Chapter 10: A Mission Gone Wrong

Hogan was having problems sleeping Thursday night. He recalled the past twenty four hours. He and Newkirk had made the rendezvous with the plane and sent the memo to London without incident.

The day at camp had been fairly routine. No unexpected visitors. No assignments from London. Carter, of course, was still working in Klink's office. Hogan didn't mind that. At least, he knew where Carter was during the day and Carter's 'observing' had paid off. London was pleased with the memo Carter found. Several lives would be saved because of it.

It was Carter's other activities that concerned him and that's why he was having trouble sleeping. If Carter and his team from Barracks 6 were behind the lab accidents and were planning more, they were putting themselves at extreme risk. If discovered, they could be executed as spies. Should this happen, there was a chance that Hogan's operation might be exposed in the fallout.

As senior POW officer at the camp, the prisoners were his responsibility. He couldn't let this happen. He would have to order Carter to stop. First, however, he needed to confirm his suspicions. He had tried to get Carter to slip up during the interrogation and that had failed. Then, he had dropped the interrogation at a key point after mentioning Evans, hoping that one of them might try a cover-up and expose themselves. So far, that hadn't worked either.

Newkirk's earlier observation had him worried, as well. If he did have to come down on Carter, there was a good possibility that Carter would never want to come back. Especially since he was getting along so well with the men in Barracks 6.

Hogan got up and paced the room for quite some time. Then, he decided his quarters were too confining. He went out to the main room and went over to the bunk which was their entrance to the tunnels. Kinch was lying there. Hogan woke Kinch. "I'd like to go below," he quietly said. "You can use my bunk till I get back."

"Something up?" asked Kinch.

"Can't sleep, that's all. My room's too confining."

Kinch seemed to understand. "Need more room to pace, huh?"

"Something like that." Hogan went below and Kinch entered Hogan's quarters.

- - -

Hogan had been in the tunnels for nearly three hours. Suddenly, a noise caught his attention. It sounded like someone was in the tunnel. He braced himself against the tunnel wall, then eased his way closer to investigate. Peering carefully around the corner, he saw Carter and Montgomery, dressed in civilian clothes, head for the room where they kept their clothing racks. He waited outside while they returned the clothes. Then, he followed them further down the tunnel.

Where the cave-in blocked the former branch to Barracks 6, he saw the two men stop and open a trap door in the tunnel floor. They went inside, then replaced the door. A few moments later, he saw them extend a rod with a weighted handkerchief through a hole in the wall. He watched as they used this makeshift device to sweep the dirt back over the trap door and erase any sign of its presence.

Hogan couldn't help but smile in admiration at Carter's ingenuity. That smile was short-lived, however, as he realized that this confirmed his suspicions. If there was another accident at a nearby facility, Carter would have been behind it. It would be time to have a long, serious discussion with one wayward Sergeant.

- - -

Shortly before noon, Hogan had gone to his quarters to plan for his meeting with Carter. A while later, Kinch entered the room. "A message from London, Sir," he said, handing Hogan the decoded message.

Hogan read the message. "So, London wants an encore," he declared.

Kinch nodded. "Looks that way, Sir."

"All right, Kinch. Call the men in. We have to plan tonight's mission."

As Kinch was leaving, LeBeau rush in. "Colonel, it's all over camp," he stated, nearly out of breath. "The chemical lab on the Mannheim Road has exploded."

Hogan was stunned. "What!" He thought Carter was causing accidents. "Sabotage?" he guessed.

"No, another accident. A trash can in one of the rooms caught fire. They think it was caused by an unextinguished cigarette. There was a bucket of water nearby. They threw it on the fire to extinguish the flames. Only thing was, it wasn't water. Some idiot was using the water bucket to carry something flammable. The fire spread out of control. Realizing the danger, they evacuated immediately. Soon after, the fire reached some of the volatile chemicals they had stored there and the building exploded. There's little left of the factory."

Hogan frowned. This confirmed his theories. He knew exactly who the 'idiot' was who had filled the bucket. He had to have a talk with that 'idiot' and soon. But not today. They had a mission to plan. Then, having been up most of the night, he had to get some rest so he'd be ready for the mission. With all this, however, he had no idea how much sleep he'd actually get but he had to try. He needed a clear head for the mission tonight.

- - -

Late that night, Hogan, Newkirk and Durand approached the Hammelburg bridge. They had blown up the bridge before but the Germans rebuilt it. Now, London wanted it destroyed again. Newkirk and Durand climbed up underneath the bridge to lay the charges. Hogan watched from below.

Hogan activated the walkie-talkie that he was holding. "Papa Bear, to Night Owl One, how's the road your way?"

"All clear," he heard Kinch say.

"Night Owl Two, how's it look your way?"

"All clear here, too," LeBeau's voice confirmed.

Hogan watched as Newkirk and Durand continued their work.

Suddenly, a German patrol appeared from what seemed like nowhere. The patrol looked almost as surprised as the three saboteurs. "Halt or we'll shoot," the leader ordered. The leader and two armed men approached Hogan. "You, raise your hands," the leader demanded.

Hogan looked for a way to escape but saw none. "Now!" snapped the leader. His two companions waved their guns threateningly. Finally, with a sour look, Hogan complied.

Three other soldiers had their rifles aimed at the two under the bridge. "You two, get down here now," the leader ordered Newkirk and Durand. The two prisoners reluctantly obeyed.

While Nekirk and Durand were climbing down, Kinch entered the camp, followed by an armed private. "I found this one down the road a ways," the private told his superior.

"Check for others," the leader ordered.

Across the bridge, LeBeau saw what was happening. Knowing there was nothing he could do alone, he started off towards the trees. One of the Germans spotted him and alerted the others. While the rest of the men guarded their prisoners, the leader and two others fired wildly in LeBeau's direction. LeBeau went to the ground. Newkirk glanced at Hogan. "I think he's been hit, Sir," Newkirk declared, a worried look on his face.

"Quiet," the leader demanded. Then, he sent two of the men off to search for LeBeau, saying, "If he's alive, bring him back. If not, it doesn't really matter."

The prisoners quietly exchanged worried glances.

- - -

LeBeau stumbled and fell next to their tree stump entrance. He had been pushing himself hard for over an hour now trying to make it back to camp. If the others were to have help, he would have to make it. He put his hand to his shoulder. It felt wet. The fall must have started the bleeding again. He had been hit by one of the patrol's bullets. He didn't know how bad. He was afraid to look for fear he would faint from the sight of his blood. He'd done it before. Tonight, that was not an option. Not if there was to be any chance of a rescue.

Once he'd been hit, he'd ran and ran and ran, trying to stay away from the patrol and feeling the urgency to find help. Slowly, LeBeau moved up enough to open the entrance and crawl inside. He hurried through tunnels till he reached the ladder that led up to Barracks 2.

After climbing the ladder and closing the bunk entrance, LeBeau looked around the room. The other prisoners were obviously still asleep, having adapted to the noise of the tunnels being used at night. LeBeau thought about waking them but then reconsidered. They shared the same Barracks but it wasn't the same as the friendship shared by Hogan's men. Then, LeBeau knew where he had to go.

- - -

Miller was awakened by a knock at their door. He was puzzled. They'd never had that happen before. If it was a special roll call or a bed check, Shultz wouldn't knock. He heard the knock again and several others were rousing. Miller went to the door and opened it. He was definitely not expecting what he found. LeBeau stood there looking as he was about to collapse at any second. He quickly helped LeBeau inside and closed the door before the spotlights hit the building. "Doc, get over here," he ordered. "Montgomery, get the Chief."

Montgomery hurried to the door to Carter's quarters and opened it a crack. "Sir," he called. Receiving no response, he tried again. "Sergeant Carter."

This time he got a response. "Yes," acknowledged Carter, sounding like someone who'd just been awakened.

"We need you out here right away."

Carter opened the door and hurried out. The moonlight shining in the window and the flashlights a couple of the prisoners held provided a little light. It gave Carter a dim view of LeBeau now sitting at table and he could see that LeBeau was in terrible shape. Carter wasted no time getting to LeBeau's side. "LeBeau, what happened?" a worried Carter asked.

"The others have been captured," LeBeau replied. "We were on a mission. A patrol surprised us."

Carter noticed LeBeau's shoulder. "You've been shot."

LeBeau ignored Carter's concern. "We have to help them," he insisted.

Carter quickly looked around the room at his team, then back at LeBeau. "We will. But first, we have to get below where there's light," he insisted.

"But the tunnel, it is caved-in," declared LeBeau.

"We dug a new one," Carter told him. Then, Carter ordered, "Miller, you go first. Montgomery and I will help him down to you. Nelson, Evans, you're needed, too."

The six men entered the tunnel and Evans closed the trap door.