Rating: PG

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E-mail: settiai@teenmag.com

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Colonel Robert E. Hogan took a deep breath as he looked around him at the dark forests of Germany. His men had been out on a mission, and their time was quickly running out. As he stood in the darkness, just out of sight of the tower guards at Stalag 13, he gave one more impatient look at his watch. God, where were they?
After a few minutes of silent worry, he suddenly stopped moving. Hogan could hear footsteps coming up behind him, but were they his men? Slowly a relieved grin came to his face. He could hear the unmistakable sound of a certain American sergeant tripping over his own feet.

As his men came up behind him, Hogan turned and gave them a weak grin. Looking around him carefully, he quietly whispered to them. “So, how exactly did the mission end up going?”

The wide grins on their faces was the only answer he needed. With a relieved grin of his own, he motioned for them to go on down into the tunnel. As they filed past him, the Colonel couldn’t help but let his eyes flicker over his ragtag ensemble.

Sergeant Andrew Carter was the first to reach the tunnel hidden inside of the hollow tree stump. After making sure that the guards weren’t watching, he quickly leaned over and pulled on the hidden switch, on the right side of the stump, that opened the tunnel’s door.

He stood there expectantly for a moment before realizing that the entrance hadn’t opened. Carter gave them a sheepish look before once again pushing the switch. However, once again the entrance didn’t open.

The young American gave out a loud sigh and prepared to hit the switch again. He didn’t have a chance to, however, before he pushed down to the ground. As soon as the search light had swung over his head, Carter pulled himself back to his feet and merely shrugged sheepishly at the quiet, British-sounding curses that were obviously being aimed at him.

Hogan smiled gently as Corporal Peter Newkirk swatted Carter’s hat before pushing in the switch on the tree stump - which just happened to be on the left side of the stump instead of the right. If someone had told him that those two would become best friends back when he had first met them, he would have told them that they were crazy. Of course, looking at them now...

Carter swung down into the tunnel, but then paused before climbing on down. He opened his mouth to ask Newkirk a question, but when he saw the annoyed look on the British man’s face he decided not to say a word. He grinned once more before starting to climb on down.

As soon as his head disappeared into the hole, every person there held their breath for just a moment. Within moments a loud thump was heard from inside the tunnel, and Newkirk gave out an exasperated sigh. Without saying another word, he climbed into the tunnel himself.

As the searchlight once again went over where they were gathered, Corporal Louis LeBeau muttered a few French curses under his breath. As soon as the light had faded away though, he hurried towards the tunnel himself. Right before he climbed onto the ladder, he turned his eyes towards Hogan for just a moment though.

The American Colonel weakly grinned at fiery look in the eyes of the small, dedicated Frenchman. At times LeBeau could be a nuisance, but not one of the other men was even as half as dedicated to their cause as him.

Sergeant James Kinchloe gave Hogan a slightly worried glance as he prepared to go through the tunnel’s entrance. “Colonel Hogan, are you okay?”

Hogan gave the dark-skinned man a weak smile before whispering his answer to the question. “Yeah Kinch, I’m fine. I guess that I’m just a little tired, that’s all.”

The African American sergeant gave him one more worried glance before shrugging and going down into the tunnel. As soon as the man was out of sight, Hogan let an appreciative smile cross his lips.

He knew very well that Kinch couldn’t go on that many missions with them because of the color of his skin. Even though he only went on a fraction of the missions though, he was still on of the strongest members of the team. Hogan gave one more grin before entering the tunnel himself.

A few minutes later, Hogan found himself following the other men into the main tunnel. He was just getting ready to follow them back into the barracks when he looked down at his watch. “Roll call’s going to start in a few minutes. Go on and get ready for it. I’m going to go and get Baker.”

As the other men hurried back up the ladder that led to the barracks, Hogan followed the tunnel to the radio room. As he reached the door, he couldn’t help but smile at the tired-looking young man sitting at the radio.

Sergeant Richard Baker was the newest member of their little team, but he had already proven that he had the makings to become a great help to their cause. After a few minutes of standing there, Hogan quietly cleared his throat.

At the sound, Baker spun around in his chair and suddenly found himself sitting in the floor. Though his dark skin covered any trace of red, Hogan was sure that he could see a faint blush creeping up the young man’s face as he pulled himself to his feet. “I’m sorry Colonel Hogan, I didn’t hear you come up.”

Hogan gave the young man a sympathetic grin as he motioned towards the barracks. “Well, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to let you know that roll call’s just about to start.”

The young man looked at the small clock that was sitting nearby and his eyes widened considerably. “Oh, I guess I haven’t looked at the time lately. Well I guess we should be getting on up to the barracks then, Colonel.”

Less than ten minutes later, the entire group of prisoners were standing outside of the barracks. Sergeant Hans Shultz marched in front of them, quietly making sure that none of the prisoners were missing. As his eyes swept over several of the prisoners, he couldn’t help but feel a smile come to his face.

He claimed not to know anything, and that was technically the truth. He didn’t know anything for certain, but in a way he knew more than anyone. He slowly went over the names of the men that he was looking at - Colonel Hogan, Sergeant Baker, Sergeant Carter, Sergeant Kinchloe, Corporal LeBeau, Corporal Newkirk... They truly were the heroes of this war.

Shultz flinched slightly as the Kommandant came marching up towards him with his typical call of “Report!” The German soldier didn’t say a word about anything he had just been thinking though. All he said was, “All prisoners accounted for!”

He knew very well that these prisoners were actually heroes. It was obvious to even him. No one would remember Hans Shultz, but someday the names of these prisoners might be remembered. Robert Hogan, Richard Baker, Andrew Carter, James Kinchloe, Louis LeBeau, Peter Newkirk... Yes, someday their names might be remembered.