Once again, as on the previous day, the prisoners were at work, repairing the Hammelburg Road. The difference today was that they were actually working. Hogan had been very definite in his instructions.
"The sooner we finish the job, the sooner we get back to camp. And I want to get back sooner rather than later."
So for once his men were putting their backs into it. Schultz didn't know what to make of it, but he knew he didn't like it. He watched them in silence for some time before it got the better of him.
"Colonel Hogan, why are they working?"
"Told you, Schultz," replied Hogan. "We can't hang around out here all day, we gotta get back to camp."
"How stupid do you think I am?" Schultz growled. "You're up to monkey business."
"No, we're not," protested Hogan, looking wounded.
"Oh, please, Colonel Hogan. When are you ever not up to monkey business?" Schultz glared at him. "You had something going on yesterday, why else would you tell me you saw wolves? I checked, Colonel Hogan, there are no wolves anywhere near here, by order of Kommandant Klink."
"Well, gee, Schultz," replied Hogan, "if the Kommandant says there aren't any wolves, then I guess there aren't any."
"That's right."
"Must have been a really small bear," Hogan went on. "Glad to have that cleared up. Oh, what, now you're going to tell me the Kommandant doesn't allow bears, either?"
"I don't know," admitted Schultz grumpily. "I didn't ask him that."
Close behind them, Kinch was to all appearances completely focussed on his work, but he still managed to covertly check on the guards. He had positioned himself, with Carter and LeBeau, roughly in the middle of the worksite, which now consisted of several small knots of men spread along the road. This in turn stretched the resources of the guards, so that, at that moment, only Schultz was supervising this particular group. And Schultz's attention was elsewhere.
Kinch made a quick but thorough assessment of the situation, then gently touched Carter's shoulder, caught LeBeau's eye and jerked his head towards the woods. A few seconds later, all three of them were gone.
Without hesitation, Kinch took the lead, threading his way between the trees towards the rendezvous point at the Flensheim turnoff. Carter stayed close behind him, with LeBeau at the rear. Mindful of Carter's still-unhealed injuries, Kinch kept to an even, unhurried pace which still covered plenty of ground. Only when they were well out of earshot did he pause.
"Okay, this is pretty close to where we stashed Carter's Luftwaffe uniform yesterday," he said softly. "I'll go find it, while you start getting out of that coverall. Give him a hand with it, LeBeau."
He hastened off, while Carter started stripping off his uniform, under which he was already wearing the shirt and pants required for his impersonation. He hadn't said much since the morning briefing, even when the rest of the team had joined in an unprecedented chorus of remonstrance at the plan the colonel had laid out.
Their protests had made no difference. "Carter can handle it," Hogan had replied. "As long as he's got back-up, that is." And he'd sent a look around the barracks, as if asking himself whether any of his men could be trusted to provide that back-up. After that, nobody had dared continue the argument.
Carter had stayed quiet, in the truck transporting them to the roadworks, and while he was working. Even now, he got ready for the task ahead in near silence.
"Are you sure you're okay, Carter?" asked LeBeau after a couple of minutes.
"Yeah. I'm fine," Carter replied curtly.
"You shouldn't have to do this," LeBeau growled under his breath. "You nearly got killed when the lab blew up. You should be back at camp, resting."
Carter had flinched slightly at mention of the lab. In spite of everything they now knew, he still had a vague feeling that somehow he was to blame for that. In fact, for the whole mess they were in.
"Can't be helped," he mumbled. Then, after a few seconds, "If it doesn't work out, Louis..." He trailed off, unsure what it was he wanted to say.
"It will work out," LeBeau replied, his eyes flashing.
"Yeah. Of course it will."
Nothing more was said before Kinch returned, carrying the rest of the uniform which had been left the day before. "Not even damp," he said. "Help him into the jacket, LeBeau."
Between them they got Carter into the uniform, brushing his hair forward under the peak of his cap, to disguise the cut on his forehead. "Looks just about right, hey?" remarked Kinch, in a positive tone which almost masked his own disquiet. Carter didn't respond, just straightened his lapel, a slight frown indicating that, for once, he wasn't finding it so easy to slip into character.
"LeBeau, you better go meet up with Kurt," said Kinch. "He'll be waiting with the car along the Flensheim road, about half a mile from the junction."
LeBeau nodded, and turned to Carter. "Good luck, André," he murmured, clapping him gently on the upper arm. Then he slipped off to find the Underground leader.
"Okay, Carter, this is it," murmured Kinch. "Remember, LeBeau and Kurt will follow you to Hammelburg, and they'll be waiting for you near Gestapo HQ, in case you need to make a quick escape."
"I know." Carter took a deep breath. "I'm ready, Kinch. Let's go."
The rendezvous point seemed strangely unfamiliar, considering how much had happened there only twenty-four hours earlier. Faulmann was already there, pacing back and forth in front of his staff car.
Without a word, but with a last reassuring grip on Carter's shoulder, Kinch slipped away, keeping among the trees until he was as close as possible to the car. Carter stood still for a few seconds, eyes closed tightly as he tried to steady his nerves.
Colonel Hogan says I can do it. He's depending on me.
He couldn't let the colonel down. He straightened his shoulders, raised his head, and strode forward into the sunlight.
Faulmann greeted him with a salute, and a conciliatory manner. "I am glad to see you, Captain," he said. "We had some concerns for your safety, as several of your Düsseldorf contacts have not yet been traced."
"I have been in contact with them," Carter replied, in the abrupt tone which had so effectively suppressed the Gestapo at their previous encounter. "They don't suspect a thing."
"Were you able to renew your contact with the Hammelburg Underground?"
"Not yet. They are being very cautious."
"Perhaps because you are not known to them," suggested Faulmann diffidently. "Maybe, when Colonel Eisner arrives later today..."
"He's on his way here?" Carter snapped out, before he could stop himself. The real Eisner showing up was a complication they didn't need.
"He left Berlin early this morning." Faulmann stared at him curiously.
"Good," said Carter, making a quick recovery. "Excellent. I am very anxious to report to him." He took a few steps towards the trees where Kinch had hidden himself. "He is coming by road? Then it will take him...let me see..."
"We expect him to arrive some time between two and three o'clock," replied Faulmann. "For security reasons, he will travel by the back roads, which may delay his arrival."
"By way of Braunstadt, I suppose?"
"Schmeckhausen."
"Schmeckhausen, of course. A much better road." Carter breathed a sigh of relief. With luck, Kinch had heard them, and would pass the news to Hogan as soon as he got back to the work detail. Whether Hogan would have enough time to act on it was another matter, but at the very least he'd be forewarned.
"Captain, may I suggest we do not delay our departure?" said Faulmann, after a moment of silence. "The Underground may use this place as a regular rendezvous point. Even if they don't suspect you now, it would be undesirable for them to see you in our company."
Not a flicker of reluctance showed on Carter's face, but he pulled his gloves on a little more tightly before he replied. "Very well. I am at your disposal, Captain."
He didn't even look back as he got into the car. He knew LeBeau and Kurt would not be far behind him. It was little comfort, but at least he knew he wasn't going into this on his own.
Kurt had chosen his vehicle with an eye for the inconspicuous. An Opel Kadett, dull mid-brown in color, it did not stand out against the background of trees on the Flensheim Road. The motor was running, ready for a quick departure. LeBeau scrambled into the back seat, where his civilian clothes were already waiting for him, and began to change rapidly.
"Carter has met them," said Kurt, watching the meeting through field glasses. "They are talking - no, they are getting into the car."
"You'd better start, then," replied LeBeau in muffled tones, halfway out of his sweater. "Colonel Hogan said not to lose them before they reach Gestapo headquarters."
Kurt put the glasses aside, and set the car in motion. "I will follow them as closely as is safe. But we dare not make them suspicious."
So the Opel kept pace at a discreet distance as the staff car rolled along towards Hammelburg, occasionally hidden by a turn or dip in the road, then emerging again, a dark shadow in the sunlight.
"Not far now," murmured LeBeau, his eyes fixed on the vehicle ahead as it ascended the final hill ahead of Hammelburg, and disappeared from view.
Kurt didn't reply. The Opel was struggling to get up the slope, the engine revving furiously. Then it stalled, and he swore as he set about restarting it, with more haste than care. It took three attempts before he was able to get the car moving forward towards the top of the rise.
Then the road ahead came into sight, long, straight, hemmed in by trees, and completely empty.
"Scheiße!" The exclamation broke from Kurt as he braked, bringing the car to a stop with a brief skid and a jerk.
"Mais..." LeBeau stared, then suddenly threw the door open and leapt out onto the road. "Where did they go? Did they turn off?"
Kurt joined him, his eyes searching one side of the road, then the other. "Impossible. There are no side roads, not even a track."
"There must be," muttered LeBeau fiercely. "They cannot have disappeared into thin air."
But his heart fell, as he gazed at the dense forest on each side, and the unwavering thread of road receding into the distance. Somehow, in the few moments it had been out of his sight, the Gestapo car had simply vanished, and it had taken Carter with it.