The old Lang homestead was covered by so much growth it had been easy to sneak up on an unsuspecting Goldilocks and capture him. Although a great deal of the bush had been pulled up and disturbed during the capture and arrest of the Allied agent, there was sufficient foliage left to cover the movement of one man. Gottfried moved in and checked out the house and barn. No one was there. Not yet! Lang would be there. Of this Gottfried was certain. And when he came, Gottfried would be waiting.
Near the house Gottfried dug a hole in the ground where he could see both the house and the barn. Then he buried himself, pulling bush over the mound. He blended with the landscape so well no one, including Lang, would notice him until it was too late. Gottfried would have him!
Gottfried waited. While he waited, he entertained himself with the thought of what he would do to Lang once he caught him. He would handcuff him to a tree and let him watch, while he burned what was left of his beloved home to the ground. An eye for an eye, or rather, a villa for a farm, Gottfried mused. Better yet, he would let Lang watch from inside the blazing structure, bound hand and foot unable to escape the flames. The sounds of his tortured screams as he burned, like the soothing sounds of a symphony. Dusk fell, and still no Lang. Where could he be?
Anders, Hogan, and Hogan's men moved out at 2100. They combed the grounds and woods around the farmhouse and the barn. The Moonglow unit stationed itself at the crossroad from Cologne to Düsseldorf ready to report back any signs of troop movement. Hogan's men continued to patrol the perimeter of the homestead. At 2145 all stations reported "clear."
"Looks like this Schmitt fella took Kinch seriously." So far, so good. "I'll take the farmhouse, you take the barn." Hogan ordered Anders. Hogan and Anders moved cautiously toward their respective assignments.
In the darkness and dressed in camouflage, and because of the distance the barn was from the house, Anders was invisible to Gottfried as he moved into the barn. So, too, had been the other men as they combed the grounds around Gottfried's hiding place. Against the backdrop of the moon, however, the German colonel did catch a glimpse of Hogan's silhouette, as he entered the farmhouse. Now I have him! Gottfried grabbed his pack, jumped from his hiding place, and rushed into the house.
"Halt, put down the gun!" he ordered as Hogan turned to face him, gun drawn. Hogan froze as he found himself staring down the barrel of Gottfried's luger. "Over there, by the window, where I can see you. Schnell! Schnell!"
Hogan slowly and carefully put the gun down, and then just as slowly moved toward the window. He had to find a way to warn Anders and his men, without Gottfried realizing they were around. Watching Hogan like a hawk, Gottfried yelled for his men in the woods to advance and take the prisoner.
Well, if that doesn't tell guys something is wrong, nothing will.
Now he needed to buy time for his men and Anders to act.
"So, you think you can burn my villa and get away with it. You fool! I'll show you what happens to fools."
Where was Schmitt? Where were his men? Was he surrounded by fools? Never mind, he didn't need them, he could do this himself. Gottfried retrieved the handcuffs from his pack, not taking his eyes or his gun off Hogan.
"Hold out your hands," he ordered.
As Hogan moved into the light shining through the window, Gottfried recognized him.
"You! You're not Lang, you're Goldilocks – and you're not dead! You tricked me!" Gottfried screamed, rage blazing in his eyes, "This time I will see to it that your death is permanent!"
With that, Gotffried dropped the handcuffs and pulled the trigger. Hogan saw the pistol's muzzle flash, and simultaneously felt himself body-tackled, then darkness.
Gottfried wasn't the only one waiting in concealment; Lang, too, had been hiding. Alarmed by the dangers of meeting at the farmhouse but unable to warn the underground, he had hidden in the one place he knew Gottfried would not look: under the back porch. The porch hardly looked like the kind of place a person could hide. It was low to the ground and boarded all the way around except for a small opening hidden behind a bush next to the house. If one didn't know it was there, one would never suspect it. Lang knew about it because he had hidden there many times as a child.
In horror, Lang had seen Gottfried search the back of the house and knew he would be close by, watching and waiting. Lang knew his underground contact was a dead man, but he didn't know what to do, so he stayed hidden. At the sound of commotion inside the house, Lang realized the contact had arrived and Gottfried had him. He had to do something. He couldn't let another man die because of him. Cautiously, Lang crawled out of his hiding place and sneaked in the back way. Inside the house, he saw Gottfried with his gun aimed at the contact. Lang lunged. The last sound he heard was Gottfried's gun firing.
Anders had completed his inspection of the barn and was halfway to the house when he heard Gottfried's shouts. He ran the rest of the way and arrived in time to see Gottfried fire.
"Halt!" Anders shouted.
A stark raving mad Gottfried turned to face Anders, his gun raised. Without thinking, Anders fired twice, hitting Gottfried squarely in the chest. Gottfried staggered and raised his gun again. Anders fired twice more, hitting Gottfried in the chest yet again. This time Gottfried fell and did not move. Anders kicked the gun away from Gottfried's body. Carefully, he checked the pulse. It was over. Gottfried was dead.
Two motionless figures lay in a pile. Mike now turned his attention to them.
"Robert? Robert!" Mike shouted in alarm.
Silence. Gottfried only fired one shot. How could he have he hit both of them? Who was this other person?
Hogan was on the bottom of the pile. As Mike gently rolled the body of the unidentified man off Hogan, Hogan began to stir. Hogan's men came running through both entrances of the house, weapons drawn. Their first sight was the body in the doorway. As Kinch checked Gottfried's pulse, Carter sighted the semi-conscious form of his commanding officer and yelled, trying to rouse him.
"Colonel Hogan!"
"He'll be alright. He just got the wind knocked out of him that's all," Anders reassured the shocked sergeant.
Stubborn mule, I knew I should have hog-tied him and left him behind. The other man was a different story: the side of his face was covered in blood, but he was still breathing.
"Carter, Kinch, lookout. Newkirk, see what you can do for this fella," ordered Anders as he moved to help his friend.
The combination of residual effects of the poison and having been smashed between the floor and his rescuer left Hogan with breathing difficulties. Mike carefully lifted Hogan's upper body and supported him in a sitting position so he could breathe better.
"Who hit me?" a dazed Hogan gasped.
"That guy over there," Mike responded motioning to Lang's unconscious form.
"Dead?"
"No, the bullet just grazed him, but he's going to have one bloody awful headache when he wakes up," Newkirk replied, cleaning and bandaging the wound as best he could with his handkerchief. "He's a lucky man."
"Do you have any idea who he is?" Mike asked Hogan.
With Anders help, Hogan slowly and carefully moved so he could get a good look at the man. His ribs ached and were probably bruised.
"Don't kid with me. I don't feel like it. You know as well as I do, he's Pretzel.
"Mike, I don't get it. First he turns me in, and then he saves my life. What's with this guy?"
Mike scowled, "That's not Pretzel. Pretzel's dead. Are you sure you're all right? Maybe I should get Dr. Schell to take a look at you when we get back."
Hogan didn't respond. He looked at the man he had thought of as Pretzel, the man just starting to come to. Next, Hogan looked at Gottfried's body. "Of course! This guy was a decoy," he said pointing to Lang. "Gottfried was really Pretzel. How could I have missed it?"
Hogan admonished Anders, "If you knew Gottfried was Pretzel, why didn't you tell me?"
"I assumed Gottfried was the man who met you and, therefore, you would know what Pretzel looked like. It never occurred to me that Gottfried would send in a decoy. I recognized Gottfried from the picture in Pretzel's file. Which… which I saw in London and …you… never… saw," Mike replied slowly, as the realization dawned on him that Hogan never had a way of knowing what the real Pretzel looked like.
"Oops!" Mike responded, hand over his mouth and eyes open wide like a kid with his hand caught in the candy jar.
"'Oops' is right!" agreed Hogan, glaring his disapproval at Mike and making a mental note to do his homework more thoroughly before a mission. Their attention was diverted back to a moaning Lang.
"Ohhhh! My head hurts!"
"Take it easy, mate. You're going to be all right," said Newkirk.
Lang looked at Newkirk, trying to focus his vision. Finally he said, "You are British."
"Please, don't tell me mum. It would break her heart. She thinks I'm Welsh."
"Then you must be with the underground."
"He works for me," Hogan said entering the conversation.
Lang stared at Hogan, "No, it can't be. You are dead."
"Not quite. Goldilocks is dead," Hogan corrected, giving Anders a dirty look, which he ignored, "but I'm very much alive. I'm Papa Bear."
"Papa Bear, my contact?" Lang moaned in pain.
"Yes," Hogan replied sympathetically. He still wasn't feeling great himself.
"Gottfried plans to start an extensive offensive biological research program." Hogan and Anders looked at each other with puzzled looks. "Under the back porch is a notebook. It contains detailed plans."
"Ok, take it easy, we'll get it," Hogan replied.
Newkirk helped Lang to sit up, while LeBeau went to retrieve the book. LeBeau searched for an opening to crawl into and found none.
"He did say under the porch?" LeBeau yelled into the house.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. There's a small opening behind the bush. It's the only way in."
"Look behind the bush!" Newkirk yelled back.
LeBeau looked again. Hidden behind the bush he found a small space barely big enough to crawl into. You've got to be kidding! A dog couldn't get in here much less a man! LeBeau wiggled in, got the book, and wiggled back out uttering a few choice French words along the way.
"Gottfried's dead, so I don't think he's going to be starting any bio efforts. But we are going to get you and that book to London," Hogan informed Lang, as LeBeau returned with the book. "It's a hike back to base. Think you're up to it?"
"Yes, I think so," Lang replied.
"Good," said Hogan as he picked up his radio. "Papa Bear calling Moonglow. Mission accomplished. Return to base. Repeat, return to base. Papa Bear, out." Hogan and his group returned to their base with Lang in tow.