Time Fall by Timothy Ashby

Author:Timothy Ashby
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781623473358
Publisher: Author Planet Press
Published: 2013-11-25T05:00:00+00:00

15

Roth halted on a stream bank and shielded a flashlight, compass, and map under his poncho. The other three men propped themselves against the trunks of alders lining the stream, too stiff in their sodden clothes to squat with the sergeant. They shivered miserably, quietly cursing the weather.

“We should’ve stayed in that nice warm house ‘til this fucking rain and sleet stopped,” said Holcombe. “I couldn’t be wetter if I’d fallen in a creek.”

“Guess the next thing he’s gonna tell us is we’re lost,” said Kemp through chattering teeth.

“Shut up,” Roth snapped, intent on his navigation.

“We inside Czechoslovakia yet?” asked Loomis. “Been walking for hours.”

“Been walking in goddam circles,” Holcombe said. “Betcha he don’t know where we are any more than the man in the moon does!”

“I know exactly where we are,” Roth said. He stowed the map and equipment in a pocket. “Keep your fucking mouths shut. This area is crawling with enemy patrols.”

Holcombe hurled himself off the tree trunk and confronted Roth. Cold, fear, and frustration snapped his self-control. His helmet shook, flinging water like a dog after a swim in a pond. All the ingrained prejudices of a hardscrabble Alabama upbringing surfaced.

“I’m sick and tired of being treated like a nigger, you stinking kike! Them stripes on your arm don’t give you no right to treat us like shit! We got a right to know where we are and what the hell’s goin’ on!”

Roth stiffened as the other two Rangers joined Holcombe. “Private Holcombe,” he said evenly, “do you remember what I told you about Army regulations?” He stepped back, hands closing on the submachine gun under his poncho.

Holcombe’s resolve was bolstered by the presence of his two comrades, whom he knew shared his feelings. “Screw the regulations! You’re jerking us around you motherfucker, and we want to know what’s goin’ on!”

“Do you?”

Roth turned slightly and lashed the toe of his paratroop boot upwards. The kick caught Holcombe below his breastbone, driving the air from his diaphragm. Holcombe doubled up and crumpled to his knees as Kemp and Loomis grabbed his arms. They glanced up as Roth cocked his weapon with a metallic snap.

“This is getting tiresome.” Roth spoke in an almost conversational tone, the poncho flap thrown over his right shoulder to expose the Thompson. “It would be so much easier for me to shoot you all and go on alone. No one would ever know what happened to you cowards.”

Holcombe retched. “Oh shit,” Loomis said.

“However,” Roth continued, “unlike Lieutenant Sutton, I believe in doing my duty. That is the only way to defeat the Nazis. Now that I am in command, I have decided that we have many opportunities in this area to attack the Germans. You all volunteered for this mission to do exactly that, not to play games with Czech partisans or drink vodka with Russians. So, you can make the choice: follow me and do the job you were trained for - after which I will lead you to safe haven - or die on this spot.

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