Chapter 4: New Allies
Hogan felt himself being shoved from the office door onto the cold dirt ground, he spun around to see Klink being led out of the office and toward the cooler, and he thought he caught a few words of what the Major was saying.
"Tonight you will be kept in your own cooler, tomorrow will be your trial, and the third day, you will be shot!"
"But Major, what if I'm found innocent?"
"Ha!"
Hogan jumped up and ran for his barrack. They could not afford getting a better Commandant at such a crucial time.
"You're bloody joking!" Yelled Newkirk when he heard the news.
"But I worked to hard on that bomb, now I won't be able to set it off or they'll kill Klink. The Krauts can't do this to me!" Shouted Carter.
"We need to help Klink escape or they are going to kill him no matter what we do" mumbled Hogan.
"Help him escape" said Lebeau "Ok but what's in it for us?"
"Nothing" said Hogan "I just don't have the heart to let him die."
"All right, what's the plan then?" asked Newkirk
"We spring Klink from that cell and escape to America."
"All right, what's the plan then?" Newkirk repeated.
"Well I'm still working out the details" replied Hogan "but I've thought out the basics."
There was a long pause during which nobody spoke.
"So does this mean we're not going to use my bomb?" said Carter after about thirty seconds."
"No we're not going to use your ruddy bomb Andrew," said Newkirk somewhat impatiently.
"WAIT," yelled Hogan, making everyone jump "Yes Carter we are going to use your bomb!"
"Oh good!" said Carter "I am almost done."
"Don't bother finishing it." said Hogan.
"B-but sir, if I don't finish it, it won't go off!"
"Does it look enough like a bomb to fool a German?" asked Hogan.
"Well I guess so but-"
"Then it's good enough for my plan!"
"Are you going to tell us this plan?" asked Kinch.
"All right now what we have to do is this" Hogan started "Carter is going to go nuts, take his bomb and somehow get to the cooler unnoticed, you with me so far?" he asked. Everyone nodded. "Ok, meanwhile Lebeau is going to sneak over to the squad cars and drive it to the front of the cooler."
"Hang on" interrupted Newkirk "How are we going to go and steal a squad car from right under the guard's nose?"
"Relax!" replied Hogan "It's Monday, the guard is Schultz." This seemed to be good enough for Newkirk. "While he's doing that, Carter will be threatening to drop the bomb if the guards don't unlock Klink's cell. When they do Carter will yell for Klink to follow him. Then we smuggle him out in the squad car! Everyone got it?" Once again everyone nodded. "All right then, lets get busy."
Before he knew it, Carter found himself squeezing through the window at the back of the barrack and running through the shadows toward the cooler.
Meanwhile, Lebeau had come through the window after Carter and was creeping toward the squad cars. Finally he made it to the tent.
"HALT!" shouted Schultz when he saw Lebeau. "What are you doing out of your barrack at this time of night?"
"Just stretching my legs." replied Lebeau "Want some candy?" he asked holding a bag of jellybeans in Schultz's direction.
"I can't, I am on duty!" said Schultz firmly
"Well, all right" said Lebeau, folding up the bag.
"Wait!" said Schultz, grabbing at the bag and starting to eat the jellybeans.
Meanwhile, Carter had thrown open the door to the cooler, ran in holding the bomb for all to see and said in a quivery voice, "Um, hi. T-this is a bomb and if you don't mind could you drop your weapons?" Both guards dropped their guns and held their hands in the air. "Ok, good. N-now slide them over here and open the cell door." Both guards hesitated and Carter drew back his hand as if he was going to throw the bomb on the ground. Both guards jumped with a look of panic on their faces. "Do as I say or next time I'll blow us all to the end of the war!" He said in a firmer voice. The guards slid their guns over to Carter and one of them took a key out of his pocket and opened the cell door. "Klink! Follow me." Klink slowly walked out from the cell. "Come on!" said Carter, as he and Klink backed slowly to the door and opened it to see the car parked right outside it. Klink had gotten into the car and Carter was backing in when the bomb slipped out of his hand and hit the ground. The guards looked at the bomb, then at Carter and then made a dive for their guns. "DRIVE!" he shouted slamming the car door.
"Have we given any thought as to how we're going to get out of here?" asked Newkirk.
"I knew I forgot something!" said Hogan
"I know how we're going to get out of here." said Lebeau in a firm voice. He then spun the car around and drove at full speed toward the fenced wall of the compound.
"ARG!" everyone yelled as the fence approached. There was an earsplitting sound like nails on a chalkboard and then Lebeau drove off through the woods, leaving Stalag 13 as nothing more than a memory, although most of the group could not decide if it was a good or bad one.
The group drove on and on through the woods at full speed explaining what had just happened to Klink.
"So you are rescuing me from my own men and taking me to America so I can be kept as a prisoner of war in your own camps?" said Klink.
"Or we could take the scenic route and drop you off at the Russian front." replied Hogan.
"No, no" stammered Klink "lock me up!"
Before anyone else had a chance to say anything there was a loud BANG! and the car started to slow down.
"No!" yelled Lebeau as the car stopped.
"What happened?" asked Carter.
"All I know is that we need to get out of here." Said Hogan "Anyone within three miles from here will have heard that."
As everyone scrambled to get out of the car they heard a noise like another car approaching.
"Everyone behind these!" whispered Hogan, pointing at a clump of bushes.
The sound came closer and closer until finally it stopped and two doors opened.
"Sir, this is the car they escaped in." said an unfamilier voice.
"What are you waiting for then" Said a much more familliar voice "go get them and I'll stay here in case they come back." It was Schultz.
"Yes Sir"
When the other man was well away, everyone jumped out from behind the bush at once, causing Schultz to spill the bag of jellybeans he was still eating out of.
"COMMANDANT!" shouted Schultz "I have orders to bring you back to-, HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Everyone had grabbed hold of Schultz and we're forcing him back into the car he had arrived in. "STOP!"
Once they had gotten Schultz into the car and were driving through the forest again, Klink told Schultz what was happening.
"But Commandant, why do I have to come?" asked Schultz in a whiney voice.
"Because we can't have you telling people where we've gone." explained Klink
"It's either this or kill you." said Hogan. This news shut Schultz up.
Soon they came to a dirt road and they turned onto it because Lebeau claimed that it was the quickest route to France. But before they made it to France they saw a man standing in the middle of the road with hand up to stop them. The Gestapo!