Disclaimer: See chapter three.

They had been walking for over an hour through the forest, avoiding the roads. The going had been hard and Newkirk found himself looking at Hogan every few minutes. His commanding officer was a little ahead of him. Newkirk was concerned for him, he knew that the damage done to Hogan's shoulder wasn't life threatening, but he was still worried. He didn't know what would happen if they lost Hogan.

'Snap out of it,' he told himself sternly. Hogan was yet to stumble, in fact Newkirk was starting to feel like he was the one that had been shot.

"Colonel," Newkirk panted catching up with Hogan. "We should stop we have been walking non-stop for an hour."

Hogan stopped and looked at Newkirk, Hogan would have liked to stop but the safe house was only a few hundred meters away.

"A little further and we will be safe." Hogan told him and walked away before Newkirk could say anything else.

***

Hans woke to the sound of knocking on his door. He slowly slipped out of bed as the knocking became louder. He slipped his feet into his slippers and walked down the hallway. Not worrying about any noise he made for he lived alone. However, he always seemed to have company.

"Who's there?" he yelled as he reached his door.

"A friend," was the muffled reply. Hans pulled the door open he knew that voice.

"Colonel Hogan!" Hans said letting his friend inside. "How are you?"

Hans looked Hogan, Newkirk and an unknown English solider over. His eyes travelled back to Hogan, he noticed the tried and strained look on the man's face.

"Well as can be, would it be much trouble if we could stay the night?" Hogan asked

"No trouble at all Hogan. Come on in, sit down." Hans lead the way through his house to the living room. "Why don't you sit down and I will get you something to eat."

Hogan smiled at the older man and nodded his head, "That would be great Hans. Sorry to woke you so early."

"That fine Hogan I like the company" Hans told his guests then quickly walked to his kitchen.

As soon as the man was out of the room Hogan's smile faded and he rested his head on the back of the seat he was in and closed his eyes.

When Hans came back into the room Hogan was asleep in his chair.

"Is he okay?" Hans asked of Newkirk.

"He should be, give him time." The English man told him. However Newkirk didn't quite believe Conner's words. He knew Hogan wasn't one to show weakness.

"Hans can I use your radio?" Newkirk asked of the old man.

"I'll set it up for you." Hans told him, looking over at the other man in the room. "I'm forgetting my manners, the names Hans kaningsberg and you are?"

Hans held his hand out to Conner, who took it.

"Liam Conner, nice to meet you" Conner said in perfect German.

Hans was impressed, and nodded his head slightly, "Your very good at German."

"I read a book on it once," Conner joked. Hans gave Conner a strange look.

"Newkirk I'll show you that radio now." Hans said walking out the door. He didn't trust Conner. Hogan and Newkirk yes, but Conner no.

Newkirk grabbed a hand full of sandwich off the plate of food Hans had placed on the table. "What?" Newkirk said looking innocently at scowling Conner.

He looked at Conner for a long minute then hurried after Hans

Newkirk found Hans pulling out his hidden radio set from next to the fireplace in the living room, he placed it on the floor, plugging it in and starting it up.

"Interesting place to hid that," Newkirk said looking at the wire going up the inside of the chimney. "Can you use the fire place or is this room as cold as our lovely Stalag."

"Have a look," Hans told him, he took pride in the way he had hidden a spy's most crimination device.

"Bloody hell," Newkirk exclaimed, the radio had a secret compartment build into the wall, when the radio was fully pushed into the hole, the radio set was far enough away from the fire that it wouldn't be burnt. The wire for the aerial was wired up the side of the chimney away from the heat.

"Do you know how to use it?" He asked of Newkirk.

"Kinch thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to use his set." Newkirk told him, backing out of the fireplace. "A week later it blew up and he blamed me."

Hans chuckled he could just see Kinch going off at Newkirk about his precious radio.

"Mamma Bear this is Papa Bear, come in Mamma Bear." Newkirk called down the line. "Mamma bear this is Papa Bear come in."

"Papa Bear this is Mamma Bear, read you loud and clear." Kinch replied.

"Papa Bear is showing weakness," Newkirk said keeping a watch on his words, big brother might be listening.

"Bring him back here." Kinch told him

"Has something happened?" Carter's voice came over the speaker, "Oh boy, is every one okay?"

"Shh!" Kinch said sternly to Carter. "Can you get him here?"

"We would have to sedate 'im to get 'im back." Newkirk said looking down at his hands.

"The Bald Eagle knows about escape." Kinch said. "Are you safe?"

"We're holding up all right," Newkirk said bitting into one of the sandwiches he had grabbed before.

"A General moved in after you left, he's after your package. Is he safe?"

"He's still alive and kickin'. Any new word?"

"Yes HQ has set up a pick up time and place for your package." Kinch said. "Same place and time as last time, we'll meet you there."

"Right Mamma bear."

"Take care Papa bear, mamma bear over and out."

Hans shut down the radio, 'so there's a new player in this game,' Newkirk thought as he walked back to where he left Hogan and Conner.

Conner was carefully removing Hogan's shirt to get a better look at his injured shoulder.

"What are you doing," Newkirk demanded forcefully, looking down at his unconscious commanding officer.

"We need to check his shoulder," Conner told him.

"Are you a doctor?" Newkirk said looking at the man with suspicion.

"I do have some medical training."

Newkirk watched as the man pulled back Hogan's shirt to look at the wound

"Boil some water and get something to clean the wound," Conner ordered. Newkirk quickly went to get the supplies, not because Conner out ranked him but because it was for Hogan.

"Colonel, Colonel Hogan," Conner softly called, the man's brown eyes slowly opened, pain still clouded their surface.

"Colonel we need to clean the wound, it doesn't look to bad. You're likely the bullet missed the bone, the bullet entered just below your shoulder," Conner told him in a doctor's soft voice. "All we can do is clean it up, then bandaged it."

"Okay, but for your sake I hope you know what you're doing," Hogan said softly.

Newkirk entered the room with the supplies, with Hans close behind. However, when the man saw the blood he covered his month and ran out of the room.

"A little sensitive to blood isn't he?" Newkirk said placing the supplies on the floor.

The two carefully cleaned Hogan's shoulder. Hogan concentrated on the wall across from him as his wound throbbed and stung.

Newkirk grabbed their supply bag hoping to find something to help his commander. He came up with a large bottle of whisky.

"Could I tempt you with a drink Colonel?" Newkirk asked swirling the brown liquid within the bottle. "If you don't want it I can find a loving home for it."

Hogan grabbed the bottle the Corporal held out to him. Hogan took a long swing, then handed it over to Conner, who splashed it on Hogan's wound. Hogan hissed as the liquid stung the wound.

"That should help keep back bacteria until we can find something better," Conner told them, handing the bottle back to Hogan. "We'll just wrap this up."

***