Joining the military had seemed like the right thing to do, but when war breaks out in Europe Robert wonders if he hasn’t made the biggest mistake of his life. The Russian juggernaut grinds its way toward Italy, the country Robert has grown to love. As one of a handful of American soldiers in the area, he must find a way to help the ragged remnants of NATO’s forces to prevent any more European nations from falling.

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RANDY LINDSAY is a native of Arizona. He lives in Mesa with his wife, five of his nine children, and a hyper-active imagination. His wife calls him the “Storyman” because he sees everything as material for a good story. Randy’s first novel, The Gathering: End’s Beginning, was published in 2014. He has also been published in several anthologies during 2013-2014. If you want to find out more you can check him out at RandyLindsay.net.

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In this scene Robert is assigned to work with the demolitions experts in the unit.

“Gentlemen, this here know-nothing private is Williams,” Wojcik said, indicating Robert. “If you have anything dangerous that needs to be done—use him. There are more privates where he came from, but we would have to pull a lot of strings to replace either one of you.”

“Understood,” said Shaw, with a deep voice that sounded a bit like someone gargling with boulders.

The two N.C.O.s glanced at Robert and then gave one another a what-are-we-going-to-do-with-him look.

As Robert stood there, nervously waiting as the N.C.O.s conferred with one another, he examined the equipment in the back of the Humvee. Blocks of what appeared to be clay had wires coming out of them. Then it dawned on Robert that these were explosives. “You’re the demolition experts.”

“That we are,” Shaw rumbled.

Cohen gave a single nod, his creepy eyes remaining fixed on Robert.

“What am I going to be doing?” Robert asked.

Both of them laughed.

“You’re going to help us blow up an embassy,” said Shaw.

“Ours?” Robert asked.

“Yep,” said Shaw.

“I thought we were going to clear out the debris so we could rebuild it.”

“Change of plans,” said Shaw, loading explosives into a backpack. “This is the second time terrorists have attacked this embassy in the last decade and with Russia on the offensive the region isn’t safe. Washington wants us to pack up anything worth keeping and then blow the whole thing. The Turkish government can worry about cleaning up the mess.”

That didn’t make any sense to Robert. Turkey was an ally. They should be helping secure the embassy. Instead, it seemed like both sides were anxious to evacuate the U.S. soldiers.

“Okay,” said Robert, “but what am I doing with you guys?”

“We blew up our last assistant,” said Cohen. “We need a new one.”