Chapter 26

Think, Rob, think, Hogan told himself.

"Wait!" Hogan said. Dietrich paused looking at the American with narrowed eyes. As desperate as he was to silence Hogan, he was interested in seeing what Hogan would try to save his life.

"Yes, Colonel? You have some last words?"

"Not really. I am obviously in no condition to fight you. But don't you think I have a right to know why my life is going to be snuffed out? I mean, don't I have a right to know why I'm about to die?"

"It's a reasonable request, Colonel. Very well, I will tell you. I know you're aware I sexually abused that weak Corporal Sanger with my rifle; I know you do because he told you. When you confronted me, threatening to tell the Kommandant what I had done, I couldn't allow that. I would have either been sent to the Russian front, or considered a homosexual and executed. I had to stop you. But I couldn't do it outright."

"Why did you choose to frame Schultz?"

"Because he liked you and was gullible. It was so easy. All I did was make sure his rifle was switched when he leaned it against the wall of a barracks for a few minutes. Then I had somebody bump into him causing him to drop the now loaded rifle while I was inside the Kommandant's office with my rifle aimed out his office window at the window of your barracks. I had hoped to shoot you in the back and kill you instantly. But I found out afterward you had turned at the last moment and was hit in the chest. Unfortunately, you didn't die as I had hoped."

"Is that why you tried to kill me in the hospital?"

Dietrich raised an eyebrow. "You know about that?"

"Yeah. I heard about your attempt to kill me, but in the process, you killed a Gestapo guard."

"Didn't want to kill that guard, but it was necessary. He was in the way and preventing me from getting to you. I wanted to do to you what I had done to Corporal Sanger but there wasn't time for that. Then that nurse caught me ready to kill you and I had to escape before I could finish you off."

"But why kill Sanger? He was no threat to you."

"I killed him because he was going to tell the Kommandant about me and what I done to him and to you. I couldn't allow that, Colonel."

Hogan eyed Newkirk for a minute. "I suppose you assaulted Kinch and Newkirk just for the hell of it."

Dietrich laughed. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Your Sergeant Kinchloe has a problem knowing his place with the superior race. I had to teach him a lesson. He should be lucky I didn't break his arm and only dislocated his shoulder. As for your Englander here, he interfered with me teaching your Sergeant Carter a lesson."

"I suppose Carter didn't know his place either?"

"Your Sergeant Carter brought Sergeant Schultz to your barracks. He disobeyed orders and had to be punished. I decided to beat some sense into him, but your Englander jumped me and permitted Sergeant Carter to escape. Therefore, I had to teach your Corporal Newkirk a lesson."

Hogan's face darkened as his eyes were blazing. "I'm sure three cracked and one broken rib, and a fractured wrist teaches you a lot. Me, I would have preferred a week in the cooler instead. Just what is your goal in all this, Dietrich? What are you getting out of all this?"

"You see Colonel, I voluntarily came to Stalag 13 because I heard of it's perfect no escape record. But when I got here and met your Kommandant and Sergeant Schultz, I couldn't understand how that no escape record could be. I was determined to find out."

"And did you?" asked Hogan sweetly.

"So far…no. But after the General leaves today and Schultz is sent to the Russian front, you and your men won't have to worry about that. All of you will be dead. You'll be the first to die. Oh I'll keep Klink around for awhile and when he no longer serves my purpose, I'll get rid of him. He's useless anyway."

"Is that why you're blackmailing him?" asked Hogan.

"How do you know about that?"

"You'd be surprised at what I know about you, Dietrich. Now, what about Klink?"

"It's simple. I threatened to tell the Gestapo he was stealing from camp funds and dealing with the Black Market. And they'd believe it. I can be very convincing."

"Were you just as convincing with those two officers you're suspected of murdering?"

"It was necessary for both of them to die. I killed that American Colonel while on leave because I wanted to; plain and simple. As far as the Luftwaffe Colonel I killed, he discovered I had connections to the Black Market and was going to turn me in. After that, I knew I had to request a transfer. "

"Let me guess. You couldn't allow that to happen either," said Hogan. This German was making his stomach do flip-flops. He figured he had gotten everything he could from Dietrich and hoped Kinch's precautions would be adequate.

"Of course not," Dietrich said with a smug grin on his face which rapidly disappeared and was replaced with an evil smirk that chilled Hogan to the bone. "But enough talk. General Burkhalter's inspection should be ending soon and I need to dispose of you. So, you'll forgive me if I don't say goodbye." He leaned over Hogan preparing to press the pillow down over his face as the Colonel put up his hands in an attempt to fight off being suffocated.

The sound of a safety being taken off a rifle caused Dietrich to freeze and both he and Hogan to look in the direction of the sound. Langenscheidt stood on the opposite of Newkirk's bed with his rifle pointed at Dietrich. Hogan momentarily closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

"I suggest you drop that pillow, and move away from both Colonel Hogan and Corporal Newkirk," Langenscheidt said in a deadly tone. "If you don't, I won't hesitate to pull the trigger and shoot you."

"I didn't hear you come in," Dietrich said, annoyed as he let the pillow drop from his fingers. He took a few steps away from both beds; the Corporal's rifle following him.

"I was hiding in the closet," Langenscheidt told him.

"You fool!" Dietrich shouted at the Corporal. "It'll just be your word against mine! And as you are a good friend of Sergeant Schultz, who do you think they'll believe?" An amused smirk suddenly appeared.

"Oh I think they'll believe him when I support what he says," Wilson said crawling out from under his desk. The sliding of the medic's chair caused Dietrich to turn around and look. Despite being surprised by the medic's presence, the German gave Wilson a spiteful look.

"I should have killed you when I came for those files," Dietrich said. He watched the medic walk around the foot of the two beds so he wouldn't come in contact with Dietrich, and once he stood beside Langenscheidt got down on one knee and, reaching under Newkirk's bed, pulled out the tape recorder and turned it off.

"It recorded everything, Colonel," Wilson assured Hogan.

"How was my performance?" asked Newkirk opening his eyes. "I never impersonated an unconscious person before."

Hogan grinned. "You were so-so, Newkirk," he said. He saw his friend feign hurt feelings.

"You did just fine, Newkirk," Wilson told him. "I never saw a better unconscious person who wasn't sedated."

Newkirk smiled at the Colonel. "At least somebody appreciates me acting ability, Gov'nor."

Dietrich's face darkened. "None of you swine will be able to prove anything against me. All of you will pay for this."

"I think it will be you who pays, Sergeant Dietrich," said a familiar voice. Everybody turned to look and saw General Burkhalter, Kommandant Klink, a guard, and Kinch standing nearby. Burkhalter stood with his hands clasped behind his back, while Klink had an amused smirk on his face. Kinch was standing just beside the Kommandant with his hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, an amused grin on his face.

"Sergeant Wilson, would you please rewind the tape on that tape recorder and play a portion of it for us?" asked the General.

"Yes, sir," said Wilson as he pressed the rewind button and let the tape run until it had completely run backward. When finished, he pressed the play button and everybody listened to the recorded voices of Hogan and Dietrich.

"You can turn that off now, Sergeant," Burkhalter advised the medic.

"Yes, sir," Wilson replied pressing the stop button.

Dietrich smirked. "You can't actually believe that tape, Herr General," he hissed. "That tape has been doctored." He pointed to Hogan. "He and his men tampered with that tape to make it sound like I was saying those things you heard. But I am a loyal German, Herr General."

"Is that so, Sergeant?" asked Burkhalter. The General's eyes shifted to Kinch who calmly walked around the foot of the bed and kept walking until he stood beside the stool. Reaching into the vase he pulled out a SCR-536 walkie-talkie.(1)

Kinch smirked at the now furious guard. "But you can't tamper with a walkie-talkie," he said. He looked at Hogan and shrugged his shoulders.

"So that's what was so special about those flowers," Hogan said.

Klink looked at the vase of flowers and pointed to them with an angry look on his face. "Those flowers are from my garden! How dare you pull flowers from my garden! Hogaaaaaaan!"

Burkhalter glanced at the Kommandant. "Klink, stop crying over a few flowers! You're acting like a Dummkopf!"

"Yes, Herr General," Klink replied nervously. "I can always plant new flowers anyway."

Hogan sighed wearily and simply rolled his eyes listening to Klink.

"I don't understand, Herr General," Dietrich remarked nervously even though he did. "You were inspecting the camp; you and the Kommandant."

"That's what I wanted you to think. When Klink explained his plan to expose you to me, I agreed to go along with it even though I still find it hard to believe it was his idea. I wanted to see what you would do when you heard I wanted to speak with Hogan after the inspection. So, I informed you your presence wasn't required during the inspection. Then Klink and I went in his office and listened on another walkie-talkie and heard everything you said, Sergeant," Burkhalter explained, his face turning a deep shade of crimson. Then, a Cheshire cat grin appeared. "It was Sergeant Kinchloe's idea to use a walkie-talkie in addition to the tape recorder because of the reason you mentioned, and that being a tape can be tampered with. But this way, the tape matches exactly what we heard over the walkie-talkie so you can't say that, now can you?"

Dietrich glared at Kinch who grinned with amusement at him.

Burkhalter looked at Langenscheidt. "Corporal, I want you to handcuff Sergeant Dietrich and remove his sidearm. Corporal Heidler, cover him with your rifle as well. If he tries anything or gives Corporal Langenscheidt any trouble, shoot him."

"Jawohl, Herr General," Heidler replied removing the safety from his rifle and pointing it at Dietrich while Langenscheidt approached the guard, removed his sidearm and handed it to the General. Then, removing the handcuffs from his belt, he manacled the guard's wrists behind his back making them as snug as he could. Then, the Corporal pointed his rifle at Dietrich again.

"Sergeant Dietrich, you are under arrest for murder, attempted murder, blackmail, Black Market activities, assault, and whatever else I can think of," the General hissed. "By the time I'm through, you'll be lucky if you see the Russian front. Sergeant Wilson, I will relieve you of that tape recorder."

The medic, having returned the tape recorder to its canvas bag, handed it to the General. After taking the bag, Burkhalter looked at Klink. "Klink, I want Sergeant Dietrich placed in solitary with a guard posted. Then I want you to release Sergeant Schultz and restore him to his position as Sergeant-of-the-Guard. Understand?"

"Yes, Herr General," Klink replied with a nervous smile on his face.

"Then I want you to call the Gestapo and have them come and pick up Sergeant Dietrich."

"Understood, sir."

"Let's get out of here, Klink. I have an inspection to complete before I return to Berlin." He led the way out of the infirmary with Klink and Kinch following with Corporals Heidler and Langenscheidt pointing rifles at a handcuffed Dietrich.

Meanwhile, Hogan, Newkirk and Wilson all let out a deep sigh.

"I'm glad that's over," Wilson said. "I don't think I could have withstood anymore."

"You?" asked Newkirk. "Try bein' an unconscious person for awhile."

"Well," said Hogan. "At least the men are safe and Dietrich is gone for good."

Just then, a familiar voice was heard just outside the infirmary. "You aren't going anywhere, Dietrich. Not before I kill you!"

"Sergeant Derrick, where did you get that gun?" asked Klink.

"I recognize Klink. But who's the other one?" asked Hogan. "I can't place the voice."

"Blimey Gov'nor, that sounds like Sergeant Derrick."

(1) SCR-536 walkie-talkie was used by the U. S. Signal Corps in World War 2. It was developed in 1940 by a team led by Don Mitchell, chief engineer for Galvin Manufacturing (now Motorola) and was the first true hand-held unit to see widespread use. By July of 1941, it was in mass production.