AUTHOR:Meercat
RATING:Strong PG-13
WARNINGS:Violence, some torture, drama, angst
AUTHOR'S THANKS: To Patti and Marg for their wonderful beta of this story. Any remaining mistakes are my own.
Chapter 14
"Colonel, we have a problem."
Hogan turned in time to see Sergeant Olsen jog up. Around the waiting men, snowflakes fell at a slowly increasing rate, though the ground was slightly too warm to allow any to accumulate. Most of the camp's prisoners had retreated to their individual barracks to wait out the coming storm. Only the Hogan's core group remained outside the infirmary building.
"What is it?" Hogan asked.
Olsen looked around to be certain no Germans were within earshot. Most, like the prisoners, had retreated to covered shelter. The closest was Hans Schultz, who stood on the porch of the Kommandant's office, stamping his feet in an attempt to warm them.
"As soon as I saw the Gestapo get here," Olsen said, "I listened in on the mike we have hidden in the Kommandant's office."
LeBeau sniffed and muttered, "Klink and Hochstetter having a nice, quiet tête-à-tête, are they? Sharing war stories over a glass of schnapps?" The French chef shuddered as though he tasted something horrible. "Pleh, foul drink. Straight from a sewer. Nothing like fine French Chardonnay."
"Something like that," Olsen said. He turned to squarely face Colonel Hogan. "Sir, Hochstetter's not going to quit this time. The Captain you guys killed was his cousin."
Kinch growled and Newkirk hissed. "Damn it all to 'ell."
"His cousin!" LeBeau added. "Since when do worms have family?"
"If Hochstetter finds the barn," Hogan waved them silent, "he might be able to piece together enough clues--clothing, bits and pieces, evidence of someone being ... tortured--to brace up his suspicions against us. We were too rushed last night to clean the place properly. Who knows what the Captain of that patrol had time to write down on a preliminary report or what notes he may have made about the results of his interrogation. Not to mention all the scraps we had to leave lying around. All the Major really needs is one good piece of circumstantial evidence and to hell with what his superiors might say about it. I think finding his cousin dead will qualify."
Newkirk's expression hardened. "We could always take care of the problem, guv'na. Right permanent-like, you might say. Just say the word--a quick snip of the brake line, a little timed present in the trunk, or even a birthday gift mailed to his home address. Maybe one of our special paperweights."
"Oui." LeBeau's eyes glowed with particularly strong hatred. A snarl twisted the Frenchman's face into something wild and predatory. "I would gladly take care of the job for you--for all of us."
"Who's to say his replacement will be any better? This is the Gestapo we're talking about, not the Vienna Boys' Choir." Hogan shook his head. "Better the devil we know. No one touches Hochstetter without my express order."
"We have to do something," Kinch sighed. "It's just too much of a coincidence for someone to be tortured on the very same night Carter is badly beaten. Klink himself couldn't miss putting the clues together, even with Schultz as a supposed eyewitness to the attack. And if the Major digs too deep, Schultz may give him the names of the men he saw in the woods. It could endanger them and their position in the underground."
"If it weren't for the destroyed staff car beneath that windmill," Hogan said, "we might have been able to bury the bodies and hide the evidence. We just don't have the men, the equipment, or the time to clear away every trace of it." After a long moment of thought, Hogan tapped the back of Olsen's shoulder. "There's really only one thing we can do. Olsen, I hate to send you into the teeth of a snowstorm, but I want you to take a team out tonight. If no one's discovered the place yet, I want you to put the bodies in the barn then destroy it--incendiary, explosive, I don't care how you do it, but I want that barn and everything in it burned to ash, but only after you and your men are back in camp. If the blast and its column of smoke are large enough, Hochstetter will know something happened. He'll come running over here to prove we're responsible. An autopsy of the bodies may prove they died violently, but he'll never know anyone was ever 'questioned' there."
"Colonel." Newkirk rolled his eyes in the direction of the Kommandant's office. "'ere they come."
The alert wasn't necessary. The thump of Hochstetter's boots on the raised wooden porch echoed like an executioner's drumbeat in the otherwise silent, snowy landscape. The German party approached with Major Hochstetter in the lead. Colonel Klink, his entire body tight with anxiety, trotted close on his heels. Behind the two officers, Sergeant Shultz and three rifle-armed guards hurried to catch up.
Major Hochstetter reached the area in front of the infirmary, fully expecting the prisoners to part before him without comment or resistance. He stumbled to a halt, reminded of the Allies' strength as the five prisoners from Barracks Two formed a solid wall between him and the infirmary door.
With an imperial wave of his hand, he commanded, "Out of my way." Hochstetter took another step forward. The human wall did not move. The Gestapo man's dark, beetle eyes narrowed to angry slits. "Let me pass, Hogan. I intend to see precisely how badly injured the suspected saboteur may be."
Hogan and his men stood firm. The Colonel corrected the Major, saying, "The escaped prisoner is in surgery at the moment. The doctor's not letting anyone in."
"He will let me in. I said, get out of my way."
Hogan crossed his arms over his chest and set his feet more firmly. His men mirrored his stance, forming a united front. Behind the German officers, Shultz made faces and mouthed "please do as he says" to the prisoners. The three non-commissioned guards freed the safeties on their rifles and spread out to better cover the gathering.
"One way or another, you will move, Colonel Hogan." Hochstetter smiled. With slow deliberation and no small amount of anticipation, he unsnapped the clamshell holster and withdrew his Luger. A flick of his thumb freed the safety. A pump of the action jacked a live round into the chamber. "Either voluntarily or with help. I think you know which way I would prefer. The choice is yours."
Behind the gathered prisoners, the infirmary door opened. The doctor took a single step outside, only to stop and stare at the brewing confrontation.
Hogan dismissed both Hochstetter and his leveled weapon. He set his entire attention on the doctor.
"How is he?"
The doctor froze, like an animal stunned by the sudden approach of headlights. He stared from face to face, uncertain whether to tough it out and report on his patient's condition or retreat to the safety of the infirmary until a less volatile moment. The five Allied prisoners, five Luftwaffe soldiers, and one Gestapo officer all stared at him with varying expressions. With the exception of the Major in the black uniform, most of them were anxious or concerned. The Gestapo Major's expression was one of angry disappointment.
"In addition to having his back whipped clean of skin with either a dog whip or a riding crop--" the doctor stared at Klink's ever-present swagger stick. Klink stammered denials even as he hid the leather baton behind his back. "--he also numerous broken bones, including the cheekbone, three ribs, and several fingers. I can't say yet whether there has been any damage to his eyesight. A more in-depth examination will have to wait until the swelling goes down. There is extensive deep tissue bruises from being beaten and kicked. I suspect damage to his liver, and there are definite signs of injury to his kidneys. A though-and-through stab wound in his side nicked his intestine. This injury has caused me the greatest concern, even above the injuries to his liver and kidneys. Between the inherent dangers of intestinal damage as well as the rusted, befouled cause of the wound itself, infection will be inescapable."
"What are you saying, doctor?" Klink asked.
"I am saying that it is not a question of if the wound will become infected, but when, and how bad it will get before he recovers."
Hochstetter put in, "If he recovers at all."
The doctor nodded. "If he recovers at all."