Hochstetter did not take kindly to the news. Nothing unusual had happened at Stalag 13. Hogan and his men were apparently on their best behaviour. He had directed his men to tear up the place, to look for any radio transmitters, any explosives, anything that would pin the ball-bearing plant sabotage on Hogan. But even as he gave the order, he knew that the chances of them finding anything were slim. If it was that easy to find something on Hogan, the American colonel would have been shot years ago.

And this left Hochstetter in a bit of a sticky situation. Did he keep the American sergeant and the little cockroach in his custody? Did he press forward without evidence and arrest Hogan anyway. This was, after all, Germany- no evidence was required. Normally. But this wasn't a normal situation. Hogan was a prisoner of war and, unfortunately, that meant he was afforded certain protections not granted the normal citizenry or even members of the German military. Secondly, Hochstetter knew he was on thin ice with his superiors as it was- especially in regards to Hogan.

He was treading a very thin line between obsession and madness. His superiors would no doubt err on the side of madness and deal with him accordingly.

Balling his hand into a fist, Hochstetter shook with rage. He knew Hogan was behind this, just as Hogan was behind all the sabotage activity in the area. But there was no way he could prove it. As soon as his superiors heard about Kruger, about his picture, about his two incapacitated, idiotic prisoners, they would finally lose all patience.

"Well played, Hogan," Hochstetter growled. "Well played."

Despite Major Hochstetter's conviction otherwise, Colonel Hogan had no idea what was playing out at Gestapo headquarters. For all he knew, Carter and LeBeau were being relentlessly tortured, and there was not a thing he could do about it. At least, not with two rifles tracking his every move. As he paced about Klink's sitting room, he could only hope that his nod to Kinch had been translated into something brilliant.

"Hogan will you stop that incessant pacing!" Klink demanded warily. "You are making me nervous." Klink nodded slightly toward the guards behind them, indicating that he wasn't the only one disturbed by Hogan.

"Yeah, sorry, it's just this crazy thing that happens when the Gestapo apprehend two of my men," Hogan replied testily. "It has a tendency to make a guy anxious."

"But they did not do anything," Klink pointed out. "You said so yourself."

"Yeah, yeah, I know they didn't do anything. You know they didn't do anything. But is that going to matter to Hochstetter and his band of merry maniacs?"

He saw the guards stiffen and frown, raising their rifles slightly. Right. Don't antagonize the crazies.

"Hogan," Klink warned, his voice wavering.

It was at that amoment that the door to the Kommandantur opened, and Hochstetter stalked in. Hogan watched him with thinly veiled rage. "Where are-"

"Oh Major Hochstetter, it's a pleasure to see you back so soon," Klink said nervously, stepping in between Hogan and Hochstetter. "I'm sure that means you couldn't find any evidence against LeBeau and Carter, and we can put this whole terrible misunderstanding behind us?"

"BAH!" Hochstetter swept Klink aside with his arm and marched up to Hogan. "Colonel Hogan, your men were arrested on suspicion of sabotage activity."

"So you told me," Hogan said as evenly as he could. "So did they admit to being butterflies?"

Hochstetter growled. "I had… insufficient evidence to continue my interrogations," he ground out, "and have decided to return them to the custody of Kommandant Klink."

"Well what do you know: even in Germany, justice and common sense can prevail," Hogan said flatly. The two men glared at each other.

Klink broke the silence by clearing his throat. "Of course, the major didn't find any evidence to support such an outlandish theory." Hochstetter broke his eye contact with Hogan to scowl at Klink. Klink faltered and shrank, but continued anyway. "After all, the major must know that no prisoner ever escapes Stalag 13, let alone can commit acts of sabotage."

"Yes," Hochstetter said, his voice shaking with anger, "I must, mustn't I? Only an absolute fool would believe these two dummkopfs could be saboteurs. And only an absolute fool would use them as such. And we neither are fools, are we, Hogan?"

As much as Hogan wanted to disagree with at least half that statement, he gave a curt nod. "No, Major. Neither of us."

Hochstetter glowered at him. "One day, Hogan. One day you will not be so clever. One day my ring of steel will finally tighten right around your neck."

"I really wish you'd be more specific; I like to mark these kinds of things on my calendar."

Hochstetter stomped his foot. "BAH!" And with that, he spun on his heels and marched out of the room, motioning his men to follow him.

As soon as the door closed, Hogan let out a little breath.

"Such a horrible little man," Klink sniffed.

"Well he's no miss congeniality," Hogan agreed as he made his way to the door.

"Hogan, where are you going?" Klink demanded.

"Going to check on my men. Hochstetter probably dropped them off at the barracks." At least, he hoped so. He half suspected he would find them in a heap in the courtyard.

"Yes, yes, of course. Let me know if they are all right," Klink said with a touch of concern.

Hogan gave him a short smile and nodded before heading out.

As it turned out, Carter and LeBeau had been unceremoniously dumped in the courtyard. Hogan found Schultz and Langenscheidt helping them to their feet. Well, they were alive, and conscious. Hogan quickly inspected them as he marched over. They looked a little worse for wear, and LeBeau had a nasty gash above his eye, but they didn't look nearly as bad as Hogan had feared.

"LeBeau. Carter. You all right?" Hogan asked when he reached them. The two men gave weary nods.

"I could use a nice soft bed right now," Carter groaned.

"Fresh out. But how about I scrounge up an extra blanket?" Hogan offered. Carter just nodded, leaning weakly against Schultz. "All right, let's get them inside."

Soon, the two men were back in the bunks, as snug as they could possibly be. Hogan hovered over them. "You guys sure you're all right?" he asked again.

LeBeau nodded. "Oui. I just need some rest."

"Looks like the underground came through for us," Kinch said as he handed Hogan some coffee.

"Yeah. Sure would like to know how they pulled it off. Kinch, get on the horn and see if you can contact Cinderella or Snow White."

"Right."

From his bunk, Carter made a pathetic little noise. "Sorry we made a mess of everything, Colonel," he said miserably. "Boy, I bet you'll never put us in charge again."

"Well, I don't know, Carter. Did you boys learn anything?"

"Oui," LeBeau answered. "I learned to be in charge, I must keep my temper. And always listen to the very end of a conversation."

"Carter?"

"Gosh, Colonel, I guess I learned that I should let someone know if I disagree with them. Maybe we could have avoided this whole thing."

"Are you blaming me for all this?" LeBeau cried, his voice passionate even if it was a little weak.

"Well…"

LeBeau turned a little red, but then quickly settled down. "I am sorry. Carter actually did a lot of good," he admitted.

"Oh sure, like making Klink believe he and I were like brothers?" He still wasn't over that one. It would take a lot more than staying quiet under torture for Hogan to forgive Carter of that. Carter just gave him a sheepish smile. "All right, we'll discuss it after you've both recovered. In the mean time, is there anything I can do for you?"

Carter squirmed. "Well… some hot soup would be nice."

"Oui, I am very hungry," LeBeau added. "Being tortured really works up an appetite."

"No problem," Hogan said. "Newkirk, why don't you whip up some soup?"

"Me, sir?" Newkirk asked incredulously.

"Sure. How hard can it be?"

Unfortunately, Hogan had either overestimated Newkirk's abilities, or underestimated just how hard it was to make a good soup. Either way, when the smoke cleared and the whole dreadful experiment was over, Hogan came to one conclusion. He may just give Carter and LeBeau another chance to lead, but he would never, ever, under any circumstance, allow Newkirk to cook again.

The End

Hey, look at that. Ten years and two short chapters later and we're done. This just leaves Papa Bear's List to be completed. Hopefully it'll be soon. Check back later.

Cheers,

Tuttle