Out of the Ashes (18 page)

The implications exploded like a ticking bomb in her brain. He was not just an American on enemy soil.

David was a spy.

As she stared at him, the dark tan of his face paled to the color of the sun-washed stones. He knew she’d heard him. Staring at her with those dark brown eyes, she could tell he was waiting to see what she would do.

Sera did the only thing a good Italian girl could do when faced with the enemy.

She ran.

She didn’t dare look back. She could hear his footfalls behind her, coming faster, getting closer. She was almost to the end of the road. Just a bit farther, and she’d be close to where the tourists were. She could yell. She could scream. She would be safe.

Suddenly he grabbed her from behind, squeezing her bruised ribs, and she cried out in pain. David covered her mouth with his hand and dragged her into one of the empty ruins. She fought him every step of the way, but he was too big, too strong, and it hurt too much to struggle. Setting her on her feet, he spun her around and shoved her up against the smooth plaster wall. With his hand still covering her mouth, she could do little but glare at him.

“If you promise not to scream, I’ll let you go.”

Reluctantly, she nodded her head. He slowly removed his hand, but she could still feel the pressure of it on her jaw. He eased his hold on her and, given that one bit of freedom, her arm shot out and her hand cracked against his cheek, echoing off the walls in the empty room as his head snapped to the side from the impact.

“Don’t.” He turned his head slowly back around to face her. Was that remorse she saw in his eyes? She doubted it. Spies weren’t supposed to feel guilty for the things they did in the name of their country.

“I never promised not to smack the shit out of you.”

“Sera, I can explain.”

“Explain what? That everything you’ve told me is a lie? That you’ve risked my career and my life spying on my country?” She used what space there was between them to cross her arms over her chest, trying to put up some kind of barrier. David didn’t step back an inch, forcing her forearms to wedge against his hard wall of a chest. Fine, she wasn’t going to back down either. “Go ahead. Explain it to me.”

“I wasn’t spying on your county. I was spying on the Germans.”

“Last time I checked, Italy was on Germany’s side.”

“Last time I checked, you were half-American.”

Sera felt like she’d been slapped herself. How dare he? She had trusted him, confided in him. After everything she had told him about her father…how dare he be who he was?

She struggled to understand what was happening. In a matter of a few moments, everything she believed about David had changed. Was everything he’d done and said to her just an act so he could be in a good position to spy on the Germans? Had he meant any of it, or had he just used her? When she thought of how he’d held her, kissed her, of how they’d almost…

The hurt was unbearable. She could feel the anger and betrayal threatening to bubble over in the hot, scalding tears she tried in vain to hold back.

He placed his hands on her head, forcing her to look at him. He looked desperate, almost panicked, like a hunted animal.

“Sera, listen to me. You realize what will happen if anyone finds out who I am?”

She nodded her head. Yes, she knew. He would be shot. Could she really turn him in, knowing it would probably mean his death?

No, she could never do that. But it didn’t make the sting any less. She pushed his hands away from her face.

“How could you do this to me? How could you hide this from me, knowing how I feel about America?”

“It’s because I
did
know how you felt that I couldn’t tell you.”

“Then why did you try to be my… friend, even though you knew what it would do to me when I found out the truth?”

“Damn it, you were never supposed to find out.” He sighed heavily, but he never took his eyes off her face. “I’m sorry, but I can’t change who I am, any more than you can change who you are.”

Oh, he was good. Why not add a punch in the stomach to the slap in the face? All these years, she had tried to deny her American heritage, and here he was throwing it in her face.

“What am I supposed to do? It’s my duty to turn you in.”

“Your duty? Just whose side are you on, Sera? You’re half-American, too.” If it were possible, he leaned in even closer. “Do you even really care about the war? Most of Italy doesn’t. They just want it to be over and the Germans to go home. Mussolini has bled this country dry and fed it to Hitler on a silver platter. Can you truly believe being on Germany’s side is the right thing?”

“That’s not the point.” How was it that he could make her feel defensive when he was the one who was breaking the law? “It’s all so clear now, what you’ve been doing up there on that wall. You haven’t been looking at the scenery. All this time, you’ve been spying on the Germans.”

“And the information I’ve learned sitting up on that wall will probably save thousands of lives. American and Italian.”

Sera felt like she was caught in some bizarre dream. She rubbed at her throbbing temples, wishing it would all go away, wishing things could go back to the way they were before David ever walked into her life.

“I can’t believe this is happening. Do you realize the position you’ve put me in? You’ve not only risked my career by having my dig site moved, now you’ve risked my life by my association with you.”

She laughed bleakly as the reality of the situation settled in.

“Everyone in
Pompei
knows I’m half-American, and if they find out you’re an American spy, they’re going to assume I’ve sympathized with you. The Italian authorities aren’t going to believe me. I’ll be put in a detention camp, and my life will be over… if I’m not shot standing beside you.”

David lowered his eyes, a war of his own waging across his handsome face. Finally, he looked back up at her, regret and a plea for understanding where determination and loyalty had once been.

“Is it worth my life?”

Sera stopped. Was it? If his true identity were ever discovered, he would be shot. Did she want that? Could she bear that?

Like a deflating balloon, she felt the fight go out of her.

“No. It’s not.”

With the calmness came a new awareness of her surroundings. She could feel every inch of him pressed up against her, the heat of his body penetrating her clothes. With every breath she took, her breasts crushed against his chest. His strong arms imprisoned her face on either side against the wall, and one of his thighs had managed to wedge in between her own.

She was surprised that the position did not feel threatening—or rather, it did, but in an altogether different way. It was too intimate. He was much too close. She glanced up, his lips only inches from hers, his eyes boring into her soul.

He seemed to realize the position they were in, too, and something in his expression changed, as if a shade had been drawn down over a lighted window. He stepped back, and she felt as if she might slide down the wall without his support. But she held her back stiff and straight.

“Your secret is safe with me. For now.” She shoved herself away from the wall and walked to the door, praying he didn’t notice how much she shook with every step. This time, he didn’t try to stop her.

Pausing in the doorway, she looked back over her shoulder.

“I won’t turn you in. But if they come looking for you, I won’t protect you, either.”

She stepped out into the street, the bright sunlight blinding her, and started walking in a daze, not sure where she was going.

It wasn’t until Sera had reached the main area of the ruins and stood in the middle of all the tourists that she even realized their entire conversation had been spoken in English.

“
Heberto
!”

Hershel almost cried as he watched his wooden ball bounce across the ground, stopping a mile from the jack. Why did the woman have to shout just as he was about to win his match?

“Yes, my love?” He didn’t even try to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

“How can you be playing
bocce
at a time like this?”

Hershel turned and eyed his extremely agitated wife.

“It’s simple, really. I took the day off to play a few games of lawn bowling with my friends. Is that a crime?”

Marsha grabbed him by his elbow and pulled him out of hearing distance from his old cronies.

“It is when you miss an opportunity to prevent a disaster.”

“Disaster? Serafina hasn’t gone and gotten herself buried again, has she?”

“No. It’s worse.”

Worse? How could anything be worse than being buried alive?

“Oh, dear. What’s happened?”

“I just received a call from
Smithers’s
secretary. Serafina found out David is American.”

Hershel shook his head. Leave it to Marsha to overreact and ruin his
bocce
game at the same time.

“So?”

“
So?
” Her voice was getting dangerously high. “How could you let her find out? It could ruin everything.”

“How is this my fault?”

Marsha glared down her superior nose at him.

“You should have been at work where you were supposed to be so you could stop it.”

“For heaven’s sake. I’m not their babysitter. They’re adults. I can’t be with them every minute.”

“You could if you weren’t taking time off to play games.”

“Marsha, really.” The woman was being unrealistic. “Even if I were working today, I wouldn’t be with them in their area of the site. Anything could happen, and I wouldn’t be able to stop it. We’re not angels anymore, you know.”

That took the wind out of Marsha’s sails.

“I know. I know. It’s just so unfortunate that she found out.”

“Well, you know we weren’t going to be able to keep it from her forever. She was going to find out sooner or later.” Hershel glanced over at his friends to make sure no one was moving his balls while he was gone. “After all, if we succeed, they’re going to live together for the rest of their lives. I think she’ll notice something when he takes her back to Virginia.”

“Virginia?” Marsha’s fair skin paled a shade whiter. “My stars, he can’t take her to Virginia. What about the ruins? She’ll die without the ruins.”

“Hmmm. Seems like we have another kink to work out.”

“Well, I can’t worry about that right now, can I?” Marsha shooed Hershel back to his game. “At the moment, I have to find a way to fix this problem you’ve gotten us into.”

* * *

Sera entered the back courtyard of the
Angelicos
’ quiet villa, parking her bicycle in the area reserved for tenants.

Her arrival did not go unnoticed.

Maria knelt on a green and white checkered blanket, weeding the vegetable garden that now consumed a majority of the courtyard. The scene was a common one throughout
Pompei
. Every available plot of ground in town was used to grow food, yet people were considered lucky if they were able to keep half of what they grew. The Italian and German armies tended to confiscate the majority of produce in the name of national support.

Maria straightened up from her hunched-over position and rubbed at the small of her back.

“Serafina? You’re home early. What’s wrong, my dear?”

“Nothing.” Sera found it hard to look directly at her. “My ribs were starting to bother me, so I thought I would come home to rest.” She felt ashamed. It was like lying to her own grandmother.

“Nonsense. You’ve been back at work for a week now, and your ribs haven’t slowed you down one bit. Something else is bothering you, I can tell.”

“There’s nothing wrong. I just…”

Maria patted the space on the blanket beside her.

“Then come and sit with me for a while. Keep an old woman company.”

Sera could hardly refuse. She sat beside the elderly lady, and Maria set a basket between them. The two women worked side-by-side, pulling stubborn weeds from the earth.

Sera tugged at a particularly strong one that seemed determined to remain imbedded in the dirt. It reminded her of David. Somehow, he had managed to weed his way into her life, and now he refused to go, even though by staying he threatened everything dear to her.

“So, how are things at the ruins now that you’re back?”

“We’re making some progress.”

“Ah yes,
we
. How are you and that handsome young assistant getting along?”

Sera stopped tugging at the weed. What was Maria, a mind reader?

“We’re doing fine.”
Liar
.

Evidently her conscience wasn’t the only one who could perceive the truth.

“Come now, your face is scrunched up so tight, it looks like you just swallowed a bad olive. What’s going on between you two?”

Sera felt the burden of David’s identity weigh heavily on her conscience. She knew she should never tell—for heaven’s sake, she promised him she wouldn’t only an hour ago—but the newfound knowledge was practically choking her.

But of all the people she knew, Maria was the one she felt she could trust the most.

“If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell a soul, not even
Heberto
?”

Maria paused in her weeding and looked at Sera with warm, compassionate eyes.

“This sounds serious. Of course.”

“I just found out David is an American.”

“Oh, really? My, isn’t that interesting.” Maria shrugged her thin shoulders and went back to her work.

“Interesting? That’s all? You think it’s
interesting
?”

“Well, yes,” she commented, without even looking up from her chore. “What else am I supposed to think?”

Was Maria getting senile in her old age? Didn’t she realize what this meant?

“That makes him a spy.”

“A spy,” the old woman whispered. She looked up and grinned at Sera, her eyes like two hard-boiled eggs with big blue yokes. “Now that does sound exciting.”

“It’s not exciting. He’s the enemy. What if someone finds out?”

Maria’s fascinated look turned to one of censure as she cocked a white eyebrow at Sera.

“No one will find out if you don’t tell them.”

Sera ducked her head. She already felt guilty enough telling Maria. The woman didn’t have to rub it in.

“He didn’t tell me. I managed to find out when he spoke English without realizing it. How long do you think it will be before someone else discovers the truth?”

“Well, you’ll just have to make sure no one figures it out when he’s with you.”

What was she suggesting? “You think I should protect him? If I do and it’s discovered, I could be arrested for harboring a spy.”

Maria tossed a handful of weeds into the basket and crawled on her knees to the next section of the garden.

“You’ll do it because you know in your heart it is the right thing to do.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Come now, Serafina. You don’t care about the war any more than I do. Why is this really upsetting you?”

Why? Because the David she had come to care about was now the epitome of everything she hated.

“You know, not every American is your father.”

Sera felt a shiver race down her spine. How did Maria always have the ability to know what she was thinking? She’d been doing it since Sera was a child, and at times like this, it completely unnerved her.

“I know that.”

“Then why are you blaming David for your father’s sins?”

“I’m not.”
Liar
, her conscience screamed again.

“Yes, you are.”

Would her conscience and Maria please stop ganging up on her?

“It’s just that… he lied to me.”

“No, not really. It sounds to me like he just didn’t tell you.”

“It’s the same thing. He led me, and everyone else, to believe he was Italian.”

“But only because he had to.” Maria wiped her dirty hands on the blanket, lines of contemplation adding to the wrinkles on her face. “What would you have done if he had told you the truth when you first met him?”

“I don’t know.”

Both women stood, and Sera helped Maria fold the blanket.

“Yes, you do. You, my hot-headed Serafina, would have turned him in on the spot. Then he would have been shot at dawn, and you would not have the pleasure of knowing him as you do now.”

“But that’s just it. I don’t know him. Not anymore.”

“Really?” Maria handed Sera the folded blanket and picked up the weed basket. “It seems to me that the only thing that has changed is the young man’s nationality. He’s still the same person he was yesterday.”

“How do I know that? He’s been lying to me all this time. Maybe he’s not at all who he seems to be.”

“Then again, maybe he is. You do like him, don’t you?”

Sera hugged the grass-covered blanket to her chest like a shield, trying desperately to hold her emotions inside.

“Yes.”

“Then trust your heart, and it will show you what to do.”

* * *

Sera arrived late at the ruins. She knew it was cowardly of her, but she was avoiding David.

Funny how easy it was to refer to him as American David as opposed to the Italian
Dah-veed
. If that was even his real name. He probably lied about that, too. The hard part now was forgiving him for deceiving her, for risking her career and her life for his own cause.

But Maria was right. Had the situation been reversed, what would David do? After all, he never had to become her friend. He could have gone about his business, done his work at the site, and she probably never would have known.

But he had gone out of his way to be nice to her, even when she didn’t always deserve it. Maybe that’s why the betrayal felt deeper than it should.

As she approached the dig site, her steps faltered. What was she going to say to him? How was she supposed to act?

When she got there, David was standing up on the old stone tower, looking out in the distance as he did several times every day. Only now she knew exactly what he was looking at—the German camp just a hundred yards away.

Her stomach twisted. Maybe Maria was wrong. Maybe she should turn him in. She risked everything if she didn’t. Allied sympathizers didn’t usually live to see a trial.

David must have sensed her presence. Turning, he leaned a broad shoulder against the crumbling wall and gazed down on her from his high perch, casually sticking a blade of dry grass in the corner of his mouth.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d be welcome here this morning.”

She was struck by how fluent his Italian was. His voice sounded so calm, so relaxed. Did he feel half as uneasy as she did? If he did, he hid it well.

“And I wasn’t sure if you’d be here at all,” she replied.

He shrugged and rolled the piece of grass from one side of his mouth to the other.

“I almost didn’t come. I figured instead of you, I’d have the Italian guard waiting with a complimentary blindfold and cigarette.”

“Don’t think I didn’t consider turning you in a half a dozen times last night.”

David jumped down from the wall, startling her, and she took an involuntary step back. Just how dedicated was he to this mission? Did he see her as the threat she saw him? Would he kill her if she got in the way? Was he even now planning a way to silence her forever?

Closing the gap between them in four quick strides, he stood so close she swore he could feel her heart pounding even though he wasn’t touching a single inch of her.

“So, why didn’t you?”

Why did he have to stand so close? She glanced down at his hands hanging loose at his sides. Strong hands that could easily wrap around her neck and squeeze the life out of her before she could utter a sound.

“I promised you I wouldn’t.”

“People break promises all the time.”

Her eyes shot back to his face. Whether he knew it or not, he’d hit a nerve. She tried to pretend telling Maria didn’t count.

“Not me.”

For a long time he just stared at her. She wondered what secrets he saw, what vulnerability he might sense deep inside and use against her. Regardless, Sera refused to retreat.

“I know.” He spoke in English, his voice so low it was almost a whisper. “That’s why I trusted you enough to come back.”

Now it was her turn to look into his face and search for the truth. His soft brown eyes showed nothing but trust, full and complete. But then again, she’d been wrong about men before.