Chapter Four: Underground

Newkirk lifted the final bag of potatoes and passed it to the man standing next him, who passed it to the one beside him and so on until it reached their underground wine cellar and pantry. After triple checking that there was nothing left, Newkirk quietly called out, "LeBeau."

"We're still clear."

Turning to the men with him in the kitchen, Newkirk, said, "Find anything that can store water, fill it and return to the tunnels."Then taking his own advice, he grabbed two buckets and set them beside Addison, who was busy filling a pile of water bottles they had collected from the men.

"Newkirk!" LeBeau hissed. "I see Hogan."

Newkirk hurried to the window where his friend was keeping watch. There was Hogan - handcuffed - leading Klink, Schultz and Hochstetter toward the delousing shed. Newkirk's hand found his pencil sharpener and he itched to put it between the Gestapo officer's shoulder blades. When they disappeared inside, Newkirk turned to his friend and said, "Go get Carter. If he can use a few smoke bombs as a diversion, we can sneak Hogan into the tunnels."

LeBeau looked uncertain. "Kinch told us to wait."

He couldn't believe his ears! Didn't LeBeau understand? "We might not get another chance."

"I know."

Newkirk wanted to scream. He couldn't just stand here and do nothing. He was tempted to make a break for the door and try something on his own, but Barnes and Davis were standing there, blocking his path.

Newkirk marched into the tunnels and squeezed past the people in his way. He didn't want anything to do with those traitors! He needed to find Kinch. He had secured their supplies and it was now time to act!

As he moved through the tunnels, Newkirk noticed the signs that the others were prepared to hunker down for a while. Barracks Eight was setting up their quarters underneath the cooler. Three whole barracks were squeezing into their largest room that had once held a plane. Equipment was being broken down and piled out of the way. The darkroom now had a sign on it that read 'Latrine.'

He couldn't let himself get stuck down here with the others. No man, not even Hogan, could hold out under torture forever. The clock was ticking and he wasn't going to waste another second. This wasn't just about saving Hogan - it was about saving everyone in this camp. He had to make Kinch see that.

Newkirk found Kinch talking to Sergeant Anderson. The older man was speaking, "I'll keep my men near the emergency exit. They'll ensure that no one leaves until you give the word."

"Thank you."

As the man left, Newkirk walked over to where Carter and Olsen were standing and gave his report. "The supplies are secure."

"Thank you, Newkirk," Kinch said.

"I saw Colonel Hogan. He's showing the goons the decoy tunnel."

Carter's face lit up. "He's still here! We can rescue him. We just need a diversion. I know, I'll blow up Hochstetter's car!"

"And announce that we are still in camp when our only hope is that the Germans believe we're gone," Kinch said.

Carter's face fall. "But we have to rescue Colonel Hogan. We can't let the goons have him!"

Newkirk grabbed his friend's arm; he didn't have time for this. "Come on, Carter, we'll save him ourselves."

"Freeze, Corporal." Kinch's voice was cold. Colder than the Englishman had ever heard it before.

"Are you pulling rank on me?"

"Only if I have to."

Newkirk was about to remind Kinch that Carter outranked him when LeBeau joined them. "Colonel Hogan's gone," LeBeau said. "Hochstetter just drove him out of camp."

That news deflated the tension in the room. Newkirk sank into a chair. They were too late. And now he was stuck here.

"Kinch, what do we do?" Carter asked.

Kinch straightened, and in that moment, Newkirk almost thought Hogan was speaking, not the radioman. "We put together a small team, who will escape, sneak into town and rescue the Colonel."

"You think Hochstetter will stay in town?" Olsen asked.

"Yes," Kinch said. "He's been after Papa Bear for years. This is personal. He won't risk the higher ups taking over the interrogation."

"But how will we get out? The woods are crawling with Krauts!" Carter exclaimed.

"The dogs," LeBeau suggested.

Kinch nodded. "Right. We call Schnitzer and tell him there's been an escape and we need more dogs to track down the prisoners."

Newkirk smiled; he never should have doubted his friends. "And we'll sneak out in the back of the dog truck. Bloody brilliant!"

"You four will sneak out," Kinch said. "I'm staying here."

"What?" Carter asked. "We can't leave you!"

Kinch gave a weak smile. "Someone has to mind the store." Then his face grew serious again as he ordered, "Olsen, I need you to warn the Underground and then take the escape route to the coast and shut it down. We have no idea what else Granny has told Hochstetter and they need to be warned. Newkirk, Carter, LeBeau, your job is to rescue the Colonel, but it is also vital that you neutralize Granny. Do you understand?"

Newkirk found himself wrapping his fingers around his pencil sharpener again. "Perfectly."

LeBeau spat. "Don't worry, we will deal with Madame Traitor."

Carter nodded. "You can count on us."

"One last thing," Kinch said. "Once you get Hogan. Don't come back. Head to the coast, to Switzerland or even France. But don't come back."

Newkirk opened his month to protest, but closed it when he realized that Kinch was right. With the radio shut down, they'd have no way to communicate. No way to know if they were still trapped in camp or spread out across the countryside. And since Olsen would be shutting down the Underground, no safe place to meet up. But to abandon a friend...

No, he wasn't abandoning Kinch. They were just departing for separate missions. That's all.

"Kinch," Newkirk said, "we'll wait for you in London and we'll share a pint at the best pub in town."

Kinch smiled for real this time. "Make sure you save a big table. Because I'll be bringing rest of the camp along with me."

Oskar Schnitzer was just about to go to the barn when he heard the phone ring. He opened his month to ask his wife to get it but then remembered that she was outside doing laundry. Walking over to the phone, he picked it up and said, "Hello."

"Is this Oskar Schnitzer the veterinarian?"

"Yes."

"Herr Schnitzer, this is Corporal Schmidt from Stalag Thirteen. There has been an escape. A mass escape. All of the prisoner are... Never mind. Just bring every dog you have to Stalag Thirteen at once!"

The guard hung up before Schnitzer could respond. That was odd. A mass escape. Colonel Hogan would often have his men disappear for a while, but this didn't sound like his usual tricks. Besides, Corporal Schmidt sounded a lot like Peter Newkirk. Something odd was going on.

Whistling for his dogs in the house to join him, Oskar stepped outide and walked towards the kennels. As he passed his wife, she looked up from her laundry and asked, "What is it?"

"Something's gone wrong at the camp. There's been an escape."

"Sounds like Colonel Hogan is up to his usual tricks."

"I don't know, Frieda. It sounds like they may have evacuated the camp."

Frieda gasped. "They would only do that if..."

"The operation has been discovered."

"Must you go?"

Oskar grabbed his wife's hands and said, "We need to know. If I'm not back in two hours, call Max. He'll know what to do."

"I love you."

Oskar kissed his wife and told himself that this was not goodbye. Then after gathering up a dozen dogs, he headed toward camp. The drive took twenty minutes, but he was reassured when the guards waved him into camp. It didn't look like he was under suspicion.

Stepping out of the truck, Oskar immediately bumped into a frantic Colonel Klink. "Herr Schnitzer, what are you doing here?"

"One of your guards called and said there has been an escape and you needed more dogs for the search."

"Of course, of course. Guards, take the dogs."

"Excuse me, Herr Kommandant. But it would be best if you let me put them in the kennel first. The drive sometimes upsets them."

"Yes, yes," Klink said. Then turning to the large guard approaching him, he shouted, Schultz, report!"

"We found the tunnel exit, Herr Kommandant."

Confident that Klink and the guards were distracted, Oskar opened the rear door of the van and clipped leashes to two dogs and led them into the kennel.

As soon as he stepped into the kennel, a dog house rose and LeBeau began climbing out, pulling a large pack behind him. The Frenchman stayed low, petting the dogs that surrounded him, giving him cover. When Oskar walked him over to the van, the POW whispered, "Three more."

Oskar nodded and leashed two more dogs as LeBeau disappeared into the back of the truck. On the next three trips, Olsen, Newkirk and Carter moved to his truck and slowly, all the dogs ended up in the kennel. After closing the doors on the van and kennel, he walked over to Klink and said, "That's all the dogs I have."

"Thank you, Herr Schnitzer. Guards, take these dogs and search the woods - at once!"

The tunnels had never felt so empty.

The irony of that, though, was not lost on Kinch. With two hundred and ninety-three POWs currently hiding in the tunnels, they had never been so full. Every room, every tunnel, every inch of space either held a fugitive POW or had been turned into a makeshift latrine. There was enough space for all them, but only just enough.

Even the radio room, which had long been his private sanctum, shared only with Baker, was now filled with the men of Barracks Two. But with the radio shut down and the others gone, carrying out the one task that, given a choice he would have volunteered for, he'd never felt so alone.

Kinch shook his head. He couldn't think about his regrets. He needed to stop thinking about what could have been and start planning for tomorrow. He needed to organize scouts, escape routes, supplies...

That was what he should do. What his orders told him to do in a situation like this. But Kinch couldn't shake the feeling that sending men out the tunnel and telling them to run for Switzerland was just out of character for Stalag Thirteen. This was the camp with no escapes that specialized in the escape business. Hadn't they blown up bridges and trains and more - all under their enemies' noses and sometimes right in front of them? They had stolen secrets and captured enemy officers. Kinch had even convinced their enemies that he was a German general! Stalag Thirteen was no ordinary camp and Kinch could not send the men out to be captured because they only attempted an ordinary escape.

Now Kinch had always understood that the purpose of a mass evacuation was to help the war effort by tying up enemy troops in searching for them, it just felt wrong to simply send the men out to be recaptured or killed. They deserved to escape, to make it back to England and home to their families. For the troops were already tied up in the search; it didn't matter whether they made a desperate dash through the woods or hid in the tunnels. And if there was a chance that they could really escape then Kinch owed it to the men now under his command to try.

So, what would Hogan do if he wanted to get an entire camp full of prisoners to London? His CO had often joked to Klink that they would either walk right out the front gates or fly out of camp in a helicopter. But there was no helicopter big enough to save the two hundred and ninety-three souls remaining in Stalag Thirteen.

Or was there?

Grabbing a pencil and some paper, Kinch quickly did some math, working out the logistics of his idea. It was possible. Crazy, but logistically possible.

They might not get that helicopter Hogan had wanted, but they were going to fly.