Chapter 21
After Carter, Dray and Newkirk made their way to the back of the plant, Kinch, Terry, LeBeau, Hogan and Toller made their way toward the front. Kinch and Toller took out the two guards in the shack with their knives. Kinch, Terry and LeBeau went in search of the five guards still on patrol. They found three of them heading toward the back of the plant and quickly disposed of them. Kinch motioned for Terry to come with him and for LeBeau to join Newkirk and the others.
"Newkirk, you've got magic fingers," the Englander said in a low voice with a smile looking at his hands after hearing the last tumbler click and the door automatically crack open. He started to follow Carter and Dray inside when from the corner of his eye he saw a gray uniform and whipped around, pistol in hand, and fired at the guard who had been approaching quietly. He hurried over to and knelt down, pressing two fingers against the man's throat as the other two hurried back outside, weapons in their hands. Newkirk looked up and shook his head. "Go back inside and start planting the explosives," he told them. "I'll be with you in a minute."
Newkirk picked up the dead guard's automatic weapon, turned, and started back to rejoin the others inside when it happened.
"Pierre, behind you!"
Newkirk dropped to the ground just as two shots were fired. Carter and Dray hurriedly reappeared, pistols in hand, to find out what happened. Newkirk got to his feet and looked at LeBeau. On the ground lay the body of a dead guard who had been sneaking up behind the Englander to shoot him in the back. The trio looked at LeBeau who stared at the dead guard with disdain. The Frenchman bent down and took the guard's automatic rifle and pressed two fingers against the man's throat. "He won't cause us anymore trouble," he added.
"Thanks, little mate," Newkirk said in a strained voice. Inside, he shook realizing now how close he had come to dying.
"You can thank me later, mon ami," LeBeau told him.
Hogan, Kinch, Terry, and Toller entered through the front door of the plant with Kinch and Toller entering first knowing six more guards waited inside the building, their attention drawn to the gunfire outside. The minute they entered, a guard seated at a small desk leaning back in his chair with his feet up on the desk saw them. Surprised at seeing the intruders, he bolted to his feet reaching for his sidearm at the same time; but Kinch was quicker. He fired, striking the guard whose own shot went wide. He dropped his weapon and fell, but his arm weakly rose and his fingertips barely touched the button on the inside part of the desk where his chair would normally be. An alarm sounded as his arm fell limply to the floor. Kinch grabbed the man's sidearm and rejoined the others.
Newkirk, LeBeau, Dray and Carter exchanged concerned looks having heard the gunshots and the alarm. They wondered what the hell had happened.
"Something must have gone wrong inside," LeBeau said.
Newkirk glanced at the little Frenchman. "The Gov'nor's not alone. They'll handle things. We've got a job to do." He and the small Frenchman looked in the direction from which LeBeau had come. They both worried about their friends, wondering if everybody was all right.
Inside, one of the guards fired his automatic weapon spraying the air shooting out the lights and plunging the room into darkness. But Hogan and the others were accustomed to maneuvering in the dark; Kinch and Hogan somewhat better than Carpenter and Toller. The four men had barricaded themselves behind several unopened crates of supplies. Carpenter slowly moved to the right hoping to circle behind the guard who had fired the burst of gunfire, but had a little trouble determining where his target was. He accidentally bumped into something causing a noise. Realizing he had revealed his position, he ducked and covered his head to protect his eyes as a barrage of bullets struck the wall above his head causing bits of plaster and dust to fly in all directions. Hogan took aim with his automatic weapon at the flashes and fired. The flashes ceased as the gun went silent. Terry moved in the direction he had seen the flashes from Hogan's weapon and joined him and Toller.
"You okay?" the Colonel asked, worried.
"Yeah. Thanks. I really never saw the guy. Sorry."
"It's okay." The three men made their way in the darkness until they found and recognized Kinch.
"Everybody all right?" Kinch asked in a soft voice.
"We're fine," Hogan replied. "There are six guards in here. We took out two of 'em so far." He shook his head. "We have to get the paperwork on the making of the synthetic oil and gasoline."
"But how, Colonel?" asked Kinch. "We don't know where the other four guards are."
Hogan scratched his chin and looked at the others. He needed to figure a way to the office. He knew they were not only pinned down, but easy targets for the remaining guards. Suddenly Hogan's face brightened.
Carter, Dray, Newkirk and LeBeau looked around the room. Hearing the exchange of gunfire from the other room, Newkirk looked at Carter and Dray. "Start planting the explosives, Carter. LeBeau and I will keep watch." Carter nodded as he and Dray began planting the bombs where they would cause the most damage and destroy the reactors. More gunfire came from the other room causing all the men to pause and look at the other door scared for their comrades. But they also knew they had a job to do and Carter and Dray resumed planting their explosives.
Kinch saw Hogan's face brighten. He knew his commanding officer had an idea. Hogan faced his second-in-command and Toller.
"Kinch, you and Toller draw their fire while Carpenter and I try for the file room, then we'll circle around and come behind whoever's firing." Kinch nodded before Hogan and Terry took their leave of them.
It didn't take long for Hogan to locate the corridor. The Colonel suddenly put a hand on Carpenter's arm stopping him. His gut told him something felt wrong. They had met no resistance on their way to the file room, and it had been too easy as far as Hogan was concerned. Carpenter turned to ask Hogan what was wrong when the Colonel's eyes caught a movement from behind an overturned desk and table.
"Run!" Hogan shouted as he turned. Carpenter did the same as a guard began firing at them, bullets hitting the walls and shattering windows in the darkness; shards of glass falling everywhere. Hogan and Carpenter both returned fire but the exchange of gunfire continued. Hogan suddenly yelped as he felt a burning in the back of his upper arm. They continued running in the direction from which they had come, somehow avoiding further injury.
Kinch and Toller, hearing footsteps rapidly approaching from the left, turned their weapons in that direction preparing for one or more guards to appear. At the last minute Kinch recognized Hogan and pushed Toller's weapon down as well as lowering his own. Hogan relayed what had happened and grimaced when he moved his right arm. Kinch's eyes narrowed.
"The Colonel's been hit," Carpenter explained, worried.
"It went clean through my arm. I'll be all right," Hogan explained as Kinch pulled a handkerchief from his pants pocket. Hogan removed his windbreaker and let Kinch tie the handkerchief around the wound hoping to slow down the bleeding. Hogan put his windbreaker on again. "Thanks, Kinch. We can't reach the file room this way. We need to find another way."
Newkirk and LeBeau grew more and more apprehensive at the sound of gunfire from the other room. Newkirk turned to instruct LeBeau to stay while he went to help the others when he was interrupted.
"Mike and I have finished setting the bombs," Carter said with a grin.
Newkirk nodded. "Okay then, let's go help the others." The Englander motioned for them to keep quiet before he cracked open the door and peered into the other room. He quickly closed the door and looked over his shoulder. "The bloody lights are out and the room's dark. Watch yourselves. There's no bleedin' way to know how many ruddy guards are still out there waitin'. Let's go." He quietly opened the door again and slipped out, followed by the others. Making their way warily along a long hallway, Newkirk overheard low voices talking and recognized them right away as German. He looked at the others and put a finger to his lips indicating for them to be quiet. He took a cautious step forward and unfortunately the floor creaked from the movement.
Two guards appeared from around the corner and opened fire at the four men. Newkirk and the others dropped to the floor and avoided being hit by gunfire. Able to make out the outline of the guards from the flashes of the gunfire, Newkirk and Dray returned fire until the guards stopped firing. With weapons aimed, Newkirk and Dray slowly approached the bodies and saw they were dead. They were joined by LeBeau and Carter.
"Filthy Bosche," LeBeau muttered under his breath.
The sudden burst of gunfire coming from further down the hallway caused the four men to hurry the rest of the way down the hallway fearing for their friends.
Hogan, Kinch, Terry and Toller crouched down as low as possible as gunfire flew all around and over them. They managed to return fire, but the exchange from the guards was fast and heated. From the corner of his eye, Kinch spotted Newkirk and the others and gestured to Hogan without speaking a word. The Colonel looked in the direction Kinch had been gesturing and his eyes met Newkirk's. With his good arm, Hogan gestured for the Englander and the others to approach from the side while they kept the guards busy hoping they wouldn't hear or see the four men approaching to take them out. The Englander nodded, looked over his shoulder at the others, and motioned for Carter and Dray to follow him, and for LeBeau to stay where he was.
Hogan ordered Kinch to keep low, then he, Toller, and Terry exchanged gunfire with their unseen assailants. They had faith in the others they would be able to carry out the assigned task and continued exchanging gunfire. Suddenly gunfire erupted from the side of the plant and the guards stopped their firing. Hogan, Terry and Toller slowly looked up from behind their barricade with pistols raised.
"All clear, Gov'nor!" came the cry from Newkirk as he and the others joined Hogan.
Hogan and the others walked out from behind their barricade. Hogan checked the time before looking at Carter. "How long before those bombs go off in the reactor room?"
Carter checked the time. "About twenty minutes."
"There are six guards inside this plant according to Damien," said Kinch, worried. "Are there still any we haven't accounted for?"
"All five guards outside the plant are dead, mon Colonel," LeBeau explained.
"What about the guards inside the plant?" Hogan asked. "I know I killed one and Kinch killed one."
"I got two of 'em," Newkirk said. "Carter got at least one and so did LeBeau."
Hogan looked at Toller and Kinch. "Set the rest of those explosives. Carter, you and LeBeau help them. Set these timers so all bombs go off at once. Terry, you and Dray stand guard in case we have anymore visitors. Newkirk, come with me to the file room."
"Right, sir," Newkirk replied as he and Hogan left the others who went about their assigned tasks. They ran down the hallway Hogan and Carpenter had gone down earlier until they came to the locked file room. Hogan shot off the lock. There was only a single file cabinet in the room. Together, the two men went through the papers taking what looked important. Fortunately, there weren't a lot of papers and they went through them quickly.
"All done, Newkirk?" Hogan took the papers from the Englander and stuck them inside his windbreaker for safekeeping.
"Yes, sir." Newkirk noticed the hole in Hogan's jacket. "Gov'nor, you're hurt."
"Only a scratch. I hardly feel it. C'mon. We don't have a lot of time." The two men hurried back where the others were waiting.
"The bombs are all planted, Colonel," said a grinning LeBeau.
"How much time, Carter?" asked Hogan.
Again Carter checked the time. "All explosives will blow in about eight minutes, sir," he replied in response to Hogan's question.
Hogan looked around at all his men grateful that everybody was alive and except for him, apparently uninjured. "We need to get out of here fast." He ushered his men in front of him with himself bringing up the rear. Carpenter turned to say something to Hogan and saw the glint of a weapon which was pointed at Hogan's back.
"No!" Carpenter yelled pushing Hogan aside before shooting at and killing the guard who Hogan had shot when they first entered the plant. The men all turned and looked on in shock. Hogan, pistol aimed, slowly made his way to the body and knelt beside the man. He pressed two fingers against the man's throat, and felt no pulse. A bullet hole was in the man's forehead and a pistol lay near his outstretched hand. Where he had gotten it Hogan had no idea. He looked back at his godson who seemed to be in shock at having killed a man.
"Colonel, we only have about five minutes!" yelled Kinch.
Hogan got to his feet, and he and the men exited the building, running as fast as they could away from the plant. As they got a few yards away from the building, they spotted the truck they had left in the woods coming towards them.
"We heard gunshots," Addison explained. "Baker and I figured you might have to leave in a hurry." The men climbed into the truck, and Hogan ordered Baker, behind the wheel, to drive as fast as he possibly could as there was now less than five minutes before the explosion. The truck roared away from the plant. Hogan checked the time hoping they would get safely away in time. Baker broke a record getting back to the road which would take them back to Stalag 13.
Suddenly the synthetic oil plant they had left behind exploded; flames shooting high into the sky. The explosions shook the immediate area making it difficult for Baker to keep control of the truck but he managed.
"Right on time for once," Newkirk grinned looking at his watch. "Usually Carter's explosives are a minute or two late." He looked at the young Sergeant who gave him a scowl. "Don't take it so bloody personal, Carter. You and Toller did good."
"They certainly did. You all did a good job," Hogan added with a grin of his own. He smiled as the other men began talking and laughing among themselves celebrating their successful mission. He turned to his godson who hadn't spoken a word since shooting and killing the guard who prepared to kill his godfather, a look of concern on his face. "Talk to me."
Terry turned to Hogan, a pained look in his eyes. "I killed a man tonight," his voice was strained. "I've never killed anybody face-to-face in my entire life. Never. I didn't want to kill him. But if I hadn't, he would have killed you, and I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had let that happen."
"I know. That played a part in my decision to send you back. If you stayed here, there's always gonna be the possibly you would have to kill somebody again; perhaps often. Not everybody can do what we do. I couldn't subject you to that."
"You were right when you told me in a plane all a pilot has to think about are the targets below and not the civilians."
"I'm sorry you had to find out the hard way."
"I'll be all right," Terry answered with a faint smile. "I'm just glad you're okay except for the injury to your upper arm."
Hogan glanced at the others and they were still busy talking and laughing among themselves and not paying him and Carpenter any attention. He turned back to his godson and smiled. "I barely feel the injury. "No big deal."
Terry smirked. "I want to hear you tell Wilson that when we get back to camp."
Once the men were back at Stalag 13, Kinch at once sent LeBeau to get Wilson explaining the Colonel had received a gunshot wound to his arm. Hogan, on the other hand, glared at his second-in-command and insisted he was fine, and the injury was minor. But Kinch was insistent and LeBeau, looking frightened hearing the Colonel had been shot, hurried to get the medic. The mission had taken nearly three hours instead of the one hour Hogan thought it would; but he could live with that.
LeBeau returned with Wilson who had his medical bag with him.
"I need you to remove your windbreaker, Colonel," Wilson instructed expecting the Colonel to give him a difficult time as usual.
With a shake of his head, Hogan removed the papers he and Newkirk had taken from the plant, unzipped his windbreaker, and started to remove it. He grimaced from the pain in his arm. The little Frenchman started to approach to help Hogan remove his jacket, but a glare from the Colonel stopped him in his tracks. Hogan managed to get the jacket off himself with a bit of effort. Wilson reached into his medical bag, and grabbing a pair of scissors, cut the handkerchief so it could be removed. LeBeau looked away turning pale at the sight of the blood stained handkerchief.
Wilson cut the sleeve of Hogan's turtleneck and pulled it down to enable him to get at the injury. "The bullet went in and out. It isn't serious and the Colonel should recover fully." That said, the medic cleaned the wound before sewing it closed. He applied a small amount of sulfur powder to help against infection, and bandaged the arm. Finally, he gave the Colonel an injection of a pain medication.
"Thanks, Joe," Hogan replied wearily.
"Get some rest, Colonel," Wilson replied, knowing Hogan wouldn't obey his orders. "I'll check on you later and see how you're doing." As nobody else required his services, Wilson took his medical bag and headed back to his own barracks. After the medic left, Hogan looked at his radioman. He grabbed the papers from the table and handed them to the radioman.
"Kinch, code these in the morning, and contact London after breakfast. Tell them mission accomplished and send the information. After that, find out about that sub and let me know."
"Will do," Kinch replied.
Hogan nodded and tried to stifle a yawn. "Well, gentlemen, I suggest we all change and get a few hours sleep. Roll call's in a couple of hours."