A/N: I don't own Hogan's Heroes and I don't get paid for this; it is truly a labor of love.

The five men huddled around Hogan's desk were hushed as their commander went over the proposed mission once again.

"And that's it. We'll try to enter the building without attracting too much notice, but if we have to take out the guards we will. Kinch, once the front entrance is secure you'll keep watch while Carter and I infiltrate the factory. Newkirk, LeBeau, you'll be watching the rear of the building. Baker, you'll maintain radio watch while we're gone." Hogan straightened and looked each member of his team in the eye. "And this time, we carry out the mission as planned. Clear?"

"Sure, Colonel."

"You got it, sir."

"Piece o' cake."

"Bien sûr!" Despite his enthusiastic reply, LeBeau had a troubled look on his face. "Mais, mon Colonel..."

Hogan put his hands on his hips. "I don't want to hear it! This mission goes as planned, and no dog is going to dictate whether we go out tonight or not. Who's running this camp, anyway?"

The delay in response from his team was just long enough to turn the Colonel's eyes to ice, and Kinch took it upon himself to answer for his comrades.

"You are, of course, sir. But you have to admit we'd be in a world of trouble right now if we'd been out of camp last night."

"Yeah," Carter piped up. "Who knew that Klink'd have a surprise bed check at two AM?"

"Not me," muttered Newkirk. "Ol' Klink needs 'is beauty sleep, and so do I. But what I want to know is, 'ow did the bloomin' dogs know it?"

LeBeau shrugged expressively. "Does it matter? We are safe today because the dogs did not allow us to exit the tunnel last night."

"All right, all right." Hogan rubbed a weary hand over his face. "We got lucky last night. But those papers at the Klingenhofer factory are vital to the war effort, and there's a chance we can destroy some pretty important machinery there too. We've got a job to do, and come hell or high water, dogs or no dogs, we're gonna get it done tonight. You got that?"

The assembled men nodded, and LeBeau knew what he had to do.

Wolfgang had sent everyone to the doghouses to try to get some sleep. Everyone except Bismarck, who lingered to discuss the previous night's events with his leader.

"I have a feeling we're not too popular with the Colonel right now," Bismarck said.

"We're not," Wolfgang admitted. "But we did what we had to do. If Colonel Hogan had been in possession of the same intelligence we had, he would have canceled the mission himself."

Bismarck twitched a thoughtful ear. "Too bad humans don't understand the messages from the Twilight Barking."

Wolfgang had to chuckle. "Well, you wouldn't want Gestapo humans to understand those messages, would you?"

Bismarck chuckled too. "There is that consideration, of course. Well, we did our job. But Colonel Hogan must do his job, too. We can't keep him penned up here when there are things he needs to do."

"Ja, that is true. Wait..." Wolfgang cocked his head as a scratching noise came from beneath the doghouse concealing the tunnel entrance.

Both dogs watched solemnly as the doghouse tilted upward a few inches. No one climbed out, though, and only LeBeau's anxious face was visible in the opening. The dogs dropped to the ground, flattening themselves on their bellies to peer in at him.

"Hsst! Wolfgang!"

"I'm right here, LeBeau." Wolfgang pushed his nose into the opening, almost in the Frenchman's face.

"Wolfgang, I must warn you. We shall be going out again tonight, and the Colonel is very determined that you will not interfere this time, comprends-tu?"

Wolfgang gave a soft woof, and LeBeau interpreted this as a request for more information.

"T'en fais pas! We shall be going into town in one of the trucks from the motor pool that is hidden off the road, not far from here."

Bismarck nodded. "I overheard Kinch negotiating with Sergeant Freimuth earlier today. Seems the price has gone up again for the use of the stalag trucks."

LeBeau's eyes flicked to Bismarck and then back to Wolfgang, and there was a note of entreaty in his whisper. "You will not cause trouble for us, s'il te plaît?"

"Nee, nee," Wolfgang assured him.

LeBeau regarded him doubtfully for a moment, and then he disappeared from view as the doghouse was lowered back into place.

Bismarck got to his feet and trotted over to the gate of the dog pen. "Coast is clear, Wolfgang."

Wolfgang grinned as he got to his feet as well. "You read my mind."

His friend sighed and shook his head. "Don't tell me. If we can't stop them, we join them, correct?"

"Correct. Wake the others...Fritzi and I are going outside the wire."

Hogan raised the trapdoor of the tree stump exit cautiously, waiting for the searchlights from the guard towers to complete their sweep before he emerged. He climbed out and scanned the darkness nearby for signs of those damned dogs, but the area was reassuringly free of canine activity. Lifting the trapdoor again, he called softly: "All clear...come on up."

The five Heroes made their way gingerly through the crunching snow and the crackling underbrush, pausing every now and then to listen for sounds of patrols in the vicinity. All was quiet, though, and they found the hidden truck without incident.

And then...

Newkirk was the first one to reach the truck and was about to climb in, but he paused, one hand on the floor of the rear compartment. "Colonel, I 'ate to bring this up..."

"What is it, Newkirk?"

Kinch peered into the truck too. "Looks like we got a couple of stowaways, Colonel."

"What!" Hogan leaned into the back of the truck, and spotted two pairs of eyes gleaming in the darkness. As his own eyes adjusted to the dim light, he easily identified the main culprit. He glared at Wolfgang, who regarded him inscrutably.

"Damn that dog!" he exploded. "What the hell is he doing here? LeBeau, did you tell him about this truck?"

As LeBeau opened his mouth to respond, Hogan clapped a hand to his forehead. "What am I saying? I don't give a damn why the dogs are here, just get them out."

"Mon Colonel, perhaps you should listen to Wolfgang before you act."

"Listen to him? He's a dog!"

A bit miffed, Fritzi turned his head to look at his leader. "Permission to bite the human, sir."

Wolfgang did not take this request seriously. "Patience, Fritzi. In a few moments he will realize his error."

Newkirk looked from the dogs to Hogan, and shook his head. "They ain't gonna budge, guv'nor. Best to bring 'em along, eh?"

"They can help keep watch while we're inside the factory, Colonel," Carter wheedled. "I bet they can see in the dark a lot better than we can."

"That's true," said Kinch.

"Since when do we take a couple of mutts along on a mission?" Hogan grumbled, but he made no further objection to the dogs' presence. Kinch, LeBeau and Newkirk climbed into the back of the truck and Hogan and Carter, nattily attired in Abwehr uniforms, got into the front.

As the truck drove up to the factory entrance, a fat guard on gate duty approached. "State your business, bitte."

Carter showed him a sheaf of carefully forged orders, and the guard grunted. "An Abwehr inspection? Odd! But I must search your truck before I can allow you in."

Carter gave him a condescending smile. "By all means, mein Herr. But do be careful of the dogs we have brought along to assist us in the inspection."

"Dogs?" The guard drew back, glancing apprehensively at the rear of the truck.

"They are trained to sniff out explosives," Hogan put in helpfully. "In case anyone has dared to sabotage your factory."

"Explosives?" The guard's alarm appeared to escalate.

"But the dogs are trained killers too, of course," Carter added.

"Killers?" The guard waved his hands frantically. "Drive through! Drive through!"

Carter put the truck in gear. "Danke."

As the truck crossed the factory yard, Hogan murmured, "Good thinking, Carter."

"Thanks, Colonel."

The guard watched as the truck pulled up to the front entrance of the building and then turned to resume his post at the gate. Hogan and Carter collected the two dogs from the back of the truck, with improvised leashes made from lengths of rope they had brought along. Hogan handed Fritzi off to LeBeau, who vanished toward the rear of the building along with Newkirk. Kinch took up a position in the shadows near the front entrance.

The Klingenhofer factory did not employ a night shift, and the place was almost deserted. Hogan, Carter and Wolfgang encountered two more guards as they searched the plant, and Carter's terse explanation of possible sabotage made it easy to persuade them to vacate the premises. The guards glanced briefly at the "bomb-sniffing" dog and quickly made their escape.

The office of the chief engineer was found readily, and a quick search uncovered the papers Hogan was looking for. The first task completed, the three hurried to the main control room for the machinery of the factory, and Carter planted a few well-placed explosives.

"These'll take out the machines here, Colonel, and most of the building too," he said, and Hogan nodded.

"We better get out of here. Time?"

"She blows in seven minutes, Colonel."

The two men hurried out of the control room and down a hallway, but as they passed a doorway, Wolfgang hung back and gave a woof.

"Come on, come on!" Hogan was impatient. "You've done your bit—you put on a good show, now it's done. Let's go!"

Wolfgang planted all four feet and refused to budge. Carter glanced at Hogan apologetically and then turned to the dog. "What is it, Wolfgang? Show me."

He let go of the rope attached to Wolfgang's collar and the dog charged through the doorway, startling a guard who had apparently been napping during his shift.

"Was ist los?" he gasped, almost falling from his chair as Carter and Hogan came into the room.

"We are an Abwehr inspection team," Carter snapped. "We have found signs of sabotage...an imminent explosion! You must evacuate, at once!"

"Jawohl!" The guard stumbled to his feet and ran from the room.

Hogan, Carter and Wolfgang lost no time in following him. As they emerged from the building, Kinch said from the shadows: "Looks like you flushed everyone out. Job done?"

"Done," said Hogan. "Get in the truck. Carter, get Newkirk and LeBeau back here pronto."

"Yes, sir," said Carter, but before he could take a step Wolfgang gave a sharp bark. As if in response to a signal, three shadows came running toward the truck, Fritzi pulling LeBeau along and Newkirk bringing up the rear.

With the back of the truck in the shadows, all were able to scramble aboard unobserved. Not that there was anyone lurking in the factory yard to watch; all of the guards were at the entrance gate, trembling with apprehension.

Carter drove the truck up to the front gate, pausing just long enough for Hogan to sound the alarm. "You—all of you there—get as far away as you can. We have detected explosives in the factory but were unable to disarm the detonator. You have only a few minutes!"

This scattered the guards immediately, and the truck sped off. Ninety seconds later, a muffled whoomph was heard, and Hogan stuck his head out of the window to see the factory in flames. He pulled his head back in and patted the papers safely tucked inside his Abwehr overcoat.

"Mission accomplished," he said, with satisfaction.

"Looks like it, sir," said Carter. "One question, though—since when does the Abwehr do bomb detection duty?"

"As of now, I guess," replied Hogan. "It'll be good PR for them, don't you think?"

And sure enough, in the Hammelburg Nachrichten the next day, the headlines read:

Heroic Abwehr Officers Save Factory Guards From Explosion

As the truck pulled to a stop not far from Luftstalag 13, Wolfgang and Fritzi did not stand on ceremony but jumped out of the back as soon as the vehicle was no longer in motion. As they trotted off into the woods, they could hear Newkirk's voice.

"Now, 'ow do you think they plan to get back inside, chum?"

LeBeau's reply was one of sublime unconcern. "The same way they got out, sans doute."

Kinch's smothered laugh was barely audible and Wolfgang chuckled as he and Fritzi made their way through the woods. "I think LeBeau has our number."

"Ja, he understands us very well," said Fritzi.

At the Luftstalag, the two dogs watched for the sweep of the searchlights before they approached the section of fence that had been loosened long ago during Olsen's early ventures outside the wire. Gerda and Bismarck were waiting to pull back the loosened portions of the outer and inner fences to allow the two adventurers through.

"Alles in Ordnung?" Wolfgang asked, once he and Fritzi were safely inside the compound.

Bismarck nodded. "Everything's been quiet here. We could hear a faint explosion off in the direction of town, though."

"That was the mission our humans had planned," Fritzi said. He added proudly, "And we helped!"

Bismarck smiled, but he said, "Corporal Kohl will be heading for the dog pen soon for foot patrol. We'd better get back."

Safely back in the pen, Wolfgang woke Hans and Sieglinde for foot patrol and sent the others to bed. After Corporal Kohl and Private Kurtz departed with Hans and Sieglinde, Wolfgang paced the area of the dog pen, too keyed up to sleep.

It had been a successful operation, and he was very glad that he had been able to ensure the safety of all the humans involved. This time, at least.

Wolfgang sighed. When one is shepherd to a flock of humans, one must always expect the unexpected. But he had to wonder if any other humans were quite as unexpected as his!

His musings were interrupted by the tunnel doghouse lifting into the air again, and this time Colonel Hogan's face appeared in the opening.

Wolfgang stretched out on the ground in front of the doghouse so he could meet the Colonel's eyes.

"You ran off before I could say anything," said Hogan reproachfully. "I just wanted to tell you...thanks."

Wolfgang smiled. "You're welcome."