William Crisp
In 1944, American second lieutenant John Gorham Westfall receives a daring mission: under the cover identity ’375th Personnel Recovery Detachment, Balkans,’ he is to parachute into Yugoslavia and extract shot-down American pilots. His orders are stark: ’This is a war of no morality... Do what it takes. Get our boys out. Methods are immaterial. Morals schmorals.’Soon, Westfall faces a harrowing conflict between his mission and his ethics. High winds force him to land amidst the communist-led Partisans instead of his intended allies. Now, navigating through a landscape ravaged by constant German attacks, he must tread carefully, avoiding entanglement in the brutal Yugoslav civil war.Amid the chaos, Westfall is instructed to avoid romantic entanglements. But in a rain-soaked forest, while fleeing from German forces, he encounters the tall, captivating ’Comrade Jadranka,’ a fellow 23-year-old and translator for the Partisan high command. As danger looms and loyalties are tested, Westfall’s resolve is pushed to its limits in a mission where survival and morality are constantly at odds.
