Close Quarters

by Lucy Monroe

She agreed, but managed to stop herself from saying so out loud. She took several restoring breaths before saying, “That would only lead to more temptation.”

  “It would lead to me buried as deep in you as it is possible to go.”

  “No.”

  “Tanna.”

  “No, Roman. Just, no.”

  He didn’t get mad; he just put one arm over her middle and tugged her into his body, sleeping bag and all. And once again, she fell asleep feeling safe and protected.

  They had dropped the last kidnapped boy off at his village by noon the next day. Like the others, the people of this village had offered them a meal and much appreciation. Roman graciously accepted both through Tanya’s interpretation, but he insisted on being on the road again by mid-afternoon.

  The two boys left looked at Roman and Tanya as they climbed back into the bed of the truck.

  “What happens to us?” the smallest one, Amadi, asked.

  Tanya didn’t have to repeat the question for Roman because Amadi had used English.

  “What do you want?” Roman asked.

  “I no want to go my village,” the older boy said. The hopelessness so prevalent in Mbari since the beginning abated some when he was with Roman. He was doing his best to emulate the adult male, but he was still so very sad, it broke Tanya’s heart just to look at him.

  “I no too,” the littler one affirmed.

  “Do you have family somewhere else you want to find?”

  “My sister, she marry and go to other village.” Amadi grinned. “Her husband important man, give many cows for her.”

  “How did you end up sold?” Tanya asked.

  “My mama, she die. My auntie say it from the black plague,” he said, meaning the AIDS epidemic. “My auntie no want me in her hut. She say I make her baby sick, but I no sick. My mama, she get the sweat sickness, no the black plague.”

  Tanya didn’t ask if the sister would accept the boy into her home. The least they could do was find out. “What village is your sister living in now?”

  The boy said the name of a fairly prosperous village, not far from where they were. In Zimbabwe, prosperity was a relative term, but she knew this village had its own marketplace and government office.

  “Let’s take you to your sister,” Roman said, echoing Tanya’s thoughts.

  Ben rubbed the back of his neck, forcing himself to focus on the sound feed for the interviews between the Sympa-Med director and compound workers. Drew had brought the receiver for the listening device he’d left in the dining hall, where the interviews were taking place, to Fleur’s chalet. He’d wanted Ben’s input on the overheard discussions, and this way they could both be on hand if Rachel’s role as Tanya put her into serious danger.

  All Ben could think about, though, was the fact that with Drew there, Ben wasn’t strictly needed in the hut.

  He itched to be with Fleur. He’d never been this distracted on a job, but he hated the thought of her working in the clinic with Sympa-Med personnel who could well be in on the espionage.

  Her pointing out that if she was, she had been for some time and was none the worse for it, did nothing to alleviate his desire to watch over her.

  The director’s questions took the same tack they had in his previous interviews and, despite his preoccupation, Ben found himself looking at Drew to see if the other man had noticed.

  “Is it just me, or does it sound to you like the director has figured out something hinky is going on over here and he’s trying to determine who is involved?” Drew asked with a thoughtful frown.

  Ben nodded. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

  “That could get dicey.”

  “For him, definitely.”

  “I think we need one of your Marine privates assigned to watch over him.”

  “They aren’t my Marines.”

  “They think they’re here to protect a State Department bureaucrat, and that would be you.”

  “I told them both to take the day off because I wasn’t leaving the compound. They think I’m working on my report here because of the thing I’ve got going with Fleur.” He’d also asked them to keep his location private, ostensibly to keep gossip down. If it looked as if someone was here with Rachel, chances were high no one would approach her for the download.

  “Does Fleur know she’s your cover?”

  “Yes, but she also knows she’s a hell of a lot more than that.” Fleur was rapidly becoming his everything.

  “Good for you. Congratulations,” Drew said, sounding sincere.

  Ben found himself giving a rare genuine smile. “Thanks. She’s pretty wonderful.”

  “I’ve got nothing but respect for her, that’s the truth,” Drew said.

  It didn’t surprise Ben. He’d gotten to know the pseudo-soldier pretty well since he’d been part of Ben’s active protection detail from the beginning. Drew wasn’t a career soldier, he was a career patriot, and Ben admired the attitude as much as he identified with it.

  But Drew was also someone who believed in giving his all to making the world a better place. He admired all the Sympa-Med employees. Except whoever was involved with the espionage, Ben was sure.

  His thoughts returned to Fleur. “She’s strong and so beautiful.”

  “That she is,” Drew said, giving Ben a wink.

  The other man’s blatant admiration had annoyed Ben at one time, but now he just found it amusing because Drew so clearly had no intention of acting on it.

  “I’m going to check on her on my way back from asking the Marines to hang out around the dining hall until the director is done with his interviews for the day.”

  “How are you going to explain it to them?” Drew asked.

  “I’m going to tell them I overheard something that has me concerned.”

  “Nice misdirection without lying.”

  “I do try.”

  “I bet you do. Not many men could give me a run for my money, but I have a feeling you’re one.”

  “I can guarantee it.” Ben had honed his skills at manipulation and covert work at an agency that required damn near perfection from its operatives.

  He was careful to keep his trip from Fleur’s to his quarters covert. When he got there, the Marine privates were playing a game of gin rummy and only too happy to be given an assignment. They moved their game to the dining hall and Ben walked openly from his quarters to the medical hut. Fleur was between patients, so he followed her back to her office for a moment of alone time.

  He felt that it had been days rather than hours since he’d seen her last. This was love as others had described it, but Ben had never experienced the heady emotion himself. It was distracting, but he enjoyed it. Quite a bit actually.

  “Anything suspicious?” he asked as he closed the door behind him.

  She shook her head with a smile. “Are you always going to be this protective?”

  “Yes.”

  “I think I like it.”

  That was really good, because he didn’t think he could change. “So, nothing out of the ordinary?”

  “No. Several people have asked after Tanya’s health, including Mabu and two members of his security force, but that’s to be expected. She’s well liked in the compound. The interns miss her a great deal. I’m not as understanding of training mistakes.” Fleur’s beautiful full lips twisted in a self-deprecating grimace.

  “Rough morning?”

  “I miss Tanya.”

  “I bet.”

  “Have you heard from the soldiers that took her?”

  Ben tugged Fleur into his arms. “They didn’t kidnap her, sweetheart. They helped her get out of the compound before she got killed.”

  “I know.” Fleur’s generous lower lip protruded adorably.

  He touched it with his forefinger. “Is that a pout?”

  Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped slack in shock. “I was pouting.”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t do that.”

  “You must have l
earned from Johari.”

  “Tanya had to teach her. Tanya said all children should have that expression in their arsenal.”

  He could imagine that when Johari had come to live with Fleur, she had reacted as a child who had survived trauma, not as one confident of a parent’s protection and love. “Tanya helped Johari remember how to be a kid again.”

  “Yes, though my daughter is not a baby goat.”

  He just grinned, taking Fleur’s criticism in stride. “She’s a pistol. Do you think she will like America?”

  “She’s very excited at the prospect of going and building a new life with you.” At Fleur’s insistence, they had spoken to Johari about the upcoming move, and having Rachel in their home and why she was there. Fleur said her daughter had survived war, and she deserved to know of the danger, regardless of how intent Ben and the others were on minimizing it. “My daughter will adjust faster than I will, I fear.”

  “I don’t know, I have plans to help you adjust.” He ran his hands down her back and leaned forward to take her lips in a gentle kiss.

  When they separated, she smiled. “I like your plans, I think.”

  “Good.”

  “I need to get back to work. The interns left without supervision will probably end up blowing up the clinic.”

  He laughed. “Bad as all that, hmmm?”

  “Yes. And that odious Ibeamaka has threatened to return today.”

  “I’ll listen for his jeep. When he arrives, I’ll make sure you don’t have to be alone with him.”

  “I can handle the unctuous toad.”

  “No doubt, but I’ll still be here.”

  “Thank you.”

  He just shook his head. As if she needed to thank him for doing what came naturally. “We think the director has suspicions about the situation over here. His interviews are straying from the typical, experiential surveys into waters that might get hot for him.”

  Fleur’s expression became concerned in a heartbeat. “Will he be all right?”

  “I’ve got my Marine guard watching over him.”

  “Oh, good.” She frowned. “He’s a good man who has dedicated his life to making a difference to indigent people. He should not be hurt for trying to protect Sympa-Med.”

  “You think that’s what he’s doing?”

  “What else?”

  “Indeed. It might be a good idea to try to find out what raised his suspicions.”

  “Maybe I can talk to him, implying I have my own.”

  “Good idea. If you could do it in the dining hall, we can listen in and I’ll know the privates will be watching over you.”

  “You really are protective.”

  “Yes.”

  “I am not used to it.”

  “But you like it,” he reminded her.

  She smiled with feminine indulgence. “I do.”

  He didn’t even mind the indulgent attitude. He was so gone on this woman.

  Roman was surprised by the difference between this village and the others they had visited in the last two days. The signs of moderate prosperity could be seen from the bigger herds of cattle in the fields, to the newer-looking materials used on the huts.

  There also wasn’t as much interest in the battered truck’s arrival. They stopped in front of a small marketplace and Tanya went to get out, but Roman shook his head. With a marketplace came visitors, but the venue was too small for them to blend in. Especially Tanya. He didn’t want her exposed more than was necessary here.

  “I was going to ask for directions to Amadi’s sister’s house,” she said.

  “Amadi and I will do it. I want you to stay back here.” He handed her his bandana. “Cover your hair with this.”

  Her face was still streaked with the black greasepaint they used for night camouflage. With the bandana, it would take a family member to recognize the medical relief worker known in the Sympa-Med compound.

  She stared at the bandana as if it was a snake, poised to strike.

  “I remember too,” he gritted out. “Apparently my memories are better ones.”

  She shook her head.

  “Would you prefer I get Kadin’s?” he asked, his own mood going south.

  That had her meeting his gaze instead of staring at the bandana. “You would do that?”

  “Yes.” He wouldn’t like it. Letting Kadin provide for her didn’t sit right with Roman, but if that was what she wanted, he’d do it.

  “I never let anyone do that to me before.”

  He nodded. He’d figured that.

  “Was it just part of the…” She let her voice trail off.

  But it didn’t matter. He knew what she meant. “No.”

  “Give it to me.” She put her hand out.

  He handed her the bandana and watched while she tied it around her head, tucking all the loose strands of her hair under the fabric.

  He did not know why, but he felt that he’d won a powerful battle with her distrust. Maybe he didn’t deserve her faith in him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hoping for it.

  A vegetable seller at the market gave him directions to Amadi’s sister. Her new family lived on the outskirts of the village, so they went back to the truck and drove the boy to his sister’s home.

  To say she was thrilled to see her younger sibling was an understatement. She grabbed the small boy to her and hugged him fiercely, talking a mile a minute to him in Shona.

  “She’s telling him she went to the village to get him after learning of their mother’s death. Their aunt told her that he had been sent to work on one of the large farms, but wouldn’t tell her where. She was scared to death he’d been sold as a slave.” Tanya smiled with satisfaction. “She’s furious that that is exactly what happened. Her husband has already offered to send Amadi to one of the mission schools and accept him into their home as another son.”

  “That’s pretty generous.”

  “That little boy deserves it.”

  Both the boy and his sister were grinning ear-to-ear as she offered to share the evening meal with them in halting English.

  “I am sorry, but we must be on our way,” Roman said, his hand settling on the shoulder of the remaining boy.

  The quiet child looked up at him with uncertainty. Roman knew Mbari wanted to know what would happen to him, but Roman still didn’t have an answer. At least not one that didn’t seem crazy-nuts.

  The boy stepped forward. “My name is Mbari. Is your husband, or anyone else in the village looking for a boy to work?”

  The woman’s face creased with sadness as she immediately realized this boy had no family to return to, but she shook her head. “Maybe these men can take you to the city where work is more plentiful.”

  This village might be doing better than others, but in a country where the majority of the adult male population was out of work, a boy had little chance of finding employment.

  Mbari’s shoulders drooped, but he nodded politely. “I will ask.”

  Roman wasn’t about to leave a child alone in a city to fend for himself, but he didn’t say that. He just settled his hand back on the boy’s shoulder and stepped closer to him.

  Tanya gave him a warm look, and it was so different from the way she’d been looking at him since finding out about the information on her security chip, he almost staggered at the impact of it.

  “Let’s go,” he said to Mbari.

  When they got back outside to the truck and Kadin and Neil, who had stayed with it, his fellow Atrati operatives gave identical looks of compassion to the single boy left.

  Kadin stepped forward. “You want to ride up front with us?” he asked Mbari.

  The boy looked up at Roman. “You go too?”

  Ah, shit. The future was starting to look inevitable. “I’ll drive. Kadin, you and Neil ride in the back.”

  Both men nodded, but Tanya frowned. “You shouldn’t be driving with your arm.”

  “Ah, does your boo-boo hurt?” Neil mocked before Roman could answer.

&nbs
p; Roman ignored him and said to Tanya, “It’s not a problem. I can barely tell it’s there now.”

  Which wasn’t exactly true, but the last time he’d let such a superficial wound slow him down, he’d had training wheels on his bike.

  “But I can ride in back and someone else can drive,” she tried again.

  He just shook his head and went to climb into the truck. He stopped with the driver’s door open. “You coming?” he asked Mbari.

  The boy double-timed it to the cab and climbed up, taking the middle seat with a grin that Roman knew was going to be his downfall. No way could he stand the idea of that glow of happiness turning into fear and disappointment.

  “You ever wanted to go to America, kid?” he asked as he started the truck’s engine.

  When he didn’t receive an answer, he turned his head to look down at the child. Mbari was staring at Roman as if terrified to hope. And that cinched it. Roman let his future settle over him.

  This was going to change things, a lot of things, but the boy needed family and Roman had a boatload to share with him. “My baba is going to eat you up with a spoon.”

  “She a cannibal?” the boy asked with undisguised horror.

  Roman didn’t laugh. He just ruffled Mbari’s closely shorn curls, or rather rubbed his palm over them since ruffling didn’t really happen with that tight nap. “Nope. It’s an American saying. It means she’s going to like you.”

  “Who is your baba?”

  “My grandmother.”

  “She still lives?” the boy asked in disbelief. In a country where the average life expectancy was forty-two years, his reaction wasn’t surprising.

  “You bet. And she’s gotten real loud about us giving her some great-grandkids.”

  Mbari considered this for several moments and then asked with a trepidatious hope that squeezed Roman’s heart, “You want to make Mbari your child?”

  “I think it was meant to be, kid, but if you want something else, you just say. I’ll make sure you find a family here if you’d rather stay in Zimbabwe.”

  “I do not want to be a slave.” The terror the boy experienced at the thought was written all over him.

  “We agree on that, kiddo.”

  The child looked sideways at Tanya. “You my mother then?”