Chapter 10:
Morning came around, and the prisoners of barracks two barreled out for morning roll call.
"Mon Colonel, I've gotta talk to you." LeBeau begged, following Hogan out the door.
"Tell me later, LeBeau. Let's get through roll call first," Hogan said, walking to his spot.
"But it's important, mon Colonel."
"It can wait until after roll call, LeBeau. I've got a lot on my mind, right now."
"But," LeBeau stopped, when Hogan turned his head and glared at the little Frenchman. LeBeau knew that it was no longer open for discussion and sighed. "Oui, Colonel," he sadly said. He looked over at Walters and sneered at him, while shaking his head. "Filthy bosche; just wait until the Kommandant finds out what you've done."
"What did you say, Louis?" Newkirk asked.
"Nothing, Pierre. I'll tell you later." LeBeau answered. He sneered once more at Walters, then went back to standing at attention for Schultz to count all of them.
Schultz got to the end of the line, looked back down at Walters, then returned his gaze to Hogan.
"Colonel Hogan, I hope that mean lieutenant is not causing you any trouble." Schultz softly spoke.
"He's as behaved as can be, Schultz." Hogan answered, shooting a quick look at the lieutenant.
"I do not like him, he is not a nice man."
"No, Schultz, that he isn't."
"How's Sergeant Carter, Colonel Hogan? I heard Sergeant Wilson tell the Kommandant that Carter had a panic attack yesterday."
Hogan gave a sincere smile.
"Don't worry, Schultz. Carter's just fine."
"Good," Schultz said, smiling back.
Hogan and Schultz were about to start a new conversation, when all of the men heard a blood curdling scream. It matched to Klink's.
"SCHULTZ!" Klink bellowed from afar.
Schultz hurried over to the back of the Kommandantur's, where the noise seemed to be coming from.
Hogan turned back to look at Kinch.
"You stay here with Carter and the rest of the guys. Make sure Walters doesn't try anything," Hogan ordered.
"Yes, Colonel," Kinch said.
Hogan hurried over to Schultz, and both of them got to Klink and Corporal Langenscheidt at the same time. They both gasped at the site they saw.
"Herr Kommandant!" Schultz cried.
Hogan's jaw hung from its hinges.
"My...God…" was all Hogan got out of his mouth in a whisper.
Lying before them was Corporal Mueller, one of the nice guards to the prisoners, slaughtered. His neck was sliced where the aorta was located. The man was pale, cold, and dead. He had only been 22 years old.
"I found him here this morning making my rounds, Herr Kommandant." Langenscheidt reported, shaking his head.
"How did this happen, Schultz?" Klink asked sadly.
"I do not know, Herr Kommandant. He was just fine when I went to bed last night, Herr Kommandant." The big guard answered honestly.
"Stabbed to death, Kommandant?" Hogan asked, still spooked.
"Yes, Hogan. I'm afraid so. A good man might I say, too." Klink answered, depressed. "I will make sure he is given an award for his bravery and courageous death."
Hogan turned his head from Klink, Schultz, and Langenscheidt to make a growl. He knew Walters was behind all of this, but why would he kill an innocent German corporal? Probably another one of his mental outbursts he figured. He returned his gaze to Mueller and shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Kommandant. Corporal Mueller was a good man." Hogan gave his condolences.
"Thank you, Hogan. I just wish I knew who did this to him. None of my guards would have done this to Corporal Mueller. None of them!"
"What if it was one of the prisoners, Herr Kommandant?" Schultz worried. He had a good feeling like Hogan on who was behind the murder of the young corporal.
"Impossible. No one escapes from Stalag 13! Besides, where would the prisoners get a hold of a weapon?" Klink turned to Hogan and glared at him hard. "It better have not been one of the prisoners."
"I'm glad to say 'no', Kommandant." Hogan lied. He figured that it was not the time nor place to accuse Walters of killing Mueller. He could not be certain anyways no matter how likely it seemed. There was always the possibility of someone finding a way into camp and killing Mueller. A very low chance of happening, but a possibility to be looked at.
"Guards!" Klink hollered.
Four of Klink's best men hurried to the Kommandant and saluted him.
"I want patrols placed all over this camp. I want roads patrolled, the woods, every man that enters this camp searched for evidence leading to the death of Corporal Mueller. I will not have another one of my men attacked. Any suspicious activity shall be reported to me immediately which will be reported to Gestapo Headquarters to Major Hochstetter at once, understood," Klink ordered.
"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," the highest ranking of the group, a corporal, spoke firmly.
"Good. Now get on it on the double! Disssssmiisssed!"
The four men Klink had ordered to go make patrols hurried away immediately, leaving Hogan, Schultz, and Langenscheidt to be with the Kommandant. Klink was shaking in his boots. He was mortified with the fact that one of his men had been murdered. What worried him even more was who was behind the crime and how did they manage to sneak into camp. Unknown to him, the killer was right in front of his very eyes, but Walters was too smart for Klink. The old German colonel would never suspect a thing from him. His plan was set in motion. He now just needed to find the right time and place to kill Hogan, and he would make sure that his four men would witness it happen, especially Carter. Once Hogan was out of the picture, the prisoners would be his. He would make them grovel at his feet and worship him like a God. Knowing he would become the Adolf Hitler of Stalag 13 made him give a wicked grin. It did not go unnoticed by Newkirk, Kinch, and LeBeau, who all glared at the man and shook their heads disapprovingly.
Hogan returned followed by Schultz. Both men did not seem to look too pleased.
"All prisoners are dismissed, ordered not to bother the Kommandant, and to be confined to the barracks until further notice," Schultz sadly said. The fluffy guard sighed, shook his head, and trudged away sadly.
All the prisoners, besides Hogan and his men, dispersed to do their regular activities back inside. Hogan sighed and shook his head. The young German corporal would be missed. He had been friendly with Hogan and his men despite him only being in camp for a couple of months. He was a good man and taken at too young of an age. Mueller had a long life ahead of him after the war that could have been spent married, raising a family of his own, having a job he loved under a government that was not run by fascist leaders such as Hitler.
"Is everything alright, Colonel?" Carter asked, worried.
Hogan turned to look at his four men with a grim look to his face.
"Corporal Mueller's dead. He was murdered last night some time," Hogan sadly said.
"That's what I was trying to tell you, Colonel," LeBeau said, just as grim. "I saw Lieutenant Walters wake up last night and leave the barracks and watched him from a window. He muffled Corporal Mueller and took him behind the Kommandantur's where he was later killed I suspect."
"Dirty bastard," Newkirk hissed.
"Boy...that's a sure sad thing to happen. Corporal Mueller was so young, too, Colonel," Carter said, feeling horrible. He had liked the young corporal and had talked with him quite a bit in the time knowing him.
"What do we do, Colonel?" Kinch asked, crossing his arms.
"I don't know," Hogan answered softly. "What makes me even more worried is not knowing why Walters would kill Corporal Mueller in the first place. Walters had no ties to Mueller at all. The only explanation I can think of is Walters suffering from a sudden mental outburst, but my gut's telling me that's not it."
"What do you think it is, Colonel?" LeBeau asked.
Hogan shook his head with his arms wrapped around himself.
"I can't put a finger on it, but I know that I don't have a good feeling about this murder. I know Walters had a reason for doing it, but I can't think of what it would be."
Newkirk sneered at the thought of the lieutenant.
"I tell ya, I ain't in much a forgiving mood for that bloke killing Corporal Mueller, Gov'nor. I say he suffers and now."
"I know we're all sad over the loss of Corporal Mueller, but killing Walters isn't going to help the fact that he's gone. It won't bring him back to us anymore than it will now." Hogan responded, slightly grinding his jaw. It angered him knowing that Walters had killed an innocent life. He still could not figure out his gut feeling. Why would Walters kill Mueller for no reason? There was nothing to connect the two of them together. Not a past history, confrontation, or anything else of the sorts. He hid back his fear that it might have to do something with one of his men, and he was willing to die at that rate, then, if it meant saving them for being hurt or killed.
"I know, Colonel, but he must pay for what he's done!" LeBeau spoke, shaking his fist.
"And we will punish him, just as soon as I think of what that'll be," Hogan said.
"I still think Major Hochstetter would do him some good," Newkirk grumbled.
"Is sending him to Hochstetter all that horrible, Colonel? We could do worse to him," Kinch said.
"It's more humane than killing the man, but still a cruel method. You know very well what Hochstetter and the Gestapo are capable of doing to a man. No, Hochstetter and his men are out of the question." Hogan answered.
"What if we got General Burkhalter to help us somehow?" Carter suggested.
Hogan looked at Carter briefly before letting out a breath of air.
"It's an idea, Carter, but what would getting General Burkhalter involved do?" Hogan asked.
"Gee, Colonel; I hadn't thought of that," Carter said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Something to keep in mind, but not make it our main priority for now."
"Looks like we're back to square one, then," Newkirk groaned.
"You think we can convince Klink enough that Walters is a sociopath?" Carter questioned, curious.
"We could try, but it'll take all our efforts to do so." Hogan answered, crossing his arms.
"What do we do first, Colonel?" Kinch asked.
"Kinch, contact London. I want every scrap of information they can get on Walters and his past medical history and criminal records. It might help us in figuring out what to do regarding our situation," Hogan said.
"Yes, Colonel," Kinch hurried inside the barracks to go down to the radio room.
"Newkirk, LeBeau, I want you two to stay out here and keep watch on Walters. If he does anything suspicious, don't confront him. Come get me, and we'll go from there," Hogan told the two.
"Oui, Colonel," LeBeau said.
"Sounds like a piece of cake to me, Gov'nor," Newkirk said.
"It's piece of pie, remember?" LeBeau asked.
Newkirk simply shook his head smiling and the two of them walked off to another part of the camp leaving Hogan and Carter to themselves.
"What do you want me to do, Colonel?" Carter asked, hoping he could do something to help the efforts.
Hogan smiled and wrapped an arm around Carter's shoulders.
"Carter, you've got the most important job," Hogan began.
"Really?!" He asked, excited.
Hogan could not help but chuckle.
"Come on. I got a few questions I wanna ask you."
Both Hogan and Carter walked off into the barracks while Walters watched them from a distance. He wondered what Hogan and his men had been discussing, but was pretty sure that he knew the answer already. It did not matter. No matter what they were planning on doing, Walters would be one step ahead of them. None of them would ever see him coming and before they could realize what was happening, Hogan would be dead and none of them would be able to stop it.