Chapter 17:
Hogan's men and Kalina stared down their ex-ally with disgust, grinding their jaws to keep themselves from losing their tempers. And as Kalina held on tighter to Hogan, the four flyers crowded together as a human shield for their recovering colonel. Their blood was boiling, their nerves were on the edge, all of them were determined to protect Hogan with their lives. They could not save him from this monster the first time, and they sure as hell were not standing by and doing nothing this time.
"You got some real bleedin' nerve to show up like this, yah bloomin' bastard," Newkirk hissed through his teeth.
"I don't even know if we can consider you an American anymore." Kinch added, his dark eyes flashing with a firm warning.
"Save it, Sergeant," Williams said. "I came back here for one reason and one reason only; to get back at the man that took my freedom from me." He tightened his grip on his pistol and cocked it, ready to fire at any given second.
"Colonel Hogan had nothing to do with you losing your freedom." LeBeau sneered, his arms crossed against his chest.
"You did this to your own self, so you might as well point that pistol at yourself," Newkirk said.
Williams briefly turned his gaze to Hochstetter, who was watching quietly with a burning gaze in his eyes. This was the man Burkhalter had sent him for. The man that was responsible for this whole nightmare taking form from the beginning. Now seeing just how smug and arrogant the sergeant was, Hochstetter was honored that he would be the one to end the reign of Williams' terror.
The rogue ally turned his eyes back to Hogan's men and Kalina, keeping his pistol steady on Hogan's head. "You ruined everything I wanted in life, Hogan. I lost the only thing I ever wanted in this damn war because of you and your twisted scheme. To frame me for a sabotage act I didn't even commit in order to have me sent away for life. You took everything I cared for, now I'm going to take everything you care for. Once this bullet goes through your brain, I'll start by killing your men and little gal there one by one."
He was still extremely weak and tired, but Hogan managed the most sinister gaze he could ever muster. "Don't...don't you lay a hand on any of them," he snarled, his labored breathing returning.
"And what do you plan on doing about it, Hogan? You can barely sit up in bed, let alone stand up and attack me. You're about as helpless as it gets...I'm just sorry I don't get to kill you eye-to-eye like I'd hoped to."
"Williams, you kill Colonel, and you won't just have Hochstetter here to worry about," Kinch threatened.
"We will finish the job for the filthy bosche." LeBeau added.
Williams gave a low and amused chuckle. "Oh Louis," he began. "You always were the feisty one out of the six of you. I'm going to miss that about you once I'm finished here." He made his eyes back to Hogan and held his finger on the gun's trigger. "Now to finish a job I should have done a year ago."
Kalina's eyes widened with horror as her jaw hung from its hinges. She needed an idea and quick. Hogan was again facing the Grim Reaper, and death would have its victory unless she and the others acted quickly. They needed to stop Williams long enough for Hochstetter to get back-up, but she had no clue as to what she should do. Her gaze met the sink, and an idea hit her as she spotted a filled syringe lying on the counter.
Knowing she only had seconds to spare, Kalina bolted from Hogan's side and lunged for the syringe. But before she got a chance to make a run for Williams, the sergeant turned to her and fired his gun, missing the girl's head by several inches as she fell to the floor and covered her head like one would do in a tornado drill.
With Williams distracted, LeBeau took the opportunity to jump onto the man's back and started pounding Williams' shoulder, causing him to drop his pistol on the floor and underneath Hogan's bed.
Newkirk grabbed one of Williams' goons by the collar of his shirt and socked him one in the side of the face, while Kinch took the other one and punched his face before grabbing the goon's arm and swinging him against the wall.
As the fighting ensued, Bossler frantically ran to the doorway of his patient's room and stuck his head out in the hall. "I need Gestapo up here!" He cried.
Hochstetter pointed his Luger at Williams and went to fire, when nothing happened. He pressed down on the trigger again and got the same reaction. When he realized the gun was jammed, Hochstetter internally cursed and began doing everything he could think of to try and free his bullet. He banged it against his gloved hand, against Hogan's nightstand, continued pressing on the trigger, but his efforts continued to fail.
Eventually Williams was able to fling LeBeau off his back, sending the Frenchman rolling onto the floor and over in Kinch's direction. Seeing that everyone was preoccupied with other matters, Williams went for Hogan's oxygen tank and twisted the knob to turn off the oxygen supply. He stopped when the colonel began gasping for air and gradually slipped into unconsciousness.
Kalina lifted her head and felt her heart stop as she saw Hogan slowly die. "NO!" She wailed, grabbing the syringe off the floor. She jumped to her feet, went charging towards Williams, then shoved the needle in the sergeant's back as he went to retrieve his gun. He let out a loud yelp before collapsing to the ground.
Certain that he was temporarily immobilized, Kalina quickly made her way to the oxygen tank and began cranking the knob to the right as fast as she could. She did not stop until she heard Hogan gasp and start trying to catch his uneasy breathing. He put a hand on his belly to try and ease it from the aching he got from gulping such deep breaths down.
Williams gnarled at the little girl and went to grab her, but he could not move his body. He lifted his head up and tried to move any part of his body, but nothing happened. He was paralyzed from the neck down. He began to panic as he realized that he could no longer defend himself or finish the job he came back from London to do. He started to hyperventilate, and his heart angrily pounded against his chest from growing anxiety.
"Help! I can't move! I'm paralyzed! Help!" He exclaimed.
"Gladly," Newkirk answered, roughly pulling Williams off the ground as he flung away the first of Williams' goons. He was caught in Carter's grasp, and the young sergeant threw him into the wall, sending the guy sliding to the floor, and a medical textbook to fall out of one of the cabinets. The guy went to stand up and help his boss, but was clonked on the head with the book and became unconscious.
Bossler urgently gestured for four Gestapo officers to come into the room, while Newkirk slammed Williams against Hogan's room window. The corporal made several attempts to punch Williams in the face, but the sergeant continued to dodge his head and tried to bite Newkirk in self-defense.
Hochstetter continued to tug and bang his gun to try and dislodge it. He went to cock it again, only this time the bullet firing out of the barrel and striking Williams in the shoulder. And by how much force the shot had been, Williams went crashing out the window and cried out in fear as he plummeted to his death.
Newkirk looked out the window with his mouth hanging ajar as he watched Williams fall and cringed a bit when he heard the loud 'thud' coming from the contact the sergeant made with the sidewalk.
Kinch and LeBeau struggled to hold down Williams' second goon, when two Gestapo officers pushed them aside and slammed the goon into the wall, making him yelp in pain as they roughly handcuffed him.
The first goon was shaking his head and slowly coming to when the other two officers yanked him to his feet and placed his arms behind his back while cuffing him.
As Hochstetter and the other Gestapo officers took down information from both of Williams' men, Kinch, Carter, and Newkirk all looked back out the window the mad sergeant had fallen out of. Carter briefly looked away from the sight as Kinch shook his head.
"What a nasty way to go," the radioman said.
"And I wanted to see him rot the rest of his life behind bars." Newkirk commented disappointingly.
Kinch turned to Carter, who was still in shock. He put a gentle hand on the young man's shoulder. "Go make sure Louis doesn't come over here, will you? Just until the Krauts take Williams to the morgue," he told him softly.
Carter nodded, still not completely able to believe that Williams was truly dead. "Yes, Kinch," he answered, and was about to turn on his feet, when he looked out the window once more. "You think all of that's blood?"
"No, Andrew; I think it's the bloomin' ketchup packets in his jacket that exploded," Newkirk remarked, partly irritated and partly to try and lighten a grim moment. Despite how much all of them had hated Williams and his cocky behavior, he had once been one of them. An Allied flyer fighting against the Germans. It made them question where along the way things had gone so wrong with the sergeant. What they could have done to stop it from getting this far. But none of them would ever know. Williams was gone. He would never hurt another person ever again. It was both satisfying and tragic at the same time.
Kalina, who had not moved from her spot since watching Williams fall out the window, sprinted towards Hogan and carefully wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his chest as she began to cry. She had almost watched her second father die for real and worried she might have tried saving him too late had she not acted as quickly as she did.
Hogan smiled down at her, held her close, then rubbed her back and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I'm alright, hon," he promised her. "I'm alright now...It's all over now." He softly hushed her as she continued to cry and did his best to rock her despite not being able to move much.
"I can't believe it," Carter said, he and the others again surrounding Hogan's bedside. "Williams is gone...He's really gone this time."
Kinch stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. "As stressful and painful as this situation has been on us, we did get something good in the end of it all," he said, making his attention back to Hogan and gave his commander a smile.
"We have Colonel Hogan back, and that is all that matters," LeBeau answered.
"And now we can finally go back to Hammelburg," Hochstetter said, with relief. "Our assignment has been completed. You can all see Hogan again after he comes back to Stalag 13. Now schnell; I want to be on the first train headed back for Hammelburg tomorrow morning."
Hogan's men and Kalina all began protesting and complaining about leaving Hogan alone in Stuttgart while he recovered. All of them spoke on top of each other, making it nearly impossible for anyone to understand what they were saying for several minutes. It was not until Carter spoke up that the rambunctious sound finally came to an end.
"We can't leave Colonel Hogan alone here; he needs us!"
"Je ne quitte pas un seul instant le côté du Colonel Hogan." LeBeau added, firmly crossing his arms. (1)
"I have no bloomin' idea what he just said, but I'm with me mate Louis on this one," Newkirk said, pointing a finger at the short Frenchman.
Kalina straightened her stance and put on a command-like look she had seen her father wear many times before. "Then we'll all stay here with him until he can walk out the hospital doors with us," she said, making her decision final.
"Hey, we can all go site-seeing while we're here!" Carter cheered, he and the others all on board with the girl's orders.
"And we can visit Colonel Hogan at night after dinner." LeBeau added, just as excited.
"We could even stay a few nights here and there with him. Leave for another day-trip right after having breakfast," Newkirk said, his blue eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree.
As Hogan's team began planning the next two weeks out in full celebration, Hochstetter stepped on the brakes and put a halt to this wild idea by hollering over them.
"QUIET!" The major bellowed, silencing everyone immediately. "I've had enough of this nonsense, and I've had enough with all of you! If you will not listen to my orders, you will listen to General Burkhalter's."
Hochstetter picked up Hogan's room phone and pressed the receiver against his ear. "Get me General Burkhalter at Stalag 13, priority call." There was a brief moment of silence before Burkhalter answered. "Herr General, this is Major Hochstetter in Stuttgart. We have located Colonel Hogan and eliminated the threat to his life just as you ordered...Jawohl, Herr General, but I still have a slight problem. Hogan's men and Kalina refuse to leave Hogan's side until he is well enough to come back to Stalag 13, and Kalina has decided that we all stay here until then, but uh, you and I both know that you and Colonel Klink are anxiously waiting for us to return, no?" Another moment of silence followed, and whatever it was that Burkhalter said next had Hochstetter turning as red as a fire engine. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I TAKE ORDERS FROM A 15 YEAR OLD?!" He hollered, his dark eyes ablaze.
Hogan's men began laughing and cheering, high-fives going all around.
"Alright; that a boy, Burkhalter!" Carter cried.
"Three cheers for our favorite Kraut." Newkirk added.
A tired smile came to Hogan's face as he looked at his little family. He was not only touched by how loyal they were, but he was immensely proud of their hard work and determination to save him and make Williams serve justice for treason. They never gave up for a single second, even when everything seemed to go downhill for them. Having them now staying by his side for the remainder of his stay in the hospital only showed him one time more just how much his friends respected and cared for him. Unshed tears glistened in his chocolate brown eyes as he reflected on just how much he loved his family away from family. They were truly the best team and even better friends he could ever ask for.
Kalina smiled back at him, then gently wrapped her arms around Hogan and rested her head on his chest. Hogan held her close in return, softly rubbing the back of her head and giving her a kiss on the forehead. She only brightened more, happy to finally be with her second papa again.
As for Hogan's men, Newkirk took a seat beside Kalina on the bed, LeBeau sat in a wooden chair next to Hogan's right side, and Carter and Kinch stood behind him as they all reunited with their commander and best friend. Their family was back together again. Nothing could tear them apart now.
(1) Je ne quitte pas un seul instant le côté du Colonel Hogan - I'm not leaving Colonel Hogan's side for a single moment.