The next morning at roll call, the men explained the colonel's absence by telling Klink that he is sick with the flu. Klink unsurprisingly bought the explanation and dismissed the prisoners, heading back into his office. The four men, who made up the core team, headed down into the tunnels, worried sick for their CO as he should have been back hours ago; he was long overdue!

Carter called out then from the emergency tunnel exit, having found something. The others headed over and Carter showed them what he found. Dark handprints all over the ladder leading down from the emergency exit. On closer examination, Newkirk detected that this can only be blood, already darkened to a brownish color and dried; it must be hours old!

More concerned than before they wanted to find the colonel; Carter and Newkirk used flashlights to light the tunnel a bit more than just the oil lamps on the walls. With their added light they could see better and, immediately they saw a trail of dark spots on the tunnel floor leading to the guest area further down. They followed the trail that ended directly in front of one of the bunk beds in a big pool that was still partially wet. To their shock, one arm was hanging off of the bunk, blood slowly dripped down over the back of the hand!

Newkirk moved closer and without hesitation pulled the blanket back that has covered the still figure until now. It was their missing CO; badly wounded. He was unconscious and his left arm laid prone over his stomach, a sign that he had tried in vain to stop the heavy bleeding from a wound in his abdominal area. On seeing all the blood, Louis fainted right away. Newkirk send Carter to get Wilson while he and Baker tended to their colonel.

During their ministrations, Hogan slowly came to. Realizing where he was at and who was sitting at his side trying to help him, he handed over the vital information he received and ordered Baker in a soft, but firm tone to get this to London immediately. Baker took the information and headed to the radio, started it up again and sent the information over to London. Meanwhile, Newkirk pressed a thick padded cloth against the wound in Hogan's stomach and tried to stop the bleeding. The one in his side had thankfully started already to clot on the edges. While he did this, Newkirk told Hogan about the order they received while he was out. "Gov'ner, while you were out for that meeting we got a call from London. It was the Allied High Command; they ordered us to shut down and to wait for Allied troops to arrive and to liberate us and to not go out for missions or meetings any longer."

Hogan's answer to that was, "Swell. Couldn't they let us know this sooner instead of sending me out to retrieve this vital information? Me getting injured could have been avoided if they had."

Newkirk smiled slightly at hearing his CO talk in his usual way when angry; not really loud but soft with a slight edge to it; a warning to all to not provoke him any further or he'll explode, his Irish temper coming through. Before Newkirk could answer they heard a person coming towards them. As the person drew nearer Hogan and Newkirk sighed in relief at the sight of their medic Sergeant Joe Wilson with his black medic's bag in hand. He set it down besides the cot and took a seat in front of it. "Now, let's see what you have gone and done to yourself now Colonel."

With his typical sense of humor, Hogan replied, "Ah, just caught a bullet or two Joe. It's nothing big. I need to get back to my work, so please patch me up quickly."

Joe shook his head while he inspected the wound closer and informed the colonel and his men, "This is something big, Colonel. This bullet needs to be taken out and I don't know how much damage it has caused to your insides. The graze is also serious. It is a deep gash in your side that can easily get infected. So bear with me while I tend to you, Sir. Two of your men can stay to assist. The rest has to stay back and leave me room to move."

Hogan looked up to his men who had formed a semi-circle around his bunk. Using his best command voice, he said, "Alright. You heard him men. All of you stay back…and that's an order! Newkirk, Carter, you two stay to help Joe in any way he needs you to. Let's just get this over with." Having spoken those words, Hogan laid back down on the cot, closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on breathing evenly while Joe and his two assistants started treating his wounds.

A bit over two hours later, Wilson and his two assistants Newkirk and Carter were all bathed in sweat, exhausted from the work they needed to do to save their CO's life. Surprisingly, through all of this, Hogan managed to stay conscious. He only grimaced a few times or took in a sharp breath of air; the only signs of his discomfort. When Wilson used a pair of pliers to take the bullet out of his stomach, Hogan came to life a bit more and he let out a short cry of pain. He was unable to keep that one in. But sound traveled fast in the tunnels, and as soon as his cry was heard throughout them, his men came all running back to be at their colonel's side. Hogan soon assured them everything was okay and they could go back to where they were. He would call when he needed them. Satisfied the men went back to their places in the tunnels and talked in hushed tones, not wanting to be heard by the Germans above their heads.

Wilson secured the bandage around Hogan's lower torso that would protect his wounds and ordered him to rest as much as possible to allow his body time to heal. Hogan grumbled in displeasure and was about to comment further, but he was interrupted by Baker who came running from the radio, a slip of blue paper in his hand. "This message just came in Colonel. It is from the underground and it is urgent." Baker handed the paper to his CO who took it and while he read it, all color seemed to drain from his face. He couldn't believe what he was reading, couldn't fully comprehend it. Newkirk asked worried, "What's wrong Gov'ner? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

Hogan replied softly, "I have been compromised. My identity is now known to the Gestapo! According to the underground sources, the Gestapo captain who plans on coming here with a firing squad is the same one who was at the meeting, who shot me while I tried to get away. It won't take long for them to get here. Thanks to London's oversight in checking this man's background, our whole operation is now compromised and in danger of being exposed. We'll all be facing the firing squad, not just me! So forget London's orders! I will give the order for a full scale evacuation of the camp; German personnel included. I take full responsibility for this and I will take the fall, if it comes to that."

Baker then spoke up, "What about this captain who is coming here, Colonel? Shouldn't we get the undergrounds help to intercept the truck and staff car and exchange their men with ours? Maybe we can even stage your execution with fake bullets and such. Wouldn't that keep the Gestapo off of our backs for a while when they believe the great Papa Bear is dead and no longer a risk to the Third Reich, Sir?"

Hogan thought about his man's words and suddenly a bright smile lightened up his face. "You are right, Baker. This is a brilliant idea. Get in touch with the underground and see if their contact in the Gestapo can tell them the exact time and date they are coming here to take me out. Once we have the date and time, we start planning our little caper. Carter, do you have blanks lying around somewhere? And if you had Newkirk's help, could you make some fake blood packages to conceal under my shirt?"

"Oh boy do I ever! I have many of those lying around and I'm sure with Peter's help I can make those packages to go under your shirt, boy…I mean, Colonel. I just need to know how many you want." Carter's enthusiasm showed as always when he got excited about a project as he forgot to address his CO correctly like so many times before.

But the colonel only smiled when he heard Carter calling him "boy". Still smiling he answered Carter, "I think five to six should do the trick. Just mark their positions on a small scale body chart so our boys won't miss them. As for the rest of you men; when this takes place, I want you to be enraged at first about the mistreatment of your commanding officer and when the deed is done, I want you to show sadness; look downtrodden. And men…make this look convincing to the Germans, as I'm certain that General Burkhalter will be here for this execution too. So be ready to act men as soon as I give the order. Dismissed!"

After the men had all left the guest area and shuffled back to their parts in the tunnel system, Hogan was left alone with the members of his core team. All were waiting for Baker who was still talking on the radio and scribbling down notes. Finally he signed off and made his way over to his mates and his CO. "Colonel, I just talked with Little Red and she told me that their contact informed them that the captain will be coming here the day after tomorrow at 1030 hours. He will have six men with him for the firing squad. She also told me to tell you that they are willing to help in any way they can, as they owe so much to Papa Bear. What should I tell them, Sir?"

Hogan replied, "Tell Little Red to send five men out tomorrow night and to meet with three of my men in the woods at 2300 hours, about half a mile away from the Hammelburg Road. Then they will come back together through the tree stump entrance and I will explain to them what happens next. All eight men will change into Gestapo uniforms; one of them a captain and another one as Lieutenant. The rest will be privates. More details will be explained tomorrow here in the tunnels. I don't want to say too much over the radio; too risky."

Baker nodded in understanding and headed over to the radio to send the message out to Little Red. Once he had her confirmation of the orders, he again signed off, informed the colonel and then went back to the radio room where he waited for possible other messages to come in.

With a last intense look at all the men from his core team, Newkirk, Carter and LeBeau; the colonel let them knew what he wanted, but couldn't say anymore as suddenly his consciousness was fading fast; that he trusted them to do what needed to be done without him guiding them. They all nodded to the colonel in confirmation, to let him know his orders will be followed to the letter. Moments later Hogan's head lolled to the side and he was out. The physical trauma he suffered from combined with the blood loss finally took their toll. LeBeau grabbed another blanket and gently covered his unconscious CO with it to keep him warm. The temperature in the tunnels was low and all the men were glad to have their warm winter coats in addition to the blankets.