Chapter Five: A Stormy Ride

The day Kinchloe had been waiting for had finally arrived. He had thought through every possible angle, he had practiced and he finally felt like he had arrived at a plan that would give him the best shot at escaping. However, he couldn't put that plan into action until conditions were just right so he waited for the first rain of the year to come.

So when the rain had finally come, he let the cold water hit him as walked around the side of Barracks Six, looking to put the first part of his plan into action.

Luckily, it didn't take him long to spot the person he was looking for even though he was huddled under a roof outcropping in an attempt to stay dry instead of the patrolling the camp like he was supposed to.

"Schultz!"

"Kinchloe! What are you doing out in this weather?" the miserable-looking sergeant asked.

"Walking back to my barracks," the American lied. "I was watching the ping pong tournament in the rec hall. But what are you doing out here? I thought you served the Kommandant dinner at this time."

"But it is only four o'clock. The Kommandant does not eat for another hour."

Kinchloe looked down at his wrist. "Not according to my watch."

"What? This cannot be true." But when Kinchloe let Schultz read the face of his recently altered watch, the guard started to panic, "Oh, I am in trouble now. Klink gets so grumpy when he does not have his dinner."

"Then go," Kinchloe encouraged. "Maybe if you hurry, the Kommandant will never notice his meal is late."

As Schultz hurried off, Kinchloe couldn't help but note that the guard had left his rifle behind. The POW rolled his eyes. He liked Schultz for an enemy, nor could he ever forget that the man had saved his life, but the guard was definitely not the sharpest tool in the toolbox. Part of him felt bad for tricking Schultz in this way but it was necessary.

Once Schultz was out of sight, Kinchloe slowly made his way over to the Kommandantur while being careful to stay out of sight. As he leaned against the side of the building, he craned his head around the side and spotted the guard at the front office door.

Taking a deep breath, he summoned up his courage. This was it. This was the moment when he discovered if he really could speak German as well as he thought he could.

While remaining hidden, he barked in the most authoritarian voice he could muster, "Soldier! Over by the kennels! One of the dogs is halfway through the wire!"

"I don't see anything," the guard answered as he looked around, unsure of where that voice was coming from.

"Then go check it out! Do you want to be the one Klink blames if the dogs get loose?"

That got the guard moving and, as he hurried off, Kinchloe snuck into Klink's outer office.

That had gone a lot easier than he had ever imagined.

The room was empty as Klink's secretary had left for the day which was exactly what Kinchloe needed. Sitting down at Helga's desk, he immediately began rifling through her papers until he found what he was looking for: a list of extensions for all the phones in camp.

After finding the one he needed, he said a quick prayer and dialed the number.

"Kommandant Klink speaking."

"Kommandant, this is the front gate. I beg to report that one of the guards patrolling the perimeter reported that there is someone moving suspiciously around your quarters."

"Then go check it out."

"But, Herr Kommandant. I cannot leave my post at the moment."

Klink murmured something about having to do everything himself as he ended the call.

How Klink ever got any of the guards to do anything was a mystery to Kinchloe but he was not here to reflect on the Kommandant's leadership abilities or lack thereof so he moved and put his ear against Klink's office door.

He heard footsteps and the sound of Klink opening and closing the door to his quarters. However, he didn't need to strain in order to hear what happened next.

"Schultz!" Klink hollered. "What are you doing in my quarters?"

"Preparing your dinner, Herr Kommandant."

"Dummkopf! It is only 4:20."

"No, Herr Kommandant, it is 5:20. See, my watch is broken."

Hopeful that the two of them would be at it awhile but not willing to risk that they wouldn't, Kinchloe hurried into Klink's office and quickly grabbed the Kommandant's coat, hat, scarf and gloves from the coat stand before returning to the outer office.

His heart was racing but he forced himself to breathe normally. Now he was committed. If anyone spotted him now it would be hard to deny what he was trying to do. So that left him with only one option: keep going with the escape. But this time it wasn't just going to be enough to convince a guard that he was a native German speaker, this time he had to convince a guard that he was Klink.

Picking up the phone once again, he dialed the front gate.

"Hello."

"This is your Kommandant," Kinchloe said in his best attempt to mimic Klink's slightly whiny tone. "I have urgent business in town. Have my staff car brought around at once!"

"Right away, Herr Kommandant. Your car will be ready in two minutes."

Kinchloe ended the call, barely believing that it had worked. The guard had really believed he was Klink!

While he waited for the car to be brought around, he dressed in Klink's coat and gloves, wrapping the scarf around his face so that it covered everything below his eyes and pulling down the hat far enough so that it covered everything above his eyes. Unless anyone looked directly at his eyes they wouldn't be able to tell that he was colored.

Now it was a waiting game. Would Klink and Schultz argue long enough for him to get away or not?

Thankfully, the guards seemed to be as eager to get Klink out of camp as Kinchloe was to escape and the car was parked in front of the building within the allotted time. He hunched over in that way Klink always did, hoping that it would hide his extra height, and then opened the front door and stepped outside into the pouring rain.

The guard, who was back at his duty post outside the office, didn't give him a second glance as when he scurried over to the vehicle, sat down in the driver's seat and closed the door.

Forcing himself to act calmer than he felt, Kinchloe turned the key and started the car. Driving slowly towards the front gate, he prayed with all his might. Open the gates. Open the gates. Please, open the gates.

Either God was listening or the guards didn't feel like getting wetter than they already were so when the car reached the exit, no one checked the car and Kinchloe was able to drive right on through the open gates without any problems.

He was free!

Not yet, he reminded himself. He needed to put as much distance between him and Stalag Thirteen as possible, without running into any checkpoints. Also, while the rain had given him the cover he needed to escape, it was making the roads a mess. But he didn't dare stop driving. Thirty minutes was the timeframe he had given himself. He would drive for thirty minutes and then ditch the car and then hike cross-country for Switzerland on foot.

As he drove, he removed the scarf and hat to improve his ability to see ahead and then, after turning on the heat, he unbuttoned Klink's overcoat in an attempt to get some of the wetness out of his clothes. He wouldn't make it very far if he made himself sick.

However, after fifteen minutes of driving on unfamiliar roads, the steady rain had turned into a downpour and Kinchloe was beginning to fear that escaping in the middle of a rainstorm had been a mistake. It was getting harder and harder to stay on the road and he was beginning to consider pulling over to the side to wait for the worst of the storm to pass when he felt the car start to skid as he drove around a bend.

Immediately, he tried to regain control but he panicked and did the one thing he knew he wasn't supposed to do in this situation: slam on the brakes.

The staff car responded badly and skidded further into the other lane and right into the pathway of an oncoming car.

His last thought before the cars hit was that once again he had failed.