Comeback

by Doranna Durgin

  "No," Cole said, with surprising clarity. He twisted back long enough for a quick look…an apologetic look. "Those things make me queasy. Best-case scenario, I'm losing it while you're at work. It's halfway likely to happen anyway, the way I feel."

  Selena closed her eyes, just briefly. A deep breath's worth of time. "Okay," she said. "Later. And meanwhile we've got other…choices."

  "We could wait for the doctor," Aymal suggested, from the safety of the cave opening, looking as gaunt and bruised by the last days as Cole.

  "There's a doctor? He's coming?"

  Aymal looked away. "At some point. He might."

  Cole laughed, short and dark and muffled by the rock beneath his pallet. "Just think of us as a Keystone Cops spin-off," he said. "Really."

  Didn't that just figure. "Ohh-kay. No doctor." Just choices. It had to be cleaned, no doubt about that. And then…"So we can either stick a drain in it and keep things flowing, or open it up and cauterize it."

  "Ouch," Cole muttered.

  Dobry moved into the cave, squinting over her shoulder. "Too late for cauterizing. You'll just trap some of that infection inside." And then he leaned closer to her. "What we should be talking about is where to go from here—and then we should do it. Fast. We didn't exactly get here without making waves."

  Selena's voice was sharper than she intended. "Those Kemenis are after me, not Cole." All because she'd been seen with one of Arachne's subjects, dammit. "We have no reason to believe they even know about him."

  "They will. They probably do. If you wanted time to play nurse, then we needed to get here without dumping two bleeding thugs off at the curb, stealing their car, and letting it get blown up just outside our objective."

  Selena couldn't decipher the particular noise Cole made, but his low voice was clear enough. "Oh, yeah," he said. "That's my girl."

  "Don't think I won't swat you," she warned him. And to Dobry, "Get this straight. We're hidden. We're as safe as we'll be until we get out of this country. We've got Dr. Aymal and we've got a hard copy of his information. There's nothing to be gained by being hasty. If we can find that doctor, we may well decide the best option is to wait out the scavengers—a week, two weeks…it can be done." Though privately, she thought she'd find a working landline phone and call on Allori. He was the one she knew; he was the one she trusted.

  Dobry held up both hands in surrender. "There's certainly no reason to start doing things my way now." But then he nodded at Cole, curled around to expose his wound, and his face held more understanding than she'd expected. "I can do this if you'd like."

  Cole startled them both, and his voice was, for a short-lived moment, strong again. "That's not gonna happen." He didn't open his eyes as he shook his head, a slight movement that looked as though it nonetheless took his remaining effort. "No offense, Dobry. But we both know this is coming down to the short hairs, and I'm…" He stopped to gather another breath, and Selena doubted very much he knew he wore that dry little smile, one she could recognize even from this barely visible angle but not one she'd ever seen with such meaning. "I need someone I can trust." Another pause, but this one more thoughtful. "Also, I'm feeling inclined to kiss the hell out of whoever gets me through this. I think we'd both rather avoid that."

  "That would be my choice," Dobry said, his voice as dry as Cole's smile.

  Selena looked up at him, her hands busy pulling out surgical scrub, gauze, scissors. "I won't be long. And keep Aymal out of the light, will you?"

  "I'm watching for intruders," Aymal protested, giving away at least some understanding of English.

  Cole said, breathy and faint, "He doesn't have my gun, does he? Make sure he doesn't have my gun. Seriously."

  Dobry shrugged, as baffled as Selena. "Will do."

  And Aymal, sulking, said, "It's in his bag."

  "Promi—" Cole said, and broke off with a hiss as Selena swiped his reddened skin with antiseptic-soaked gauze. "I'm sorry," she whispered. But she didn't stop.

  SHE WORKED AS FAST as she could, while Cole shuddered and stiffened and sometimes forgot to breathe.

  Sometimes, so did Selena.

  The cleaning was bad enough—scrubbing out the obvious dirt of the wound and then going deeper. Then the trimming, doing away with curling, tightening edges of dead skin and flesh. Cole's back twitched involuntarily. He swallowed convulsively so many times that Selena understood why he'd refused the painkillers, how close he was to that edge. And then came the drain, a piece of gauze soaked in Betadine and threaded through the wound with a pair of hemostats.

  By then his breath came short and panting, his control ragged. "I'm sorry," she whispered again, taping a loose bandage over the area, and he gave the slightest of nods, some whisper of reassurance she didn't catch. His hands shook on the bottled water she handed him along with half a pain pill and the antibiotic. She put her fingers over his to steady it and, when water escaped to run down his chin, wiped it off with her thumb.

  She glanced at the front of the cave, glad for the jut of rock that hid the other men from direct line of sight. Then she shoved aside the first-aid kit and stole time Dobry would have resented. She eased down behind Cole, spooning against his shoulders, careful to avoid contact with his lower side even as she curled her hips and legs around his butt. She touched her lips to the back of his neck and left them there, let the contact soak into them both…an exchange of warmth and touch and skin as she automatically regulated her body to his, smoothing out the ragged, irregular edge to his breathing. Soothing him.

  Spooning. Could there be anything more out of place than this, here in this cave under these circumstances? Probably not. But she took it with greed, and she waited until the faint tremors playing along his spine relaxed, until the tension along his arms and whitened knuckles eased.

  And that's all they had. Stolen moments over. She kissed his neck again, the unnaturally dark strands of his hair tickling her nose, and as she pulled his filthy abaya up like a blanket, she told him, "Rest a few moments. You've got time."

  Maybe, maybe not. Time enough, at least, to heat up a meal for him, and one for herself and Dobry. Then she'd get more meds into his system, and then…

  Then they'd do whatever they'd settled on doing. Whichever equally unlikely thing seemed best.

  Aymal saw her first, and stood from the crouch he'd assumed at the lip of the cave. "He is fine?"

  She snorted, slipping into her long coat and wishing they'd managed to draw this op in summer. "He's a long way from fine. What the hell happened? I can't believe he went without cleaning that wound."

  Aymal froze, offended—offended and a little something else. Regret? He glanced at Dobry. Selena tried again, this time in Berzhaani for privacy, her words snapping out with command. "What happened?"

  He stood, smoothing the front of his tunic, and replied in kind. "I am not a doctor. I have never pretended to be a doctor." But his dusky complexion had gone darker with displeasure at this conversation. "I thought it was clean enough."

  She saw from his face that there was more to it…that he'd in some way more willfully failed to do what was necessary. "He's here to save your life!"

  "And I'm not a doctor!" He glared at her, a look that should have put her in her place.

  If she'd bothered to acknowledge any such place. "You'd damned well better be a good defector, then. You'd better save some lives before all is said and done—you'd better save those school kids."

  "Hey," Dobry said. "Can anyone get in on this conversation, or is it invitation-only?"

  Aymal switched back to Russian without faltering. "I told your man about that. The first of you."

  "The school threat," Selena clarified for Dobry, also in Russian. "And no, you didn't. All we know is that there is a threat. There are way too many schools in the States for that to get us anywhere."

  Aymal frowned. "But I told him…"

  "He was badly hurt," Selena said, moving back from him slightly to take the conversation down a notch. Sh
e wouldn't devalue herself for his comfort, but she couldn't afford to drive an irrevocable wedge between them. "He didn't remember."

  Aymal's face looked pinched with the effort of this blunt conversation with her. "Then you'll have to keep me safe, won't you? You can't call your people—even I know that much. You'll have to get me to safety. Just don't choose that paper over me—it has less to offer than I."

  "That's a given," Dobry said, looking no more surprised than Selena felt. Of course Aymal had kept back details in order to make himself more valuable. She'd have done the same. Except…"Write down the school details," she said. "Keep them on you if you want. We can't risk—"

  "I can't risk," he snapped at her, drawing himself up. His gaze wasn't even close to level with hers, a fact he gave every impression of failing to notice. "You give me back the other paper. Then I'll write the information about the school."

  Selena opened her mouth to argue with him, to tell him they wouldn't leave him just because they had both papers. But Dobry cut her off, leaving her there with her mouth forming words as he said, "Agreed. Selena will get the other paper from Cole."

  She closed her mouth with a snap that felt audible. But she somehow kept it closed, understanding what Dobry had done—that he'd done, in fact, exactly what he was here for. Dealing with men whose life experience made them reluctant to interact with a woman, especially a woman as uncovered as she.

  So she turned around and went to search Cole's clothing, not the least bit sorry to take advantage of the moment to check on him. It hadn't been long enough for the painkiller to kick in, but she could at least see how he was weathering the aftermath of her poking and prodding.

  He rolled slowly onto his back to greet her, holding a battered, folded piece of butcher's paper up between two fingers and murmuring. "Isn't he just a hoot?"

  She closed her fingers on the paper, but he didn't release it. Not quite yet. It gave her time to frown, crouching beside him. "Tell me you don't feel as bad as you look."

  He shook his head, only a hint of movement. "Lena," he said, and it meant don't go there, because neither of us will like it.

  She made a face, wrinkled nose and squinchy eyes. "Sorry," she said. "Look, give the pill a few more moments to kick in…eavesdrop from here if you can. The last thing I want to do is get my whole story about this mess from your defector."

  "Our defector now," Cole said, and grinned in a way that would have been too damned beguiling if his hair wasn't sticking to his damp forehead and his eyes weren't still watering at the corners. "Us. Together."

  "Us, then. Together," Selena said, lowering her voice even more. She made a wry little face at him. "All four of us. One big happy family."

  Cole made a face back at her. "A twisted Brady Bunch. Very twisted. But I wouldn't worry too much about Aymal. He's not a good liar."

  "I noticed."

  "He worked a desk, you know. Mathematician turned accountant. Because someone has to do it."

  Selena covered her mouth to keep the laugh from escaping; the others would never understand it. "Ah. That explains some things."

  "And seriously. Keep him away from the Browning. Although if you put the safety on, we're probably okay. He'll eject the magazine and hit the slide release before he ever finds the safety."

  "I can see you've had an interesting couple of days." She plucked the paper from his fingers, finally, and closed her hand around his when it lingered there in midair. "Get ready for some food. Dobry and I already ate, and Aymal's been eyeing the basket the kid brought up with us. I expect the food in it is probably halal, though his observance of his spiritual needs has probably taken a hit in the last couple days."

  "Remember that," Cole said, his gaze not quite focusing on hers. "Give Dobry the face-to-face time with Aymal."

  Right.

  She released his hand after a final squeeze, and returned to the shallow portion of the cave, offering the paper to Aymal.

  "You were there long enough to copy it," he said, inspecting it as though he could tell.

  "Just checking on Cole," Selena said, keeping her voice low and level, avoiding Aymal's gaze. It rankled, but right now that tiny bit of lost dignity and presence were the least of her worries. She breathed deeply of the fresh air so close to the cave entrance, letting the hint of cool air brush her face. Outside, the rugged, twisting mountains of Berzhaan, with them right in the middle. The terrain was similar enough to Athena's White Tank Mountains for her to well understand the sparsity of cover they'd have out there, and the equal scarcity of survival resources. They might well go make an offering to Ashaga tonight, if they wanted every advantage in getting out of this place.

  Dobry gave Aymal the chance to tuck the paper away, and to produce another scrap of paper with Cole's no-nonsense block handwriting on one side. On the other, he used a nubbin of a pencil to make a few quick notations in Arabic script, which he then handed over to Dobry.

  Dobry gave them to Selena. She hesitated, surprised, knowing this gesture wasn't nearly so simple as it might seem. He had nothing to gain from it. Unless…

  Unless he meant to push for that which Aymal had suggested, breaking up the group to make their separate ways to safety.

  He didn't leave her wondering for long. "I'm liking the idea of heading for the border," he said. "And I'm thinking there's no way in hell that Cole will make it."

  "Depends on when we leave," she said, her voice remarkably even.

  Dobry shook his head, hard and short. "I'd like to go tonight."

  "Because you know this area so well that you can find your way in darkness? Because Aymal knows it so well?" She didn't miss Aymal's sharp look; it didn't matter that they'd slipped into English. He could certainly read sarcasm without understanding all the words. "Look," she said, taking a deep breath to get some of her moderation back. "Take tomorrow to see about finding a guide. By then we'll know better about Cole. And then…"

  It was probably the look on her face that alerted Dobry. The reluctance, mixed with conviction.

  "What?" he said. "You think you should be the one to go?"

  Selena shifted back to Russian, angling her body slightly to be more inclusive of Aymal. "I think," she said carefully, "that anyone looking for Aymal will be looking for two men, not a man and a woman. And I think—" she took a deep breath for this one "—that staying here—trying to work through Suwan—is a poor choice for me. As you've noted, we weren't quiet about being here. We deliberately weren't quiet about being here, and that was before the boom and the stolen car and the stabbed thug."

  Aymal looked at Dobry in surprise, eyebrows climbing up toward his kufi cap. "You stole a taxi? You stabbed someone?"

  Dobry almost looked as though he wished he had. "Actually," he said, "that was Selena. My job is to get us out of here without attracting attention. And dammit…Selena could be right. They won't be looking for a man and a woman."

  Aymal eyed her with some trepidation, and said anyway, "I suspect she is right. But it would mean leaving her husband here to fend for himself."

  "To fend with Dobry," Selena corrected, and couldn't believe the words coming from her own mouth. She had to work to get the next ones past a jaw gone stiff. "I said I'd do what had to be done. I meant it."

  "And you're right," said Cole, his voice echoing slightly as he moved forward in the cave. Not strong, not of its normal timbre. But when they turned as one to look at him, he shrugged. "The conversation was getting too interesting. Besides, I understand that I'm supposed to eat." He looked at the MRE packet in his hand, making no immediate move to do anything about it.

  "Are you sure—" Selena started, but finished the sentence with a narrow-eyed expression that Cole would interpret well enough.

  Dobry jumped into the conversational opening. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine," Cole said, so casually he might have been practicing the line for days. But then, that's what he was known for, wasn't it? Casual. Confident. Come-what-may—in spite of flushed cheeks, blue
eyes stark behind stained skin and dyed hair, his kufi gone missing along the way. He probably hoped no one noticed that he propped his shoulder against the rough, angled cave wall. And that's when he caught Selena's eye and she found something lurking…something that kept her from stating the obvious, that he wasn't fine at all. Something that let her know he needed to at least pretend. It didn't matter if they all knew otherwise, as long as no one said otherwise.

  Aymal looked at Cole with a different kind of surprise. "You want the woman to go with me?"

  "I think she makes a good point." Cole blinked, a vision-clearing effort. Slowly, he slid down the cave wall, the whole time wearing an expression that indicated this was how he always chose to sit. He gave the MRE packet a puzzled look and set it aside. "Seriously," he said. "She's right. The border is my idea, and I still think it was a good one. But the whole world is alert for two men. And Selena…" He looked at her, went a little distant, and closed his eyes to give an infinitesimal shake of his head. It seemed to bring him back, and his eyes were clear when he looked at them again. "Selena seems to have attracted some attention. So…Selena and Aymal head for the border. Dobry and I can head any direction we want. Perfect solution." He waved his hand in a vague gesture of voila! And then, as they regarded him in silence, he added, "Except not tonight. Tonight Dobry should go down there and hunt up a guide. Unless you brought a compass?"

  No. No, of course they hadn't brought a compass. First-aid kit and a zillion little useful tools, but no compass. Still, Selena said, "It might be better if Dobry came back with a compass instead of a guide."

  "The only thing I really like about this plan," Dobry grumbled, finding his Goff voice again, "is that it delays departure until at least morning, if not tomorrow evening. We'll have more time to rethink things." And reconsider his original plan, no doubt. He bent down for Cole's MRE and pulled out the main meal, dumping what remained of a bottled water into the flameless heater before stuffing it back with the food pouch into the box. "I'm going to catch some sleep before I go hunting this evening." He handed the box back to Cole, who set it aside to finish heating. "Any objections?"