Chapter 11:

Newkirk and LeBeau, back in their Allied uniforms, made their way to the radio room and greeted Kinch and Carter. Both had been impatiently waiting for their return. When they saw that Hogan was not with them, it was Carter that asked the question.

"Where's Colonel Hogan?"

Newkirk hesitated to answer, but found his words eventually.

"He's not coming."

"What do you mean 'not coming'?" Kinch asked, crossing his arms.

"We saw Gilbert on our way down to the basement...he said that the Gov'nor's gone mad. That he's no longer the Colonel we once knew and loved."

"Impossible."

"No way, boy! Colonel Hogan would never turn on us!" Carter added.

"We thought the same thing...that was until Gilbert threatened to shoot us if we didn't get out." Newkirk continued.

"Gilbert put you at gunpoint?" Kinch gasped.

"Oui." LeBeau replied. "It was then we realized something was wrong. He said Colonel Hogan had a demon come out from beneath him."

"Are you sure Gilbert wasn't just joking?" Carter asked, suspicious.

"Gilbert doesn't joke around, Carter," Kinch said. "If he said something's wrong, then something's very wrong with the Colonel."

"We gotta get him back, Kinch! But how do we do it if Gilbert won't even let us approach him?"

"We gotta find a way to get passed the front door. We'll have to wait until Gilbert is off duty and go in then."

"Kinch, what if what Gilbert says is true...that the Gov'nor is…" Newkirk shuddered and did not finish. He couldn't finish. Losing Hogan in such a way would kill all four of them emotionally and physically.

"If he's gone mad, Newkirk, we'll find a way to bring our Colonel back. We have to stick together, as he always told us."

Carter, Newkirk, and LeBeau all nodded and agreed. If Hogan was mad, it was up to them to cure it and bring their colonel back to them. He would do the same for one of them, and they all knew that. He always had put them first. Now it was their turn to do the same for him.

"You're right, mon ami," LeBeau said. "If it were one of us instead of the Colonel, he would do everything possible to bring us back where we belong."

"I'll get the Gov'nor to come back to us if it means me own life." Newkirk commented.

"Me too, buddy!" Carter cried.

"Now," Kinch said. "How are we gonna do it?"

An old abandoned cabin near the edge of the forest and on top of a massive hill. It stood lonely by itself and had no lights on inside.

Hogan made his trek up the hill with the Gestapo officer Hochstetter sent with him standing at the bottom. His gun was out and ready to fire if he realized the American had been faking the entire time and made an attempt to escape.

Hogan looked back down at his fellow comrade, then turned his head back to what was in front of him. When he reached the small cabin, Hogan found the secret latch to unlock the door and slipped inside quietly. He silently closed the door behind him and made a quick check to see if the coast was clear. Seeing no one, he made his way over to the desk in the living area. Hogan flipped through several documents belonging to the underground agent who owned the place, White Rabbit, and stopped when he got to the ones he was searching for. Picking them up and looking at them quickly, Hogan gave a soft, malice chuckle.

"There you are," he said coolly.

"Papa Bear?" A voice from behind him gasped.

Hogan slowly turned around to find White Rabbit standing behind him. A young man no more than Carter's age wearing a flannel shirt, jeans, and a black hat on his head. Fair white skin that complemented his soft, green eyes. He stood agape seeing him. A smile instantaneously grew upon his face.

"My God, it is you! Am I glad what we heard was wrong! Everyone thinks you died in a plane crash, Papa!" He cried, with relief.

Hogan did not answer. He looked at him with haunted eyes and made no facial expression.

White Rabbit raised his eyebrow and looked at his commander worried.

"Are you alright, Papa Bear? You seem distracted by something."

A sick smile grew on Hogan's face and lifted his pistol up at the man.

White Rabbit's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets, and he slowly raised his hands in the air. He swallowed a lump in his throat and began shivering.

"Papa Bear...what is this?" He stuttered.

Hogan chuckled softly.

"Just making sure these plans are safe and sound," he said softly. "I think I'll take them with me on my way out."

"Sir...you said no one was to leave this place with those plans. Even you said you did not want to look at them for safety precautions."

"Can't a man change his mind?"

White Rabbit swallowed again. What was wrong with Hogan, he wondered. Why was he acting so...cold hearted? He had never seen him in such a state. It was as if Hogan was not even there anymore. That a demon had consumed his soul and was now in control of him.

"Papa Bear...what are you…" Hogan cut him off.

"Just taking these plans to a very safe place...let me go with them and all will be well." He spoke so sweetly and softly, it was creepy. Hogan's eyes were almost completely black and seemed to be sucking in the light coming from the moon into an empty hole of darkness.

White Rabbit shook and slowly reached for his belt. He lifted his pistol up slowly and held it firmly in his grasp.

"I can't let you do that, Sir...I have orders from...Sergeant Kinchloe...t...to...keep them here until London notifies us."

Hogan's expression seemed to automatically switch from the creepy smile he once had to a fearsome and dark form. Like the devil himself had wiped across his face and cast him in a shadow. His eyes burned with fire in them, and he looked like a mad dog ailing from rabies.

"Sergeant Kinchloe...that man can rot and die for all I care! Why the hell do you chose to listen to him and not me?!" He snarled.

"Papa...you said it in your orders if you were to die...that Sergeant Kinchloe was supposed to take charge unless told otherwise!"

"Things change! Now I'll tell you one more time, and next time I shoot! Let me leave with these plans, and I'll be getting back to Major Hochstetter!"

"Major Hochstetter!"

"Yes, Major Hochstetter! I work for him now, and I can promise you once Germany wins the war, you and every man and woman in the underground will be wiped out entirely!"

"No...no...no, you're not!"

"Not what?!"

"...Papa Bear...what did they do to you, Sir?"

"None of your damn business! Now, if you were wise, I'd let a man in the Gestapo leave and not ask anymore questions of him. If you do otherwise, you will be shot, and I will watch you suffer a slow, dying legacy...now drop the gun!"

White Rabbit dropped his pistol on command and raised his hands back in the air. He shuddered and trembled under Hogan's eyes. This was not the American colonel he once knew. Colonel Robert Hogan, aka Papa Bear, a loyal American and Allied Officer, a man full of love, a sense of humor, and compassion, yet strength, clever wit, and authority, was now standing there like a demonic spirit waiting for the right moment to go in for his kill. He was now full of hate, anger, he was merciless, and evil down to the core.

Hogan went back to his creepy smile and chuckled again softly.

"Now...isn't that better?" He asked.

White Rabbit fought back from crying out in utter fear.

Hogan tucked the plans under his right arm, approached White Rabbit, then grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him so close, that the underground agent could feel his hot breath against his face.

"Mention of this to anyone, especially Sergeant Kinchloe, you better find your way out of Germany before I find you...got it?!"

"Yes...yes, Papa Bear, I promise!"

"And stop calling me Papa Bear!" Hogan shoved White Rabbit away from him, like it burned his hands to touch him. "I'm not Papa Bear anymore...from now on, I shall be Gestapo Colonel Hogan. Goodbye...White Rabbit." Grabbing the door, Hogan opened it and let out a diabolical laugh, then he left White Rabbit alone with nothing else but his terror.

The young underground agent crumbled to the floor and whimpered loudly. He looked over to his radio set and stared at it. He had to tell Kinch what had happened. If Hogan found out, though, he was good as dead. He made sure the American colonel was no where in sight, then got to his feet shaky seeing no one around. He trembled to his desk, collapsed into his desk chair, then turned on his radio and grabbed the mic.

"Sergeant Kinchloe...Sergeant Kinchloe, answer me! Help me!" White Rabbit wept. While he waited for an answer, he continued sobbing in fear and terror.

"Sergeant Kinchloe...Sergeant Kinchloe, answer me! Help me!" White Rabbit sobbed, into the radio.

Hogan's men all snapped their attention to Kinch's radio, and the sergeant in need sat down and answered the call.

"White Rabbit, what's going on?" Kinch asked, genuinely concerned.

"Are you alright, mate?" Newkirk asked, worried.

"You sound terrified, mon ami." LeBeau added.

"He's mad, Sergeant...he's mad!" The underground member wept.

"Who's mad?"

"Papa Bear...he's mad, Sergeant!"

Kinch lifted his head towards his friends, and all of them exchanged the same look on their face. Something was wrong...and Hogan was blind mad.