Chapter 10:

While Schultz drank expensive wine and champagne at the hotel, Hogan and LeBeau walked through the nightlife in the streets of Caen. Live music and singing was heard on every corner, overpriced stores and boutiques scattered all over the place. The colorful lights illuminated the city underneath a darkening night sky. While the French corporal was enjoying himself, inhaling the strong scent of fresh baked French bread, it was a new experience for the American. He was used to busy city life being from Cleveland, but he felt as if he had just entered the French version of New York City. People running all over, cars zipping through the city, traditional French music everywhere he went, it was exciting and extremely overwhelming all at one time. It made him worry about finding the place Kalina was residing at even with the address Kinch had gotten from London's records.

"Boy," Hogan said, scanning his surroundings. "Like I dropped into a Broadway musical or something."

"That is every part of France, especially Paris, Colonel," LeBeau answered, grinning from ear to ear. "We are a very artistic and expressive culture."

"It shows with how many musicians and dancers I've seen in the last seven minutes...are we anywhere near the address Kinch gave us from London?"

"Détendez-vous, Colonel. Je vais nous y rendre avant que vous ayez la chance de cligner des yeux." (1)

"En anglais s'il vous plaît."

"Ah, you are picking up quickly, Colonel!"

"No, it's just the only saying you taught me I find useful at the moment."

The two Allied flyers continued walking down the streets, when they came to a halt in front of a building across the street. A two story beige house covered with vines. It looked extremely old and empty, yet elegant at the same time. It made Hogan look down at the notepad paper he held in his hands, then back up at the building.

"LeBeau," he said, pointing at the abandoned house. "Look at that building over there."

The corporal turned his eyes to where his commander was pointing and examined the place himself. Something about was attracting them to go towards it. Even inside it for further investigating, but they could not figure out why. There was no number on the building, but they were on the correct street for where the CU675's Headquarters were located. Was this the building they had been painstakingly searching for?

"You think this might be the place, Colonel?" LeBeau asked, turning back to Hogan.

The American thought about it for awhile and was about to answer, when he was brought out of his thoughts by the sight of a young United States navy man dressed in his sailor whites. His physical description was difficult to determine with the dim lighting in the alley beside the building, and he was carrying a paper bag with something concealed inside it. He looked around his surroundings, as if scouting out for anyone keeping an eye on him. Spotting no one, he got on all fours, opened the window leading into the basement, then swung his legs inside and disappeared into the building. Hogan had his answer.

"You better believe me it is," the colonel said, looking back at LeBeau. He turned back to the sight in front of them. "Follow me."

The two jogged across the street, walked up the stairs leading to the front entrance, then disappeared into the building. When they got down into the basement, both men were surprised to see the large room filled with almost seventy seaman participating in several activities. Some were dancing to 1920's American and Broadway music, some were playing card games or charades, or were simply conversing with one another while sipping on French wine. One group of guys were in the corner playing a large game of poker and black jacks.

"Sacré chats," LeBeau said, baffled by all the navy men.

"For an unregistered organization with London, they are sure a big group of people...how do we ever find Kalina in a group as big as this? It's like trying to find someone in Times Square." Hogan added, trying to scan for his littlest team member.

As his eyes gazed across the room, LeBeau stopped when he got to one end of the room and pointed his finger.

"Colonel, look!" He softly cried.

Hogan turned to face him for a moment, perplexed at what he was talking about, then followed his finger to what he was looking at and gave a silent gasp at what was just several feet away from him.

With one seaman standing to the right of her, both he and Kalina were watching and grinning from ear to ear at another seaman juggling and trying to dance to the music at the same time. The one juggling would cease dancing once losing concentration and resume once he had regained stability.

As for little Kalina, she was giggling and seemed to be enjoying herself. Seeing her safe and smiling brought joy to both Hogan and LeBeau. She was alright, they thought, with relief. She was safe and alright.

"Kalina!" The Frenchman cried, running in her direction.

Hearing a familiar voice calling for her, the teenager turned her attention to her left, saw the person coming towards her, and her face brightened as much as the sun in a clear blue sky.

"LeBeau!" She cheered, running for her friend. When the met halfway, both embraced one another. "I missed you!"

"Ma petite ami, look at how well you fit in Allied uniform. You look just like un marin," LeBeau answered, making her giggle. (2)

The duo continued their little reunion as Hogan hurried to their sides, grinning from one side to the other.

"Kalina," he said. "Look at you in full uniform and all. How are you, hon?"

Kalina's expression went from bright to dim like the flick of a light switch. She turned her eyes downward and off to the side. There was no way she could look Hogan in the face. Not after everything she had done. Screwing up assignments and causing two underground agents to die under the hands of the Gestapo, why was he here? What use did she serve him anymore? What did she say to him? Why should she say anything to him? She was not the one that banned her from future assignments and replacing her without batting an eyelash in the other direction. Not only was she sad and ashamed, she was also angry and hurt. She pretended as if he were not even there in front of her.

The colonel's smile turned into a frown, not understanding the reaction he was getting.

"Kalina, what's wrong? It's me: Colonel Hogan. Your friend," he said, his eyes full of hurt.

Kalina did not answer. She crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air.

"Hey!" Nixon called, standing up from the poker table. "Who's the co-pilot?"

That got the teenager's attention. She turned around to the seaman and glared at him coldly.

"The who?" She replied, trying to keep her temper under control.

"You speak English, Kraut? The co-pilot standing behind you," Nixon remarked, giving just as nasty of a glare back.

"If you wanna talk to Colonel Hogan, you'll address him as Colonel Hogan or Sir! How dare you call him a co-pilot! He didn't exactly wake up one morning with that eagle on his crush cap, you know!" Kalina snapped back.

"That's Colonel Hogan?" Nixon and Sherman to look at one another, fought back a few snickers, then turned to face Kalina again and busted their sides laughing. Soon the entire room, except for Bailey and Skipper, were laughing at her.

"My sister scares me more than him!" Another seaman chuckled.

"Hey, how many Colonel Hogans does it take to screw in a light bulb?" A third seaman asked.

"How many?" Jebson replied.

"None. If one's useless, what good is it to have more?"

By that time, some seamen and officers were rolling on the floor in tears, and the rest were laughing at the top of their lungs.

"A Kraut! Friends with an American colonel!" Sherman cried.

Though tears burned in her eyes, Kalina refused to cry. She ground her jaw to keep herself from going off on all of them with German curse words. She did not have to, when she heard the door leading upstairs slam shut, and Captain came down the stairs with an unamused look to his face.

"What's going on here?" He demanded.

"Captain!" Kalina exclaimed, running to the navy officer's side.

"Who?" Both Hogan and LeBeau asked. They turned around, saw who they assumed was Captain, and LeBeau jumped into Hogan's arms in utter terror while under the man's stare. The colonel looked at his Frenchman with a slight glare, then LeBeau got down and stood slightly behind his commander. The rest of the seamen and officers fell dead silent and stood straight and tall, not daring to speak unless spoken to.

Captain made his eyes to the right and spotted the two Allied flyers. He narrowed them, analyzing each of them carefully from head to toe.

"Who are you?" He asked, particularly to Hogan.

"Colonel Hogan. I'm here to take Kalina home where she belongs," the colonel answered calmly.

Captain's eyes hardened.

"I believe she does not wish to have any association with you any longer," he said, with a gnarl. He wrapped a protective arm over Kalina's shoulders, while the little teenager had her arms tight around the man.

"What do you mean she doesn't want anything to do with me? You see the horrible way your men treat her? Calling her a Kraut, insulting people she cares about, is that the appreciation you want shared between them and her?" Hogan remarked defensively.

"You saying I don't command my men to show respect among each other? I don't recall yelling at one of them to get lost and ban them from being a part of the organization I run!"

"I never told Kalina she wasn't a part of my team anymore. I told her she needed time away to recognize what she's signing up for. Not once did I ever tell her to get lost."

"You broke her kind heart by screaming and hollering at her. She was in absolute tears last night when she arrived. Crying about how sorry she was for messing up on the assignment you gave her. You didn't consider her feelings for one moment!"

Hogan's glare turned into a grim look full of guilt and shame.

"I know I didn't...that's why I came here. To apologize to her. To tell her I'm sorry and how much I and everyone else back home miss her. Her father's worrying himself into a coma not knowing where she is or how she's doing," he answered.

"You should have thought of that before assigning a new man to take her place. Now I will be forgiving this time, but next time I will just throw you out without warning. Leave my headquarters and don't come back until I order you to do so. Your little Frenchman I will permit entrance as long as he travels alone," Captain said.

Hogan looked at the man a moment longer, then turned his eyes to Kalina and softened his expression.

"Don't worry, Kalina," he said. "I'll get you out of here somehow. I promise."

The little Klink hung her head and turned her eyes away from him. No matter how much she wanted to just run into his arms and beg for forgiveness.

The colonel let out a heavy sigh and turned to his corporal.

"Come on, LeBeau," he spoke. "Let's get back to the hotel."

"Oui, Colonel," LeBeau answered sadly.

The two flyers sulked out of Captain's headquarters, leaving Kalina alone with no more than her commander and two friends she had hardly known for 48 hours. Her frown grew longer and buried her face into the side of Captain. There was nothing she had wanted more than to have joined Hogan and LeBeau out of that place. But there she stood. Sad and alone. It was the night she left Germany all over again.

"Ignore you!" Schultz exclaimed, pouring himself his fifth glass of wine. Hogan and LeBeau had just returned from scouting out Kalina and had reported all the happenings to the German sergeant. Most of it was grim and depressing, and very little had been happy and bright. "Oh, Colonel Hogan, Kalina would never ignore you. She respects you very much."

"Yeah, well all I was greeted with was the silent treatment and a sad, hurt look in her eyes," Hogan sighed, crossing his arms. "I don't blame her either...I would've done the same thing had the roles been switched."

"She is just upset, Colonel. You heard Monsieur Big Shot; she was crying all last night because she missed you," LeBeau said, trying to remain optimistic for his commander's sake.

"If she missed me so much, then why did she look at me like she wanted to watch me drop dead?"

"That is shame, not anger. She feels ashamed of herself for what she did and feels she does not have the right to look in your direction. You have to show her she is wrong, Colonel. Welcome her back with open arms and show her she just made a stupid mistake that any of us could have made."

"But how is my question. Kalina may be selfless and extremely brave, but she does have her father's stubbornness and sense of pride...though her sense of pride is more internal than so external. She's much more humble with it than Klink will ever be."

"I know what he can do," Schultz said, interrupting the conversation. "Colonel Hogan can sing her a song saying how sorry he is."

"Schultz, I wanna apologize to her; not send mixed messages to the poor thing. That would be an uncomfortable situation for both of us. Besides, my singing voice isn't exactly Frank Sinatra."

"Ah Colonel, you have a trѐs belle singing voice. You could sing Hochstetter to sleep," LeBeau answered.

"Temporarily or permanently?"

"Colonel Hogan, you should not say such things about the Gestapo. They are always listening, always listening," Schultz remarked, both with warning and deep fear.

The American wrapped his arms around himself and slightly cocked his head to the right.

"Certainly would get him out of our hair, would you not agree?" Hogan replied.

The fluffy guard got to his feet, both his wine glass and bottle in hand, and closed his eyes.

"I hear nothing, nooooooootthing!" He cried, before disappearing into the other room.

Leaving the two Allied flyers to themselves, Hogan and LeBeau turned back to face one another. The colonel pursed his lips and began to tap his foot, intently thinking of an idea to make Kalina forgive him for hollering and yelling at her when she had done everything he had asked her to do to begin with.

"If I was a fourteen year old girl and someone that I cared for had hurt my feelings, what would make me feel better and forgive that someone?" He asked himself, hoping an answer would hit him in the head.

"Buy her something for a gift?" LeBeau suggested, with the shrug of his shoulders.

"And what do you suppose I buy her: ice cream?"

"Well, it's a start."

Hogan shook his head, when a light bulb turned on in his head. He snapped his fingers.

"That's it," he said, and turned back to his Frenchman. "Didn't you say that you saw a poster for a huge Navy dance tomorrow night as we were leaving the hideout?"

"Colonel, you heard Monsieur Big Shot; if you are to come back again, he will throw you out."

"He said that about his headquarters...never said anything about public areas."

"What are you thinking?"

"LeBeau, I hope you brought your dancing shoes. We're going dancing tomorrow night."

"As long as I don't have to buy you dinner."

Hogan put a fist to his hip and shook his head, his eyes facing upward.

"Dates are so cheap these days."

(1) Détendez-vous, Colonel. Je vais nous y rendre avant que vous ayez la chance de cligner des yeux - Relax, Colonel. I'll get us there before you get a chance to blink.

(2) un marin - sailor