Well after nearly a month away, I'm finally back! YAY! :D You would not believe how busy I am...and it's gonna get worse before it gets better. But due to the fact that I hate it when fanfiction writers don't finish their stories I will promise here and now that I will finish this story, so rest assured that it will be finished. :)
Thank you Maurora, ShadowBrook17, esinger, 2Lot, The Ginger Midget and RowdyClara for the reviews! :D You all really made my day! :D Honestly I was so happy you all are enjoying this story, it really means a lot to me you take the time to let me know you're liking it. :D So thanks! Hope you like this next chapter!
Thank you Navy82, 2Lot and The Ginger Midget for following, you three really inspire me to keep writing, knowing that I have followers who want to read! :D
So here's the next chapter and enjoy! :D Thanks for reading! Oh, and I survived that parade I was telling you all about and we did fairly well in it. 'Cept my horse fell out of the trailer and konked his head, so he had such a bad headache I walked him in the parade. :( Such is life. At least we were still in it. :)
Alrighty enough talk, go ahead and read! :D
-Shire from CollieandShire
Chapter Ten
General Hoganoff
Faith jerked her head up and realized she'd been allowed to doze off. Strange, why didn't Han stop me? That didn't make any sense. She eyed the door, and didn't see the form of the Corporal guarding the door. In fact, she didn't see anyone around. The hall was silent, and Faith realized she was alone. But why?
She got up and made her way to the door, pressing her face against it and looking up and down the hallway. There was no one there. This is really odd. She thought. It was then that she became aware of shouting. It was faint, but growing louder and louder by the minute.
Faith strained her ears to hear and caught a slew of German. It didn't sound like a Gestapo-Prisoner confrontation either; it sounded like a superior ordering someone around.
Faith noted that the small window near the end of the hall was dark, and figured it was past nine at night. Another interrogation with the Colonel should be in conference soon. She cringed.
Carter stood rigid like a post, his blue eyes darting from each officer as he stood next to his superior, Colonel Hogan. Hogan had his hands on his hips, a pair of black gloves in his right hand as he stared down his opponent. But instead of his usual American pilot's uniform, on Hogan tonight was a sleek black Gestapo General outfit. And instead of the usual POW prisoners there were Gestapo officers everywhere. And who should Hogan be yelling at but Major Hochstetter himself, who fortunately didn't realize that the General in front of him was Klink's senior prisoner of war officer at Stalag Thirteen.
Carter was dressed in the uniform of a Gestapo Sergeant, his hands behind his back as he concentrated on keeping himself in check. One ounce of nervousness could set this operation off like a bomb. The Gestapo was trained to catch any signs of fear, and when they did they were on you like a German shepherd on its prey. Sometimes Carter wondered how he let himself get talked into being part of Colonel Hogan's underground operation. Though he was always teased for being dumb and stupid, he really wasn't that way. He was slow, yes, but that wasn't his fault. In reality he was a fairly thoughtful person. He liked to think about things, and when he hadn't had a chance to think about something he usually ended up sounding stupid.
Carter shook his thoughts out of his head and regained attention on Hogan, who was slamming his gloves against his hand.
"Vhat do you mean, you don't have my confirmation papers!" Hogan roared. Hochstetter was searching through a stack of papers frantically, skimming over the headlines and shaking his head.
"I am telling you zey are not here, mein General." Hochstetter managed, glancing up at Hogan with a look of dread. "I cannot hand over za American Fraulein without za proper papers."
"Papers, papers!" Hogan screamed, slamming his fists down on the desk. Hochstetter stepped back, his eyes wide. "Aren't my credentials enough? How dare you defy your senior officer!"
"It ist not zat, mein Herr." Hochstetter croaked, shuffling the papers and laying them down neatly. The seven other Gestapo men under Hochstetter were doing their best not to snicker. It was funny to them to see their superior officer acting in such a manner. "I have za highest respect for a man of your position, but vithout za papers orders are not to hand over such an important American spy to anyone."
Hogan sucked in a breath with his teeth, clenching his fists and then crossing his arms. "Sergeant!" he barked, turning to Carter. Carter clicked his heels and did the German nod. "I want this man Court Marshaled, shot and sent to the Russian front! In that order, too! Write it down now!"
Carter whipped out a pen and scribbled down what Hogan said, pretending to be concentrating hard on his task.
"No, vait, mein Herr!" Hochstetter said desperately, coming from around the desk and putting his hands up in desperation. "Zere is no need for zat! Honest!"
Hogan glanced at Hochstetter and folded his hands behind his back. "Oh, so you've decided to cooperate then? Excellent! Bring me the prisoner immediately!"
Hochstetter's mouth fell open and he stared at Hogan. "Err, zat vasn't vat I was going to-" he started, then seeing the dangerous look in Hogan's eyes quickly added, "Of course! I vill bring her to you immediately!"
Hogan nodded, putting on a pleased smile. "Good choice, Major. I'll be sure to mention it when I return to Berlin."
That inspired Hochstetter to move things forward faster, and he gestured for a Corporal. "Go bring za prisoner out. Za General is in charge of her now." He ordered. The Corporal saluted and headed out the room.
Emma sighed and stared at her watch.
"Worrying isn't going to make it better." LeBeau told her. She glanced at the Frenchman and smile faintly.
"I know, but I can't help it." She explained. "I just hope everything goes alright."
LeBeau nodded, and pushed a bowl of soup towards the girl. "Here, eat this. It'll make you feel better."
Emma eyed the soup, and suspiciously wondered what LeBeau had put into it. Due to his French ancestry she could safely bet there were some strange foods in there that she would never eat if she could help it. But considering it would be rude to tell him that she wasn't interested in eating French food, she went ahead and spooned a bite into her mouth. To her surprise it tasted just fine, even good!
"This is pretty good, LeBeau." She told him, taking another bite. "It tastes like my La Madre's Ellen Soup."
"Ellen soup?" LeBeau echoed, furrowing his brow and contemplating this. "I have never heard of that before."
Emma couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. "Ellen soup is a recipe a friend of ours gave us." she explained between laughs. "Her name was Ellen and we didn't know what the soup was called, so we just called it Ellen soup!"
LeBeau joined in with her laughter, bringing Newkirk to the door. "Blimey, what's so funny?" he asked, his blue eyes twinkling.
"This tastes like Ellen soup." Emma told him, bringing on another wave of laughter from LeBeau.
Newkirk didn't bother showing he didn't get it. "And that is?"
"It's a recipe a friend gave us a long time ago, and since we didn't know what it was called we called it after her, Ellen soup."
Newkirk stared blankly at Emma, and shook his head. "And that's funny because?"
"Because there's no such thing as Ellen soup!" LeBeau roared, slapping his knee. "Don't you get it?"
"No." Newkirk entered the room fully, sitting down next to LeBeau. "But don't mind me, I never got your French jokes."
LeBeau glared at him, and Emma giggled. "I have a friend, LeBeau, who named her German Shepherd after you." She informed the Frenchman, his death look towards the Brit reminding her of what Sara had told her.
LeBeau whirled his attention back to Emma. "She named her dog after me!" he exclaimed. "Should I be offended?"
"Naw, it was a real nice dog." Emma thought about this for a second. "Actually it wasn't even real, it was off of some video game she got. Anyways he was more like her imaginary dog and he was her favorite."
"You should be 'onored, LeBeau!" Newkirk crowed, slapping LeBeau on the back. "An American named 'er imaginary dog off of you!"
LeBeau shook his head. "Crazy Americans." He muttered. Emma smiled, then sobered up as her mind returned to what was happening right now. Dear God, please let them get Faith out alive!
When the door to the hallway opened, Faith began to shake uncontrollably. It was the appointed time. Time for another interrogation with Colonel Fischer.
Corporal Han came to the door and unlocked it, glancing back towards where he'd come from. "Come, ve must go." He told her. His eyes proved he was nervous, and Faith swallowed down her own fear. The Colonel must be very angry tonight. She shuddered.
Han grabbed her by the arm and led her out of the cell and down the hall. Faith did her best to keep herself under control, but fear gripped her heart like icy fingers. She stumbled, and Han jerked her along. "We can't have any of zat." He muttered, opening the door and leading her out. "Vhat vould za General think?" Faith couldn't help it, she stopped in her tracks. The General! Han glared at her and pulled her forward. "Acting zat vay ist not going to help either of us."
"Why does a General want to see me?" Faith whimpered as Han unlocked a second door. They take serious prisoner precautions here. She couldn't help think as he pushed the second door open and led her to a third closed door.
"I don't know." Was all Han said. He stuck the key into the third door and unlocked it, and then pushed Faith into the room where she was certain doom awaited her.
One look at the General nearly caused Faith to collapse as she realized who this General was. Colonel Robert Hogan.
FINALLY Hogan and Carter are in the process of saving Faith! If I do say so myself it's about time. ;) (And I'm the writer...shesh)
:D Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review! Reviews inspire my fingers to fly! :D
See you all at the next chapter!
-Shire