August 24
The Tunnels – 2145 Hours

I had just woken up from a ghastly dream.

I'm down here for a reason. Baker had asked that someone stay down here and watch the radio for a while since an important message from London is suppose to come in concerning Hansel and Gretel. They are to tell us whether or not they confessed their crimes against the Allied Forces and whether or not they will stand a trial or not. It'll for good for us if they receive their award for aiding the Krauts, but this nightmare bothers me more than this message. I'll be the first to admit that, yes, it was about Auschwitz again. I had not experienced a nightmare about that unspeakable place since last year's fights to battle it out of me and keep focused on the operation and not the past. This one, at least I didn't wake up screaming to. I am only sweating and am cold with fear.

All I could remember was this dream was walking through the Main Gate of the central camp, the one with its infamous sign. It seemed that I was invisible for no one called out to me or even noticed me at all as I passed. All around me were prisoners working for their freedom. The brutal guards never even noticed the ghost I was, ambling past them and wondering, in horror, what I was doing here again. I feel almost tied to this place, if it I was avoiding Fate, but Fate keeps bringing me back here. Except this time, I wasn't a part of the group of ill-treated prisoners, but that of someone reliving it.

In this dream, I kept moving forward as if some force were pushing me to walk. All the parts of the camp were revealed to me as I strolled, but I reached some section of the camp I didn't remember seeing or being moved to. It was another block, but I didn't know which one it was and I still can't recall it to memory. I knew that it was far away from where I was stationed last.

Just as naturally as I thought about how I've never seen it before, it was expected that curiosity almost captured me and it did. I eased open the door, creaking as I opened it. There was no light as I looked in. It was dark inside. The smell of Death wasn't there in there, as if it disappeared altogether. I was again curious about that. Something wasn't right here. What I meant to say was…there was a dark block and not a sensation of Death washing over you…strange. There is no life here and no such thing as Death, too.

I went inside, but as soon as I went into the block, there was this sudden blinding light. I couldn't see and tried adjusting it, but when I did bother to see through the light, I saw children. There were children with dark, sullen eyes staring at me. One of them, a little girl of about four was there. It seemed as if I knew her from somewhere. It was my last thought in the dream. That was when I woke up.

This was all I could remember. It was vague in detail, the invisible spirit in me. It was also more chilling to see those children, having to go through this ordeal and possibly die from labor or the gas chambers.

I can't believe that – oops, there goes the radio. I'd better stop writing now. This has got to be the message from London! Concentrate, Nikki, concentrate!

August 25
The Colonel's Quarters – 0225 Hours

I just had a horrible idea, all in thought to that nightmare I had. Thoughts of terrifying dreams came after the good news though. It was after we had received that message from London on a job well done. The news was that Hansel and Gretel are to stand trial for their treasonous activities, the verdict most likely to be guilty, that I celebrated. I was so excited that I ran back up to the barracks to tell Rob.

Of course, I was forgetting that Baker was sleeping there (I knocked him over the bunk and gave him a rude awakening when I opened the tunnels up). But when he saw the enthusiastic features on my face, he overlooked this little accident and smiled. "What news from the north, Ma'am?" he asked me as I turned on the lights and caused a ruckus among the men. My exhilaration and thrill from this piece of news from England was no excuse to wake all of them up in the barracks. And so, the yelling brought out Rob in his pajamas and robe.

"What's the meaning of this?" Rob yelled on top of all of the other excited men.

Smiling in all of this chaos, I chose to holler back. "If you all believe me, I can say that our lovely agents are being brought to trail, as we speak, and are –"

The voices were louder and interrupted what I was going to say. Instead, this time, the men were just as thrilled as I was when I heard the news firsthand. Crowds were forming out of the bunks and were around me. Everyone was chattering away and exchanging cigarettes in merriment. Rob was grinning. He was thinking about the evidence that London might have found in their little hiding hole at Rosemary Lane Back and how we have, again, successfully found out another plot to destroy us. It was too much!

And then we heard the guards coming.

Rob panicked for a split second as he too heard them. Then, just as the door opened, he said, "One, two, three…that's it men, keep going!" At the time, simultaneously as the door opened, the men, all in their night clothes (even me) were dancing to cover up what we were doing (celebrating the news from London, of course). Lit cigarettes were in many a mouth and the men tried to fight who was going to grab me, but LeBeau had the chance to waltz with me as Rob counted our steps. It was the perfect lie and one we have practiced so many times in so many different instances such as crowding.

As we played with this masquerade, Klink and his commando of guards came inside. Schultz was just one of many of them laughing and snickering at our antics, although I believe that Schultz was thinking that we were up to some "monkey business," as he has always called it.

"What is going on here?" Klink bellowed as Rob continued to count up our steps, but by the time our lovely kommandant demanded our cooperation, he signaled that we stop. LeBeau halted me and held me by the hands as we waited to listen to this potential laugh fest played by, no less, Klink, Schultz and Rob.

"Oh, hi, Kommandant," Rob addressed as he pushed himself through the crowds in the barracks. He inched towards the barracks' door and stood face-to-face with our German captors.

"Hogan," Klink started, "I've seen you build a bowling alley, enjoy your fireworks and even played along with your harvest holidays. But dancing at one in the morning?"

"It's one in the morning? Where has the time gone?" one of the men, Corporal Hinkerless, joked, tapping his watch as the remaining company laughed.

"Hogan, silence your men!" Klink stomped his foot. "This is insolence! Schultz, put that man on report!"

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," Schultz said. "But Herr Kommandant, they are RIGHT. When I go to –"

"Ah, shut up," Klink said, obviously becoming more and more irritated with everything as the moments passed. "Hogan, as punishment for your men, you shall fallout an hour early this morning and if there is any more of these nightly activities, it'll be two months in the cooler for everyone in these barracks. Dddddddiiiiiiiiiisssssssss-missed!" Klink saluted and left, with his scoffing guards, in a huff, angry about this. But the news in London is better, and much worth the celebration, than the early fallout. Who cares if we were to have roll call earlier than normal? Two spies are out of business and all that matters if that we're not! The operation is still up and running!

As soon as Klink left, our little party broke up. Everyone was hitting the sack again so that they can stay awake for the early roll call, which was in four hours. LeBeau had let go of me and jumped to his top bunk in a hurry, the one above the entranceway to the tunnels. Carter and Newkirk hopped to their bunks too (Newkirk's long, wavy nightie is still comical to me) and Baker was just able to go back to his post, the bunk of which revealed the secret operation, until I thought of it.

"Hogan…have your men…ammo dump…storm blew away plans and the Germans shot down seven of our ten planes…grab the…at Monowitz …and…destroy…"

Monowitz…the trap I was thinking about…the missing child Marie and how Hansel and Gretel didn't seem so worried about them and demanded that we don't search for her because the old woman was taking care of it. That cryptic message said it all. A piece of it left a clue as to where their child was left and for who knows what reasons. They dumped their child in one of the worst places known to man today. What did the poor child do to deserve such a Fate as that?

Just as Baker was able to hit his head against his cold pillow and go back to sleep, I pushed my way through man and wooden furniture to get to where I wanted to be: the radio room. London had to know about this and fast! A life could depend on it and I don't care if it was only a child! Her life meant the same as mine and everybody else's here!

I tapped the bunk, not caring that the Krauts could have opened the shutters and shone their lights and spotted me escaping. Baker jumped back in surprise. "Ma'am, what you think you're –" he started as he tumbled aside again.

"There's no time to talk!" I said as I climbed down (Rob was running down after me, as was LeBeau, Carter, Newkirk and then Baker, as he recovered from his shock). "There is a life that could depend on this message and I have no time to explain anything. Just trust me! Let me through!"

I hastily went down to the radio room, jumping down the last few steps in the ladder. I felt my ankles ache from impacting the ground as such, but didn't care. Feeling as if I took more time in getting to the radio, I ran and all but tripped over the chair, putting on the headset, pushing the buttons and adjusting the frequency so that I can contact someone at the Head. I knew that there were no Gestapo trucks around because Hochstetter took them away, so I knew that it was safe.

I was also in luck that night: I contacted someone (Baby Bear, who usually takes in our message, no matter the time) at High Command just as all five men reached me, all of them confused. "Baby Bear, this is Desertstar, come in Baby Bear. This is an urgent message, and I repeat, this is an urgent message!" I didn't bother to secure my voice or change it in some distorted way, but I was in such a panic that I didn't care.

Eventually, after a few seconds of static and my frantic breathing, I had someone answer. It was Baby Bear and obviously he was a little tipsy tonight. He usually is.

Slurring his words at first, Baby Bear found his stance and made out some comprehendible words. It took a while, but I kind of understood the basic gist until he created a full, sober sentence. "Desertstar, this is Baby Bear. What seems to be the problem tonight, old lady?"

I sighed with this laughable voice. He must have thought that this was another joke or something in the triumph over what we found, but I set it straight. Drunk or not, an emergency was an emergency and he should have been taught that when he was trained at the radio! "Baby Bear, I repeat for the third time, this is an urgent message. Hansel and Gretel have left a delicate package at Monowitz in occupied territory. I repeat: Hansel and Gretel have left a delicate package at Monowitz. Do you copy me?"

I heard silence on the other end, but I knew that I didn't lose Baby Bear because his breathing was still heard. I could almost smell the alcohol in his breath and again was regretting not staying in England with Carter. I knew Baby Bear also felt disbelief again (I think I sobered him up once more with these radio messages) for I heard, "Desertstar, can you confirm that? There is no evi–"

People are so slow tonight, I thought as I said, "There is. There is that memorandum from Hansel and Gretel we had, plus the implications they mentioned when they were visited last. Send a postman there to get it and be careful on this trip. There are a lot of dangers everywhere!" I was panicking again.

"Roger, I copy, Desertstar. I'll review it with the betters. And considering the noise you made with the betters, they would not be pleased with this latest night message. I have many thanks for this speech and not by the book. Over and out." The radio went dead afterward and I left myself with the headset still on and the microphone in suspense in my hand.

I slowly, after a few minutes, realized my position and took everything off of me. For a few seconds, I remembered that I spoke without the code to London and almost put the operation in danger again. Then incredulity washed over me. I couldn't believe it – I still can't – that that was the trap they set for me, because they knew what happened to me. And they wanted to prove it to Hochstetter who I was, how I acted and the positions at Stalag 13. We were in a lot more danger than I thought.

"Do you mind telling us what this is about?" Rob demanded as I sat there with thoughts flying in and out of my head.

"You heard it, as did everything else in this room," I snapped back, well aware that my emotion was coming before reason again. "If you think about it, and not criticize my paranoid thoughts, then you'll know." And with that, I left and came back here to write. I am still pissed at Rob for not seeing the gravity of the situation and he damned well think about it while he stews about my actions, ones in which he should have figured out!

It is only two hours before roll call and I still can't sleep. Rob isn't in here, but outside in the main room, talking. I don't feel like eavesdropping today so I might as well leave him as is and not torment him later with my own rages. I have more important thoughts to ponder and a child, constantly on my mind, needs to be saved from her parents' follies. If I could save a life from there, then I could go the lengths to do it, hands down.

Feelings of despair come upon me in this hour. It just seems that my nightmares keep coming back in real life and I had hoped to escape them…but it will forever come behind me.