Chapter Twelve: Traitor or Ally?

Hogan was right.

Kinchloe didn't know how and he didn't know why, but shortly after morning roll the Colonel's first promise was fulfilled.

When the Kommandant approached their cell with an exhausted looking Schultz at his heels, Hogan called out: "Morning, Kommandant. Have you decided to accept my deal?" Really, he looked more chipper than anyone who'd just pulled an all-nighter had a right to be.

"Hogan!" Klink cried. "As your Kommandant, I do not have to make deals with prisoners."

Hogan shrugged nonchalantly. "I would hate to think how many prisoners will attempt to escape before our release. I believe we've proven how easy it is to get through your wire."

"Don't push your luck, Colonel. You are still my prisoner." Klink attempted to sound fierce but the wavering hint of fear ruined the effect.

"You need my help, sir."

Klink sighed. "I have thought about our conversation, and as a fellow officer I will offer you the chance to serve out the rest of your sentence in the barracks in return for a simple exchange of services."

"No deal. The agreement was for every man in the cooler and all punishments lifted."

"Impossible. Your knowledge isn't worth that much."

"It's worth your life when someone escapes and you get sent to the Russian front."

Klink was clearly struggling to choose between self-preservation and duty. Self-preservation was winning out, but he still clung tight to the tattered remains of his pride. "You can go free. Sergeant Kinchloe, and Corporals Newkirk and LeBeau are restricted to barracks for the rest of their sentence."

Kinchloe thought that Hogan had Klink right where he wanted him so he was surprised when the glib officer countered with a concession. "Fine, I'll give you my advice and, if you drop all punishments, I will organize a group of prisoners to help you build it."

"Build what?" Klink asked confused.

"Not without a deal."

"Agreed," Klink said, before a hint of warning entered his voice. "But if you go back on your word, everyone returns to cooler."

Hogan grinned. "Deal."

Klink's eyes gleamed. "Now, Colonel Hogan, I believe you owe me some information."

"I believe I am still standing in a cell."

"Schultz, open the door!"

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant."

As Hogan stepped out into freedom, he gestured across the corridor. "And the other one." Once the others were freed, the colonel stood before his enemy with a smug grin on his face. "Your problem, Kommandant, is that it's too easy to break through the barbed wire. One slash with a sharp knife and we are free. The guards never see a thing. But if you had a second ring of wire around the camp it would take twice as long for a prisoner to cut through. And your guards would surely spot that."

Even though Hogan had warned them about what he was going to say, it was still shocking to hear those words from the lips of an ally. Thankfully, Hogan had ordered them to show that shock.

"Traitor!" LeBeau yelled.

"Whose side are you on?" Kinchloe added.

Newkirk scowled. "I will not accept freedom bought on deals with the enemy."

"Ah, Hogan," Klink said excitedly. "It seems that your men do not approve of you giving aid to the enemy. This will not make you a popular man with the prisoners."

"They know that it's good advice," Hogan conceded. "But they will come around." Then, looking at his men, he commanded, "That is an order."

"Bloody officers," Newkirk muttered.

Hogan turned back to Klink. "See, sir, I told you they had no choice."

"Very well. I will get the supplies for the new layer of the fence and you will select a group of prisoners to do the work. Dismissed."

As the four prisoners walked out of the cooler, the first thing Kinchloe noticed was how much warmer it was outside, followed by the looks of shock and surprise that were being sent their way by their fellow POWs. "Sir, Klink wasn't completely wrong. The camp is going to be upset when they hear what you did."

"That will be my problem."

Kinchloe wasn't convinced but he dropped the subject as they reached their hut. After stepping back to allow the others to go first, he entered the barracks and took up a position of standing near the door where he could study the whole room.

"Look who's back," Olsen said in voice that left no doubt that he was not pleased to see them.

Furthermore, Olsen's glare left no doubt that his words were directed at his CO. Kinchloe wondered if he had missed a confrontation between the two men while he had been in the cooler. His suspicion was quickly confirmed by Hogan's next words. "Olsen, my quarters. Now."

Once the two men had disappeared, Anderson asked what the rest of the barracks was thinking. "Can someone tell me what is going on here?"

"I'm still trying to figure it out," LeBeau admitted as he climbed into his bunk.

"But how did you get released?" Bennett pressed.

Newkirk shrugged. "The Guv'nor did it."

"Colonel Hogan has…" Kinchloe hesitated. "A plan."

"You expect me to believe that," Clayworth stated accusingly. "The news is all over camp about how he walked up to the front gate and turned himself in, after escaping."

LeBeau was never one to back down from a confrontation. "You heard right."

And as he nimbly leapt onto his bunk, Newkirk added, "Look, I know he's barmy. But he's got a plan to get us all out of this place. I say we give him a chance. If he fails then we can hang him from the highest yardarm."

After the door closed behind him, Olsen said with sly grin, "Well, sir, I heard the most interesting gossip at morning roll call."

"Take a seat," Hogan ordered as he found his own.

Olsen was smug as he sat down. "So the escape didn't work out well for you."

"I have my reasons for returning."

"Sounds pretty hypocritical to me, sir."

Hogan's voice went cold. "I didn't call you in here to listen to a lecture, Sergeant. I know you don't approve of my actions and right now, I don't approve of yours either. We both know that I would be fully within my rights to end your career right here and now. But I'm going to go out on a limb and instead offer you a deal that will get me what I need, while letting you do what you want."

Olsen's face flickered with suspicion but he knew he wasn't getting out of this office until Hogan was finished. "I'm listening."

"First I need some honest answers."

Spreading out his arms as if to say 'I'm innocent', Olsen said, "Ask away, sir. I have nothing to hide."

"How do you know German?"

"I didn't want to learn Latin."

At first Hogan wanted to shoot back that this was no answer, but something in Olsen's expression told him that the NCO wasn't joking. "Explain."

"When I was twelve my mother decided that I needed to learn Latin. I disagreed and made my tutor's job so miserable that he quit within the week. I got quite a whipping that day but I figured it was worth it.

"The next morning my mother gave me an ultimatum. Pick a language that I'd like to learn or she would find another Latin tutor. Well, I really didn't want to learn any language, but I really didn't want to learn Latin so I picked the one language that I thought my mother would never agree to: German."

"Your mother called your bluff."

"She was furious. The Germans killed my father in the last war, but I had a German tutor within the week. I thought I was getting back at my mother by being a good pupil and speaking German around the house."

Olsen's story told Hogan a couple of things. The fact that he had private tutors meant that Olsen had come from a family of means and growing up without fatherly guidance made Hogan suspect that the sergeant had been a spoilt child, used to getting his own way – at least most of the time.

"Your mother is a smart woman."

"Once I was captured, I just listened and did my best to mimic their accent until I thought I could fool a native."

"Do the krauts know?"

"No."

That was excellent news as far as Hogan was concerned. He now had knowledge of two fluent speakers of German in camp in addition to himself, and he wouldn't be surprised if long term POWs like Newkirk and LeBeau had picked up a bit of the language as well.

Switching subjects, Hogan asked, "How do you sneak in and out?"

Olsen grinned; he certainly had cockiness to spare. "The guards' routines are predictable. I just had to memorize them. Then over a couple of nights I fixed a section of the wire so it would look normal but I could part it when I needed it to."

"And you've never been missing during a bed check?"

"I told you, sir. Klink's predictable. His surprise bed checks always happen between seven and ten days from the last one. Unless there is brass in camp; then we can have several in one week."

Hogan was impressed. Olsen was clearly intelligent and innovative, and he got a thrill out of aggravating those in authority. If he could harness those traits, give Olsen a reason to respect him, and direct his energy towards a proper target, then the colonel believed that the soldier could become a valuable asset. Olsen was exactly the kind of man he needed on his side to make this operation work. He just needed to grow up a little first.

Decision made, Hogan announced, "I'm going to give you permission to go to town."

"You're giving me permission," Olsen repeated, anger creeping back into this voice.

Hogan's expression hardened. He wanted Olsen's help, but he would lay down the law as much as necessary until the POW learned to respect him. "Yes, Soldier, I'm giving you permission to go outside the wire as long as you do a little job for me. I found a transmitter radio and I want you to sneak it back into camp when you return. It's hidden about a mile from camp along the main road. There is downed spruce tree there. The radio is hidden under a bush growing beneath that tree. You do that for me, and I won't ask any questions about what you do when you're outside the wire."

Olsen was surprised. Whatever he had expected from this meeting, this hadn't been it. "I'll consider it, sir."

Hogan knew that Olsen didn't like him very much. But if his hunches about the POW were right, then he had no doubt he would do the job. So as the sergeant walked away, the American officer called out, "Oh, and you better do the job tonight."

Olsen whirled around. "Why?"

"I'm going to help Klink make the camp more secure tomorrow."

"You're out of your mind!"

"Dismissed, Sergeant."

Olsen stormed back into the main room and declared, "That officer sold us out to Klink. He's advising the krauts on security." Clearly he didn't care that Hogan heard him tell.

Hogan couldn't help it. He laughed. The truth there was, a good man underneath Olsen's rebellious exterior. And if he was honest with himself, he had been a similar man ten years ago when he had once had all the cockiness and arrogance of a young man without the wisdom and the experience he had now.

Hogan smiled. Olsen was going to turn out fine. At least, he hoped so.

Things were not going well in Barracks Two.

Hogan was being reticent about his plans and as such most of the barracks believed the worst concerning his actions of the past twenty-four hours. And, because he had returned with Hogan, Kinchloe was a persona non grata. Well, even more so than usual. At least this time he had Newkirk and LeBeau to talk to.

Kinchloe suspected that Hogan was waiting for something before making his move. But he was at a loss as to what that was. Officers were like that; a fact that frustrated enlisted men to no end.

Thankfully, the day passed without serious incident and his lumpy mattress felt more comfortable than it ever had since his arrival.

The next morning, after roll call, Hogan helped himself to a mug of coffee and looked expectantly at Olsen. "Well?"

Olsen hesitated for a moment, before leaning over and opening up his trunk. He pulled out something wrapped in a jacket and carried over to the common table where he carefully unwrapped the bundle.

Forgetting for a moment that the barracks was watching, Kinchloe moved swiftly over to the table as he recognized the familiar device. A radio! No, not just any radio. A transmitter radio. A broken transmitter radio.

"Can it be fixed?" Hogan asked as Kinchloe sat down at the table.

"I don't know yet, sir. It looks pretty banged up."

"Not surprised. The Gestapo threw it out of a window."

Kinchloe looked up in shock, but Hogan wasn't joking. He really had gotten that close to a Gestapo raid. Kinchloe didn't know if Hogan was just plan crazy or if he had more guts than the rest of the USAAF put together.

However, there was no denying the fact that it felt good to hold a radio in his hands again. "I'll need more time to be sure, but I can tell you right away that some of these parts will need replacing."

"Hold on, sir," Anderson called out. "You expect Kinchloe to fix that? And then what?"

"Escape. All of us. That's why I came back."

"But you're helping Klink fix some of the problems with security!" Clayworth exclaimed.

"Which will make him overconfident and that will make things easier for us in the long run."

While the rest of the barracks attempted to process Hogan's words, Kinchloe had more practical concerns on his mind. "Colonel, where do you want me to hide this? I'm not going to be able to fix it in a day or two."

After looking carefully around the room, Hogan decided. "The tunnel."

Kinchloe raised an eyebrow. He had heard about the tunnel from Newkirk and LeBeau, but he had no idea what shape it was in.

LeBeau immediately sensed Kinchloe's concern. "Here, let me show you." He started fiddling with Clayworth's mattress and the floor and in a few seconds opened up a man sized hole into the darkness below. "Candle."

Newkirk quickly lit one and handed it down to the him.

Once LeBeau disappeared, Kinchloe followed. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that they had dug out a small room and had managed to get their hands on a few tools as well – Newkirk's handiwork he was sure. The tunnel itself was small, just big enough for a man to crawl through.

"It's not much, but it gives you some room," LeBeau admitted.

Taking once last glance, Kinchloe climbed back up the ladder and gave his report. "If I can get better lighting it will work. A couple of lanterns should do."

Hogan didn't even have to think. "Newkirk."

"I'll put in on the shopping list, sir."

"Good," Hogan said. "Clayworth, I want you to switch bunks with Kinchloe."

"Excuse me, sir!" Clayworth gasped.

Kinchloe twitched nervously; this wasn't good. Clayworth did not look happy and Brown was shooting him daggers from across the room.

Seemingly oblivious to the effect of his words, Hogan explained, "Kinchloe is going to be spending a lot of time down in the tunnel. I doubt you want to be awoken several times in the middle of the night just so he can work."

Hogan's reasoning made it impossible for Clayworth to protest, but it didn't take a mind reader to tell he was livid. Though to tell the truth, Kinchloe wasn't thrilled either. His bunk in the corner had separated him from the rest of the barracks. But it had also granted him a small measure of security. A security that would now be lost.

By agreeing to help Hogan, he had made enemies. Those who were convinced of his inferiority would not take kindly to the demonstrations of his abilities. And whether Hogan realized it or not, by giving him the bunk over the tunnel Kinchloe had been just granted a measure of authority over his barrack mates. He now controlled access to their tunnel.

But he couldn't let fear of what might happen stop him. He had joined the AAF to prove to the whites that he was a capable man. Now he was getting his chance. He couldn't let it slide through his fingers. So silently, Kinchloe gathered up his things and claimed his new bunk.

Clayworth obeyed orders and it did not escape Kinchloe's notice that the man decided to sleep on the lower bunk instead of the one the Negro POW had used.

As the moving arrangements were being carried out, Anderson broke the silence. Turning to Colonel Hogan, he asked curiously, "So you have a plan, sir?"

In the span of thirty-six hours, Hogan had gone from an unwanted annoyance to traitor to respected commanding officer in the eyes of most of his men.

Kinchloe wished he understood how Hogan did it.