Thank you to all you most awesome readers and grand reviewers. Love you all. I'm glad that the thrilling heroics were satisfactory.
Once again, German will be in italics. Thanks to TinySprite for all her patient help during the writing.
Climbing up the wall was harder than coming down it earlier. When he added the exhaustion from the climb and tension of the rescue to his already chilled hands, Newkirk was amazed he was still inching his way up the wall at all. When he reached the window, he balanced himself carefully and peeped into the still dark room. His hand was on the window to slide it open when there was a slight amount of light inside the room and he moved out of the way. Peering over the edge of the windowsill, he watched with growing panic as the door opened to Dietrich and Herman having a soft annoyed exchange. Apparently Dietrich suspected why the door had been blocked by the chair and Herman was denying it.
Newkirk tried not to begin hyperventilating. He wasn't IN the room. He was outside of the room and even if he pretended to be attempting escape, when the captives were found missing, Newkirk wouldn't have an alibi. He clung tightly to the wall and listened intently to the two guards quietly talking. Then Herman started across the room towards the empty bundle of blankets that was pretending to be the prisoner.
Letting out the softest of moans, Newkirk began wondering if he would have time to climb back down and attempt to escape for real. If he were the most lucky bugger in all of Germany, maybe he could get somewhere to warn Hogan and the others to evacuate the camp. If Burkhalter suspected that Newkirk rescued the agents, it was only a matter of time before the SS decided to investigate Hochstetter's long-term claims of Hogan's men being spies and saboteurs.
A slightly louder voice from Dietrich made him stop his inner fears and listen. "Nein, leave the Englander to sleep. You are just being a bully now." Dietrich's annoyance was plain and Newkirk cheered inwardly for his new favorite Kraut. "Go to the room and sleep. Try not to wake Friedrich too or he will complain in the morning."
Herman didn't stomp out of the room, but he definitely was making it clear exactly what he thought of Dietrich's interference. The door shut firmly and the room was dark again. Dietrich moved across the room to very near Newkirk's blankets but then went back to the door to stand guard.
Newkirk let out a soft breath of relief. He hadn't been discovered. Then he banged his head onto the stone wall softly. He was still hanging outside the window and Dietrich wasn't the sort of guard to nap on duty. He had no way to get back inside without being caught. He turned loose with one hand and shook it gingerly, breathing on it to try to warm the fingers. As he repeated the actions with his other hand, he thought to himself that sometimes being a hero was too hard. Where was Hogan to do these things? Why didn't Hogan ever end up hanging outside in the cold waiting to be discovered and shot? He rested his face against the stones for a moment and tried to think positive.
He hadn't been discovered missing yet. The Underground agents were free and hopefully on their way to safety. He wasn't in Hendrich's clutches anymore. And although he was chilled to the bone already, it wasn't raining.
A soft snowflake landed on his cheek and he blinked upward at the suddenly blurry night sky.
No, it wasn't raining. It was snowing.
"Cor blimey. What next?" said Newkirk. He tightened his hold on the stones and resolved to wait. Something might happen to give him the opening he needed. He tilted his face upwards. "No." he said firmly. "Stop snowing."
Within a few seconds the snow stopped and he blinked around in amazement. He peeped into the window and whispered in the softest of voices. "Go outside in the hall."
Apparently the snowclouds listened to poor cold RAF airmen a lot better than Germans did. Dietrich didn't move. Newkirk huddled against the wall and waited.
It was almost an hour later, when Newkirk's arms were beginning to shake so badly that he was beginning to accept the idea that he would fall to his death in the courtyard when there was a commotion. He peered along the wall of the hotel at the corner as shouts erupted. Within a few minutes the SS lieutenant came stomping out of the hotel, screaming at everyone and directing them to search the surrounding streets. Newkirk hid his face against the stone as if that would somehow keep him invisible.
Suddenly the lieutenant's voice came very clearly from the courtyard. "Go bring me that Englander! He must have had something to do with this! He is the only Allied agent in the area! Bring him to me now! I will gut the pig if he was involved!"
Panic coursed through every cell of his body. The SS were going to come to the room to get him and he wasn't there and they'd look out the window and find him and he would either fall to the courtyard or be dragged inside but either way it was the end for this one stupid Cockney who couldn't leave well enough alone. Why was he so stupid? Why did he think he could rescue other prisoners? He'd pushed his luck and now it was turning against him.
The loud banging on the room door made him tense up further. Dietrich jumped to his feet and opened it. The SS man that tried to barge in was firmly pushed back from the doorway. "Nein." Dietrich wasn't a large man but he was sturdy and determined. Newkirk listened anxiously as he argued with the SS trooper.
"This is General Burkhalter's private rooms and you may not enter with the general's express permission." Dietrich looked towards the general's bedroom and motioned the SS away from the door and followed him out to speak in the hallway. "I will not have the general disturbed for no reason!" The voices were muffled as the door closed.
Newkirk stared for only a split second before lifting the window and climbing in. He shut it and fell into his blanket and rolled up in it. He had just enough time to roll onto his side before Dietrich came back in, shutting the door behind himself quietly. From his muttering he had sent the SS trooper away for now. Newkirk tried to slow his breathing and get his manacles back onto his shaking wrists without rattling the chains. It took him far longer than it should have.
He heard Dietrich walk over to look down at him and forced himself to lie still, breathing deeply and slowly to mimic a deep sleep. After a few seconds, Dietrich went back to the door. It was not very long before the loud angry voice of the SS lieutenant approached up the stairs. His stomping was clear even through the door and it took an effort for Newkirk to lie still and feign sleep when he knew the man was coming for him. The only way out alive was to act innocent and be completely ignorant and hope that General Burkhalter's possessive nature would save him from a summary execution.
The door banged open and Dietrich was swept to one side as the SS lieutenant came charging in. The lights flicked on brightly outside of Newkirk's blanket and for one short second he felt like a little boy hoping his blanket would protect him from the monsters.
"Where is the Englander!?"
A hand seized him and hauled him up. Before Newkirk could get his feet underneath himself properly, he was snatched across the room and slammed facedown onto the table.
"Where are they?! I will shoot you dead, you English pig! Where are they?!" screamed the lieutenant. He pinned Newkirk down and screamed into his ear in German repeatedly. "Where ARE they?!"
"Please don't 'urt me! Please please I didn't do anything wrong! I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Newkirk went for a complete hysterical fit, hoping it would convince everyone. "I'll give it back! I'll pay for it! What did I do? Please don't 'urt me! Please don't!" He raised his voice shrilly. "Please don't 'urt me! I'm sorry! Kamarad! Please! Biddy! Biddy! Please!"
The lieutenant leaned on him harder. "I know you pig, I know you helped them escape!" Little drops of spit were landing on Newkirk's cheek as the madman hissed at him. "I will gut you and listen to you scream as you die! Tell me! Tell me where they are!"
Dietrich tried to interfere. "He does not speak German... he can't answer you." He didn't quite dare to physically interfere, especially as two more SS troopers came in to push him further away. "The Englander was here, under guard!"
It didn't take very much acting on Newkirk's part to look the part of a hysterically panicked prisoner. He really just had to let go of his control and shake violently while screaming in terror. "I'm sorry I'm sorry please stop 'urting me, don't! Don't give me back to Otto! Don't 'urt me!"
As he'd hoped, the terrified cries brought General Burkhalter out of his room in his robe. "What is going on here!?" The portly general's anger was nearly a match for the lieutenant's. "Dietrich, explain why you have allowed these men into my rooms!"
"Herr general, the lieutenant thinks that your prisoner freed his prisoners." Dietrich hastened to continue. "But it is impossible, sir, the Englander has been here in this room all evening. We have been on duty the entire time."
"This Englishman is the only one who could have helped them escape!" The lieutenant bent over Newkirk even closer. "He will confess and tell me where they are and I will shoot him!"
Newkirk continued to babble in panic and shake. "Please please I didn't take it! I didn't steal anything! I swear! Please don't 'urt me!"
Burkhalter had had enough of the noise, as Newkirk had hoped. "Release my prisoner!" He paused and then added in a snarl. "That's an order, lieutenant!"
Newkirk was released reluctantly by the SS man and he took the opportunity to theatrically collapse onto the floor and curl up, still babbling loudly about his innocence and willingness to make up for whatever slight he'd been responsible for.
Burkhalter turned on the SS lieutenant who was protesting. The general practically barked out his words. "You cannot truly believe that this corporal was the only person who could have caused your prisoners to escape." His disdain was evident. "Are you trying to tell me that there are no other Underground agents in all of Germany that could have freed them? Or perhaps you are trying to cover your own incompetence? Where are the guards that were watching them? Why did you not have them in restraints, locked up securely?"
Finally turning his attention fully to the general, the SS officer narrowed his eyes. "I did have them under guard! They were locked in the cellar, in chains!" He seemed to calm slightly while staring down at the cowering POW. "My guard is missing along with the prisoners."
"And yet you still think that this prisoner, under constant guard in my personal rooms, is the person who freed them. Tell me, lieutenant, did they teach logic in your school or did you advance in rank because of family connections?" General Burkhalter rocked on his heels and then turned to Friedrich as he rushed in. "Friedrich, tell this... officer... about the guards on Corporal Newkirk."
Friedrich looked slightly discomfited for once. "Yes herr general." He turned to the SS officer. "They take shifts, one guard is always in the outer room here for the general's security." He indicated the corner where the rumpled blanket still lay. "The prisoner stays right there and never leaves the room without a guard attending him." He looked steadily at the lieutenant. "The general's prisoner is never left by himself, and we would never leave him alone in the very next room to the general himself. I take herr general's security very personally, sir." His eyes kept going to Newkirk still loudly crying out his innocence and begging not to be hurt.
Burkhalter looked down with an expression of disgust. "Dietrich, take the corporal to the other room and calm him down before he has a heart attack." He paused. "Or I shoot him to shut him up myself."
Dietrich took Newkirk by an arm, wincing when he shrieked at the touch. "Yes, herr general, right away." He pulled him to his feet, speaking slowly and calmly, even if it was still in German. "Come, Englander, we will go sit in the other room... come along, he won't hurt you... no one will hurt you, shhh..."
Newkirk stared at him fearfully, playing it to the max. "I've been a good prisoner, I 'aven't done anything wrong, I didn't take anything, I'll give it back, I promise I won't do it again, please don't let him 'urt me please..." He jerked away from the SS guards at the door and trembled violently. He let himself be soothed by Dietrich and led out to the second room. Herman glared at him but let him pass with nothing more than a look of disgust.
Once in the room without the others, Dietrich sat him on one of the beds and gave him water. Newkirk continued to protest his innocence but slowly quieted with the continued reassurances. The longer that he sat without the SS troopers coming to take him to be shot, the more hopeful he became. He still held to his fearful expression and shook anytime that Dietrich looked at him but inside he was somewhat smug. The colonel might be a great conman when it came to confusing the Germans but Hogan couldn't have pulled off a hysterical fit the way he'd just done. He frowned to himself. That was really more due to the colonel having a great deal more dignity than Newkirk. Mentally shrugging, he decided it didn't matter. He had still just pulled off a caper worthy of the operation all by himself. He hadn't even gotten beaten over it.
Dietrich looked at him and Newkirk shrank back and trembled. His guard pulled one of the blankets off a bed and draped it on him. "You are trouble, Englander."
Newkirk stared him before whispering hoarsely in reply. "Ja. Englander." He gazed up at him hopefully and got patted. Yes. Newkirk was the best actor in all of Germany.
As long as he didn't get shot, that is. He sipped at his water and waited nervously. Burkhalter had seemed more angry at the lieutenant than anything else and with any sort of luck at all, he would send him packing and keep Newkirk. After all, Newkirk was Luftwaffe property.
End Chapter
Newkirk is a fine actor.