Chapter 21

Hochstetter took his kerchief out of his chest pocket, reached over and wiped some of the blood off of his prisoner's face as he explained. "You know, this is just a warm up exercise for your first hour with us. We have five whole days together and we will make good use of our time. I've waited a long time for this Colonel Hogan." Schaffer and Strasser arrived as Hochstetter was bent over talking to the Colonel, who lay unconscious on the floor, with his hands secured behind his back. The Major held up his hand to one of his guards and was given some smelling salts. He took the capsule and crushed it under Hogan's nose and fanned it back and forth, slapping his cheeks as he called the Colonel's name. The pungent odor did its job and brought him back to consciousness.

Hogan rolled from his side onto his back and opened his eyes, searching his surroundings to get his bearings. It all came back to him. He pulled his knees up and placed his feet flat on the floor trying to stop his world from spinning and to take the stretch off of his stomach muscles, which were trying to recover from their recent assault from the Major's fist.

Schaffer looked down on Hogan, "Robert, from where I stand you don't look a bit comfortable." Schaffer said, sarcastically.

"Hogan looked in the direction of the voice and said, "You ought…" he caught his breath as his stomach muscles began to spasm, "…to try it from my angle." He coughed and a moan escaped before he could swallow it.

He's lying on the floor, beaten, and he's still mouthy. "Major, give him a rest and let him think about his present predicament," The Corporal ordered. And then looking at Hogan he added, "You would be wise to cooperate and tell us what we want to know, Robert."

Like it or not Hochstetter had to yield to Hogan's interrogator. The perception had to remain that Schaffer still had control of every aspect of Hogan's comfort or discomfort. Schaffer was the one Hogan was to answer too.

Of course giving a prisoner a rest in a Gestapo jail was not always what one anticipated. Hogan was taken to his cell and tightly shackled down to the wooden bed frame with an intense naked light streaming down into his eyes.

Hochstetter walked over to Hogan looked down on him and smiling, checked the restraints, making sure they were secure. "I will be back for you, don't get to comfortable, Colonel Hogan." Hochstetter gave the Colonel's arm a squeeze as he left him and closed the cell door.

Ok, it could be worse, I need to use this time to rest, conserve my strength. This little interlude probably won't last long. Hogan, kept his eyes closed but the brightness remained, still his mind dreamed and he had a light sleep.

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"Rob, your brother's been assigned to the Pacific,"

"When does he leave, Dad?"

"He left two days ago, Rob. We tried to reach you, but they said you had been shot down over Germany. He wanted to talk to you, son, where are you Rob?"

"I'm here, Dad."

"Where are you, son?

"Dad? I'm here."

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"Robert…Robert…Rob…"

Somebody's calling me. Hogan tried to open his eyes, but the light was too bright. He could feel someone gently sponging off his face with a cool wet cloth.

"Dad?" Hogan whispered.

"Robert…" I know that voice. Where am I?

"W…what?" Hogan answered.

"Are you feeling better?"

Schaffer. Where…oh, yes. I remember. Hogan tried to squint his eyes to see beyond the light that was blinding him. But it remained an intense barrier.

"You were talking incoherently, Rob." Schaffer informed Hogan.

"What was I saying?" Hogan asked.

"Just names." The Corporal continued to rinse the blood off of Hogan's face as he talked to him. Hogan tensed at the touch of the German officer. What names?

"We have a few minutes before Major Hochstetter will be back. I thought we'd take this opportunity to talk."

"About what?" Hogan demanded. "I can't think we would have anything to say to each other."

"Oh surely we can think of something. Why not tell me about your father. You were just saying his name."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I never knew my father," Hogan lied.

"Okay, have it your way, Robert. I'll tell you about my family. My mother and father are home, running the farm, with my two sisters. I saw them just last week, and though I haven't been gone all that long, I can see that they have aged. How long has it been since you have seen your mother and father, Rob? Seeing their children go off to war age's parents. They don't know if they will ever see us again, and we of course don't know if we will ever see home again. It must be harder on you being so far away from family and not knowing how long you will be gone, or whether your parents will still be alive, if you ever get back home."

Hogan lay with his eyes closed against the light, enduring the attention of his German interrogator who had finished cleaning Hogan's face, and was now, working around the restraints, unwrapping the soiled bandages from his wrists. Pretending to offer comfort, playing mind games with me, talking about home, you know home is never far from a POW's mind. I admit it; I'm no different than anybody else. Let's change the subject.

"Okay you want to talk, tell me why I'm being examined by German doctors, or why I'm being tortured by the Gestapo, or why I haven't been taken out and shot, all ready, after my confession. Or maybe you could just tell me if my men are okay." Hogan could feel his face getting warm from the flush of anger he was feeling. Calm down, your just upset at being tied down. Slow your breathing. He isn't hurting you. It's just water and bandages. You can get through this.

Hogan felt Schaffer wash his wrists, dry them and apply some sort of salve before rewrapping them. The attention being lavished on him was unwanted. He resented the friendly familiarity it implied. As the Corporal worked, he talked.

"You have a lot of questions and they will all be answered in due time. Right now your biggest concern should be Major Hochstetter. He has a lot of animosity for you. I don't know when I have seen anyone enjoy his work as much as he does, or is it just you in particular… No, I think you are a prize, but he enjoys what he does. We are going to be here for several days, or as long as it takes for you to tell us what really happened after Major Strasser came to camp." Schaffer knew this was not true. Hogan's reason for being at Gestapo headquarters was to wear him down, mentally and physically, before stage three. Any information gained would just be a nice plus.

"You still have not told us who met Major Strasser's contacts and provided them with the incorrect information. There," he said as he finished bandaging Hogan's wrists, "you are ready for another go."

"Gee, thanks," he sarcastically replied. Just then the door to his cell swung open and somebody entered.

"Ah, Corporal, am I too early?" the gravely voice asked.

"No, Major Hochstetter, you are right on schedule. I will leave you to your work. Colonel Hogan, you have a visitor, I will see you later." Schaffer left the cell, but Strasser, who had been silently observing the Corporal's interaction with the prisoner, stood back out of the way and remained in the cell.

Hochstetter motioned for his guards to remove Hogan's restraints, and the light that had been blinding him.

"Get him on his feet," Hochstetter commanded. Strong hands grabbed the front of Hogan's shirt and pulled him up.

Hogan stumbled trying to stand on his feet, which were without feeling, due to the tight restraints. The guards turned him around, pulled his arms behind him, and applied the handcuffs.

Hochstetter walked up and stood within inches of Hogan's face. Still, it was difficult to make out his features, after the blaring light that had been shining in his eyes.

"Have you decided to tell us who met Major Strasser's contacts, or how the information was passed to the Underground, Colonel Hogan?"

The Colonel looked down on the Major and said, "Give it up, Major, you know I'm not going to tell you anything."

Smiling and with a growl, he said, "I am so glad you have decided to do this the hard way. How do you like cold water Colonel?" Hochstetter asked. The Major turned and began walking out of the cell while calling to his guards, "Bring him!"

Major Strasser followed, unobtrusively, behind.

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Kinch radioed the Underground and Lutz agreed that they would stay on alert status. He also confirmed that they had abducted Strasser, as planned, held him for several hours, and switched the note from Greta that he had in his pocket, with another about an Underground meeting.

"Well, now we know that the underground pulled off their part," LeBeau sighed.

"Kinch, I hate to sound stupid, but if Strasser was programmed by his father with the help of Nazi Germany, how did he become a British agent?" Carter asked.

Kinch looked at Carter and explained, "You remember, the Underground told us about the Nazis joining Strasser's father in his research, and that they used Hans Strasser as their test subject."

"Yeah," Carter said.

"Well, Hans became confused by what was happening to him and shared his nightmares with his friend, who was the son of one of the British scientists working in the scientific community with Dr. Martin, alias Strasser. Of course his friend told his father and one thing led to another, until the plot had been turned around on the Germans."

"Wait a minute," Newkirk interrupted, "you mean Strasser turned in his own father?

"Why is that so hard to figure?" LeBeau asked, "Look what his father was doing."

"I guess Louis is right, according to London, there was no love lost between father and son. Dr. Strasser was very impersonal and was so driven by his work, that Hans never had a chance to be a son. In fact, his best friend's father was more of a father to him than Dr. Strasser ever was. So much so, that Hans referred to his friend's father as his adopted dad."

"Ok, you said they turned it around on the Germans. That means Strasser became a spy for Britain." Carter was catching on.

"Right," Kinch answered, "but the Germans don't know this and are continuing their program using, what they think are the successful experiments used on Hans, which are to begin indoctrination in childhood. The Nazi's, then branched off of this program, and began experiments in the brainwashing of adults, which is the program of study the Colonel is being tested in.

Carter was nodding his head, "Okay, so now Strasser is a British spy, who was pretending to be a German spy, who was sent to keep Colonel Hogan from being brainwashed by the Nazis, by bringing news of an Allied Offensive, that they expected the Colonel to intercept, so that Strasser could turn him in and accuse him of espionage, hoping that the Nazis would drop him from the program and investigate the charges against him, or drop him from the program and execute him."

"Carter, you've got it." Kinch smiled.

"So when we turned the table on Strasser and made him out to be an English spy to discredit him to the Germans, we were really telling the Germans the truth, which messed up the plans to get the results of the Germans studies on mind control back to London, since Hans Strasser is not being allowed to leave Germany right now." Newkirk added.

"Where does that leave the Colonel? Is he still in the program to be brainwashed? Or is he under investigation by the Gestapo. And if he is still in the program is Strasser still suppose to kill him to keep him from being used by the Nazis for their experiment?" LeBeau asked.

"Those are good questions Louis. I wish I knew the answers." Kinch said quietly.

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Strasser watched as Colonel Hogan was held under the cold water, until he stopped struggling and then was pulled out of the tank and revived. He suffered this ritual four times, and was asked the same question each time he was resuscitated. How did the false information get to Strasser's contacts?

"Drop dead!" was Hogan's reply, with a few more adjectives added each time the question was asked.

Corporal Schaffer did not think Colonel Hogan could answer that question, if he wanted too. Because he did not believe that the Colonel had tricked Strasser into revealing any information to begin with.

Strasser on the other hand, knew that the Colonel had that information and was not revealing it. You are a strong man, Colonel. But even strong men have their limits. What's yours?

Strasser was changing his mind about this man. Perhaps he could beat the odds. He would observe him a while longer before he made his decision. He deserved at least that much consideration. Actually he deserved more, but there was a war on.

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