Chapter 7:
"He yanked the phone out of your hand and took it with him?" Carter gasped, as Kalina relayed everything that had just happened in her quarters to her friends. She had come down the hidden fire pole in her closet and used the tunnel network to get to barracks two under the radar. Now she sat beside Kinch on Carter's bunk, while Hogan and the rest of her friends gathered around the table with cups of coffee.
Kalina nodded while sniffling, then wiped her wet eyes with the sleeve of her bathrobe's sleeve.
"He can't do that!" LeBeau exclaimed.
"Now that's just crossin' the bloody line, that's what it is." Newkirk commented, his face turning a light shade of pink.
"No kidding," Hogan added. "I'll tell you this, fellas, I don't like this Krump guy one bit. He's been here 10 days, and he's already giving us problems. Do you know he had the nerve to deny me entrance to his office this morning? I couldn't even give him the daily report that I'm required to do."
"What? But Krump can't do that, Colonel. It's against the Geneva Convention," Kinch said.
"Well, he did."
As Kalina listened to the Senior POW Officer speak, she felt anger bubble up within her. Hogan. He was the reason her papa was gone. It was his convoluted plan that had separated the pair from one another, and she was going to tell him so. She glared at him and snapped, "I don't know why you're complaining. It's your fault Papa was sent to Berlin!"
The colonel raised his eyebrows, surprised by her sudden outburst. "Come again?"
"You heard me! This is all your fault, Colonel Hogan!" Kalina exclaimed. She began to cry when she thought about how much she missed her father, how much she hated the new kommandant. She got to her feet, unable to bear looking at the American anymore. "I HATE YOU! I WISH YOU WERE GONE AND NOT PAPA!" She yelled. Then she ran out of barracks two, tears streaming down her face as she went.
The group stared at each other in silence for a minute or two before Carter spoke up. "Gee, she didn't have to yell. None of us are deaf."
Newkirk smacked him upside the head. "Andrew, you ruddy blockhead! She's upset 'cause she thinks it's the Gov'nor's fault her papa got transferred."
"Isn't it?" The sergeant asked. "I mean, it was his plan."
"No, that bleedin' Jerry told ol' Klink to leave; not Colonel Hogan."
Carter considered those words for a moment. "Then let's get him back for her. Should be easy as pie."
"Cake, mon ami. Cake," LeBeau corrected. "Besides, what makes you think we can do that?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Kinch murmured. "We're still prisoners, so it's not as if we can drive to Berlin and demand our old kommandant back. This isn't an exchange program."
"Sure it is, mate. If you don't like the new Kraut, you've got 30 days to trade him in for a new one or get yer money back," Newkirk quipped.
Carter ignored the snarky remark towards Kinch. "Look, we made Klink look too good, right? That's why he got promoted and transferred. So if we wanna get rid of Krump, we gotta make him look really bad."
"But then we might get stuck with someone even worse, André," LeBeau stated.
"Not really. The only reason the Krauts brought this jerk in is because he's supposedly 'so efficient'. If they transfer him, there's only one person left to take his spot…"
"The old Iron Eagle himself," Hogan finished. A mischievous smile crossed his face as he clapped his youngest team member on the shoulder. "Carter, you're a genius. You've just given me an idea to get rid of Krump once and for all."
"I did?" Carter replied, his eyebrows furrowed together quizzically. "What did I say?"
"Kinch, radio Schnitzer. Tell him when he comes in the day after tomorrow I need him to bring his nastiest, most dangerous dogs he's got on him. Tell him Papa Bear will radio him later with further details," the colonel ordered.
"Yes, Sir," Kinch said, not even questioning what Hogan had cooking in his mind. He got to his feet, banged the hidden mechanism in the fake bunk, then climbed down into the radio room when the tunnel entrance appeared.
Hogan made his gaze to the remaining three. "Newkirk, you and Carter tag team on brainstorming ideas to sabotage the kommandant's office. LeBeau, you'll go in with Newkirk tomorrow night and put everything into motion. Also think of ways to get the guards and Gruber furious with Krump. I'll sneak into the cooler tomorrow night after slipping a sleeping pill in the guard's drink and brief our guys on how I plan on getting them out of here and back to London."
"Right, Colonel," Carter said, pulling out a notepad and pen to start taking notes.
"What about ma petite amie, Colonel?" LeBeau asked curiously.
Hogan let out a heavy sigh as he made his eyes towards the closed barracks door. "I've got to go and check on her. If I'm lucky, she'll forgive me for getting her into this mess in the first place...Maybe even like me again," he answered somberly. Hogan rose from his spot at the table, walked out of the barracks, and closed the door behind him.
Kalina had her face buried into her pillow when a knock came on her door. She lifted her wet eyes up at it and watched as the door opened, and Hogan stuck his head inside. He found her in bed and looked at her with a weary expression, his chocolate brown eyes filled with sadness and hurt. "Can I come in?" He asked softly.
The little Klink hung her head as she sat up in bed and nodded silently. She sniffled again as she wiped her tears away with the sleeve of her nightgown, while Hogan made his way inside and sat down beside her. His frown became longer when he saw how red and irritated Kalina's eyes were from crying and let out a heavy sigh. "I've got an idea on how to get your father back," he said.
Kalina finally turned her gaze to the colonel and sniffled again. "You do?" She croaked. "How are you gonna do that?"
"We're gonna make Krump look like the most incompetent officer that Germany ever saw," Hogan explained. "The boys are working on Plan A right now. I'm still putting Plan B and C together in my mind. For now, though, let's just say we're getting your father back as kommandant and freeing our guys out of the cooler and headed back for London all at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone, as they say."
"You think it'll really work?"
"If we play our cards right, yes." Hogan frowned again and turned his eyes to the floor. "And uh...if you still want...after your father comes back, I'll...see if I can't get a transfer out of here. Go back to London after making it seem as I died in a freak accident on my way to another camp."
Kalina's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, her mouth dropping from its hinges. "NO!" She cried. "No, I can't lose you, too!"
"You said you wanted your father here instead of me, did you not?" The hurt in his voice was clearly heard, and it took all of Kalina's strength to not let her emotions get the best of her.
"I didn't mean it," the little teenager said, shaking her head as hot tears burned down her face. "I didn't mean it. Don't leave me, Colonel Hogan, please don't go...I don't hate you. I couldn't hate you. Not even if I tried. You're my other papa, I love you. Please don't leave me." She began to sob uncontrollably, her heart regretting every hurtful word she had said to Hogan. Why she did not just keep her big mouth shut and wait to calm down instead was something she would never know the answer to. Instead, she had hurt the one person she loved as much as she loved her papa, and she could never take them back.
"I'm your other papa?" Hogan slowly repeated. That was news to him. "Since when?"
"You've always been that to me," Kalina sobbed. "Ever since I got to know you…got to know what a good, kindhearted man you are. You're just as gentle as Papa is, and I'm so sorry I ever said those things to you."
The colonel blew out a breath of air. His feelings might have been hurt, but that did not mean much. Not in the grand scheme of things. He was an adult; she was not. Teenagers often made mistakes or lashed out. Besides, he loved children of all kinds, and that part of him could not stand to see her so upset. Instinctively, he reached out and pulled her into a hug. "Hey, it's okay. Sssh," he soothed.
Kalina clung to him for all she was worth, praying he would forgive her for her thoughtless words. "I promise I wasn't trying to drive you away, Colonel Hogan."
"I know, hon. I know," the colonel replied. He rubbed her back, trying to calm her down before she went into hysterics. "Look, I…I'm sorry, too. I never dreamed the Inspector General would send your father to Berlin without you. But I'm gonna make sure we get him back, okay? Stalag 13 just isn't the same without the Iron Eagle."
"Do…do you forgive me?" She asked, meek.
"Only if you'll do the same for me," he answered. A smile appeared on his face at how fast the little Klink nodded her head.
"Of course I will. Danke," Kalina said. She squeezed Hogan tightly, the sound of his chuckle music to her ears. And the feel of it rumbling through his chest suddenly made her giggle.
"You're very welcome. Now, what's so funny?" He asked curiously.
"Your chuckle is like a mini earthquake inside your body." She explained.
"Good to know," the colonel said, with a grin. "Are we okay then?"
"Better than okay...Colonel Hogan...is General Burkhalter gonna see Major Krump's downfall?"
A thoughtful expression appeared on Hogan's face. "I hadn't thought that far ahead yet, hon. But I could probably arrange for him to see it. Why do you ask?"
"Because I have a request for you."
"A request," Hogan repeated. "What kind of request?"
Kalina wagged her finger for Hogan to lean over a bit, then she whispered something in his ear that made him chuckle. He turned to look at her.
"You're sure of that?"
Kalina nodded, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "He hates cats. The more, the merrier...Or should I say the meowier…" She then turned to the side and made a disgusted frown. "God, that sounded worse out loud."
Hogan laughed again, then nodded. "You got it, hon. I'll flood the entire camp with them."
A smile returned to Kalina's face, and she hugged Hogan again, smiling wider when she felt him wrap his arms around her. The two enjoyed their father-daughter-like moment for several seconds before the little teenager turned her eyes upward at the colonel. "Colonel Hogan," she began. "How are you gonna make Major Krump look like an incompetent fool anyways?"
"I'll let that cat out of the bag when we get there," Hogan said, with a wink.
Both of them smirked at the lame jab, then they went back to their hug before bidding each other 'goodnight'. Operation Destroy Krump was officially underway.