Karl Langenscheidt had spent a good portion of his life around prisoners, but he never expected to actually be one himself.

He had a roomy cell with a double bunk all to himself, which was good. Being locked up in here was bad enough without having to deal with sharing a room with a murderer or something. The cot he was currently sitting on wasn't really comfortable, but it was better than nothing.

He sighed, his mind replaying the events of the last few hours over and over in his head; catching the bus, going to work, going to lunch, coming back to work, going to get back on the bus...the cops that asked him to come talk to them for a minute. Reliving the day wasn't only depressing, but it wasn't helping him either.

He should be thinking of other things, like how to prove his innocence, how to tell his family he was alright, how to get out of here, how to not panic...things like that.

He'd been in situations worse than this during the war, though, right? What had he done then to get out of tough spots then? His reeling mind couldn't really think straight enough to remember, but his thoughts did stray to one person: Colonel Hogan.

It was crazy to think that Colonel Hogan was even aware of his predicament at the moment, much less getting him out of here.

Karl sighed again. Even if Colonel Hogan wasn't here, he could really use someone like Hogan- smart, brave, and never caught off guard.

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Hogan was caught completely off guard.

"What?!" he shouted, for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

"It's true!" Ivy wailed, covering his face with his hands

"You're Hans Volker?"

"Yes," came the muffled reply.

"You?"

"Yes!"

"Really? How? Why? Ivy, you better start explaining fast," said Hogan, once he finally had his wits about him again.

Ivy lifted his face from his hands, revealing his distressed face that looked like it couldn't make up its mind whether it wanted to be pale or flushing red.

"I'm sorry!" he wailed again, face going back into his hands. "I didn't mean to get your friend in jail, and I didn't mean to lie to you!"

"Hey, stop it," commanded Hogan gently. "I want you to talk, not have a conniption."

After a few moments, Ivy finally lifted his head again and took a deep breath.

"Okay, sir. I'm sorry."

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" Hogan encouraged.

"Alright. The beginning...right. Well, I was born here. Not right here, you know, but here, as in America. My parents were German. So am I, I guess. They went back to Germany when I was young. And they took me with them."

"Naturally."

"But not my older sister. She stayed here, but it was because she wanted to. She had a husband."

"Is that who you live with now?" asked Hogan, curious.

"Yes. Her husband died a few years ago, so it's just me and her now. Anyway, back in Germany, I...I joined the Hitler Youth," Ivy admitted, saying the last part almost too quietly to hear.

"Go on," Hogan encouraged.

"My parents wanted me to. I...I just did. Everyone else my age was in it. It was strange. We were all so young. Some of it was fun. The camping, things like that. I was 15 during the Battle of Berlin. They...they made us all fight. Even the girls."

"How come you got pinned as a war criminal?" asked Hogan. He knew if he let Ivy, or even himself for that matter, get distracted by past memories, he would never get to the bottom of this story.

"I don't know. I remember...getting captured. Being interrogated. Things like that. I remember the guards talking about me...I don't think they knew I spoke English. My name really was Hans Volker. But apparently that name was very common. There was another Hans Volker. They were talking about how he was a guard at a camp...and the things he did to the prisoners there. And then they asked me how I could do such things...how I could be so cruel. They weren't very happy when I tried to tell them they had the wrong Hans."

"I can imagine," sighed Hogan, rubbing his hand over his face. "What happened next?"

"Well, they had us doing work. My group had to look for buried landmines. One day, someone blew one up. In the confusion, I ran off."

"How'd you get to the states?" asked Hogan.

"I found that my sister and her husband were living in France at the time. I made my way there and changed my name."

"What made you pick Ivy?"

"Well...have you ever heard the song 'Mairzy Doats?'"

"...Yes."

"That was stuck in my head when someone asked me what my name was."

"Oh boy."

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So, a quick chapter just to break the cliff hanger. :) Hope you enjoyed.