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Weaving a Web to Freedom, Undoing the Past

By Marty Miller

Background information, for this story, is from the HH Episode "The Meister Spy"

Chapter 26

Emma had just passed through the exit checkpoint on her way out of the hospital. She glanced at her watch. She was to be back in time to get the negatives from Strasser and transfer them to the American Colonel, before Hans was taken to see Doctor Ulrich Mahler, who would be arriving at the hospital around nine o'clock. Anna, or whoever she is, has been a good operative. I did notice the relieved look on her face when she left Major Strasser's room, but that shouldn't arouse any suspicion, it can be attributed to going into a room where the patient has a guard on the door Emma laughed to herself, and she's not a bad worker either. I'm sorry I can't keep her.

Mean while back at Stalag 13, Schultz had been directed from the Motor Pool, to the Recreation Hall, looking for the four POW's that were eluding him. Someone at the Rec. Hall said it was the foursome's rotation on kitchen duty. It took Schultz a little extra time to check out the kitchen.

"Come on Schultz, we won't have anything left if you keep testing it." The portly guard was the most experienced food tester in camp. "Tell us what you want, maybe we can help." The men on kitchen duty were desperate for him to ask his question and move on; everyone had been told to be ready with an answer if Schultz showed up asking for Kinch, LeBeau, Carter, or Newkirk. Schultz finally voiced his question and was told they went to see Lieutenant Miller.

Colonel Hogan was attempting to wake up. The hospital smell was the first thing that registered in his mind. He tried to open his eyes, but could only bat them open once or twice before they would close again and he would slip back into peaceful slumber. Gradually over the next twenty minutes sounds from the hallway began to make their way to his conscious mind, then fade away again as he drifted somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.

A nurse from the afternoon shift came in to check on him. Hogan was lying prone; he had been placed on his stomach by Emma's intercession, when he was brought to his room, following his time spent with Dr. Becker. The nurse checked her patient's dressings both on his back and his wrists. Then she reached to feel for the pulse in his neck, the touch registered an alert in Hogan's mind and in his half awake state he reached up to his neck without ever opening his eyes.

"Sorry Colonel I can't stay and hold hands. I've other patients to see." She gently laid his hand back down on the bed, wrote in his chart and left.

The click of the door seemed to bring him around. He opened his eyes and looked out across the room his eyes were not quite focusing yet. He could smell clean sheets and feel the soft bed. …home…? Then the hospital smell registered and reminded him where he was. …not home…maybe someday. He started to use his arms to push himself up on his side.

"Um!" He stopped abruptly and buried his face in his pillow and let out a soft moan. Hochstetter. He tried a different approach and gingerly rolled onto his side. He began to take notice of his current state. Clean dressings on my wrists. He put a hand to his chest to see what was wrapped so tightly around him and noticed he wasn't wearing his uniform. He instinctively reached for his dog tags. They were gone too. His hand hit his chin while he was groping for his tags and he realized he had been shaved.

I need to get up and check out what's going on. How long have I been asleep? As stiff as I am it feels like days.

Getting up was easier said than done. It was slow going with a fair amount of lip biting, but he finally made it to a sitting position on the side of the bed. His eyes were focusing better now but his head began to pound. He looked around at the stark room. Except for his bed, a small table, and a chair, the room was empty.

There's no clock, no mirror…

He paused as his eyes stopped on the window.

and no bars!

Erika had finished her shift and met Theo, the owner, of the safe house, located just outside of town, where she had been staying these past few days. Lutz stepped out onto the porch and waved as Theo pulled his truck down the tree lined lane leading to the farm. Although there was less than a year's difference between Erika and Lutz ages, she still considered him her "little" brother. Probably because her other four older brothers called him "Little Lutz". A nickname he detested. It was a name that Erika reserved for use when she wanted to get his attention.

"Lutz," she called as she ran toward him from the truck. "I'm so glad you're here. Did you have any trouble?" Erika questioned.

"Not a bit. Come, there are some men anxious to talk to you," Lutz grabbed her by the hand and led her into the house.

Erika followed her brother down into the cellar. The men Lutz referred to were sitting around the table quietly talking. At the sight of Erika they all fell silent, and stood to offer her their seats.

"Thank-you, gentlemen," she said, while allowing Carter to hold his chair for her.

LeBeau was the first to ask, "Have you seen Colonel Hogan?"

Erika was touched at the depth of feeling in that question. She reached over and laid her hand on Louis'. The anticipation for the answer was easy to read on all of their faces. She knew the feelings of concern they shared. She herself had felt those concerns for the people she worked with. Small intimate groups of people working together, for a common cause, trusting each other with their lives; you feel a great absence when one is missing.

Her voice was soft and peaceful when she spoke, "Yes, I have seen him. He was sleeping when I saw him, resting quietly in a clean bed."

It was quiet for a minute. Kinch cleared his throat, "Was he sleeping or unconscious?"

Erika held up her hand to stop any further questions for the moment and said, "Here is what I know. Dr Becker came and told Nurse Eberly, to take some medication to Colonel Hogan. When Emma, the nurse, came back she complained to Dr. Becker about the orderlies, who were bathing the American, being too rough washing the injuries on his back. Doctor Becker asked if she had given the injection. She said yes. Then the doctor said Colonel Hogan would sleep through everything, and not remember any of it."

"They drugged him," LeBeau uttered angrily.

Erika continued "Yes, they did. But it helped Colonel Hogan to rest. I know he was able to sleep at least five hours, maybe more." Louis was quiet. He understood what Erika had said, but he still didn't like it, and he knew Colonel Hogan wouldn't have liked it either.

Kinch continued, "One more question are his injuries…serious?"

"If you mean are they life threatening, the answer is no. His chart indicates his wrists were treated and his back. Both had dressings. And of course there is bruising," Erika finished.

Kinch nodded, "Okay, let's get down to business. Our information is that the Colonel is on the fourth floor, in room 417. That is on the east side of the building." Kinch had just started verifying his information, when they heard the door to the cellar open.

They all turned as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. It was Kyle with a worried look on his face. "We have a small problem. Nurse Eberly is going to be assigned to the second floor tonight. She won't be able to carry the negatives from Strasser to Colonel Hogan. The original plan was she would have already done that, but due to the Colonel's weakened condition the medicine the doctor ordered, kept him unconscious longer than anticipated and she couldn't give him the negatives."

"Oh, well that's just great!" Newkirk wasn't comfortable from the beginning following someone else's plans. He trusted Colonel Hogan's plans, but Kyle was an outsider and had not earned anybody's trust.

"Wait a minute, are you telling me Emma is an underground agent?" Erika said with surprise. "Why didn't you tell me?" That explains my "good luck" at being assigned to the fourth floor!

"It was not necessary for you to know. Had you been caught with the negatives, it would be one less piece of information they would get from you." Kyle defended. .

Kyle paused and looked at the group, "I have an idea."

Burkhalter had arrived at the meeting Doctor Becker had mentioned to him earlier that day, and found a seat near the back of the room. He wanted to be in a position where he could observe the actions and reactions of the General Staff. It would help him gauge their acceptance of the value of the program.

Doctor Strughold stood and addressed the General Staff. All talking stopped and he had their undivided attention.

"As you all know, we have been working on a formula for behavior modification, using hypnosis and the hallucinogenic drug mescaline. The previous three trials have each advanced the program. Since the last analysis our scientists have branched out and tested combinations of drugs for their effects on behavior. We have tried them on our test subjects, adjusting doses. They are now ready to be administered to our alpha subjects.

"Experiment four will begin in another day. This test will be a two fold analysis. The first test will be the administration of two drugs, one given intravenously and the other through inhalation that we hope will act as a truth serum. The outcome we anticipate will be lowered inhibitions without hallucinations, It is important that the subject not be hallucinating if we are to obtain factual and truthful answers to our questions.

"Once this has been accomplished, we will progress to the second half of our study; and through increased dosage and prolonged administration of the intravenous medicine, the subject will experience delusions, hallucinations and confusion. This combined with psychological bombardment will result in a relinquishing of his beliefs and moral code, which means a disassociation from his past. This step may take several days.

"After he has disassociated from his past, he will be open to assimilating new values that we will instill. This is a lot to accomplish in one testing. If we did not feel we were in a race against time, we would test the truth serum and evaluate the after effects before moving on to behavior modification leading to brainwashing.

"The reason for speeding up the testing is that we have learned from our agents that the United States is also actively researching thought reform, otherwise known as behavior modification. For security reasons, we will refer to the scientist in charge of the United States study as Doctor A. The US claims that they can hypnotize a man without his knowledge or consent into committing treason. We are actively in the process of getting our hands on this information." (this information may be found at: )

There was mumbling after this revelation that was quickly cut off with Strughold's next proclamation.

"Germany can surpass the United States in that claim. The US can only hypnotize one or two men at a time. Our scientists, who are working at our vast chemical plant here in Germany, have learned how to control an entire population through mass medication of drinking water by using a waste product that is the result of manufacturing. The product will affect certain areas of the brain, making the population submissive and unable to resist dominationIt is currently being tested by some of our prison camps right now. There has been a noticeable decrease in escape attempts at these camps over the last four months." (this information may be found at

The murmuring and questions began in earnest and the remainder of the meeting was devoted to answering questions and repeating the information so that it could be examined and digested in smaller bites.

Hogan had tried out his legs by walking around the room a tad. Though they were a little shaky, he could walk. He wasn't sure if it was from the Gestapo ordeal or the medication he had been given but the walk tired him out. He went back to bed and was sitting with his legs up in the bed, covered by the blanket, leaning forward, to keep his throbbing back clear of the bed. He hadn't been able to get an answer from his captors about his men. He had no way of knowing if they were still alive or if they had been shot as co-conspirators. Hogan began to move his hand up to rub his forehead, in hopes of easing the pounding in his head, but he soon jerked it back down as it sent a ripple of stinging pain through his back. Grabbing the bed sheets with his other hand and clenching his jaw, he could feel the sweat break out across his forehead, and he concentrated on taking a couple of slow deep breaths. I owe you, Hochstetter he thought.

The door opened as he was regaining his composure, and a second shift nurse came in pushing her medicine cart followed by a guard. She smiled pleasantly, handed Hogan a paper cup with two pills in it and a glass of water. He noticed the guard watching the interaction with interest. So you're here to make sure I take these.

Hogan paused, looked at the pills, then looked at the guard, and placed the cup to his lips threw his head back and followed with a long drink of water as he handed the empty paper cup back to the nurse. The guard stepped around and looked in the cup and then instructed the Colonel to open his mouth so he could see that he had swallowed them.

See, nothing there, Hogan thought.

Satisfied the guard motioned for the nurse to leave and he followed closing the door. Hogan looked in his hand at the palmed pills. Newkirk's lessons are paying off. Now, I've got to get rid of these. Looking at the window, he took in a breath and started making his way toward it. It was his second trip over to it since he had awakened. During the first trip he learned he was too high to use it as a means of escape.

He reached the window, opened it and let the pills go.

"Aren't thinking about leaving us are you, Colonel? Aside from the height, there are guards and dogs walking the grounds." Hogan stiffened as he recognized Knefler's voice.

Hogan looked around at the German Colonel. "It's a bit of a drop isn't it?" he said before turning back to look out the window and adding, "So, Colonel Knefler, what brings you to my room?"

"Just checking," the German said. "Making sure you're doing what you're told. If I were you, I'd get back in bed. The medicine you just took will make you dizzy."

"What are you up to, Colonel? What is this all about?" Hogan asked, as he closed the window.

"You will find out in another day," Knefler answered.

Hogan was tired both from dealing with pain and German officers. His body began to tremble slightly. I better start feigning some symptoms from those pills I didn't take.

"I think you're right," Hogan agreed, blinking and slightly shaking his head, as if to clear his vision. "I'd better lie down."

Knefler smiled as Hogan made his way back to sit on the bed.

"Is there any chance of getting my pants back?" Hogan asked. "This gown is kind of breezy," he added, as he slipped his legs back under the blankets on the bed.

Knefler laughed out loud this time. "Colonel Hogan, you never cease to amaze me. Here you are drugged, beaten; facing the unknown and you're worried about your pants.

Hogan lowered himself onto the bed, lying on his left side facing the German Colonel. "Trade places with me and see how you like it."

Knefler paused, "I will ask the doctor," he said smiling. "As long as you cooperate, we will try to make some allowances for your comfort."

Hogan closed his eyes and nodded. "You're right; those pills do make you dizzy."

"Good!" Knefler retorted. "Maybe that will keep you from trying to escape. There is really no way out, Colonel Hogan, you may as well resign yourself to that." He noted the prisoner's rhythmic breathing and decided he was sleeping and would not be causing any problems tonight.

"Sound the alarm, let loose the dogs!" Schultz was shouting. Roll call had just begun and the four prisoners confirmed missing.

Cuyler had skipped the noon roll call and waited until 2000 hours to do the next check. Since he knew he wasn't going to find them until tomorrow night as prearranged, he felt no need to begin looking any earlier than he had to.

"Schultz, I want the guards to search the woods surrounding the camp," Captain Cuyler ordered. "Keep them concentrated in that area."

"Jawohl, Captain Cuyler." Schultz saluted and turned to take charge of the search.

Emma had arrived back at the hospital early. She slipped into the back room of the kitchen, where the food for the guard dogs had been prepared. Pouring a powder over the food she mixed it in until it could not be seen and made her way back out of the kitchen, undetected, to continue her journey to the fourth floor. She had barely arrived and removed her coat when she received a call from the night supervisor, directing her to work on the second floor. The nurse assigned to that floor had called in ill earlier in the day and would not be in to work.

She would have to leave for now and try to figure a way to get to Strasser before he was taken to meet with Dr. Mahler, the doctor who had helped Hans' father with his experiments and had, since Doctor Strasser's death, taken charge of project "Monarch".

As she gathered her things together, she looked up and saw Erika coming down the hall.

Erika walked up to Emma and said, " I told my aunt I had volunteered to work tonight. She understood but she said to tell you it made her feel very 'blue' to lose my company tonight, but she knew you needed a hand."

Emma didn't miss a beat and came right back with, "Yes! And thank you again for offering to help, Anna." Emma turned to Lisa, the nurse who was going to be left on the fourth floor and explained that "Anna" would help her with her patients tonight.

"Well Anna, I am certainly grateful for the help," Lisa sighed.

Emma began to walk toward the elevator and Erika followed as if in trivial conversation with Emma.

"You know what to do? Emma asked.

"Yes," Erika said.

"Good you will be a big help," Emma said to mask the real meaning of their conversation. "Perhaps we can take a break together later tonight. I'll see if you're available when I'm ready to get something to eat."

"That will be fine; I'll try to have enough of my work done to join you. Talk to you later, Emma." Erika turned to get to work.