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When Kinch came back into Barracks two, everybody was eager to hear what he had found out. Of course they had been listening to the short conversation between Hochstetter and Kinch, but they had not heard anything relevant to their problem. Kinch however wore a smile on his face.
Newkirk jumped at him, as soon as he entered the room. "Kinch, mate, what did you find out? Do you know where we can find that tape?".
Kinch sat down and nodded. "Yes, Newkirk, I did, but we will need a really good plan to get that tape of Hochstetter, because he's carrying it inside his cap.".
"Inside is cap? Mais, ca ne marche pas! It's not fair!".
At this comment from LeBeau, Kinch could not help but smile. "Louis, has the war ever been fair? Has Hochstetter ever cared about fairness? Come on Louis, you know better. We'd better come up with a good plan and switch the tapes. I'll go down into the tunnel and contact the underground again, I need to know if Wachtelschneider was seen somewhere on the way, because otherwise we need a different plan anyway.".
"Kinch, wait! I-I I mean, I know- I want- I will", Carter stammered, not able to tell what he wanted.
Kinch was surprised, but returned to the table. When he was seated, Carter had calmed down and was able to say what he wanted to say.
"I think I've got a plan.". Carter was interrupted by Newkirk, who said: "Oh come on mate, please don waste our time with some far fetched ideas of blowing up generals and stuff like that.".
Carter shook his head. "This time is not like the others. I tell you, I've got a plan."
Kinch nodded "Tell us.".
"Ok, we all know, that Hochstetter won't take of his cap for us, but there are people, for which he will forget everything. You know about which people I'm talking?".
LeBeau nodded. "Oui, generals and of course, les filles!".
Carter smiled. "You've got my point LeBeau. We will distract him with a general and some girls. We need some women from the underground to come here, with one of the members of the underground dressed as a general. That general will arrive here unexpectedly, on his way to the Russian front, to take a little rest fort he trip and then continue at night. We will manipulate Klink to let us help him with the organisation of the dinner, which will take place for the general. Then, during the meal, a bridge near Hammelburg will explode. I'll take care of that.-"
Again he was interrupted, this time by Kinch. "Carter, do you realise this means getting out at daylight in an area covered by the Gestapo. That's ridiculous.".
Carter shook his head. "Kinch, I can do this. I'll go outside in a Gestapo uniform."
Again, Kinch interrupted. "Carter, even in a Gestapo uniform, your German is not good enough.".
"It is!".
"No, Carter, it might be fine when playing a German general and you just have to shout a few things, while somebody else takes care of the talking, but you would have to pass as a native.".
When Kinch had said this, it seemed as if a bright light shone through Carters eyes. Kinchs words had lit a fire in the young man and the others misinterpreted this.
Newkirk took hold of Carters shoulder and said. "Carter, don't let your feelings carry you away from reality. You're not a German, you're not going outside."
Again, Carter shook his head. "You don't know me. I never told any of you, but my German is better than any of you expect or could expect, because you've never heard me speaking German the way I can.".
The whole Barracks had fallen silent and Carter continued. "The only thing you know about my nationality is, that I am an American, with native American blood. But you don't know about my father.".
He fell silent for a moment, not knowing how to continue. Then, looking into Kinchloes eyes, he found the words again and continued.
"My father was German, half my family is German. You think I grew up in North Dakota, but that's not true, not really. I was born there and lived there until I was two years old. Then, my father returned to his home country, together with us. I lived in Germany for fifteen years, had German friends, went to a German school. When I turned seventeen, it was 1938. My father saw the war coming, he saw what Hitler was going to do to the Germany he and we loved. We moved to North Dakota. At home, we still spoke English, but I learned German, as if it was my mother tongue.".
Everybody stared at him with amazement. Finally, Kinch broke through the silence.
"Carter, why didn't you tell us? I mean, you could trust us, we are your friends.".
Carter looked straight into his eyes. "I think you should know, Kinch. Look at your hands. Don't you know how it is to be judged only by where you come from? I know what it is to be judged like that, to be ignored, no, hated, just because you can speak German, because your father is German. Soon after the war began, my father was forced to leave the town in which we had lived for so long, why? Because everybody knew where he came from. My father was against the Nazis, me and my four brothers were in the army, defending our country, but did it matter? It did not, for them, my father was a Nazi, regardless of what he thought or what he did. And the same was true for me and the others. We could not enter our place of birth, without being insulted, threatened and assaulted. Is this enough of an explanation?"
Everybody nodded, still not fully comprehending what they had just heard. Carter, innocent, young Carter, clumsy Carter speaking wise words like this? Their thoughts were interrupted by Carter, who wanted to continue his plan.
"Okay, so the bridge explodes. At the same time, Barracks fourteen, you know that empty Barracks at the end of the camp will explode, together with some explosions in the woods. Because there are so many explosions, they will think it's a bombing raid. We will add to the confusion by shouting "bombing raid" and trying to get everybody onto the floor. In this confusion, Hochstetter won't think about his cap and we can switch the tapes.".
"Damn Andrew, that might work, boy. What dya think Kinch?".
Kinch smiled. "I think it's a great plan, I'll contact the underground immediately. Carter, get the explosives ready. LeBeau, you and Newkirk will spread the explosives around the camp. Carter, after you've finished the explosives, come up here again and we'll discuss the rest.".
Half an hour later, everybody was upstairs again. Carter noticed, that Kinch looked extremely worried.
"What's it Kinch?".
Kinch sighed. "We've got two problems right now. The first one is, that we don't know where Wachtelschneider is and if he's still alive because the underground have been looking for him, but haven't found a trace. We can't do anything but wait if he turns up so we'll have to leave that. The second problem is, that Carters plan is no good now. The underground says they can't send any of their men or women here, the area is to well guarded by the Gestapo and it would look to suspicious.".
Carter looked stunned for a moment, but then he said: "We can't replace Wachtelschneider, but for my plan what if we were the women and the general?".
Everybody looked at him, thunderstruck.
"Whatya mean?"
"LeBeau, the food you cooked this morning was really awful, I think at least two of us have caught food poisoning.".
LeBeau jumped to his feet. "Mais ca ne marche pas! Carter, quest-ce que tu veux? What's your problem? The food was excellent! Maybe you've eaten some canned spam? That would-"
He was interrupted by Kinch, who burst into laughter. LeBeau turned to him, angrily. "What's that? Laughing?". Again, he was about to start a tirade, when Kinch interrupted him.
"Louis, don't you see, it's another part of Carters plan. The two of us, who are in the camp hospital, supervised by one of our own men can play the general and the woman and the others can come to the dinner.
Carter grinned. "You understood."
"Hey Andrew, but what about a woman? We don ave a woman ere.".
Carter smiled a broad smile..
"I think, that one's for Kinch." Before Kinch could interrupt, Carter carried on.
"Now that we've got that settled, we will need a general. I think that's me, because LeBeau has to cook and Newkirk has to snatch the cap from Hochstetter.".
Everybody nodded. Kinch wondered, little Carter had taken over the leadership at the moment and had devised a scheme which would make Colonel Hogan proud.
It seems that Carter is not the way we thought, he is clever, really clever. And determined, determination is a strong inspirator.
His thoughts were disturbed, when Carter once more spoke. "Okay, I think everybody's clear about what he has to do? Then I'll go out right now and get the explosives settled. I'll be back in half an hour. Meanwhile, could two of you place the other explosives in the woods and around the camp?".
Again, everybody nodded. As Carter walked towards the bunk, Kinch sank into his thoughts again.
I hope it works. It's crazy enough to work, let's get the Carter-scheme done.
He smiled, as he got a packet of dynamite and made his way towards Barracks fourteen. He looked at the fence. Out there where three of his friends right now and one, with a very dangerous mission, but out there was also Wachtelschneider and Kinchs heart filled with sadness as he realised, that all this determination, bravery and effort would be useless, if Wachtelschneider would not come.
Carter walked through the woods, upright and arrogant, so that anybody who wanted to could see him. He was not in need for hiding. His German was fluent and he had identity papers in his pocket, which told, that he was General von Kattenscheit. He reached the bridge without meeting a patrol and was able to put the explosives in place, without being interrupted. When he climbed up the hill again, he noticed, that there was a patrol coming down from the other side.
Why are they running so fast?
Carter jumped behind a rock, afraid that they had seen him putting the explosives onto the bridge, but he soon realised, that they were chasing somebody. He looked to his right side and saw a woman running away. Immediately he recognised her, Tiger.
He ran towards her, but she, recognizing his uniform ran away. Carter could not shout at her, he could only do one thing, face the patrol.
When the SS-patrol rounded the corner, he ran towards them, gasping.
He faced the captain leading the group and said: "Heil Hitler Herr Kapitän. Sie ist da hinten." He made a gesture towards the road. "Sie hat meinen Wagen. Sie hielt uns an und wir dachten sie wäre eine Zivilistin und bräuchte Hilfe, aber sobald wir angehalten hatten hielt sie mir eine Waffe an den Kopf, befahl mir auszusteigen und fuhr mit dem Wagen davon in Richtung Süden. She's back there. She's got my car. She stopped us and we thought that she was a German civilian in need of help, so we stopped, but as soon as we stopped the car, she took out a gun and forced me to leave my car. She got in and drove of to the south.".
The captain did not ask for Carters papers, he only listened carefully and then ran off the way he came, shouting to his men: "Kommt mit. Zum Wagen! Come with me. To the car!".
Carter sighed. Tiger had made it, he had made it. But where was Tiger now? He walked in the direction in which Tiger had gone and soon realised, that this was the road to Stalag13. What did Tiger want here?
Meanwhile, LeBeau and Newkirk had had no trouble in placing the dynamite around the camp and had arrived back at Stalag13. They were very surprised, as they saw Kinch sitting in the tunnel, together with Tiger.
LeBeau was the first to regain his speech. "Bonjour Tiger, what are you doin ere?"
Tiger smiled and said: "I eard from the underground about colonel ogan and that you were in need of a woman. I knew, that they would not send anybody, but I wanted to come and elp you.".
Before Tiger could say anything else, Carter came into the tunnel. With all of them back, they could get the rest of the plan pulled of.
Kinch spoke: "Ok, we've got another twenty minutes till roll call. As we've got Tiger here now, we´re not in need for another woman, are we? So I will take my post at the radio. After roll call, the general and his secretary will arrive and I will make sure, that we are there at dinner this evening. Carter, I think you'd better go to bed and make sure you look ill enough. Meanwhile, Newkirk, could you make some identity papers for Tiger? And LeBeau, could you go and find her a dress? I will go and contact the underground again, I can't believe Wachtelschneiders still not here.".
Twenty minutes later...
"Raus, raus, alles raus, hop, hop". Schultz came into Barracks two, shouting at them to get outside. When they were all lined up, Schultz began to count. "Elf, Zwölf, Dreizehn. Hey, where's Vierzehn? Where's Carter?".
Kinch jumped in. "Schultzie, he's inside, he's ill.".
"What? I want him to be out here, now! It's roll call, if Kommandant Klink hears about this. I will go to see if Carters there and he'd better be!".
"Carter, why aren't you outside?".
"Schultzie, I feel so bad, I think I've been eating to much canned spam lately.".
"Carter! You know, that none of the prisoners are to stay in the Barracks during roll call. If you're really ill, then go to the camp hospital.".
Carter nodded. "I will Schultz, I will.".
He got out of his bed and with unsteady feet began to walk towards the door. When he had nearly reached the door, he fell over and landed on the floor. Schultz hurried towards him and helped him to his feet.
All prisoners watched Carter, while he was stumbling towards the camp hospital, nearly carried by Schultz. Just in this moment, Klink came out of his office, shouting: "REEEEPOOOORT!".
Schultz released Carter and ran towards the Kommandant. He gasped: "All prisoners here and accounted for, Herr Kommandant."
Klink gazed over to the circle of prisoners, which had formed. "What are they doing over there, Schultz?".
Schultz was shocked. "Carter! I forgot.". Then he hurried towards the place, where Carter lay on the ground, unable to get up. Schultz pulled him to his feet again and took him to the camp hospital. Rickman followed the two.
When Schultz had disappeared, Carter came to life again and wanted to jump out of bed, but was held back by Rickman.
"No, Carter, you will have a rest now.".
Carter protested. "But I am not ill, I was just simulating."
Rickman shook his head. "Not a word. I've had enough of those stubborn Americans. You will do what I tell you and now, go to sleep.".
During this argument, Kinch came inside and burst into laughing as he heard of the reason for the argument. Ten minutes later, Rickman knew everything about the plan and Kinch and Carter where in the tunnel under the camp hospital to get Carter into the uniform of a German general.
Not knowing anything about what his boys were doing and without sense of time, Hogan sat in the solitary confinement. The uncertainty of the moment got unbearable for him.
What are they doing outside? If I only knew what they are planning, if I could only help them.
Angrily, he slammed his fist against the wall.
I'm going mad, I sure am. I can't sleep, I can't think. I can't do anything. I don't know anything.
He thought he'd never felt so helpless in his life, but at the same moment he realised, that this was not true, he had felt hopeless before.
But I was always able to find a solution and now I am not. Admit it Robert, you can't stand the fact that you do not have any chance to defend yourself and you don't want other people to risk their lives for you.
His thoughts were interrupted by two guards coming into the cell.
There they are again. Hochstetter must have ordered them to come in here every day and beat me up. Not this time, boys.
He jumped to his feet. His ribs protested, but he ignored the pain and concentrated on the two people who had entered. He noticed, that they were unarmed except for the one guard Hogan called Heinrich, because he looked so much like a German, the German nationality was stamped on him like it was printed on his forehead. However, Hogan had no time to laugh at this, because in his hand, Heinrich held a baseball bat.
The other guard jumped forward, trying to catch him by surprise, but Hogan jumped aside and kicked the guard against the wall. Immediately he turned his attention to the guy with the baseball bat. While the other guard was getting to his feet, Hogan jumped into the far right corner, observing both the guards.
Heinrich and the other guard now advanced simultaneously and when they were at about two meters away from him, they attacked. The other guard tried to grab Hogan and get him out of the corner, while Heinrich swung the baseball bat towards Hogans head.
He ducked just in time to avoid the bat and rolled away between the guards. He used the surprise to his advantage and once again sent the other guard flying into the corner.
That´s for the ribs, boy.
With the other guard out of the way, he turned to the other one and kicked him against the elbow to make him release the baseball bat. The bat flew out of Heinrichs hands and landed in the far left corner. All both Heinrich and Hogan made a run for the corner, but Hogan had forgotten the other guard, who tackled him from behind. With a hard crash Hogan landed flat on his face.
He ignored the blood trickling down his cheek and jumped to his feet once more, thereby kicking the other guard again. Meanwhile Heinrich had retrieved his baseball bat and was coming at Hogan from behind, but before he could hit him, he was caught in surprise as Hogan turned around and in one smooth movement grabbed the bat out of his hands.
That turns the chances, doesn't it, boys?
Before he could use the club to his advantage, the other guard had grabbed the other end and tried to get the bat. While the two were fighting, Heinrich advanced from behind and tackled Hogan. Hogan was kicked of his feet and landed on the ground. Immediately after that, a kick into his stomach made the world go black for a moment and he felt the bat sliding out of his hands. He tried to get onto his feet, but another kick prevented him from regaining his breath. As he opened his eyes, he saw Heinrich with the club in his hands, a mad smile on his face. In the same moment, he heard a door being opened and someone came in. For a moment it seemed as if all sound had drained away, he could not hear anything only see. He turned his head towards the door and from the floor he only saw boots. Black army boots. Those were not his friends...