She wasn’t exactly sure what he was asking, but she knew she didn’t have a choice but to agree. Just as she knew this was going to cost her. That it was going to change her life. Change all of their lives. “Yes,” she said, hating the quiver in her voice.
“Good girl,” he said. “Oh, yes. Good, good girl.” Never taking his eyes from Lily, he snapped his fingers at one of his soldiers and motioned toward Robert. “Give him back his satchel and send him on his way.”
Lily closed her eyes. Relief warred with terror. She couldn’t imagine Robert walking away and leaving her but prayed that if he had to choose between her and Jack he would do the right thing and choose Jack, that he would protect the baby first and above everything else.
She gave the lieutenant the best go-to-hell look she could manage. “If you hurt them, I’ll make sure DeBruzkya kills you.”
She thought she saw a flash of fear in the lieutenant’s eyes, but it was gone so quickly she couldn’t be sure. Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the soldiers thrust Robert’s backpack at him.
“Hit the road,” the soldier snarled, then turned a lascivious stare at Lily. “We have business to attend.”
She wanted to look at Robert but wasn’t sure what it would do to her emotions, what it would do to him, so she didn’t. She heard Jack fussing when Robert picked him up off the blanket, and her heart broke. Take good care of my son, she thought, wondering if she would ever see him again, and felt the hot burn of tears in her eyes. She tried hard to block the thoughts, but they swirled inside her brain, cutting her like shrapnel, making her bleed until she felt she’d been bled dry.
Summoning her courage, she looked at Robert and found his eyes already upon her. He had the backpack slung over one shoulder, Jack cradled in one arm. Her heart stumbled in her chest at the sight of him with her son—their son—and regret seared through her.
She thought about the gun strapped to her thigh. She knew it wouldn’t be enough in a firefight, but it might buy them some time. She would wait until Robert had Jack safely out of sight. Then she would take out the first man who touched her and deal with the consequences when the time came.
Lily couldn’t believe it was going to end like this. Couldn’t believe after everything she’d been through, she was going to die at the hands of DeBruzkya’s soldiers. She thought of Jack, and her heart shattered.
She had to touch him one more time. Had to look into his blue eyes, kiss his tender cheek, smell his baby scent. Turning abruptly away from the lieutenant, she rushed to Robert and reached for her son. It gave her pause when Robert quickly handed him over. She held her baby close and let her tears fall. Around her the soldiers sat in their jeeps and smoked cigarettes and pretended not to watch.
“Stay cool and follow my cue,” Robert whispered in French.
Lily glanced at him over the top of Jack’s head. Robert stared back at her, and she thought she’d never seen a man look as dangerous as he did at that moment. The hairs at her nape prickled. And suddenly she knew he had no intention of walking away. The thought terrified her because there was no way in hell he was a match for a dozen heavily armed soldiers. What could he possibly be thinking?
She watched, puzzled, as Robert pulled one of Jack’s bottles from the bag. Looking awkward and shaken, he withdrew a small prescription bottle from the fanny pack, twisted off the top and tapped several small metallic tablets that were about the size of a watch battery onto his palm.
What on earth was he doing?
The lieutenant had taken notice and was watching Robert closely. “What do you have there?”
Robert smiled sheepishly. “Ulcer,” he said, rubbing the place on his abdomen where the rifle butt had been rammed.
The lieutenant snarled in disgust. “Your life has been spared at the cost of your wife’s honor. A real man would have died for her. Get out of here like the dog you are.”
Robert twisted off the bottle’s nipple and dropped several of the tablets—a top-secret tool, courtesy of ARIES—into the milk. Abruptly, he tossed the bottle at the lieutenant. The lieutenant caught the bottle, then stared at it with annoyance and surprise. “What the hell is this?”
“Payback,” Robert said and ducked.
The lieutenant’s eyes widened an instant before the bottle exploded.
“Run!” Robert shouted to Lily in English.
The concussion of the blast struck her like a fiery fist. Lily was so stunned that for a moment she couldn’t move. She watched in amazement as the lieutenant reeled backward, cursing in Rebelian, howling in pain.
“Go!” Whipping a revolver from the waistband of his jeans, Robert took aim and fired. One of the soldiers fell. The others scattered like ants, shouting, raising their weapons. The rat-tat-tat of an automatic weapon pierced the air.