Her Baby's Bodyguard (8 page)

“Sure.” He brushed a strand of stray hair off Eva’s cheek with his fingertips. For a moment his thumb lingered at the corner of her mouth before he tucked her hair under the edge of her hat.

The caress caught her off guard. He was focusing on her lips.

And just like that, her body tingled with feelings that weren’t remotely maternal. He was looking at her as if he wanted to kiss her. As if he cared. As if there weren’t a truck full of armed men waiting outside.

No.
He was a soldier, doing his duty. She was merely part of the mission to him, regardless of how good his touch felt. Or how much she wanted to lean into it. She tipped her head away. “We’re ready to go, Sergeant Norton.”

“Right.” He dropped his hand. Without another word, he extinguished the lamp, picked up his pack and led her outside.

By the time dawn broke, the wind had died, leaving the air sharp but no longer biting. Daylight revealed slopes that bore a rugged mix of gray-black, windswept rock and crumbled stones. Apart from sharp-edged drifts where the road wound through treed valleys, most of the snow from the previous night’s storm had blown clear. Puddles were already beginning to form in the ruts. So far, the team hadn’t encountered any traffic, but that wouldn’t last much longer. Ideally, they would have traveled in the dark so there would have been less chance of encountering other vehicles or having someone witness—and remember—the direction they took. Moving by daylight was always risky, yet that sheep farm had been too close to the complex so remaining there until nightfall would have been riskier.

Jack braced his boots against the floor to steady himself as the truck rocked around another curve. The engine sputtered. Maybe to a trained ear it would sound better after Kurt’s tinkering, but it still seemed to Jack as if it would rattle apart at any minute. Considering the condition of the road and the vehicle, it wouldn’t be wise to push for more speed.

But going slow was the last thing Jack wanted. The kid was no longer the limp weight she’d been when he’d strapped her on. He could feel her starting to stir against his chest. He sure hoped that didn’t mean she was about to launch into one of her crying fests.

He leaned forward and twisted his head so he could see Eva’s face. She was propped against his shoulder, her eyes still closed. Though she’d tried to fight it, she’d gone back to sleep shortly after they had started out. It was just as well that she’d let him carry the baby. The night had obviously taken its toll on her. Rather than wake her up to tend to her daughter, he opened his coat enough so that he could slip his hand inside the way he’d seen her do and placed his fingers over the curve of the baby’s back.

The kid went still. Encouraged, Jack gave her a few pats for good measure.

“Too bad Gonzo’s up front.”

Jack looked up to find Tyler watching him. “What?”

“I think he’d consider the fifty bucks you cheated him out of worth it if he could see this.”

“What are you talking about? I won fair and square. We were ready before Kurt was.”

“That’s because you’re carrying the kid yourself.”

“That wasn’t cheating.”

“What would you call it?”

“Expedience,” Jack said, using Eva’s word.

“Hey, Duncan,” Tyler said. “Doesn’t Jack look cozy there?”

Duncan nodded. “Uh-huh. Like a regular Father Goose.”

Jack snatched his hand away from Katya. As soon as he did, though, she started to whimper. He patted her back again, and she quieted. “Come on, guys. I’m just doing what I have to. You’ve heard how loud this kid can get.”

“He must have played with dolls when he was a boy,” Tyler said, returning his attention to the road behind them. “What do you think?”

Duncan nodded. “Dolls are a well-known conditioning tool, used by females for centuries to indoctrinate the next generation of mothers.”

“You guys in Intelligence have way too much time on your hands if that’s the kind of information you come up with,” Jack muttered.

“That’s how my sister got started with her basic parent training,” Duncan continued. “She had this baby doll she hauled around everywhere with her.”

“I heard Jack didn’t really want to be a medic, Dunk. His first choice was being a nurse.”

“That explains it. Hey, Jack. Was it a nurse doll you played with?”

Jack heaved a sigh as the guys got going. He wouldn’t hear the end of it now. He needed a diversion. “Junior’s still playing with dolls, except they’re the blow-up kind. They’re the only dates he can get.”

Duncan raised one eyebrow. “He does have a way with things that blow up.”

“Something’s glinting. Off to the northeast.”

At Tyler’s warning, Duncan sobered quickly. “Air or ground?”

“Air. The sun’s behind it, so I can’t make it out yet.”

“The chopper should be coming in from the west. That’s not one of ours.”

Duncan tapped a few keys on his computer. “Base hasn’t picked up any alarms from the complex. No chatter about a missing scientist or talk about pursuit.”

Jack firmed his grip on the baby. “Tell Lang to floor it.”

“We don’t want to attract unnecessary attention if it’s just a routine flight.”

“That Ryazan guy is supposed to be a genius. All those scientists are, including Eva.”

“That’s right.”

“So when he does find out that she’s gone, he’ll know she had help.”

“He’s right, Duncan,” Tyler said. “Because of that patrol we ran into, Ryazan will know what we’re driving, too.”

“And since he’s a genius,” Jack continued, “what do you want to bet that he’s smart enough to figure out we’re monitoring their communications?”

It didn’t take them long to grasp the situation. “Aw, hell,” Duncan muttered. “They could have been maintaining radio silence like us.” He stretched his arm and rapped on the window to the cab, signaling Kurt to go faster.

Jack slid his free arm around Eva and anchored her to his side as the truck picked up speed.

Either the increased jouncing of the truck or the shift in position woke her. She lifted her head and twisted to look at him. Though her eyelids were heavy and puffy, her eyes sparked with anxiety, just like the last time she’d awakened.

“It’s okay, ma’am,” Jack said. “We’re almost there.”

She brought her hand to her chest. Panic flared on her face. “Katya!”

“She’s fine. I’ve got her, remember?”

She blinked and then thrust her hand into his coat. Her fingers brushed his as she groped for the baby. “She’s all right?”

“Fine,” he repeated. “I think she’s waking up.”

“Yes, she would be getting hungry soon.”

He put his hand over hers. “Sorry, ma’am. This wouldn’t be the best time…”

“I can see it now,” Tyler said. “It’s a chopper all right, but it’s too small to be ours.”

Over the noise of the truck, Jack heard the throb of the helicopter’s engine. It wouldn’t need to follow the twists of the road, so there was little hope of outrunning it.

“What’s happening?” Eva asked.

“You might want to hang on to the strap again, ma’am.” He squeezed her fingers and withdrew their hands from his coat. It was a good thing she had insisted on having the baby restrained in the carrier. Neither of them would be able to hold on to her adequately. “I have a feeling things are going to get bumpy.”

“They’re coming up fast,” Tyler warned.

Eva fell against Jack’s shoulder as the truck took a bend on two wheels. The helicopter was close enough for Jack to see it through the gap in the canvas. It was skimming the ridge above the road, sun glinting from its bulbous windshield and royal blue fuselage.

“Doesn’t look like army issue to me,” Duncan said. “Not unless the Russians are into painting their aircraft pretty colors.”

“Oh, no,” Eva cried. “It must be Burian’s men. The complex’s helicopter is that color of blue.”

“Are you sure, ma’am?” Tyler asked.

“Yes! So are all their vehicles. Burian likes to be noticed. It feeds his ego.”

Tyler sat back so he could prop his elbow on his bent knee and took aim. Firing on Russian troops, on Russian soil, would raise the profile of the mission past any chance of deniability. It could trigger an international crisis. Defending themselves against Burian Ryazan’s private army was another matter entirely.

Light flashed from a point midway between the chopper’s landing skids. The road behind erupted in plumes of slush and muddy dirt. Tyler returned fire, but the helicopter lifted out of range. The baby startled and began to wail.

“Eva, get behind me and stay down!” Jack ordered.

Instead of obeying him, she threw herself across his chest.

She was shielding the child, he realized. Damn, she was some woman. He wrapped his arm around her back and rolled over to reverse their positions. Once again, he ended up on his hands and knees on top of her. “Looks like we can forget about stealth, Duncan,” he shouted over Katya’s cries. He twisted his head to keep an eye on their pursuers. “You want to ask for a little help here?”

“I’m already on it, Jack.” Duncan activated his transmitter and reported their situation in a few terse sentences.

“He’s coming in for another run,” Tyler warned, readying a pair of grenades.

An explosion rocked the truck. Eva screamed and clutched Jack’s arms as slush and rock chips pelted the canvas. Tyler’s second grenade exploded before it hit the road, putting out a shock wave that popped Jack’s ears. “Dammit, junior, we’ve got a baby here,” he yelled. “That’s too risky.”

“You got a better idea, Jack?”

The helicopter veered aside, then roared overhead. Jack gathered Eva closer, feeling the baby kicking between them, and braced himself. The canvas roof of the truck wouldn’t slow bullets the way the metal sides would. Depending on the ammunition the complex equipped their guards with, his body might not be enough protection for Eva and her child, but it was the best he could do.

Yet the pain he’d anticipated didn’t come. The helicopter went past the truck’s unprotected roof and fired at the road in front of them.

“We’re on our own, guys,” Duncan said, pulling off his headphones. “They’re sticking to the timetable. No evac until tonight.”

Jack lifted his head to stare at him. “Say again?”

“You know the drill, Jack. They’ve got no choice. We’re in too deep to risk a daylight flight. If they were identified they would compromise the operation.”

Jack swallowed the rest of what he wanted to say. Duncan was right. Every man on the team accepted the risks when they went out. More often than not, Eagle Squadron did end up on their own. He swore and looked at Tyler. “Hey, junior. What’s the chances of you bringing down that chopper without frying us in the meantime?”

“I could bring them down with a rock if they got close enough, but they’re keeping their distance. It looks as if they’re not even trying to hit us.”

“They’re not,” Jack said. “They’re only trying to stop us.”

“Why?”

Jack looked from one man to the other. “They know we have Eva and Ryazan’s baby in this truck,” he said. “He wants them back alive.”

Eva dug her fingers into his arms. “It’s Katya he wants, not me.”

Jack focused on Eva. Her hat had come off. Her hair fanned around her head in a halo of platinum. It was an irrelevant detail. He didn’t know why he noticed it. Other than it looked all wrong against the bark and rust flecks of the truck bed. It was as pale as her baby’s. It was as soft as a whisper where it flowed over his wrists.

Her expression wasn’t soft, though. It was as fierce as a warrior’s. She lifted her head from the floor to bring her face closer to his and spoke through her clenched teeth. “You can’t let him take her. Whatever happens to me, promise you won’t let Burian take my baby.”

Jack didn’t like to make promises. In fact, he’d been careful never to promise a woman anything. Yet there was no way in hell he was going to let Burian Ryazan get his hands on either Eva or her child.

But that’s because protecting her was his mission. His duty. That was all.

He nodded once, then he peeled her fingers off his arms and sat back on his heels. “I have an idea. The way I see it—” His words were drowned out by a renewed burst of crying from Katya. He put his palm over her back and jiggled her a few times before he could speak again. “Ryazan’s men are going to keep following this truck until we stop or run out of gas, right guys?”

“Or until they get ground reinforcements,” Duncan said.

“Okay. Let them.”

Eva grabbed his shoulder. “What do you mean? Surely you don’t plan to abandon us.”

He clasped her hand and tugged her toward the tailgate. “It’s the other way around, Eva. We’re going to be the ones doing the leaving.”

Chapter 5

E
va crouched behind a boulder and fought to catch her breath. She could see nothing through the cloud of smoke and dirt that hung over the road, but she could hear the growl of the truck’s engine as it accelerated away from her and the whining throb of the helicopter. There were three more explosions in quick succession. She slapped her hands over her ears, pressing closer to the boulder while more debris blew past.

Sergeant Norton had told her the grenades that Matheson was throwing would provide both a diversion and a smoke screen. So far, it was working as the men had planned. No one appeared to have noticed her leap from the truck. Cautiously, she uncovered her ears. It sounded as if the helicopter was farther away. She knew she shouldn’t move until there was no risk of Burian’s men seeing her.

But dear God, she couldn’t hear Katya.

The sergeant should have been right behind her. Had she misjudged him? It had been his idea to use the truck as a decoy. He’d sounded so sure this would work. The other men had approved of the strategy, too, even though it had seemed remarkably simple. Without her and Katya to worry about, they were confident they would be able to neutralize the helicopter, as they put it. In the meantime, while Burian’s men chased the truck in one direction, Sergeant Norton would escape with Eva and her daughter in the other.

What if he hadn’t jumped in time? What if he’d injured himself when he’d landed? What if he’d fallen on Katya?