Chapter 25 --- Secrets Preserved are Better

Hogan slowly made his way to the Kommandantur, up the stairs and into the building. He paused at seeing Hilda sitting at her desk typing. She looked up and smiled sweetly. Hogan winked at her.

"Hiya gorgeous," he said.

"Hello, Colonel Hogan," she purred.

Hogan motioned with his head towards Klink's closed door. "Is the Kommandant in his office?" He slowly approached her desk.

"Jawohl. But he doesn't feel too well right now."

"That's okay," Hogan said with a grin. "I have something that might make him feel better." He opened the door without knocking, and slowly made his way into Klink's office. He noticed Klink with his head resting on folded arms atop his desk. Shaking his head with a grin, Hogan slammed the door causing Klink to sit up with a start, grab a pen and start signing papers before he looked up and saw Hogan. He tossed the pen down.

"It's only you," he said unhappily. "What do you want, Hogan?"

"I told you yesterday, Kommandant that I could help you if you'd just put yourself in my hands. Instead, you decided to pickle yourself with a bottle of booze."

Klink massaged his forehead. His headache was still just as ferocious despite the aspirin he'd taken earlier. "Hogan, I'm not in the mood for your so-called sense of humor. Just state your business and get out. I have a headache."

"Doesn't surprise me, Kommandant, considering. Still, I don't know why you're so worried. I mean it wasn't you who killed Von Strasser."

Klink's head looked up. "What are you talking about, Hogan? I shot the man three times. Sergeant Kinchloe even said he was dead."

"That's what we all thought, Colonel. But see, after you, the guards and Sergeant Schultz left, and my men and I were still in barracks nine, Von Strasser opened his eyes and let us know he was still very much alive and intended to kill me and them."

Klink slowly got to his feet and walked around the desk until he stood face-to-face with Hogan. "What are you saying Hogan?"

"I'm saying, Kommandant, that Von Strasser was still alive after you and the others had left barracks nine. You didn't kill him."

"Hogan, don't be ridiculous. I shot the man with my own luger that I removed from my safe where I keep it. Ask Sergeant Kinchloe and Corporal LeBeau. They saw me remove it."

"Oh they said you removed it, but you never fired it because you were....well.... you know, sir."

"Because I was what, Hogan? What are you trying to say?"

Hogan leaned close to Klink and lowered his voice. "Because you had been drinking earlier, sir and, well, you hand wasn't exactly steady. In fact, Kinch said you couldn't even manage to fire the gun."

Klink threw up his hands, exasperated. "Hogan, that is ridiculous. I remember taking the gun from my safe, taking it to barracks nine and firing it."

Hogan's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure about that, sir? Perhaps you should check and see."

Sighing, Klink walked to his floor safe, knelt down and proceeded to turn the dial each way until he could open the door. He removed his sidearm and held it up for Hogan to view. "See, here is my sidearm, Hogan."

"I see it. But has it been fired, sir?" Hogan asked.

Annoyed, Klink removed the weapon from the holster and sniffed the barrel. "Of course it's been fired. You can tell by....." he suddenly paused in mid-sentence and sniffed the barrel again. "That's odd. This weapon hasn't been fired at all." Klink slowly sat back down behind his desk with the gun and holster in separate hands. He looked at Hogan. "I don't understand, Hogan. I could have sworn I fired this weapon yesterday."

"Well apparently you didn't because you could tell a weapon's been fired by sniffing the barrel. Want to know what I think happened?"

"What? Tell me."

"I think you removed the gun from your safe like you said. But because you had previously had a few drinks, probably because of Von Strasser trying to take over Stalag 13 and when Kinch and LeBeau came and got you, you grabbed your weapon intending to stop him from killing me, but weren't able to fire because of what you had had to drink. So you gave the weapon to Schultz and left barracks nine with the guards, came back to your office, and had more to drink because you hadn't been able to stop Von Strasser."

"But if I didn't shoot him, who did? You just said yourself Von Strasser showed to you and your men after everyone was gone that he was still alive."

"He did, Kommandant. See, it was part of his plan to take over Stalag 13."

"Plan? What plan?"

"The way Von Strasser explained it, one of your guards, a Corporal Koch, was sent here to get rid of you."

"Get rid of me? Sent by whom? Did he say?"

Hogan could tell he now had Klink hooked and just had to reel him in the rest of the way. "He did, sir. He told me and the men Koch was sent by an SS Major named Heisler to frame you and me so you would be removed, and then this Major Heisler would have his own man, Von Strasser, replace you as Kommandant of Stalag 13."

"No!" Klink exclaimed. "But where do you fit into this?"

"Because I discovered Koch's plan by accident. See, the way I understood it, this Koch, once he found out I had discovered his plan, decided on his own that he had to kill me because I could expose him. And he must've felt Von Strasser had been sent here to spy on him or something like that by Heisler, so Koch decided to kill both Von Strasser and me and frame you for both deaths."

"But....but....what were you to be framed for to begin with, Hogan?"

"Closest I can figure is that Koch and Heisler must have figured I would be a threat to them. And if I was framed for whatever, I would be arrested either by the SS or the Gestapo, and thereby I would be removed from camp and they could then proceed with their plans."

Klink slammed his hand, palm downward on the desk. "Diabolical! But how did Von Strasser fake his own death if I didn't fire my weapon?"

"Bulletproof vest, sir. He showed us. He was wearing one under his shirt. I mean he was facing you when you came into barracks nine. So when you pointed your weapon at him he pretended he had been shot and fell to the floor."

"But one of your own men, Sergeant Kinchloe, said he was dead! He even checked for a pulse!"

"I'm sorry about that, Kommandant," Hogan admitted sheepishly. "Kinch told me in his concern about me, he didn't have his fingers in the right spot when he checked for a pulse. That's why he didn't find one."

"And to think I almost called General Burkhalter and confessed to a killing I didn't do. Hogan, I don't know how to thank you for setting me straight on what really happened. Obviously, it was this Corporal Koch who killed Von Strasser."

"I know it was, Kommandant. That's one reason I'm here. Sir, you have to call General Burkhalter right away and report this. You also have to have this Koch arrested before he kills somebody else. I mean, he's already tried once to kill me and in the process killed Captain Davidson with a runaway car from your motorpool that was suppose to kill me." Hogan figured Klink didn't need to know about the other attempt on his life in which Carter had been injured.

"You're right, Hogan. I shall call General Burkhalter at once!" Klink picked up the phone. "Fraulein Hilda, connect me with General Burkhalter in Berlin. Priority call." Covering the mouthpiece, Klink looked at Hogan. "I just thought of something, Hogan. The General's going to want some kind of evidence that Koch is guilty."

"You're right. I didn't think of that." Hogan's eyes narrowed as he racked his brain thinking. Suddenly, his face brightened. "I know. Maybe, just maybe, this Koch has some evidence in his barracks. Maybe some correspondence between him and this Major Heisler. Certainly that would convince the General, sir."

Klink held up a hand indicating silence. "General Burkhalter, Colonel Klink here. Heil Hitler. General, I think you'd better come to Stalag 13 right away. I have uncovered a plot to kill me and one of my prisoners by one of my own guards, and it involves the SS taking over the camp. No sir. In fact, this same guard shot and killed an SS Major and tried to frame me for the murder. Yes sir. I will await your arrival. Auf Wiedershen. Heil Hitler." Klink hung up the phone and looked at Hogan, rubbing his hands together as a smile appeared. "Hogan, I'm sorry for what you had to endure at the hands of this Major Von Strasser. I can only hope the cuts he made will not leave permanent scars on your body or on your face."

"No sir. Fortunately they won't. I've been assured of that by the camp medical officer, Sergeant Wilson."

"Excellent. Now, we must be careful regarding this Corporal Koch. Where is he now?"

"Last time I saw him he was patrolling the front gate."

Klink slowly got up. His headache forgotten but still present. "Not for long he won't be. Schuuullltttzzz!" Klink put a hand to his head after yelling for his Sergeant-at-arms. The door opened and Schultz walked in, saluting Klink.

"You summoned me, Herr Kommandant?" he asked.

"Yes, I did, Schultz. You will take several of the guards and arrest Corporal Koch immediately. You will search him carefully and then throw him in the cooler and post a guard outside to watch him."

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant. May I ask what for?"

"For the murder of Major Von Strasser."

Schultz looked at Hogan who smiled innocently and then looked again at Klink. He saluted. "Jawohl, Herr Kommandant." He left the office immediately.

Klink sat back down. He was smiling. "Hogan you are dismissed. And I suggest you be careful of Corporal Koch until he's locked up in the cooler." He saluted Hogan.

Hogan returned a sloopy salute. "Kommandant, now that this mess is almost over. Perhaps you might want to celebrate."

Klink looked up. "Celebrate?"

"Yeah. You know. Perhaps you might want to have a drink." He left the office as quickly as his crutches allowed him to before Klink could recover and respond. Klink never saw the smirk Hogan had on his face.