Chapter 11---The Next Step in The Plan
Hogan led his team deep into the woods until they came to a small clearing where he motioned for them to get down. He removed a pair of binoculars from a shoulder satchel and looked up into the dark sky; Newkirk was beside him with a flashlight.
"There it is," Hogan remarked in a low voice, spotting the plane. "And there's the signal. Okay, Newkirk, give the response."
Newkirk flashed the response to the plane. Shortly afterward, something was tossed from the plane and Hogan watched it float down to the ground a few feet from them. The plane continued on it's way.
"Let's go," Hogan told the others as he made his way across the clearing with his men following. They soon came to where a large crate had landed. "Give me a hand, Kinch."
Together, they got the lid off the crate exposing it's contents. Inside were guns, ammo, grenades, explosives, detonators, and other things. Sitting on top was a note. Hogan picked it up, unfolded it, and read it. A grin crossed his face.
"What's it say, Colonel?" asked Newkirk, curious.
"From London. They put some extras in this crate just for us. Seems we're to take what we need with the rest going to the underground."
Kinch grinned. "So that's why you had each of us bring a shoulder satchel with us."
"Okay, fellas, we take what we need and we'll have to bury the rest of the stuff and alert the underground to it's location and let them come and get it. There's too much here for us to get it back to camp. So let's get busy. I don't want to be out here any longer than I have to."
LeBeau, frustrated, stood in the center of Hogan's quarters with hands on hips looking around. He had searched every square inch of the small room and found nothing. He had even searched the Captain's footlocker and found nothing. If the Captain was hiding anything it wasn't in the Colonel's quarters. But where should he look next? He decided perhaps he should check the tunnels. After all, they had certain rooms below that were only used when they had 'guests' or when one of the men needed to be alone. That would be the perfect place to hide something.
The Frenchman didn't believe for one second that Milner had destroyed his journal, not from the way he reacted when the Frenchman had simply picked it up. He was positive Milner had hidden it somewhere, and LeBeau was determined to find it. He told himself that the proof he needed that Colonel Hogan was in danger would be in that journal. He left the small room and headed in the direction of the tunnel.
"Louie, what are you doing?" asked Carter, sitting up on his bunk. He had seen the little Frenchman enter the Colonel's quarters. "What's going on?"
"Do not worry yourself about it, mon ami," LeBeau told him with a smile. "You just lay down and rest. In fact, why are you sitting up anyway? You should be laying down."
"I'm tired of laying down," Carter explained. "And I know something's up. Maybe I can help? It's gotta do with Captain Milner, doesn't it?"
LeBeau let out a deep sigh. "If I tell you, you must promise not to say anything to Kinch and Newkirk. And above all don't let Colonel Hogan know I told you. Can you do that, Carter?"
"Sure I can. Sounds like it's important."
"Oui. It is. It could mean the Colonel's life."
Carter's eyes narrowed. "What is it?"
LeBeau sat down on the bed beside the young Sergeant. "Well, you know I do not trust Capitaine Milner."
"I know. Why is that, Louie? I mean he seems like an okay guy to me. I mean I'm sure he didn't…."
"Will you be quiet and just listen."
"Sorry," Carter apologized, clamming up.
"Both Colonel Hogan and I do not trust the Capitaine. The Colonel only has a gut feeling. But I believe he is out to hurt the Colonel. "
"Hurt Colonel Hogan?" Carter raised both eyebrows. "How?"
"That I do not know. But I believe what he's up to is in that journal of his. I just wish I could find where he's hidden it."
"But didn't the Captain say he burned his journal because he didn't need it anymore?"
"I do not believe that for one minute, mon ami. I believe he still has it. And if I can find it, we will know what he plans to do to Colonel Hogan. And there's something else."
"What?"
"I believe he purposely caused you to trip and injure your ankle so he could take your place on the mission tonight."
"But why would he do that?"
"So he could get close to the Colonel.."
"But if he wanted to do something to Colonel Hogan, he wouldn't be able to do it with the others around."
LeBeau chuckled. "That's what the Colonel said. But I just don't trust him. He is up to something. I just know it!"
"Did you find anything in the Colonel's quarters?" asked Carter.
"Non. But I am now going below. There are plenty of places in the tunnels where something as small as a journal could be hidden. And now, I must go as I have no idea how much time I have before Colonel Hogan and the others return." He got to his feet.
"LeBeau. Don't worry. I won't say anything."
"Merci," LeBeau said with a smile. He struck the hidden mechanism and as soon as the bunk rose and the ladder dropped, the Frenchman stepped over the bed frame and disappeared below. Olsen immediately went to the barracks door and, cracking it open, kept watch.
Carter laid back down on his bed with hands clasped behind his head. He ran over in his mind what LeBeau had told him. Could we all have been so wrong about Captain Milner? he asked himself. Could what LeBeau told me be true? Could he really be after the Colonel? But that can't be. I mean, we checked him out and he was okay. London checked him out and he was okay. So how could everybody be wrong? Carter turned on his side and tucked one arm under his head. But what if Louie's right and everybody else is wrong? What if Captain Milner manages to hurt Colonel Hogan? But why would he want to do that? Unable to answer the last question, Carter decided to block it out of his mind and wait and see.
LeBeau had searched the radio room, the changing area, where they kept their arsenal and even the room where they printed the German marks; and that included the dirt floors in case something had been buried. So far, he had found nothing. LeBeau was beginning to think either he was sadly mistaken, or Captain Milner was a lot more clever than originally thought. And the Frenchman refused to believe he was mistaken; not yet anyway. He was about to head to one of the empty tunnels when he heard voices coming from the direction of the emergency tunnel. He immediately heaved a sigh of relief when he recognized one of the voices as that of Hogan. He hurried to the radio room and pretended as if he were heading in the direction of the changing room only moments before Hogan and the others came into view. LeBeau folded his arms and grinned.
"So, how did everything go?" he asked.
"Piece of cake," Newkirk replied cheerily. He took the satchel off his shoulder and took Hogan's satchel as well. "I'll take this from you, sir," he added. It was obvious to LeBeau that each satchel seemed full of items. Probably some of the weapons sent by London for the underground.
"London included a note with the shipment," Hogan explained. "They put in some extra goodies just for us. What are you doing down here at this hour?"
LeBeau shrugged. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd come down here and see if there are any repairs that needed to be made on any of the uniforms."
"Now, LeBeau, you know that's not true because we repaired all the bloody uniforms that needed repairs a couple of days ago," Newkirk said with an amused grin.
LeBeau smiled embarrassingly. "You're right, Newkirk. It's just that I couldn't sleep while all of you were still out of camp."
"That's more like it," Newkirk said. He looked at Milner. "That little Frenchman is a regular mother hen. Sometimes I think he's worse than the Gov'nor." Milner smirked at the Englander.
Hogan gave Newkirk a dirty look. "You guys go ahead and change. I'll be along in a few minutes. I need to speak with LeBeau. Also, make sure everything we took is put away. Kinch, after you change, call our underground contact and let them know about the cache of weapons and where they can find them."
"Will do, Colonel," Kinch replied as he, Newkirk and Milner all headed in the direction of the changing room. As they disappeared from view, Hogan looked at LeBeau and spoke in a low voice so as not to be overheard. "Well? Find anything?"
LeBeau glanced past Hogan to make sure they were alone before responding in an equally low voice. He looked at the Colonel. "Non. I searched your quarters from top to bottom. I even looked in the Capitaine's footlocker and found nothing. I checked the radio room, the changing room, the arsenal and where we keep the printing press. I even checked the dirt floors to make sure nothing was buried where it shouldn't be. Nothing."
Sighing, a frown appeared on Hogan's face.
"I was about to begin searching the other areas that we don't use much, but then I heard voices and had to act like I was heading for the changing room to repair some uniforms."
"Quick thinking," Hogan praised. He suddenly noticed the Frenchman's nervousness. "What's wrong? Is Carter all right?"
"Oui. Carter is fine. He promised me he wouldn't say anything."
With eyes narrowed, Hogan slightly turned his head to the side. "Carter promised he wouldn't say anything about what? LeBeau, what did you do?"
The Frenchman sighed and hung his head. "Carter saw me searching your quarters and then heading into the tunnels. He asked me what was I doing. I ended up telling him." He raised his head to look into his commander's face, expecting to be reprimanded again. Instead, the Colonel's face remained impassive. "Please, Colonel," he sounded as if he was pleading. "Say something, yell at me, reprimand me. But don't just stand there and say nothing."
Hogan folded his arms and sighed wearily. "I'm not angry, LeBeau. And I'm not going to reprimand or yell at you either. I suppose eventually Carter would ask seeing as you've made no secret of your mistrust of the Captain. And I would like to limit the number of people who find out there is a suspicion of the Captain, because the more people who know, the more likely he might find out he's being watched."
"Are you going to tell Kinch and Newkirk, Colonel?"
"I haven't decided yet. If I feel they should know I'll be the one to tell them. But as of now, as I told you upstairs, we have absolutely nothing to go on except my gut feeling and your suspicion. And unfortunately, if we have to send him to London as a prisoner, London's going to want more than my gut feeling and your dislike and suspicion. So, I'll try as often as I can to give you a chance to check the other areas of the tunnel. But for tonight, just go upstairs and get some sleep."
Depressed, LeBeau turned and started to walk away. "Oui, Colonel. Goodnight."
"LeBeau," Hogan called out suddenly. The Frenchman turned and looked back. "Oui, mon Colonel?"
Hogan smiled affectionately at the little Frenchman. "You did a good job, LeBeau. And you know I don't give out praise to just anybody unless I feel they deserve it. And you deserve it. Goodnight."
LeBeau's face brightened considerably. "Merci, Colonel." He then turned and hurried away with Hogan watching him go. Alone, the Colonel grinned, shook his head, and started toward the changing room when he suddenly bumped into Captain Milner.
"Sorry, Colonel," Milner apologized. "I should have paid attention to where I was going."
"Don't worry about it, Captain. By the way, you did a good job out there, tonight."
"Thank you, sir," Milner said with a wide smile. "Goodnight, sir."
"Goodnight, Captain." Hogan headed towards the changing room hoping that Milner had not heard him talking with LeBeau. If he did, and he was up to something, it might become more difficult now to catch him. In fact, LeBeau and Carter could even be in danger.
Reaching the ladder leading to the barracks above, Milner rested a foot on the bottom rung, one hand resting on an upper rung. He looked back over his shoulder in the direction Hogan had gone.
So, Hogan and LeBeau are both suspicious of me, he thought to himself. The Frenchman I'm not concerned about, and Carter is no danger to me. But Hogan on the other hand is a different story. I may have to take a chance and kill him even if it means getting caught. At least the men here will then be safe. But they haven't found the journal. It's a good thing I didn't hide it back in my footlocker again after removing it a second time. But don't worry, LeBeau. I know you're so afraid of the Colonel you have to pretend you're checking me out. But I will soon free you from this man. Very, very soon.
Reaching inside his leather jacket, the Captain smiled at the pineapple-shaped hand grenade in his hand. He smirked at how easily he had been able to confiscate it while they were burying the weapons for the underground. He looked at the grenade lovingly. He could see Hogan's name printed on it. Hearing Newkirk's voice, he tucked it back inside his jacket and proceeded to climb up the ladder and into the barracks.
