Carter took another look at the bomb's wiring. He blinked twice. There were triple the wires that there should be. The blue wire and the red were supposed to cross at this point, but now there were three of each of them, all a tangled mess. How had that happened?

He shook his head and examined the wiring again. His vision cleared and he realized that there was just one of each wire. Unfortunately, they were still very, very tangled.

Carter sighed and resisted the urge to bang his head on the table. The orders had come in from London that a bridge needed to be blown up, and pronto. Apparently, the Germans intended to send a unit of reinforcements across it that could shift the balance on the Western Front. No matter that the battalion would be crossing the bridge in two hours and it was one in the morning. And, unfortunately, Carter didn't keep his bombs premade down in the tunnels most of the time. The Colonel said it was a 'safety hazard'.

Honestly, Carter thought, doing his best to unknot the wires, having him make the bomb at one in the morning was a safety hazard. But orders were orders, so he did his best to untwist the mess with his slow, clumsy hands. He was just...so..so...tired…

"Andrew!"

"Huh?"

Carter looked up, only to find a moustache stuck in his face. "Gah!"

Kinch's grease-coated face was extremely close to his, a tiny smile hidden behind the facial hair and furrowed brow. "Hey, Andrew, we move out in twenty. Colonel Hogan sent me to see if that bomb was ready yet?"

"Oh, shoot." Carter looked down at the half-made explosive he'd been using as a pillow. "I'm...working on it?"

Kinch grinned at him. "Looked to me like you were sleeping on it."

Carter groaned and rubbed his eyes, yawning. "Well...yeah. Oh boy, what am I gonna do? Kinch, do you mind staying here and slapping me every now and then?"

"This is probably better." Kinch offered him a cup of coffee. "Well, I say better. It's terrible, really, but still better than being slapped in the face."

Carter snatched the mug and gulped down the murky liquid masquerading as coffee. Whether it was the caffeine or the dreadful taste that got him to wake up didn't matter. He glanced down at the explosive again. It didn't waver or double in his vision.

"Thanks, Kinch," he sighed, handing the radio man back the empty mug, and focusing his attention on the bomb. "You're a lifesaver."