"Too bloody right!" Newkirk grinned.
"Home!" Carter chimed, teeth gleaming in the darkness.
Hogan still felt the weight in his stomach. He didn't like the idea of simply leaving Lt. Piotkin and his men in the camp. There were too many things that could go wrong, even with the strong start that the Russian prisoners had.
"Have you responded to this message?"
"Dah. But, no reply yet. Mail is…slow." Igor said, smirking wryly.
"I had heard there was a war on. That sort of thing gums up the works." Hogan said, trying to lighten his mood, but he couldn't shake the dread. "The least we can do is give you some of the goodies we brought."
Igor and Nestor exchanged surprised looks then followed Hogan as he led the way back to the vehicles.
Most of the rest of the night was spent off-loading the truck, explaining the original purpose behind the uniforms and armament to Piotkin and his chosen second-in-command, and giving the Russians as detailed a 'how to run a secret sabotage and escape operation out of a prison camp' manual as possible.
"I'd suggest you write all this down somewhere, but you'd have to memorize it and eat it anyway. Why waste the writing paper?" Hogan said, after watching Piotkin's head spin a few times with the bombardment of supplies and information.
The food parcels LeBeau and the ladies at the farm had made, and the radio with its own portable power supply were the biggest hits, and both Piotkin and Nestor took turns operating the machinery. Nestor, especially, was impressed with the way the radio had been rebuilt and he and Caine immediately began to discuss improvements for the piece in Russian. When Caine produced the manual that they had used at the Werner farm, Nestor's eyes widened like a kid in a candy store and he took the book delicately in both hands. It didn't seem to matter that the whole thing was in German. He cracked it open and peered closely at the diagrams under the beam of Caine's flashlight.
Once the chain of men carrying supplies into the tunnels was working on its own Hogan walked over to the staff car where Hochstetter was sitting in the passenger seat with the door open, and his feet resting on a tamped pile of snow.
"There's been a change of plans." Hogan said.
"Yah." Hochstetter mumbled, sourly. "Hogan, our agreement was to use the truck and the supplies to break the prisoners out of this camp and aid them in getting to the allies. Not to organize yet another underground sabotage and escape center. I can not-"
"Let me make it easier for you, Hochstetter." Hogan said and pulled the gun from the holster he'd worn with his uniform. In the same moment the colonel reached out and took Hochstetter's gun away from him, then waited until the tension in the major's shoulders had dissipated. "You will, because you don't have a choice. You're now my prisoner. That make things better for you?"
Hochstetter considered the situation then nodded, sneering. "Yah. Yah it does."
"Good. Now feel free to relax while we finish things up here, then we'll move on to the next plan."
"And that is?" Hochstetter asked, no longer concerned about the previous agreement. Sitting on his own for so long the major had begun to consider just what was going to happen to him once his wife and children were safe. He had not intended that he would be going with them.
Now that he had been thoroughly reminded of how unscrupulous Hogan could be, even when they had set out to achieve the same goal, Hochstetter was toying with the idea of betraying the man. Starting with the operation here at Gusen, and sweeping across into Germany, he would not stop until he had felled the entire system like dominoes.
Hogan smiled softly, watching the Gestapo major and reading the thoughts playing across his face. He was a truly terrible liar, and would have made a dreadful spy. "I'll let you know when I need ya." Hogan said, then turned back to watch the rest of the unloading.
"Only three men? You're sure?" Hogan asked, eyeing the three Russians standing eager and bright eyed outside the small shack. They were the same three men scheduled to be dead and buried by morning and had needed little time to prepare their 'going away' packages.
"I have good...team." Igor said, nodding firmly. "Most of men in Gusen are happy to be fighting again, even stuck in prison camp. They prefer to stay, so we send out new men."
"And you're sure you want back in?" Hogan asked, looking pointedly at Caine next who held his old Russian uniform in his hands, still dressed as an SS man. On top of the pile of clothes was a pair of brand new insignia that Caine would sew on later. He was entering the camp in the place of one of the NCO's escaping, and Igor and Nestor had both agreed he could do more good in the officer's barracks than The Zoo.
Caine nodded, smiling. "I am needed here, far more than I could ever be in Russia, or with my family. Hopefully we will all...see each other again?"
Hogan, flanked by Carter and Newkirk shook hands with each of the men, thankful to avoid the bone crushing hugs this time.
"We'll make contact as soon as we can. Be careful." Hogan emphasized, hanging onto Caine's hand a second longer than the others.
Before he could turn to go Igor Piotkin barked a soft order and Caine, Nestor and the Lieutenant snapped to attention, saluting crisply.
Hogan felt something pang in his chest and as he and his men returned the salutes, the American colonel hoped that whatever angels had been watching over the Stalag 13 crew would take up residence in Austria for a while.
"Stay alive." He said, before he and his men headed back for the vehicles.
Meanwhile the newest members of the underground, code name Nesting Doll, disappeared back into their tunnel.
"Where to now, Colonel?" Carter asked as they collected around the truck. With the three escaping Russian POWs, Hogan now had nineteen people under his care and crowding around him. That wasn't counting the women they had left with LeBeau at the farm.
Hochstetter had been watched under gun point most of the night. Hogan was sure he would have tried stealing the truck or raising an alarm if he hadn't been.
"We go back to Herr Limler's place to pick up our pigeons, then we head west. You fellas can come with us, or follow the escape route through the farm." Hogan said, gesturing to the three easterners.
He had to repeat the option in barely remembered Russian before one of them responded plainly, "You, sir!"
"Alright. We reserved enough uniforms for everyone in civilian clothes. We'll change at the farm. Anyone not in German uniform is a POW being transferred to a Stalag in Germany. We'll come up with the reason later. Same arrangements as before only we'll put LeBeau in the back of the truck, Newkirk, you'll drive the staff car. Any questions?"
Once more Hogan was greeted with silence and he gave a nod. "We're almost through, fellas. If you can sleep, do so. Next stop is Stalag 13."
The trip back into Germany went even smoother than the trip out. They crossed over the border in the early hours of the morning and with the women well hidden, and all the men dressed as Russian POWs, the guards did little more than glance in the back of the truck before waving it through. The staff car was waved on without any hesitation and as the sun rose an exhausted Newkirk took the lead, pointing the staff car west.
Hogan had kept the note from London, and had pulled it out and read it more than a dozen times as they traveled. It didn't feel real. He'd imagined all along that his duty station at the stalag would end one of two ways. He'd be shot as a spy, or they would be liberated. Few other options ever really entered his mind, and he didn't like the idea of leaving a job undone.
His men on the other hand seemed ecstatic.
All but LeBeau, at first. His country still occupied by Axis powers, he didn't have his own home to go to. He had long wanted to join the Free French Airforce, however, and fight with more than a whisk and a spatula in his hands. That thought had put an intent look of fulfillment on his face.
Hogan was wondering himself what he would do, where he would be assigned, and what could possibly top his work at the stalag.
"What do you intend to do with me, Herr Colonel?" Hochstetter asked from two feet away in the back seat of the car and Hogan almost jumped. The major had been silent, and he had assumed, asleep for the past few hours.
"That depends on your cooperation, Major." Hogan responded, rerouting his thoughts.
"I have not made any trouble for you." Hochstetter pointed out, sounding more like he was trying to win an argument.
"No. But you've been thinking about it." Hogan said. He'd kept the gun handy, and pointed at the major for the first hour of the trip. Now it was back in its holster, but the major's weapon hadn't been returned.
"And my son?"
"Your son has chosen to fulfill his duty and remain in Gusen."
"What!?"
"He's an adult, Major, and officially a soldier in the Russian army. He's doing his duty, just the way you taught him."
"You said that-"
"I agreed to see to the safety of your wife and daughter. And I intend to get them to London. I think I should point out Major that your son's safety now relies solely on the operations at Gusen remaining a secret. If anyone were to betray that information to the authorities his life would be in grave danger."
Hochstetter was silent, and angry as he realized the corner he had been pushed into. It felt like it was the exact same corner that he had been in before, only now there was even less that he could do about it.
Worse still, the major's actions had apparently been the deciding factor. If he had stayed in Berlin, he realized, none of Hogan's schemes would have gone as smoothly.
"You have been…recalled by your superiors." The Gestapo man ground out, trying to rescue some of the ground he had lost, to console himself with the fact that he still had Hogan. The evidence against the man was still locked safely in his office in Berlin, and there was nothing that Hogan could do to reconstruct operations at Stalag 13.
For his part, Hogan merely watched the major, dark eyes darting back and forth as he thought through the conversation, then asked, "You plan to stay in Berlin?"
Hochstetter stiffened, straightening his back and looking forward with a set to his jaw. "Not everyone who gets into trouble in Germany deserts his post, Colonel Hogan."
First Hogan turned to stare at the major, impressed at the man's fortitude and dedication. Even if he disagreed with the Gestapo, their mission and their leader, he had to admire Hochstetter for his courage. Then an idea came into Hogan's head and he smiled a little.
Then another idea. And another, and before long he had to turn bodily so that his face was hidden from view. After all, it wasn't polite to grin at someone about to lose either their job or their life for being a traitor.