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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"That makes no difference to my work, Herr General," Hochstetter said smoothly. "Klink is still charged with treason for helping a prisoner to escape, and Hogan is still being sought as an escapee and as a probable saboteur."

Burkhalter was starting to get hot under the collar in dealing with the Gestapo man but held his temper, since he knew the Major was leaving in the morning anyway. "Be that as it may, Hochstetter, what it does mean is that if you do manage to find Hogan, you cannot shoot him on sight."

"I'll try to remember that," Hochstetter answered with false sincerity.

"You will be gone tomorrow morning. Your presence here is causing difficulties that our new Captain Eichberger does not need to face as he begins his work at Stalag 13."

Hochstetter swallowed the angry words that were about to spew out of his mouth. He nearly choked on them. "Whatever the General wishes," he said acidly. "My work is done here anyway."

Eichberger couldn't stifle a scoff. "It barely began, from all appearances, Major," he said.

Hochstetter's anger raged deeply inside, and he balled his hands into fists as he considered bringing this insolent babe in the woods to kneel before him in the interrogation chambers in Hammelburg. But in the presence of Burkhalter he knew he had to control himself, and so he simply said, "Traitors to the Fatherland always make my job more difficult, Captain. But rest assured, we will find Klink." He turned to Burkhalter. "I will take the radio detection truck with me."

Burkhalter nodded. "Good. You may go, Major."

Hochstetter nodded mutely and, with a shaking hand, saluted Burkhalter, uttered a strong, "Heil, Hitler," and left, slamming the door behind him.

Burkhalter shook his head. "A petty little nuisance of a man," he said to Eichberger. "But he alwaysseemed to have Hogan uppermost on his list of dangerous men. With Hogan gone, perhaps he will leave you, and Stalag 13, alone."

"A prisoner? A dangerous man?" Eichberger laughed. "I hardly think any Allied pilot could pose a threat to the Third Reich from a prisoner of war camp. You are right, Herr General, perhaps the Major did have too much time on his hands. Perhaps there are other ways of keeping him busy."

"He will amuse himself now searching for Klink," Burkhalter predicted. "But when he turns up nothing, beware—Hochstetter will probably come back here. He is a creature of habit."

"Habits are made to be broken."

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Hogan tried to ignore the stunned look on Klink's face as he ordered, "Kinch, radio London."

"Right, Colonel."

"With the radio detection truck gone, we can finally find out what's on their minds. And it had better be good," Hogan fumed. "They left us in the lurch, and I want an explanation." Hogan turned away as Kinch got to work making the connection. "I'm not happy about Eichberger. He seems a bit too gung-ho to work with easily." Glancing at Klink, who was still standing speechless, Hogan added, "This is when having you upstairs would come in handy. We can't work well when one of our men is sitting in stir." He called for Le Beau.

"Oui, Colonel."

"How's Newkirk going?"

"He is all right, Colonel. A bit bored, and a little cold, but he liked the dinner I brought him."

"Dinner...?" Klink managed, amazed.

"Sure; we can't survive on that stuff you feed us when we're in there," Hogan replied. "Haven't you noticed the nice meals you've been getting since you've been down here? Le Beau is a fantastic chef, as you well know!"

"I suppose..." Klink admitted. "But... in the cooler?"

"What better place than the one where you only get bread and water?"

Klink shook his head; this was all too much. And too humiliating.

"London on the line, Colonel."

"Good." Hogan moved away from Klink and to the radio. Kinch held the microphone toward Hogan, as the Colonel's hands were still in no shape to grip it. "Papa Bear to Goldilocks, do you read?"

Klink's eyes widened in recognition of the name he had heard Hochstetter ranting and raving about over the last three years—the great Underground leader, Papa Bear... Hogan was Papa Bear!

"Go ahead, Papa Bear, we acknowledge," came a female, English-accented voice. "Glad to hear your voice, Papa Bear. We thought for awhile we might not speak to you again."

"Always optimistic, Goldilocks. Still waiting for new Papa Bear. Need instructions for continuation of operation. New wolf in place. Teeth sharp."

"We read you, Papa Bear." There was a pause as someone obviously received instructions. "Orders remain as before. Proceed with caution. Keep outings to a minimum until you confirm how sharp the teeth are. No new Papa Bear is coming."

"Why not?" Hogan burst angrily, unable to stop himself.

"Sorry, Papa Bear, other matters need more urgent attention at present. You are to remain in place."

Hogan nodded grimly, his features contorted with suppressed rage. In place, and in hiding. How long to do they expect me to do that? "Roger, Goldilocks." Hogan collected himself, then got back to business. "We also have a package that needs delivering. Old wolf must go to England. Information vital."

"Usual route for that, Papa Bear. No special delivery available at this time."

Hogan's eyes flared. Klink wondered what the "usual" route was. And he got the slightest sick feeling in his stomach when he realized that he was the old wolf Hogan was referring to.

"The usual route is blocked at this time, Goldilocks," Hogan responded, his voice betraying more than a hint of frustration.

"Sorry, Papa Bear, no other options available. I'm afraid you're on your own."

"What else is new?" Hogan growled. Klink raised an eyebrow, surprised at the venom in Hogan's voice. "Will contact as needed. Papa Bear over and out."

Hogan turned angrily away from the radio. Kinch listened to the headsets for a moment, making sure the connection was complete, then he started switching everything off. Hogan closed his eyes and started rubbing his forehead with his index and middle fingers. His splinted hand covered most of his face—a blessing, as for once in the last two and a half weeks, he didn't want the men under his command seeing every emotion played out on his face. And now, he had Klink's observations to deal with, too.

When he felt sufficiently calm, Hogan lowered his arm, offering it a cradle as a familiar ache started building, and looked at the others. "Well, business as usual," he said, trying not to sound angry.

"Aren't they going to do anything, Colonel?" Carter asked.

"You heard them, Carter. Usual route, watch your backs, that's about it."

"Left hanging again," Kinch observed, shaking his head.

"And no help with that filthy Boche, Eichberger," Le Beau spat.

Hogan looked at the Frenchman. He had heard all about the demeaning scene outside, and it enraged him to think of Le Beau and Kinch being spoken to as they had been. Both men had suffered more than their fair share of humiliation during their time, both in camp, and, in Kinch's case, outside of Germany. But since Hogan had come on the scene he had been able to keep their exposure to such incidents to a minimum, and it made him furious, and more than distressed, that he was now unable to step in and do that important part of his job—to protect his men. "No," Hogan said quietly. "I'm sorry, Louis."

Le Beau understood the double meaning in Hogan's apology. Hogan had been right when he said the Corporal was able to read people well. Le Beau came forward and faced his commanding officer. "We will handle him, Colonel," he said, softly but firmly. He forced Hogan to look him straight in the eye. "We have learned a lot from you, Colonel Hogan. His words will not hurt us."

Hogan nodded, quietly grateful for the men he worked with. So he forced on a smile and said, "Forget it, fellas—we always work better without interference anyway, right?" And when they agreed, he asked for some peace and quiet, and watched with gratitude as they took Klink and moved further down into the tunnel, leaving him with his chaotic thoughts and a private, very deep, sense of failure.

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Newkirk was welcomed home to Barracks Two like a prodigal son. Even though he had been in constant contact with the others via the tunnel, the visits had been much shorter and less comforting, since Eichberger was constantly swapping guards, and had someone almost always looking directly into Newkirk's cell.

"Blimey, I'd almost forgotten what it was like to be a regular prisoner till now," Newkirk declared; "I'd gotten so used to the comforts of home. I think I'll be keeping my mouth shut from now on when we're in roll call, mates—just remind me because with a nasty piece of work like Eichberger in charge, I'm bound to forget almost immediately and start shooting me mouth off again."

"He has not gotten any nicer since you have been in the cooler, either," Le Beau announced. "He is constantly picking on one person or another."

"Yeah, just as you were coming out, he was sending Barnes in for sneezing while he was talking," Carter told him. "The cooler's going to need a revolving door by the time this guy's time here is up."

"I don't like the look of this for us, fellas," Kinch said into the silence that followed. "If we can't get around Eichberger, we're going to have to close up shop." No one answered. It was something they had wanted to avoid thinking about. "We'll have to shut down and get out."

Carter was the first to speak. "Gee," he said, with a voice that sounded like he had swallowed his emotions, "I always wanted to see London properly. I mean, I only had to go through there on the way here, you know? I never got off the base."

"Yeah," Newkirk added, not sounding at all like he meant what he was saying. "It'd be good to see home again, even if the Krauts have done 'er some harm."

"Not a very nice thank you to Colonel Hogan," Le Beau said. "London could not be bothered trying to help. Just 'nice to hear you' and 'do it all yourself'. They do not care about the work he has done here—they have not seen. They have not had to sit and watch him suffer at the hands of those pigs. They do not have any respect for him, or they would have sent someone to help him right away, not just told us to protect him but make him go back out on a mission. That is why he was caught by Hochstetter in the first place."

The others nodded in unhappy agreement.

"And they think just as little of the rest of us," Newkirk added finally. "Mates, no matter what London thinks, this has been the gov'nor's operation. His and ours. I say we're just going to have to forget whatever they may want and do what we think needs to be done, the way we think it needs to be done. The Colonel said he wants us to keep going, even while he's downstairs, to throw the Krauts off the scent. It's up to us to decide how to do it."

Carter nodded. "Yeah." For the first time in a long time, he had nothing else to say. Headquarters' treatment of Hogan had made him angry from the beginning, and now it was time to stand up and be counted. Nothing he could add would make his case any stronger.

"Oui," Le Beau agreed. "But the first thing we have to do is get Colonel Hogan out of here."

"And Klink, too," added Kinch. "So how do we get started?"