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About an hour later, Hogan began to show signs of waking up. Newkirk, who was sitting with him, ran to get Wilson and Prust.
"The Colonel is waking up!"
The others, who had just come into the tunnel from the barracks heard Newkirk and followed the doctor and medic to the room where Hogan was. The all stood back, giving the doctor a chance to check their commanding officer.
"Robert? Can you hear me?" Michael asked, leaning over his patient.
Hogan opened his eyes slowly, focusing on the kindly, grey haired doctor. "Michael? What are you doing here? What happened?"
"What do you remember?" Michael countered.
He thought for a moment before saying, "Um, I remember going to see Tiger. We had to pass some information on to her for the Underground. But I don't understand. What happened? Why does my leg and stomach and chest hurt so bad?"
Kinch moved closer so Hogan could see him. "Colonel, you were in an accident. When you didn't come back, we went looking for you. We found you in the car at the bottom of a ravine. That's why Michael is here."
"So am I okay?"
"Well, you broke your leg and some ribs and punctured your lung. Plus, I had to remove your spleen because it had ruptured. Your going to be okay though Robert," Michael replied, patting Hogan on the shoulder.
Hogan nodded weakly, yawning. Michael turned to the others who were standing in the room. "We should let him rest and then move him upstairs within the next few hours."
"Wait," Hogan said, looking at the others. "Does Klink know what happened? What happened to the car?"
"Kinch here had a bloody good idea. Klink thinks we all have the flu, especially after Wilson here told him we had it. Needless to say, we are under quarantine for the next two weeks," Newkirk said, grinning broadly.
"We are going after the car tonight. We didn't have time to think about it when we rescued you. We pretty much had to grab you and go," Kinch added, a hint of anxiety in his eyes. He had not wanted to worry the others, but disquieting thoughts had been entering his mind for the past few hours. He was worried that someone would find the wreck before they could get back to it and take care of it.
"That's good," Hogan replied, trying to keep his eyes open. Michael noticed this and began herding the others out of the room.
"We are going to let you rest Robert. We'll be back in a little while."
"Okay. Kinch, could you stay for a moment?" Hogan asked. He had noticed the concern in his second-in-command's eyes and wanted to talk to him alone.
Kinch looked over at the kindly doctor, who looked at his patient before nodding consent. The others left the room, leaving the two men alone.
"Okay Kinch, I may be injured, but I can tell when you are worried. What's going on? Are you okay?"
Kinch sat down wearily next to his commanding officer, letting out a deep breath. "Well, between the horror of finding you injured, to the anxiety on whether Klink would buy my scheme or not, to the terror that someone is going to find your car before we can get there; I'm doing great."
Hogan glanced over at the sarcastic tone Kinch was using. "Kinch, it'll be okay. You said yourself you guys were going out for the car tonight. I'm sure no one has found it yet."
"I know Colonel. But I'm still worried."
"It comes with the territory. Listen, I need to rest because my eyes just don't want to stay open anymore." Kinch stood up so he could leave, but Hogan stopped him, "Just relax Kinch. Everything will be okay."
"Thanks Colonel," Kinch replied. He watched as Hogan fell asleep before he left the room.
HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH-HH
That night, five men snuck away from camp to retrieve the Colonel's car. Kinch was in the lead, Newkirk, Carter, LeBeau and Olsen following behind him. They found the truck parked where they had arranged with the guard they had bribed. All five hopped in and Kinch started the truck. They pulled out of the brush and onto the road, heading to the spot of the accident.
Earlier in the afternoon, Kinch had called members of the Underground for their help in transporting the car to another location. He had around five that would be waiting when they arrived. They would then take the car to Otto Mueller's house to be disposed of.
Kinch eased off the road, as they neared the spot where Hogan had the accident. They hid the truck and waited. Soon they saw the signal; three short flashes and one long flash. Newkirk responded with one short flash and three long ones. The ten men converged on the side of the road, kneeling behind the brush.
"Good evening all. We need to work fast so no one will hear us," Kinch said, looking at everyone.
"So what is the plan?" Hans Eichel, asked. His brother Max nodded his head in agreement.
"Otto is bringing a tow truck for us so that we can bring the car up here from the ravine. We need all of you so that we can make sure the car makes it without a hitch. We are going to be stationed all up the hill so that Otto knows when to tow and to stop if something happens."
At that moment, they heard a vehicle coming down the road. They all peered out to see Otto driving the truck. He stopped as Kinch came out from his spot behind the brush.
"Where do you want me?" Otto asked after he had rolled the window down.
"If you could back up here," Kinch said, pointing to an area that would be mainly concealed from the road, "and we will take the line down. We are going to be in intervals up the hill so we can relay any instructions up and down the hill. I don't want to use radios in case the Gestapo are out tonight. But we should be able to get it hooked and up the hill in less than a half hour."
"Sounds good to me. Let's do it," Otto said, swinging the truck around and backing it in where Kinch had motioned for him. He watched as the others began the trek down the hill.
The ten men made their way down the hill. At certain times, Kinch would have a man stop and wait for the signals. Once Kinch reached the bottom, he headed to where he knew the car was. As he made his way through the woods, something began to prickle at his subconscious before he realized with horror what it was.
The wreckage of Colonel Hogan's car was missing.
A/N - I know I will not hear the end of this, but I love cliff hangers! Hope you all do not mind. -Waikiki23