Tag: Book Launch

“Friendlies coming in,” I called over the radio.

“I’ve got you,” Tony replied.  “Come ahead.”

It was almost dark.  As thick as the woods were in that part of Slovakia, we’d had to move very carefully to avoid the locals, not to mention the occasional peacekeeper or militia patrols.  It had taken slow, methodical movement, slipping from cover to cover, often halting to stay put and just watch and listen.

Phil got to his feet and started toward the ancient barn.  Built of plastered stone and graying, aged timber, the roof was starting to sag and the base was overgrown, but it was still solid.  I suspected it had been standing for at least a couple of centuries.  It probably would still have been in use if not for the turmoil that had engulfed Slovakia over the last few years.

I carefully scanned the surrounding woods and the open field beyond for a moment, despite the fact that I knew that Scott had security set and the drone up.  The abandoned farm sat right at the no-man’s land between the Belgian peacekeeping sector and one of the few, small, Loyalist Slovak Army sectors.  While what was left of the Army that hadn’t gone over to the Nationalists after the initial riots was still outwardly loyal to the shaky government in Bratislava, that loyalty was in question among many of the peacekeepers, especially the Germans and Belgians.  None of this would have been happening if the Slovaks hadn’t already had enough of both Brussels’ financial demands and the forced immigration, mostly of young Kosovar, Bosnian, and Syrian men.  To that end, most of the EDC peacekeepers made no secret of the fact that they didn’t trust the Slovak Army.

Which made the uneasy borders between zones the best place to hide out, even though it had meant one hell of an infiltration from Hungary.

(Continued from Escalation Chapter 1)