No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred. Copyright belongs to others and no infringement is intended.

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"Boy, did you see that place go up? There were Krauts running everywhere! It will be a long time before they get to sleep tonight!" enthused Le Beau excitedly, as he and Kinch practically bounced their way down the hilly ground to the bridge that was their next target.
"They're sure going to be busy for awhile," Kinch agreed happily, sliding to a stop near Newkirk and Carter.
"And now this bridge—they are not going to know what hit them!" Le Beau added, still panting with the adrenalin rush. "That was brilliant—to get the people out first with the alarm," he said. "The whole place will be useless by the time—" Le Beau stopped short when he suddenly realized Carter and Newkirk weren't joining in their celebration. He took in Carter's pale face and turned a shade whiter himself. "Qu'est-ce c'est?" he asked, all at once shaky inside. He took a fast look around them. "Where is le Colonel? He is getting the others, oui? Oui?"
Carter didn't answer, continuing to look blindly ahead. Newkirk avoided their eyes and said reluctantly, "'E said he needed to finish a couple of things to make sure the building went up. 'E was still inside when it started going off."
Kinch's eyes widened as he felt his stomach plunge to his feet. "You mean he was in there? The Colonel was in there when we started throwing grenades at it?" He sat down on the ground, uncertain of his legs.
"How could you let him stay there? Why did you not go get him out?" Le Beau asked angrily, incredulous, terrified.
Carter finally spoke up, numbly. "It was an order." He looked at the others and added simply, "Colonel Hogan said it was an order." Newkirk studied the ground. Kinch found a faraway tree suddenly quite fascinating, and Le Beau remained focused on the bridge before them. "He said he'd meet us back at camp." Carter seemed to draw himself up and find some strength in Hogan's words. "He said he'd be there later with Ludwig and Alida. So we'd better get the bridge done and get back to Stalag 13, otherwise he'll court-martial all of us."
Newkirk drew himself out of his own stupor long enough to move to Carter and place a hand on his shoulder. "That's right, Carter," he said softly. "The gov'nor expects us to get the rest of the work done. Let's finish this off, and when we go back to camp, I'm sure he'll meet us there in no time." His body seemed full of lead as he turned to Kinch and Le Beau. "You've got the stuff to blow this one, mates?"
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Down on his hands and knees, Hogan coughed until he was sure he would turn himself inside out. He had accidentally taken in a lungful of smoke as he'd passed that last room, and his eyes and his chest were stinging. Tears streamed down his face. He had to get out, had to get to the exit. But in the confusion of people flowing out and the shouting and the panic, he had become disoriented and was now simply staying as low as he could, and following the distant voices of people who were running for their lives.
"Kommen—auf diese Weise," a voice from nowhere said, and Hogan felt himself being tugged away from the wall where he had stopped to get his bearings. He tried to see the person acting as his savior, but his eyes were burning and he couldn't focus them properly. So he nodded and blindly allowed himself to be pulled along.
After just a few steps, Hogan felt a blast of cold hit him, and he sank back to his knees, trying to draw fresh air into his body. "Nein—kommen," the voice insisted, and Hogan stumbled further along until his arm was released. He felt himself being leaned against a tree, and, still gasping and coughing, he forced open his stinging eyes to see the person asking in worried German if he was all right.
"Ja… danke," Hogan managed, nodding. His mind vaguely registered the relief on the man's face before he closed his eyes again. He listened to the sounds of breaking glass and a chain of explosions, and shouting, and some crying. Finally, Hogan realized he needed to get out of here, fast, and, using his arm to splint muscles sore from coughing, he staggered toward the outer gate, and into the wild night.
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Carter's haunted eyes disturbed them all as they sat scattered in the common room of Barracks Two. Still hearing noises from the factory in the distance, they sat silently, not looking at each other, or anything else. Le Beau hovered uselessly near the stove, picking up and putting down Hogan's coffee cup, and Kinch was keeping a closer eye on the bunk bed that led to the tunnel below than he had ever done before. Newkirk sat on his upper berth, a cigarette burning out in his hands, never touching it to his lips.
The work they had been asked to do had gone to plan: the bridge was blown, and the plant was no more. But the price was too high; the elation they had expected to feel had been destroyed by the uncertainty over whether Hogan had made it out of the factory. "We should go back—we should see if we can find him," Le Beau had proposed. But the others agreed that would be useless by this time, and no one else knew where Ludwig's house was to go and try to find the Colonel there. They would simply have to wait. And the mental images keeping them company were unwelcome.
"It was selfish—he should have come with you," Le Beau suddenly spouted. He knew he didn't mean what he was saying, but his anxiety was not allowing him to stay silent. "He would have known we would be worried."
Kinch shook his head and spoke gently. "You know we had orders to destroy the plant. It was the Colonel's responsibility to make sure that happened, and he wasn't going to leave any of us behind to do it if he wouldn't do it himself."
"Oui." Louis nodded, numb. He went to the office door and looked inside, all at once determined to sense Hogan's calm command presence, somehow. He stepped hesitantly inside. "S'il vous plaît, mon Dieu…" he whispered. "If You can hear me over the noises we have made tonight… bring the Colonel back safely."
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The familiar whinny of the horse greeted Hogan as he entered the barn on the Schultz property, and despite his tiredness and discomfort, Hogan smiled at the sound. Wiping at his eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time, Hogan swallowed a cough and made his way to the animal, wearily wrapping an arm around her neck. "Hey, girl," he rasped, a mistake as a coughing fit wracked his body, pounding his battered stomach muscles and squeezing his lungs even harder. He pulled away from the mare and hugged his body tightly.
His eyes were barely working now, he realized, leaving him vulnerable to anyone and anything he encountered here. The door to the barn being opened startled him, but he didn't move from his makeshift seat on the bale of hay, nor did he bother to lift his head to try and see who had come in. It was already too late to hide if anything was amiss; fate and exhaustion were in control now.
"Colonel Hogan," came Ludwig's voice.
Hogan nodded, relieved but pushed almost beyond caring. He felt rather than saw the man come to his side. "Colonel Hogan, are you hurt?"
Hogan shook his head. "No," he said, determined not to cough. "Just got—smoke in my eyes."
"Here." Ludwig pulled Hogan up. "We will go inside the house—Alida can help."
Hogan once again allowed himself to be led, and felt warmth as the door to the house was opened before him. "Alida—some water, quickly."
"What happened?" Hogan heard her cry, as he was guided to a seat at the kitchen table.
"Just smoke—I got smoke in my eyes," Hogan tried to reassure her, and started coughing again.
"More than just your eyes," she said. Hogan tried to open his eyes fully, but he was involuntarily blinking constantly to ease the stinging and could not. Soon, he felt Alida's hand pull his own away from his face and she gently pressed a cool, wet cloth to his eyes and started dabbing. Hogan accepted gratefully and eventually took over the task, finally feeling recovered enough to sit back and open his eyes.
"Thanks," Hogan said simply, genuinely. He looked down at his clothes, filthy and in one spot, scorched. "Been a big night—I didn't have a chance to clean up."
"I take it you are part of the group responsible for disturbing my animals tonight," Ludwig said, not unkindly.
"The less you know about that the better," Hogan replied. "We don't have much time. The patrols have all been drawn to the fire. We'd better take advantage of it while we can."
"You are right, of course," Ludwig replied. "Alida, you are ready?"
Hogan watched as the woman's expression briefly changed to one of fear and sadness. This could not be easy for her, for either of them. He watched as Alida's eyes seemed to trace the room, alighting momentarily on a photo on the wall, on a teapot sitting prettily on a shelf, on an intricately embroidered dishcloth. They were giving up their life, trading in all they knew and all that brought them comfort, to escape from the country that had betrayed them, that in the end could do nothing to help them. Hogan felt a pang of compassion for these people who had worked so hard to do what they felt was right. But words would not help them now, and so he remained silent, feeling like an intruder.
When Alida's eyes turned back to Hogan they were determined. "I am ready. Colonel Hogan, will you please get us out of Germany?"
Hogan understood the request; she had needed to say it herself in order to accept it. "I will," he said, standing. He returned to wet cloth to the sink. "Is everything organized here? Have you got everything you need? Everything you want?"
"The mare will be taken tomorrow by friends who think we are loaning her to them to help on their farm," Ludwig explained. "We have taken some special things, sentimental things. Everything else is unnecessary."
Hogan nodded and took a final look around for himself. There still seemed to be so many "sentimental" things left. "Then let's go."
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"Someone's in the tunnel," Kinch said suddenly, as he heard a noise he couldn't pass off as coming from the still-roaring hubbub outside the camp. He sat up straight at the table and stared toward the bunk entrance.
"It's the Colonel," Carter declared, racing over and reaching for the trigger that would activate the ladder.
"Wait, Carter," Newkirk shot before the Sergeant had a chance to touch it. "We don't know for sure. We can't take a chance."
"But he could be hurt—he might need us and not be able to give the signal!"
"If he got this far, Andrew, he'll be able to signal," Kinch said.
Le Beau came and stood beside Carter as he stood silently by the bunk. The noise from below had ceased, and the wait seemed almost interminable. Then, finally, there was a sound. Tap tap. Tap. Carter was suddenly frozen in place. Le Beau pushed past him and triggered the release on the bunk. The base of the bed started to rise, and the creak of the ladder moving into place seemed to echo through the room.
Le Beau looked down into the dimness. "C'est le Colonel!" he cried. The tension in the hut immediately dispersed as Hogan's dark hair announced his ascent into the room. Le Beau and Carter pulled Hogan in, and the Colonel turned around to carefully help Alida into the barracks, supported from below by her husband, who then came into the hut as well.
Hogan turned to his men, taking in their astonished faces, and sensing their overwhelmed relief. "I got back as soon as I could," he said, appreciating their feelings. "I didn't mean to make you worry."
"Worry? I wasn't worried; I told 'em you'd come back when you were finished," Carter piped up.
"That's right, sir, 'e did," Newkirk said.
"You said it was an order, and an order's an order," Carter continued. "I mean, I know you said we could go against orders once in awhile, but I didn't think this was one of those times, you know? So I thought 'Andrew'—'cause that's what I call myself when I think to myself, not 'Carter'—'Andrew, the Colonel said he'd meet us back here when he was finished, and that's what he's gonna do. No sense worrying about something that night not be—'"
"He's been like this for two hours now," Newkirk explained with relief, shaking his head.
"Carter," Hogan said, coming to stand in front of the Sergeant. Carter stopped speaking, and Hogan saw in the man's eyes that worrying had been all he had done, despite him trying to convey otherwise. He was touched. "Carter, you did the right thing. An order's an order. It would have been a bad move for any of you to go back to the plant, or not to finish off the bridge." He stopped and looked around. "You did get the bridge, right?"
"Oh, oui, Colonel," Le Beau answered. "We did as you ordered us to do."
Hogan smiled fondly. "Never doubted it for a second," he said. "And now the factory is history, too. Everyone did a great job. Kinch, radio London. Tell them mission accomplished and ask for pick up of two parcels when the Krauts settle down."
"Right away, Colonel," Kinch said, and he brushed past the Schultzes and downstairs.