," growled von Platzen. As the General stormed out of the barracks Hogan pulled me aside.
"By the way, Kommandant, I haven't had a chance to congratulate you on your promotion," he said with one of his mischievous smiles.
That confirmed to me that Hogan was responsible for this fiasco, but I had no time to deal with him just then. I merely grunted at him angrily and hurried to catch up with von Platzen.
"But everything else is in perfect order, Herr General," I was saying, just as von Platzen fell into what turned out to be the prisoners' escape tunnel.
I helped pull him out, but he was shaking with rage.
"Get your hands off my wallet!" he shouted at me as I tried to dust him off.
Just then, Hogan arrived, just to make things worse for me, apparently.
'You're a shrewd one, General. You discovered our tunnel!"
When I threatened punishment on whichever barracks it came from, Hogan happily informed me that it came from my own headquarters! I had no doubt that it would turn out to be true. I felt physically ill. The Inspector General would think I was deaf and blind to not notice such activity.
Von Platzen shouted at me some more, threatening to report all of this when he got back to Berlin, and stomped away.
I turned back to Hogan who came up to me and said, "I certainly hope this won't stand in the way of your promotion, sir."
I almost struck him for that. Although we were enemies, I always thought that we at least respected each other as human beings. Yes, I knew he manipulated me, but it had always been for reasons I could understand, if not sympathize with. But this...this was my utter humiliation, the destruction of my career, perhaps even my life. The tunnel I could have forgiven, but the mockery of making me out to be a common thief, the intentional playing of the radio in front of the Inspector General...these were things that spoke of personal malice against me.
"How you must hate me," was all I trusted myself to say. I turned and hurried into the Kommandantur.
There, von Platzen shouted at me some more and then declared he was leaving for Berlin. I followed him out to his car, trying to convince him to stay.
"Another day here and I would order you SHOT!" he replied.
"Perhaps I could write a letter to the Inspector General?" I asked.
"I would first soak it in water, then bury it!" he began to climb into his car.
"Herr General!" I cried desperately, he turned.
"Is there nothing I can do?" I pleaded.
"Pray," he said grimly, and got into the car, "drive on!" he ordered to his men.
The driver started the car, and immediately there was an explosion from under the hood.
We all scrambled from the car and threw ourselves on the ground.
"Klink! You are trying to kill me!" accused von Platzen.
"I could not be more fond of you if you were my brother," I protested. "Schultz! Go see what it is!"
"Me?" stammered Schultz.
"Yes, you, NOW!" I snarled.
Schultz crept up to the car and reported that it was "only a small bomb."
"Good," I replied, "any damage to the motor?"
"What motor?"
The rest of us went to look at what Schultz had discovered. The motor had been removed.
"I assure you, Herr General," I began.
"Klink!" interrupted von Platzen, "do you consider yourself competent enough to undertake the task of arresting yourself?"
"Jawohl!" I replied automatically, then his words sunk in, "arrest myself?"
"Only until I get back to Berlin. Then I shall have professionals arrest you."
"But I assure you..." I began to protest.
"Do not assure me, order me a staff car to take me back to Berlin."
"Schultz!" I snapped, "a staff car!"
"Jawohl!" Schultz hurried off.
Hogan came over, he was just about the last person I wanted to see just then.
"Ah, I think I see one coming now," he said, pointing.
"Who asked you?" I shouted. I was at the end of my patience.
"No one! It's just that he may get luckier with the next staff car."
The General looked nervously at Hogan, then turned to me, "Klink, I have changed my mind, have the car drive me to the railroad station."
The new car had pulled up behind von Platzen's car and the General got in the back seat behind two of my guards.
"You see? Things run very smooth here," I said, hoping to leave von Platzen with a final, favorable impression.
His face remained in a scowl, "Drive on," he ordered my guards, refusing to acknowledge my words.
I saluted him, but he only crossed his arms. The car slid away. I watched it go with a feeling of hopeless despair.
Hogan came over to rub salt in my wounds.
"Well, it looks like you're one of us, now," he said cheerfully.
I couldn't bring myself to say anything. After giving him a slight snarl, I stomped into the Kommandantur to await my arrest.
After only ten minutes, I sent for Hogan to come and join me. I discovered quickly that waiting alone was going to drive me mad. Although I was simply furious with Hogan, the sad reality was that there was no one else I wished to spend my final moments of freedom with. I thought perhaps if I could talk to him one last time, I might be able to understand why he had done what he had, and at least have the cold comfort of a reason for my humiliation and destruction.
Hogan arrived in a few minutes, sauntering casually as always. I stood up and came around my desk to face him. I fought to tamp down all of my emotions, I would not give Hogan the satisfaction of knowing how deeply he had hurt me.
"Hogan, why?" I asked.
"Why what?" he replied in a bored manner.
"No, Hogan. No games. You are going to face me and tell me man-to-man why you have done this to me."
A look of surprise briefly crossed his face, replaced by a thoughtful, calculating look.
After a pause he said, "I told you earlier, I'd do anything to keep you here."
I took a slight step back, my mind reeling.
I swallowed, and continued, my voice thankfully steady, "You did all of that to keep me here?"
Hogan didn't reply, his sable brown eyes continued to gaze at me thoughtfully.
After a pause I said, "I don't understand. If you wanted to keep me here, why did you ruin me?"
Hogan gave a slight shrug and looked down at his fingers which were tracing patterns over the polished wood of my humidor.
"Things got a bit out of hand, and for that I'm sorry," he finally said.
I took a hesitant step toward him, "You really mean it? You want me...to stay?"
Hogan looked up at me, looking slightly annoyed.
"C'mon Klink, don't play dumb with me. We have a good thing here, together, don't we? Do you really want to exchange what we have for the responsibilities, pressures, and scrutiny of Berlin? If I know you at all, and I like to think I do, it wouldn't suit you. You wouldn't be happy there."
"You might have let me decide that for myself," I snapped. I put a bit more heat into it than I really felt, trying to mask the surge of emotion his words ignited in me.
An expression of what seemed to be genuine guilt crossed Hogan's face and he looked down again.
"I did what I had to do."
My heart was pounding and I grew uncomfortably warm. Hogan's presence and words were unraveling me at an alarming rate. What could he mean? I still couldn't trust him. We were officially enemies and I was still deeply hurt and angered by his recent actions. But his words seemed to indicate that he felt we had an understanding...but of what nature?
I abruptly walked over to my office window and opened it, hoping the cold air would cool my thoughts and passions. It also got me away from Hogan. I was beginning to fear that I was either going to strike him or kiss him until he was breathless.
The cold air worked, I breathed deeply, and with each breath I calmed further. After a few moments I realized that none of this truly mattered. I was under arrest and would be taken away soon, to what fate, I didn't know.
I decided to take one last chance to get Hogan to speak to me about where we stood with each other.
"The peculiar thing is I don't even hate you," I mused. "I feel somehow beyond that."
I smiled inwardly. Behind me I could hear Hogan stealing my cigars. I had left the humidor unlocked on purpose. What use had I for cigars anymore?
"You're big, sir. Very big," replied Hogan.
I turned to see if I could read his expression. Could I get him to be more explicit as to why he wanted me to stay so badly?
"Were I in your position," I began, "I would consider it my duty to get rid of a Kommandant as hard, as coldly efficient as myself."
I paused, and allowed a note of hurt in my voice, "The only thing is...you did."
"Colonel Klink..." began Hogan, but I cut him off, I had to finish my piece or I might never have the courage again.
"And even now," I continued, walking over to stand by his side, "my career...gone, my life hanging by a thread, I don't hate you."
I tried to look into his eyes to read his expression, but he was keeping his face turned away from me.
"Perhaps if we had met at another time, another place, we might even have become friends. But it is all over now..." I trailed off, wondering how Hogan would react. I ached for him to contradict me, give me a few moments of happiness before we would be wrenched apart forever.
There was a few seconds of silence, then Hogan spoke.
"Colonel Klink, you've read Napoleon of course?"
"Naturally," I replied. Wait, have I?
"Napoleon?" I queried. Hogan nodded.
"Of course. What did he say?" I couldn't see what Napoleon could have said that would apply to our situation.
Instead of answering me, Hogan walked over to the window and opened the other half. I followed and we stood together in the cold breeze, our bodies pressed slightly together for warmth against the cold.
I continued to try and look Hogan in the face, but he was gazing out the window.
He began to speak again, "He said that the commander who almost daily commits his life and his career to the fates of battle will time and again find himself in situations where all seems lost."
"Yes, yes," I agreed, still very unsure where Hogan was going with this line of talk.
"BUT, a commander who will alter the course of history will never lose faith in a mysterious something he thinks of as his star." Hogan paused, then continued, "His destiny. He'll think of a miracle, and his star will carry him through."
Hogan's voice had lowered almost to a whisper, and I found myself once again under his spell.
"Yes," I whispered back. Then, I remembered the hopelessness of my situation.
"But what miracle could possibly save me now?" I asked, turning to him.
Hogan's gaze was still out the window, a triumphant smile playing about his lips.
"Think that the train will blow up," he said.
I took out my monocle and gazed out the window in wonder, "The train will blow up?"
"Only if you believe," said Hogan, looking at his watch.
"And you better do it quick," he added.
I was too stunned to think clearly, but I desperately wanted to believe that Hogan was right.
"I believe," I said.
Hogan looked at his watch a second time, "Once again," he prompted me.
"I believe!" I said more forcefully, and then realized how incredibly silly I must appear, Hogan was surely just mocking me.
I turned back to Hogan and scowled, "Oh this is ridiculous!"
Just then, a massive explosion shook the entire camp.
"What was that?" I gasped.
"Sounded like a train blowing up," replied Hogan with a pleased smile. He turned to me with a sly smile.
"A train blowing up," I repeated, filled with wonder. The Inspector General's train! I've been saved!
I turned to look at Hogan who was smiling at me with what looked like a mixture of amusement and affection. I picked up on his playful attitude and struck a Napoleonic pose, with one hand in my jacket.
"My star!" I exclaimed.
"You've either got it or you haven't. You've got it!" Hogan said as I nodded sagely.
Hogan then saluted me smartly and left.
The door had barely closed on him before the full impact of what had happened hit home. I staggered back to my desk. The Inspector General was most likely dead. Somehow, Hogan had made it happen. How was that possible? Hogan had said he would do anything to keep me here. Apparently that included sabotage and murder. Hogan had just killed a man, possibly many men, to keep me here at Stalag 13. What did this mean? Who was this Colonel Robert Hogan? How could he make such a thing happen?
Obviously, the destruction of a German railroad and the death of a high-ranking German officer would be desirable for the Allies, but what of me? Why was I so important for Hogan to keep? Or was I being used a cover somehow? Hogan wanted me here, wanted me near him, or so he said. Why?
After some thinking and a glass of schnapps, the only conclusion was that I had somehow found myself as a player in a very deep game of Hogan's. Apparently, he was using me for some purpose unknown to myself. Today, however, he had shown part of his game to me. A game where I was supposed to be a fool. His fool.
Hogan had saved my life, but only after first endangering it. I wasn't going to forget either fact. I would continue to be on my guard with him. But for now, I was willing to play the fool for him. However, there were limits to what I would tolerate. I made Schultz take away the prisoners' radio.
END
A/N: Please tell me what you think of this story! Do you want me to continue?