Chapter 2:
"I say we kill this guy," Newkirk said, pacing back and forth the barracks with a cigarette in between his fingers.
"And how do we exactly kill someone we have no identity to?" Kinch remarked, leaning against a bunk bed with his arms crossed against his chest. "We can't just send someone into Headquarters and knock off the first person they lay eyes on."
"What if we asked London to get a recording of the call and do a trace on it?" Carter suggested, fiddling with his fingers.
"Can't do that either. It has to be live in order for London to trace it back to its origins. Besides, the guy never spoke. It was all done via Morse," Kinch said.
"But what if…" Carter never got to finish his thought, as the door to the barracks opened, and Kalina wandered her way inside. She saw all of them in what appeared to have been a meeting and became puzzled. She furrowed her eyebrows together and looked at all of them with curiosity dancing around in her baby blue eyes.
"What are you doing?" She asked innocently.
"Don't worry, kiddo. We're just talking about something that came in from London is all," Kinch said reassuringly, doing everything he could to make sure she did not find out the topic of said discussion. All it would do was worry Kalina into a fit, and the last thing he wanted to do was cause her anxiety over what might be just a sick prank.
She looked at all of them, her eyes picking up on the hidden tension in the room. The hidden tension on her friends' faces. She knew how to read someone's physical gestures almost as well as she could speak German. "You guys are hiding something...I wanna know what it is," she said, her eyes hardening with determination.
"We're talking about uh...the Navy," Newkirk answered, taking a drag on his cigarette.
"The Navy," Kalina said, befuddled.
"André's dream was to become a sailor one day." LeBeau added, earning a hard glare back from the technical sergeant sitting on his left.
"No it wasn't. I hate boats. You know the Titanic? That's exactly what'll happen if I try to get on one of those suckers. Anyone who wants to get on a boat just for the heck of it is downright crazy in my mind," Carter said.
"Don't have me tell you about the airplane accidents I've heard of, then." Newkirk replied.
"Achtung!" Kalina barked, causing the four men to freeze in their spots and straighten their positions, mainly because they rarely, if ever, heard Kalina give a German command. "You guys are starting to scare me, so tell me what's going on here, or...I'll have you all thrown into the cooler."
"You wouldn't," LeBeau said.
The little Klink gave them the cold military look she had seen her father wear when yelling at one of his men, then turned her head back to the door. "LANGENSCHEI…" Kinch had his hand covering her mouth before she could finish summoning the head corporal.
"Alright," Kinch said with resignation. "We'll tell you. But you have to swear you won't tell anybody."
Kalina nodded as the sergeant removed his hand, and she turned to Newkirk, who let out a heavy sigh before answering.
"London sent in orders saying we're supposed to kill the Colonel."
"WHAT?!" Kalina screeched.
"Claim he's secretly working as a double agent." Kinch added.
"Have they gone mad?!"
"That is what we are trying to figure out," LeBeau said.
Kalina began speaking German so rapidly that no one could understand a word she was saying. She stopped when Kinch grabbed her by the shoulders and gently shook her. "Easy, kiddo, easy there," he said. When he had her anxiety ridden eyes looking back at him, Kinch continued. "We're not going through with the orders. No one here's gonna believe that Colonel Hogan's a double agent. We all know he'd stand in front of an entire firing squad before turning against us."
"So what do we do?" Carter asked, dumbfounded.
"First things first. No one, and I mean no one, is telling the Colonel about this. If this turns out to be someone other than London, we could put the Colonel in serious harm. Maybe even worse," Kinch ordered firmly.
"I agree," Kalina said, with a nod. "If Colonel Hogan's life is in danger, then it's our job to make sure he's safe."
"Well said, ma petite." LeBeau added.
"I don't know, guys," Carter said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "This seems pretty big to not tell him anything. What if this guy turns out to be a Kraut? We could all be in danger if that's the case."
"Which brings me to my next point," Kinch answered. "I'm radioing London tomorrow morning right after roll call regarding this message. General Berkman can either verify or decline the frequency this call was made on."
"Wha," Kalina began, her heart racing in her throat as she thought of the horrific scenario. "What happens if London didn't make the call? Do you think Colonel Hogan is in really big danger?"
Before the radioman could answer, the barracks door again opened, and Hogan came in wearing his reading glasses Wilson had gotten him while carrying several documents in his hands. The colonel looked up from flipping through the papers and eyed all of them cautiously. "Everything alright in here?" He asked half-concerned, half-suspicious.
"Yeah, we're just...we've got a bit of a problem on our hands right now," Kinch said, trying to be honest with Hogan while not giving him details of London's recent orders.
"Problem?" Hogan remarked, raising an eyebrow. "What kind of a problem?"
"Uh...bug problem," LeBeau answered.
"A bug problem," Hogan repeated, his voice now filled with full grown suspicion.
"Cockroaches," Newkirk said. "Everywhere down in the tunnels. Crawling on tables and uniforms, multiplying by the minute."
Kalina let out a loud yelp, terrified just thinking about the cursed insect. She could still remember the time when she found one in the mess hall while helping the cooks clean up for the night. She still could not enter that building, and it had been exterminated months ago.
Hogan scanned each of them carefully, his radar on high alert. They were definitely keeping something from him, but what remained up in the air at the moment. He would have addressed it right then and there, but his body was aching, and he was more exhausted than he could comprehend. Klink adding a new work detail on him to go through and submit back to the kommandant by morning was about all he could take for the rest of the night.
"You're all hiding something from me," he said coolly. "And I'm gonna figure out what it is starting tomorrow morning. Right now I've gotta deal with this work detail Klink wants organized by morning. I'm picking the four of you for the job."
"A work detail." LeBeau exclaimed.
"Well why?" Carter whined.
"What for?" Newkirk added.
"There's a road leading into Hammelburg that got struck during our last air raid. Klink wants us to repair the potholes in order for Burkhalter to get to and from camp without any diversions. Be thankful, I was able to convince Klink to have you four get paid this time for your service." Hogan explained. He was about to enter inside his room for the night, when a small voice stopped him.
"Colonel Hogan?" Kalina asked.
Hogan paused in his step and looked back at the little teenager. Kalina hurried to his side, slowed as she came closer to him, then gently wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on Hogan's belly. She looked up at him as he hugged her in his warm arms.
"I love you, Colonel Hogan," she said softly.
Hogan gave her a kind smile, gently kissed the top of her head, then released her as he again grabbed for the doorknob. "Goodnight," he told her, then stepped inside his room and closed the door behind him.
"How do yah like that," Newkirk grumbled, taking another drag on his cigarette. "A work detail. And at a moment of life or death."
"Hopefully my call in the morning will put an end to that," Kinch said.
"But who would wanna kill Colonel Hogan?" Carter asked, baffled. "He's the nicest person that ever lived."
"Colonel Hogan does not have a single mean bone in his body. He is nothing but love," LeBeau said.
"And that's why he can't find out about these orders," Kinch answered. "Colonel always puts others first before himself. Even if it means losing his own life to do so. It's just like Kalina said earlier; our job is to protect the Colonel from any threat or incoming danger no matter what. It's the least we can do after everything he's done for us."
"Are you sure we shouldn't tell him what's going on here?" Carter asked, still on the fence about their executive decision. "This sounds like something that's bigger than the five of us combined. Can we even handle this big of an assignment without Colonel Hogan's aid?"
"We have to," LeBeau said. "It is the only way we can protect Colonel Hogan and the operation."
"Then we better get to bed now and not a minute later. If this turn's out to be something worse than it already is, then I believe the Gov'nor's in real trouble, chums." Newkirk added.
Kalina licked her suddenly dry lips, swallowing a large lump that had formed in her throat. She felt the anxiety rise inside her as she worryingly looked back at Hogan's door. She began to softly shake at the fear of someone possibly after her other papa, when she felt a big hand touch her shoulder. She looked up to find Kinch looking down at her with a comforting grin. "Don't worry, kiddo. We won't let anyone near him."
Klink's daughter gazed back up at him, gave a small smile, and nodded in response. She bid the boys 'goodnight', then the four of them turned off the light, crawled into their bunks, and restlessly waited for morning to arrive.
The boys and Kalina got straight to work once morning roll call had been dismissed. While Hogan was in a meeting with Klink regarding the new work detail, Kinch got down on the radio and called London on the emergency frequency. As he gained more information on last night's brash orders, LeBeau hovered over the stove cooking breakfast, Newkirk stood next to Carter smoking a cigarette, and the technical sergeant himself sat at the table playing a game of solitaire, while Kalina sat across from him knitting a lime green scarf for Schultz.
Carter lay a couple cards down in front of him, furrowed his eyebrows as he thought of his next move, then turned to Newkirk and became tempted to try another cigarette. The corporal told him it took more than once before someone got used to it, and Carter was determined to do so. He was not interested in becoming a smoker, but he wanted to at least be able to have a cigarette if he chose to do so. "Newkirk, give me another one of them," the sergeant said. "I wanna see if I can do it this time without coughing."
Newkirk removed the cigarette from his mouth, blew out a puff of smoke, then turned his gaze to Carter. "I ain't wasting anymore cigarettes for you to hack on and put out after one drag," he answered, with a gruff tone.
"Oh, come on. You said it takes more than once to get used to it. Besides, you know what they say; first is the worst, second is the best."
"Don't you know smoking is bad for you," Kalina said, looking up from her knitting. "I finally got Sergeant McNamara to quit doing it because so."
"Oh, I don't want to do it regularly. I just want to know I'm able to do it if I one day decide to be a little wild or something." Carter explained.
"Smoking a cigarette. Il est un tel casse-cou," LeBeau said mockingly. (1)
Knowing his best friend would not drop the case, Newkirk reluctantly pulled out a new cigarette, lit it, then handed it to Carter. "Here," he said. "Now quit your bloody yappin' about it."
Carter did as Newkirk and placed the cigarette in his mouth. Unfortunately, things hadn't changed since last night. In fact, it only felt worse. He pulled the cigarette out and began hacking and coughing again, leaning over the table from how hard he was doing it. "Oh, that's worse than it was last night." He wheezed. Carter threw the cigarette into the furnace and hurried to the sink to grab a cup of water and gargle his mouth out.
"I told you it's bad for you," Kalina answered, never lifting her eyes from her scarf.
As the sergeant did his second gargle, the fake bunk came open, and Kinch crawled out from underneath the tunnels. He swung his legs over the railing, closed the secret entrance, then approached the group before pausing and turning to look in Carter's direction. He raised his eyebrow skeptically and turned to Newkirk for an explanation. "What's…"
"Don't ask," the Englishman answered, taking another drag on his cigarette.
"What did London say, mon ami?" LeBeau asked.
The question seemed to spark fear in the radioman's eyes. His body tensed and shifted uncomfortably on his feet, causing everyone's concern to rise.
"Kinch?" Newkirk asked.
"What happened?" LeBeau prodded.
"I just finished speaking with General Berkman," Kinch began, trying to keep his own anxiety in check. "He said there is no frequency 167.3 registered with Headquarters or Special Intelligence. Those orders to kill the Colonel didn't come from London...General Berkman thinks it came from somewhere in Germany. Our radio channel has been compromised."
"You, you...you mean someone really dangerous is after Colonel Hogan?" Kalina whimpered, her body starting to shiver violently.
"I'm afraid so, kiddo...someone wants the Colonel dead and now," Kinch said, placing a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.
"What do we do?" LeBeau asked frantically.
"What General Berkman ordered us to do," Kinch answered, then turned his gaze to Carter. "Carter, you still got those mini grenades lying around somewhere?"
"Yeah, I got a whole bunch downstairs, why?"
"I need you to blow up the radio. We need a completely new radio and frequency to communicate with the underground and London. Baker's to send them a special code once the new radio is ready and functioning properly. Until then, we're supposed to stay completely silent and only use the Morse code machine for emergencies only."
"How are we supposed to find this guy after Colonel Hogan if we have no radio?" LeBeau exclaimed.
"Forget that, how the bloody hell are we supposed to get new parts for the radio?" Newkirk asked.
"One of us are gonna need to go into town and meet with Max at that little hotel. Which means one of us is gonna have to go in and see the doctor," Kinch said, rubbing Kalina's back for comfort.
Everyone's eyes turned to LeBeau, who briefly looked at everyone in confusion before it dawned on him. He had been unwillingly volunteered for the job. "Why?!" He cried.
"You dummkopf, why did you think it was a good idea to jump off the roof of your barracks?" Klink scolded, glaring down at LeBeau, who sat in the chair in front of the kommandant's desk with a 'bad limp' on his left foot. Beside his left was Kalina gently rubbing his shoulder, and Schultz stood behind the corporal with a concerned look on his face.
"It was not my fault," LeBeau remarked defensively.
"Then whose was it; the sky's fault? The barracks'?"
"You can blame my competitive genetics."
"Cockroach, no man in his right mind would decide to jump off the roof of a barracks to try and win a bet."
"It was 300 marks."
"I don't care if it were 3000 marks. Now I have to send you to the doctor and add another bill to my growing debt. You're lucky I don't break your other foot."
"But how would he walk into the hospital with two broken feet, Herr Kommandant?" Schultz asked, dumbfounded.
"Schultz!" Klink bellowed, shaking his fist in the air. But before he could say another word, a loud 'boom' was heard and caused the entire camp to momentarily shake. LeBeau clutched onto the arms of the chair he sat on, Kalina fell into the desk while gripping onto the edges, Klink was thrown off his feet, and Schultz dived to the floor covering the back of his head.
"Earthquake!" Schultz shouted, as the shaking slowly ceased.
"Schultz, you dunderhead, that was an air raid; not an earthquake." Klink spat, pulling himself back to his feet.
LeBeau and Kalina briefly exchanged looks with one another, knowing that both assumptions were far from right. They knew exactly what had caused the thundering sensation, and it was coming from right below their feet.
Klink grumbled something under his breath as he grabbed a pass from his desk and signed it before roughly handing it over to LeBeau. "There," he said. "Go get your foot fixed, and my daughter better not report an escape when she returns."
"Oui, mon Commandant," LeBeau answered, stretching his arm out for Kalina to 'help him' up. She helped him limp out of the office while Schultz followed from behind. The fluffy guard was about to close the door, when the sound of his commanding officer's voice stopped him.
"Schultz," Klink said. When the sergeant looked back at the colonel, Klink's gaze hardened a bit as he shook his fist in fury. "Don't come back drunk this time." (2)
Schultz frowned and hung his head while letting out a soft sigh. "Now he tells me," he said to himself, gave Klink a salute, then closed the door behind him.
(1) Il est un tel casse-cou - He's such a daredevil.
(2) Reference to the episode in season one called 'Happiness Is a Warm Sergeant'.