The same sounds that he had heard the night before filled the air- crickets, the wind in the leaves- and the smell of late summer flowers hung in the air. But tonight was different. Yesterday, he had been relatively safe within the confines of Stalag 13. Now, dressed entirely in black, Colonel Hogan was on the other side of the wire, on route to blow up a munitions factory. Not exactly the safest activity a POW could engage in. Tonight he couldn't enjoy the comforting sounds of a summer night. He had to block those out and instead focus on anything that was out of place- bushes rustling, twigs snapping, voices whispering.

Hogan swiftly moved through the forest that he almost had memorized. How many times had he snuck through it while on a mission? Enough times that he had practically taken every possible route twice.

Carter followed his movements. The normally clumsy young man had the same speed and grace tonight that Hogan had. Perhaps it was the fact that he had a bag of explosives strapped to his back. That usually provided enough incentive to remain steady.

The munitions factory outside of Hammelburg was only three miles away from the camp. It wouldn't take long to get there. Luck was on their side tonight. It was clear, with a big moon in the sky- a bomber's moon, he thought wistfully- and they'd only had to sneak past one German patrol so far. Of course, he didn't expect the patrols to be much of a problem on the way- what sort of danger could be in the middle of Germany? It would be coming home that they'd have to worry. It was sort of hard to ignore an entire factory blowing up.

Hogan suddenly stopped and crouched down beside the closest tree. This was the tricky part. A few yards ahead, the forest was interrupted by a road on the other side of which, lay a wide, open meadow. The meadow stretched a mile in all directions before the forest started again. Not much protection there. It wasn't exactly ideal for sneaking through on the way to a factory if you were planning on breaking into it and blowing it up. Obviously whoever had chopped down that patch of forest hadn't been thinking of him. Damn Krauts. If he had had more time, Hogan would've plotted a way to get in through the main gates as some sort of inspector. But London had put an ASAP on this mission, so here they were.

Their luck was holding out. The road was deserted and they quickly crossed without incident. Hogan sunk down in the ditch on the side of the road.

The dreaded field lay ahead.

"Okay Carter, this is it," Hogan said in a low voice. "Just follow my lead and be quiet."

"Don't worry Colonel, you can count on me!"

"I know I can. Let's go."

Too often, Carter was thought to be a bumbling fool, but Hogan knew differently. He wouldn't have included Carter into the organization if that had been the case. Sure, he was a little clumsy and socially dense, but Carter was a good soldier and a capable saboteur.

This mission would've been impossible in the winter with thick white snow covering the field. As it was, the summer grass was tall, coming up to Hogan's chest. Hunching over, the grass came over them, hiding them from view. With a little stealth and a bit more luck they could sneak into the forest undetected.

It didn't take long before they were once again safe within the dense forest. A mile or more and they would be at the factory.

As they got closer, Hogan stopped to take in the situation. There were a few soldiers slowly making their way around the perimeter, but other than that, the only other security was the high barbed-wire that circled the compound. A road cut through the forest and led into the only gate on the far side. Not unlike Stalag 13, Hogan mused. It wouldn't be too hard after all.

After a few minutes of studying the soldiers movements, Hogan motioned for Carter to stay put. Silently, he slid down the slope that cut off the trees and sprinted to the fence, crouching down outside it. He had a two minute opening before the next soldier rounded to corner. Pulling out his cutters, Hogan snipped at the wires and made a nice, tidy hole for him to squeeze through. He ducked in and found himself a barrel to crouch behind. He turned so that he could wave Carter in, only to find the demolitions expert already behind him. Suppressing a small smile, Hogan nodded and turned his attention back to the compound.

"All right professor, you're the expert," Hogan's voice was barely a whisper, "where do we plant these little packages?"

Carter took the opportunity to scan the compound. He wished they had been able to sneak inside the building, but under the circumstances, he'd have to place the bombs outside. Wherever they put it, it'd have to make a big enough explosion to destroy the rest of the factory. His eyes lit up with excitement as he found the perfect target.

"Colonel, that truck over there," Carter breathed, "it looks like it's full of ammo and junk. And just look at that… it's parked right outside of a supply hut… Maybe the Krauts aren't so bad after all if they gave us such a nice setup."

Hogan followed Carter's gaze and rolled his eyes. It was a perfect setup… except for the three German soldiers that were loitering nearby. "And what about Hans, Fritz and Kurt over there?"

Carter's expression fell. He hadn't noticed them. Three soldiers were standing a few yards away from them, very close to the truck. "We could always take them out?" He cringed. Sure, Carter was a soldier- he was trained to kill people- but as a bombardier in the United States Army Air Force and as the demolition expert of Colonel Hogan's sabotage team, he had never actually killed someone up close.

Hogan shook his head, nixing the idea. "The point of this is stealth Carter. Gunfire draws a lot of attention. And that's something we don't need." Furrowing his brow, Hogan tried to come up with a solution. "I don't suppose there's somewhere else we can plant these?" Carter scanned the area, but his eyes kept falling on the truck. Hogan rolled his eyes. Of course. "All right, fine. Wait here!" And to make sure he actually listened this time, Hogan pushed on Carter's shoulder and sat him behind the barrels.

With careful silence, Hogan crept out from his hiding place and dodged towards the closest building. Pressing himself against the wall, he side-stepped around the corner, and then the next.

He was behind them now. Hogan took a few deep breaths, debating the merits of running like the devil to the supply hut, or creeping slowly and quietly. He finally decided on the latter. The soldiers' attentions were to the outside of the compound. And to further hinder their concentration, one was smoking. Brilliant. Hogan could've just given them a pack of smokes and let them do his job for him. Smoking next to a truck full of ammo- idiot!

Hogan stepped out of the shadows and tiptoed through the open space. With a silent sigh of relief, he reached the hut and pressed himself against it, willing himself to blend into the shadows.

So far, so good. In fact, it was going so well that Hogan found himself feeling suspicious. Surely something had to go wrong- it seemed something always did.

Shaking the thought off, the colonel slid along the building and stopped at the corner. Time to see if his faith in Carter was justified. Hogan's eyes scanned the ground until he found what he was looking for. A lone twig lay in front of him, carelessly blown in by the wind. Taking a deep breath, Hogan raised his foot and slammed it down onto the unsuspecting stick.

CRACK!

Hogan winced. Great, I'll have the entire factory down on me! Actually, it wasn't loud at all. But it was enough to catch the soldiers' attention. Hogan could hear their conversation stop. One gave the other two orders to investigate. All right Carter, take the hint. Hogan pulled out his gun, listening to the approaching footsteps. Even though he was expecting them, his heart jumped into his throat as the first soldier rounded the corner. His fist however, wasn't as stunned as his ticker obviously was, because it had already connected with the man's face. The second soldier gave a yelp of surprise before Hogan brought the butt of his gun down onto the back of his neck. The soldier crumpled like a rag doll. Maybe Hogan had hit him a little too hard.

But he didn't have time to dwell on that. With both Germans down, Hogan made his way to the truck on the other side of the building. He couldn't help but smiling when he saw Carter crouched over the still body of the third soldier. The sergeant looked up and grinned. Hogan quickly replaced his own smile with a disapproving frown. "I thought I told you to stay put, Sergeant."

Carter's grin faded. "Gee sir, I thought that…"

Hogan's grin was back. "Easy Carter. You did exactly what I wanted you to do. He dead?"

Carter squirmed. "No sir, I just knocked him out."

"Then we better hurry. Get those explosive set up and set the timers for ten minutes." Carter nodded and set to work while Hogan crouched beside him, his gun ready.

"Done."

"All right, let's get the heck on out of here."

Carter didn't argue and the two Americans made their way back out of the compound and into the safety of the forest. The younger man waited until they were a safe distance before he began to chatter excitedly. "Boy, I sure wish we could see the factory go up! Boy, It's going to be great! POW! KABOOM! BANG! S-"

"I get the point, Carter. Shhh!"

"All right, no problem, I'll be quiet. You can cou-"

"Save it for tonight after we get home."

Hogan paused at the edge of the trees. That darn field again. If anything was to happen, it would happen here, he was sure of it. But there was no point in avoiding the inevitable. So, with a deep breath, Hogan ploughed ahead. They weren't far when the summer silence was shattered by an earth-trembling explosion. The sky behind them lit up a brilliant red as more explosions went off. Both men stopped to look back. Carter jumped up and punched the air. Hogan admired his enthusiasm, but now wasn't the time for it. Grabbing his arm, Hogan pulled Carter forward, speeding up their pace. It wouldn't take long for the Germans to get organized and add more patrols to the one they had past before. As far as Hogan was concerned, the Krauts were too touchy. It was only a little factory blowing up- nothing to get all worked up about.

They seemed to fly through the meadow and soon they were safe on the other side of the road. Hogan couldn't believe their luck. This was too good to be true.

Finally!

There it was- the hitch Hogan had been waiting for with some sort of morbid anticipation. In the distance, a truck, loaded with soldiers no doubt, was making its way down the road.

"Hey, Colonel, look," Carter began.

"I know. They're not that close, but we better get moving. They-"

"Not that," Carter interrupted, noticing the focus of Hogan's attention. "Those." He pointed up to the sky. A squadron of bombers were approaching. "I thought there were too much ack-ack in this area."

"Maybe they're out of range," Hogan shrugged. "The ack-ack could be just close enough to the factory to cover it, but not out here…" He watched the bombers with a twinge of envy but shook it off. "Come on, let's go." He glanced at the approaching troops, estimating their distance, before starting out again.

"What the hell is he doing?!"

Hogan almost stumbled at Carter's loud outburst. "Carter-"

"Look!" Hogan followed Carter's finger. His eyes grew wide. One of the planes was starting a quick descent. He peered at it intently. It didn't seem to be on fire… in fact, nothing was wrong with it.

"What the hell is he doing?!" Hogan echoed his sergeant's question.

They couldn't do anything but watch in dumb shock as one of the bombers broke formation and headed towards them. The massive plane seemed to hesitate before making an awkward landing in the pasture.

Tempted though he was to rush out there and find out what was happening, Hogan remained still. He put a hand on Carter's shoulder to make sure he also stayed put. The German soldier were too close to try anything stupid. Hogan and Carter looked on with forced silence as the truck pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. The Germans looked as stunned as their enemies to see the American bomber sitting in the open field. They quickly surrounded it, their rifles raised and ready. An officer started yelling for the men inside the bomber to step out and surrender.

Hogan half-expected for one of the gunners to open fire on the lot of Germans. But his hopes didn't live long. Slowly, but surely, eight Americans filed out of the plane, their arms raised in the air. The Germans were stunned, but they soon got over it .

Hogan forced his eyes away from the sight. It wouldn't take long for the Germans to send some men into the woods. "Come on Carter, we've gotta get out of here."

"But sir, they just-"

"Nothing we can do about it… yet…" He pulled Carter along. What the hell just happened?! Hogan couldn't find an answer. But if those men wound up in Stalag 13- even if they didn't!- he was going to find out.