The Phoenix Encounter (13 page)

Her exclamation was cut short when Robert slapped a hand over her mouth. Confused, Lily gripped his wrist to wrest it away. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw the twin beams of headlights slash through the darkness. She heard the rumble of engines. Lights washed over them, playing wildly over the trees as two jeeps filled with soldiers stopped a few feet away.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Kiss me,” Robert said.

Lily pulled back slightly.
“What?”

“For once in your life, don't argue.” Cupping the back of her head, he crushed his mouth to hers.

E
ven with all the problems standing between them, her betrayal still fresh in his heart—and a dozen of DeBruzkya's soldiers looking on—she felt awfully good in his arms. Robert told himself he was laying it on thick so the soldiers would believe they were a married couple and leave them alone. But the hot rush of blood to his groin refuted the lie.

“Alteich!”

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 sol
dier 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.”

“You got any whiskey?” one of the men shouted in Rebelian.

The lieutenant spat something in Rebelian Robert couldn't quite translate. A beefy man with a bald head and shoulders the size of a Mack truck jumped from the jeep and approached Robert. Without warning, he drew back and rammed the rifle butt into Robert's stomach.

The air left his lungs in a rush. Pain streaked through his abdomen. Robert retched, tasted bile at the back of his throat. Vaguely, he was aware of his legs buckling. Of Lily shouting his name. He dropped to his knees, expecting another blow at the back of his head, and tried desperately to get oxygen into his lungs.

An instant later the bald man tore the backpack from his shoulders, opened the flap and dumped the contents onto the ground. Robert stared at the contents, glad he'd had the foresight to stash his high-tech equipment in the fanny pack strapped around his waist.

“You can take the inoculations,” Robert gasped.
“They're yours. Use them for your children. There are antibiotics, too.”

He felt Lily's hands on his arm. She knelt beside him, her eyes wide with fear. She reached for him, but the lieutenant pulled her roughly to her feet. “My soldiers think you need a lesson in respect.”

“My son is sick,” she said. “Please. W-we just want to take him to the hospital.”

A cruel smile whispered across the lieutenant's face. An instant later, he grasped a handful of Lily's hair, yanked her toward him and crushed his mouth to hers. She lashed out with both fists, but he was holding her too close for her to get any leverage, and her efforts were in vain.

Raw fury sent Robert to his feet. Three of the other soldiers moved closer, their hands restless on automatic weapons. Robert knew he and Lily were outgunned and out manned ten to one. But there was no way in hell he was going to let this escalate. He'd die before he'd let that son of a bitch turn his soldiers loose on Lily. All he needed was a distraction.
Hold on, Lily,
he thought.
I'll get us out of this. Just stay cool.

A moment later, the lieutenant released her. Lily stumbled back, breathing hard, and spat on the ground. “Bastard,” she said.

The lieutenant smiled. “Ah, such disrespect.” He glanced at his men. “I think there's enough of her for everyone.”

The men stared at them, their faces hungry and cruel, a pack of wolves facing down a much smaller prey.

Robert leaned forward, feigning pain and clenching his stomach, all the while easing his right hand toward the fanny pack at his waist.

The lieutenant reached into a breast pocket and removed a piece of paper. Unfolding it, he handed it to Lily. “I'm afraid your little charade is over, Lillian Scott,” he said.

Lily stared at the tattered sheet of paper in her hand, terror streaking through her as her face stared back at her.
Vaguely, she was aware of the paper rattling as her hands began to shake. Her legs followed suit, then suddenly her entire body was trembling violently. Never had she imagined in a thousand years that DeBruzkya would take things this far.

Heart pounding, she raised her eyes to the lieutenant. “Let my son and this man go free, and I'll go with you,” she said.

“You're in no position to bargain.”

She shuddered when the lieutenant's eyes swept over her, lingering on her breasts. “One hundred thousand American dollars.” He licked his lips. “General DeBruzkya must want you very badly. I wonder if you're worth that much.”

“You touch me, and DeBruzkya will kill you,” she said.

“Maybe I just want a peek at what has the general tied up in little knots.”

Lily withheld a shudder. She'd been in tough predicaments before and she'd gotten out of them alive. She would get out of this one, too. If she only had a plan…

The lieutenant brushed a strand of hair from her face. “I've always liked red hair on a woman,” he whispered. “A woman like you could do a lot for the morale of my men.”

Her heart was pounding so loudly she could barely hear him. But she knew what he wanted, and the thought revolted her. “My son is very sick. He needs to go to the hospital. Let both of them go and I'll…go with you.”

“You're going with me anyway. Why should I bargain with you?” He looked at Robert, then at Jack. “What are they worth to you, my lamb? What will you do to protect them?”

Lily stared at him, knowing his kind and hating him. She'd met too many men like him in the years she'd been in Rebelia. Men who were cruel and violent and evil.

“They're worth everything to me,” she said.

“Everything?” When she wouldn't look at him, he put
his hand beneath her chin and forced her to look at him. “Everything?”

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.”