Chapter 10

November 15, 1944

Hogan followed the flickering light to the dead-end tunnel that was used as a guest quarters for Major von Hofer. The reports that he was getting nervous, piled up and it was time for Hogan to have a word with him.

"Major," he said in greeting. "I hope you are not afraid of flying because we have a way to get you out of Germany."

"That involves flying?" von Hofer asked and sat up on his cot. "As long as I don't need to fly I'll do whatever it takes to get out."

Hogan nodded. "Explain something to me," he said, "why didn't you stop Hitler before it got to the point that you had to choose an assassination?"

Von Hofer crossed his arms. His face half-hidden in the shadows, he tried his best to not show a reaction. "For the most part, Hitler did what was the best for Germany."

Somehow Hogan wasn't surprised. "And what was the best?"

"Nullify the Treaty of Versailles," he said without hesitation. "The remilitarization of the Rhineland and the Anschluss and last but not least he got back all the other parts that belong to Germany. The Dictate of Versailles stole all of this from us."

Hogan snorted. "You do realize that the Treaty of Versailles that you call unjust and unfair was far better than what you had offered Russia in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk? If you want something unjust, you just have to read that treaty." A treaty that had soured the relationship between the western Allies and the new Soviet Union. The mistrust it sowed still crippling the relationship between the Allies in this war.

The major lowered his head.

It took Hogan a moment until he recognized the emotion behind it. "You knew it but it was easier to be the victim, right?"

"Colonel Hogan," Major von Hofer rose to his feet and squared his shoulders. "Without your great America we wouldn't have had Hitler."

Hogan's eyes became small slits. "What?" He asked in a dangerously low voice. He had already learned that they liked to pass the responsibility and shift it upon somebody else but this was a new one.

Von Hofer tried to strengthen his own words by nodding his own agreement. "All the different powers in Germany held the balance until your Black Friday crashed our economy. And with nothing to eat people believe everything." The German major started to pace. "And do you know what's the best part?" he raised his eyebrows. "The crash of your economy only happened because you tried to squeeze every little profit out of the World War I. It was your greed for profiting from the war that overheated your economy and as its crashing lead directly to the next war."

Hogan balled his fist. "Your facts may be true but your conclusion is wrong. You and your people choose the evil - plain and simple. You wanted to believe the lies and betrayed everything that once was holy and replaced it with your new ideology about superiority and a right to own something. If powers are only balanced by the stability of the economy, then it's always a little shake-up away from crumbling down. It's not the fault of a failing economy if people then chose the wrong side."

"We tried to stop him," he said hotly. "We tried to stop him by doing the very thing we despise - becoming traitors to save our fatherland."

"You acted too late!"

Sergeant Olsen drifted nearer. "Everything okay, sir? I could hear you in the radio room."

Hogan forced his tense shoulder to relax. Olsen had told him to keep his voice down without ever saying something alone these lines. He gave von Hofer a short nod, accepting just how far he had been willing to go to stop Hitler. It was unthinkable for a soldier to take out his commander-in-chief, and yet these men had tried to do exactly this.

"We failed. I should have done the same thing as everybody else." With hanging shoulders, the German major sat back down. "I should have never promised."

"Promised what?"

He looked up with tired eyes and his mouth was a small line. "What does an honorable soldier do if he failed?"

"Rise and try again," Hogan answered despite knowing what von Hofer had meant. He sighed. "So, why didn't you commit suicide?"

"One of us had to stay alive to tell our side of the story in case -" He broke off and looked away.

Hogan could finish the sentence with ease. "In case Hitler is the winner and writes the history." He took a deep breath. "That won't happen. As long as there are people willing to stand up against the evil, Hitler won't succeed."

"What is evil? Isn't it wrong to bomb our cities, our women and children to break our will to fight?" He challenged Hogan. "It is war. Neither you nor we are without fault."

"You know what's the difference? What we did before the war and what we try to do while being at war. So, tell me, what could a young man whose father is a Jew do to save his life?"

The major didn't say anything.

"And what would you need to do to stop the bombing?"

"Ask for an armistice," von Hofer said.

Hogan leaned back. "Your so-called November criminals were the best that could have happened to Germany. And whoever asked you to live instead of killing yourself, did also your people a big favor. Because the winner may write the history but the survivors tell the story and you need to go out and tell the story about the difference between wrong and evil, about the difference between fault and responsibility. Not all of Germany is responsible but you're all at fault - by seeing nothing, hearing nothing and most of all doing nothing."

"We tried and we paid a high price."

Hogan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. They had realized the wrong of their ways, or maybe Hitler had been finally just too extreme for them. But it had been too late. They had waited too long, they had looked away too long. He turned away. "I'll send for you when we're ready."

"Colonel," LeBeau rushed into his office, "Major Hochstetter. He's back." His voice was breathless and the impending danger was written all over his face.

Hogan dropped his pencil, grabbed his jacket and cap and ran out. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Newkirk already herding the young Kurt Gold into barracks seven. If all else failed, he was under orders to take him down into the tunnel. Showing him the tunnels was stretching his loyalty and Hogan wanted to avoid it. But he also needed Klink alive and he preferred to stay alive, too.

Slowing his steps until he didn't seem worried or rushed anymore, Hogan still beat Colonel Klink and reached the gestapo major in time.

"Major Hochstetter. Fancy meeting here," he greeted him. "I didn't know you would come or I would have cleaned up a bit."

The gestapo major just growled at him.

"Oh, I guess it didn't go well in Berlin?" He said and showed his best compassionate expression.

"Major Hochstetter, what a pleasure!" Klink hurried down the steps, almost missing the last one and tripped. Despite the cold, he just carried his coat under his arm.

"Klink!" Hochstetter's hand shot out to stabilize the stumbling Colonel. "When I was here the last time, do you remember what happened?"

"You didn't find anything," Klink stammered and the guilt blinked on his face like the neon signs on the Broadway.

Hochstetter tried something new and moved the corners of his mouth to something resembling a smile. "What did happen before I went away?"

Klink shivered in the cold. "You ... you ..."

"Got a call?" Hogan offered while he put his hands into his pockets. He almost expected another eruption of Hochstetter's famous anger, but he acted unusually benignly.

"Right. I received a call. Do you remember that, Colonel Klink?"

Klink nodded. "The men you were looking for had been apprehended."

"Yes," Hochstetter hissed, "now did you write a report about it?"

Out of the corner of his eyes, Hogan saw LeBeau lingering in front of barracks seven, ready to disappear inside and hide Kurt Gold. Almost invisible, Hogan shook his head. Something had happened that had clipped Hochstetter's claws.

"Report?"

Suddenly it clicked. "Let me guess, major, Berlin doubts that you have received such a call? You can't present them your missing prisoners and now they're looking for somebody to blame." He grinned. "I'm sure that Colonel Klink is more than willing to vouch for you - seeing as you're always so nice to him."

His scowl was a welcome sign of the old Hochstetter. He growled. "Colonel Klink, didn't you forget something?"

"Forget?" Klink repeated single words as a question, looking from Hochstetter to Hogan and back.

"About that," Hogan said, "I was just on my way to the commandant to complain about his punishment. It is unfair and unjust."

"What punishment?" Klink was going to get whiplash from all the looking between Hogan and Hochstetter.

"Oh yes, it is inhumane and cruel." He leaned forward to face Hochstetter. "He actually expects us to paint the firewood with the same insignia as used by your combat planes. The Geneva Convention -"

Hochstetter's scowled turned into a sneer. "Why are you complaining? Haven't you realized yet that we are winning this war and that everything is going to be ruled by our insignia?"

Hogan smirked. "But we neither have the paint nor the pattern to paint your national emblem, so we can't do anything like that." He crossed his arms.

"But Colonel Hogan, that's absolutely no problem." Hochstetter pushed Klink out of his way and went straight to the phone.

"Colonel Hogan!" Klink whispered. "We -"

"I have to give it to you, Colonel Klink. You really know how to divert Hochstetter's attention. It's always a pleasure to watch you work." He made a frustrated motion with his hand. "If I'd just had for once the ability to plan as good as you I'd have already escaped. But your foresight to sent your lady friend back to the hotel ... brilliant. And now Major Hochstetter is already helping you. Amazing."

Klink froze. He furrowed his brows and then nodded. But the doubt on his face never really vanished. His eyes lingered longer than normal on him. It seemed almost as if he realized that he was being mocked.

Keeping his face blank, Hogan waited for Hochstetter and Klink to give him everything he needed to have a successful flight. Finally, something went right for him.