No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred. Copyright is owned by others and no infringement is intended.
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"Colonel Hogan, let me help you with your—"
"Never mind that; you have to get this off," Hogan interrupted Wilson. Not slowing down to hide his discomfort, he quickly removed his jacket and shirt, then sat down on his bunk and indicated the bandages that Schnitzer had wrapped around his body. "Make it quick. And close the door."
Kinch, Le Beau, and Newkirk had followed Wilson into Hogan's quarters, and now watched with concern and bewilderment. Kinch cringed at the sight of Hogan's inflamed shoulder, but said nothing. Obviously there were more pressing injuries to consider, if Hogan was not only willing, but anxious, to have Wilson attend to him.
"Colonel, I—"
"Take it off," Hogan ordered, insistent.
Wilson sighed. "Yes, sir," he said. He pulled a pair of scissors out of the bag he had brought with him and snipped a section of the bandages to be able to start his work.
Hogan occasionally flinched but said nothing as Wilson very delicately pulled the dressing from around his body. After a short while, Hogan brought his hand up to Wilson's, pulling it away. Wilson nodded and watched in silence as Hogan continued the procedure himself, grim-faced, one hand cupped as though to catch something, the other very deliberately peeling the bandages away from his wound. His actions were rewarded by the astounded looks on the faces of those around him when his waiting hand caught a small, flat metallic component, with some wire leads attached to it. He put it on the bunk beside him and silently continued the unwrapping. Soon a small, folded envelope was revealed, which Hogan placed next to the component. Then he stopped, his soreness tiring him, and simply looked at the others.
"Is that what I think it is?" Kinch asked, barely daring to breathe, much less speak.
Hogan nodded wearily. "And the frequencies and the codes," he said.
Kinch came slowly forward and picked up the precious transmitter part and the envelope. "Is that why you came back?" he asked.
Hogan considered before answering. "Schnitzer said he had it, but he couldn't get it to you. This way it got into camp."
"But it means you're trapped again, gov'nor," Newkirk said, disbelieving.
Hogan lay down on the bunk, biting back a groan. "Too many people were depending on it to have it disappear." He closed his eyes. "I didn't sleep much last night," he said. "Let me sleep."
Kinch, Le Beau and Newkirk exchanged glances with Wilson, who nodded them out of the room. Then Wilson closed the door to Hogan's quarters and did the job he thought he had been called for.
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Kinch fitted the small, precious part into the rest of the radio down in the tunnel while Le Beau looked on. "There, that should do it," Kinch said. "All we have to do now is test it out with the frequencies Colonel Hogan brought back and we'll be rolling." He stood back and examined his handiwork, contemplating how it had been made possible.
Le Beau's brow furrowed as he considered Hogan's return. "He could have escaped, Kinch. He could have been gone. Why did he come back?"
"You heard what he said, Louis," Kinch said. He screwed the lid tightly back onto the radio casing. "We were all counting on this radio. He didn't want to let us down."
"But Schnitzer would have gotten him out—he would have been free!"
Kinch nodded. "He must have his reasons, Louis. I can't even begin to guess what they are. All I know is, if he hadn't brought this part, Schnitzer wouldn't have been able to, and there would be an awful lot of disappointed men here."
"And now Schnitzer's job is safe, too."
"So we can still contact the Underground. Another Colonel Hogan miracle," Kinch agreed. He looked at Le Beau. "It's quite a sacrifice, Louis. Let's make sure we don't waste it."
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"I warned you, Colonel Hogan. I told you not to try to escape! You behaved foolishly, and just at the time when I told you that you would be in the most jeopardy if you did!" Klink shook his head. "Well, your little escapade served its purpose, at least for now—it put off the Gestapo for a little while. But they were very angry, Hogan; I expect they'll be back. And very soon." Klink stopped long enough to scoff. "Thinking you could get a loyal German citizen like Herr Schnitzer to help you get out of Germany," he mocked, with a slight chuckle. "Hogan, you should have known better. A week in the cooler may help you remember this in the future. Schultz!"
Schultz appeared a little too quickly from the other side of Klink's office door. "Jawohl, Herr Kommandant!" he said, standing smartly at attention.
"Take Colonel Hogan to the cooler. He is to spend the next seven days there, thinking about his unwise attempt to escape from this escape-proof prison camp. No visitations except for the medic."
"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant." Schultz stood back and opened the door. "Colonel Hogan—if you please," he said, gesturing to the exit.
Hogan's eyes darkened as he turned to the guard. Glaring back at Klink, he thought of where he could have been spending the next seven days if he had continued on his flight. He felt the muscles in his jaw tense, but he fought back the urge to tell Klink exactly how un-escape proof Stalag 13 was, and walked out.
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Blinking excessively as his eyes adjusted to the light, Hogan emerged from his little cell a week later looking much as he did when he first arrived at the camp so many weeks ago. In need of a shave, not very well fed, and still sore and stiff, he rubbed his eyes and nodded to Schultz as the guard left his side to attend to other duties. The once overpowering pain from his separated shoulder had receded to a duller but persistent background ache, thanks to many visits from an indefatigable Wilson, who had treated it with cold compresses as often as he could manage to get access to the Colonel. And the wounds in Hogan's side, which had been fairly minor but aggravated by his actions outside the camp—and by the rough undressing that followed his return—were also healing well.
Hogan had said little to Wilson when the medic came to him. He submitted without protest to the Sergeant's treatment, the overwhelming relief when his shoulder was being numbed evident on his face, but he said nothing about his experiences, or about his decision to come back to the camp. Thus given some respite from his pain, he usually slept after Wilson left, and when he awakened to a stronger throbbing later, would simply sit on his bunk, trying to get lost in thought until the next distraction came along—usually a meal, or Sergeant Schultz trying to cheer him up, not realizing that Hogan would have preferred the solitude. Thankfully, Klink stayed away.
"Thought you'd be out soon." Newkirk's voice penetrated Hogan's inner thoughts as he reached Barracks Two. Hogan looked and saw the Corporal in the shadows, leaning on the barracks wall. "We have something to show you," he said.
Hogan said nothing, feeling strangely out of practice about communicating, and nodded mutely. Newkirk left his observation spot and led Hogan inside, where Le Beau was waiting at the table in the common room.
"Watch the door," Newkirk said to him.
"Oui," Le Beau agreed. The little Frenchman struggled with words, unsure what to say to Hogan standing before him. Over the last week, the consequences of Hogan's decision to come back to them had sunk deep into his mind, and deeper into his heart. Captain Hayes had abandoned them, had not cared about anyone but himself; this had hurt Le Beau very deeply, and aside from his very close companions here, he had lost faith in man's ability to think of others before himself. But Hogan's return symbolized quite the opposite—he had had the chance to escape from Nazi Germany. But he knew that the others left behind would lose their chance to do the same if someone didn't act. And so he chose to give them all an equal opportunity, by bringing back the one thing they needed in order to get it. And in the process he'd lost that chance himself. Le Beau's passionate French soul found this loyalty noble, and overwhelming. "Welcome back, Colonel," was all he managed to say.
Hogan nodded. Newkirk banged on the side of the bunk that led to the tunnel as Le Beau took up his observation post. He gestured for Hogan to precede him down the ladder. Hogan did so, favoring his sore shoulder, to find Kinch fiddling at the radio box.
"Colonel Hogan, welcome back," Kinch said without humor.
Hogan appreciated not being treated like the all was right with the world. "Thanks," he finally said.
"We've been pretty busy in the last week, Colonel. The radio transmitter is all set up, and the wiring to the antenna is completed. Communication is as close as this switch," Kinch said, indicating a small lever near his hand.
"Does it work?" Hogan asked.
"In theory, yes," he answered. "We haven't tried it out yet. The men agreed they wanted you to be the first one on the air, so to speak. We don't want to try this during the day, so we hoped you might be up to trying it out tonight. That way the antenna over Klink's office can go up hopefully unnoticed."
Hogan nodded.
"And there's more, gov'nor," Newkirk added. Hogan looked questioningly at the obvious enthusiasm on the man's face. "Take a look at this."
He led Hogan down the tunnel the men had been working on before he left Stalag 13. But Hogan realized now that he was walking much farther than he ever had before. "How far does this go?" he asked in wonderment when they reached the end, where a small group of men were still digging.
"You are now standing at the barbed wire fence near the guard tower," Newkirk announced proudly. Hogan stared at him, astonished. "We got ambitious once you came back with the radio transmitter," Newkirk explained. He shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable expressing his feelings and those of the others. "We wanted you to have a chance to get out again soon. Y'know, as a way of saying thank you. We thought the least we owed you was a chance to go out by the tourist route." He offered up a sheepish smile.
Hogan's eyes softened and for a moment the tiredness left them. "I couldn't live with myself if I'd left knowing you weren't going to have a chance."
"And we couldn't live with ourselves if we didn't say thank you," Newkirk replied.
A silence descended that left them both feeling awkward. Hogan cleared his throat, then said, "We'll try out the radio tonight."
Relieved, too, at the break in emotion, Newkirk told him, "We told Schnitzer last night to make sure London's expecting us."
Hogan raised his eyebrows. "You got near Schnitzer?" he asked.
"Well, since the old man brought you back, he's Klink's best friend. Old Bald Eagle thinks Schnitzer is the most loyal citizen in Germany."
"Not to mention that his escape-proof prison camp record is now intact," Hogan added.
"For now," Newkirk said with a laugh.
"Yeah…for now."