Kinch was dumbstruck. He looked at Hogan, then at LeBeau, opened his mouth to speak, then closed it and shook his head.

"Is something wrong?" asked Carter, in the doorway.

Hogan waved him in, with a warning glance at Kinch. "LeBeau had a nightmare. Don't wake him. Kinch, what have you got?"

Kinch pulled himself together with an effort, and consulted the notes he was still clutching. "Düsseldorf came through. Josef Berg, aged fifty-one. Lived just outside Hagendorf, in Neustadt. Owner of a meat-packing plant, contracted to supply a lot of military bases. Not sure why he was heading to Hammelburg, but his firm uses a transport company based there for deliveries in the south. His wife's brother - a man called Kurt Lessing - is the accountant at the transport firm. Lessing hasn't been seen for a couple of days, so he may have been pulled in by the Gestapo."

"Yeah, him and every third person in Hammelburg," Hogan remarked.

"There's more," Kinch went on. "It seems Berg's wife Charlotte has dropped out of sight, as well." He glanced at LeBeau. "Which ties in with something else we heard just now," he added in a low voice.

"If my husband was blown up, I'd be hiding, too," said Carter.

"She's not hiding," murmured Hogan. "How long has she been gone?"

"Almost a week," said Kinch.

"Anything else?"

"There are some rumours about Berg," Kinch went on. "Before the war, he was said to be not too particular about honesty in his business affairs. Apparently he made a hobby of invoicing for goods that weren't delivered, and shipping merchandise that wasn't recorded on the books. Small-time stuff, and he was clever enough to keep it that way, so he stayed out of trouble."

"Till now," added Hogan. "Well, there's scope for imagination there."

"I haven't finished, Colonel," Kinch went on. "After they had given me all of this, they asked me to change to another frequency. And then they told me all about Kurt Lessing."

"The brother-in-law?"

"Uh-huh. And he's a real piece of work. He's been employed by different operators in the black market for years. Back in '38, there was a big investigation. Lessing was implicated, but it never came to trial. Two of the key witnesses had accidents. And you'll love this. The investigation team included a friend of ours, sent down specially from Berlin."

Hogan's eyebrows went up. "Not Hochstetter?"

Kinch nodded. "Someone on that team seems to have scuppered the inquiry. The word around is that Lessing has friends in fairly high places that look after his interests. And in low places, as well."

Hogan took that in. He was looking at LeBeau, who hadn't stirred. "Didn't we hear somewhere that Lindemann is keeping a close watch on Hochstetter?"

"Yeah. So if Hochstetter's involved..."

"...then things just might be about to get really ugly," Hogan concluded

* * *

LeBeau seemed his usual self in the morning, although he looked tired and was a little snappish with everyone. He didn't seem to remember what had happened.

"What do we tell him?" Kinch asked.

"Nothing more than he needs to know, for now," replied Hogan. "Which is that he talked in his sleep, and gave us some information which may, or may not, be useful. Carter doesn't even need to know that much. I don't want either of them getting spooked by whatever's going on."

"Trust me, colonel," said Newkirk. "It won't happen again." He was feeling dazed, even though it was hours since he had found himself unintentionally taking over LeBeau's body. It had thoroughly frightened him, not only on his own account, but on LeBeau's as well. The fact that LeBeau seemed to have taken no harm from it was little consolation.

"When you call the hospital to check on Newkirk," Hogan went on, "see if you can find out if Charlotte Berg is a patient there. I'd like to know if we can trust the information we got last night. And try Copernicus; he might be able to help. Ask him about Lessing, too."

At the end of roll-call, as the prisoners waited to be dismissed, Carter said in a puzzled voice, "I thought Langenscheidt was guarding Newkirk, at the hospital."

"He was," said Hogan. He glanced sideways at the German corporal, standing at attention behind Schultz. "Are any of the other guards missing? Klink might have sent someone else to take over."

"I think they're all accounted for, Colonel," murmured Kinch.

"Dismissed!" came the order from the Kommandant, and the men fell out.

"I don't like it," said Hogan.

"I'm not wild about it either," murmured Newkirk. He hadn't realised that there were guards standing over him. It seemed a pointless exercise; as things stood he wasn't going anywhere. But of course, Klink would assume that an escape attempt was more than probable, and would take precautions.

Hogan had continued to speak: "Kinch, Carter - see what you can find out from Langenscheidt."

He leaned against the barracks wall, waiting. It didn't take long.

"It's not good news," said Kinch. "Apparently the Gestapo have taken over guarding Newkirk. Hochstetter's men. He was there this morning, first thing."

"Oh, brilliant," said Newkirk. "Special attention from the Gestapo. I can't remember the last time I had this much fun in one week."

"Does Langenscheidt know why?" Hogan asked.

"No idea."

"Colonel, I really don't like this," Carter said. "Can't we bust Newkirk out of there?"

"And where would we put him, Carter? We're not set up for intensive care. Until he comes out of it, he's better off where he is."

Kinch raised his head, looking towards the gate. "Uh-oh. Guess who's here."

Hogan watched the staff car driving in. "Carter, inside," he said quietly. "Better if Hochstetter doesn't get a good look at you, after last night. Kinch, go and try Copernicus. Ask him if he can get the information to us by this afternoon, in the official mail."

LeBeau and Carter, along with Newkirk, joined him in his quarters as he set up the hidden coffee-pot receiver to listen in on the Kommandant's office. They heard the door of Klink's office open, and Hochstetter's dentist-drill voice: "Kommandant Klink."

"Major Hochstetter," squeaked Klink. "What a pleasant surprise."

Hochstetter interrupted the Kommandant's blatherings without ceremony. "I am here to interrogate some of your prisoners, in relation to the act of sabotage two days ago."

Klink was moved to protest. "But Captain Lindemann already interviewed the prisoners."

"Not all of them. Corporal LeBeau was not available for questioning," said Hochstetter. "I will interrogate him first, and then I have a few additional questions for the other men who were present."

"Great," said Hogan. "Just what we need."

"I think I have a migraine coming on," muttered LeBeau. "What am I supposed to say? I didn't see anything, I didn't hear anything." He was starting to sound like Schultz. "And if I had, I wouldn't tell him."

"Just stick to that. But be careful. If he is involved, we can't take a chance on him thinking you know anything. And we can't let him get round to questioning Carter, in case he recognises him from last night. Could you pull off a fainting spell, if you needed to?"

"I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Not even under torture," replied LeBeau with dignity.

"LeBeau - hold it," said Hogan, as they heard the Kommandant's phone ringing.

Newkirk felt a prickling sensation. He looked towards the door. Charlotte Berg was there again. But there was something different. She was very still, and seemed unaware of where she was.

Distantly, he heard the Kommandant's voice, coming through the receiver: "Hello?...Yes....It's for you, Major. The hospital."

"This is Major Hochstetter speaking...Yes...Yes...When?...No, I will come at once...Kommandant, an urgent matter has come up. I will come back later. Heil Hitler."

"What's happened?" Newkirk asked. The woman did not reply. It was as if she didn't hear him.

For a few seconds everything was still. Then Carter burst out, "Oh, for Pete's sake, sir!" And as if some connection was broken by the sound, Charlotte Berg was gone.

LeBeau joined Carter in a barrage of protest and exclamation. Hogan held up a hand for silence. "Okay. Enough. Carter, get Kinch up here."

Before Carter could move, Kinch came in at a rush. "Hochstetter just had a call from..."

"We know. We heard him."

"It's not about Newkirk," said Kinch quickly. "We're still tapped into Klink's outside line. I listened in. The call was from one of Hochstetter's men. Wait," he went on, as Carter and LeBeau started to speak, both at once. "There's another patient Hochstetter's been interested in. That's who they called about. She just died."

Hogan drew a deep breath. "Let me guess. Charlotte Berg."