CHAPTER 21

“This had better be important Corporal,” Hochstetter told the young boy as he got out of his vehicle. The boy motioned for him to follow and, as Hochstetter did as requested, he also let it be known, “I am very busy right now.” The boy led the Major to the field tent that was set up by the temporary detention area. There, Hochstetter found a young Lieutenant standing next to a burly looking Sergeant. Hochstetter exchanged salutes with the men and then snapped at them, “get on with it!”

“I apologize Major,” the young Lieutenant stated. “I am Lieutenant Gerhardt and I was told that you were to be informed of anything significant regarding the prisoners.”

“Yes,” Hochstetter practically spit out in the young officers face. “Get on with it!” Hochstetter’s eyes wandered across the field to where the aviation detachment was showing on going signs of a sudden burst of unexplained activity. That concerned him far more than the hostages but, what could he say? The boy was following his orders after all.

“Sir,” Gerhardt showed the Abwer Major an electronic clipboard and then pointed out, “we have more prisoners than we have on our list. I don’t know how this happened but…” The kid was almost hesitant until he saw the scowl on Hochstetter’s face. He then swallowed and with a certain amount of apprehension he told the man, “do we free the ones not on the list?”

Hochstetter let a few choice words escape under his breath and then slapped the boys chest with the clipboard. When the boy took it back, Hochstetter then asked, “are you certain of this Lieutenant?”

That was the last question the boy expected but, after stumbling he said, “um yes sir. I had Sergeant Berg and my staff here, they, well, they did a head count three times.”

Hochstetter got in the boy’s face and then told him with a certain edge, “then find out who is missing and put them on the goddamn list!” He marched off without another word or the usual military formalities. Before Hochstetter could get back to his waiting vehicle the phone in his pocket went off. He almost did not bother to answer it but, decided to at least see who the call was from. When he saw, he stopped at the vehicle door and answered the phone, “what is it?”

Hochstetter listened intently and, as he did, he looked back towards the field tent and, specifically at the corporal that had escorted him to that tent. He thought deeply and then asked his caller, “are you sure about this? You had better be.” After hanging up he got back in the vehicle, the Major told his driver, “get us to operations.”

The small headquarters was located behind a hangar for civilian interface craft. Ever since the Kriegsmarine Starship had dropped him off a platoon sized detachment of naval infantry, Hochstetter had decided to move his business away from the main terminal and Horst’s ever watchful eye. He had a trailer as his operations center and he wasted no time walking up it’s ramp and into the heart of his listening post. He simply announced to the men here, “report.”

A sergeant stood up from his chair and stated, “Major, we are getting a flood of reports that fighting and fires are breaking out all over the city.”

Hochstetter blew it off, “it’s a diversion. What about the Rangers?”

Another man then reported, “they have departed their station and appear to be moving towards the airport. We still don’t know why. Perhaps they have the prisoners. We are getting rumors that they have…”

“I know what they are doing,” Hochstetter proclaimed. “They are moving on a warehouse near here. It’s where the Wehrmacht store their shipments of…. their merchandise.”

None of his men seemed to see the significance of that. Hochstetter sure did, “you idiots. They are moving the terrorists off the island. They plan on taking the warehouse and holding it over the Colonel’s head, as a hostage of their own. That is, if they get their first. Is that where Horst is heading? I saw the aviation detachment ramping up.”

When no one answered Hochstetter snorted, “am I the only person around here that knows anything?” Still no one answered so Hochstetter considered what he knew. Did he move on that warehouse? He realized he could not do so overtly, although, he did have a contingency plan for it. He had known about it for a long time but, had decided to let it be. It could prove very embarrassing to Germany, should it come to light, and Hochstetter’s superiors might not be all that happy if such a thing were to happen. There were also other considerations that currently put the warehouse district off limits. He was afraid of disturbing more important operations and that just might.

His only chance now, as he saw it, was to take the terrorists away from the Rangers before any of them left the island. The only problem was that he had no idea what their extraction plan was. He only knew what it was not. Hochstetter turned back to his men and had them pull up the situational matrix board on the main display. He studied it again even if he knew it by heart. He looked at the connections between the people and places on the board. He followed the lines between the boxes that contained that information. Then, suddenly, it struck him.

“I’ll be damned,” Hochstetter mumbled to himself, “I have to admit, that for an American, Barton is clever. He’s got his people moving west and that means….”

A Captain of the Luftwaffee curiously asked, “sir? What is it you see?”

“A Marina Captain,” Hochstetter told the man. “He’s going to a marina. Look at the connections on that board. Is the Scharnhorst still in support range?”

The Captain checked the time on the board and replied, “yes sir, for another three hours.”

“Good, we caught a break,” Hochstetter stated with an edge of relief. His Starship was still in range so he told his communications man, “contact them and have them run a camera sweep of that station on the north shore. Specifically, I want to know if all of their boats are still there.”

As the communications officer relayed the request, the Captain asked his Major, “sir, what about Colonel Horst? If he and his men are…”

Hochstetter snickered at the suggestion, “if he’s fool enough to get himself into a shoot out with half the island, then let him. It’s none of our affair.” The look of horror on the Captains face only caused Hochstetter to smile. He patted the man on the arm and said, “relax Captain, besides, we have our own strike to assemble. I want to be wheels up as soon as we hear back from Scharnhorst.”