The men were all seated around the table waiting for Hogan when he returned to the barracks a couple of minutes later. "How come you weren't listening in?" was his first question. "Is the coffeepot on the blink?"

"It's workin' fine," Newkirk assured him. "But things were startin' to sound a bit… well… 'friendly' in there, so we thought the gentlemanly thing to do would be to unplug it."

"Friendly? With her, friendly? Over my dead body… but stick around; it may come to that." He sat down with the men and automatically picked up the cup of fresh coffee that LeBeau had just as automatically set out for him. "How far did you hear up to?"

"The last thing we heard was her saying 'Alone at last'", Kinch replied. "I'm with Newkirk; I really didn't want to hear whatever was coming after that."

"Well, you missed the best part… her boyfriend Holtzmann is in the diamond-manufacturing business."

"Did she tell you he was her boyfriend?" LeBeau interrupted.

"Later, LeBeau, all right?"

"I just want to know if…"

Newkirk solved the problem by reaching behind LeBeau's shoulders and clamping a hand down solidly over the Frenchman's mouth. "Go ahead, sir."

"This guy is apparently a big cheese in the industry. Plenty of guys can make diamonds, but according to Marya he can make them a lot faster and cheaper than the competition in the Allied countries."

Kinch whistled softly. "Wow. That's got major implications for communications."

"And weaponry," Carter put in. It was, after all, his favorite subject. "Synthetic diamonds are superconductors; they diffuse heat generated by some pretty sophisticated circuitry in some of the newer explosives. If you ask me, though, your basic dynamite is still a good choice for most anything on the ground; you really can't go wrong with a good old-fashioned…"

"I got another hand," Newkirk warned, displaying it in case Carter had forgotten. It worked; Carter pressed his lips together and even bit down on them for good measure. "Go right ahead, sir."

"I told Marya I wanted a betterlook at that salesman's sample she's got on her finger."

"Great," Kinch nodded. "Let's see it."

Hogan gave him a look. "This is Marya, remember? You think she just handed it to me to stick in my pocket and said 'see ya later'? Actually that wouldn't have worked anyway; Holtzmann would notice it was gone in about ten seconds. He's keeping a good eye on it and on her."

"So how are we supposed to get a look at it?"

"She told me Holtzmann's going down the road with the motor pool sergeant to take a look at their car that broke down. I'm sure he'll be taking the briefcase with the plans along with him, but he won't be taking Marya. She'll be in Klink's quarters in an hour waiting for us."

"Not a word," Newkirk reminded LeBeau, who had brightened visibly even with the Englishman's hand still over his mouth.

"If that rock is as good as she says it is, then we'll need to find a way to get our hands on the formula and make copies to send to London."

"Shouldn't be a problem, sir."

"Oh, you haven't heard the best part. Then she wants us to arrange an air strike on Holtzmann's factory. After that, she wants us to get him to England."

"Is she crackers?"

Hogan sipped the coffee thoughtfully. "Yup."

oo 0 oo

Marya was ready and waiting an hour later, when the heavy coal-burning stove in Klink's quarters began to shift to one side to expose the tunnel entrance underneath… in fact, she was a little more 'ready' than Hogan might have liked. She had arranged herself on the divan in a casual way, feet up, shoes off, swirling a small amount of brandy in a snifter. Some men might have felt that the filmy powder-blue peignoir she had substituted for the fur coat accentuated her more attractive physical qualities. Not Hogan: the sight of her made him want to get back down the ladder as fast as he could go and look for a nice safe ammo dump to blow up instead of getting into the diamond business. But, duty called… he took a deep breath to steel himself and forced himself to emerge from the opening in the floor. It would be okay, he told himself; Newkirk and LeBeau were right behind him. LeBeau, in fact, was so close behind that the two of them were nearly wearing the same flight jacket.

"I knew you would come back!" the corporal effervesced, scrambling over to the sofa to kiss her hand as if there were already a hoard of admirers around her clambering for the privilege.

He was rewarded with a smile and a brief caress to his cheek. Jackpot. "My small one…" she purred. "How wonderful to see you."

"It is even more wonderful to see you."

"I wish I wasn't seein' either one of 'em," Newkirk asided to Hogan.

"Just do what you need to do and let's get outta here," was the reply. "LeBeau, watch the door."

But LeBeau was completely derailed by the sight of the diamond ring on the fourth finger of her left hand, and nothing else registered, not even a directive from his superior officer. He gasped audibly, but she shook her head. "Do not worry; it is merely for display," she assured him.

"You can't display it on your other hand?"

She beamed at him. "How sweet."

"I can't take much more of this…" Newkirk muttered as he joined the two of them next to the sofa. "Uh, excuse me, madam… the colonel would like me to have a look at that rock candy of yours, if you don't mind?"

She gave him a not-too-complimentary once-over. "If I must." She extended her hand mechanically, as if signaling a left turn from a convertible.

Newkirk paused a moment – he had been hoping she would take the ring off and just hand it to him to examine, but obviously things were never simple when the Russian woman was concerned, exactly as the colonel had just reminded them. He finally took her hand, somewhat against his better judgment, and with his other hand lifted the jewelers' loupe he had brought along to his right eye. "Light's not the best just here," he remarked as he leaned in to take a close look.

LeBeau quickly maneuvered to grasp Marya's hand in both of his own, completely hijacking Newkirk's perfectly innocent and businesslike hold on the woman's fingers, and moved it a little closer to the table lamp. "How about here?"

"Suits me." And so did getting it over with, so without any further posturing or argument Newkirk set himself to the task at hand… literally. "My my…" he mused. "Very nice indeed."

"The real deal?" Hogan asked.

"The real fake deal, yes sir… this one's top hole, no rubbish."

Hogan had to admit that part of him had been hoping the diamond would be of poor quality… that would have brought their so-called collaboration to a screeching halt. Oh well. He had to play the hand he was dealt. And high-quality synthetic diamonds were something the Allies would be able to put to very good use, especially if they had both the formula and the scientist who had invented it on the good-guys' side of the English Channel as well. "Okay," he nodded to Marya. "So far it's just like you said."

"You doubted me?"

"I never did," LeBeau assured her.

"So now we need to get a look at the formula." Hogan had come to the conclusion that running right over LeBeau's interruptions was the only way to get through this in halfway decent time. "I assume Holtzmann's got the case with him now."

"Always," she replied with an exasperated sigh.

"What's wrong with the car; do you know?"

"What's to know?" She reached behind the throw pillow on the sofa and extracted a small handful of black-coated wires. "We stop at the side of the road to look at the map; he looks there, I pull here; the car stops going."

"Do you have to do everything the hard way?" Hogan grabbed the wires from her hands and passed them to Newkirk. "Get rid of these before Klink or Holtzmann finds them."

Newkirk obligingly tossed the cluster down the opening of the tunnel entrance. "If there's ever a shortage of brass, she'll come in handy."

That was putting it mildly. "The motor pool sergeant won't take too long to figure out what the problem is, and then it won't be long before Holtzmann gets back. Is he ever without the case?"

Marya nodded matter-of-factly. "Of course."

"Good. When?"

"In his bath."

Hogan's heart sank. "Terrific."

Schultz's voice, too close for comfort, suddenly reached their ears; it sounded like he must be right on the other side of the front door. "Herr Holtzmann, I will take care of that right away. You can depend on me!"

Hogan glared at LeBeau. "Didn't I say 'watch the door'?" He didn't wait for an answer; just grabbed both Newkirk and LeBeau by their sleeves and pushed them towards the hole in the floor. "Go! Schultz we could handle, but if Holtzmann finds us all in here we're finished!"

They both disappeared at breakneck speed through the small opening, but the front door was already opening and there was no time for Hogan to follow. Instead, he rolled the stove back into place to cover the tunnel entrance and completed the motion just as Holtzmann, trailed by Schultz, entered the room. "What are you doing here?" the scientist demanded.

"Me? Oh, I just stopped by to see if you needed anything… you know; tourist brochures, restaurant recommendations, the usual Chamber of Commerce stuff."

"Get out!"

Hogan shrugged disarmingly. "Okay, but you never get to know an area unless you get the inside scoop from the locals. Just trying to do you a favor."

"Out!"

And that was exactly where he wanted to go… out. Marya winked an eye heavily coated with mascara at him, but he pretended not to notice. He might have sneaked in through a hole in the floor, but Hogan strutted out right through the front door of Klink's quarters, past a disapproving Schultz, and headed back to the barracks. It was the first thing that had gone right all day.

oo 0 oo

"Activity in the compound, Colonel."

Kinch stepped aside to allow Hogan to look through the rain-barrel periscope that gave them a bird's eye view of what was going on outside Klink's office. Schultz, in the driver's seat, had just pulled Klink's staff car up to the front steps of his office, but it wasn't Klink who was ready to get in: it was Marya and her entourage of one, and Holtzmann still had the briefcase under his arm.

"Where do they think they're going?" Hogan asked nobody in particular. When no answer came, since none of the men had the slightest idea, he grabbed his cap and headed for the door. "Never mind; I'll ask them myself."

Marya, as always, was more than happy to broadcast the change in plans so they could be heard a quarter of a mile away, so Hogan had the bulk of the new information even before he had reached them. "How wonderful of you to loan us your staff car to get to the hotel in town, Klink!"

That wasn't part of the plan. Well, obviously now it was, but just as during Marya's previous visits, Hogan found himself conspicuously left out of the planning stages and needing to catch up at the last minute, like cramming for a test. That was not the way he preferred to operate.

"Very happy to assist you, Herr Holtzmann," Klink said, taking care to direct his words towards her escort and not to her personally… every time he spoke to that woman directly, she thought of something to say back, and it was never anything he wanted to hear.

Holtzmann didn't look pleased, but he didn't look especially displeased either. It was possible that the dour expression on his face was a constant presence no matter what situation he found himself in. "You will notify me immediately when my car is repaired. We will be at the Hausnerhof."

"Yes, of course, Herr Holtzmann."

Marya gave Hogan a dramatic wave. "Hope to see you again soon, Hogan darling!"

Why didn't she just hire a skywriter? She knew he'd be right behind her as soon as possible, sneaking out of camp and all the way into Hammelburg to get a look at what was in that case… why advertise it and risk making it any harder for him? Like Klink and Holtzmann, Hogan did his best not to encourage her. "I wouldn't bet on it," was all he said to her.

She blew him a kiss that fortunately neither Klink not Holtzmann was in a position to notice. Schultz was, but as soon as he saw it he closed both of his own eyes as tightly as they would go. It was going to be tough to drive into town like that.

Marya, Holtzmann, and the briefcase got into the back seat of the staff car and Klink ordered "Drive on!" Schultz, to his credit, opened his eyes before putting the car into gear.

Hogan approached Klink on the steps as the car cleared the gate. "That's the last we'll be seeing of them," Klink said firmly, with undisguised satisfaction.

Hogan doubted that. Very much. Because he was already thinking about how he was going to manage to get into town after lights-out to get his hands on that case.