Chapter 18 --- At The Mercy of a Madman

Hogan sat at the desk in his quarters with the door shut. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, mulling over the decision he had made to commit murder.

It was not a decision he had made lightly. He knew that. Even his men knew that. And though they had agreed to help, he still found himself second-guessing his decision to involve them. Did he even have the right to involve them?

This was between him and Von Strasser and it had become personal. The Major had made it personal. But Hogan knew something had to be done and soon. Sighing, he raised his head and stared out of his open window at nothing.

Klink was rapidly losing control of the camp. Of that much Hogan was certain. And with Von Strasser around, Hogan knew it was only a matter of time before a full-scale riot broke out in Stalag 13. Then the guards would get involved and there would be shots fired, and people would be hurt or worse. Right now, things were simmering but rapidly coming to a boil. Hogan didn't know how long he could keep the prisoners in line before something gave. He knew Klink had to see that. At least he hoped he did.

There was a knock on the door. Hogan looked around. "Come in," he replied.

The door opened, and Kinch walked in followed by Newkirk, LeBeau and Carter.

"What can I do for you fellas?"

"I got a reply from General Brennan, Colonel," Kinch replied, handing Hogan the folded message. "He didn't have much more to add other than what we already knew about Mitchell and Randall. I told him about what happened with Mitchell."

Hogan unfolded the paper and read the message Brennan had sent. "Well, it seems both men are who they say they are. It seems Randall was assigned to the 482nd bomb group just as Davidson had told me. Other than that, nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. As far as Mitchell was concerned, nothing out of the norm for him either, except...." Hogan's eyes narrowed as he re-read what he saw. He looked up. "Kinch, is this correct? I mean, did Brennan actually tell you this?"

"I asked him to repeat it five times. I got it right."

"Why wasn't this discovered earlier?"

"I can't answer that, Colonel. And neither could the General. He was just as shocked as I was. Seems somebody dropped the ball."

"What is it, Colonel?" asked LeBeau, curious.

"It seems our late friend, Sergeant Carter Mitchell, lived in Germany for several years before returning to England a year after the start of the war. He was photographed at several pro-Hitler rallies while living in Germany. Kinch, it seems somebody did more than drop the ball on this."

"Blimey," Newkirk replied grimly. "Seems like Sergeant Mitchell was pro-Kraut when he returned to England. Kinda makes you wonder if he had been corrupted by the time he had been captured and brought here."

"Yeah," Carter agreed sadly. "Sounds like one of our guys gone bad, don't it?"

"You're right there, Carter," Hogan agreed. "I would have to say based on this information, it sounds like Mitchell was our assassin sent by the SS."

"There's something else, Colonel," said Kinch.

"What's that, Kinch?"

"Well, LeBeau, Newkirk, Carter and I were talking about it down in the tunnel area and, well...other than Von Strasser, we believe there may be another problem to worry about."

Hogan folded his arms. "What problem?"

"Well, Colonel," Newkirk began. "After somebody took a shot at you and hit Carter, and mind you, this is just speculation on our part, sir. But where did Mitchell get the gun he used? He couldn't have sneaked it into camp because prisoners are strip-searched when they come in. And Carter told us he didn't recall hearing a shot being fired. So, Mitchell must have had a silencer as well. So again I ask, where did he get both the gun and the silencer?"

"That's not exactly something the Krauts here in camp have in their possession, Colonel," Kinch added.

"Oui, Colonel," LeBeau chimed in. "And you know what that means...."

"What?" asked Carter, confused.

"What it means, Carter, is that someone had to slip Mitchell that gun," Hogan replied wearily. "That also means he had someone in this camp helping him and we have to find out whom." He ran a hand over his black hair and let out a deep breath. "But right now, the main thing we have to do it get rid of Von Strasser before there's trouble and someone gets hurt or worse. I don't know how long I can keep the prisoners from rioting with that madman here."

Just then, the door to Hogan's quarters burst open and in strolled Von Strasser with three armed Luftwaffe guards, weapons drawn. Hogan sat up in his chair.

"Haven't you heard of knocking?" the Colonel asked.

Smirking, Von Strasser ignored Hogan's men and concentrated his attention solely on Hogan. "Get up, Colonel!" he ordered. "You are coming with me!"

The men gathered tightly around their commanding officer trying to stop the intruders from touching the Colonel, but the sound of rifles being cocked stopped them. Hogan ordered his men to back down before someone got hurt. Getting to his feet, he grabbed his crutches and slowly made his way towards the open door of his quarters. He looked back at his men with a look which spoke volumes. His eyes fell on Kinch. "Keep things running smoothly," he said. He turned and made his way into the commons area of the barracks with one guard in front of him and Von Strasser and the other two guards behind him.

Hogan's men followed them into the commons area. The other prisoners in the barracks had gathered to try and stop the Major from removing Hogan from the barracks. But one look from Hogan stopped them. Still smirking, Von Strasser looked at two of the guards. "You know where to take him," he said. "I want him secured and ready when I get there."

"Where are you taking him?" asked Kinch, afraid for his commanding officer.

Von Strasser didn't answer as he followed Hogan and the guards out the barracks door.

"Filthy Bosche!" LeBeau shouted as he suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Von Strasser's arm. "You cannot take Colonel Hogan out of here! I won't let you!"

This time Von Strasser turned. Jerking his arm away from LeBeau, he struck the little Frenchman across the face so hard that LeBeau fell against Carter who broke his fall, causing a twinge in the young sergeant's injured shoulder. Hogan paused and looked back.

"LeBeau, stop. It's not going to help matters. I'll be all right. I promise." Of course Hogan didn't believe a word of what he just said.

Von Strasser glared at LeBeau. "When I'm finished with your Colonel Hogan, Frenchman, you and I will be having a similar conversation. But just in case any of you swine are thinking about trying to rescue your Colonel, I am posting a guard outside your barracks." With that, Von Strasser slammed the door shut leaving the men inside in shock.

"What are we going to do?" asked LeBeau, turning to Kinch. "We all know he's going to kill the Colonel."

"We're not gonna let that happen, Louie," said Kinch angrily. "Newkirk, check outside and see if he did leave a guard posted."

"Right." Newkirk cracked open the barracks door and peeked out. He quietly closed the door and turned toward Kinch. "There's a guard posted outside, all right. Just as he said. Now what do we do?"

"I'll tell you what we're gonna do. Newkirk, I want you and Carter to go down the tunnel and come out in barracks twelve. Then, I want both of you to see if you can find out where Von Strasser took the Colonel. LeBeau, you and I are gonna pay Klink a visit. If we're going to rescue Colonel Hogan, we're gonna need help." Kinch then looked at Olsen. "Olsen, give LeBeau and me ten minutes after we get in the tunnel and then create a distraction to divert the guard's attention outside giving us a chance to sneak into Klink's office." He then slapped Newkirk on the back. "Good luck."

"You to," Newkirk replied striking the hidden mechanism. As soon as the lower bunk raised and the ladder dropped, he and Carter disappeared down into the tunnel. A few minutes after they had disappeared, Kinch started down the ladder with LeBeau waiting to follow.

"Kinch, don't you remember Schultz telling us Klink was afraid of the Bosche Major? How are we going to convince him to help us rescue the Colonel?"

"Look at it this way, LeBeau. Klink'll help us if I have to spend time in the cooler for punching a Kraut officer."

Klink was standing in front of the window staring out at the compound when he suddenly noticed Von Strasser and three of his own guards leaving barracks two with Hogan. He then noticed one of the guards position himself outside of barracks two while the SS Major and the remaining two guards headed in the direction of one of the other barracks. Klink quickly turned away from the window, nervously chewing on his thumbnail. He suspected what Von Strasser was going to do to and with Hogan. What could he do to save Hogan? Klink knew he had to do something. But did he have the nerve to stop the SS Major who obviously was insane. If I don't stop Von Strasser from killing or seriously injuring Hogan, Klink thought to himself, I'm going to have a bloodbath in my camp! The prisoners are so loyal to Hogan that they'll riot if anything happens to him. But what can I do?

Hogan followed the two guards into barracks nine which he knew was empty right now. Hogan turned around when he heard the door to the barracks close and found himself face-to-face with Von Strasser. He knew he was in serious trouble.

"Okay, now that you've brought me here, what do you want from me?"

Von Strasser nodded to the two guards. Hogan tried to move out of their reach, but with the crutches he couldn't move as quickly as he normally could. One of the guards yanked one of the crutches out of Hogan's hand and tossed it aside, causing the Colonel to lose his balance and fall backward against the wooden table. It was then both guards pounced on him. One of them pushed Hogan onto the table and held him down long enough for the other to clamp one handcuff on his wrist with the other end clamped around the leg of the table. Hogan, meanwhile, struggled against the guard holding him down, but with only one free arm, wasn't having much luck.

The guard walked around to the other side of the table and yanked the other crutch away and tossed it aside as well. He then repeated the process with another handcuff on Hogan's other wrist. Von Strasser, smirking at the American's struggle to free himself, picked up two manacles that were attached to the individual legs of the table at the bottom and proceeded to clamp one manacle around each of Hogan's ankles firmly restraining him to the table.

"Comfortable, Colonel Hogan?" Von Strasser asked with a smirk.

"What is it you want, Von Strasser?"

Von Strasser reached inside his jacket and removed the straight razor Hogan had seen earlier. He rubbed his hand against the shiny stainless steel. "You and I are going to have a nice visit, so to speak. You see, Colonel, you embarrassed me in front of the Kommandant and again during roll call. I do not permit anybody to embarrass me." He then looked at the two guards.

Hogan struggled to break free. "Go to hell, Von Strasser! You can kill me but you'll never get away with it! My men will see you never get away with killing me."

Von Strasser nodded to one of the guards who stepped forward pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, and roughly stuffed it into Hogan's mouth, gagging him. Von Strasser smiled as he leaned over Hogan. "I can't have you attracting attention by screaming from the pain, now can I, Colonel?"

Hogan glared at the Major as he tried unsuccessfully to cough out the gag. He knew whatever Von Strasser was going to do to him, pain was going to play a huge part in it. Von Strasser glanced at the guards. "You can leave now. I don't need you anymore."

Saluting, the guards left the barracks leaving Hogan and Von Strasser alone.

The Major slowly unzipped Hogan's bomber jacket and spread it open. Then, grabbing the front of Hogan's khaki shirt, he ripped it open, sending it's buttons flying. He spread the shirt, exposing Hogan's bare chest. "Before we start, Colonel, I'm going to tell you a little story."

Kinch and LeBeau hurriedly made their way through the tunnel until they reached the entrance to Klink's quarters. Climbing up the ladder Kinch moved the pot-belly stove aside revealing the tunnel entrance. He quickly climbed up and into the room followed by LeBeau. Kinch moved the stove back over the entrance.

Motioning for LeBeau to follow, they made their way outside, keeping to the sides of the various buildings. Hugging the wall around the corner from the Kommandantur, the duo could see the guard Von Strasser had posted outside barracks two. Kinch checked his watch. He glanced over his shoulder at LeBeau. "Any minute now Olsen should create a disturbance to attract the guard's attention. Be ready to move in an instant."

"Oui, mon ami. I'm ready."

Newkirk and Carter emerged from the tunnel inside barracks twelve. The prisoners there all knew the duo, and figured since they were emerging from the tunnel in their barracks something must be up so they didn't interrupt. Newkirk looked around frantically. "Anybody seen Sergeant Wilson?" he asked.

"Yeah, " answered one of the prisoners. "He's over at barracks eleven. Want me to go get him?"

"Just tell him to stay available. His services might be needed for the Colonel."

"Something happen to Colonel Hogan?" another prisoner asked anxiously.

"Don't know yet, mate. But have him stand by anyway just in case," Newkirk explained as he and Carter hurried out the door of barracks twelve. Looking around, they hugged the buildings, peeking around each corner to be sure there weren't any guards posted.