Sands of Time (11 page)

Maybe it was time to make a sacrifice. She moved her pawn and as she expected, he flicked her knight off the board. “Two moves, Sarai.” He held up his fingers.

That’s what he thought. “The game’s not over, yet.” She moved the pawn forward, where it stood between his king and her victory. “You could just concede now.”

He took her pawn with his.

She tried not to smile. She still had a few tricks up her sleeve.

Moving her queen out, she took his pawn. “Check.”

He leaned back, squinting at the board.

Yeah, that’s right, pal. You made a mistake. Like trying to talk me out of doing what I know is right. Like trying to turn
it into a control issue. I’m after what God wants. Regardless of what you think.

He moved his king toward the protection of another pawn. She saw him swallow.

She moved her queen into position to take out the pawn defending his king. Ha! “Now what are you going to do, Chess Boy?”

Roman moved his bishop out. Then he leaned back, and a slow smile creased his face. “Checkmate.”

“What? How?”

“My queen, bishop and knight are all poised to get you. Choose your poison.”

She sat back, her heart filling her throat. “I was one move away from winning! All I needed was to take out your pawn.”

He shrugged. “Start packing, baby.”

She leaned back, then knocked over her king. It spun and slid off the board, landed on the floor. Along with her future.

And, maybe her heart.

Especially with him looking all smug and cute with his hands folded across his chest, leaning back in his chair.

She hoped he fell all the way backward. “I need another cup of coffee.” She lit the stove, then watched the water as it started to boil. “I know I said I’d go back with you but—”

“Sarai—”

She heard warning in his tone, but kept going. “First, I have to go back to Khanda and check for outbreaks.”

“That’s not your problem.” She heard him stand up, pushing back his chair.

Sarai closed her eyes, trying not to let frustration pinch her voice. “I know. I’m sorry, Roman, but I can’t go anywhere unless I know the kids are safe.”

“You can’t help anyone if you’re a fugitive.” His eyes said it all. Control, control. She felt like pouring the boiling water over his head. She turned away, shaking her head.

“What do you think caused the kidney failure of your patient?”

She glanced at him, frowning. Then she shook her head, rubbing her eyes with her finger and thumb, seeing purple stars. “I don’t know. I had another case just a few days ago—I might have told you—Governor Bednov’s son. He also had acute renal failure, and it came on suddenly. I don’t know what could have caused it.”

He drummed his fingers on the table. “What about radiation poisoning? We watched a film a few months back about the effects, and renal failure was one of them. Could that have caused it?”

She took the pot off the stove, poured out hot water, then added her instant coffee. “I don’t know.” Maybe. “There used to be a nuclear plant out this way—some of the villagers worked at it. But it’s been closed for a while now.”

Roman said nothing, but for a moment, she thought she actually saw his brain chewing the information. He nodded, rose. “How far is the nuclear plant from here?”

“I don’t know. Anya probably does. She’s had this dacha since her childhood.”

“It’s about fifteen kilometers from here by snow machine.” Genye closed his bedroom door behind him. “Which is about the only way you’re going to get out of here anytime soon.”

Roman glanced at him. “You have a snowmobile?”

Genye nodded. He looked tired this morning, with frowsy hair and red-rimmed eyes. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his red bathrobe. “But it hasn’t been driven in a couple years. And, you’re not going anywhere in this blizzard. You won’t see your hand in front of your face.”

Roman closed his eyes and ran his fingers across his furrowed brow. Sarai read the signs of stress when she saw it.

She reached across the table and touched his arm. “C’mon, two out of three games. Loser makes supper.”

Roman sighed and opened his eyes. “Let’s just hope the blizzard breaks soon. Then, we’ll see.” And, for the first time since he’d appeared in her door frame, she saw a real smile hint at the corners of his mouth. Something sweet and hot came into his eyes. “But you can’t beat me, you know. I’d like some American pizza.”

She leaned back and folded her arms—mostly to challenge him, but really to keep her heart from jumping clear out of her chest. In an instant, she’d glimpsed the man who’d stolen her heart, the man who made her feel like only she could coax from him his gorgeous smile.

You can’t beat me, you know.
She had to wonder if he was right.

D
ay two trapped inside a five meter by ten meter cabin with Sarai felt like a prison sentence. Especially when everything inside Roman wanted to throttle her. Or maybe just take her in his arms and kiss her.

There he went again, acting as if they had a future.

If only she hadn’t laughed so sweetly when he’d beat her two out of three times in chess. Or helped him chop wood and carry it in.

Or thrown that snowball at him.

Roman turned away from her, where she and Anya sat at the table, kneading pizza dough. He had no illusions that the pizza, especially minus the seasonings, would taste anything remotely like the stuff she’d taught him to make years ago. But he could live with less than perfect pizza when he saw her speaking in low tones to Anya, with
her hair pulled back and her eyes free of the darkness that seemed to shroud her since he walked into her life two days ago.

He’d gotten an up-close look into her incredible eyes when he’d felt an icy trickle run down his back as he’d been chopping wood. In his peripheral vision, he spotted his attacker gathering ammo for another volley, and spun and tackled her.

She shoved the snow in his face.

He’d pinned her down easily. “Stop,” he’d said, with a low growl.

She’d just laughed, breathing hard, her gaze on his.

He’d felt everything slow, then. Snow fell around them, landing on her face, her nose. It melted and ran down into her woolen cap, blending with her freckles. The wind brushed the trees, a murmuring audience to the scene in the snow. Her hair smelled clean, having been recently washed in Anya’s sink, and he caught the soft scent of wool and wood smoke against her skin. Her beautiful green eyes seemed bright as she stared at him. A blush infused her cheeks.

“Let me up, Roma,” she said softly. He barely heard her against the roar of his pulse. His gaze roamed her face, stopped on her lips. He could nearly taste them, soft and sweet against his.

Sarai. This was Sarai, pulling him out of his world, into a moment where he could breathe fully, could stop and just enjoy her smile. All he’d ever wanted—if he really thought hard about it—was a woman who trusted him. Who smiled
when he walked in the door, who cheered when he succeeded and believed in him when he didn’t. Who stuck around with concern in her eyes when he showed up wounded, and loved him enough to get under his defenses and patch him up.

She bit her lower lip. It yanked him out of the moment enough for him to see fear in her eyes. Had he changed so much that he frightened her?

Or maybe it was just the thought of him in her life that scared her.

“Roma?”

It took everything in him to clench his teeth and push away from her. He rolled back in the snow, glad for the ice on his neck. His chest felt hot and tight as she sat up next to him. The snow crunched as she stood. “C’mon, I’ll make you that pizza,” she said, and held out her mittened hand.

He closed his eyes. “I’ll stay here. Just for a minute. You go ahead. I’ll be right behind you.”

She said nothing, but he heard her footsteps crunch away.

Right behind her. Perhaps that was where he was destined to forever be in Sarai’s life. Her bodyguard. Her protector.

Not her husband. He’d never be enough for her. Why couldn’t he figure that out?

She didn’t want a man who dedicated his life to throwing bad guys out of her path, or tracked her down the dark alleys of her life. She wanted a man who would go to the ends of the earth with her, declaring salvation. A preacher.

What she didn’t know was that he really didn’t have it in
him. He didn’t know how to save souls, to lead someone to Christ. It was all he could do to try to walk as a disciple, one day at a time and not to give into the urges of his loneliness, or the temptations of his profession. Plenty of his fellow Cobras knew he was a Christian. But to get into detail with them felt a billion times harder than just saying
nyet
to their off-duty activities.

No, he wasn’t a preacher. The best he could hope for was that Sarai looked past his actions to his heart—he only wanted to keep her safe and be a friend to her brother.

Hopefully he’d do it without becoming a national traitor. Because, despite their brief snowbound interlude, Roman kept the stakes in the forefront of his brain.

He had twenty-four hours to get Sarai out of Irkutsk. And when the clock ticked down to zero, he’d have no choice.

If he didn’t take drastic measures, he
would
have to arrest her.

One of them was going to a gulag.

He’d stayed there, in the snow, letting the flakes that peeled from the sky wet his cheeks as he stared into the black expanse that reached to heaven. “Lord, I don’t know why you sent me out here. I know David asked me, but I didn’t really consult you first. I’m asking you now, especially since I’m already here—what should I do? I can’t let her stay, can I? How do I get her to see that she’s really in danger?” Stubborn, blind Sarai. What would he have to do to get her to believe him, to trust him?

He just has so much potential to be more. And he’s blown it.

“Lord, Sarai’s words hurt. But mostly because I do want
to be everything you want me to be. You know I’d be a horrible preacher. But if you want more of me, help me to want that, too.”

He wiped his cheeks with his gloved hand and felt the heaviness lift, just a little.

What did God want of him?

That question continued to ring his thoughts as he came inside and watched Sarai prepare his victory supper.

“Pizza’s in the oven,” Sarai said as she came up behind him. He felt her more than heard her, especially the way his skin prickled. He stepped away from her. “I’m going to take a sauna,” he said without looking at her.

He strode out into the night. Snow still fluttered from the canopy overhead. He followed a trail out to a small shack, letting the smell of wood smoke lead him.

Inside, candles flickered against the wood paneling. The sauna house had two rooms, one that held a small table and samovar for tea. The inner room held hooks and a washbasin of cold water. Roman noticed that Genye had already stoked the stove, and he guessed the man was inside, sweating.

The sauna room was dark, with only the coals lighting the room with an eerie, hissing orange as Roman went inside. Genye greeted him with a grunt as Roman sat on the planks and inhaled the hot, thick air. He let it fill his lungs, cleanse them.

Sweat began to pour down his face, onto his chest, along his spine.

“I fixed the snowmobile. You’re ready to go tomorrow, if you’d like.” Genye spoke from out of the darkness.

“Thanks,” Roman said, but felt a heaviness settle inside, a dread that filled his bones. Tomorrow, then, they’d leave, back out into the chaos of his world.

He cleaned up and exited the sauna with few words, and hiked back to the dacha. He saw Sarai through the window, working at the table, cutting the pizza. She looked up as he entered.

“You look refreshed.”

Or wrung out.
He smiled, however. “Smells good.”

She shrugged. “I had to make it with bacon and dill. Not your standard pizza, but I hope it’ll be okay.”

He met her eyes. “I’m sure it’ll be perfect.”

He tried not to notice the blush, as if his words had touched her. As if she might be pleased that she’d made him happy.
Sarai, please don’t.

Thankfully, his heart took up a defensive position. It erased his smile as he brushed past her. “I talked to Genye. He said he fixed his snowmobile. If the weather clears, I’m going first thing in the morning to take a look at that reactor. I’ll be back to take you to Smolsk by lunchtime. We’ll be in Khabarovsk before midnight.”

Sarai froze. He watched out of his peripheral as her blush shifted to anger. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He glanced at her. “Yes, Sarai. I’m taking you to the nearest airfield and flying you out of here. I know you don’t believe me, and it’s been rather surreal today, but you have twenty-four hours to leave Irkutia. And I’m going to make sure you do.”

“Because you’re an FSB agent?” Her eyes flashed.

“No. Because I’m your friend.”

She said nothing, but he saw a muscle tense in her jaw. Then, “You’re not my friend, Roman. You’re my keeper. My brother’s errand boy.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it before his tone could betray how her words sliced him.
“Ladna,”
he said and turned away. “Think what you want. I need to check out that nuclear plant. Be ready to leave by the time I get back.” He glanced back at her. “And don’t try any stunts. That ambulance is pretty well packed in, but Sarai, if you try to ditch me again, I’ll track you down and find you. And haul you out of Irkutia over my shoulder if I have to.”

He probably should have ducked, because the glare she gave him felt like a jaw-splitter. He tried not to wince. But she morphed so quickly from the girl who’d made him pizza to the one who wanted to scalp him with the knife, it was more than he could bear.

“I’m going with you to the nuclear plant.”

“Oh, no, you’re not. For one, it’s a long cold trip. Secondly, I don’t know what to expect.”

“And you think either of those reasons scare me? Clearly you don’t know me that well.”

Oh, yes, he did. And that’s what unnerved him. “You’re not going with me,” he repeated slowly.

She stabbed the knife into the cutting board. “Those are my patients who are infected, and if I can figure out why, you can’t stop me.”

Roman turned away from her and crouched before the wood stove. Opening the door, he grabbed the poker and
stabbed at the wood. Sparks flew out of the grate and landed at his feet. “I’m not kidding, Sar. It could be dangerous.”

He heard her tromp across the floor. She stopped at the foot of the ladder to the loft. “Oh, Roman, I’m not worried,” she said.

Her tone made him turn. She was smiling sweetly. Too sweetly. “You see, I have a hero, don’t I?”

Sarai pulled the comforter up around her face and tucked her nose underneath, breathing into the folds to warm it. A chill nipped the corners of the attic. The fire had to have gone out downstairs.

Or maybe the cold emanated from inside. Deep inside, where she’d harbored the last hopes that Roman still loved her.

Once, maybe, loved her.

Roman ground to a cinder any illusions she might have courted about his feelings.
I got over you,
he’d said.

Yeah, he had. Why not? It had been nearly thirteen years since she’d about-faced in his life.

Me, too, she’d retorted.
Sorry for that lie, Lord.
She hated the ache that gripped her chest. And it didn’t help that her breathing hitched every time she glanced at him. He was a dangerous mix of charm and power, and those smoldering hazel eyes turned her mouth to dust.

Especially today in the snow. For the briefest of moments she’d thought he’d wanted to kiss—no. Her overactive imagination had her in his arms, right where she’d dreamed of being for so many years. And then, she’d seen
herself holding on to him, crying, even begging him to give up everything he’d worked so hard for, just to be with her. How incredibly selfish. No, how incredibly naive.

Thankfully, he didn’t harbor any naiveté about their future. He’d shrugged away from her without an inkling that she’d been about to grab him by the jacket and kiss him.

Being with him, even this short time had shaken her to her core. She missed the memory of his embrace, but also his strength, the way he had some sort of mental GPS trained on her—if she just looked over her shoulder he’d be there. He had hero written all over him, with his well-toned physique that bespoke confidence and ability. Beneath that, in his determination and sheer stubbornness, she saw commitment. He’d followed her for two days, putting his job in jeopardy.

He’d followed her after she’d ditched him, twice, and told her that he’d keep following her, even if he had to drag her out of Russia.

She closed her eyes, letting herself remember him as he’d been thirteen years ago.

Younger, for sure, with less experience in his eyes. And the way he held her hand—she could be anywhere in a crowd and somehow, Roman could zero in on her and appear. Like that time on Arbot Street when she went shopping with David’s American friend, Mae. The renowned cobblestone street from the time of the czars was filled with painters, food vendors, music and plenty of local hoods hoping to separate her from her backpack. Mae, with her curly red hair and stunning looks, seemed to announce
their tourist status, and Sarai prickled every time someone brushed by her.

She’d stopped to admire the work of a chalk artist when she felt the tug on her backpack, slung over her shoulder.

The thief moved so quickly, it took several seconds for Sarai to realize what happened.

He’d cut her bag right off her shoulder.

About her height and weight, the kid knocked over the chalk stand as he fled down the street. With her passport. Her visa.

Her money.

Sarai didn’t think. She lit out after him, yelling. Years later, when she replayed the scene, she saw herself, a crazed tourist, yelling in Russian, “Give me back my umbrella!” But at the time, she thought herself brave, righteous and fierce. A woman who could save herself, who could face any foe.

Until she found herself turned around, out of breath and alone behind an apartment building. The thief had vanished. Around her, garbage Dumpsters overflowed with refuse. Dogs and pigeons circled the trash, and above her, from tiny balconies, laundry snapped in the summer breeze. She heard doors slam, the cry of a child.

She looked behind her and realized she was lost.

Certainly she hadn’t run so far that she couldn’t find her way back to Arbot Street. But, without money, or a passport…and where, exactly, did David live?

Panic tried a choke hold and she refused its grip.
Think, Sarai.

Nothing seemed familiar as she wandered back toward Arbot Street. Or, in the direction she thought was Arbot Street.

Shadows darkened the alleys as the sun dipped below view, mocking her attempts to find her way home. The air gathered the night chill and pressed it into her short sleeve shirt. She passed a huddle of black-shirted youths, dressed in leather jackets and eyeing her with smirks. She wrapped her arms around herself, told herself to keep walking.