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Chapter Two

October 30, 1944

Five shadows slipped through the darkness, moving quickly through the forest. The one in the lead stopped mid-step and dropped flat on the ground. The other four carefully moved up until they could join the first. Kinch looked over at Hogan to make sure he had the Colonel's attention. At Hogan's nod, Kinch held up his hand, opening and closing his fist twice to signal "ten," then pointed forward.

Hogan gestured for his men to move out, circling around to avoid the patrol. Before they could start moving, Carter reached out and touched the Colonel's leg. When Hogan looked over his shoulder, he saw the demolitions expert grinning as he held up a stick of dynamite. Carter pointed toward the oncoming German patrol, waved the fused explosive a bit and silently mouthed, "BOOM."

Hogan rolled his eyes and shook his head. Then he gestured his orders again more vehemently and pointed Carter in the direction he wanted him to go. Carter shrugged and stuck the dynamite back in his pack.

The men began creeping through the woods as they headed away from the patrol. A snapped twig cracked like a rifle shot, and a whispered French oath could be heard just before the Krauts opened fire. Five bodies hit the dirt as bullets whined over their heads, thudding into tree trunks and sending a shower of bark and leaves onto them. Newkirk and Carter lay huddled together behind an old log. Hogan and Le Beau were sheltered by the trunk of a large tree, and Kinch, who had been caught out in the open, was hugging the ground. Silence reigned for a few moments as the gunfire stopped, then the men could hear some of the Germans making their way into the woods.

Hogan gestured madly for Kinch to move to safety, looking wildly around for a way out. Kinch waited for a moment, then took a chance on making a break for the shelter of the trees. Listening for the approach of the patrol, Hogan gave the signal for the men to follow their pre-arranged plan in case of an emergency, then they split up and moved out.

Carter started running as ordered, then he reached around into his pack and pulled out the dynamite and a coil of fuse. He ducked behind a tree and set to work exchanging the short fuse already in place with a much longer one from the coil. After a quick look around showed him that the others had gone on ahead, he cleared a spot where he could safely put the stick of dynamite on the ground. Then Carter lit the fuse and took off.

An hour later they were all back in the tunnel. Hogan was still breathing hard from the run, but was looking each man over head to toe to make sure everyone had arrived home in one piece. Finally he laid a hand on Carter's shoulder. "Nice work, Carter," he said, nodding as he caught his breath.

"Yeah," Kinch added. "That little time delay bomb was a charmer."

Carter shrugged. "I thought we could use the head start."

Hogan nodded, wiping his brow with the back of his arm. "You did good."

Newkirk frowned as he watched Le Beau move past the others without comment. He followed and reached over the Frenchman's head, placing a hand on the ladder so the shorter man couldn't climb up to the barracks above. "What's the matter, Louis? You okay?"

"It was my fault, Pierre." Le Beau spoke quietly and didn't look up at the Englishman. "I am the one that stepped on the twig and caused all the trouble."

"Come off it, mate. There's not one of us here who hasn't messed up something at one time or another." Newkirk took his hand off the ladder and put it gently on Le Beau's shoulder. "What matters is that we're all back safe and sound in the end."

"That's right," Carter piped up. "I mean look at how many times I've nearly gotten us in trouble with the—"

"Carter," Hogan said. Carter stopped. Hogan came up to Le Beau. "Newkirk's right. These things happen; it's part of the risk we take. We went out, we got the job done, we got back. We can't control the forest floor, and we can't guarantee there won't be patrols. We're fine. Now leave it at that. No one thinks any less of you—and neither should you."

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30 octobre, 1944

Je suis un imbecile! Out on a mission and I step on a twig and call les Boches down on us in seconds. How many times have we warned Carter about that kind of thing? How many times has le Colonel told us that a simple noise like that could spell death for us? And I do it!

Colonel Hogan was very good to me; he tried to assure me that accidents happen and that it is all part of the risk. And if someone else had done it I would have said the same. But it is me, and I am angry, and I should know better.

And to top it off, now when I want to write in this, I will have to do it down in the tunnel because we promised le Colonel we would hide the books down there if we wrote about anything forbidden by the Germans! Formidable!

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Hogan sighed heavily as he pulled his diary out from its spot next to some secret maps hidden underneath his bunk. He had ordered the men to put their books in the tunnel if they wrote anything sensitive. But Hogan's office was already full of things that would be hazardous to his health if the Germans found them, and so he simply added his own diary to that list and locked it up with the others.

Another close one tonight. This time it was a twig that nearly brought down the Krauts. It happens, and it's never intentional. But every time it does, I feel my heart splash down into my stomach and it takes me hours to calm down again. Louis did it this time—we all have. The nights are dark, the trail is hard to see or to gauge. He's kicking himself, and I tried to tell him it happens, but that won't make any difference to him, at least for awhile. I know how he feels, poor fella.

Carter was really the man of the hour—a time delayed bomb so we had time to get away from the bridge and the patrol before it went off. I couldn't ask for more. My men know what they're doing. And to think they all started off as plain old POWs. Heck, that's how I started, too. I try not to think back to that time. I know it would drive me crazy to think of how I got here, and what I was like when I did. Sometimes I just have to think how lucky I am that I ended up with the fellas that I have around me now. It could have so easily turned out differently….

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Y'know how I'm usually the one to mess things up? Well, tonight it wasn't me. I don't want to have to hide this diary, so I won't say what happened, but, boy, I sure know how the other fellas feel now that I'm the one who did the right thing and Louis's the one who made a mistake. I always thought the guys'd be mad at me. But if they felt anything like the way I feel toward Louis right now, then they weren't—they were feeling bad about how guilty I felt for messing things up! I guess I've gotta learn to get used to people not being mad at me for being naturally clumsy. It's real nice to have people who just accept me for who I am.