O'Hara was ready to go by the time we got into the tunnels and was impatient to leave. It only took about fifteen more minutes for me, Newkirk, Carter and LeBeau to get all ready and organized. The plan is pretty much the same, expect for a few things: LeBeau has to nab the camera, since he had the changed assignment of photographing the laboratory instead of the papers, since we're giving those to O'Hara to give to London (the pictures are being sent later and those from this past week are safely deposited in O'Hara's pants). Newkirk and Carter had to head to Dessau via train, dressed, as usual, as an elderly woman (Newkirk) and her son who can't go into the army (Carter) and causing a distraction as Newkirk finds a weak spot. O'Hara was going to be the driver still and we're dropping him off at the meeting point outside of Dessau after we're done (Klink's car is at the shop, run by two agents of Underground Unit 9, who are supplying us with empty boxes for wine and it is being dropped off after we're done with it). Meanwhile, Kinch and Rob are going to report us missing and Kinch is going to start a fire in the south side of camp as the other prisoners try to prolong it or escape, whatever suits their fancy. Klink's heading out to search for me, LeBeau, Carter and Newkirk, so it'll be chaos.
Me, well, I still have to play the part of Mother and somehow look into the lab, grab those papers and head out with LeBeau (in the wine case) and O'Hara as soon as I can. I pick up Newkirk and Carter at O'Hara's meeting point and we head back to the Hammelburg shop, drop off the car, head for the tunnels, change and give ourselves up at the Main Gate. Being in the cooler will be worth it.
~00~
It was at 1800 hours that all five of us deemed it safe to head out. We had our walkie-talkies out and the codes were agreed upon ahead of time by Rob. Our guns were ready to be used and shells were supplied with each group. To our luck, the dogs were inside the camp (LeBeau had told them to be quiet already) and we had about an hour and a half before I had to be in Dessau. O'Hara, LeBeau and I were already running late in getting to Hammelburg and Carter and Newkirk were going to miss the 1835 hour train if they didn't hurry. Again, it was lucky for us that the guards were preoccupied with their duties elsewhere and the light only shone on the tree stump once as Newkirk was coming out. The remaining people were out (including me) and were hidden in the dense forest by the time the penetrating light shone again on the stump.
The five of us then headed out to find the main road to Hammelburg, about a quarter of a mile away, and barely avoided a patrol on the way. Ever since Maeve's capture and death in Gestapo hands, there have been more patrols out, and on Hochstetter's orders, no doubt. We all have false identifications, but it would be suspicious to have an alleged to-be-missing Gestapo colonel out with her driver without a car, a Frenchman in Allied uniform and a woman with her son walking together.
At about the time we got to the main road, I ordered the men that we split. O'Hara, LeBeau and I went to follow the road into town using the woods as camouflage and Newkirk and Carter went across the road, carefully behind a patrol's back, to get to the train station in the far end of the woods. They wouldn't be suspected otherwise.
This is already proving to be a long night, I thought as O'Hara, LeBeau and I headed further and further into the woods and followed the road into Hammelburg. O'Hara kept a close watch on the patrols as we went ahead of one of them and came into town. LeBeau could only scoff at the Krauts behind us, without noticing the glances of fear from me and O'Hara.
It was a bit on the chilly side as O'Hara, LeBeau and I reached Hammelburg. The night was calm and cool, a change of pace in a hot summer. The townspeople (other than those nightly bouts soldiers have) were still and sleeping. For such a busy town, Hammelburg was motionless. The Gestapo weren't around inspecting and raiding houses, since they were in the woods searching for more Allied Underground agents so they stood near the main road checking; only regular foot soldiers watched this ghostlike town.
This, in and out of itself, was a relief to the three of us as we crept slowly in the shadows to the mechanics' place, which was the Unit 9 hideout, if you want to call it that. The place itself lay near the woods, so it was not a long walk. It was, however, harder to get in.
As soon as we got there I saw a light indicating someone was up and about, but I had a challenge: more important people to watch. I had to grab O'Hara and LeBeau by their collars before they rushed inside to get themselves killed. "Do you two know anything?" I hissed angrily at them as I clutched them before they turned the corner (Rob taught LeBeau better). "There might be Gestapo in there. Remember that they stepped up patrols of the units? They could be watching us now, not to mention those Kraut soldiers over yonder."
Struggling out of my grip and pulling O'Hara out of my imperial grip, LeBeau rambled on. "Oui, Colonel," LeBeau answered hotly, "but there is enough here to kill them all." He patted his heart with his fist. He's going too patriotic with this, I thought, rolling my eyes.
O'Hara knew where I was going with this and stopped to think. "LeBeau, she's right," O'Hara said quietly. "There might have been over ten Gestapo agents in there and there are only three of us. Now, what sort of suspicion can they throw at us if they see me, Colonel Michalovich and you?"
I think afterward LeBeau understood at once for he stopped his stubborn motions and stood up straighter, asking me, "What's the plan, then?" He even brushed off the incident altogether.
"Well," I said impatiently, "let me go in first then I can give in the signal to say if it's ok to come in. If I adjust my hat, then I'm saying that it's all right to come in, but if you hear anything else, abort, I mean, abort the mission and call everyone else." I indicated the walkie-talkie hidden in each person's pants pocket. LeBeau nodded and O'Hara grinned at me grimly.
I sighed and resumed. "I mean it, you two. That's a direct order." I know that I don't give too many orders around here, but I want them to be safe and I want the men to come first. I don't want to be a commander who stayed behind and I don't want the men itching for adventure either. They get enough of this in war and to tell you the truth, it isn't a game young men have to play in order to be heroes.
It was with yet another sigh, as I thought this, that I turned the corner of the building and headed to the front door. I knocked five times, very gently, and waited silently. It was a second later when the door opened ajar and I was staring down the barrel of a gun. I gulped silently and said, "Do you have the directions we need to head into the west? The Russian winters are too cold."
The recognition code was realized and I got my response in a light male German accent. "Yes, but the sun has already set in that direction. Follow it there in the afternoons." He lowered the gun and opened the door more. His voice, however, was one of relief. I think Maeve's death pushed some people over the edge a little.
This man was angry (the Gestapo uniform I had on wasn't very encouraging), but I think a little thankful that I came finally, for the car. "The car is in the back," he said. "Do you have your companions?" I nodded and turned my head to the corner, where LeBeau and O'Hara were peeking out. So, according to the plan, I tipped my cap. At this signal, the two of them came to me.
"The car's in the back of the building," I said to them, repeating what our contact said. To our contact, I asked, "How are we to leave here?"
"There is a gate on the other side," he said, pointing to my right. "Just open the gate and leave. We'll close the gate behind you. I have some people out and about with their nightly work."
"No problem," O'Hara said excitedly as he and LeBeau went to the side of the building, searching frantically for the gate and opening it.
I smiled at the eager pair and spun back to our Underground associate again. "Thank you. I didn't get your name though. What is it?"
The man just smiled at me before going back inside the shop. "Desertstar, let's just say I'm Rhiannon," he said. I shook at my head, realizing where the code name came from (Celtic mythology, like Maeve's) and followed LeBeau and O'Hara to the gate. Rhiannon had just gone inside and the light was shut off.
O'Hara was just inside the car, I saw, and the wine boxes were in the truck. Lucky for us, the Underground said they would load the boxes with explosives for us so Carter didn't need to make any for us (they were timed perfectly, so as soon as we got there we would have enough time to get into Dessau, meet and greet for twenty minutes and get out in ten minutes). There was an empty one for LeBeau outside of the car and I locked him into the box myself, making sure he could breathe (he could).
I said, "LeBeau if you could hear me, knock twice. If you can't hear me, knock once." I was joking around, but I did hear those two knocks. I also heard some muffling (swearing, most likely, since the tone was angry) and knew that he was all right. I picked up the box (LeBeau was heavy) and loaded it into Klink's staff car into the trunk, tying the ropes around the box and the car's trunk. I closed everything up, went inside the car and just told O'Hara, "Let's go."
And so we went off into the night. Someone from the shop went out to close the gate for us. Another, as we stopped at the end of the driveway, made sure that LeBeau's box was upright and was positioned more on the outside, since ropes held the boxes in the top and trunk, so that he could take pictures.