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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"But General Burkhalter, I assure you I had nothing to do with Colonel Hogan's disappearance!" Klink protested later that day, when the General came to tell him about his replacement.

"I'm afraid this time, Klink, that it is out of even my hands. You were given the responsibility of making sure that Hogan was ready for execution—"

"And he was!" Klink declared. "Was he not standing at roll call when Major Hochstetter showed up?"

"—and instead we find an empty cell and nonsensical orders from you to delay calling out the dogs to search for him. Berlin is most displeased."

"I-I-I... I was simply stunned, General Burkhalter. I was not expecting to find Hogan missing—I can't imagine how he would have gotten out! I couldn't think!"

"Of you, Klink, I can believe this. And are you still insisting that your Sergeant of the Guard could not have had a role in this?"

Klink paused. In his heart he knew that he himself had been guilty of trying to get Hogan away from Stalag 13, and that he was relieved when he found an empty cell. But Schultz had had to listen to the horrific injuries being inflicted, and a man with such a soft heart would be more than sorely tempted to try to stop the suffering in any way he could. But would that include taking part in a prisoner's escape? "He says he did not, sir. Schultz may be a little dimwitted, but he does not lie to me, Herr General."

"Well someone is lying, Klink. And I think it will make little difference to the prosecution whether it is or is not you. For your sake, Colonel Klink, I hope it was worth it."

"General Burkhalter, I assure you—!"

Burkhalter held up a hand. "Save it for the trial, Klink. Captain Eichberger will be here in three days to take over the running of this camp. In the meantime I suggest you think of some creative ways of saving your skin—if you can."

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"Hochstetter, I am not yet convinced that Colonel Klink had anything to do with Hogan's escape," Burkhalter said later that day. He opened up the humidor on Klink's desk and took out a cigar, waved it under his nose, disapproved, and put it back.

"With all due respect, it is not the General that needs convincing. That will all be determined at the Kommandant's trial." Hochstetter paced in front of Klink's desk, almost as unhappy to see Burkhalter sitting behind it as he would to see Klink. A Gestapo man needed to be in charge, not some wishy-washy Luftwaffe officer. At least Franz Eichberger, while not Gestapo, was touted to be gung-ho about the business of running a prison camp. He had worked his way through the ranks quickly, only coming into his Captainship in the last few months, and his superiors were quite certain that he could handle a camp like Stalag 13 with no trouble at all.

And if he could be get along with Hochstetter, so much the better. Maybe together they would finally weed out the sabotage issues around the camp. On the other hand, Hochstetter considered, with Hogan gone, perhaps there wouldn't be any sabotage to sort out.

"And there's another issue to contend with," Burkhalter said. He paused. He didn't like confiding in Hochstetter; he always felt like he was dealing with a swamp rat.

"What is that, Herr General?"

Burkhalter grimaced. "I was informed of something this morning I did not know," he began. "It appears that our bumbling Colonel Klink is actually quite valuable to the Third Reich."

Hochstetter snorted. "A prison warden? What makes him so valuable? Why didn't he ever say anything?"

"He does not know. But he has been entrusted with a list of people who are to be rounded up by Berlin in the event of anything... unfortunate occurring. They are people who are being watched and investigated by the upper echelons as we speak, as we believe they can lead us all the way back to higher, more important contacts."

"How can he not know this?" Hochstetter asked, disbelieving. "Why would they send someone like that to this cesspool of a camp?"

"They would send him here for his own protection." Burkhalter refused to comment on the condition of the LuftStalag.

"You mean he is putting on an act when he behaves like a bumbling idiot?"

"No one is that good an actor," Burkhalter replied. "Klink's behavior is his own. He was hypnotized and given the list, then told to forget it ever happened. He would simply be taken to Berlin and hypnotized again if the information needed to be retrieved."

"Bah, this is nonsense!" Hochstetter dismissed. "Surely there are other ways of safeguarding this kind of information."

"No doubt," Burkhalter answered. "But it is certainly something to think about when considering Klink's future." He shrugged. "Berlin has many scientists working on experiments with the human mind. They even tried to do some work on Colonel Hogan when he was captured. But he was apparently too strong willed to succumb to the programming we had intended for him." He paused. "This was apparently not a problem with Colonel Klink."

Hochstetter waved his arm dismissively. "Obviously, it has made little difference to the Kommandant's loyalties, General. Klink purposefully let Hogan get a good head start when it was discovered he had gone missing, if he didn't help Hogan to get away himself. The trial will have to go on as planned. Let someone else less inclined to show clemency toward the enemy hold the precious information Berlin wants kept so quiet."

Newkirk's eyes widened as he listened to the conversation. Klink, carrying valuable information? Blimey, they sure picked the ultimate in secret weapons—no one would believe a fool like that could be holding something so important!

Until this moment, Newkirk had blocked any notions of carrying out espionage missions from his mind—nothing was more important than protecting the Colonel. But this one piece of information astounded him, and he knew he had to tell the others what he had heard. Maybe they needed to get working again, even if just for a little while, to get their minds off of the terrible circumstances they found themselves in now. To save the lives of the people whose names were locked away in Klink's head. Not for you, bloody London, Newkirk thought. Not for you—you've abandoned the gov'nor like so much rubbish; but for the people who could be killed if we don't warn them.

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"Fellas, now isn't the time. Please," Wilson pleaded, when Hogan's men came as one to see him downstairs. "Colonel Hogan's about to fall back to sleep; he's exhausted. And he doesn't need any added stress at the moment, either," he warned, sensing something brewing from the looks on their faces.

"Look, mate, every time I come down here and the Colonel asks me what's going on in camp, I have to tell him I know nothing. I'm beginning to sound like ruddy Schultz!" Newkirk declared.

"It's probably making him more stressed to know that we're hiding things from him, Joe," Kinch added truthfully. "He knows we find out everything. Not telling him only makes him imagine the worst."

"And is the truth any better?" Wilson asked accusingly.

Le Beau was the first to admit it. "No," he said quietly. "But we need to talk with him."

Wilson looked from one man to the other, then sighed and shrugged in a gesture of defeat. "Okay, guys," he agreed reluctantly. "But just for a couple of minutes. And take it easy on him—he's still not very strong yet; don't make him any more tired than he already is."

Carter nodded, smiling almost apologetically, and was the first to lead the men to Hogan's bedside behind Wilson. He turned back questioningly, though, when he laid eyes on his commanding officer. Hogan had been propped up on pillows on the cot and was laying back with his eyes closed, his right arm on top of the blanket, but away from his sore abdomen. His face, still slightly swollen from the attacks in solitary, was still and drawn. He didn't look like he was remotely ready to hear anything from anyone. "I think he's asleep," Carter said in a whisper.

The others started to retreat when a quiet voice surprised them. "Not quite yet, Carter."

Carter turned. Hogan's eyes were open, and he had turned his head ever so slightly toward them when the men had come down the ladder. Carter smiled and came back to Hogan's side. "Gee, Colonel, I thought you were sleeping," Carter said, unable to stop smiling. It was so good to see Hogan awake! "When you were lying there all still like that, I thought sure you were asleep. I mean, your eyes were closed, and you looked so tired and all—"

"I know what asleep looks like, Carter," Hogan said softly, benignly.

The men moved back to Hogan and crowded in around the cot. Hogan looked worn, and it was quite clear that he was still suffering. But it was equally obvious that he was forcing himself to stay in the present so he could listen to his men about what was going on around him, with little ability to bear them dancing around the truth.

"We thought you needed to know what's happening, gov'nor," Newkirk started awkwardly.

Hogan nodded nearly invisibly. "Do tell," he whispered.

And so they spilled it all, from their rescue of Hogan, to having to collapse the tunnel to solitary, to Hochstetter's extended stay in the camp. When they got to Klink's arrest and coming trial, Hogan grimaced. "So they think he helped me get out," he said. "I'll bet he's regretting ever warning me now."

"He's in a lot of trouble, Colonel. Burkhalter's arranged for a Captain Eichberger to take over the camp day after tomorrow," Kinch said. "Obviously he's pretty sure Klink's going to be found guilty."

"Is there any doubt?" Newkirk put in. "The thing is, sir, that apparently the Bald Eagle is important. Burkhalter says he's got a list of possible enemies of the Third Reich who are being watched, and if anything happens, they round up everyone on it."

"Where's this list?" asked Hogan, interested but finding his energy waning fast. He closed his eyes.

"In his head, sir."

Hogan wrinkled his brow but kept his eyes shut. "Come again?"

"Klink was hypnotized, so he would not know he has the list," Le Beau explained.

"Too bad we didn't see that little session," Hogan joked tiredly. "It could have been entertaining, especially if we'd put in a few suggestions of our own."

Carter chuckled. "Yeah, like clucking like a chicken," he said. "Or—or making him sing the American national anthem every time the phone rings in his office. Or—"

"We get it, Carter, we get it," Kinch said, amused.

"We need to get hold of that list, Colonel," Newkirk said. "If we don't, a lot of people could be in big trouble some day. God knows who's on it." He paused. "I don't have any answers, gov'nor. And we were hoping you might... well, you might have something in mind."

Wilson stood nearby, concerned about the revelations but trying not to fume at the pressure being put on his patient. Hogan was still seriously unwell, and asking him to coordinate some scheme was the last thing he could handle at the moment. Still, he remained quiet, hoping that Hogan's better sense would kick in. But based on past experience, he wasn't holding his breath.

As it turned out, Hogan said nothing. He lay quietly, not moving aside from the occasional twitch of discomfort. After a long pause, Le Beau spoke up. "I think he is too tired," he said. "We will have to come back when he is more awake."

"Get him out."

The order startled the men. Wilson came closer to the bed to check on Hogan. "What's that, Colonel?" asked Carter.

Hogan forced his eyes open and raised his left hand in a vague gesture of earnestness. "Tunnel to the cooler... still clear?" His men nodded. "Have to... get Klink out. Have to warn the people on that list... before... something happens." He paused, drained. "Just... gimme time," he added as his eyes closed again. "Klink's trial... when?"

"Day after tomorrow, Colonel," Kinch piped up.

"I'll have plan... before then," Hogan whispered. Suddenly Hogan's eyes opened, and he stared at them all intently. "You... took a chance on exposing... the whole operation." The men did not flinch under his examination, but looked resolutely back at him. "You could have... lost everything... could have ended up... facing... the firing squad with me. Big risk... I never told you... to do that for... me."

No one's face changed. No one looked embarrassed at the admission or ashamed by the act. Hogan's unnatural energy seemed to start waning. His eyes suddenly full of tears, Hogan murmured, "Thank you."

His eyelids drooped then and he started breathing more deeply. Wilson arranged Hogan in the bed and turned to the men. "He's asleep. Can't you guys see how exhausted he is? Just leave him for awhile."

The men nodded guiltily as Kinch said, "Sorry, Joe. But this is something that's bigger than all of us. And Colonel Hogan is still the boss as far as I'm concerned."

Wilson nodded. "I know," he admitted. "I just hope he gets paid well for all the overtime."