CHAPTER 9

When Hogan stormed into the barracks, he found an agitated Newkirk pacing the barracks. Hogan observed him for a moment before speaking. "All right, Newkirk, you want to tell me exactly what happened?" Carter, LeBeau and Kinch looked at Newkirk expectantly.

Newkirk stopped pacing after a moment, running his hand through his unruly hair. He was silent as he turned to face the others but his eyes were blazing. He had been debating just how much to tell the others. He still couldn't bring himself to say anything about the Zimmers but he had to say something. He slammed his hand against the table. "Reinhardt wants me to be 'is bloody spy! If I don't tell 'im when we plan on doing somethin', 'e's gonna send me to some ruddy labor camp in Poland!"

The others stared at him in shocked disbelief before exploding. "They can't do that!" cried Carter leaping to his feet.

"Impossible!" spat LeBeau. "They cannot send you to labor camp! It is against the Geneva Convention!"

Hogan frowned in thought as Newkirk dropped into a chair. "It is impossible, isn't it, Colonel?" asked Kinch watching Hogan carefully.

Hogan sighed and shook his head slowly. "No, actually it isn't." The others now turned to him in confusion.

"But Colonel!" cried Carter in dismay, "How can that be allowed! He's a prisoner of war!"

"Yeah," agreed Hogan glancing over at Newkirk, now slumped miserably in his chair, "But there is a clause that allows the Nazis to use prisoners under the rank of sergeant as laborers. In theory they're supposed to treat them as they would in a regular POW camp, but I think we can safely assume Reinhardt has other ideas. They aren't supposed to use prisoners in the manufacture of war materials but that leaves a lot of other options wide open."

"Well, I guess that settles it," sighed Newkirk morosely. "Guess I'll be puttin' all that tunnel diggin' experience to good use."

"No, Newkirk," replied Hogan firmly, "we are not going to let Reinhardt send you off to some labor camp. We'll figure something out. But we don't have to do anything immediately. We've got some time to come up with a plan. He just expects you to pass on any information that comes along and that could take some time. We might just be able to turn this to our advantage."

"You thinking about maybe passing on false information, mon Colonel?" asked LeBeau.

"Hey! That could be a terrific idea!" Carter's eyes were bright with excitement, "We'd get Newkirk off the hook and make trouble for the Nazis at the same time!"

Hogan frowned in thought. "I don't know what we'll do exactly. We can't pass on anything that's blatantly false or once Reinhardt realizes he's been had, Newkirk will be off to Poland."

"But Colonel," protested Kinch, "If Newkirk tells Reinhardt anything, someone gets in trouble! If Newkirk gives him some information that turns out to be true, then that proves to Reinhardt he was right all along. If it's false, then Newkirk's out of here!"

Newkirk was barely listening as the others discussed what to do. He was thinking about the Zimmers. Where were they? Although he'd played up the risk to himself, he didn't care if he got sent off to the fiery pits of Hell if it meant the Zimmers would be safe. He had to figure out a way to help Millie's father and brother. He was worried that if he did something that set Reinhardt off, they would die. If only he could find out where they were being held maybe he could help them escape. He closed his eyes and unbidden, the scene at the farmhouse played back to him. He shuddered.

He now looked over at his friends, so passionately debating his future. He couldn't do anything to hurt them either. He'd already done enough damage as far as they were concerned. If he turned over any information to Reinhardt, they could all be killed but if he didn't, then the Zimmers would most certainly be. He buried his head in his hands. Maybe he should just make a break for it. If he simply cut the wires or escaped in some obvious way that wouldn't involve any of the others, then Reinhardt couldn't blame Hogan. He felt a chill run through his body as he thought of the difficult chore that still loomed before him – burying Millie and her family. He nodded to himself. Yes, escaping would probably be the best thing. The time had finally come. He could go to the farm first and then he would avoid the usual escape routes and just try to make it on his own to Switzerland. He wanted to avoid bringing any suspicions on the Underground people who had been helping them smuggle prisoners out of the country. He was a marked man and he couldn't bring the others down with him. It would be a new moon in a few more days, he would go then. Maybe he could somehow find out where the Zimmers were but he had a feeling, no matter what he did, they were lost. He turned his attention back to the discussion.

"Well, we aren't going to rush into anything," he heard Hogan saying. "This is going to require some serious thought or we're all in big trouble. For now, all our sabotage operations are shut down. Kinch, let London know that at least for the moment we are out of business until we can get this figured out." Hogan turned to Newkirk and frowned in concern. The man looked terrible. Granted, he was still recovering from injuries but there was a sense of defeatism so unlike the indomitable Englishman. "Newkirk? You OK? Don't worry, we will get this figured out."

Newkirk forced himself to sit up straight and smile. "I believe you, Colonel. We've been in worse scrapes than this. I know it'll be fine." In his mind, he was already planning his escape.

The opportunity came a week later. Although Hogan had declared a moratorium on all new sabotage efforts, they were still helping a few escaped prisoners from other camps. They had just gotten word from the Underground that two men from Stalag 2 had escaped and needed to be picked up. LeBeau and Carter were going out to meet them. Kinch was stationed down in the tunnel monitoring the radio and Hogan found himself forced to attend a dinner party that Klink was holding for General Burkhalter and his sister. Klink both feared and detested Burkhalter's sister, Gertrude. Since her own husband had disappeared on the Eastern Front over a year ago, it was obvious she now viewed the hapless Kommandant as possible husband material. Most held the opinion her husband had surrendered to the Russians rather than come home to his formidable wife. Whenever she came to dinner, Klink always made Hogan attend hoping for some moral support. So tonight, Newkirk was on his own.

He planned on going through the fence. He wanted to make it as obvious as possible so the Krauts wouldn't go looking for tunnels. They hadn't found any of the numerous passageways that honeycombed the land beneath the camp and Newkirk wanted to make sure it stayed that way. Once the others were out of the way, he slipped out the barracks door. He had given an excuse to the other prisoners in the barracks that he needed to talk to Schultz and they had no reason to suspect otherwise.

The night was cold and the night surrounded the camp in a shroud of indelible black. The compound was periodically bathed in the brilliant light of the search lights but Newkirk was well familiar with their pattern. The guards rarely deviated from their customary routines. He carefully lifted the lid of the nearby water barrel where he had hidden a rucksack of supplies earlier in the day. He shouldered the pack and cautiously moved across the compound, staying in the shadows. He had done this so many times he could have done it in his sleep, but he saw no reason to be careless. Finally, he reached a blind spot in the fence. There were several of these around the perimeter but again, Newkirk preferred to avoid the spot they had precut for emergencies. He wanted to do this the old fashioned way. He watched carefully as the outer perimeter guard passed by. The dog never even looked his way. The prisoners had worked hard to cultivate friendly relationships with all the guard dogs, even though they were regularly changed out.

As soon as the guard was out of sight, Newkirk slipped out of his hiding place and sprinted towards the fence. He silently leaped over the low-lying warning wire and hunkered down next to main fence. Pulling out his cutters, he quickly cut through the multiple strands of wire. Again, he had done this so many times, it took him only a couple of minutes to make a space large enough for him to wriggle through. As soon as he was clear, he crouched unmoving for a few more moments to survey the land between himself and the woods. It was a good 50 yards of marshy lowlands covered in brush and rocks; not the easiest thing to run through, but he had purposely chosen the least accessible direction knowing the guards tended to overlook this area. He checked his watch; it would be at least three more minutes before the perimeter guard returned. He looked upward towards the nearest tower. The guard was looking in the opposite direction. Now was the time. Newkirk took a deep breath and in a crouching run, made his way across the open land.

As soon as he had reached a good stand of brush, he squatted down behind it, breathing heavily. He still wasn't back to full form but good enough. He peered back through the darkness towards the camp. He was now about halfway between the fence and the woods. He froze as he spied the perimeter guard and his dog coming around the corner. They were headed towards the hole in the fence. If the guard saw it now, then Newkirk was sunk. He wasn't far enough away to escape into the woods before the dog would catch him. Holding his breath, he silently watched, sweat trickling down his back despite the cold. Step by step, the guard moved towards the spot while the dog began sniffing with interest at the ground. Newkirk could feel the adrenalin pumping through his system as he prepared to make a dash for the woods. Just as he was about to make his move, he heard a voice call. Sharply, Newkirk turned to see another guard appear around the corner the first one had so recently turned. The first guard turned and called back, then moved towards the newcomer. Newkirk watched a few moments more then fled silently into the woods.

Hogan wearily crossed the compound towards the barracks with Schultz trudging behind. As much as Hogan enjoyed the decent food at these dinners watching Klink and the Burkhalters dancing around each other was exhausting. Hogan wasn't entirely convinced that Gertrude was as bad as Klink thought she was, but she definitely wasn't for the faint of heart. She would eat someone like the spineless Wilhelm Klink alive. He shook his head with a soft laugh. It had been entertaining evening, that was for sure. He looked at his watch. It was past midnight. Hopefully Carter and LeBeau had returned safely with the escaped prisoners. He then frowned. He still hadn't come up with a good plan to extricate Newkirk from his difficulties with Reinhardt. As long as they didn't do anything obvious , say like blowing up a ball bearing plant, he thought they were safe but Hogan wasn't sure how patient Reinhardt would be. And even the lack of sabotage could prove to be their undoing. If Reinhardt was convinced the sabotage stopped because Hogan knew Newkirk was supposed to report any such plans to the Gestapo that alone could prove the Nazi was right. It was a tricky situation. Then there was Newkirk himself. Hogan was certain there was more to this story than Newkirk had admitted, but he couldn't get the Englishman to open up. He sighed. They sure hadn't covered any of this in Command School!

Schultz opened the barracks door and held it open for Hogan. "Good night, Colonel Hogan," he said and firmly bolted the door shut. Hogan stood in the darkness for a few minutes waiting for his eyes to adjust. He then strode over to the bunk serving as the entrance to the escape tunnel below, triggered the release mechanism and climbed down into the opening below. Kinch was sitting by the radio rapidly deciphering the coded message coming through.

"A problem?" asked Hogan looking around. He didn't see his other two men or even Newkirk for that matter.

Kinch finished his transcription and looked up. "Just a minor set-back," he said. "That was from the Underground. Carter and LeBeau met up with them to pick up the two prisoners, but they were surprised by a patrol of SS. The Underground wanted to let us know that they all escaped safely and that Carter and LeBeau should be here in a couple of hours with the guys from Stalag 2."

Hogan sighed in relief. He always worried when he sent men out, no matter how routine the mission and with the way things were right now, things were especially risky. At least they had word this time that Carter and LeBeau were merely delayed and not captured. After the last fiasco with Newkirk, he felt like some old mother hen. "Newkirk not down here with you?" he asked looking around as he settled into the chair next to Kinch.

Kinch shook his head. "Nope. I haven't seen him all night." He frowned slightly. "That's kind of odd now that I think about it. Lately, he's spent a fair amount of time down here when you guys are out on missions. Maybe he was just tired."

Hogan grunted. "I'm still not sure he's told us everything about what happened to him and knowing Newkirk, that can only lead to trouble."

Kinch grimaced. "Yeah, I know what you mean, Colonel. He doesn't quite seem himself. Seems preoccupied with something and I can't believe it would just be because of Reinhardt's threats. If there is something going on he hasn't told us about, he could easily go off half-cocked."

Hogan ran his hand through his dark hair. "That's what I'm afraid of. Well, I may talk to him again tomorrow. We have to figure out something to do about Reinhardt one way or the other but if there's something else going on, I want to know about it!"

Carter and LeBeau showed up two hours later with Captains Murray and Klaczynski in tow. Both American airmen had been shot down a few months earlier and were eager to get back into the fight. Hogan and his men would keep them hidden for a few days, outfit them with papers and clothing and send them on down the line to the next stop towards England.

"You guys all right?" asked Hogan as Carter and LeBeau cleaned up and changed back into their uniforms.

"Piece o' cake, Colonel!" grinned Carter tying up his boots.

"Oui," agreed LeBeau, "Other than that SS patrol we had no problems. The Underground created a diversion so that we could escape."

"Great," said Hogan turning to the ladder. We'll get these guys on their way in another day or two. Alright, let's all get to bed. Roll call comes pretty early you know and we don't want Klink to find anyone missing!"