Disclaimer: CSI: NY and all the characters from the show are owned by CBS, Paramount, Jerry Bruckheimer, Anthony Zuiker, and other people who are much more creative and wealthier than me. Any other characters are my own and resemblance to any other person is a pure coincidence. Well mostly. Probably. No wait, mostly.

Thanks again for the reviews, alerts, favorites and just for reading this. Here is Chapter 26. Enjoy.

Chapter 26: Dog Days of Summer

It is time. Stella knows that if she is going to get Jess either into Camp Percival she has to act quickly. That would be the main purpose of this visit. She also has a more heartbreaking but just as important task to complete. She has gotten word that Commandant von Touffel thinks she is in love with Major Taylor. Stella knows that if the Commandant thinks that, she will be far less likely to keep his trust. She knows what she has to do to deceive the Commandant, but that doesn't make it any easier.

***

It is now the hottest time of the summer. Everyone is miserable in this heat except for Hayes; he seems to be enjoying it. His quirks about the weather aside, the lessons in German that he has been giving me are paying off. The other day when I was walking around the camp, I overheard two of the guards muttering something about the relentless Allied bombing of German cities. The word Kiel was mentioned and the ghost of a smile crossed my face. Kiel is one of Germany's biggest ports. Any bombing of that city would hurt them pretty bad and anything that harms the Germans right now is fine with me.

Stella is coming by today and I have been eager to hear what she has to say about Operation Royal Flush. If she can get things ready outside of the camp, we might actually be able to pull Royal Flush off and I'd pay to see the look on Kressing's face when he realizes what's going on.

The welcoming sound of an old car pulling up to the gate reaches my ears. Sure enough, I look in that direction and there is Stella. Something is wrong though. The look she has on her face is not that of a woman pleased to be here. In fact, she looks furious and angry. Oh God I think to myself what did these damn Germans do?

Her smoldering anger hasn't diminished as she comes over to me. If anything, it's gotten worse.

"Stella what's wrong?" I ask her with concern.

Suddenly and without any warning she slaps me hard across the face.

"How dare you!" She yells at me.

"What? What did I do?"Now I'm thoroughly confused.

"Don't act stupid! You tried to use me to contact your friends on the outside! You tried to get me involved in your plans to escape this place! On top of that, you tried to manipulate me, to play on my emotions! I thought you loved me, but you were just using me!"

My jaw is wired shut. What the hell is going on? Where did she get these ludicrous ideas from?

She slaps me again and digs something out of her pocket. It's a letter. "Here I'm giving this stupid love letter back to you. I hope you stay in this camp forever you stupid American!"

She throws the letter on the ground at my feet and starts walking away. I have no idea what is happening.

"Stella wait!" I call out fruitlessly.

"Go to Hell!" She shouts and storms away, heading to the Commandant's office.

I'm left standing here, stunned at what has happened. None of this makes any sense. I'm confused, saddened, and angered beyond all belief.

I see the German guards and some of my own men staring at me, and I'm in no mood for it.

"What the Hell are you looking at?" I bellow at them. Both German and American get the hint and quickly start focusing on other things.

It's then that I notice the letter at my feet. Stella called it a love letter, but I never gave her anything of the kind. Crouching down, I pick it up and open it. Inside is a coded message, exactly like the two I had given her. I stuff it in my pocket and head back to my barracks. I have to decode this message. I have to figure out what has happened.

***

In the office of Commandant von Touffel, Stella keeps up the anger that she displayed so openly in front of everyone outside.

"Ms. Bonasera, please come in." The Commandant smiles as he lets her in. Von Touffel saw the whole thing and he has to admit, it made him feel good to see her rage at the Major. Maybe he just might win her yet.

Stella repeats her tirade against Major Taylor, giving him a chance to revel in that warm feeling.

Seeing that he is in a good mood, Stella moves forward.

"Commandant, I have a suggestion to make to you for your men." She says, reverting to her most charming, friendly demeanor.

"What is it Frauline?" He asks curiously

"Commandant, there is a Spanish woman in town, a Ms. Isabella Fernandez. She is a traveling singer and she is very good. I saw her perform in Naples and I thought it would be a good idea for her to come to this camp and perform for you and your men."

Von Touffel is clearly surprised by her suggestion; a Spanish singer performing for his men? It's actually a brilliant idea. It would raise his men's moral and let them have a temporary escape from the onerous guard duty that so often comes with being at a POW camp.

"Tell me more about this singer if you will Frauline."

"Like I said Commandant she is a Spaniard and has performed for Generalissimo Franco's troops and even some of the Italian Army before. She knows many of the spicy songs that the Spanish are known for. And she is quite beautiful."

The more Stella tells him about it, the more Commandant von Touffel likes the idea.

"Very well Frauline. When can you have her come to our little camp?"

"I can have her here by this time next week."

"That sounds wonderful. If you could arrange when, I would greatly appreciate it."

"I will do my best Commandant."

"Vielen dank Frauline. I'm sure my men will enjoy Senorita Isabella's performance."

Stella smiles her warmest smile at him. "Rest assured Commandant, it will be a performance your men will never forget." She gets up to leave his office.

Commandant von Touffel congratulates himself once again. He knew it was smart to let her keep coming to the camp.

***

As she leaves the camp, Stella's heart sinks. It hurt her more than she could express to have to be like that with Mac. Seeing the confusion and hurt in his eyes deeply saddened her. It is for the greater good she tells herself. Unsurprisingly that doesn't make her feel any better.

Despite that, she still has to judge this mission to the camp to be a success. She persuaded the Captain to let Jess come into the camp and in only a week's time. That will put some time pressure on all of them, but it also means that they are close to putting everything into affect. That means that in one week, all the Americans will be free of that wretched camp.

Stella just hopes that Mac will forgive her for her actions.

***

Captain Kressing watched the spectacle of the Italian woman and the American Major go at it and he isn't at all impressed. He had another meeting with Niepper and nothing in the woman's actions that Niepper has seen shows that they have had a falling out. Those two are up to something. Kressing can feel it.

"Major!"

***

It's Kressing. Bastard. I was just about to get started on decoding Stella's letter, but any delay when dealing with Kressing will turn out badly, so I head out of my barracks and go over to the sadistic Captain. His men and my men all look on from afar; curious about what is going to happen.

Kressing stares directly at me "You may have convinced everyone else that what we just saw was true, but I'm no fool. Try a stunt like that and it will be your death sentence Major. I won't let your rank get in my way again. I promise you." Kressing says with a dangerous tone.

I'm in no mood for Kressing or his sadism. I don't back down, instead I look straight at him. "Before this war is over Kressing, you will die and it will be by my hands."

The camp falls into total, absolute silence. If Kressing is going to do something, now is his time.

Instead the German maintains his stand and sneers at me. "One of us is going to kill the other Major. I have no doubts about that."

I narrow my eyes, grit my teeth and say to him "so be it".

Good? Bad? As always if you have an opinion about this chapter, other chapters, or anything at all, kindly submit a review. Things are going to heat up a bit in the next few chapters. Stay tuned.