Chapter Eight- Two Generals for the price of one.
When they arrived back at the hotel Harry stood back as Hogan and the others cut the three underground members ties and ushered them into the hotel room. He only listened with half an ear as Hogan explained the situation with the men and what was going to happen next.
"Okay Fellas, we can still salvage this mission. We have missed Kestermen at the airport however going off London's note the council won't be meeting until tomorrow night at the Hemmelburg Hotel," Hogan explained to his men and the still shaken underground members.
"What are we going to do, gov'ner?" Newkirk asked.
A light came on in Hogan's eyes, a familiar light that his team knew well.
"We need to get back to camp first," Hogan said after a few long seconds. "Klink is about to have a very important guest."
xXx
Harry plastered on his best leader face as he drove the truck into Stalag thirteen's compound. He had already dropped off the underground agent for them to carry out their end of the plan and it was his turn to play his part. He pulled the truck to a halt in front of the Commandant's office.
"Everyone out of the truck, raus!" Harry yelled in badly accented English, hoping it would past master.
Newkirk, LeBeau, Carter, Kink and Hogan filed out of the truck looking like they had spent the night in a boxing ring with their filthy clothes and bruises.
Sergeant Shultz rushed up to the men a worried look in his eyes as he took in the sight of his prisoners.
The men filed into the Commandant's office once they were permitted to enter. Klink looked up in shock as his prisoners and an unknown man dressed in black entered his office.
"Commandant Klink?" The man in black asked, arrogance in every line of his body.
"Yes-"
"I believe these are your prisoners," The man in black cut him off. "The Gestapo has finished our interrogation, good day."
The man gave a stiff salute before marching from the office.
Klink turned to the other men in the office and focused of the ringleader.
"Hogan!"
The other Colonel smiled innocently as he launched into his getting out of trouble tale, which he knew Klink would go along with.
xXx
Klink had just settled back into his chair after Hogan had left when the phone rang.
"Hail Hitler, Colonel Klink-yes sir. Shut up and listen, yes sir." Klink trailed off as he listened to General Bulkhalter on the other end of the line. "An attempt at his life! …Well I suppose you could have it here…Yes-yes I understand, General. Of course I will make the General at home. As they say General a Happy camp is an efficient camp and there has never been an escape from Stalag thirteen! …General?"
Klink listened to the dial tone of the phone for a few second before placing it back in the cradle. Why couldn't he just retire, Klink wondered not for the first time, before picking the phone up once more.
"Fuline Hilda, ask Sergeant Shultz to get Colonel Hogan," Klink requested before placing the phone down once more.
'This was a nice and quiet camp before Hogan arrive,' Klink thought to himself as he poured a shot of schnapps. 'What happened?'
xXx
"Well it's all set up," Hogan announced as he walked through the door of the barrack. "Klink has LeBeau cooking and we have an extra hour of light and hot water a week and one General hand delivered to the camp."
Hogan grabbed up a cup and poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting at the table. "Now, Kinch head down to the radio we need everything they have of Kestermen. Newkirk and Carter Help LeBeau set up for our guest. I'll be in my office if anyone wants me."
xXx
"Come in," Hogan called, at the soft knock at his door.
Kinch poked his head around the corner.
"I have that information, colonel." Kinch said with a grin. "And you won't believe our luck."
Kinch handed over the papers for Hogan to read through and watched in fascination as the grin spread across his face.
Hogan chuckled. "The Hogan luck strikes again," Hogan muttered, sharing a grin with Kinch. "Could you ask Harry to come up here, Kinch?"
xXx
Harry stood opened mouthed in front of Hogan. "You want me to what?"
"I want you to be General Kestermen," Hogan said slowly as if talking to a small child.
"I heard what you said, I just can't believe you said it!" Harry chocked out.
"'Description dark black, messy hair with green eyes, slim build and fair skin' sound familiar?" Hogan read out from the sheet London had sent. "I believe you fit the description to a tee."
Harry really didn't like the grin that spread across the other man's face. Nor the Dumbledore twinkle in the man's brown eyes.
"So, let me get this straight," Harry said slowly. "We are going to kidnap this General and replace him with me?"
Hogan nodded. "Yep."
"And no one is going to notice the change?"
"Nope," Hogan replied looking smug.
"And why are they not going to notice?"
Hogan looked down at the papers in his hands briefly. "According to this Kestermen has not been seen in over ten months. And two months ago he received a bad wound to his face, which runs from his temple to his chin and which took his right eye."
"Which would make him unrecognizable to anyone that knows him," Harry sighed, feeling like he had just been lead into one of Ron's chess traps.
Harry sighed once more and looked away. "Fine, I will do this under one condition."
Hogan nodded. "What?"
Harry looked the man head on. "You help me get home and away from this crazy time!"
Hogan laughed and held out a hand. "It's a deal."
Harry shook the man's hand feeling like he'd just made a deal with the devil.
xXx
Hogan and Carter left Harry hidden in the bush land to the side of the road as they intercepted Kestermen. Carter held up a stop sign as Kestermen's car rolled along. With a screech of brakes the old car stopped next to the two men.
"Gestapo," Hogan drawled in German, as the driver wound the window down.
"Yes, sir." The young man answered with a glance over his shoulder at his passenger. "How can I help you?"
"Just a routine check, sir." Hogan answered, making himself look bored even if his heart was pounding. "Papers, please?"
The man looked unsure before General Kestermen opened his door and stepped out.
"I am General Michael Kestermen," The dark-haired man said looking down his nose at the American. "And this is my driver, Sergeant Burke Adler."
"I'm sorry, sir, but I must see your papers," Hogan replied as he compared this man to Harry, a few touch ups and this plan could work.
The General frowned but pulled his papers from his pocket with a scowl. He turned and passed over his driver's papers as well.
"As you can see, everything is in order." The General snapped.
Hogan made a show of looking over the papers very closely before frowning.
"There seems to be a problem with the date on this, sir." Hogan said, stepping back.
"Problem, what problem!" The General demanded.
Hogan smiled, falsely. "I'll just check with headquarters and I can let you be on your way. Please step over here while I radio them, sir." Hogan lead the General out of the driver's line of sight and with a quick bump to the head the man was out of the picture.
Harry appeared at Hogan's elbow and looked down at the unconscious man.
"Wow," Carter exclaimed looking between Harry and the General. "They're almost twins!"
"The Hogan luck," Harry whispered as they stripped the man of his uniform.
With a few other touch-ups Harry was looking more like the General by the minute. Harry helped the scheme along with a bit of magic so he would pass master with anyone but the General's closest friends.
Harry grinned once they were all done feeling the make-up and magic pulling at his skin that made up the large scar running down his face. His one good eyes shined with mirth as his dark hair curled around his face. Carter looked back at him his mouth gaping.
"Oh, boy!" Carter gushed, before Hogan shushed him.
"Okay," Hogan said running a critical eye over him once more before nodding. "Let's get this game rolling."
xXx
Harry sat back in the car as it rolled along the bumpy road. He'd found the General's notes for the meeting and was quickly scanning them so he would know what he would be saying. Of course he would not be reading out what the General had written, he would be making a lot of it up, but he needed to know what he would be working with.
Once he arrived at camp and settled in, Hogan and the gang would find him and take the notes, Harry would bluff his way through a high level meeting, find a way home and get back to his own time. Easy? Right? Nothing could go wrong, could it?
xXx
"We're here, General." Adler, the driver, said over his shoulder when they reached camp.
"Right up to the door, Sergeant." Harry said gruffly making his voice sound more like the man he was pretending to be.
"Yes, sir." Adler agreed, not batting an eye at the General's tone.
The man pulled up directly in front of the Commandant's office just as the man in question stepped out in all his riding crop and monocle glory.
"General Kestermen!" The colonel cried even before Harry opened the door. "Welcome to Stalag thirteen!"
"Yes, yes." Harry replied gruffly. "You are Colonel Phink?"
"Ah, that's Klink, sir." Klink quickly corrected.
"Yes, yes." Harry waved the man off once again as he headed for the office door. "We have business, Phink."
"That's Klink," The colonel called after the General as he tried to open the office door for the other man.
Once in the room, Harry took a seat in front of the desk and pulled out a cigar, Klink almost fell over himself to light the stick before offering a drink. With a glass in hand and a cigar hanging from his other hand Harry turned his attention to the job ahead.
"Now, Colonel." Harry started, "I must have absolute secretary for this meeting. I want the best room in this camp and dinner fit for a General!"
"Oh, yes." Klink stuttered. "We here at Stalag thirteen have never had an escape and even have a French chef!"
"French!" Harry roared. "Has it escaped you, Colonel. That we are fighting the French!"
"Yes, sir- I mean no sir!" Klink stumbling. "Our chef is a prisoner!"
Harry stood up quickly. "A Prisoner! I didn't come all the way from the Russian front to be poisoned by a prisoner!"
"Well you see-"
"No you see, Colonel!" Harry shouted. "If I am going to be eating food made by a prisoner, I want his senior officer at the table eating the same food!"
"Yes, yes that can be arranged, sir." Klink feathers looked ruffled at the thought of Hogan eating with them, but he could put up with that if it made the General happy.
Harry clamed down, as he reseated himself. "Very well, Phink. Now I've had a tiring day."
"Yes, yes." Klink picked up the phone to call for Shultz, while Harry waited.
xXx
Harry had just settled into the Colonel's personal quarters when Hogan appeared from the tunnel under the stove. Harry rolled his eyes at the ingenious of the operation at Stalag thirteen before focusing on the older man. Hogan gave him a grin as he closed the tunnel entrance.
"Lovely performance, even if it was a little over done," Hogan commented.
Harry grinned. "I thought I carried the pissed off General quite well."
"Ah, our Colonel Klink, Jelly in the face of the anger of Generals." Hogan said with a soft snigger. "Down to business."
"Brief case is on the table with everything you need to know," Harry said, waving his hand at the brown case. "Anything else I have to know?"
"Yes," Hogan replied pulling a piece of paper from his pocket. "In the meeting you'll have to mention that more troops are need on the west flank for the Russian will be starting an attack there."
Harry nodded. "Alright, I'll see you at dinner then."
Hogan gave the man a disgruntled look. "Did you really have to invite me to the show tonight?"
Harry grinned widely. "Of course! I am a General after all!"
Hogan glared at the other man. "A pain in the ass General," Hogan muttered.
"Just remember the night isn't over, Hogan!" Harry called after the man. "I can still cause more trouble!"
Hogan almost felt himself pale at the thought as he disappeared into the tunnel, his mind racing with possibilities. He just knew he wasn't going to sleep tonight with that thought in mind.