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Three steps, turn, three steps, turn, three steps, turn.
Hogan was pacing in his quarters, trying to come up with a solution to his problems, but every plan seemed to end in a similar way, a way which he would like to avoid at all costs.
Memories overthrew his common sense, forced their way into his mind and persuaded him to not follow the order from London.
He saw the two of them sitting in their makeshift hut in the forest. Both wore feathered headbands and lines were painted on their faces. Once more, he heard them both make the promise to stand strong for each other, no matter what would happen. They sealed the promise with their blood on a piece of paper that lay beneath them.
Hogan smiled, fond of the memory. Their mother had been outraged as she discovered that they had nicked a kitchen knife to cut their fingers open and then seal some kind of blood bond between them.
He could still hear her screamed reprimand. "Don´t you two ever mess around with knives again!".
Now, that promise seemed far, far away. It seemed to have occurred in a different life.
What had become of the world when the two brothers now stood against each other? And now, they were not fighting as they had done then, no, this time their fight would inevitably come down to a more serious end, an end without return for both of them.
If this is what it is going to be, then one of us will have to live with the fact, that he has killed a brother.
Hogan sat down on his bunk, his head dazzling with plans, thousands of plans, but also plans of which the outcome was similar. Either he himself, in front of a firing squad or George, facing Hogan or one of his men, bearing a gun in their hands, about to shoot him.
Again he began pacing the room.
Three steps, turn, three steps, turn, three steps-
He stopped dead in his tracks, as a thought came to his mind.
What if I could send him to London? Capture him and send him to safety?
He frowned his eyebrows in concentration as a plan began to manifest itself in his mind.
Of course you´d need permission from London to do so.
Still deep in thoughts, Hogan made his way down the tunnel, where Kinch sat behind the radio.
Kinch saw him coming, but before he could ask any questions Hogan said:
"Kinch, could you contact London immediately? I want to pose them a different version to their original plans.".
Kinch nodded and handed him the earphones.
"Goldilocks, this is Papa Bear, Goldilocks, do you read?".
"Papa Bear, here Goldilocks. What´s of your business. Over.".
"Request permission to alter plans regarding General Hochman. He will be sent to headquarters as a package. Over.".
"Request denied, Papa Bear. General Hampton wants orders to be carried out as given. Over.".
Hogan exploded. The tension of the last hours, the hope he had had for a different outcome of the events, everything was now unleashed as rage in one fiercely spoken sentence.
"Goldilocks, Papa Bear will not carry out mission as planned for personal reasons. OVER!".
The person on the other end of the line remained silent, obviously shocked by this unexpected outburst.
A few minutes later, while Hogan tried to collect himself and get his emotions under control, London responded again.
"Papa Bear, this is General Hampton speaking. Request reasons for this inadequate behaviour immediately. Over.".
"General, this is Papa Bear himself. General Hochman is my brother if you need to know and I will not assassinate my own brother, or I would be no better than the Nazis! Over.".
The Generals voice on the other end of the line turned cold.
"Papa Bear do not let your feelings get in the way of the war effort. Hochman is extremely dangerous. Every family has paid the price to the war and if you don´t get your emotions under control, hundreds of valuable agents of the Hammelburg network will die. Over.".
"General, I only request permission to transport him to London instead of killing him. Over.".
"Papa Bear. Suspect is too dangerous. We can not risk transport. Either you carry out mission as ordered or London High Command will be forced to remove you from your post and have you court martialed. That´s all. Over and out.".
Hogan was about to explode another time, when he realised that the connection had been broken. He turned to Kinch.
"Orders were simple, kill your brother or be removed from your post and court martialed as a traitor.".
Kinch shook his head. "I´m sorry, sir.".
Hogan stormed up the ladder and vanished into his office, crashing the door shut.
Soon after that, the men heard him pacing again.
Three steps, turn, three steps, turn, three steps, turn, three steps, turn.
Kinch climbed up the ladder minutes later than the Colonel and found himself in the middle of his friends.
"Kinch, what was mon Colonel doing down there? ´as ´e got a plan? What is going on?".
Newkirk jumped in as well.
"Yeah, ´e came stormin´ up the ladder and vanished into ´is office. I´ts a miracle that the door´s still in one piece. He slammed it shut with so much force, I wouldn´t ´ave wondered if it ´ad split in two!".
Kinch sat down at the table and then said.
"Basically London left the Colonel with two options. Either assassinating his own brother or being relieved from command and court martialed as a traitor.".
Carters eyes widened in shock. "But London can´t possibly think-".
And LeBeau added. "Seems Andrew, that the brass ´ave finally lost their mind...".
General Jörg Hochman was pacing in his office.
Three steps, turn, three steps, turn, three st-
Suddenly, he burst into laughter, because he had just caught himself with the old habit of what the Hogan family called the "Hogan-three-step". He remembered his brother Rob doing it for the first time when he was three years old and had just lost his favourite rubber duck, to which he fondly referred as "Dumpy".
Must be in the genes.
He wondered where his brother would be now. It had been almost ten years now that they had not seen each other. Since George had joined the NSDAP he had not received any mail from his family either, which was due to him having moved to Munich without letting his family know.
It was not a good thing to be in the Nazi party and correspond with family in the US, particularly as Jörg remembered when your brother was an accomplished bomber pilot wreaking havoc on German cities and always managing to return back to base, even with only half the engines left.
Of course he had heard that his brother had been shot down in a raid over Hamburg, but since then he had no idea where he was. For a time he had tried to keep track of his brother, but at that time he had still only been a sergeant, not of much importance or influence.
Now however, the situation was different, but still much the same, because he could not draw attention to the fact that Robert Hogan was his brother. It would be very, very dangerous for himself and for his further career.
His thoughts were interrupted by Major Heinzmann, who entered his office.
"Herr General, I have got information for you, regarding the Underground leader Papa Bear. It was send to you by Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and it´s coded with the newest code.".
Hochman nodded approvingly. "Very well, Herr Major. Would you leave me alone with this?".
Heinzmann nodded. "Herr General, wouldn´t it be time to tell me what this is all about? After all, I am your personal guard and maybe I could-".
Hochman looked sharply at him. "Major, I think we discussed this matter thoroughly. I am the only one beside my informants who knows about my work and my suspicions. Have we understood each other?".
"Yes, sir.". Heinzmann turned sourly and left the office.
Hochman glared at the message.
Interesting. So Papa Bear is hiding in Stalag 13? This message says that the senior POW there is Papa Bear, mmh, I´d better go and visit that camp.
Grinning, he left the office and said to the guard at the door:
"Sergeant, get my car, I´ll be going to Stalag 13 for a surprise visit...".
His grin widened as he thought of what his Führer would say if he captured the most dangerous man in Germany.
I will be his most trusted and loyal General. He will treat me like a brother.
Langenscheidt burst into Klinks office. Klink looked up from his paperwork.
"Yes, Corporal?".
"Sir, there is a General Hochman at the front gate. He says he wants to speak to you.".
Klink frowned. "A General? Now, this late at night? Let him in, I´ll see what he wants. Dismissed.".
"Colonel, there´s a car coming.".
Hogan jumped up from the chair. He had been sitting there and tried to think of a plan for almost an hour.
"What? Gestapo?".
"No sir, it seems to be Luftwaffe.".
Hogan nodded. "Get the others, I think we´ll have some coffee..."
"Yes sir, do you want any sugar?".
Hogan sighed and rolled his eyes. "I meant we were going to use the coffee pot to listen in. Now, get the others, they should also hear what´s going on.".
"Colonel Klink, I suppose? I am General Jörg Hochman and I am here to investigate serious accusations against your senior POW.".
Klinks monocle fell from his left eye. Hastily, he picked it up and tucked it into his pocket, before asking:
"Accusations Herr General? Of what nature?".
General Hochman straightened up a little, before responding:
"We have acquired information, that labels your senior POW as Papa Bear, as you may know, the most dangerous Underground leader in Germany.".
Klink widened his eyes so far, that Hochman could swear that his eyeballs were popping out a little. Then he whispered: "Papa Bear? But I-".
Then he continued more confident: "But General, this has to be a mistake, my senior POW is imprisoned in the toughest POW camp of Germany, there has never been an escape from Stalag 13.".
Hochman shook his head. "Klink, our sources are very sure about this, we will investigate the manner anyway. Could you please get me the senior POW here?".
Klink nodded, dumbfounded. "Certainly Herr General.".
Then he called: "Schultz, get the Colonel, now!".
Schultz hurried out and Klink said: "While we are waiting, General, would you like some Schnapps.".
Hochman nodded. "Yes, Colonel.".
As the General announced what he was up to, Hogan had nodded and turned to face his men.
"Fellas, I had expected this from the moment he entered this camp. Schultz will be here in any moment. I will see what I can do about George, if he really has become a full blown Nazi, there will be no point in staying here, for you lot. Get out immediately.".
Carter interrupted. "But Colonel, what about you?".
Hogan shook his head. "Everybody knows that I am supposed to be here, if I escape now, they will have the ultimate proof for me being no ordinary POW. They would take out their wrath on the rest of the camp and on Klink and Schultz. I can´t let that happen.".
"But Colonel-".
"Look, Carter. It was time that George and I were confronted with this difference in opinion. Maybe, he will give the matter some thought after he sees that his own brother has become his most dangerous enemy, maybe he will understand..".
Kinch looked at him, ruefully. "Colonel, you still hope to find your brother back, don´t you? You still think that there´s something good left in him, some sense of right and wrong?".
Hogan nodded. "Yes, Kinch, I do and my orders won´t change. You know my final orders and they stand, remember that.".
Kinch nodded. "I understand, Colonel. But remember why he has become a General, what he has done to become what he is now.".
LeBeau jumped in. "And mon Colonel, remember that we are proud to serve with you.".
And Newkirk said. "And that we are proud to be able to do something in this war, to-"
And Carter finished: "really make a difference.".
Hogan smiled and walked out of the office, where he bumped straight into Schultz.
"Colonel Hogan, the Kommandant-".
"I know Schultz, I´m coming.".
Schultzs eyes grew wide in surprise. "But Colonel, how? Wait, no, don´t tell me. I don´t see anything, I hear nothing! Nothing!".
Hogan now grinned broadly and followed Schultz.
A soft knock at the door was followed by the entrance of Schultz. After him came Hogan. Klink announced: "General Hochman, this is our senior POW.".
Hogan saluted, his eyes not leaving Hochmans face and said: "Hogan -".
And Hochman, who had dropped his Schnapps glass continued with his eyes wide: "Robert E.".
Hogan smiled a smug smile: "Hi George.".
And Hochman whispered: "Rob? You?".
