Bad Nerd Falling (44 page)

“
Never.” Maria’s mouth
turned down. “Even when he was really small. He hardly ever cried
after his first year either. It was like the warrior was already
such a part of him that he never complained.”

“
That must have made your
job as his mother harder.”

“
Yes, it did. I had to
watch him for signs of illness, because he certainly never told me.
I soon got pretty good at it. So did Graham. Vlad simply suffered
in silence.”

This information didn’t surprise her
in the least. It also made her rather thankful that she and Maria
had this talk. Because it gave her more insight into Vlad’s
character. His friends also mentioned that he didn’t say much, even
if he was hurt. Could a woman fall in love with a man who didn’t
talk to her? Who she didn’t know?

Oh she knew the inside of his mouth
and how his body felt pressed against hers, but she didn’t
understand what made him tick, not yet anyway. She knew he
considered her safety and protection paramount to all other things.
Perhaps that’s all she needed to know…

Still, if he stayed or left also
impacted her future so she’d dearly love to know his
intentions.

Whether his future coincided with hers
was of utmost importance to her.

Maria stroked a sweet hand up her arm,
expressing sympathy and support without saying a word before she
returned to her preparations.

That gave her far too much time to
think, so she forced these unsettled thoughts into the back of her
mind and instead carried on with the initial phase of her
experiment. She still had to analyze the data.

Settling in at the computer, she
entered all the numbers from the initial run and watched as charts
and graphs appeared. Then she added parameters and other necessary
info and soon she had mapped out the next day’s experiment. A clear
plan of what she needed to do.

That’s how she lived her life.
Planning the next step, knowing what her future held. But her
relationship with Vlad left her unsettled because like his mother
claimed, he didn’t put much credence in communication. At least not
with her.

Perhaps he was different with his
friends. Those capable men he worked with.

A spurt of jealousy made a jabbing
thrust, but she rejected it. Those men trusted each other with
their lives. She was only entrusting Vlad with her
heart.

Broken hearts recovered. Dead lives
did not.

She finished her data analysis and
saved everything before printing out the sheets to add to her lab
notebook. Then she set to work updating that. Once she was finished
she tucked the book away and then turned to start preparing her kit
to take water samples.

“
Do you think we should
test Tia and Jorge’s wells?” she asked.

Before Maria could respond the large
storage room door burst open and was filled by a man with the
largest gun she had ever seen. It looked like it should be mounted
on a tank. The man was dressed in a military-like uniform and his
eyes flickered with pools of crazy.

He smiled. It was the scariest smile
she had ever seen.

“
Come with me and no one
will get hurt.”

Her heart plummeted at that blatant
lie. They’d die if they went with him.

Staring at the strange stirring in his eyes, they
might anyway.

Chapter 34

“
Armed tango in the lab,”
Shively shouted as he gaped at the screen in front of him. Except
he wasn’t sitting there any longer. He hurtled across the command
center to tug on his combat vest.

Vlad didn’t question him. Instead he
headed for the door. Ben and Beaumont stopped him with a hard hand
on either arm. “You can’t help them if you’re not prepared.” Ben
shouldn’t have needed to admonish him in the first place. But his
heart pounded in his ears while sweat broke out along his upper
lip.

The SEAL commander didn’t waste time
repeating himself but instead tossed his vest to him. He had never
suited up faster. The only thought in his brain was that he needed
to get to Helena and his mother. What those terrorists could do to
his women in a minute added to the sweat droplets on his lip and
sent icy chills up his spine.

It seemed like it took him hours to
finish, but as soon as he was done, he headed for the door. “Sit
rep,” he demanded as they sprinted for the tunnels.

When Shively explained that the tangos
erupted through the tunnel entrance into the storage area, his
heart sank. He made a point to check the tunnel after he left the
lab this afternoon. It had been clear then. That was the lab’s only
escape route. Now that escape was cut off. Acid churned in his
stomach.

The two women might be able to flee
into the hallway, but the entrance from the storage area, depending
on where they were in the lab, might be closer. If his mother was
at her bench, she could turn and run out the door, but Helena’s
wasn’t as close. No one could outrun a gun, and when Shively
mentioned the model of the weapon the terrorist pointed at them,
his mouth dried.

It would be suicide for them to run.
His heart boomed in his ears. More chills snaked up his arms and
across his neck. Ben sent him a sharp glance.

“
Wellington, you can’t
help them if you allow your emotions to take over. I need your
brain, one hundred percent.”

That quickly he buried his emotions
deep and the warrior emerged, preparing for the ensuing
battle.

When he shoved a tapestry aside, there
was an entire army on the other side.

***

Helena stared at the new man who
skirted around the one with the gun. This one was even scarier,
because he fancied himself a gentleman. He was dressed similarly,
in a military uniform that bore desert colors, but he was obviously
the man in charge. There was no denying the air of command about
him, or the lack of noticeable weapon. The bigger man wore his like
an accessory.

There was what looked like a handgun
attached to the leader’s belt and probably assorted knives and
other weapons hidden on his person. At least that’s what she read
soldiers did.

She didn’t doubt Vlad carried more
weapons than she could identify.

Vlad
. Just thinking about him quelled her intense need to
whimper.

He was somewhere in the palace. He was
trained for this type of situation. In fact, it was likely he and
his warrior buddies had been training for this exact scenario. Vlad
had shown them the very escape route that these fiends used to gain
access to the lab.

Bile rose in her throat at the thought
of these men pulling a weapon on Aleksi. Were they after him and
just wanted to use her and Maria as hostages?

Again, a whimper nearly
escaped.

Crazy-eyed man stroked the massive gun
as though it were a pet. The bile rose higher, threatening to choke
her. Fear left a nasty taste in her mouth as she watched more men
pour into the lab.

There was no escape route. Maria was
closer to the door, but that one weapon could wreak a lot of
damage. They’d never make it. Her heart quivered and she started to
shake as she stared terror in the eyes.

He was particularly scary. Still
stroking his weapon, while his commander spoke to his troops. None
of them looked sane, and that only increased the fear factor. She
resolved to die rather than leave with these monsters. They were in
a lab, there had to be something they could use as makeshift
weapons.

Maria edged closer to her while she
stared at the huge bottle of rubbing alcohol on the bench. With
suddenly narrow eyes, she indicated it with her head. Maria was
closer and she nodded almost imperceptibly before wrapping her hand
around the bottle. It might not do much good like it was, but
alcohol was flammable…

She glanced at Maria then carefully
eased a bench drawer open. Maria pressed something into her palm
before she could delve her hand inside.

A book of matches.

It was reassuring to be on the same
page as one’s colleagues.

***

He eased the tapestry back into place
then headed down the passage to Aleksi’s office, his team behind
him. They met the prince barreling down the same
passage.

“
You’re under attack,” Ben
announced.

“
I watched them enter the
lab. We’re headed to the war room.”

Before they could question him, Maks
also appeared. Behind him was their father, Beau DuBois, and
several men he didn’t recognize, but all of whom moved like they
had military training.

“
We’ll have your backs.”
Aleksi raced into a huge room inside the passage. He flung open a
trunk there, Maks working beside him at another old trunk. Maks
started winging combat vests to the unarmed men. Aleksi opened his
chest and dug to the bottom. He performed something and the entire
wall behind the chest opened. There mounted in military precision
was a vast array of weapons. All of them current, all of them well
used, and all of them deadly.

Shively tipped his head respectively.
“You’re a cool prince.”

Aleksi smiled. But his eyes were grim,
his mouth firm. “No terrorists are touching any of my people.” His
voice was hard, and determined.

Maks passed out helmets much like what
they wore and soon all the men were prepared for combat. Not one of
them fumbled with their weapons. Not one of them looked odd
carrying them.

“
Let’s go.” Aleksi chose a
gun the size of an Uzi. He had also selected several other weapons,
and the ease at which he pocketed them proved the man knew what he
was about.

The other men, including his father
and Maks, appeared every bit as confident. He knew DuBois. The
others he didn’t know by name, but he identified some by their
family characteristics. Their ease with the weapons and equipment
reassured him.

“
There are terrorists in
the east wall passage.” He rattled off the sit rep.

“
We’ll take care of them.”
Aleksi indicated the group surrounding him. “You guys have better
skills than we do.”

“
Vlad, you got gas bombs
for the passage?” Beaumont waited for him to confirm.

Maks paused in fastening his vest. He
opened another trunk and started passing gas masks
around.

“
No Emerson?” Ben asked
when he noticed the man was absent.

“
He’s out of the country
with his wife at the moment.” Maks attached his gas mask to his
belt.

“
He’s gonna be mad he
missed this.”

At Shively’s statement, both Aleksi
and Maks allowed small smiles. “And we’ll be hearing about it for
weeks.” Aleksi’s smile didn’t last. He was all business.

Every single man here shared their
prince’s focus. All of them had obviously kept their skills up. He
was utterly grateful for that.

“
I’m heading to the lab.”
His dad’s voice cracked.

Ben stayed him with a hand on his arm.
His eyes were hard. “Keep your emotions in check. An emotional
outburst is the best way to get your wife and Helena
killed.”

That quickly his dad transitioned from
a man worried about his family to a man preparing for combat. He
approved.

His dad nodded before he disappeared
down the hall toward the east corridor. He moved with the grace and
skill of a man a lot younger.

He turned back in time to see Aleksi
and Maks follow him. The other men sank away to join the
shadows.

We can trust them?
He asked DuBois through signals.

Absolutely
, he signaled back. “I’ll
take the command center,” DuBois offered. It was probably hard for
DuBois since Helena was in danger, but they needed someone there
and his left side was going to slow him, and therefore all of them,
down. It also meant DuBois trusted his fellow soldiers to take care
of business.

“
Thank you.” Ben saluted
him before he and Shively disappeared.

Time to go free Helena and his
mom.

And more than time to show a few terrorists what
it meant to be an enemy of Rurikstan.

Chapter 35

He donned his gas mask then lit a gas
bomb that he lobbed into the stone corridor. Within a few breaths,
the entire army began to stagger. He moved swiftly down the
passage, careful to knock as many men down as possible. Behind him,
Beaumont was already securing them.

Aleksi and Maks soon showed up and
took over for them, indicating to Beaumont to go with him. That was
good.

He took time to go into a swift
conference with Beaumont and then the SEAL disappeared through the
ceiling. He would make his way from above.

He asked his dad via their
communication devices to keep watch at the lab door. Ben and Tigger
transmitted that they planned to meet him there. Tigger would join
Beaumont in the ceiling as soon as they entered the main hall. He
learned the other men who had shown up were busy helping security
to clear civilians out of the palace. They were all known to the
staff members and the personnel would leave willingly once
prompted.