Chapter Five: Interrogation

The room was dark and small. The walls were bare and windowless. The only furniture in the room was a single wooden table with a chair on one side and two on the other. A guard led Hogan to the single chair and took up a position behind him. The whole scene was created to be as intimidating as possible, but the only thing he could think of as he waited was that the room really did remind him of that hotel in Cleveland.

Hogan sat there waiting for an hour, maybe two. He knew that Hochstetter was trying to weaken his resolve, make him nervous about what was coming, but every minute that passed was another minute that his men had to make their escapes. When the door finally opened, Hogan called out joyfully, "Good evening, Major. I was afraid that you'd forgotten all about me."

Hochstetter smirked as he stepped to the side to let the person behind him through.

Hogan couldn't believe his luck when General Burkhalter stepped into the room. This was more than he could have ever hoped for. "General! Fancy seeing you here. Forgive me if I don't stand, but I make it point not to frighten goons with guns." Hogan motioned his head toward the guard behind him.

Burkhalter sat down in one of the vacant chairs. "I'm not here for a social call. Major Hochstetter tells me that you are prepared to confess."

"That is correct. My cooperation in exchange for the lives of my men."

"Deal."

Spreading his hands as wide as the cuffs allowed, Hogan leaned back in his chair and asked, "So what do you want to know?"

Hochstetter was grinning like the cat that got the cream and he took his seat beside Burkhalter. "Are you the Underground agent known as Papa Bear?"

"I am."

"When did you first begin operations?" Burkhalter asked.

"Gosh, that's a hard one; it's been so long. I think we rescued our first flyer about a month after I arrived at Stalag Thirteen. We blew up our first ammo dump a couple of weeks later."

Hochstetter leaned forward in excitement. "Where did you get the explosives?"

"Stole some, made some. When you have a camp full of POWs at your disposal, you can find a man capable of doing anything."

Burkhalter asked, "Was Klink aware?"

Hogan laughed. "No. Just incompetent and easily manipulated."

"Give me the names of your Underground contacts."

"Gosh, there were so many: Prince Charming, Little Red Riding Hood, Hercules, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin..."

Hochstetter slammed his hand on the table. "No code names."

"Sorry, Major, but in this line of work, we only dealt in code names.

"Describe them."

"German looking. Very German. There was this one agent who looked like she came straight out of the 'Ride of the Valkyries'." Hogan whistled. "36-26-36."

Burkhalter rose. "This is a waste of my time. Hogan has confessed and is no longer under the protection of the Luftwaffe. Deal with him as you see fit."

"Sorry that you have to leave, General. But if you really want a name, well, does Christopher Downs ring any bells?"

Burkhalter sat back down. "It sounds vaguely familiar. British?"

"Yes," Hochstetter growled. "He was a British spy who infiltrated the Gestapo. We tracked him to Stalag Thirteen where he disappeared."

"Well, it was hard sneaking him into to camp, let me tell you. The woods were crawling with Gestapo."

"Hah!" Hochstetter shouted. "He was hiding in Stalag Thirteen."

"Yes, until you helped us out with the escape, Major."

Hochstetter jumped out of his chair. "What?"

"Sit down," Burkhalter ordered. "I want to hear this."

"Don't let this tough guy act fool you, General. Hochstetter is one of most reliable contributors to the Allied war effort we have."

"Lies, General. All lies."

"Shut up!" Burkhalter snapped. "Hogan, continue."

Hogan inclined his head toward the General and said, "We snuck Downs into camp, but with Gestapo soldiers searching the woods, we couldn't get him out. At least not by ground. So we made a hot air balloon."

Hochstetter's jaw dropped. "You made a hot air balloon."

"Major, why else would we be making a tent, flying kites and holding a basket weaving contest? You saw all of our preparations so a smart man like yourself must have figured it out."

"Bah!"

"After evening roll call, we assembled the balloon, only to have one of our kites fly into the barbed wire and catch fire. Klink thought the kite was a diversion so he sounded the alarms and ordered the guards to look for escaping prisoners. I thought the game was surely over. But we were saved by Major Hochstetter. He drove into camp, saw the burning kite and started screaming about security. He made such a scene that all the guards were so busy looking at him that no one saw the hot air balloon take Downs up and out of camp.

"So you when you think about it, Major Hochstetter's men let Downs into camp and his rant about kites and security was the perfect diversion we needed for getting Downs out of camp. I couldn't have asked for a better ally if he had been a mole planted by London."

"Traitor!" Burkhalter shouted; his face red.

Hochstetter looked shaken. "General, please, the prisoner is lying."

"To think that you have been assisting Colonel Hogan all along."

"Never! I was the one who said he was Papa Bear. I arrested him!"

"I'm sure they will take that into account at your trial."

Hogan hated to interrupt his enemies when they were fighting, but Burkhalter was sounding a touch too judgmental for a man with secrets of his own. "Don't be too hard on him, General. It's not like he blew up a bridge."

The arguing stopped and Burkhalter's face went white. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Sorry, I forgot. It was "high flying bombers" with a "secret weapon". At least that's what was listed on the official report."

"Hogan! I forbid you from speaking any further on this matter."

Hogan shrugged. "Sorry, General, but I made a deal to cooperate with the Gestapo and I can't go back on my word."

"Yes, Hogan," Hochstetter said. "Do tell."

"Yes, I will never forget that day I joined the Burkhalter Brigade. We marched as one, German and POW alike. Right past the security of the most closely guarded bridge in all of Germany. The Germans watched as my men placed the explosives and then we all waited for the big moment." Hogan paused and then sighed. "Too bad you destroyed the film, General. You pressed down on that plunger like a true saboteur."

Hochstetter jumped out of his seat. "Hah! So you are the traitor!"

Burkhalter screamed, "Lies! Colonel Hogan is trying to trick us!"

"General, you are under arrest!"

"Before or after you arrest yourself?"

"He's got you there, Major," Hogan said. "I know, why don't you both just turn yourselves in. I'm sure your superiors will understand."

"BAH! I WILL HAVE YOU ALL SHOT!"

Leaning back in his chair, Hogan stifled a laugh. Everything was going according to plan and the best part was that his enemies had asked for this. It wasn't his fault that the truth was so difficult to hear.