He waited until the men had climbed the steps. ‘Are you out of your bloody minds? What the hell am I going to do?’ He fell silent, deep in thought, then he said, ‘Stay down here and keep out of the way until I tell you it’s clear. I don’t want the men distracted.’ He turned to the man who’d led them to the trench who was sitting on the steps nursing his head. ‘What happened to you?’ Lucy saw John examining the man’s bandages.
‘Shrapnel, sir. Hurts like hell.’
‘Then stay with them, and make sure they remain here or you’ll be on a charge. And you’d better have a good explanation.’
‘It’s my fault,’ Alex said. ‘My fiancé is here and I was so worried I had to see him. He’s Len Devlin. Lucy only came to keep me company.’
‘You wanted to see your fiancé, so you come traipsing into a front line
