In Hogan's quarters, the silence was broken by a single sentence, uttered very softly by the colonel: "Oh, you son of a bitch."

Neither LeBeau nor Kinch said a word. Kinch was shaking his head in disbelief, while LeBeau stared at the coffee pot with an expression suggesting he was contemplating storming across the compound to Klink's office and strangling Hochstetter with his bare hands.

The Gestapo major was quite satisfied with the result of his tactic; the prisoner had remained calm, but Hochstetter knew he'd got to him. "Fräulein Weiss spent quite some time with us, not long afterwards," he said. "She maintained that she had seen you more than once."

"No. I only met her the one time." Newkirk was still looking at Gretel's photo. It was all he could do to keep from reaching out and touching it.

"But you would have liked to see her again."

Newkirk shook his head slowly, but found he couldn't say the words to go with it.

"You know, I have been curious," Hochstetter went on. "Most escaping prisoners head for the coast, or Switzerland, as fast as they can. You're the only one I've ever known who stopped off in the nearest town to pick up a barmaid. She must have been something special, at the time. I'm sure you understand, she wasn't at her best during the time I spent with her."

Again, there was no reply, but Newkirk was breathing deeply as he took in what was implied by that last statement.

"Would you like to know where she is now? Because I have that information."

Still no response

"All I require from you is the answer to one very simple question," said Hochstetter. He came closer, and put a hand on Newkirk's shoulder, then leaned forward, and spoke three words, very softly, into Newkirk's ear.

The microphone failed to pick up anything other than a faint incomprehensible whisper, and the listeners in the barracks exchanged startled looks. "What did he say?" said Hogan sharply. Kinch shook his head, spreading out his hands, while LeBeau bent his head closer to the speaker, frowning in concentration.

There was no sound for several seconds, then they heard Newkirk's reply: "I don't know what you mean, Major." Perfectly calm, slightly puzzled; the ideal response to any interrogation question.

LeBeau knew him too well to be fooled. He drew back, his eyes darkening. "Colonel..." he began, then broke off, as the door opened behind Kinch.

"Excuse me, Colonel," said Addison, "but you probably want to know. Two more cars just came in the main gate. Gestapo, from the look of them."

"LeBeau, go and look." Hogan was not willing to miss any part of the conversation in the Kommandant's office. But there was no further sound before LeBeau returned.

"It's Rohmer," he reported. "He's brought half a dozen men with him."

A few moments later, the sound of Rohmer's arrival in Klink's office came through. And Rohmer was not a happy Gestapo.

"Major Hochstetter," he snapped out, "I thought it was made clear in the orders from Berlin, you are to undertake no independent investigations in this matter."

Hochstetter's response was tetchy. "Thank you, Captain. However, unlike you, I am able to handle more than one active case at a time. I am here to question the prisoners about an occurrence at Weizenfeld. An anti-aircraft installation was destroyed by saboteurs, leaving the communications station open to attack by enemy bombers."

"What the hell...? Where did that come from?" murmured Hogan. If only Hochstetter were really here about that; it would be so much simpler.

The same thought had occurred to Newkirk, but he kept it to himself. That last question of Hochstetter's had thrown him, and suddenly the whole affair had turned inside out. But he pushed it to one side; there was an immediate crisis to be sorted before he could start trying to make sense of the wider picture.

Rohmer wasn't buying the major's story. He turned to Newkirk. "Is this true?" he demanded truculently.

Newkirk shrugged. "He's asking a lot of questions," he replied, his manner indicative of being fairly well fed up with it. "I don't know anything about anything, so I can't help him. And if I could, I wouldn't."

He stood up, and met Rohmer's searching gaze without faltering. "Can I go back to the cooler now, sir?"

The captain was taller than Hochstetter, and stood eye-to-eye with Newkirk. For several seconds, he continued his scrutiny, before nodding to one of the men who had come in with him. "Take him away."

For almost a minute, after Newkirk's removal, neither of the two Gestapo officers spoke.

Rohmer picked up the document which still lay on Klink's desk. "Fräulein Weiss," he said, in a pleasant, conversational tone. "Interesting. I've been looking at that case, Herr Major. Not one of your finest moments."

Hochstetter didn't so much as blink. The captain shrugged. "Well, she won't be needing identity papers any more, will she?" he remarked, and dropped the card into the waste-paper basket.

"No, she won't," replied Hochstetter coldly, "but her documents are still useful to me." He made no attempt to retrieve the item, but stood back, head tilted back slightly so that he could still look down on the taller man. It was a standard technique of his, and it was generally quite effective. Rohmer's eyes flickered uneasily, before he turned away, and began to remove his gloves.

"Do you know what the rumour is in Berlin at the moment, Major Hochstetter?" he asked.

"I don't listen to rumours, Captain."

"You'll be interested in this one. It concerns yourself, your brother, and your sister-in-law."

He seemed pleased at Hochstetter's reaction to that disclosure, and went on. "Of course, it was very commendable that you were sufficiently impartial to provide the information that led to Captain Hochstetter's arrest - it's a shame it ended so badly, isn't it?" He sent a bright, malicious glance at the major. "However, the unofficial opinion around headquarters isn't quite so favorable. Some people are saying that your motive for informing on your brother was to give yourself a clear run at his wife."

Yet another shock for the listeners across the compound. Hogan had never understood just what was encompassed by the word gobsmacked, until now. From the looks on the faces of Kinch and LeBeau, they were as flabbergasted as he was; probably as repulsed, as well.

"Some people have too much time on their hands," replied Hochstetter, after a lengthy pause.

"I met her a few times in Berlin, you know," Rohmer went on. "Quite charming. I'm sure nobody could blame you for taking an interest. But the fact is, she's implicated in her husband's activities, Herr Major. So if you know where she is, I suggest you follow your duty."

"I have no idea where she might be." Hochstetter stared him straight in the eyes as he spoke.

Once again, it was Rohmer who blinked first. He looked past Hochstetter for a few seconds, then said abruptly, "For the time being, until your part in your brother's activities is clarified, orders from Berlin have placed all Gestapo investigations in the Hammelburg area under my command. That includes your sabotage case at Weizenfeld. If you intend to continue questioning the prisoners here, it will be under my observation."

"Nothing could give me greater pleasure, Captain," growled Hochstetter. "However, the interview you just interrupted was the last. Unfortunately this line of enquiry has proven to be a dead end."

"In that case, Major, I can proceed with my own interrogations relating to the whereabouts of your sister-in-law," concluded Rohmer, with a smile. "And as I'm already here..."

In the barracks, Hogan straightened up. "Not if I can help it."

Leaving his men staring at each other, he left the barracks and strode over towards Klink's office. As he approached, the Kommandant appeared around the end of the building, returning from his private quarters where he had taken refuge. He peered fretfully at the senior POW officer.

"Hogan, I thought you were confined to barracks," he grumbled.

"By Hochstetter's orders, not yours, Kommandant," replied Hogan briskly. "Now, I don't know about you, but I don't like that man. He's not our type." He noted that Klink drew himself a little upright. "It's not good enough. We deserve a better class of Gestapo," he went on.

With intent, he had allowed his voice to grow slightly shrill, and Klink shrank back. "Now is not a good time, Hogan," he muttered; then, in an undervoice, "There are two of them in there now. Schultz just told me."

"Well, that's just great." Hogan added a few decibels. "The more the merrier. Does General Burkhalter know we've got 'em? "

"Well, of course he..." Klink's voice trailed off, as he suddenly realised he had no idea whether Burkhalter had been consulted. A gleam of spiteful glee illuminated his face. "Hogan, back to your barracks. I'm going to call the general. We'll soon see about this."

He spun on his heel and swept off to his quarters.

Just as Hogan had hoped, the discussion had been sufficiently loud to attract attention from inside the office, and as Klink went out of sight, Captain Rohmer emerged. "What is going on here?" he demanded brusquely. "Who is this man?"

"Colonel Robert Hogan, senior prisoner-of-war officer." Hogan snapped off a salute, and looked enquiringly at the captain.

Rohmer remained standing on the steps, looking down at him with an expression of distaste. "Captain Rohmer. Gestapo, Berlin. What can I do for you, Colonel?"

"I'm here to register a formal protest," said Hogan. He had to buy some time for Klink to make his call. "Major Hochstetter has three of the prisoners locked up in solitary, and has been questioning one of them without either myself or Kommandant Klink being present. Now, the Geneva Prisoner Of War Convention is quite clear..."

"I'm sure it is." Rohmer glanced over his shoulder at Hochstetter, who had followed him out of the office, and was standing back with the air of a man anticipating an enjoyable spectacle, no matter which of the protagonists came off best. "However, we're not in Geneva, Colonel Hogan, and in the Gestapo we make our own rules."

Hogan rolled his eyes upwards. "I know that, of course. But this time, he's gone too far. There are limits, even for the Gestapo, and Major Hochstetter just crossed them."

"Really, Hogan?" said Hochstetter. "And what did I do that has so offended you?"

In a tone of righteous indignation, Hogan replied. "You interrupted our volleyball game." Seeing the look which passed between the two of them, he added, "Yes, I know, it may not sound important to you. But that was the final tryout before deciding on our championship team. We're playing Stalag 9 next week, the winning team goes through to the semifinals. And it's very important that we have a strong side. They're pretty hot stuff at Stalag 9."

Rohmer looked slightly stunned at the turn of the discussion, and glanced at Hochstetter again, as if seeking enlightenment. Hogan decided to push it a little further.

"Of course, if we win that one, the next round should be a walkover. 4th Panzer Division team. I hear they play like girls. It's always the same with the tank corps...Oh, sorry, Captain, were you in a Panzer division? Well, you probably know all about it then." He lowered his voice confidentially. "You know, I heard they took an absolute pasting in an out-of-season match against the Russians at Kursk last year."

Rohmer seemed about to reply, but the words were never spoken. He looked past Hogan, his face contracting into a scowl. Hogan didn't even need to turn his head to know Klink was approaching.

"Ah, gentlemen." There was a triumphant ring in the Kommandant's voice. "I've just been speaking to General Burkhalter. He was most interested to hear that you were here at Stalag 13."

Rohmer and Hochstetter exchanged furious glances. The thought in each man's mind was clear: You didn't clear it with Burkhalter first...?

"Ask Rohmer about it." Hochstetter got his shot in before the captain could gather his wits. "He's in charge."

"But you were here first, Major," Rohmer snapped back.

"Now, now. Play nice," interjected Hogan. "Otherwise we won't invite you again."

Klink had no intention of losing the high ground in this battle. "I'm not interested in who is responsible. The simple fact is, neither of you has any authority to question the prisoners." The two Gestapo officers turned their hostile glares from each other and directed them at him, and his resolve wavered. Involuntarily, he moved slightly behind Hogan before he continued. "General Burkhalter will be here himself later this afternoon, after his staff meeting. Until then, his orders are that no further interrogations are to take place, and the prisoners in the cooler are to return to the barracks."

Hochstetter's eyes, sharp with suspicion, turned towards Hogan, who was looking smugly innocent. Rohmer's attention was fixed on Klink. "Kommandant, I think you have made a mistake," he observed. "It is never wise to interfere with Gestapo business."

Klink blanched, and looked appealingly at Hogan. But it was Hochstetter who came to the rescue, albeit in a nasty way. "My dear Captain, if Klink never did anything unwise, he'd never do anything at all," he remarked. "As for the men in the cooler, they can be released. I've finished with them."

"And if I want to question them?"

"They won't be far away. Will they, Kommandant? What is it you're always saying?"

"Nobody escapes from Stalag 13." Hogan beat the Kommandant to it. He wrinkled his brow, and then added, "Well, maybe a guard or two, now and then, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count."

"Hogan, please...!" whispered Klink desperately. "Go back to your barracks. I'll have your men released."

He scuttled off to speak to Schultz, who was loitering nervously at a safe distance. Rohmer uttered a low, frustrated grunt, and strode back into the office.

"He's very touchy, isn't he?' said Hogan, raising his eyebrows. He turned to Hochstetter with a half-smile suggestive of mild bemusement. "Are they all like that in Berlin? No wonder you moved south, Major."

"Hogan, I suggest you follow the Kommandant's orders, and return to the barracks," replied Hochstetter. "If you will excuse me..."

He swept past Hogan and went towards his car, where his own men were waiting, keeping aloof from the contingent that had arrived with Rohmer. Hogan, strolling back across the yard as if he had nothing of importance on his mind, watched out of the corner of his eye, as Hochstetter spoke briefly to Lehmann. Then the major went back to the Kommandant's office, while Lehmann got into the car and drove towards the gate.

Now, that's interesting, thought Hogan. Clearly neither Rohmer nor Hochstetter intended to quit the camp, but the major had sent off the only surviving eyewitness.

Entering the barracks, he glanced around. His manner changed as soon as the door closed behind him. "Right, things are heating up," he said. "LeBeau, how soon can Elise's clothes be ready?"

LeBeau considered. "A day or so, maybe. Newkirk's done a lot of the work already."

"No good. You've got four hours, and you might have to make some alterations." At the look of consternation which crossed LeBeau's face, he added quickly, "I know; but we have to work with what we've got. There's no way I'm sending her out through the emergency tunnel, not with half a dozen SS hanging around within sight of it. There's only one way to get her out of here."

"And how's that, Colonel?" asked Kinch.

Hogan's eyes had that faraway look that meant he was mentally playing out the scheme that he had just devised. He smiled. It could work. It could just work.

"She's going to walk right out the front gate," he said.