Chapter 8 --- Carter's Misfortune

Hogan was lost in thought as the door to his quarters opened and his team walked in. Carter closed the door behind him.

"You wanted to see us, Colonel," Kinch said.

"Yeah," Hogan remarked. "Have a seat, fellas. We have to have a talk."

The four men all sat down on the lower bunk, looking at their commanding officer and waited.

Hogan sighed as he paused before speaking.

"Something wrong, mon Colonel?" asked LeBeau, anxiety showing on his face.

"You could say that, LeBeau," Hogan replied. "Davidson just told me the most amazing story I've ever heard."

"Whatever his story was, sounds like it's got you upset, sir," remarked Newkirk.

Hogan wrapped his arms around himself. "Davidson told me he's here on a secret mission under the orders of General Brennan."

"General Alex Brennan, sir?" asked Kinch, eyebrows raised. "Did he say what this mission was?"

"He did. It seems there is a traitor on Prime Minister Churchill's staff. Someone high up."

The men all exchanged looks. Finally, Newkirk looked at Hogan, eyes narrowed and concern showing.

"Is someone after Winny, sir?"

"Not this time, Newkirk," Hogan told them. "It seems an operative discovered the identity of the traitor and tried to send a warning to us on our frequency when he was killed. Apparently, the traitor believes we received the message informing us of his identity and out of fear he killed the operative."

"But what is he doing here, then?" asked Carter, confused.

"It seems our traitor believes the operative made contact with us before he was killed and has dropped someone into Germany and Stalag 13 to uh, kill me and then expose our operation and the underground."

Hogan's men jumped up and all started talking at once. Hogan pinched the bridge of his nose as a headache was beginning. Squeezing his eyes shut he held up his hand. "Okay, quiet down!"

Kinch glanced at the others for a moment. "Sorry, Colonel. But you did say this traitor sent somebody into Germany to kill you."

"That's what I said. It seems Captain Davidson's been sent here to protect me, catch this assassin and find out who the traitor is on Churchill's staff."

"Do you believe him, Colonel?" asked Carter, worried.

"I don't know, Carter. Kinch, get on the radio to London. Ask to speak with General Brennan. When he comes on the radio, come and get me. I need to speak with him personally."

"You mean you want to go into the tunnel, mon Colonel?" asked LeBeau, incredulous. "Your legs are not strong enough to support you going up and down the ladder yet."

"It can't be helped, LeBeau," Hogan said. "I need to speak with the General myself on this."

Kinch suddenly smiled. "I might as well tell you, Colonel."

"Tell me what?" Hogan appeared concerned. His eyes narrowed as he looked at his radioman. "Somebody better tell me what's going on and fast. This has not been a great day so far."

Carter, Newkirk and LeBeau all looked at Kinch who approached Hogan's footlocker and opened it. He removed a pouch hidden on the bottom, and then closed the footlocker. Approaching the desk, he removed a desk microphone and sat it on top. He plugged in the plug from the coffee pot into the microphone's base. Pushing a small switch upward, a red light came on. Pushing it up again there was a white light, and again a green light came on. Pushing the switch completely down, the microphone was turned off. He looked at Hogan who seemed somewhat puzzled.

"I'm at a loss, Kinch," Hogan remarked. "What is this all about?"

"Well, we figured your legs aren't quite strong enough yet to take going up and down the ladder into the tunnels, and we know how you sometimes need to speak to someone on the radio, so LeBeau and I ran a wire from the radio in the tunnel, up the wall behind the panel and rigged up this microphone so you could speak to whoever you need to on the radio until your legs are strong enough. If you see a green light come on, that means I'm on the radio in the tunnel. If I need to speak with you directly, I'll flip a switch and you'll see a white light come on."

"And if you need to speak with someone on the radio, mon Colonel, just press the switch on the base upward and when the red light is lit, you will be able to speak with whoever you want on the radio," LeBeau added.

"And to turn the mic off, just press the switch down to the last slot and you'll be able to turn the mic off completely," Kinch concluded. "To activate it you just have to use the plug that's used for the coffee pot."

"We wanted to keep it a secret until we had it working, Colonel," chimed in LeBeau. "So, what do you think?"

Hogan's eyes misted over as he ran his hands over the microphone. "I want to thank you fellas for this. I really appreciate it. To be honest, I've been feeling sort of left out by not being able to get down in the tunnels."

Carter approached Hogan with a look of deep concern on his face. "Colonel, do you think Captain Davidson's telling the truth?"

"I'm not sure, Carter. On the surface he seems sincere. But after what nearly happened with Benson, my gut tells me something else is going on with our Captain."

"So what do you want us to do, Gov'nor?"

"Until we can verify Davidson's story, we reserve judgement and keep an eye on him and the others. Understood?"

There was a chorus of 'yes sirs' from the men.

"Okay, that's all."

The men slowly started to leave the room.

"Hey, fellas," Hogan said suddenly causing the men to stop and turn. "Thanks again for the microphone connected to the radio."

All the men smiled affectionately. "You're welcome, Colonel," said Kinch.

Later that same day around lunchtime, Hogan and the men were out in the compound. Hogan was standing near the barracks door. He checked his watch. "I wonder what time this Von Strasser is coming," he remarked, impatiently.

Kinch shrugged. "I saw Klink and Hilda leave a short time ago and head towards the officer's mess for lunch. My guess is he might arrive sometime this afternoon."

Hogan looked around the compound. "Where are our three friends?"

"Don't know. Haven't seen any of them since earlier today," remarked Kinch. "By the way, Colonel. I tried contacting General Brennan."

Hogan's ears perked up then. "And?"

"According to our contact in London, the general is unavailable right now but should be able to speak with us later today."

"Did you ask our contact about this Captain Davidson?"

"Yeah, I did. All I was told was that General Brennan was the one to ask and he was unavailable right now."

Hogan let out a deep breath in exasperation. "I don't like this at all," he muttered. "Not at all."

Carter, who was standing beside Hogan looking around the compound, was the first to spot it.

A hand protruding out of the slightly open window of the Kommandant's office. And the glint of steel. It took only a split second for Carter to see that it was aimed at Hogan.

"Colonel, look out!" Carter threw himself at Hogan at the same time the hand protruding out of the window jerked upward. There was a muffled sound from Carter as he fell on top of Hogan who landed on his back, striking his head sharply on the ground, his crutches flying. Both men lay unconcious. The hand disappeared from the window.

Kinch, Newkirk and LeBeau quickly gathered around the two men.

"Carter, what in the world's wrong with you?" asked LeBeau as he pulled at the young sergeant's right arm. Suddenly, LeBeau pulled his hand away as he felt something wet and noticed his palms were stained with blood. "Sacre chats!" he yelled looking at his hands. He paled as he seemed he was going to faint.

Kinch and Newkirk saw the blood. Newkirk gently pulled Carter off of Hogan and cradled him in his arms while Kinch saw to Hogan. "Colonel, are you all right?"

"I'm okay. What happened?" Hogan asked, as he began to stir. Still a bit stunned from striking his head on the ground, he rubbed the back of his head. He then noticed Newkirk cradling Carter in his arms. "What happened to Carter?" he asked, concerned.

Newkirk looked up. "Me mate Andrew's been shot, Colonel," he replied with fear evident on his face.