Skip to content 
Over the radio, a frantic voice yelled in English, “Armor! Armor on the road—God help us, they’re coming through—!”
Ray adjusted the dial, eyes narrowed. “That’s our infantry up ahead.”
Eli pressed his headset tight. “Get me a bearing.”
Ray listened, then pointed. “Two miles. North bend.”
Leon’s knuckles whitened on the controls. “Two miles,” he repeated, like he was chewing the words.
Cal leaned in, voice low. “Eli,” he said, “you know what this is, right?”
Eli didn’t look away from the periscope. “It’s a fight.”
Cal shook his head. “It’s a test,” he said. “For them.”
Eli understood. If they failed, it would be proof for every man who wanted proof. If they succeeded, it would be inconvenient.
“Then we pass,” Eli said.
Lullaby crested a slight hill, and Saint-Laurent opened before them.
The junction was chaos. A half-track burned near a stone wall. An American truck lay on its side, wheels still spinning like it was trying to climb back into the world. Infantrymen crouched in ditches, firing toward the tree line.
And there—moving between smoke and snow—were German armored vehicles, gray shapes pushing forward like blunt teeth.
Eli’s mouth went dry.