It is a new millennium, and the United States is at war with Russia. Josh Saunders has just received the surprise of his life-his girlfriend Yuko is pregnant. But Josh and Yuko both know he lives for the battle that continues to rage outside his Texas home. Now he must somehow balance his new family responsibilities with his duty to his country. But for now, the sounds of war have quieted, and Josh busies himself helping his friends, Elliot and Kaliegh, prepare for their wedding-unaware that the Russian army is steadily advancing toward Texas to seize the oil and gas refineries along the coast. As Josh and his group struggle with the troubles that war leaves in its wake, only Josh's Russian comrade, Akbashev, is aware of the incredible capabilities of the Russian army. As Josh continues to fight a war that seems unending, every part of him wants to give up, but he is determined not to live in a country controlled by the Russians. Unfortunately, time is running out. In this modern military thriller, a Russian soldier must decide whether to leave and betray his American friend or stay with him to fight for the freedom of a nation he has grown to love.

IN THE SUN

Part 2By Joshua Patrick

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Joshua Patrick
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-6001-6

Chapter One

Josh wanted to wake Yuko up and explain to her why he had to go, but he didn't. He lay awake in the bed with a frown on his face. This was the biggest surprise that had ever happened to him in his life, and he didn't know if he would be able to deal with it right then. He turned over on to his side and looked at Yuko, her face was so peaceful and he pondered on how she could sleep so well in the middle of a war. Her eyes were closed and she would let out a light breath of warm air every once in a while. Her black hair was draped across her shoulder and her face was expressionless except for an occasional twitch while she dreamed.

He realized that he knew nothing about being a father. He didn't know if he would even have enough money to support his new family. He didn't even know how to change a diaper. It was those thoughts that ran through his head and added up to a rational decision, he would have to leave her, but only for a little while so he could work things out by himself. It would make Yuko sad, leaving without any explanation or valid reason, but maybe a note would help ease her tension and fear. Josh slowly and quietly got out of the bed and found a piece of paper and began to write a message. The only thing he could come up with was that she shouldn't worry and that he would be back soon. It sounded pitiful and he stopped writing from frustration and crumpled the letter up in his hand.

He understood that there wasn't anything he could say that would help ease her anguish while he was gone. He thought that once he was gone, she would be able to do much better without him and that each of them would be able to figure things out alone. Before he went, however, he resisted the urge to kiss her forehead from fear that she would awake and ask him why he was leaving. He wouldn't be able to bear the question and he would never be able to conceive a plan to support them together and it would end up a much worse thing nine months from now than it would be in a day or two. He had every intention of coming back, he could never permanently leave the girl he loved, and the child he had created with her.

Josh looked at the pictures of his family on the wall of his room for a moment. He wanted there to be some new ones with him, Yuko, and the baby ... but unlike the older pictures where no one was smiling, he wanted to replace them with happier ones. He exhaled quietly and gave one last look to Yuko's sleeping form and walked out of the door. It had been left open to circulate the night breeze and cool the rooms of the house. He walked as silently as he could down the stairs and turned right, towards the front door, and turned the handle gradually so that it wouldn't squeak as it was prone to do and then guided the door back gently.

Chapter Two

Shamil eyed the vehicle behind theirs suspiciously. It was following quite closely but the windows were so tinted that he wasn't able to see the driver or passengers. "Take the next exit." Shamil turned his head slightly towards the front where First Sergeant Konstantin was instructing Lev where to drive. Shamil could see the red tail lights light up the car's hood behind them as he stared intently, trying to catch a glimpse of the person inside.

"Da." Lev mumbled, as he squinted in an effort to keep his eyes on the road. First Sergeant Konstantin had wanted to start in the morning when the sun was coming up, but Shamil had refused to leave and had insisted that they leave at night so that there wouldn't be so many people on the road. He had also taken care to mention that the soldiers at the checkpoints might be asleep or tired. Shamil sat in the absolute back, away from Stanislav, who was sitting in the back seat that was opposite to his. Stanislav was sandwiched between Diminitrov and the right side of the car, and Shamil, on the left, was thankful that Diminitrov had taken the seat next to Stanislav before he would've had to.

Lev quickly pulled off the road and onto the exit and held the steering wheel as tightly as he could. The force of the car pushed Shamil in to Diminitrov as it turned left in a tight circle.

"Damn American's can't build a straight road," First Sergeant Konstantin said quietly as he held onto his door.

"Ugh," Shamil grunted and righted himself as soon as he could.

"Where the hell are we?" Lev asked as his head twisted back to look at another sign they had passed.

"I'm not sure ... I can't read English that well ... I only know where we're going." First Sergeant Konstantin replied and consulted the map in his lap, holding it close to his face to try to see the names through the darkness.

"We better stop at the next sign to see where we are." Lev said and exhaled lightly as he rolled down the window and pulled off on the side of the road.

"This is the last town we were in," First Sergeant Konstantin said as he handed him his map. Lev nodded and got out with his flashlight. He walked up to the green sign and stared at it for a few minutes, along with the map, trying to find the name of the next town. He came back shaking his head.

"What?"

"We're not in the right direction," Lev replied and closed his car door.

"What do you mean ... where are we?" First Sergeant Konstantin yanked his map from Lev's hands and studied it.

"Right here." Lev replied as he pointed to the dot on the map and started the car again.

In the Sun

"We were going the wrong way." First Sergeant Konstantin said and tossed his map on to the car floor in front of him. "What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you know how to read a map?"

"I know how to read a damn map!" Shamil could feel the anger in his voice as he spoke; "You were directing me and besides, I don't even know where the hell we are going!"

"Just great ... we went in the wrong direction for two hours ... we'll probably run out of petrol before we even reach the halfway point!" Lev said nothing as he merged back on to the road and made a large turn in the opposite direction. "Idiot ... can't read a map ... shouldn't even be a soldier." First Sergeant Konstantin grumbled and began to flip the automatic lock on the door back and forth annoyingly. Shamil sighed and looked back out the window. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Aloysha stood in the vacant lot that the wagon had stopped in. It was surrounded by an old apartment building that, from the outside, appeared abandoned also, but was occupied by several families that walked by them without a spoken word. They were a few miles inside of Ukraine and Aurek warned everyone to watch out for the police since they were nothing like the Polish police, they'd want bribes or would take any one of them to jail without a second thought. No sooner had they unfurled the awning to protect themselves from the cold biting wind that blew harshly through the flat piece of land, a short, pudgy Ukrainian police officer covered tightly in a green woolen coat, approached them and began to yell about a law that didn't seem to exist.

"There is no loitering permitted in this part of the town." He said loudly so that everyone could hear. All of them stood quietly, unmoving, until Aloysha walked forward and asked the police officer if he could have a word with him.

They walked over to the side of the apartment building's brick wall and Aloysha asked him quietly what he wanted, hoping for a simple bribe to solve his problem. "For you to leave here, right now." The police officer spoke seriously as if trying to threaten him.

"Why?" Aloysha asked and tried to act as if he wasn't angry at all, but understanding. "We have done nothing wrong."

"I know your kind of people ... bandits, robbers, thieves." Aloysha required all of his self-discipline to stop himself after the police officer's stereotypical comments.

"You are not welcome here."

"You judge people you don't even know. We are not—."

"I don't wish to know them ... ever. You have two hours to pack your possessions and leave." The pudgy police officer sauntered away around to the other side of the apartment building and left Aloysha, who had a spiteful look on his face.

Chapter Three

Yuko sighed fitfully and tried to smile when she woke up with the dawn. Josh had accepted her fears and was ready for the next phase of their life and it made her mind lighten. Yuko's eyes were still closed when she rolled towards where Josh should've been.

But he wasn't there.

Yuko scrunched up her nose and opened her eyes slowly so that they would adjust to the brightness. She found that the bed and pillow were empty. Josh was nowhere in sight in the entire room, but the door was still open. She thought that maybe he had had to go to the bathroom, or maybe to get a drink of water or any of a variety of other simple things that would require him to get out of bed. She figured she might as well get up and go to the bathroom herself. Yuko sat up, rolled over to the edge of the bed, and had begun to put her clothes back on when she saw a piece of crumpled up paper lying on the floor under his desk. She wanted to pick it up, but it was most likely just a piece of litter, so she left it. She finished putting on her shoes and thought nothing of it as she strolled carelessly out of the room and tried to comb her long black hair with her fingers.

Yuko saw someone moving around in kitchen and she smiled a little and bit the bottom of her lip. She crept around to the other side of the hallway and at the most unexpected time, jumped out and said, "Josh!"

"Nope, it's me." Nobu replied flatly and went about finishing his breakfast.

Yuko clicked her tongue in slight annoyance at his simplistic answer. Her brother was a bit apathetic at times, but she knew what to expect by now. "Have you seen Josh?" "Uh, not since last night when you guys went to sleep." He stirred the oatmeal on his plate and added a half of a can of pumpkin pie mix on the other side of his plate and looked up. "Why are you looking for him? Something wrong?"

"No, I woke up alone ... he was...." Yuko hesitated and looked around in a panic. She ran out of the kitchen and out of the house, letting the door slam loudly behind her. She ran around and around the outside of the house, thinking she would see him in some faraway corner alone, but he wasn't there either. She searched all four sides of the house but she didn't find him. She could feel herself starting to become afraid, and felt like crying.

"What's going on?" Melissa asked as soon as she saw Yuko running about the outside of the house.

"Have you seen him?" Yuko asked hurriedly and nervously and anxiously put her hand to her forehead.

"Who?"

"Josh!"

"No. What's the matter?"

"Josh is ... he's gone." When Yuko uttered the last two words, she felt her stomach drop and felt slightly sick. She put her hand on her stomach and felt the tears flow. She almost fell to her knees but Melissa stopped her just a few inches from the ground. "He's gone."

"Gone? Gone where? Why?" Melissa asked as she held Yuko by her arms.

"He's not coming back. I shouldn't have told him." Yuko turned to face Melissa and wailed in to her shoulder, Melissa didn't seem to know or understand what was happening but she patted her on the back, trying to comfort her as best as she could.

"Shouldn't have told him what?" She asked quietly.

"That I'm ... expecting."

"Oh, you're pregnant?" Yuko nodded solemnly through her sobs. "What are you so sad for? You're supposed to be happy!"

"No ... no," Yuko cried and didn't remove her face from Melissa's shoulder. "I—I can't...."

"C'mon ... let's go inside so we can talk better." Melissa led Yuko inside of the house gently and delicately and set her down on the couch in the living room. "Now, calm down a little, it'll be all right ... just tell me what happened."

"He doesn't love me anymore ... he's gone." Yuko wiped her eyes and began to sob again.

"What's going on?" Nobu asked when he saw Yuko sitting next to Melissa and crying. "Nothing ... just go away." Melissa ordered sternly and pointed in the opposite direction.

"All right, all right ... jeez." Nobu mumbled as he sauntered away back towards the dining room.

"I'm sure he's not gone." Melissa said quietly when Nobu was out of earshot.

"He is," Yuko said in a sad voice, "he's not coming back."

"No ... he'll be back ... I know he will."

"How—how do—how do you know?" Yuko asked during sobs and lay her head down on the couch cushion.

"Because he loves you!" Melissa replied and looked at her seriously. Yuko stared at her for a few moments, sniffled again, and nodded. "He wouldn't leave you for the world, you know that ... he just needs a little time to ... figure everything out."

"I wish he was still here." Yuko whispered and closed her eyes and fell back heavily on the couch.

"It'll be all right, he'll be back soon." Melissa grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be all right ... you'll see."

Nobu had overheard most of the conversation in the dining room. There was no way that he was going to let someone leave his sister ... though he hadn't heard exactly why since he hadn't been inside the house when Yuko had revealed to Melissa that she was pregnant. Nevertheless however, Nobu was going to try to find him and make sure Josh had a damn good reason for leaving his sister.

Chapter Four

Aloysha could see the pudgy police officer stalking through the brown grass towards them. Their two hours were up, but it was ample enough time to create a simple plan that might stop the police officer. Aloysha was absorbed in tying the awning down again with the small strings to the side of the support posts on the wagon. The pudgy police officer took out his wooden baton before he reached him and stood with it in his hands, making a slapping sound as he moved it back and forth.

"I thought I told you to leave." The police officer said strongly and forcefully.

"You did," Aloysha replied and tightened the knot to fasten the awning securely to the wagon, "but we aren't going ... at least, not yet."

"That's going to be a problem." The police officer began to saunter towards Aloysha's left, trying to get out of his view for a surprise attack, but Aloysha watched him.

"What is your name?" Aloysha asked suddenly and flew around, surprising the police officer in to dropping his wooden baton on the ground beside him.

"Vlad...." The police officer's voice was shaking slightly and Aloysha knew that he had him right where he needed him.

"Tell me, Vlad," Aloysha began to walk next to the police officer calmly, "do you have any family?"

"Yes, a wife and two children." The police officer backed away from his baton and stumbled fearfully over his own shoes, but stayed on his feet. "Why did you want to know?"

"Consider it, we are a different type of people ... beggars, thieves, bandits," Aloysha looked down at the wooden baton now in front of him, he stooped down and picked it up delicately.

The pudgy police officer gulped loudly as Aloysha began to approach him closer and twirl his baton in his hands. "We have only one law to live by, treat people the way you would want to be treated." The police officer mumbled something inaudibly as Aloysha pointed the tip of the baton in his face and then nodded lightly. "We only request two days."

"All—All right." The police officer replied. Aloysha smiled and dropped the baton in his hands, and then held it out for the pudgy police officer to take back. "Two days." Aloysha nodded politely and waited for the pudgy police officer to leave before he went back to the wagon to finish setting up for the night.

* * *

Akbashev cautiously pushed back the wall of weeds covering the next path in front of him. The Asian boy had gathered the squad, announced that the commander was missing ... once again, and they were going to search for him. Akbashev thought it was strange that the commander seemed to disappear quite regularly, leaving his squad alone to fend for themselves, and most were unqualified. Akbashev had seen the Asian girl, the commander's partner crying, sobbing loudly to the girl with the red hair. The Asian girl didn't seem to be too weak as to cry about his absence ... no, there was something else going on, the commander would've never left her unless he had a valid reason, he was just that kind of person. He was dispatched with the short boy, whom he still despised strongly, but he wanted to help as much as he could. Unfortunately, the short boy had sneaked away a short while ago and left him alone and probably went back to the commander's house.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from IN THE SUNby Joshua Patrick Copyright © 2011 by Joshua Patrick. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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