Chapter 44

The following morning at roll call, Hogan and his men were standing in formation waiting while Schultz counted each man. In fact, he was counting a second time because the men, mainly Newkirk and LeBeau, messed up his count the first time thus causing the guard to lose count and have to start over. An amused smile came to Hogan's face and he sighed. When the obese guard got to the Senior officer, a small smile appeared on his face and a twinkle appeared in his eyes.

"Get some good news, Schultz?" asked Hogan curiously.

The guard leaned forward. "Colonel Hogan, the phony was removed from camp by Luftwaffe Intelligence last night. Corporal Langenscheidt told me."

"Really?" Hogan asked arching his eyebrows. "Huh. No wonder I haven't seen him today."

"But he was in the cooler," Schultz protested. "Nobody was allowed to see him."

Hogan shrugged. "A mere detail." He saw Schultz make a face. Hogan gave his best innocent look. "Something else happen, Schultz?"

"I also heard that it was really the Gestapo that came into camp disguised as Luftwaffe Intelligence."

Hogan shook his head. "Gestapo, eh? No wonder General Burkhalter looks like he choked on his swastika this morning."

"Schultz, are you going to spend the entire morning talking with the prisoners?" asked a voice behind the large guard. Schultz turned slowly, swallowing hard, to see Klink standing behind him. He saluted shakily.

"I'm sorry, Herr Kommandant. I…I…I was just counting…"

Klink sighed wearily. He hadn't yet recovered from the incident of the night before. "Schultz, the war would be over by the time you finished counting. Now, is everybody here or not?"

"All prisoners present and accounted for, Herr Kommandant."

"Good." Klink then stormed forward and stood face-to-face with Hogan. "Hogan, if I didn't know better, I would swear you had something to do with that mix-up concerning Luftwaffe Intelligence last night."

Hogan gave the Kommandant his best 'offended' look. "Me? So that's what has old roly-poly's underwear in a knot." There were snickers and guffaws heard.

Klink stiffened. "You will cease referring to General Burkhalter as old roly-poly."

Hogan shrugged. "I could, sir. But somehow I don't think the name skinny is fitting." There were more guffaws and snickers.

The Kommandant stomped his foot and shook his fist in anger at his American counterpart. "Hogaaaaannnn! I'm warning you!"

Hogan tilted his head slightly. "I have an idea, sir. Why don't we ask General Burkhalter whether he prefers roly-poly or skinny?"

"Hrmph! Forget it!" He looked at his Sergeant-of-the-Guard. "Schultz, dismiss your men!" He turned and stomped away.

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," said Schultz. "Prisoners, dismissed!" As the men dispersed, Hogan approached Schultz and leaned forward.

"The Kommandant seemed upset. Was it something I said?" Hogan saw Schultz roll his eyes before walking away. Hogan smirked before turning and following his men inside the barracks.

It was after breakfast that Hogan, followed by his team, walked towards the double bunk. He slapped the hidden mechanism, and waited for the lower bunk to rise and the ladder to drop.

"You sure you wanna do this alone, Gov'nor?" asked Newkirk worriedly. "I mean, the bloody bastard's gonna be in for a shock just seein' you alive as it is, and I know he's shackled and tied up, but I still don't trust 'im."

"Newkirk's right, Colonel," added Kinch. "At least let one of us come with you."

"No need," Hogan replied stepping over the lower bed frame and onto the ladder. "Besides, Olsen and Simmons are guarding our friend and they're armed, so I'll be all right." He started down the ladder and suddenly stopped. "Kinch, contact the underground and speak with Karl. Tell him we're gonna need four men in twenty-four hours to escort several prisoners to a rendezvous with a courier plane. I'll get back to him later once I arrange things with Klink."

"Right, Colonel," Kinch said stepping forward.

"Then contact Bluebird and tell him I will get back to him in forty-eight hours about revealing the whereabouts of the bodies of van Kueren and Gower. But we need to get rid of Wylie first." He glanced at the Englander. "They're also gonna need regular Luftwaffe uniforms, Newkirk, and we'll need a truck from the motor pool again. Carter, you can handle the truck and make sure it's left in the woods tomorrow night outside of camp."

"You got it, boy," Carter said excitedly. "I mean, Colonel."

"Uniforms will be ready, sir," Newkirk added.

Then with a nod, Hogan climbed down the ladder followed by Kinch and Newkirk. As Newkirk disappeared in the direction of the changing room, Kinch disappeared in the direction of the radio room. But Hogan made a beeline for the rear tunnels that were usually vacant except for when they had guests, checking each one until he heard voices, and recognized it was Olsen and Simmons talking to each other. Pausing beside the entrance of the tunnel, Hogan placed a hand against the wall and took a deep, deep breath. He needed a way to get Wylie to talk because the man would never volunteer information. And before he confronted him, Hogan knew he needed to try a different approach. Then a slow smile appeared as an idea came to him. He would have to trick him into talking by playing to the man's weakness, and that was belittling him and accusing him of incompetence. Then taking a deep breath and letting it out, he walked into the room. Olsen and Simmons looked up spotting their commanding officer; Wylie, who's back was to the entrance, noticed their eye movement and turned his head. His eyes widened like saucers when he saw Hogan.

"Remove the gag," Hogan ordered, "Then give us some privacy. Our friend and I need to have a little talk."

As Simmons removed the gag, Olsen looked at Hogan. "Are you sure, Colonel? We don't trust this guy even if he is restrained."

"I'll be fine," Hogan assured them as he came closer. "But I will take this," he added relieving Olsen of his weapon. Then, he watched both men leave the room. Hogan then grabbed a nearby chair, placed it in front of the prisoner at a safe distance, turned it around, and straddled it with both arms resting on its back. He held the weapon tightly in his hand and pointed it at Wylie's chest, his finger on the trigger.

"Well, well, well…" Wylie snickered staring at Hogan. "My congratulations on still being alive, Hogan. I apparently underestimated you and that dimwitted Sergeant Carter." He smirked. "How is that weakling anyway?"

Hogan knew Wylie was trying to bait him by insulting his men, and wasn't going to fall for it. "Carter's fine. Thanks for asking."

Wylie smirked again. "Tell me something. How did you pull it off? What I mean is you defeating death."

This time it was Hogan's turn to smirk. "It was simple. After Newkirk found the Lugers hidden in Schultz's quarters behind the nightstand, he simply replaced the live ammo with blanks. I was wearing red vegetable dye packets under my shirt. Carter did the rest, and voila, I appear to be dead."

Wylie shook his head. "I should've gotten rid of that damn Englander and that little French frog when I had the chance."

Hogan ignored the remarks. "I have some questions and I want the truth," he stated. He watched as the man shifted a bit in his seat as if trying to get comfortable.

"And why should I tell you anything?" the man asked sarcastically believing he could still outwit the officer.

Hogan smirked at the man's arrogance. "You will answer my questions, Wylie." He noticed the look of surprise on the man's face realizing Hogan knew who he really was.

"How did you find out who I am?" Wylie sneered glaring at Hogan.

Hogan chuckled. "You'd be amazed at what the underground found out about you." He watched the man grind his lower jaw. "Now, let's start again, shall we? Hating me is not a valid reason for turning one's back on one's country. So why did you?"

"You seem to know so much, Hogan. Why don't you tell me?"

Hogan smirked. "You haven't changed one bit. You're still unable to take responsibility for anything that's your fault. It's no wonder I had you reassigned to another unit." He saw Wylie's face darken from anger.

"You want to know so damn bad, you bastard? Fine, then I'll tell you!" Wylie hissed. "While I was growing up, my mother told me about her parents who lived in Germany. When I was older, I visited them each summer. The more I visited; the more I got to know the people and the German politics. I even attended several pro-Hitler rallies whenever I was in Germany, and a lot of what they said began to make sense to me."

Hogan was appalled. "You mean you became a Nazi sympathizer before becoming a member of the 504th?" His eyebrows knitted together. Hogan had always known there was something off about Wylie, but he had to admit he never suspected this. Nothing had prepared him for the revelation that one of the men in his command was a Nazi sympathizer. But it did explain a lot.

"I became more than a sympathizer, Hogan. I believed in what Hitler was preaching. In fact, after joining the military and being stationed in England, I continued attending meetings of the German underground with my girlfriend who was already a member. Met some other very interesting people at these meetings. They convinced me my beliefs in Hitler were justified."

"You're a disgrace to that uniform, soldier," Hogan sneered, his eyes dark and eyebrows knitted together. "A disgrace and a traitor."

"So are you, sir. You with your smug, arrogant attitude," Wylie said sarcastically. "You think you're so much better than everybody else, and those who don't meet with your approval the hell with them. You needed to be knocked down a peg, and my friends in the German underground helped me do that."

"Helped you commit treason, you mean," Hogan didn't like where this conversation was going.

"So what? You think I give a shit what you call it? Remember that bombing mission in which you were nearly shot down because you met with heavy resistance?" He could tell from Hogan's face that he did and it delighted him to no end.

"What about it?"

Wylie chuckled. "I told my girlfriend about that upcoming mission. She passed on the information to the people in the underground."

Hogan shook his head sadly. The problem with Wylie was far worse than he originally believed. Wylie hating him was bad enough, but once he crossed the line and disclosed Allied information to the German underground, there was no turning back. He wondered how could he have missed this in one of the men under his command?

"And I suppose since you were already a traitor, it was easy for Major Hochstetter and the Gestapo to talk you into this elaborate plan of theirs?"

Wylie sneered. "Nobody talked me into anything! See, that's the trouble with you. You think nobody can think for themselves, and have to rely solely on you to think for them. Well let me tell you something, Hogan. You aren't the big hotshot you think you are! You're nothing! That's why you lost your last command!"

Hogan's jaw muscles tensed at the mentioning of the bombing mission in which he was shot down over Hamburg. It still pained him remembering the number of men he lost that day. And to have it thrown back in his face by a traitor like Wylie was too much. But he could not afford to lose his temper, so, he fought to keep his anger under control and not lose it at this point. But Wylie had seen the change in Hogan's expression.

"Can't stand the truth, hotshot? About time somebody stood up to you since none of these poor saps here will. You lost your last command and you'll probably lose this one because of your arrogance and holier-than-thou attitude. That's why it was so easy to get some of your own men to turn on you." He chuckled at that last sentence. "And since you need things explained to you like a child, on my last bombing raid with my new unit, after my plane was hit I was forced to bail out. I was captured by a Gestapo patrol and oddly enough, I was taken before Major Hochstetter. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the Major and I had something in common; we both shared an intense dislike of you. Once he learned of my hatred of you and my love of Germany, that's when he asked for my help to prove you were this Papa Bear and expose you as the saboteur and spy he knows you to be. I readily agreed. But first I had to undergo plastic surgery to change my appearance. The healing process took nearly a year, so, I used that time to read everything the Major had on you since you became a POW. It was decided that I should pretend to be you and disrupt things here plus work on your men, especially the ones who don't know you like I do." He stared with a smile at the bandaged hand. "And you know what happened after I was assigned here. By the way, how's your hand?"

Hogan could feel a headache beginning. "Never mind. Y'know, I find it hard to believe it was your idea to have me killed. That sounds more like old Wolfie's style. You don't have the brains to come up with that plan." He saw Wylie's face darken and knew the man was losing control.

"The original idea was to uncover your operation and expose you as Papa Bear. But you became too much trouble in the end and I felt I should kill you instead. Oh, the Major wouldn't like it because that wasn't my assignment, but I didn't care at that point what he wanted. I figure if I got rid of you, it would be easier to expose your operation with less trouble. I thought the doctored cigarettes would do the job, but I didn't think you'd give 'em to that English bastard."

"Why did you force Carter to do your dirty work for you in the end instead of doing it yourself? I mean, that's what I would have done."

"Two reasons. I figured making him do it would serve a dual purpose. One, it would destroy Carter because he would suffer for the rest of his life knowing that he killed you, and two, I knew the best way to hurt you would be to hurt one of your men. That was always your weakness, Hogan."

"I suppose Corporal Gower was assigned here to assist you with this little plan of the Major's, and Captain van Kueren supplied the Corporal with whatever you needed to complete your assignment."

"Doesn't matter. Not to you anyway. But when they find out where I'm being held, they are going to tear this camp apart board-by-board and nail-by-nail until your entire operation is exposed."

Hogan chuckled. "I wouldn't expect too much help from Gower or van Kueren, Wylie," Hogan explained. "See, both of them are dead. Courtesy of the Gestapo."

"You lie!" Wylie shouted angrily. "They'll come and get me. You'll see. And when they do, you, your men, and all the people who are too stupid will find you've led them in front of a firing squad."

Hogan got his feet and began to pace, rubbing the back of his neck. Suddenly, he ceased, turned, and looked back at Wylie.

"Wait a minute. You said your girlfriend was a member of the German underground."

"That's right. Her name is Aloisia. And she is waiting for me back in England. We're gonna be married just so you know. She will be delighted when I tell her I've gotten the ultimate revenge on you as well as exposed you and your entire operation against the Fatherland. And just because you have me currently at a disadvantage, don't think you've won. I will see you dead along with the French frog, that English bastard, and the simple-minded Carter. The Major can have the rest of the men. It's you that I want! And it's you I'll have!"

"Aloisia? Blond hair? Blue eyes?" Hogan asked.

"What do you want to know for?" Wylie wasn't about to reveal anything about Aloisia to Hogan. He would give his life to protect her and those working with her in the underground.

Hogan burst out laughing. So that was her name. He noticed Wylie seemed confused. "I broke up a German underground unit working there. The leader's name was Schindler. He was married to a much younger woman fitting the description of your girlfriend. Only her name was Aloisia Schindler. The members of her and her husband's little group were all arrested…men and women. There were twelve of them in that group I believe. I know Schindler was hanged. The others were either executed or are incarcerated."(1)

"You're a liar!" Wylie screamed straining against his restraints. "She's waiting for me back in London. You're a filthy liar and a bastard!" His face turned a deep shade of red and his eyes hardened. "I swear I will see you dead! I promise you that!"

Hogan, now knowing what he wanted from Wylie, exhaled through his nose as he moved the chair out of the way, then turned and left the room hearing Wylie screaming at his back the worse stream of obscenities he had ever heard. He bumped into Newkirk as he walked out the opening. The Englander's face indicated he had heard at least part of the conversation.

"You all right, Gov'nor?" Newkirk asked, worried. "I was waiting out here just in case you needed help. I heard most of what was said." He glanced over Hogan's shoulder at Wylie who was glaring at Hogan over his own shoulder still screaming. "I see our friend's a mite upset."

Hogan handed Newkirk his gun. "Just a mite, ole chap," Hogan responded in a fake British accent. "But I'm okay. I'm going upstairs."

"I'll keep an eye on 'im, sir."

Hogan looked at Newkirk warily. "Do I need to be worried, Newkirk?" he asked.

"No, sir. As much as I want to slit his ruddy throat and watch him bleed out, I promise I won't stink up the tunnels with the smell of his rotting corpse." His words gave Hogan pause, but he trusted Newkirk to keep his word. So he simply nodded, and walked away in the direction of the radio room.

Once Hogan was out of sight, Newkirk stared at Wylie who was now glaring at him, and entered the room and approached the prisoner. He tucked the gun in the waistband of his trousers, reached under the back of his jacket collar, and removed his pencil sharpener. Then with a smirk, he tilted Wylie's head slightly upward by lifting it with the knife blade under his chin. "I suggest you watch your bleedin' mouth when you talk about the Gov'nor. See, I'm just itchin' to slit your ruddy throat despite what I told the Colonel."

Wylie glared at Newkirk with all the hatred he could muster. "You haven't got the nerve, you Cockney bastard. And as for Hogan, I'll say whatever I damn well want!"

Newkirk then stuck his other hand in his pants pocket and pulled out a wrinkled handkerchief. He jammed it into Wylie's mouth gagging him.

"I said I was itchin' to slit your throat, but I promised Colonel Hogan I wouldn't. And I'm a man of me word to me mates. So if I shut you up, and can't hear your mouth, then I can't break me word now can I?" Newkirk smirked and grabbed the chair Hogan had vacated. Moving it against the wall, he sat down, leaned it back against the wall, crossed his legs, and smiled.

(1) Herr Schindler is from the episode Easy Come, Easy Go, Season 6.