After untangling himself from a horribly uncoordinated Franz, Max tried to take stock of the situation. Maybe the General would have forgotten about the coffee by now? Maybe if he just slipped into the room, no one would notice? Or maybe he should at least take some water?

"Hans won't let me do that." Franz interrupted Max's beverage dilemma. Max looked around trying to figure out what Franz could possibly be talking about now when he realized he'd been sucking on two fingers he'd cut on the broken dishes. Stuffing his hand in his pocket, Max tried once again to lead Franz to the front door.

"Why don't you come back tomorrow, and we can figure out how to get your brother released," Max offered. He was surprised to find he had developed a small soft spot for this ear-tapping nut.

But Franz would not be placated. "But I'm hungry," Franz nearly whined. "Can I just see him for few minutes? Just ten minutes, and Hans can make me something to eat," Franz patted the satchel still slung across his shoulders, "and then I'll leave. Quiet as a mouse! I won't make any trouble!" Franz's eyes were open wide behind his thick glasses, and his lip stuck out in a pout, which Max assumed usually earned him another wakeup story from his brother Hans.

Max sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine." Somehow he knew he'd regret this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max willed himself invisible as he snuck back into the conference room. He surreptitiously placed a carafe of water and a glass before the General and slid back into his place beside Major Bergmann. Max felt a pang of sympathy for the man. Bergmann was pale and wilted and looked very nearly on the edge of collapse. What could the General have been saying, well, ranting about while he'd been out? Regardless, the General seemed to care little about his liquid refreshment, which suited Max just fine.

Bergmann leaned over casually yet painfully clutched Max's forearm. "Did you put away the papers?" Bergmann hissed. Max just stared back perplexed. Perhaps he should introduce the Major to Franz.

The Major looked even more desperate. "The secret papers! The maps, everything! I left them out in the rush to meet the General. And now with Papa Bear in the building, I'll be court-martialed for sure!"

Before Max could reply, he felt a large mass looming over the both of them. "Do you have something you wish to share with the rest of us, Major?" the General grumbled.

Max stifled a yelp as Bergmann's vice-grip tightened on his arm.

"Just… just how lucky we are that your Generalship and… and your fine men are here to finally capture the despicable, the… the detestable Papa Bear." Bergmann's grimacing attempt at a charming smile had Max ready to fetch the Major a bucket.

The General, however, seemed satisfied. "So true, so true, Major Bergmann. At last Papa Bear will be ours, and after sharing his secrets," the General breathed in deep and appeared to have found divine contentment, "he will die a thousand gruesome deaths." His look of utter joy at such horrors sent chills up Max's spine.

However, the Major's earlier mention of the General's "fine men" sparked Max's curiosity. Not once during his Hochstetter-induced coffee catastrophe or his delivery of Franz to his brother for a much-bemoaned meal did Max recall seeing a single sign of these "fine men" combing the building. What was going on out there? But before he got a chance to continue his speculating, von Baer's aide burst into the room.

The little man trotted to von Baer's side and whispered what had to be good news judging by the enormous feral grin that unfurled across the General's face. The Captain left as quickly as he arrived, and the General stood beaming at the front of the room.

"Gentlemen, I have excellent news! We have captured the Papa Bear!"

A collective gasp coursed through the room, followed by an explosion of cheering and boisterous backslaps. Max found the news unsettling. Shouldn't he be happy over the capture of "the most dangerous man in all of Germany?"

The General allowed the room to settle a bit before continuing. "The Fuhrer has waited long for this prize, we mustn't spoil it now in our jubilation." Von Baer paced the front of the room, a jaunty spring in his step. "After I leave, you must all remain here in this room. Major Bergmann," the riding crop waggled dangerously close to Bergmann's nose, "You will wait a full five minutes before returning to your office." Bergmann nodded his head up and down emphatically. "The next man will wait five minutes before exiting, and then the next another five, etc. etc."

Von Baer must have recognized the look of confusion on Max's face, for he explained, "Nothing must appear amiss. Papa Bear's contacts must have no knowledge he has been compromised. We will use this opportunity to whisk him away to Berlin, and perhaps plant a little subterfuge of our own!" The General chuckled with delight, slapping his riding crop against his own knee for a change.

"And now I must take my leave of you. Continue on with your excellent work protecting the Fatherland from such wretched filth as that Papa Bear and those cowardly saboteurs who prefer to fight from the shadows. Heil Hitler!"

The room leapt to attention, each officer falling over himself to properly salute the grand and glorious General von Baer as he gallantly strode from the conference room. The General's sudden departure extinguished the oppressive tension of the day. Everyone spoke at once, giddy to be cleared of any implications or accusations of treason. Major Bergmann looked ready to weep great tears of relief. Max simply remained collapsed against the closed door, silently congratulating himself for reaching it in time to open it for the General.

The five minutes passed slowly. The room grew quieter and quieter as the clock ticked towards the first deadline. At last it was time for Major Bergmann to leave. With a deep breath and confident smile, Bergmann marched from the room.

Max began to settle in for another long wait when he heard the strangled cry of a dying cat. Concentrating on the pitiful sound, Max realized it was no cat, but Major Bergmann calling his name over and over. "SCHWEITZER!"

Skidding into the Major's office, Max first noticed it was completely cleaned out. There was not a single piece a paper left in the room. He looked to Bergmann who stood reeling in the center of the room, opening and closing his mouth like a fish gasping for air.

The prisoner! Max ran to the back of the building where Hans Bricker was being detained. No guards were anywhere in sight and the cell door was slightly ajar. Peering in, Max was not terribly surprised to see the room completely empty save Franz's satchel tossed in the corner.

Lost in a fog, Max somehow made it back to his desk. He ignored the quiet weeping coming from Bergmann's office, and sank defeated into his chair. Unable to formulate any subsequent course of action, Max spied General von Baer's coat still hanging on the coat rack by his desk. Despite knowing the General was long gone, Max grabbed the coat and dashed outside clinging to the implausible idea that perhaps he could catch up to him.

Max barely reached the middle of the street when a thunderous explosion threw him to the ground, debris raining down all around him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Relatively unscathed, Max stood across the street doing nothing more than watching as rescue workers and fire fighters dashed to and fro, struggling to contain the bonfire that was once the Kampfgruppe Bergmann Headquarters. He'd been relieved to see Major Bergmann had managed to escape the burning building. Bergmann now sat rocking back and forth, pouring out his soul to their slightly scorched potted plant.

So intent on the disaster, no one noticed a large staff car roll to a stop in front of Max's new base of operations. It took Max a moment to recognize the General. He was no longer wearing the eye patch, and his smiling eyes matched a broad grin on his open and friendly face.

"I believe you have something of mine?" His brain moving in slow motion, Max finally connected the General's comment with the coat he still clutched tightly in his hand. While handing over the coat, Max took a moment to peek into the car. The small Captain sat impatiently at the driver's seat, though he looked much happier than he'd appeared inside the headquarters.

Max smirked to see the ex-prisoner Hans Bricker laughing and clapping his brother Franz on the back. For his part, Franz was completely engrossed with the raging inferno across the street. There was also fifth man Max was barely able to make out, hidden in the shadows in the back seat. Max looked back to the General, whose brown eyes twinkled with impish delight.

"Auf Wiedersehen, Lieutenant," he waved as the car peeled away from the curb.

Max felt a smile spread across his face for the first time that day.

"Auf Wiedersehen, Papa Bear."

Author's Note: I have to give credit where credit is due. A while back I'd stumbled across a little anecdote about a French spy (sorry, I can't remember his name!) who barged into a Concentration Camp claiming to be hunting for himself, and ended up walking out with an armful of secret papers. The whole scenario screamed Hogan's Heroes, and I just had to make up my own version of it. Hope you had fun reading it!