Chapter 11

August and Cort had been led to the same building that they had been in questioned in earlier by the Germans. 'I wish I could speak German, it would make this a little easier,' August remarked to Cort silently.

'I must agree,' Cort nodded. 'Is everyone in place?'

'Yeah, just about,' August couldn't help to smile.

"The Gestapo are on their way, and I suggest that you tell them everything that you know." Klink was strutting about in front of them, waving his swagger cane to punctuate different points.

"Well, I know the alphabet, that one plus one equals two, one plus two equals three..." August said, purposely annoying him.

"You know what I mean!" Klink's shrill voice squeaked as he pouted indignantly.

"Oh, about the war? But I was told that if captured I could only say my name, rank, and serial number, and you guys already know all that," August argued childishly.

"Well, forget about that, we have ways to make you reconsider," Klink said with a glint in his eyes, or was that just the monocle?

"Commadant, would you betray your country?" Cort asked.

Klink frowned, frustrated, about ready to hit something with his "swagger cane." But before had a chance a short gestapo officer, with a funny mustache barged into the room.

"Major Hochstetter!" Klink was immediately flustered, waving his riding crop around for a moment as if he wasn't sure where to put it, before finally settling on slapping it under his arm, "I'm so happy that you could make it, but I don't think the prisoners are being very forthcoming, maybe we should postpone the interrogation until after I've tried to crack them." He leaned in confidentially, punctuating his words with jabbing motions,"I feel very close, I'm sure if I had one more day-"

"Shut up Klink!!" For such a small man, he sure could make a loud sound, "I vill quvestion them myself!!"

"But sir, they're not ready to squeal yet," Klink tried again.

"Klink, you imbecile, that is the whole point of interrogation! To make them crack!" Hochstetter shouted. "Now I'm commandeering your office. If you vould leave."

"I am a colonel, you-"

"Out!!" Hochstetter yelled. He certainly had anger management problems.

With an exaggerated pout and Hmph, Klink left the room. August mentally kept track of him and started opening his mental scope, finding everyone about in position. It was almost time for the plan to be put into motion.

August could feel Olsen and Carter outside the main building to keep an eye on August and Cort. August felt that they would have a bit of a dull evening on account of themselves, but he got that they hadn't proven themselves yet. Hogan was in the forest with LeBeau and Newkirk prepping to make their escape. They were very complacent about it, so August knew that they must have done it countless of times before. Kinch was in the tunnels under the barracks radioing London.

"August O'Reilly, corporal, um..." August looked down at his dog tags and read of the numbers, silently cursing himself for not memorizing the numbers.

"Save your breath," the major said with feigned calm, but still rather loudly. In the back of his mind a red flag went up, Newkirk and Carter saw someone coming in a staff car. A General Burkhalter? August instinctively sent a report to Hogan, that's what he was used to in battle, sending information to Dustin and keeping everyone in the loop. August didn't have time to see what Hogan thought though, he was probably was still weirded out.

"You two know what I'm after, and the sooner you tell me, the easier it will be for you. I have all day, but believe me, you really don't want to do this all day," Hochstetter threatened, succeeding at sounding threatening.

"I don't think you're going to get all day," August said as a fat- no; heavy- August corrected himself, man in a blue German uniform entered the room. The two Germans glared at each other for a moment, their lips snarled in disgust.

"Major Hochstetter, these two men," the general glanced at them, almost changing men to boys, "Are suspected of being spies."

"Well, what do you think I'm interrogating them for?" Hochstetter asked.

"I gave up on guessing why you do the things you do quite a while ago." The General replied.

"Did you not think that the Gestapo could find out about it ourselves?" Hochstetter snarled, "We do not depend on the Luftewaffe for our updates."

August didn't know how he felt about being thusly fought over. If they were girls maybe he would feel fine, but with it being two German officers arguing over who got to inflict pain in him or whatever until he talked, well...

"What does it matter which of you gets the information? Cort asked. "We talk, you work together, you both look good." They looked over like they had almost forgotten that August and Cort were there.

"You two are ready to talk?" Hochstetter asked, surprised.

"Obviously." The look on Cort's face was positively diabolical.

"You're ready to betray your country just like that?" Hochstetter asked skeptically, with a hint of disappointment.

"They betrayed us first," Cort said with a shrug.

"Something happened in camp before we were shot down," August said, inflaming their curiosity. "Besides, you've certainly heard about what's going on, I can't see how our side is any different from yours now."

"To what are you referring?" the fat general asked.

"How we're going to use your own planes to attack you," Cort said as if trying to jog a young child's memory.

"They plan to make it to Berlin in a week," August added. "Certainly you knew about it, I thought that's why you were showing such an interest in us. I figured that you knew our job was to steal a German fighter plane and take it back to London."

"Of course," Hochstetter lied. August smiled inwardly, the major's want of being right was going to cost him.

"There was another group sent with us though, as far as we know they succeeded." Cort paused a slight moment, "The Allies have put all their workforce into recreating your planes. I bet they already have a fleet of them ready to attack Germany in a few days."

"We know where they're planning on attacking too, but that information will cost you," August boasted. He really wasn't good at German geography, but Hogan had told them what cities to say and showed them where they were on a map.

"What's you're price?" Burkhalter snarled.

"Not much, but release from this camp would be a great start," Cort said.

"Not sure if you could tell, but we had to... Well lie a little to join the army, and we're regretting it. But, if the government found out... We've heard that Switzerland is a friendly place right now," August said. He knew that they wouldn't agree to those terms, which was fine, he really didn't want to end up in Switzerland.

"How about you get extra rations and you keep your lives?" Hochstetter asked.

"Fair enough," Cort agreed kind of sulkily.

"Now show us where," Burkhalter demanded pointing to a map of Europe on the wall.

August and Cort took their time pointing out the places on the map and mapping out fake battle plans and strategies. August was starting to feel impressed and a bit smug. They both sure did understand battle.

Finally August felt a bit of activity from the forest where he'd been subconsciously monitoring the whole time. Hogan was back, and with a group of eleven men.

'Hogan is back," he informed Cort, "just a few more minutes and they'll be in barracks and the men in the tunnels.'

'That's good. I can't believe they're buying every word of this. How did they make it to be officers?'

'I have no idea... Really. Too bad the whole army isn't this gullible. Maybe there's something in the water here.'

Suddenly August stiffened, as a thought came as one from at least three different core members of Papa Bear's group, including Hogan himself, 'Somebody kill me please!'

'Something is wrong,' August warned Cort. 'But... Nothing is really happening... I think it may be one of the men that they have with them.'

'Do you think he's a spy?' Cort asked.

'Not sure.'

'Can you tell who he is?' Cort was obviously alarmed, and yet outwardly, he still had a boot-licking smile fooling the foolish Germans surrounding them.

'I can try ..." August focused his attention on Hogan's thoughts, and could see from his point of view, even if it was for just a moment:

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I can't believe this! Of all people, it had to be him, didn't it?! I turned toward Newkirk with a long suffering look on my face as Crittendon recognized me,

"Hogan old boy!" He gave that goofy smile once again, as he went to shake my hand in a firm grip, "It's jolly good of you to do this for me, but we were doing marvelously on our own, oh ho, the Jerries would never have known where to look next, ... only, dash it all, they had those dogs with them. Good thing your men were there, wot? They came in just the nick of time! I was about to snap the necks of those poor blighters, and I wouldn't have wanted my men to see it, can't erase images like that from your head, wot?"

"No, I should fink not." Newkirk's mutter was just loud enough for me to hear, and I had to stifle a smile, "I still 'ave bloody nightmares about it." I had to agree, watching Crittendon the first time he had tried to take down a guard had been both satisfying and horrific.

"So, off to London then? I can't imagine that we'd want to dawdle here, wot? Wouldn't want those Jerry mutts sniffing us out again!" Crittendon clapped me on the shoulder, and I had to stifle a wince, he'd hit me just where I'd bruised it earlier, incidentally grabbing that info from Tiger, which was still burning a hole in my breast pocket, so I had to agree.

"Yeah, we should probably get going, before somebody gets hurt." I turned around, letting the sentence hang with double meaning, before leading the way back to camp, with all of Crittendon's silent men behind me; along with Newkirk and LeBeau, who I could hear whispering furiously with one another, apparently about Crittendon, as a moment later, Newkirk finally cursed in a loud whisper, then turned, grabbing Crittendon's arm,

"This way sir, if you please." It was forced politeness, and I finally discovered what they had been fighting about; Crittendon duty. I, on the other hand, tried to ignore him and his never ending protests:

"I have an absolutely stupendous sense of direction, follow the stars I always say ..." I just rolled my eyes, stifling another laugh at LeBeau's quiet observation,

"The stars are up, so how can you follow them by looking only at yourself?"

Could this mission get any worse?

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

August pulled back to himself, expecting to find everyone looking at him, only to find that Cort had covered for him quite nicely, but was glancing at him expectantly every once in a while, and sighed slightly with relief when August finally answered the question from earlier, 'Colonel Crittendon, a stupid British guy who's almost ruined their operations before.'

'I can see that happening here.' Cort nodded slightly, still explaining something to Hochstetter in great detail at the same time. August couldn't help but think that his new friend (yes, his friend) had taken to telepathy quite well. He even had mind barriers, which August had to admit were decent, despite the fact that he could easily get past them, and had only noticed them a moment ago.

'I agree, everything seems to happen here.' August smiled in reply, thinking that this was probably the craziest piece of history in the world.

Cort and August were running out of things to say to the Germans when everyone finally made it safe and sound to the barracks. It seemed to August that the Crittendon guy had mislead a few men a couple of times and kept tripping, so it took them longer than it should have. But finally they made it and August informed Cort.

"I think that's about all the information we have, and we wouldn't have known that much if we hadn't listened in a few times," August said, ready to wrap up their meeting.

Cort nodded, "If we think of anything else we'll make sure to tell Klink."

"I think it would be best if you didn't," General Burkhalter said. "Just have him call me."

"Now wait a minute!" Hochstetter protested.

"Okay, if we remember anything else, we'll call," August said. "But for now, I'm feeling kind of tired."

"The cooler has wonderful beds where you can 'cool' down." Hochstetter grinned maliciously, and August had to stop a blanch at the awful pun.

"But you said-" Cort began to protest,

"Only after your information has proved valid will we grant you our part of the bargain, until then, ... I hope for your sakes that you told the truth, because if you didn't, you can expect a visit from the Gestapo tonight." Burkhalter gave them a grave look, and Hochstetter made a small sound of discontent. "What is it, Hochstetter?" The General appeared very annoyed, and the small man smiled.

"In actuality, they have to come with the Gestapo right now." He pulled out a paper with a flourish," Spies are not protected by the Geneva convention or the Luftwaffe." He looked incredibly smug while Burkhalter read it, growing red in the face.

"We don't have to give them to you!" Klink raised a fist, then looked at Burkhalter, "Right?"

"I'm afraid we don't have much of a choice." Burkhalter muttered, scowling as he handed the paper back to Hochstetter. August had been growing more and more alarmed during the entire conversation, along with Cort apparently, as his counterpart spoke up,

"We already confessed, can't we stay?"

"I'm afraid not." Hochstetter grinned evilly, "You're the Gestapo's prisoners now."

August didn't see the point in fighting back, and apparently, neither did Cort, as they both stayed silent. Gestapo guards entered the room and August telepathically warned Hogan about the latest development, only to be stunned at the curse word that the officer replied with, 'Sorry, I don't usually use those words.' Hogan sounded ashamed, 'But I was afraid something like this would happen. Don't worry, Kinch has been monitering you, and says that you've been doing an admirable job of confusing the Krauts. We'll get you out, I promise.'

'Thanks for trusting us.' August thought as they were led to the back of a truck. Hogan was outside now, with all of his men, (except Newkirk, who was still on Crittendon duty) and saluted them.

'What can I say?' the officer gave a sad smile, 'I'm a sucker for lost cases.' The back flap of the truck closed and they were on their way. This couldn't be good.



Gestapo headquarters were exactly like August had imagined, (especially with the help of the memories of the Gestapo around him) grey and uninviting. He and Cort were immediately thrown into a cold bleak cell and chained to the wall by one wrist each. 'Well, this was a twist of fate.' Cort shook his head as he looked around, 'I was hoping to never be chained to a wall again.'

'Yeah, it sucks pretty bad.' August agreed. Then he stiffened, 'We're in for trouble, interrogators are on their way.'

'Great.' Cort shrugged, 'I was hoping to be interrogated today.'

'Hopefully it isn't too bad, except, we really don't have anything to tell them that they'll believe. Except maybe about the camp's whole underground thing. But I think the team will come rescue us before we get to the point of divulging it, it really is in their best interest. You know, I have a friend who was tortured once, except they didn't want information out of him, they were using him as bait. I wasn't there, but I was told about it. They pulled his wisdom teeth, smashed each one of his fingers on his right hand with a hammer, then broke his arm. They probably would have done more if he hadn't been rescued in time... Plus they tormented him mentally. He's okay now though, you couldn't even tell. Now he's even amazing at his left hand...'

'You're getting nervous, aren't you?' Cort asked, August's chattering teeth making it evident.

August looked down and nodded. 'You know, I think they've proven that red heads have a lower pain threshold,' he said in way of excuse. 'At least that's what someone told me... May have been the same friend when he was teasing me.' August was really trying to tune out the interrogators' thoughts as they entered the room, but he wasn't succeeding too well. He felt himself pale slightly and cursed himself for it, but already he knew what they planned on doing, and worse, a few of them actually enjoyed it.

'This wasn't really on my list of things to have happen to me.' August blanched as the door opened and two men walked in, carrying various different instruments of torture.

"Are you ready to talk, or do we have to make you?" Their accents were so thick it was difficult to understand them.

"We have nothing more to say." Cort spoke before August could start stalling, and immidiately got cracked over the head with the butt of a gun. 'Here we go.' Was all he could think before everything went wrong.


It had only been about an hour, and the interrogators were still asking the same question, "Who is Papa Bear?" August had to admit, they were good at their job. He had a cut left leg and a bloody right arm, but Cort was worse off at the moment. Who would have guessed that snarky comments didn't make Gestapo as angry as being silent, which is what Cort was doing. Hit on the head, shot in the leg, cut chest and side ... he was bleeding out. The interrogation seemed to go on and on and on. Hochstetter came in a few times, two ... three? August honestly had lost count, they'd given him a shot of something suppressing, and it was getting hard to focus. He couldn't bring himself to care anymore. That's when he heard a mind calling out to his, ...

'August, Cort!' It was Hogan, 'We're on our way, what cell number are you in?'

'17 I think, ...' He looked at Cort, who was just laying there next to him, barely paying attention, even though August made sure he could hear the conversation.

'We'll get you out, don't worry.'

The door soon opened revealing men in Abwher uniform, according to the shouts of the Gestapo, It was Hogan and his men, with black masks over their faces, concealing their identities.

There was a lot of shouting in German, and one of the interrogators was shot. Then he and Cort were being taken away. He limped along with them, and Cort was basically carried. August could only hope that his friend would make it. Everything was going well until the shooting started. Shots rang out, and one hit August's shoulder, and the other, his left leg, again! Cort cried out, and mist came from nowhere. There were shouts and shots, and when the mist cleared, Cort stood with a bloody sword in the hallway.

"C'mon mate, we've got to go." Newkirk grabbed him and led him on, and Kinch just picked up August. They began to run. Alarms were blaring everywhere and they got in the getaway truck, laying August down, and sitting Cort gently down on the bench. Everything was a blur after that, but the one thing that August clearly remembered was when Cort was shooting arrows at the Gestapo behind them, silently dispatching them. Could it get any worse?!

He immediately regretted the thought when Cort fainted, toppling onto LeBeau, who shouted a French curse and still managed to catch him. Then August watched through a haze as his friend stood up, but was no longer his friend. It was a slightly thinner boy with brown hair and two different colored eyes.

"Where am I!? Who are you?!" He was holding his right arm with a look of pain on his face, then he tried to jump out of the truck. To Hogan's men's credit, they reacted well to the sudden change, knocking him down so they could deal with it later.

August just murmured Cort's name before giving up consciousness and letting darkness envelop him.

Author's Note

Another intense chapter. Kudos to those of you who have managed to read through the inevitable confusion thus far.