Chapter 6: Rescue Plans

The Duchess sat in her rooms, watching Hogan pace in front of her.

It was the first time he'd paid her a personal visit. As they'd intended, Varney had made it clear whose side they were on. Still, she could see where Hilda was coming from. With Tiger practically in front of him, his focus was entirely on her. Every other woman might as well not exist to him.

Reminded her of somebody she knew.

'If you knew that they might go after Tiger, why didn't you say anything before?'

'Romania's signed up to the Axis side.' The Duchess filed her nails. 'And my contact is an Austrian Count. Not exactly to be considered reliable information as far as your side goes.'

'But how did you know what was going on here?' Hogan asked.

'Simple logic,' the Duchess said. 'My father was a warlord. I learned military strategy, and psychological warfare, from the cradle.' She smiled to herself as she watched Hogan nod, as if this explained something. She went on. 'There is no such thing as an escape-proof POW camp. If you hear of one, somebody is being swindled.'

Hogan smirked. 'And you knew it was Klink as soon as you met him.'

The Duchess snorted. 'Klink couldn't sell used cars to his mother.'

Hogan's lips quirked. 'And Shultz?'

'He's a man that hears no evil and sees no evil. Of course it wasn't him. That only left the prisoners.'

'That's why you really wanted to see me, wasn't it?'

'Naturally. I just had to confirm it, which was what that little performance was about.'

'And the bit about religion?' Hogan asked. 'Was that just gauging how anti-Semitic Klink was?'

Let's go with that. 'Yeah.'

Hogan nodded. 'The Count's already here, isn't he?'

The Duchess nodded. 'He's commandeered the castle on the edge of town. He told the Germans there that he had a top secret mission from Hitler and he needed them all to leave for two weeks.'

'How many days has he been there?'

'Four.'

Hogan nodded, looking thoughtful. 'That castle overlooks both the church and the warehouse, doesn't it? That's how you knew where we should look.'

'Yes.' The Duchess looked up at him. 'The hope was that we could nudge you in the correct direction before they worked out who Tiger was. We thought the fact that she had a codename she was known purely by would buy us more time.'

'Suggesting that the Underground has its own mole,' Hogan said.

'Unquestionably.' The Duchess set her nail file aside. 'I presume you are going to attempt a rescue?' She already knew.

'Of course.'

'You realise it's a bad idea?' the Duchess checked. 'We have no idea just how much intelligence they have or what their number is. For all we know, they could have made an extensive study of both you and your men.'

'I'm not leaving her there.'

The Duchess studied him for a moment. 'No…I don't suppose you will.' She stood up. 'I hardly need tell you that Hitler does not play with a full deck. If he did, your operation would have been discovered long ago. And the men he hand-picks are hardly better. These men are rogue agents. I would count on them to play with that full deck.'

'Concern noted.' Hogan put his cap on and headed for the door.

'Hogan.'

The colonel stopped and looked back at the Duchess.

'If the rescuers need rescuing, I give you a friendly warning: it will be the most violent thing you will ever see in your natural life.'

Hogan was silent for a moment, and then he nodded.

HH

Hogan moved quickly through the Barracks and into the tunnel under the bunk.

'All right,' he said, coming over to them. 'Everybody ready?'

He got various responses of affirmation.

'I still think this is a terrible idea,' Varney said.

'Noted.' Hogan was actually beginning to think that Varney might've actually known the Duchess and the Count. He could've been wrong. 'Right,' Hogan said. 'Now, be aware that we're not dealing with the regular Krauts. They may have studied our movements and they might be able to anticipate us.'

'That's why you're having us do it more carefully,' LeBeau said.

'Right.'

One of the other men came in and headed over to Varney. 'Hey, buddy. I got another translation if you don't bite!' He chuckled at his own joke.

'Like I haven't heard that one before,' Varney responded in deadpan.

'What?' Carter asked.

'There's some old Penny Dreadfuls back in England,' Newkirk said. 'Called "Varney the Vampire". That joke's probably old as Moses to him.'

Probably, yeah.

'Right,' Hogan said, pulling them back on track. 'Where's the map?'

HH

The Duchess didn't turn around. 'Just let yourself in, Walt.'

Lord Walter Ruthven walked in and sat down on the couch. 'What are we looking at?'

'Hogan knows it's a trap but he's still going in,' she said. 'Tiger is a woman called Marie Louise Monet, one of the leaders of the French Resistance. He's definitely in love with her. And his men are loyal. They're not letting him go in alone.'

'That's not good,' Walt mused. 'They'll walk right into it…if not for the religion caveat.'

'My thoughts exactly,' the Duchess said.

'Do I smell Charlie in the area?' Walt asked.

'You do.' The Duchess smirked. 'His Commander made a crucial blunder and he ended up captured. He had Vasilli ship him to Stalag 13. He's now been permanently reassigned here as an interpreter, and established that we're on their side.'

'I presume we haven't told the good colonel the details of the trap?' Walt asked.

'Would you believe it…before?'

'No, I wouldn't have.' Walt clicked his tongue. 'So what's the plan?'

'You'll meet Vasilli at the castle,' the Duchess said. 'I'm going to pick Charlie up and then we'll catch up with you.'

Walt grinned. 'So how…direct are we going to be?'

'I'd be interested to see if they can get her out without being noticed,' the Duchess idly remarked. 'Although I did warn Hogan that if the rescuers need rescuing, it's going to be bloody violent.'

Walt inclined his head pointedly.

'No pun intended.' The Duchess grinned widely. 'Well, to be fair, I said it would be the most violent thing he'll ever see.'

'Decorated war hero or not,' Walt remarked, 'never has a truer statement been made.' He frowned. 'I expect then that we may have to give them a few days to recover. After all, they're walking into a trap that involves Hogan getting beaten to a pulp if they catch him.'

The Duchess nodded. 'Yes, I have that worked out too. Best case solution, they'll have to go without their personally-trained guard for a few days.'

'Gonna send him off for a little bit?' Walt asked.

'I should think it necessary,' the Duchess said. 'These aren't the normal crazies that the Unsung Heroes deal with. This is a rogue faction of Nazis. They'll actually be competent. Hogan's going to try, but I think they're expecting him to try and sneak in. And I expect they've made a study of his methods. Even if he changes it a little, I don't like his chances of getting in and out undetected.'

'So you're expecting him to actually take a bit of a beating.'

'I expect so. That's why I gave him the warning. I thought it'd be good if he, at least, was somewhat forewarned about what we're about to do.'

'Covering all your bases,' Walt mused. 'You are your father's daughter.'