Newkirk and LeBeau went into complete shock after hearing Barbara's answer. Did they hear her exactly right, or were they just so consumed with Hochstetter that they misheard her on accident.

"Major...Major Hochstetter is your uncle?" Newkirk croaked. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

"Uncle Wolfgang, you know him?" Barbara asked.

Newkirk and LeBeau gulped and slowly nodded.

"All too well," Newkirk murmured, giving a smile to hide his fear slowly consuming him.

"What about the flyer we're suppose to get out of Germany" LeBeau said, voice quivering.

"Right now, he's in hiding with one of our contacts known as Vulture." Barbara answered.

"We know Vulture; we've worked with him, before." Newkirk said.

"He'll meet with you two in about another five days and will have the flyer with him." Barbara said.

"What's this bloke's name, anyways?"

"USA Army Air Corps. officer, Colonel Jerry Winters."

"Jerry Winters...he's one of the best commanding officers of the United States Air Force, right now."

"Correct, which is why his return to England is essential."

Newkirk nodded. "Thank you, Barbara; we'll report this back to Papa Bear." Newkirk said, rising to his feet.

"Au revoir, beautiful." LeBeau said, smiling.

"Would you go?" Newkirk snarled, softly.

The two men left the Hofbrau in a hurry, leaving Barbara by herself.


Kinch was pacing back and forth, as Carter sat at the table with a cup of coffee. With the evidence the gestapo currently had on Hogan, the two men were worried sick about if Newkirk and LeBeau were alright, and if they were coming home, soon. As for the rest of the prisoners, they were all asleep, and Matthews had gone out for an evening stroll, after curfew, that is. Olsen was keeping watch at the door for him to come back.

"Don't worry, Kinch; I'm sure they're alright. Newkirk and Louis are both smart." Carter said, trying to be optimistic. It was kind of hard to think like that, when his commanding officer and best friend was currently fighting for his life in the hospital.

Kinch continued pacing, when the fake bunk opened, and Newkirk and LeBeau came out in their Allied uniforms. They both looked like they had seen a ghost. The African American turned around and sighed with relief.

"Thank God you guys are here. How did it go?" Kinch paused, when he saw the look on both of their faces. "What's wrong; you two look like you just saw someone rise from the dead."

"I wish it were that, mate." Newkirk shivered.

"What is it, buddy?" Carter asked, worried.

"The girl we made contact with, tonight...you'll never believe what she told us."

"Is it about the flyer?" Kinch asked, concerned.

"Worse," LeBeau spoke, still in slight shock.

"What," Kinch asked, growing impatient

"The girl, Barbara, her uncle is Major Hochstetter." Newkirk croaked out.

"Hochstetter," Carter and Kinch exclaimed.

Both the Englander and Frenchman nodded.

"Holy cats," Kinch gasped, rubbing the side of his cheek.

"How...it just can't be. How can a beautiful girl like that be related to someone like Hochstetter?!" LeBeau cried.

"Would yah forget about the girl, Louis?! We got bigger problems than your love life, right now." Newkirk retorted, agitated.

"Did you get the information, though?" Kinch asked.

"Yes...if it's true, that is." Newkirk answered.

"She said Vulture would meet with us in five days with the flyer at the usual rendezvous point." LeBeau said.

"Colonel Jerry Winters of the USA Army Air Corps." Newkirk added.

"Colonel Winters...he's almost as good as Colonel!" Kinch spoke, stunned. No wonder the Underground wanted him out of Germany quickly.

"Let's just hope he's more pleasant than Monsieur Bleh, wherever he is." LeBeau said, smug.

"Where is that Yankee, anyways?" Newkirk asked.

"He went for a walk around the camp. Apparently, he doesn't care about Klink's rules." Carter answered. There was a brief moment of silence, before Newkirk ended it.

"What do yah think, Kinch; you think we can trust Barbara?"

"I don't know; it's a tricky call to make." Kinch replied.

"Well I for one am not trusting anyone that's related to that Kraut." Newkirk said, his mind made up.

"Give her a chance, Pierre. She's innocent, I tell you." LeBeau replied, defending the girl he was currently madly in love with.

"LeBeau, you've got it bad, kid." Kinch said, shaking his head.

"You should've seen her, mon ami. She looks and sounds like an angel!"

"Maybe Richard could help us figure out whether or not to trust this Barbara girl." Carter suggested, regarding the doctor currently caring for Hogan.

Kinch turned around and smiled at Carter.

"Carter, that's an excellent idea." Kinch said, smiling boldly.

Carter blushed.

"Aw, gee, Kinch...you're embarrassing me." Carter said, softly, as he hung his head.

Kinch smirked and patted the young sergeant's back gently.

"We can talk to him, when we go out and visit Colonel tomorrow night." Newkirk said, referring to he and LeBeau.

"That would be great, Newkirk." Kinch said.

"Hochstetter...but how...why?! It just doesn't make sense! Why would Hochstetter's niece be working for the Underground?" Newkirk cried, trying to get it to make sense in his mind.

"Have you met the man? I wouldn't be surprised if Hochstetter's own wife turned on him with the kind of attitude he goes walking around with." LeBeau responded.

"Well, we can trust Vulture, that's for sure. It's just rather whether or not he'll actually be there that concerns me. It could be a trap to send us straight into the gestapo's grasp. Then take us back to their headquarters, learn about the operation, and Colonel's then a goner." Kinch added in.

"We'll all know what to do, when tomorrow night comes. Richard will clear up everything, mates." Newkirk said, confidently.

Everyone had noticed how quiet Carter had grown, and the three of them turned to him.

"You alright, Carter?" Kinch asked.

"Yeah...it's just...I think Colonel should know what's going on." Carter answered, meekly.

"You gotta be bloody joking me, Andrew!" Newkirk exclaimed.

"In his condition?!" LeBeau wailed.

"He deserves to know; I feel horrible about keeping this from him. He may be sick, but he's still our Colonel. How upset would he be with us, if he were here and found out we were keeping this from him?" Carter asked.

Kinch, Newkirk, and LeBeau looked at one another and sighed.

"He's right, you know; the Colonel would be furious with us, if he found out this was going on, and we were keeping it from him, so he could focus on recovering." Kinch stated, being the voice of reason.

"But Kinch, this news could kill him!" Newkirk cried.

"Our Colonel's strong and too stubborn to die. In fact, I think if he knew, he would fight ten times harder to come back to us. You know how much we mean to him."

"What happens if he can't handle the news?" LeBeau worried.

"Richard's taking care of him; he'll make sure nothing happens to him." Kinch said.

Newkirk sighed heavily. "...alright...Louis and I will tell him, tomorrow." Newkirk said, sadly.

"Matthews, Kinch," Olsen warned.

"Alright, everyone sit down and act natural." Kinch said.

The five of them sat down at the table and began pretended to be playing a game of gin with one another, when Matthews walked in and glared at the five of them. After finding out Olsen, Baker, and Wilson were good friends of the little group he was deeply aggravated with, they immediately went on his bad list and so did that 'Colonel Hogan' that the men kept referring to. Whoever he was, Matthews did not like him and wanted him gotten rid of as soon as he could find out where to find him, that is.

"What are you rats doing?" Matthews growled.

Newkirk looked up at Matthews then back to his friends.

"Oh look, Kinch; we do have termites, after all." Newkirk said, with a smug tone.

"I will not be referred to as a worthless animal by such incompetent, stuck up enlisted men such as yourselves." Matthews hissed.

"Matthews, don't trash talk yourself like that; it's really bad self-esteem boosting." LeBeau remarked.

The five men at the table were trying to hold back from laughing. They were enjoying this all too well despite the fact they absolutely hated the man.

"You'll address me as 'Colonel' or 'Sir', Frenchy, got it?" Matthews ordered.

"Frenchy; why don't you come closer and say that to my face!" LeBeau snapped back.

As LeBeau got to his feet, Kinch yanked his arm to make him sit back down. LeBeau looked over and saw the look in his current commanding officer's eyes. He sighed and nodded, then went back to looking at his hand of cards.

Matthews grinded his jaw then walked over and laid down in his bunk for the night. The five men sighed and went back to their game that they began to actually started to play a hand.


Newkirk and LeBeau left for the hospital in gestapo uniforms with the same names they had used the previous night, when they met Barbara. They were greeted by Dr. Klaussner, who was at the information desk looking over papers on his clipboard. He smiled and walked up to the men.

"Good evening, gentlemen. How can I help you this evening?" Dr. Klaussner put on the act as if he had never seen them before and had no idea who they were there to see for protection, as always.

"I'm Captain Otto Nussbaum; this is Lieutenant Fritz Conzelmann. We would like to see a Colonel Robert Hogan from the United States Army Air Corps. We were told he is in this hospital in critical condition." Newkirk said, with a convincing German accent.

Dr. Klaussner nodded.

"Follow me, gentlemen." Dr. Klaussner said, gesturing to the elevators.

The three of them arrived on their floor, and Newkirk and LeBeau walked to Hogan's room. The Englander opened the door and the two were greeted with the same sight as last time. Hogan was still white like paper, hooked up to an IV and oxygen assistance, his right hand on his swollen belly from surgery and the wound itself, and was as lively as the dead.

Newkirk and LeBeau sighed then approached their commanding officer. Newkirk sat down besides Hogan's legs on the right side of him, and LeBeau stood besides Newkirk, as they began socializing and visiting with their very ill friend.

"Hey, Gov'nor; it's ol' Newkirk and LeBeau, here...you look better today, sir." Newkirk lied, hoping it would have some magical effect on his colonel. Sadly, nothing happened.

"Olsen, Baker, and Wilson all say hi, Colonel. We all miss you so much. You've gotta wake up and come back to us, Colonel." LeBeau pleaded.

Hogan remained silent.

Newkirk sighed.

"Gov'nor, yah gotta come back to us. We miss you like crazy; your smile, your laugh, your voice, your wisecracks during roll call and making Klink furious...it's not the same back at camp without you there." Newkirk sadly said.

"Oui, Colonel; Pierre's right. In fact, we're swarming with stress up to our necks, right now without you. There's a new colonel in camp...Colonel Matthews, or Monsieur Bleh, as the rest of us like to call him. He's nothing compared to you." LeBeau said, disgusted that such a man could hold such high command.

"He's an insult to what you do, sir, and the things he says about you; you're just lucky Kinch and Louis were here. I would've socked him one in the kisser by now."

Both men grew quiet and swallowed a knot in their throat. They knew what they had to do. Newkirk swallowed again and began talking.

"Gov'nor...we got some pretty serious news we have to tell you...and I'm not sure how you're gonna react to it." Newkirk began. He struggled to find the correct words on how to break it to his commanding officer as easily as possible. There was no easy way, Newkirk thought to himself. He swallowed again, and continued talking. "Sir...your hat was left at the explosion site the night you got hurt...and Major Hochstetter found it. There's gestapo everywhere, we're lucky enough to still be able to complete assignments...and Burkhalter and the old Kommandant have agreed to let Hochstetter continue his investigation...he's dangerously close to figuring us out, Colonel...and we're scared."

"Colonel, we only kept this from you, because we want you to get healthy again as soon as possible. We want you to come back to us, Colonel...we miss you...we need you, now." LeBeau softly said.

"The Underground's also given us an assignment on getting a downed flyer back to England...Colonel Jerry Winters, if you know him, which I'm sure you do. Kinch thinks if we successfully complete this mission, Hochstetter will forget about the investigation, and Burkhalter will order him back to Hammelburg Headquarters...there's also this new Underground contact we've been assigned to work with...her name's Barbara Wagner, or Moonlight, by codename."

"She's absolutely beautiful, mon Colonel!"

"Oh, stop that," Newkirk said, turning to LeBeau. He shook his head with his eyes up towards the ceiling, then he returned his attention to Hogan. "Sir...you're never gonna believe what we tell you next, but...Barbara's uncle is Major Hochstetter...we're gonna ask Richard whether or not we can trust her after visiting with you, but we all thought you deserved to know what's going on, right now...you are and always will be our Colonel, Gov'nor."

Newkirk and LeBeau sighed and hung their heads. There was a long period of silence, before they all heard a machine start making alerting noises. The two men of Hogan's snapped their attention towards his heart monitor and saw that the lines were being made fast and rapid.

"Get Richard, Louis...hurry!" Newkirk exclaimed.

LeBeau rushed to the door as fast as he could. Newkirk grabbed hold of Hogan's left hand and held it tight in his.

"Dr. Klaussner, help! Help, Dr. Klaussner, help!" LeBeau wailed.

"Don't quit on us, Gov'nor...don't die on us, now...stay here with us, Gov'nor, please!" Newkirk pleaded.