Fire and Love
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Excerpt From Chapter 8
The armed guards, already in position facing the prisoner, raised their rifles.
'Aim! Fire!' the officer commanded.
'Dear, Lord! I'll be next,' I murmured, outraged. 'Son of a bitch,' I wailed as the sound of gunfire punctuated the evening. The young man, gushes of red blood spurting from his naked chest, slumped to the ground. 'Damn, who are these people?' I kept asking myself, as I gripped the iron bars with fear and anger.
The guards dragged the body out of the courtyard and soon it was empty.
'Don't ever give up!' rang again in my ears.
'But how am I supposed to get out of here?" I asked the voice, and immediately felt the dagger, which was still in my boot. My only weapon, but it might provide my ticket to freedom. I moved up the stairs to the small landing behind a decaying, warped wooden door where, from a fissure, I could see the other portion of the courtyard and the access to the main building.
Although the door was old, it was sturdily built, but if I carved around the bolts, I might be able to loosen the iron loop of the crossbar. It might prove a long shot, but I started to chisel. Within moments I heard footsteps and looked through the crack to see a guard come out of the main building, walking toward my door.
Excerpt from Chapter 13
"We ve been traveling for a while, and you still haven t asked me where we re going!" she said after a moment.
"I believe in angels," I answered.
She put her head upon my shoulder to the delight of my pounding heart. In moments she was asleep, exhaustion had caught up with her. I was delighted that she trusted me so much that she could lean on me and fall asleep, and for a moment I thought that this was all meant to be.
There was so much to admire about her, and so many things to appreciate. I looked at her peaceful face, and the gentle rise and fall of her bosom as she breathed, and my heart fluttered. I thought of her tender gestures and their effect on the attitudes of others. I knew in my heart that she had a heart without hatred, despite the tortures she had undergone and the losses she had suffered. Her soul radiated love and understanding for every human being, no matter what side of this bloody war they were on.
Dear Lord, please forgive me! I think that I m falling in love with her. My mind was absorbed with these delicious thoughts when I was brought up short by a long, German military caravan heading south.
Excerpt from Chapter 21
Under a rain of dust and rocks we moved fast, taking positions behind the blockade of shattered boulders.
The convoy had stopped about one hundred feet away. The motorcyclists and truck drivers jumped and ran for cover behind the third truck. I pulled my trigger, emptying a full magazine, and reloaded quickly. Arnold threw his first grenade like I told him, then shouted at the top of his lungs, "Release the children!" "Lass die Kinder gehen!"
At that moment, Monica ran up next to me.
"Keep your head down!" I yelled.
After a few seconds of silence, a woman stepped down from the first truck, bravely carrying a child. They moved in our direction. I could imagine the others huddling in fear and hope as well. The woman was so frail and gaunt that she could barely walk with her burden. For a moment, as we held our breath, we thought we had succeeded.
The woman and child were twelve feet from us and freedom when the Germans suddenly decided to retaliate and started firing from behind the third truck. The woman was hit, jerked back and fell to the road, letting the child drop from her arms. The next few seconds unreeled in slow motion.
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About the Book
The dawning of the new millennium brings mankind new hopes, but as George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." In this book the author tells the true-life inspirational and harrowing account of his own adventures as a young man caught up in World War II. Narrowly escaping with his life from the gutted ruins of bombarded cities and bloody battlefields, Lach determines to hike the thousand miles home, come hell or high water. Amidst the horror and carnage of war, he gets plenty of both, but a magnetic spiritual force guides and protects him, pulling him back from the brink of destruction time after time. Beaten nearly to death, he barely escapes a firing squad. Dodging the continuous danger from the fighting forces, he encounters the lovely Monica. A novitiate nurse who had been brutally raped and tortured by the Nazis, she persuades him to join the Resistance. They fall in love, but in trying to rescue a group of women and children bound for a German concentration camp, a heart-rending tragedy occurs. But this is more than just a biographical account; it s also the story of civilians struggle between hope and despair, love and hate, and life and death during the German occupation of Italy, as seen through the Author s experiences. This true adventure of the awesome power of love, compassion and survival in the midst of violence and devastation will keep the reader spellbound and turning the pages, chapter after chapter, until the very last page.
About the Author
Arthur Lach became a U.S. citizen after he was admitted to the United States by a special bill from the U.S. Congress. He settled on the West Coast and raised a family of four. A retired Project Engineer and distinguished member of the International Society of Poets, he was awarded recognition as a Famous Poet for 1995, 1996, and 1998 by the Famous Poets Society. He is also an artist whose artwork was selected to be included in the 1996 CD Collection of Best Contemporary Art by jurors composed of gallery curators and museum directors throughout the United States.