"New Senior POW Officer," LeBeau exclaimed.
"What do you mean 'new Senior POW Officer'?" Newkirk asked, a bit harsh.
"Colonel's only been sick for five days, and you're already quitting on him?!" Carter cried, offended.
"Colonel Hogan's current medical condition is severe and his outcomes as of now are not promising. Until he wakes up or succumbs to his ailment, Colonel Matthews is the new Senior POW Officer.. I expect you men to treat him with the same respect you treat Colonel Hogan." Klink retorted, annoyed. He was not too fond of the new officer himself, but with Hochstetter and the gestapo here and Hogan's survival rate unknown as of now, he was fed up with any arguments. With that, Klink turned sharply on his boot and closed the barracks door leaving Matthews with Hogan's four men and several others in the barracks eyeing the new colonel. Matthews glared at all of them, as all the men in barracks two returned to the new officer.
"Alright, gentlemen, listen up; now I'm the new guy in charge, so that means that you follow my rules instead of what this 'Colonel Hogan' has told you." Matthews spoke, cocky.
"Colonel Hogan still has a chance at coming back, you know. He's not a lost cause." Olsen said, simply.
"Oh, that man's bound to die from his injuries. After what the Kommandant said to me, he'll be lucky enough to even hear voices while unconscious." Matthews said, smiling with arrogance.
Hogan's core unit grew dead silent. Kinch, Newkirk, and LeBeau were all giving the new commanding officer dirty looks. How dare he come into this camp and start bad mouthing Hogan in just the first thirty seconds he had been there. There was absolute silence between the men for a long period, before Carter ended the silence.
"Well, hi there." Carter said, friendly.
Matthews continued glaring at Hogan's core unit carefully. He did not like any of them, especially the four before him. He had light brown hair, was the same height as Hogan, a little more thin than Hogan was, and had cold, dead blue eyes.
Newkirk approached the officer cautiously yet with authority and looked him straight in the eye with fire brimmed in his green eyes.
"I don't know what you plan on doing here, 'Colonel', but I for one am not listening to anything you say, unless you're my mate, Kinch, over here." Newkirk sneered, coolly. Anyone besides Hogan, he found an irritant and disgrace as a commanding officer. He had a particular dislike for military officers, but Hogan was his only exception. The man who was currently fighting for his life was one he respected, looked up to, and cared about deeply, as did Kinch, LeBeau, and Carter felt the same way.
"Oui; you are not the Colonel." LeBeau hissed.
"I don't know who you two think you are, but I'm the one in charge around her, for now, so I expect to be shown some respect." Matthews growled.
It was Kinch's turn to step forward. He crossed his arms and looked coolly into the colonel's eyes.
"My friends have already stated here they won't listen to you unless spoken from my mouth, so I would come to acceptance with it." Kinch stated, calmly. He had a particular dislike of the man himself, but he could not pick up on the reason why.
Matthews grinded his jaw slowly. He did not have a liking towards African Americans, and he was not afraid to show his opinion, either.
"Unless you're Colonel Hogan, none of us will give you the time of day, so deal with it." LeBeau said, smug.
"I don't know who this Colonel Hogan is, but I am not afraid of whoever the pig may be. He sounds weak, a coward, a disgrace to his uniform, and probably a Nazi Kraut working in secrecy." Matthews snarled.
"Why I outta," Newkirk growled, when Kinch grabbed hold of his arm that was clenching into a fist.
"Don't give him the time of day, Newkirk. He's trying to rile us up." Kinch answered, calmly, yet smug.
"Listen to me, and listen to me good, Colonel; you do not speak about the Gov'nor, you don't touch the Gov'nor, I don't even want yah thinking about Colonel Hogan, understand?" Newkirk threatened.
"You don't deserve to know someone like the Colonel." LeBeau snarled.
Matthews glared at the three confronting him, then he turned his attention to Carter, who had been quiet through all of this. He saw the young sergeant seem slightly afraid of him and intimidated. He smirked.
"Cat got your tongue, Sergeant, or does this Colonel Hogan mean nothing to you?" Matthews stated.
"You leave my mate, Andrew, alone, yah hear me?" Newkirk snapped.
"I wanna hear it come out of his mouth." Matthews hissed, staring down Carter.
Carter gulped before answering. "You leave Colonel Hogan alone! He's done nothing to you!"
"I don't care about your precious 'Colonel Hogan', whoever he may be. I don't give sympathy towards a Nazi spy. A disgrace of a commanding officer, if I ever heard of one." Matthews barked.
"Say one more thing about Colonel Hogan, and I'll beat your no good, sorry," Newkirk snarled, both Kinch and LeBeau holding onto him, before the Englishman did anything he would later regret.
"Newkirk, calm down. You know Colonel didn't approve of fighting." Kinch ordered.
"Yah hear what he's calling the Gov'nor?! You want me to act as if it means nothing?!" Newkirk cried back.
"We know it's not true, and most importantly Colonel knew it wasn't true; that's all that matters." Kinch replied.
He and LeBeau saw Newkirk relax and let go of him.
Matthews looked around and finally turned back to Kinch, who he was disgusted with.
"Where do I sleep?" Matthews asked, harsh.
"On that vacant bunk, right there." LeBeau replied, pointing to an unused bottom bunk in the corner.
Matthews turned and looked behind him to see Hogan's room.
"What about in there?" Matthews asked, coldly.
"That's Colonel Hogan's room, and if any of us catch you going in there, I'll give Newkirk permission here to sock your face." Kinch snarled.
All of the prisoners, including Newkirk, LeBeau, and Carter, were shocked at hearing the tone of Kinch's voice. They had never heard him sound so angry in their lives.
Matthews grinded his jaw, again, walked over to the bunk, slammed his stuff down, then stormed out of the barracks slamming the door so hard, they all thought it would fall off.
"Olsen, watch the door; make sure to let us know, when he comes back." Kinch said, friendly.
"Got it, Boss." Olsen replied, and he hurried his way to the door.
Newkirk, LeBeau, Carter, and Kinch all sat at the table drinking their cups of coffee and began talking to one another.
"Who does that Yankee think he is calling the Gov'nor such ill things?" Newkirk hissed.
"I say we do away with him." LeBeau said, using his finger to pretend slicing his neck.
"We're not killing anybody. I wanna kick him in the mouth myself for what filth he said regarding Colonel, but we all will respect Colonel's policy, while he's gone. He'd be furious to return and find out that we committed a homicide going against his rules." Kinch said before taking a drink of coffee.
Carter sighed sadly and put his face in one of his hands.
"I miss him." Carter whimpered, fighting back tears.
Newkirk gave his best friend a sympathetic smile.
"Don't worry, Andrew; Colonel's gonna be back before we know it. I'll tell him yah say 'hi', when Louis and I go visit him, tonight." Newkirk replied, friendly.
"Unfortunately, I'm afraid we're gonna have to reschedule seeing Colonel, tonight." Kinch said, sadly.
"But why, mon ami?" LeBeau whined.
"I was gonna tell you guys after roll call, but with Matthews showing up with Hochstetter, it slipped my mind. I got a message from the Underground earlier this morning. They want us to get a downed flyer, one of Germany's most wanted, out of here and to meet with one of their operatives tonight regarding it." Kinch said.
"Are you kidding me?!" LeBeau cried.
"With Hochstetter and Burkhalter suspicious of Colonel being behind all the explosions?!" Carter exclaimed.
"Great, that's just bloody marvelous. We're all gonna get shot in front of a firing squad, and Colonel won't even get a chance to wake up from his coma!" Newkirk groaned, angry.
"Maybe we can use this assignment to our advantage, guys." Kinch said, starting to think.
"What do you mean, Kinch?" Carter asked.
"If we successfully get this guy out of Germany, it'll make Hochstetter believe Colonel Hogan is behind it all." Kinch began.
"And with Colonel being in a coma, Burkhalter and Klink will find his claim so ridiculous, they'll drop the entire thing regarding the ball bearing plant explosion!" Newkirk brightened up.
"Exactly,"
"That's brilliant, mon ami...but how do we do it?" LeBeau asked.
"I don't know, yet; right now, we need to get through tonight and safely. We have to meet someone at the Hofbrau by the codename, Moonlight." Kinch said. He turned to Newkirk. "Newkirk, you and Louis will go out tonight in gestapo uniforms for protection purposes. We can't risk us getting caught, especially not with Hochstetter having evidence of Colonel's hat being at the explosion site. You'll be a captain, and Louis will be a lieutenant."
"Why do I always have to be the second in command?" LeBeau murmured, disapproving of his ranking.
"Do you have any description of this 'Moonlight', so we know who to look for?" Newkirk asked.
"All they said was that they're a singer at the Hofbrau, and they'll meet the two of you there, tonight. Actually, they asked that Papa Bear meet them there, but I let the Underground know our current situation and Colonel's current medical condition. They send their prayers and thoughts to Colonel." Kinch answered.
Newkirk sighed.
"I'm willing to do it for the Gov'nor." Newkirk said. After everything Hogan had done for him and everyone else in camp and for so many people who were now safe and out of Germany, he owed him at least that much. Heck, he owed the American his life, after all the times Hogan had risked his life for theirs.
"Me too, Pierre." LeBeau said, proudly.
"I also think it would be best that we didn't let our new commanding officer in on the operation we run here. Something about him I just don't feel right about." Kinch answered.
"I agree," Newkirk added.
"No way; your instincts are usually right, Kinch." LeBeau said.
"Anything to protect Colonel from getting hurt." Carter replied.
"I wonder how our old Colonel's doing, now." Newkirk wondered.
"I'll call Richard after lunch and check in with him. I'd feel better knowing he's alright, anyways." Kinch said.
"Me too," LeBeau said.
"That goes for me as well, mate." Newkirk said.
Carter simply nodded in agreement.
All four men sighed sadly. They missed Hogan and wanted him there with them, right now...especially now. He would know what to do to get them out of the mess they were currently stuck in. He always had an idea of what to do regarding situations, especially the ones they felt were impossible to conquer. That's why this mission was so important, now. The four men had a commanding officer to protect, a commanding officer that was their friend and one that they would willingly lay their lives on the line for.
Night soon fell, and Newkirk and LeBeau headed out to the Hofbrau in the city of Hammelburg. Newkirk, Captain Otto Nussbaum, and LeBeau, Lieutenant Fritz Conzelmann, made it to the Hofbrau after about an hour of walking in the forest. The man at the bar, Norman, or known by his codename, Black Raven, was part of the Underground. Should Newkirk and LeBeau had any trouble finding this Moonlight person, they knew they had someone there who would help them out.
The two men entered into the restaurant, and Newkirk lifted his cap slightly to Norman.
"Good evening, sir." Newkirk spoke in his best German accent.
Norman waved back and let he and LeBeau carry out on business. The two men sat down at a table and started looking through a menu for something to drink, as they waited for Moonlight.
"What looks good to you, Newkirk?" LeBeau asked, softly.
"At the moment, nothing." Newkirk replied.
"What do you think Moonlight looks like?"
"We'll know eventually."
The two became silent, until LeBeau looked over and saw a stage set up with a microphone and several gestapo officers and German civilians gathering around it and standing as they waited.
"Hey, mon ami; look. Let's go watch." LeBeau spoke, a slight louder than before.
Newkirk sighed.
"Alright, Louis; but if one gestapo Kraut comes up to us, I'll wring your bloody neck." Newkirk threatened. After the whole accident with Hogan and Hochstetter finding Hogan's hat at the crime scene, the Englander had a strong dislike for Germans, currently.
The two men rose stood in the far middle, near the back. The less attention they attracted, the better.
Just then, a man walked out on stage, the audience clapped, and the lights grew dim.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to tonight's performance. We hope you enjoy our variety of singers and dancing acts. Our first performance is by a young girl with a remarkable voice and a God given talent. Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Barbara Wagner." The man announced and got off the stage.
The man got off the stage and a lady came out in a sparkling black dress, black high heels that were not all that high, and had short black hair with chocolate brown eyes. Barbara started dancing and singing, and LeBeau became mesmerized with her beauty. He was stunned at how beautiful she was.
"Elle est très belle." LeBeau gasped, swooning over the stranger.
Newkirk looked over at LeBeau and rolled his eyes. "Blimey," Newkirk muttered. With the fact of the operation on the verge of exposure, not to mention that Hogan was clinging to life by a thread at the same time, the last thing he cared about was girls. And LeBeau swooning over a complete stranger was pushing his patience to the edge of the cliff.
Barbara during her song noticed LeBeau and winked at him. The Frenchman was bashful yet proud. When she finished, the crowd clapped, and LeBeau clapped the most. Newkirk, finding his behavior compulsive, grabbed both of LeBeau's hands and held them together to stop their incessant clapping. The girl stepped down from the stage and sat down at a table suspiciously. Wondering if she was the Underground contact, Newkirk and LeBeau made their way over to her, and the Englander began the coded message.
"Nice night out, tonight." Newkirk said to particularly no one.
"Nice full moon out." Barbara replied.
"I'm glad I haven't seen any bears out in the forest while on patrol."
"Especially a papa bear."
Knowing she was the one, Newkirk and LeBeau sat down in front of her at the table. Newkirk shook her hand, then LeBeau took it and kissed it, making Newkirk again roll his eyes towards the heavens.
"You two were sent by Papa Bear?" She asked, quietly.
Newkirk was silent for a moment. He decided to hide the fact the Hogan was currently in the hospital from an accident on a mission, just to be extra cautious with everything that had recently happened.
"Not directly, but yes." He answered.
"You're English," She spoke.
"Right you are, Ma'am."
"You have the most prettiest eyes, ma chéri." LeBeau said, softly.
"And a Frenchman." Barbara commented, smiling.
"Oui," LeBeau said, smiling.
Newkirk shook his head then turned his attention back on the girl.
"Ignore him," He replied, slightly annoyed with his little friend.
"I guess by your uniforms you work undercover as gestapo agents." Barbara spoke.
"...sure...you could say that." Newkirk answered. He was not exactly sure who to trust at the moment, so decided that not giving their actual names and where they actually resided would be the best route to go.
"Do you know my uncle?"
"Of course we know your uncle…" Newkirk chuckled, then swallowed a knot in his throat. The Underground lady was related to someone in the gestapo. He prayed it was their Underground contact known as Bluebird, Hochstetter's second in command. "Just...who is your uncle, anyways?" Newkirk looked over at LeBeau, and noticed him tighten up a bit at the new information he had just heard.
"Well, the most widely known gestapo agent in the area. Major Wolfgang Hochstetter." Barbara said, softly.