Robert pulled away from Lily. “Stay cool and follow my lead,” he whispered in her ear.
She looked bewildered and scared for an instant, then he turned his attention to the uniformed man standing in the jeep holding a spotlight on them. Determined to look the part, Robert raised his hand to block the light and squinted. “Who’s there?” he asked in rapid French.
“Lieutenant Romanov with the Rebelian Army.” The soldier in charge shouted something in Rebelian to his men.
Robert caught only a couple of words but ascertained they were going to check their papers. No problem, he thought. Their papers were in order. All they had to do was stay cool, and everything would be fine.
Two soldiers armed with rifles jumped down from separate jeeps and approached them. Next to him, Robert felt a tremor go through Lily. A few feet away, he could hear Jack chattering and prayed the soldiers would check their papers and leave.
The first soldier approached and shone his flashlight directly into Robert’s face. Robert raised his hand to shade his eyes and used the other to dig into his backpack for the documents that had been prepared for him by ARIES. He handed his passport and certificate of travel to the soldier.
The soldier was young, still in his twenties, but his eyes seemed much older. He jerked the documents from Robert’s hand, glanced at them, then spun and took them to the lieutenant.
The second soldier was built like a Rebelian ox and looked several years older. Robert glanced at him, noticing the hideous scar that ran from his right cheekbone to his chin. The soldier shone his flashlight on Lily, starting at her face, then sweeping the beam down her body. Robert still had his arm around her waist and could feel her trembling. Uneasiness and the primal need to protect what was his rose inside him in a powerful tide.
“Is there a problem?” he asked.
The soldier sneered at Robert. “Shut up.” Then his eyes ran the length of Lily. He licked his lips, like a tiger about to devour a lamb.
The lieutenant jumped from the jeep with their paperwork in hand and approached them. “You’re French?” he asked.
Robert nodded. “Yes.”
“What part of France are you from?”
“Marseille.”
“Your accent isn’t southern.”
“I’ve lived in Paris for many years.”
The lieutenant walked around them while the other soldier shone his light in their faces. “Why are you in Rebelia?” he asked.
“I’m a doctor. I’m here to administer inoculations to children.”
The lieutenant circled them at a leisurely pace, his hands clasped casually behind his back. But Robert saw the predatory gleam in his eyes and knew he was trying to catch him in a lie, looking for any reason to turn his soldiers loose on them.
“This is your wife?” he asked, referring to Lily.
“Yes.”
“And the baby?”
Robert’s heart began to pound. He was aware of the revolver he’d slipped into the waistband of his jeans pressing against the small of his back. He stared at the other man, strength for strength. “My son.”
The lieutenant raised his hand and touched Lily’s cheek. Anger joined the chorus of adrenaline and raw nerves and sang through Robert. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lily jerk away from the other man’s hand and prayed she would hold her tongue.
Easy, Lily. Don’t give them a reason to kill us, he thought.
“Your wife is Rebelian?” the lieutenant asked.
“French, like me,” Robert answered.
A cold smile touched the other man’s mouth. “She looks familiar. I could swear I’ve seen her before.”
Lily shot him a look cold enough to freeze hell. “I’ve never seen you in my life,” she fired off in rapid Rebelian. “I’d remember a face as ugly as yours.”
The rest of the men burst into raucous laughter.
Robert squeezed her hand hard.
The lieutenant glared at his men, and they immediately fell silent. He looked at Lily, his eyes glinting in the glare of the spotlight. “Your wife doesn’t seem to like soldiers,” he said.
“She doesn’t like anyone.” Robert shrugged. “Not even me.”
The men laughed again, but when the lieutenant didn’t join in, they fell quickly silent.
“Women should have more respect,” he said. “Maybe my soldiers could teach her a lesson in respect. They’ve been away from their wives for a very long time.”
Cursing silently, Robert eased Lily back a step, slowly maneuvering himself more solidly between her and the men. The woods were only a few yards away. If someone started shooting he wanted her to have a straight shot at their only escape route. All she had to do was scoop up Jack and run like hell. With luck, Robert could hold the soldiers off long enough for her to get away.
“We’ve got a long journey ahead of us,” Robert said. “If you need some food or inoculations for your children, I can give them to you.”