Her Baby's Bodyguard
Ingrid Weaver
Special Forces sergeant Jack Norton's mission: to safely see brilliant Russian scientist Dr. Eva Petrova to America. The unwitting pawn in an international biowarfare plot was hiding one minor contingency–her infant daughter. Jack didn't do relationships well, never mind kids. So how was it these two were planting themselves firmly under his skin?Eva Petrova was no stranger to putting up emotional barriers–she'd done it all her life. But when she saw Jack's softer side, she wondered if they were missing out on something more explosive than this mission. Only one way to find out…
Eva thumped his shoulder with her fist and raised her head. “This isn’t funny.”
He smiled. “Your daughter’s a real trouper, Eva.” He wiped his knuckle across her cheek. “She’s almost as brave as her mother.”
“I’m not brave.”
He kissed her forehead. “You are downright awesome.”
She didn’t know what surprised her more, the compliment or the kiss. “Sergeant Norton…”
“Call me Jack,” he said.
No. She shouldn’t think of him as Jack. He had to remain the sergeant, no matter how beautiful his smile was. How was she supposed to remember he was only doing his duty and that his consideration wasn’t personal? How could she keep from liking him?
Dear Reader,
Since the publication of my original EAGLE SQUADRON series in 2003, I have been eager to return to the men I left behind. Like so many of you, I fell in love with this group of Delta Force commandos. Their steady courage under fire, their deep sense of honor and the camaraderie they shared with each other made them natural heroes. Now, with EAGLE SQUADRON: COUNTDOWN, I am thrilled to immerse myself once again in the world of these über alpha males.
My biggest challenge when it came to Sergeant Jack Norton, Eagle Squadron’s medic, was creating a heroine who was strong enough to be his match. So I asked myself, who would be the worst possible woman for a fun-loving, commitment-phobic, gambling man like Jack to fall in love with? How about a defecting scientist with deadly secrets…and an infant daughter?
Being Her Baby’s Bodyguard is the last thing Jack thought he wanted. I hope you enjoy how I convinced him to change his mind!
Sincerely,
Ingrid
Her Baby’s Bodyguard
Ingrid Weaver
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
INGRID WEAVER
is a USA TODAY bestselling author of more than twenty-five books and has been published by Silhouette Books, Harlequin Books and Berkley/Jove. She is the recipient of a Romance Writers of America RITA
Award for Romantic Suspense and an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award. Currently she lives on a farm near Frankford, Ontario, where she grows organic veggies and Darwinian flowers in a neglected garden of tough love. She loves to hear from readers. You can visit her Web site at www.ingridweaver.com (http://www.ingridweaver.com).
This book is dedicated to all the fans of
Eagle Squadron who asked for Jack’s story.
He owes you his life.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 1
The crust of ice on the puddle cracked beneath Eva’s boots, signaling her presence as clearly as a gunshot. She risked a glance over her shoulder. The road was still empty, yet how long would that last? The stitch in her side was getting worse. So was the cold. It would likely snow by morning. She clenched her teeth to silence their chattering and increased her pace.
The trees gave way to a cluster of buildings, but there should be no one here who would raise an alarm. The village had been deserted long before the complex had been constructed in the neighboring valley. Eva didn’t know where the original inhabitants had gone—she’d never thought to ask—but they’d been too practical to leave much behind. What hadn’t rotted had been carted away years ago. The sole traffic this road saw now was the monthly supply trucks that lumbered through without stopping. Only the village church had remained more or less intact, and that was because it had been built out of stone.
Katya stirred against her chest, no doubt jostled into wakefulness by Eva’s quickened stride. Without pausing, Eva lowered the zipper on her coat and reached inside to adjust the sling she’d fashioned for the baby. It held Katya securely enough, but the knots were digging into Eva’s neck and the small of her back. “Shh. Almost there, kitten,” she whispered. She rubbed her palm over the baby’s back. “It won’t be long now. I promise.”
Reassured by her touch, Katya burrowed closer to her mother’s warmth. Within seconds, her body relaxed once more into sleep. Eva left her hand where it was, letting her fingers ride the rise and fall of her daughter’s breathing. She needed the contact as much as Katya did.
The moon inched past a break in the clouds, turning Eva’s breath white and spreading silver-blue over the rise where the church stood. Shadows of grave markers tilted among weed stalks that sparkled with frost. A birch tree grew at the edge of the churchyard, its bare branches swaying in the wind. Apart from that, nothing moved.
Was she too early? She’d lost track of time. It seemed as if an eternity had passed since she’d slipped past the guards at the west gate, but it was more likely less than an hour. Eva risked another glance behind her.
Even with six kilometers of pine forest and a ridge of limestone between her and the complex, the glow of its perimeter lights was visible against the sky. She had once liked the security the floodlights provided. Against the empty blackness of the surrounding, tree-shrouded slopes, it had been comforting. Eventually she’d grown to understand that the security measures had been for control, not protection. Burian enjoyed demonstrating his power over all within his range.
Not me. And not my daughter.
She sucked more air into her aching lungs, fastened her coat and headed for the stone church.
This was it. The point of no return. If there was a bridge through the valley she’d just crossed instead of a puddle-strewn road, it would be burning. Shouldn’t she be feeling some sadness or at the very least regret? She was leaving her home, her country, turning her back on everything familiar.
But then, the complex had never felt like home. It had been where she worked, that was all. A place for her mind, not her heart. How long had it been since she’d allowed herself to yearn for more? For Katya’s sake, she did now. Home should be sunshine and apple trees, the smell of bread cooling on a windowsill, the liquid, joyous trill of Grandma’s canaries and the soft warmth of her mother’s arms….
The road blurred. Eva blinked against the wind to clear her vision and stepped into the churchyard. The home of her memories was long gone, but she would make a new one. Just her and Katya. When she got to America, maybe she would look for a place with apple trees. They would be beautiful in the spring. She could lift Katya up to sniff the blossoms—
A shadow detached itself from one of the grave markers as Eva passed. It happened so swiftly that she had no chance to react. Before any sound could leave her throat, a man stepped behind her and clamped his large, gloved hand over her mouth.
Panic overrode her logic. If she’d stopped to think, she would have realized who would know she was coming. But she was tired and scared and struggled anyway. Wrapping her arms around Katya, she kicked backward until her boot connected with the man’s shin.
“Whoa, relax, Dr. Petrova.” He eased the pressure on her mouth. “We’re here to help you.”
It was a man’s voice, pitched low, closer to a whisper than to speech. He knew her name. And he was speaking English. That last fact penetrated her fear. She stilled.
“Our code word is eagle,” he said. His tone was gentle, at odds with the strength in his grip. A trace of the American South flavored his words. “They told you that, didn’t they?”
Another shard of panic dropped away. She nodded against his glove, then reached for his arm. Despite the thick coat he wore, it felt like steel. She tugged anyway.
“Sorry about startling you, but we couldn’t let you scream.” He lifted his hand from her mouth. “Are you all right?” She nodded.
“Hate to ask, Dr. Petrova, because it seems pretty obvious to me who you are, but the brass are sticklers for details. Can you give me your code word?”
Her first attempt came out as a gasp. She had to swallow a few times before her voice worked. “Hatchling. My word is hatchling.”
“Check. I’ve got her, guys.”
Though he hadn’t raised his voice, more shadows emerged from among the gravestones. No, not shadows but men. They were dressed in the kind of drab, shapeless winter coats the locals wore, and each held a rifle to his shoulder. They moved in silence in spite of the brittle weed stalks that covered the churchyard. None looked her way. Their attention was focused on the road and the forest at the edge of the village.
Help had really come. Oh, God. After so many weeks of waiting and worrying, it was truly happening. The wave of relief was almost as strong as her earlier panic had been. Eva realized she was trembling.
“Any problems getting here?”
She locked her knees to keep them steady and shook her head.
“Do you have the disk?”
She dipped her chin in a quick affirmative.
“You might as well give it to me for safekeeping, Dr. Petrova.”
She turned to face him. Like the other men, he held a gun, but he had the barrel pointed toward the ground. He was tall—the top of her head barely reached his chin. A thick wool cap was pulled low over his ears, and the moon was behind him, so she couldn’t see much of his features except for the outline of his jaw. It was square and tautly set. As were his shoulders. Although his black coat looked bulky, he didn’t. Even motionless, he exuded an impression of lean strength. He stood with the readiness of a runner waiting for the starting pistol. Or a wolf stalking a deer.
Another tickle of fear fought with her logic. She breathed deeply a few times, forcing herself to think. Regardless of how gently this man had been speaking to her, she couldn’t afford to trust him entirely. Too much was at stake. She lifted her chin, regretting her earlier display of weakness. “Thank you, but the disk is quite safe where it is.” She kept her voice at a whisper, hoping he wouldn’t detect the tremor in it. “I’ll turn it over to the appropriate authorities once I am in American jurisdiction. No offense meant.”
It was hard to tell for certain with his face in a shadow, but he appeared to smile. “None taken,” he replied. “They did say you were smart.”
By this time, the other men had withdrawn to the edge of the road. From the woods on the far side of the church came the rumble of an engine. Eva jerked in alarm.
“It’s okay, ma’am.” The man gripped her elbow and steered her toward the noise. “That would be our ride.”
A truck pulled onto the road. It was the same size as the supply trucks that went to the complex, but there the resemblance ended. Except for short metal panels that formed the sides, the rear part of the truck was covered with canvas. The rest of it was so rusty that there was nothing to reflect the moonlight except the windshield. It looked like a relic from a past war, held together with bits of wire and luck, not an uncommon sight in this region of the Caucasus.
Eva looked around. These men had probably chosen the truck so it wouldn’t attract attention, but they didn’t expect to make it all the way to the coast of the Black Sea in that, did they? “I was told we’d be going by helicopter.”
“It’ll be at our rendezvous point. This area is too hot to risk a landing, and we figured you would already have had enough of a stroll for one night.” He guided her closer to the truck. “By the way, are you wearing a pack under your coat?”
Her hand automatically went to the bulge where Katya nestled. “I was instructed to bring no luggage, and I brought none.”
“Uh-huh. That doesn’t mean much. I’ve known a lot of ladies who see fit to pack a purse as big as a suitcase for a trip to the corner store. Is that what you have there?”
“I understand what’s at stake better than anyone, and I made sure to raise no suspicions. I was very careful with my preparations. It will likely be more than twenty-four hours before anyone realizes I have left the complex, Mr.…?”
“Norton. Sergeant Jack Norton.”
Sergeant. Of course. She should have guessed the American government would send military people, but her contact had given only the barest details of the extraction plan.
Then again, she hadn’t told her contact all the details, either.
One of the other men jumped to the truck’s tailgate and pulled back a corner of the canvas tarp. A cloud of exhaust obscured Eva’s view for a moment. When it cleared, she could see a faint, green light glowed from inside where a large man knelt in front of what appeared to be electronic equipment.
Still gripping her elbow, the sergeant tilted his head to regard her as they walked. “Nah, it’s too big for a purse. Pardon the personal question, ma’am, but are you pregnant?”
“No, Sergeant Norton.”
“Because if you are, you should let us know. The trip out could get rough. We want to be prepared if there could be any medical complications.”
“I am not pregnant, I assure you. I’m in perfect health and don’t expect you to make any allowances for me.”
“Okay, great. So what are you hiding under that coat?”
She’d known they would find out sooner or later. Katya would need to be fed in another few hours. Eva had hoped to be safely on her way out of the country before that happened, but she could see that the soldier wasn’t going to let this go. She splayed her fingers over the curve of Katya’s back. “My daughter.”
They were less than two meters from the back of the truck. He stopped dead and pulled her to a halt beside him. “Whoa. I couldn’t have heard you right.”
“You did. It shouldn’t make any difference. She’s almost three months old, so she’ll be no trouble.”
“You brought a baby?”
“Surely you don’t expect I would leave her behind.”
Because he was turned toward the moonlight, she could make out more of his features. His mouth was bracketed by twin lines that would probably crinkle into dimples when he smiled. Actually, he looked like a man to whom smiling came naturally. Laugh lines softened the corners of his eyes, but there was no trace of humor in his expression now. His lips were pressed thin and his eyes narrowed. A muscle twitched in the hollow of one cheek. “Dr. Petrova—”
“Shouldn’t we be getting on the truck?”
For a large man, and one who spoke so gently, he could move surprisingly fast. He hitched the strap of his rifle over his shoulder, reached for the front of her coat and lowered the zipper.
Jack Norton had seen his share of trouble during his years with Eagle Squadron. He’d faced fanatics with bombs strapped to their bodies and enemy soldiers who were loaded up with enough weapons to fill an arsenal. He never took anything for granted. It was when a man felt safe that he usually bought it.
So he should have known this mission was going too smoothly.
It was a baby, all right. She was trussed up in a jury-rigged cloth carrier that held her across the woman’s midriff like a combination apron and hammock. A lacy, knitted cap covered the baby’s head. One tiny fist, wrapped in a mitten that trailed shiny ribbons, rested against her mouth. Luckily, her eyes were closed, which meant she was asleep, but how long that would last was anyone’s guess.
Actually, it was up to Murphy, the guy who wrote the law about anything that could go wrong, would….
Jack looked more closely. The kid wasn’t the only cargo the woman was hauling. Two lumpy cloth sacks dangled from strings on either side of the kiddy carrier. So, she hadn’t lied—technically the sacks weren’t luggage. The coat was large and knee-length, and she’d obviously made use of every square inch of space she had under there. It was a wonder she had been able to walk one klick like that let alone six.
Jack tapped the largest sack. “What’s in these?”
“Diapers and baby clothes,” Eva replied. She spoke fluent English with only a hint of an accent, which was to be expected. According to army intelligence, she’d spent the first few years of her life with her mother’s family in upstate New York. She’d been nearly four when her Russian father had gained custody.
Eva brushed his hand away and zipped her coat closed. Not all the way, though. He could see that she’d left a gap at the top for air. “I don’t want her to get cold,” she continued. “She might wake up.”
“Right. We sure wouldn’t want that.” His mind filled with crying-baby scenarios, none of them good. They were in hostile territory on a mission his government would disavow any knowledge of if it went wrong. Discretion was essential. That’s why the major had made the team plan for every contingency.
Having an infant along wasn’t one of them.
Eva stepped closer and poked her index finger at Jack’s chest. “I made a bargain with the American government, Sergeant Norton. Safety and asylum in exchange for my cooperation. I expect you to honor it.”
He snapped his gaze to her face. Could she think they would leave her here?
One look in her eyes told him that she wasn’t thinking at all. She was terrified. That’s why she had concealed the kid and why she’d refused to part with the disk. Those shivers he’d felt through her arm probably weren’t all due to the cold. She didn’t trust him. His reaction to her excess cargo wasn’t helping matters.
She’d taken him by surprise, that’s all. But damn, a baby? Even when he wasn’t on a mission, he kept as far away from those as he could.
Jack took her hand from his chest and gave it a squeeze. “You’ve got me confused with the politicians, Dr. Petrova. I’m a soldier. We take our honor seriously.”
She didn’t relax. Instead, her expression tightened further. It made her look more like the photograph that intel had provided.
Like the rest of the team, Jack had committed that picture to memory during their briefing. The shot had been more than ten years old, taken when she’d been awarded a doctoral degree in chemistry from Moscow University when she’d been nineteen. In it she’d looked far too serious for her age, as if she’d been trying to prove something. She’d stared unsmiling at the camera, a regular ice princess with her pale blue eyes and platinum hair. Her high cheekbones and delicate jaw hadn’t changed since then, though her lips seemed fuller. He wondered briefly whether she still wore her hair long, yet nothing showed from under the thick cap that she wore.
But as he’d just discovered, winter clothes were good for hiding all sorts of things.
“The major sent the word, Norton. We’re moving out.”
He shifted his attention to the truck. Tyler Matheson stood in the center of the back opening, one hand on the canvas and the other on his weapon. He would be covering the rear as they moved. Tyler was Eagle Squadron’s new ordnance specialist and was proving to be the best marksman the team had ever had in spite of his rookie status. Jack acknowledged Tyler’s warning with a nod. “Be right there, junior.”
Tyler hopped to the ground with the agility of the cowboy he used to be, then moved around the truck to the driver’s door to exchange a few words with Kurt Lang. Sergeant Lang would be doing the driving on this mission, as he usually did whenever something on wheels was involved. The man had an affinity for machines, which would have been spooky if it hadn’t kept proving so useful. Specialist Vic Gonzales would be riding shotgun beside Kurt once he finished his forward sweep of the area. They would pick him up on the way. Like Tyler, though, Gonzales would only open fire as a last resort. They were counting on intelligence to steer them away from trouble. To that end, Duncan Colbert, headphones clamped to his shaved head, knelt in front of the communication equipment he’d set up on the truck bed.
Quick and clean, that’s how Eagle Squadron liked to operate. They were usually long gone before anyone realized they’d been there. The five members of the team who were taking part in this mission had run through the plan until they could have done it in their sleep. Every man knew his role in it, including Jack. As Eagle Squadron’s medic, he’d been put in charge of their passenger.
Make that passengers.
Jack was confident the other guys would do their jobs. It was up to him to play the hand he’d been dealt.
He firmed his grip on Eva and led her forward. “We’ll try to keep you and your daughter comfortable,” he said. “But it’s going to be bumpy.”
“Neither I nor my child will break, Sergeant Norton.”
She was using a tone that would go with the ice princess picture, he thought. It was probably an attempt to distract him from the trembling in her fingers. “This will go easier if you remember we’re on your side, Dr. Petrova. We’re the good guys.”
“You’re soldiers.”
“Same thing.”
“You’re only as good as the orders you follow.”
What kind of men had she been around to have gained such a low opinion of them? “My orders are to get you and what you’re carrying safely to American jurisdiction,” Jack said. “I interpret that to mean everything you’re carrying, not just the disk, so you’ve got nothing to worry about.” He stopped at the back of the truck, took one look at the height of the tailgate and then leaned over to scoop Eva into his arms.
She gasped. “Sergeant!”
She was lighter than he’d expected, even with her extras. Instead of simply lifting her into the back and getting in after her, he carried her with him as he climbed inside.
Duncan looked up when the truck dipped with their weight. The moment he saw the bulge beneath Eva’s coat, he pulled off his headphones. “Ma’am, are you pregnant?”
Jack spoke before she could answer. “Nope. Not anymore. Ma’am, this is Duncan Colbert.”
She acknowledged the introduction with as much dignity as she could, considering her position.
Duncan frowned and looked at Jack. “What’s that mean, not anymore?”
“Dr. Petrova brought her kid along.” Jack picked his way through the loose bark that littered the rusty floor. Apparently, the truck he’d acquired had been last used for hauling firewood. He set Eva on her feet where the cargo bed met the truck cab. “Stay here, ma’am. It should be the most sheltered spot.”
“I need no special treatment.”
“Well, with Lang and Gonzales up front, the cab’s going to be crowded, and you probably don’t want to get too close to Matheson when he’s armed, so this is the only spot left.” He stuffed his gloves into his pocket and put down his gun so he could peel off his coat and spread it in front of her. “You can sit on this.”
“Thank you, but as I said, I need no special—”
“There might be spiders in the bark.”
She hesitated for less than a second before she sank to the cushion Jack’s coat provided and wrapped her arms around her baby. Her lips trembled. She pressed them together and inhaled hard through her nose.
Jack amended his assessment of her mental state, adding exhausted to terrified. He had a crazy urge to sit beside her and pull her, baby and all, into his arms. She’d felt good there. But that would probably bring out the ice princess again. He took one of her hands and guided it toward a loop of strapping that hung from the truck’s short side wall. “You might want to hold on to that once we start moving.”
She nodded and threaded her fingers through the loop.
Tyler returned and climbed into the truck, pulled up the tailgate and dropped the canvas into place. He spoke without turning around. “I heard you talking through the canvas, doc. It sounded like you said she brought a kid. Tell me I heard wrong.”
“Sorry, junior, you heard right. We have a baby on board.” Jack glanced from Tyler to Duncan. “Hey, either of you wouldn’t happen to have one of those signs to stick on the windshield, would you?”
Tyler grunted, donned a pair of night-vision goggles and swung his weapon to his shoulder to sight through the back opening. Duncan muttered something about Murphy and put his headphones back on.
Their lack of reaction didn’t surprise Jack. They didn’t have the luxury for anything else. He leaned past Eva to rap at the window to the cab. “Okay, Kurt. We’re ready.”
The truck jerked into motion. Eva knocked into the side of the truck with her shoulder. Still holding the strap, she shifted her position so she could draw up her knees and put her back to the low wall for support.
“Are you all right?” Jack asked.
“Yes, thank you.”
“It won’t be long now. If you need anything, let me know.”
She opened her coat just enough to slip her hand inside. “We’ll be fine.”
He regarded her for a while to make sure she had steadied. Now that she was sitting, the sacks of baby clothes would be resting on the floor and her drawn up legs would take most of the baby’s weight. She still looked exhausted, but some of that could be due to the green glow from Duncan’s instruments. Jack went over to squat beside him. “What’s the latest intel on the rendezvous site, Duncan?”
“Not good. Weather’s coming in.”
“Lang will get us there.”
“We have to hope the bird can land. It could get messy.” He tipped his head toward Eva. “Are you sure she’s got a baby?”
“Saw her myself. She was asleep.”
“My sister’s boys used to sleep as long as they were moving. Especially on car rides. She told me they’d be out like a light as soon as she left the driveway. Sometimes she’d stuff them in their seats and take a drive around the block just to get some peace.” He pressed the transmitter on his headphones. “Say again, Gonzales?”
The truck hit a bump, jolting Jack into the air. He glanced back at Eva to make sure she was still hanging on, then shoved aside a stray piece of wood and braced his knuckles against the floor. “What’s going on, Duncan?”
“Gonzales spotted a patrol.”
“How far away?”
“Less than a mile ahead.”
Ahead? If there had been a pursuit, it should have come from behind. This was either bad luck or someone had guessed they were coming. The first possibility was just par for the course, but the latter could scuttle the mission before it got started. They could only hope that Eva had been as careful with her preparations as she’d claimed.
Duncan glanced at the map on the laptop and spoke into his transmitter. “Lang, we’ll try to go around them. There’s a track coming up on the left about a hundred yards.” He tensed and grabbed the equipment. “Sharp turn, everyone.”
Jack dove for Eva and landed beside her just as the truck lurched to the left. He put his hand over hers to grip the packing strap, cushioning her from the impact as they slammed against the side. The truck slowed only long enough to allow Gonzales to jump into the cab, then began accelerating uphill even before the passenger door slammed. Bark and bits of wood slid backward. Jack dug the edge of one boot into a row of rivets in the floor, braced his legs and twisted to lock his free arm around Eva. “Hang on!”
Her face was mere inches from his, so he could clearly see the fear in her eyes. She didn’t protest about his help this time. She would have heard Duncan as well as Jack had, and she was obviously bright enough to have understood the danger they were in.
A muffled wail rose from her coat. One tiny, mittened fist knocked against Jack’s sleeve where his arm stretched across Eva’s chest. Despite the rocking of the truck, she dipped her head toward the baby, caught the tiny fist in her hand and brought it to her lips. “Shh, kitten. Don’t cry. I won’t let anything hurt you. I promise.”
The change in Eva’s voice was startling. It was as tender as a kiss, completely unlike the brittle tones she’d been using with Jack. And in spite of her fear, the promise to her daughter hadn’t sounded like idle words that had been spoken in order to comfort. The vow had vibrated with courage any soldier would understand.
She would need all the courage she could scrape up, Jack thought. In the next instant, something whizzed past their heads. Moonlight winked through a scattering of new holes in the truck’s canvas side. Over the grumble of the engine and the crunching of tires on the rocky track came the staccato pops of automatic weapons.
So much for quick and clean. Murphy must be working overtime tonight. Jack pushed Eva to the floor and curled himself over both her and the baby.
Chapter 2
Pain seared through Eva’s side. She fought to control it, forcing herself to inhale in short bursts, but her ribs stung with each heartbeat. If only the ground would stop moving, yet it kept bouncing and shifting beneath her. It smelled like wool and soap.
She blinked hard and concentrated on her surroundings instead of the pain. She was lying on her side on the floor of the truck. Sergeant Norton’s coat was beneath her cheek. She could feel the pressure of his thighs at her back and the weight of his chest on her shoulder. With his hands braced in front of her and his knees behind her, he was caging her beneath his body because…because…
Her brain clicked back into gear. Oh, God! She could hear gunfire. Katya!
Before panic could take hold, she felt movement against her breasts. Katya was squirming in the confines of the cloth sling. Over the gunfire and the roar of the truck’s engine Eva heard the baby’s restless wails. She sounded cranky, not hurt. Thank God. If anything happened to this child because of her decision…
The thought was too terrible to consider. She dragged her arm around the baby, then pressed her nose to Katya’s head, drawing strength from the familiar, powder-sweet scent of the baby’s scalp. “There’s my brave girl,” she murmured. “Mommy’s here. Everything’s fine.”
Either her one-armed embrace or the sound of her voice penetrated Katya’s temper. The wails tapered off to weary sobs. Eva drew up her knees, curling her body around her child the same way Sergeant Norton was using his own body to shelter the two of them.
He had probably saved their lives when he’d knocked her over. And he was continuing to risk his own by shielding them. Who did that for complete strangers? What kind of man was he? She had seen he wasn’t happy when he’d discovered Katya, yet he’d sounded almost amused when he’d relayed the information to his companions. His voice could be gentle, and he had laugh lines around his eyes and mouth, though she could feel nothing soft about the rest of him. With his size he would likely crush them if he wasn’t strong enough to hold his weight on his arms.
The truck hit a rock, tossing her into the air. She collided with the sergeant’s body before slamming back down on her side. She clenched her jaw to keep from crying out at another stinging jab of pain. She must have fallen on a piece of wood when the shooting had started. Or there could have been splinters in the bark that covered the truck bed. That must be why her side was still hurting. The bouncing was making it worse, but she didn’t dare try to sit up. She had to protect Katya.
Had she made a mistake? If she’d stayed at the complex, Katya would be sleeping peacefully in her crib. No one would be shooting at them. They would be safe.
No, she told herself. They wouldn’t have been safe. Unless she kept going, no one would be. Their own lives weren’t the only ones at stake. The information on the disk she carried could lead to the deaths of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands. The moment she’d learned where her research was truly leading, she’d begun looking for ways to halt it. Making a deal with the American government had seemed like the best solution, but what if there had been another way?
Eva touched her lips to Katya’s forehead. The decision had been made, so she couldn’t allow herself any second thoughts. She could only pray this child wouldn’t be made to pay for her mother’s choice.
The truck lurched, then straightened and steadied, as if they had regained the road. As the noise lessened, Eva realized that she could no longer hear any shooting.
The pressure on her shoulder eased as Sergeant Norton straightened his arms, but he didn’t move away yet. His voice came from just above her head. “What do you see out there, junior?”
“Not much except lots of dark,” the man at the rear of the truck replied. “I’d say we lost them. There were three men, maybe four. Vehicle looked like a big sport utility, handled heavy so it’s probably armored.”
“Any damage?”
“It’s hard to tell with this rust bucket, but there’s nothing obvious. They had plenty of firepower but not much accuracy.”
“I’m picking up some chatter.” It was the bald man who spoke, Colbert, the one with the electronic equipment. “It sounds like we ran into a patrol from the research complex, not government troops. They’d be the only paramilitary in this sector. They thought we were smugglers.”
“Then they weren’t trying to hit us, only scare us off,” the man at the tailgate said. Matheson was his name, Eva remembered. As before, he spoke without turning around. “That’s why they broke off the chase. We wouldn’t be their problem once we got out of their area.”
“Hard to say what they would consider their area,” Colbert said. “Intel warned us Ryazan’s enforcing a no-drive zone that covers more territory every year.”
“Well, technically, we are smugglers, Duncan,” Sergeant Norton put in. “The only difference is our contraband came to us.” He brought his head close to Eva’s. His breath was warm on her ear. “Sorry about the excitement back there, Dr. Petrova. How are you doing?”
Unexpected tears sprang to her eyes at the kindness in his tone. She blinked them away, impatient with herself. This man may have saved their lives, yet regardless of his heroic actions, his motive for protecting them hadn’t been personal. He was just following orders. His government wanted her almost as much as they wanted the disk she carried.
She couldn’t afford to trust him. She knew better than to trust any man. “I am fine, thank you.”
He was silent for a moment, then pushed himself off her and patted her shoulder. “Okay, then. And the baby?”
“She appears unhurt.”
“Great. Let me help you sit up.”
“I can manage. We need no special treatment.”
“Dr. Petrova…”
“How much longer—” she grimaced as the truck swayed around a bend “—to the helicopter?”
“Hang on, I’ll find out.” He got to his feet, stepped over her legs and went to crouch beside the electronic equipment. “How’s our timetable?”
“Tighter than I’d like,” Colbert replied. “The detour cost us.”
“Let me see that satellite shot.”
While the men spoke, Eva turned her attention to the task of sitting up. The extra weight from Katya and her bundles of supplies made it more difficult than she’d expected. She groped for the strap that was attached to the side of the truck and used it to haul herself upright. The change in position helped clear her head, but it brought fresh stinging from her waist to her armpit. Though she was no longer being tossed into the air as violently, the road was far from smooth. She felt every rut and pothole. Adding to her discomfort, the wind seemed to have increased since they’d started out, causing the truck to shake with each gust.
Eva took a cleansing breath, closed her eyes to gather her strength and concentrated on breathing shallowly through her mouth, using the same method for mastering pain that had gotten her through childbirth. If she could endure that, she could endure anything, especially a splinter.
Yet what kind of splinter would hurt this much? Or could have penetrated her winter coat? “What’s wrong?”
She opened her eyes to find that Sergeant Norton had returned and was kneeling in front of her. Although her vision had adjusted to the darkness, she still couldn’t see much more of him than his silhouette against the glow from the communication instruments. He looked large and hard, uncompromisingly male, and she had an insane impulse to lean into his chest and feel the shelter of his body once more.
Was she getting delirious? She reminded herself again not to take his concern personally. “How much longer before we reach the helicopter?” she demanded.
“A while yet,” he replied vaguely. He moved closer. “Dr. Petrova, I know you said you were fine, but you don’t look that well.”
“I believe I fell on some wood, that’s all.”
“Hey, Duncan,” he said over his shoulder. “Tell Kurt to ease up for a few minutes.”
“No can do, Jack. Weather’s getting uglier by the minute. We’ve got to hustle.”
“No!” Eva said at the same time. “There is no need to slow down on my account.”
He took a penlight from a pocket on the leg of his pants and clicked it on. “All right,” he said easily. “In the meantime, how about letting me check over the baby? I bet you wouldn’t argue with that.”
He was right. Eva should have thought of that herself. She looked at Katya. The mittens she’d knitted for her had fallen off, as had the cap. Her wispy hair gleamed almost white in the flashlight’s narrow beam, and her face was flushed from her fussing. The sudden light startled her to silence. She looked around restlessly until she spotted Eva’s face and gave a gurgle of recognition.
Eva managed a shaky smile. “There’s my brave girl,” she whispered.
“You did a good job with that carrier you rigged up.” Sergeant Norton pushed apart the edges of her coat as he spoke. “What did you use, anyway?”
“A sheet from my bed. I knew its absence wouldn’t be detected. I did not want to raise suspicions by taking Katya’s stroller.” She panted a few times. “If anyone notices we aren’t in our quarters they’ll assume we couldn’t have gone far.”
“That was good thinking. This carrier would have kept the kid as steady as a seat belt, anyway.” He directed the light at Katya while he ran his free hand over her head and back in a cursory examination. “Did you use the sheet for these extra sacks of stuff, too?”
“Yes. For the same reason.”
“They probably helped cushion her.” He wedged the flashlight between his knees and leaned forward to peel Eva’s coat off her shoulders. “Okay. Your turn.”
She attempted to pull away, but with her back against the side of the truck there was nowhere to go. “You said you were only checking Katya.”
“Hold still. I saw blood on one of those cloth sacks.”
Her heart froze. “Oh, God. No.”
“The blood must be yours, not the baby’s,” he said. “There’s none on that sling except where it goes around your side.” He pulled a folded knife from another pocket and flicked it open. Without any warning, he sliced through the strings that suspended the bundles of spare baby clothes.
She tried to bat his hand away. As she’d learned earlier, though, there was no budging him. “Stop. What are you doing? Katya needs those things.”
“I have to get rid of your cargo so I can see where the blood’s coming from.”
“No, it’s nothing. Just a splinter.”
As if she hadn’t spoken, he tossed the bundles aside. “Duncan,” he said, raising his voice. “Come over here and hold the kid for me.”
“Sorry, Jack,” he said, his fingers flying over the keyboard of a laptop computer. “I’m kind of busy right now.”
“Junior?”
The man at the tailgate shook his head without turning around. “Don’t look at me. I don’t know anything about babies.”
“What’s to know? Pretend she’s a bomb.”
“Nope. Bombs are more predictable.”
Eva crooked one arm around Katya. “She’ll be frightened without me. This isn’t necessary.”
Sergeant Norton frowned and looked at Eva. “I’m a medic. While I’m not a doctor, I have been trained in basic first aid.” He closed the knife with a flick of his wrist that made him look more like a hoodlum than a doctor. “And I intend to assess your wound.”
“No, I—”
“Ma’am, I understand you’re scared and for some reason you don’t want to admit that you’re hurt, but you’re going to have to trust me on this. You won’t be any good to your baby if you pass out from blood loss.”
She couldn’t argue with that reasoning. Not that she was going to trust him, but for Katya’s sake, she had to allow him to help her. That was the logical thing to do. And this was hardly the time to think of pride or modesty. Not with their survival at stake. Eva glanced past him at the other two men, but their attention appeared totally focused on their tasks. The window to the cab of the truck seemed too grimy to see through, even if the men in the front chose to look back. She pressed her lips together and gave a curt nod.
Sergeant Norton undid the knots that held the sling behind her neck and waist, then lifted Katya out. He supported the baby stiffly across both his palms for a moment, as if unsure what to do with her. Taking advantage of her sudden freedom, Katya began wriggling and kicking her feet. The nylon snowsuit she wore was slippery, causing him to juggle her awkwardly.
“Cup your hand under her head and lay her along your arm,” Eva said, motioning toward him. “Like an American football player.”
It took a few attempts for the sergeant to comprehend what she described. Finally, he managed to do as she instructed, tucking Katya’s legs under the crook of his elbow so he could hold her with only one hand. The baby looked tiny against his body, yet she was apparently happy with her new position. She brought her thumb to her mouth and stopped squirming.
As soon as Eva reassured herself that Katya was being held securely, the strength she’d managed to summon began to ebb. Without the warmth of her daughter against her chest, there was nothing to distract her from the pain that radiated across her ribs. She inhaled hard, then started the pattern of shallow panting once more.
Keeping the baby cradled against his side with one arm, Sergeant Norton clamped the flashlight between his teeth. With his free hand he pinched the lower edge of Eva’s sweater and pulled it upward.
Her blouse clung wetly to her skin. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as the fabric was peeled away. The stinging deepened. Something hot trickled down her side to the waistband of her pants.
He let the flashlight drop from his mouth. “This is getting to be a bad habit of yours, Dr. Petrova.”
Eva exhaled on a hiss. “What?”
“You’re trying to hide things under your coat again.”
“Sergeant, I’m not—”
“Save your breath, ma’am,” he said. His fingertips were featherlight as he touched her side. “It wasn’t any splinter that caused this wound. It was a bullet.”
The storm blew in faster than any of Duncan’s meteorological program models had predicted, and as luck would have it, they were driving straight into the thick of it. The packed dirt that served as the road had already disappeared beneath a layer of snow. It was falling so fast that Jack could barely see the tracks they’d left behind them. Kurt had reduced his speed to maintain control as the wind buffeted the truck, but they were no longer concerned about making the rendezvous. Until the storm let up, the chopper wouldn’t be coming. The objective now was to find somewhere to wait it out.
Jack let the tarp fall back into place and glanced over his shoulder. Eva had her eyes closed and was leaning against the side of the truck, but he knew she wasn’t sleeping because her hands were curled in a white-knuckled grip over the baby. At his insistence, she’d laid the kid on her lap instead of returning her to the bed-sheet carrier and strapping her back on. It was her only concession to the compress that Jack had taped over her ribs.
That woman was giving him one surprise after another. Jack couldn’t think of a single female of his acquaintance who would have even dreamt of concealing a bullet wound—or would have been capable of trying. Most men wouldn’t have endured it as stoically as Eva had. And to top it off, her main concern, once she’d learned she’d been shot, was to ensure that the bullet had missed her baby.
Damn, she was something.
Beside him, Tyler adjusted the canvas to minimize the amount of snow that curled in and resumed his watch through the gap that remained. In spite of the weather, he hadn’t relaxed his vigilance. “How bad is it?” he asked.
Jack knew Tyler wasn’t referring to the storm. Though the other men had concentrated on their own responsibilities while they’d left Jack to tend to Eva, they would be as concerned about her condition as he was. “The bullet only grazed her,” he replied, keeping his voice low so she wouldn’t overhear. “It lost most of its velocity when it passed through the side panel of the truck.”
“So it’s not serious?”
“No, it’s minor. She was lucky. There was no penetration. Just a shallow gouge where it skimmed along her rib cage.” Just? Sure, if he’d been talking about one of the guys, he’d laugh this one off. They referred to anything that didn’t involve broken bones or major organs as a flesh wound, and Eva’s was just a flesh wound. “It’s ugly, but the bleeding was already slowing down. She’ll need some plastic work once we get back if she doesn’t want a scar.”
“It must have stung like hell when she got hit.”
“Yeah.”
“She never said a word. Why do you figure that?”
It was a question Jack had already asked himself. He’d noticed that Eva had been in rough shape as soon as she’d sat up. Her sweater was black so he hadn’t been able to see the blood on it right away, but she probably wouldn’t have allowed him to touch her at all if he hadn’t used the ruse about examining her kid first. Her defensiveness had begun long before she’d been injured. She’d been prickly from the moment he’d confirmed her identity. “She doesn’t fully trust us,” he replied. “My guess is she’s worried that we’ll take the disk and leave her behind.”
“Smart woman,” Tyler said. “She must have realized what the brass are really after. There’s some heavy-duty stuff on that disk.”
“Yeah, well, then it’s a good thing we take our orders from Major Redinger. He doesn’t have much use for politics.”
“Wonder what he’ll say when he finds out about the kid.”
“Knowing the major, he’ll probably add babies to the list of possible scenarios we have to cover when we train for the next mission.”
Tyler grunted a laugh. “You could use the practice. You looked like you were getting ready to rush the kid through the Giants’ front four.”
“The football grip was Eva’s idea. It worked, too. Want me to show it to you?”
“No, thanks. Give me a nice, safe bomb any day.” He tipped his rifle to blow the snow off the scope. “So, what’s your take on our lady? Is she going to slow us down?”
“Not if she can help it. From what I’ve seen, she’s got enough willpower to walk from here to the Black Sea.”
“She didn’t seem to like you much, Jack. Guess that legendary bedside manner of yours must be slipping.”
“You’re still too young to understand women, son. If you were old enough to shave, you’d realize she was scared.”
Tyler lifted his night-vision goggles so he could slide Jack a look. “She’s got reason to be scared of you, doc. I’ve seen your handiwork, and I wouldn’t want you anywhere near me with a med kit.”
Jack let the comment pass, mostly because he agreed. He glanced back at Eva and saw that she was still sitting quietly. He’d cleaned and dressed the wound as well as he’d been able to in a moving vehicle. There wasn’t anything more he could do to make her comfortable, and he doubted whether she’d let him anyway.
During his years in the service he’d seen far worse injuries than hers. He hadn’t balked at doing whatever was needed to save his patient. The other men knew that nothing fazed him, yet the sight of Eva’s wound had turned his stomach. It had seemed so…wrong.
The kind of violence he was accustomed to didn’t belong in her world. She was too delicate, too feminine to be treated like the hardened soldiers he usually dealt with. She should be on a bed, not on a battlefield. Her skin had gleamed like satin in the glare from the flashlight. It had felt like satin, too. He’d smelled the blood immediately, but he’d also gotten a whiff of some kind of flowery perfume and the sweet musk of a female. Even while he’d done his best to focus on the gash the bullet had left, he couldn’t help being aware of how close his hand had been to the curve of her breast.
Oh, yeah. A very ripe, full breast that strained the confines of her bra. And noticing it was, considering the circumstances, totally unprofessional and bordering on sick. He shouldn’t even be thinking of her as a woman.
To the international diplomats, Eva Petrova would be considered the latest pawn in their ongoing game of one-upmanship. To his government, she would be viewed as a valuable asset and to the Russians she probably would be viewed as a traitor. Her fate, once the team got her out of here, would be anyone’s guess. But until then, she was in Jack’s charge. He should have found a way to keep her safe. He probably should have followed his instincts and pulled her into his arms before the shooting had started. To protect her, that is. Apart from administering first aid, that was the only reason he could justify touching her.
As much as he admired Eva’s courage, he couldn’t afford to let his personal feelings distract him from his duty. They were still a long way from safety. For everyone’s sake, the mission had to remain his first priority. He would need to be prepared to do whatever was required of him to ensure its success.
Scowling, Jack returned his attention to the storm.
“You realize that once the people at the research complex notice one of their scientists is missing, the patrol we ran into is going to figure out we must have her,” Tyler said. He had replaced his goggles and was sighting through the rear of the truck again. “And considering how loud that kid wailed, there’s a possibility they’ll know we have her baby, too.”
Jack sat back on his haunches. “Yeah. They’ll probably catch hell for letting us go.”
“Plus they’ll know what kind of vehicle we’re driving and what direction we went.”
“Not good.”
“Nope.
“Eva said we’d have twenty-four hours.”
“Better hope our lady’s right. The way this storm is shaping up, we won’t be getting an evac anytime soon.”
Chapter 3
Eva had to lean against the door of the hut to close it against the force of the wind. In spite of the snow that puffed through cracks in the stone walls and the tin roof, she sensed an immediate improvement in the temperature. She carried Katya to the low-backed wooden bench that was near the hearth, grateful for the fire the men had managed to build. Though low-ceilinged and crude, this building would provide better shelter for the night than the canvas-roofed truck. The baby had awakened fully shortly after they’d stopped moving, and she was sounding more insistent by the second. Her wails had escalated to the point where they were drowning out the noise of the storm.
Eva winced, though not because of the racket Katya was making. As far as she was concerned, nothing her child could do would ever bother her. The wince wasn’t due to her injury, either. Thanks to some kind of numbing salve that Sergeant Norton had applied, the pain from the bullet wound had subsided to a dull ache. The binding he’d wrapped around her midriff was keeping the edges of torn skin from rubbing against her clothes with each movement. Her current discomfort was from another source entirely.
She sat on the bench and shifted Katya to her lap, then positioned herself so that her back was toward the doorway. For the moment they were alone, since the men were outside gathering more firewood or exploring what they had referred to as the perimeter. Yet even without privacy, Eva wouldn’t have been able to delay any longer. She parted the front of her coat, lifted her sweater and undid her blouse. As if sensing that help was within reach, Katya’s fussing grew frantic. The moment Eva bared her nipple, the baby latched on with a vengeance.
“I’m sorry, kitten,” Eva whispered, using her forefinger to press her swollen breast away from her daughter’s nose. “I know you were hungry. I was in a hurry, too.”
Katya gave her a look of reproach and curled one tiny fist over the edge of Eva’s nursing bra. Her cheeks worked in and out as if it had been days since she’d last been fed rather than hours.
Eva sighed in relief as the pressure in her breast began to ease. They had been fleeing for their lives, shot at by Burian’s guards and were now trapped by a storm in somebody’s abandoned hut, yet all that mattered to this child was being warm and having a full stomach. Life was so simple for her. Was there anything more beautiful, more trusting, more perfectly innocent than a nursing baby?
Eva’s eyes blurred yet again. How many times had that happened tonight? The tears had been close to the surface from the moment she’d left the complex. After years of taking pride in her intellect, lately she had been deluged with emotions. She understood why. It was because of Katya and the physiological changes of being a mother. Even if she never opened another book, never worked out another equation or published another paper, she could never regret this little miracle. “You’re such a brave girl, sweetheart. We’ll get there soon.”
Unfortunately, Eva didn’t have any idea where there would be, other than possibly a place with apple trees. All she’d focused on was getting away from where she’d been. That was as far ahead as she’d been able to plan. It wasn’t like her. For the past ten years, every step of her life had been mapped out beforehand. She made lists. She stuck to schedules. She thrived on routine and predictability. Now she didn’t even know where she was.
While Katya continued to nurse with gusto, Eva looked around the room. The fire was warming the air, driving away the mustiness and the smell of disuse. This building appeared to have been abandoned far more recently than the ones in the village nearest to the complex. The glass in the windows was still intact, and there had been some oil left in the lamp that burned on the wooden table. On the opposite side of the room from the hearth there were two low platforms that had likely held mattresses. The owners had left most of their furniture, as if they had hoped to return.
Or as if they hadn’t had the chance to take more than the essentials when they’d been forced to flee.
Could the influence of the complex have extended this far? Eva hoped not. But as she’d recently discovered, she’d been ignorant of many facets of the place’s true operation. How could she have been such an idiot?
The answer was obvious. She had only herself to blame for her ignorance. She’d seen what she’d wanted to see and had rationalized away the rest. When Burian Ryazan had offered her the position on his research team, his timing couldn’t have been better. She’d been feeling adrift, and Burian had made her feel wanted, perhaps a little dazzled. She had read all of his books even before she’d enrolled in his course at the university, so the fact that her professor had remembered her had surprised and pleased her. She had accepted without hesitation.
It had been like a fantasy come true, or even better, since she wouldn’t have dared to hope for anything so perfect. A life of the mind, far from the distractions of the everyday world. Days filled with work that she loved and the mental stimulation of the most brilliant scientists in the country. The isolation of the new facility hadn’t bothered her, nor had the tight control that had been kept on everyone’s movements. She’d loved the clean spaciousness of the grounds and the sense of being part of something important, perhaps even historic, that would benefit mankind.
Yes, she truly had been a fool.
“You’re what’s perfect, kitten,” she whispered, stroking her daughter’s cheek. Katya paused and looked up sleepily. Eva lifted her to her shoulder and rubbed her back to help get rid of her air bubbles, then switched her to the other breast. Katya immediately curled her fingers into the strip of tape that held the compress in place.
Wincing, Eva reached for Katya’s hand just as the door swung open behind her.
“What did you do? The kid’s finally quiet.”
Eva recognized the voice. “All babies cry, Sergeant Norton.” She guided Katya’s hand away from the bandage. “That’s one way they communicate.”
He closed the door, stamped his feet and walked past her to the fireplace. “Reminds me of a drill sergeant I once knew,” he said. His arms were filled with the bundles that he’d taken from her on the truck. He dropped them on the floor near the hearth. “He had a good set of lungs, too.”
Eva tried to tug the edge of her coat forward, but it was wedged tight beneath Katya’s back. She pulled her sweater down to cover as much of her breast as she could.
“I’m glad the kid’s sleeping,” he went on, yanking off his gloves as he turned toward her. “That’ll give me a chance to…” His words trailed off. “Whoa,” he muttered.
“She isn’t sleeping,” Eva said, although she was stating the obvious. Sergeant Norton was standing directly in front of her, so he could clearly see what Katya was doing.
He cleared his throat, then focused on her side as he stuffed his gloves into his coat pockets. “I wanted to check your bandage,” he said, drawing off his hat. “But I can see from here there’s no fresh blood.”
She told herself not to be embarrassed. He was only doing his job. He’d seen more skin when he’d tended to her injury on the truck, and between her sweater and Katya’s head, her breast was mostly concealed. This was a perfectly natural function, and she wasn’t about to cut short her child’s feeding because of some misplaced modesty. “I will let you know when we’re done, Sergeant Norton.”
He lifted his gaze to hers. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“Yes, I realize that. It was unavoidable.”
“How’s your wound feeling? Any pain?”
“No.”
“Would you tell me if there was?”
“I don’t want to be a burden.”
“It’s not you that’s holding us up. It’s the storm.”
“It’s early in the season for this much snow, even at this elevation,” she said. “It should stop soon.”
“That would be good.”
“Then we will be able to reach the helicopter.”
“That’s the plan.”
She nodded, determined to maintain eye contact with him, although it wasn’t easy. The fire and the oil lamp were providing more illumination than the moonlight in the churchyard had, and she hadn’t been able to see much more than his silhouette in the truck, so this was the first time she was getting a good look at his face.
She hadn’t realized how handsome he was. His hair was the color of sable, touched with gold from the firelight. Though it was cut short, it was too unruly to lay flat. It curled in soft waves that made her fingers tingle with the urge to test their texture. His eyes were the indefinable, changeable color between green and brown and were framed by lashes as dark as his hair. The combination of his harsh features and his laugh lines gave him the air of a rebellious boy trapped behind the mask of a man.
Why had she thought that? There was nothing boyish about him. His shoulders were broad and square. His hips were narrow and his legs long. He stood with the same athletic grace she’d noticed when she’d first seen him, like a predator watching his prey.
It wasn’t fear that tickled through her this time. It was the instinctive, sexual awareness of a woman who was in the proximity of a very virile man.
God, no! She couldn’t possibly think about Sergeant Norton in that way. This awareness was merely a product of the circumstances, a side effect of being in danger and the adrenaline that it produced. Added to that was the intimacy of breast-feeding her child. She’d never done this in front of anyone before, let alone a man. A man whose touch she’d already felt on her body.
No. It meant nothing. She had to ignore it.
The fire crackled. The wind howled. Aside from that, the only sound in the hut was Katya’s steady suckling. Which only heightened Eva’s consciousness of their situation. She searched for something to say that would break the silence, even if it was another inane comment about the weather. “What is this place?” she asked.
“Place?”
“We couldn’t have gone far enough to reach another village.”
“From the looks of it, this was a farm. There’s another building out back that was probably used to keep animals. That’s junior’s take on it, anyway. He says it looks like they had sheep.” He wiped his forehead as if he was too hot, then shrugged off his coat. “He and Lang are storing the truck in there. They’ll be coming in soon. Duncan and Gonzo drew first watch, so they’ll let us know if we get company.”
Eva watched him as he hung his coat over the back of one of the chairs that were ranged along the table. He appeared as uncomfortable with their situation as she was. At least the other men were still outside. She guessed by the way they had scattered upon their arrival here that the task of keeping track of her had fallen to Sergeant Norton. “Do you and the others usually work as a team?” she asked.
He dragged another chair closer to the fire, turned it around and straddled the seat. He focused on the door. “That’s right. We’re from Eagle Squadron.”
“Eagle Squadron,” she repeated. “That explains the code words I was given for our rendezvous.”
“Yeah, we like to keep things simple.”
“Am I correct to assume you must be part of the Special Operations unit they call Delta Force?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Your government would want the mission kept secret. We have the same kind of elite soldiers in Russia.”
“Russian commandos aren’t in the same league as us, Dr. Petrova. Eagle Squadron’s the best there is.”
He delivered the boast as if it were fact. She felt her lips quirk before she realized that for all their sakes, she’d better hope the boast was accurate. “You appear to have worked together for some time.”
“Lang and Gonzales have been with the team more than ten years, like me. Sergeant Colbert came on board around five years ago, after our intel specialist decided to have kids.”
“Aren’t you allowed to have families?”
“Sure, she just didn’t want to go out in the field anymore.”
“She? I didn’t know women are permitted to join the Special Forces.”
“Captain Fox wasn’t officially on the team. We kind of borrowed her from Intelligence.”
“I see,” she said, although she didn’t. “What about the big blond man you call junior?”
“That’s Sergeant Matheson, our ordnance guy. The man he’s replacing decided to go freelance and start up his own security contracting company. Junior’s been with us for less than a year, but he’s already proving himself to be one of the best soldiers I’ve worked with.” He darted a glance at her. “But don’t tell him I said that. Rookies need to be kept humble.”
The trace of humor in his voice tempted her to relax, but she reminded herself not to let down her guard. “I hope this mission won’t require him to prove his expertise.”
“Don’t worry, Dr. Petrova. You and your daughter are under our protection now. We won’t let anything happen to either of you.”
He sounded sincere, yet she still suspected his real orders were to protect the disk that she’d brought. She looked at the bundles he’d dropped near the hearth and wondered if he or one of his colleagues had searched them before he’d brought them inside. They seemed intact, but that didn’t mean someone hadn’t felt them from the outside.
He followed her gaze. “You said you were careful not to raise anyone’s suspicions before you left.”
“That’s right.”
“And that it could be a day before anyone misses you.”
“Perhaps more.”
“I don’t understand that. Won’t you be expected to work?”
“I scheduled a few days in my quarters to catch up on my reading, which isn’t unusual for me. It’s unlikely anyone would have a reason to disturb me.”
“Wouldn’t they expect to see you around the complex?”
“No. I often fix my meals myself rather than go to the main cafeteria, especially when I’m immersed in a project. I was moved to a self-contained apartment after Katya’s birth so that her crying wouldn’t disturb my neighbors. The walls are well insulated, so no one would be able to hear whether or not we were inside.”
“Are there a lot of kids at the complex?”
“The facility is like a small university campus. It wasn’t designed with children in mind, although there are a few. Many of the researchers bring their spouses, but not many bring babies. They prefer to send their children to boarding schools when they’re old enough, because of the isolation.”
“What do you do with your baby when you work?”
“I bring her to my office with me. There is no organized day care, so no one will remark on her absence tomorrow.”
He got up to add a few sticks to the fire, then remained there and watched the flames. “What about her father?”
“He has his own responsibilities. He seldom has the time to see Katya.”
“So he lives at the complex?”
“Yes.”
“Is he a scientist, too?”
“Yes.” It wasn’t really a lie but only part of the truth.
“Won’t he notice you’re gone?”
“Not immediately. The research I do constitutes only one component of the overall project. My area of expertise is the theoretical side of biochemical engineering, such as mathematical modeling, so I work on a computer. That’s why I can bring Katya to my office. Her father works in the lab, which is in a separate area of the complex.”
“I meant, won’t he miss you when you’re not at work?”
“We no longer have a personal relationship. The last time I saw him was a few days ago at our regular staff meeting, but it’s not uncommon for weeks to go by without any contact between us.”
He appeared to digest that for a while. “And you didn’t want to say goodbye to him?”
“No. I already assured you that I told no one. As I said, I know what’s at stake, and it’s not only our individual safety. Were you told what’s on the disk I’m carrying?”
He poked at the fire with another stick. Flames flared from orange to yellow, highlighting the harsh planes of his face. “I heard you were developing a biological weapon. Some new kind of virus.”
She tried to read his expression. She couldn’t see any condemnation in it, yet how could she help but blame herself? “I regret more than you can imagine that my own work contributed to the Chameleon Virus program. I had believed we would unlock the secrets of prolonging human life, not destroying it. The very idea that I could have helped in the development of this…this evil is horrifying. The world has to learn the truth because only international pressure will ensure the research will be stopped.”
There was more silence. When he spoke again, his voice was thoughtful. “I understand why you made the deal with our government, Dr. Petrova, and I respect that. It took a lot of guts to admit you were wrong and try to fix it.” He tossed the stick into the fire. “But there’s one thing about your actions I don’t understand.”
“Yes?”
He brushed off his hands on his pants and turned to face her squarely. “Why did you hide the fact that you were bringing a child?”
Her pulse jumped. “I didn’t think it was relevant.”
“Now I’m just a simple soldier, and I don’t have the education of you scientists or the smarts of the diplomats you made your deal with, but it’s my guess you had to have a good reason for neglecting to mention your baby. I sure hope that reason doesn’t come back to bite us.”
Despite Sergeant Norton’s disclaimer, Eva wasn’t about to make the mistake of underestimating his intelligence. His questions were continuing to prove his perceptiveness. “I simply didn’t want to be delayed by issues of child custody,” she replied, giving another part-truth. “I couldn’t predict how your people would have reacted.”
“They’d still want your information. Once you’re in the States, they’ll get you a good lawyer.”
“I was willing to offer myself as a pawn but not my daughter. Bureaucrats and courts don’t always put the interests of the child first. I’ve seen how your justice system handles international custody cases, and I won’t risk—” Her voice broke. She cleared her throat, annoyed that she’d once again shown weakness in front of this man. She cupped her hand over Katya’s head. “She belongs with me.”
Sergeant Norton pulled his chair forward until it was even with the bench where she was sitting. He straddled the chair once more, folding his arms over the back. “I read in your file that your mother was American and your father was Russian. You went to live with him after she died.” He paused. “Is that why you’re so worried about your daughter? Because of what happened to you?”
She should have realized that he would know her background. The American government would have investigated her thoroughly before agreeing to her deal. “What else did the file tell you?”
“It said your mother was a translator at the UN, and your father was a diplomat.”
She moved her thumb over Katya’s cheek. “They had very little in common. After their marriage dissolved, my mother and I went to live with my grandmother, and my father took a position in Bolivia. He didn’t see me again until the day after my mother’s funeral. He was a complete stranger to me, yet the court allowed him to take me from the only home and family that I’d known.”
“That doesn’t sound right.”
“My father had many influential friends, including American politicians. My grandmother was just an ordinary woman and didn’t have the resources to fight him in court.”
He extended his arm to touch her knee. “I’m sorry. That must have been rough.”
She shook her head. “Don’t waste your sympathy on me. It’s Katya I’m concerned about. I didn’t want to deceive you about her, but I felt I had no choice.”
“I can see why you thought that, after what happened to you, but your situation’s different. You’ve got plenty of influential friends of your own in our government now. They wouldn’t have scuttled your deal just because of a possible custody issue with one of your colleagues…” His words trailed off. “Katya’s father’s not just an ordinary scientist, is he? If he was, you wouldn’t be so worried.”
She’d realized he was perceptive. She hadn’t anticipated to what extent. “It’s not really relevant.”
He gripped her knee and leaned closer. “I think it is, or you wouldn’t be hiding it. Dr. Petrova, who is Katya’s father?”
There was no hint of a smile around the edges of his eyes now, yet she glimpsed sympathy in the depths, a softness at odds with the determination that showed in his tightened jaw. His hold on her leg was firm, but his touch was still gentle. She wouldn’t have expected that in a man of his size. It made her remember how carefully he’d cared for her wound and how tenderly his fingertips had skimmed over her bare skin.
At the thought, the sexual awareness that she’d thought she’d suppressed sprang back full force. He was leaning close enough for her to catch the scent of his body. It was the same clean tang of soap, wool and man that had clung to his coat. It enveloped her in a warmth that had nothing to do with the fire. She wanted him to touch her again. She wanted to feel the strength of his arms around her and the warmth of his breath on her ear….
All at once, she realized that she could no longer feel the tug of Katya at her breast. She glanced down. The baby’s eyes were closed, and her jaw was slack with sleep. A drop of milk drizzled over her chin as she let Eva’s nipple slide out of her mouth.
A blush seared Eva’s skin from her cheeks to her chest. She’d wanted to use conversation to distract both Sergeant Norton and herself from this intimacy. It had worked too well. How could she have relaxed? How could she have forgotten, even for one second, that she was still sitting with her breast bared in front of a veritable stranger? She quickly shifted Katya’s limp form to her shoulder, using her bent arm to cover herself. Only then did she risk a glance at Sergeant Norton’s face.
He swallowed, then withdrew his hand and curled it over the back of his chair. His casual pose didn’t change, yet she sensed a new tautness in the way he held his body.
She knew he couldn’t have missed seeing her bare nipple. The fact hung in the silence between them. And the sexual awareness she should not—must not—feel strengthened until it was as tangible as the crackle of the flames on the hearth.
Eva lifted her chin. She wasn’t going to allow herself to be uncomfortable over this. She hadn’t been deliberately exposing herself. She certainly hadn’t been trying to entice him. Under the circumstances, that would have been absurd.
Therefore, it was also absurd for her pulse to be accelerating. And for her blush to be deepening. She was no innocent young girl, she was a thirty-year-old woman, a mother. She had nothing to blush about. Above all, she certainly shouldn’t be studying Jack’s large, long-fingered hands and thinking about how before tonight it had been almost a year since she’d felt a man’s touch.
She shouldn’t be thinking of him as Jack either. He was Sergeant Norton.
The door swung open behind her to the sound of men’s voices and the stamping of boots. Flames crackled and shot up the chimney as cold air swirled along the floor. In one swift motion, Sergeant Norton got to his feet and placed himself between her and the other men. “Hang on for a minute, Kurt,” he said. “We’re not done.”
“Come on, Jack. You said you already slapped on a Band-Aid. What more do you need to do?”
“Do I tell you how to drive?”
“All the time.”
While the men spoke, Eva laid Katya on her lap and hurried to fasten her bra and straighten her clothes, a task made more difficult because her hands were trembling. The sergeant was using his body to shield her and Katya again, only this time he wasn’t trying to protect them from bullets. He was blocking them from the view of the other soldiers.
His gallantry only made her feel worse. He was doing his best to act respectfully. She really shouldn’t be thinking about his touch on her body.
“Leave the firewood by the door, junior.”
“We’ll need more before the night’s over,” Matheson said, moving toward the fireplace. “I haven’t seen weather like this since I left Wyoming.”
Sergeant Norton shot out his arm to stop him from going farther. “I said wait.”
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