Whats wrong? he murmured.
She resorted to mumbling, Youre making me strip in front of you and you have to ask that?
Something warm and soft dropped around her shoulders, making her lurch. It smelled of sandalwood and spice. His coat. Sometimes I forget what an innocent you are. Wear this until I check out the rest of your clothes.
The driving need shed experienced at the sight of his naked body subsided, and she all but cried in her relief as she tossed her thong and bra over her shoulder to him. An innocent? Was she really, in spite of her best efforts to get people to let her grow upand then it hit her. Other people werent preventing her from growing up. She was preventing herself from doing it. Chagrin roared through her. A real man was within arms length, naked or close to it, and she owed him sex. All she had to do was reach out and take it. And yet...
And yet. Fear held her back.
Alex worked in silence, turning each piece of clothing inside out, running his fingers carefully over each seam, examining tags and pockets and anywhere else a burr might be attached.
How big would a tracking device be? she asked curiously without turning around to see if he was still starkers.
Depends on how big a battery it has and how long the person who plants it wants it to work. A short-term device, say, for a single day, could be the size of a pinhead. Something a little longer term, like Id expect to get used on us, might be the size of a grain of rice.
Long grain or short grain?
He chuckled briefly. Okay. Your lingerie is clean. A big, tanned hand emerged over her right shoulder, the lacy bits dangling from his fingertips. She snatched them from his hand and maneuvered into them awkwardly underneath his coat. Who would have guessed two tiny scraps of fabric could make her feel so much better?
Her shirt took longer, and her jeans longer still, to check. But eventually he passed them over her shoulder, and she was safely clothed once more. But no sooner had she pulled the shirt back over her head than Dawn started to fuss.
Shes hungry again, Alex announced.
Katie had been around a lot of little kids in her day, but not many infants. She would take his word for it. She scooped up the baby and the IV bag that he held out to her and moved over by the fire with her back to him to coax the baby to drink a little more.
It took giving Dawn her breast again to get the infant to swallow, and Katie pinched her own nipple, mortified at how turned on doing it made her, before Dawn could find it and latch on. The sensation of the tiny mouth sucking vigorously at her breast was overwhelming and confusing. It felt good, but not in a sexual way.
It also felt very wrong. Like she was co-opting a moment that belonged to someone else. That poor dead girl should be doing this. Although, given how much shed hated Dawn, Katie doubted the mother would have fed the child. More likely, shed have drowned the baby or suffocated her. Katie clutched Dawn more tightly and fell in love a little.
I need my coat back, Alex said apologetically. I have to check it.
She passed him the garment, and he stepped close to drape her coat over her shoulders. As he did so, he paused to watch the baby suckling at her breast and swallowing the IV fluid Katie was sneaking into the babys mouth.
Beautiful sight, he said in a hushed voice.
She looked up at him in surprise. That was the last thing shed expected to hear from the dark, sexy bachelor.
He reached down to cup the babys tiny head in his hand for a moment. Such a rotten start in life, baby Dawn. Im so sorry I couldnt save your mother.
You did your best. And if that girl had lived, I expect she would have killed Dawn as soon as they left us. Maybe this is how it was supposed to work outthat the baby lived and the mother did not. Goodness knows, that girl would have had some tall explaining to do if and when she married. Not only would she not have been a virgin, but her body would have shown the signs of having borne a child. She would have been beaten to death if she was lucky. Perhaps a quick end on that mountain was the merciful way for her to go.
God, the barbarism of it, Alex muttered.
If we take Dawn to America, shell grow up in a very different world.
Theres no if about it. Not with that blond hair of hers. We have to take her with us. Shed be a pariah at best in this society and horribly abused at worstassuming she were allowed to live at all.
Katie shuddered and cuddled the infant a little closer. She was starting to feel downright maternal toward the small bundle of squirming warmth.
Alex went back to the business of inspecting his coat and then all the gear in his emergency pack, which he spread out over the floor of the cave. She was surprised to recognize an array of survival gear in among the medical suppliesenergy bars, matches, Cyalume sticks, compass, water purification tablets.
How is it that you had a whole backpack of medical and survival supplies ready and waiting to go last night? she asked.
He shrugged. Call it a hunch. Those rebel forces kept showing up at exactly our location and attacking, and it made me suspicious.
Of?
Do you always ask so many questions? he demanded.
When people are being cryptic with me, absolutely, she declared.
He sighed. I was suspicious of somebody not being happy were out here.
Are we in direct danger? And dont dodge the question. I grew up listening to cops and soldiers. I know exactly what kind of danger were in if someone wants us dead.
He shrugged. I wont ever bullshit you, Katie. That I promise. I may refuse to answer a question, but I wont lie. Deal?
Deal.
I think someone not only knows were out here, but wants us dead. Which makes me question Doctors Unlimited. They are supposedly the only people who know were here. Someone within D.U. isnt who they claim to be.
Theres a mole? Why would anyone spy on a humanitarian aid group?
That is the question, is it not?
She thought hard. Placing and maintaining a full-blown mole had to be a difficult and expensive proposition for a spy agency. Why go to all that trouble to watch a bunch of doctors and nurses.... Unless they were not just doctors and nurses? She looked up at Alex and asked soberly, What do you think D.U. does besides render medical aid?
I dont know.
If you had to guess?
He shrugged. Thats obvious, isnt it? They insert people right in the middle of the hottest conflicts on the planet with covers that make them more or less immune to attack or arrest.
Spies? she breathed. For whom?
You tell me.
She stared at him, shocked. I dont know anything! I didnt even work for D.U. until they needed a Zaghastani translator for you.
Alex was studying her far too closely again. Like he was trying to look inside her soul and see what truth she was hiding from him.
Maybe were just being paranoid, she said a little desperately. Maybe its coincidence that the fighting has flared up in the places weve been.
He snorted. I can calculate odds out to nine figures in my head in under a minute. And you dont want to know how many zeros line up after the probability of it being random chance.
She put her coat down on the rough bed and tucked Dawn back into her nest, now surrounded by hot rocks to keep her warm, and turned to Alex in the dancing firelight. Do you trust D.U. enough to call and ask for transport out of here?
He snorted. I can calculate odds out to nine figures in my head in under a minute. And you dont want to know how many zeros line up after the probability of it being random chance.
She put her coat down on the rough bed and tucked Dawn back into her nest, now surrounded by hot rocks to keep her warm, and turned to Alex in the dancing firelight. Do you trust D.U. enough to call and ask for transport out of here?
A derisive snort was his only answer. Frankly, she shared the sentiment. If someone in the organization had set them up to be killed, she didnt want to talk to D.U., either. She asked, What do we do now? Interesting that she had complete faith in him to have an alternative plan. No doubt about it, he was one of the smartest people shed ever met.
Were going to get some rest and wait for dark. A look of deep reluctance crossed his face. Theres a place I know...not too far from here... I was really hoping not to have to go there. Grim determination replaced the reluctance. Can you hike twenty miles or so over rough terrain if we break it up into a couple of days of travel?
Depends on the terrain, but I guess so.