CHAPTER ELEVEN
Joshua slowed to a stop before Anya’s door.
It was almost time for the mission to begin. He looked forward to seeing Onred face-to-face—his visceral desire was to kill the monster with his bare hands. First, though, he had to say goodbye to Anya. She had left the lunch table shortly after Richert, and it was why Joshua stood outside her door now.
He didn’t want to leave her again. What a waste, to never be able to show her or tell her how much she meant to him. His overwhelming longing to hold her in his arms threatened his rational mind; even worse, it threatened to undermine his fierce vow to honor, loyalty, and duty. He had to control himself one more time. And he had to be prepared, too, for he knew she’d beg to come with him. Part of him selfishly wanted to grant her wish. He wanted her with him, so he could see her as long as safely possible before he left for his ultimate mission. But Anya was too unpredictable, and might find a way to follow him. So he absolutely could not allow it. It was far too dangerous. Protecting her was his number one job. And he’d continue to do so until his dying breath.
So now he had to tell her goodbye.
What if this was the last time he would ever see her? Would it matter if he broke his sacred protector’s trust? She would forgive him. Joshua knew it.
If he died, his sins would die with him. If he lived, perhaps there was a chance…
No, there wasn’t.
Joshua had lived so long tamping down his hopes and his desires that it had become almost a reflex action, the word “no.” Was it easier to say “no” than to experience the capricious uncertainties of a risky, joyful “yes”?
In battle, he had never accepted less than complete conquest. It was easy, because it was the right thing to do. He could follow through on his basic, primitive instinct to conquer. But with Anya, he could not do the same. Always, he had to put the brakes on his feelings and deny the deep desire to make her his.
It was damn hard. But one more time, he would do what was right.
Joshua knocked.
* * * * *
Anya drew a breath and schooled her features into petulant lines. She had to make this look real. Joshua couldn’t suspect her true plan until it was too late. Her boots and parka lay in the closet, ready for hasty donning. She already wore snow wear under her black clothes.
At Joshua’s second knock, she opened the door.
Those velvet brown eyes looked serious, and a faint frown drew his straight brows together. He wore his cream parka and boots, and he looked bigger than normal. He was ready to go.
She shut the door after him.
“I’m leaving,” he said, his mouth a straight line.
“I could help you,” she told him, keeping in character. If she had truly been about to be left behind, she’d argue with him, even at this late hour.
Tersely, he said, “Stop it.” Afterward, he stood before her in silence, as if not sure what else to say. His fists tightened and relaxed.
Anya drew a shaky breath. “I may never see you again.”
“Probably not.”
Anya clenched her teeth. The stubborn man. If he let her come, his chances of survival would improve. A welling, sick feeling in her gut told her he’d die if she didn’t. It was one of the reasons she was dead set on going with him. She couldn’t lose him. It was absolutely unthinkable. And so she would deceive him now, and it had to be a good performance. He could suspect nothing, or else he might lock her in the room until all chances to follow him had vanished.
“I want to go with you.” The emotion in her whisper was real.
“Goodbye, Anya.” He gazed at her for an eternal second, and then unexpectedly, roughly, pulled her into his arms and hard against his chest.
With a small, contented sigh, she slid her arms around him.
Joshua stood stiff and still. She pulled back a little, so she could look up at him. To her surprise, he watched her. His face was very near her own.
His breath touched her lips, and she closed her eyes.
She stood motionless. The heat of his body, his scent, and his nearness drugged her senses. She longed for his kiss. Of course, he never would kiss her. And she didn’t want to be the one to kiss him. His quiet rebuke—gently put, of course—would crush her heart. And so she stood very still, enjoying the sweet torture of his breath caressing her skin.
Soft moments passed.
His lips brushed hers.
Her breath caught, and her hands fisted into his parka in complete shock. She was afraid to move, for fear he would stop.
He did not. His mouth lingered on hers for long, sweet moments. Unable to stop herself, her hands slid up to his shoulders.
His muscles tensed, and he pulled back slowly, but his breaths still caressed her lips in quiet, silky whispers.
“Anya.” The murmur sounded tortured.
She slid her fingers into the thick hair at his nape. “Joshua.”
“Red One. Copy?” The voice from his parka came as a shock. A new rectangular, silver transmitter was clipped to his lapel.
Joshua touched the “send” button. “On my way.” He released her and stepped back. “Goodbye,” His voice sounded rough. With a duck to his head, he headed for the door. He did not look back.
Anya’s fingers went to her lips. She didn’t know whether to feel elated or to cry. Joshua believed he would never see her again. For him, that had been a goodbye kiss. Would he want to kiss her again when he saw her in thirty minutes? Probably not. More likely, he’d want to kill her.
Unease slid through her. Anya didn’t want to think about it.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Anya boarded Richert’s small, private airbird five minutes after a military aircraft flew Joshua out of the gigantic hangar. Her pilot, a burly man, merely grunted, “Put on your seat belt.”
Within minutes, they shot after Joshua’s transport. According to Richert’s cunning plot, after the military transport dropped off Joshua, her pilot was to land a good distance from the Altai airbird they had stolen. The pilot would stop just long enough for her to jump out, and then he’d speed away.
From there, Anya would be on her own.
She laced and unlaced her fingers. Nerves knotted her stomach, but she tried not to think about Joshua’s reaction to being marooned alone with her and the enemy airbird.
Her stomach swirled up in a sickening leap as they dropped to the earth. And then, blessedly and all too soon, they were still. “Get out.”
“Thanks,” she said, and stepped into bitterly artic air. It was a bright day, and the sky a cold, polarized blue.
Cold snow swirled up, stinging her cheeks, as the pilot rose, then shot south.
Onred’s black airbird rested across the clearing, but she didn’t see Joshua. Was he inside? She’d better hurry before he took off. Anya ran as best she could. Her boots crunched deep into the snow with every step.
The airbird’s door was shut, the engine silent. She pounded on the door and waited.
Nothing. The silence of the landscape seeped into her bones. The aircraft appeared empty. Where was Joshua? She triggered the door’s release button. No one was inside. Her black bag and tarp still lay on the floor, where she had left them.
Worry crept in. Where was he? She grabbed up the bag, stuffed the bulky tarp inside, and then spent a minute rooting in the snow for the laser and four knives Richert’s men had stripped from her belt. She found the laser and two knives. Someone else had dug through the snow, too. It had to be Joshua. Footprints headed west.
Anya gave up on her two missing knives. She had wasted enough time. Where was Joshua headed? Anya ran in his tracks. By her calculations, he must be fifteen minutes ahead. She couldn’t lose him. Not now.
* * * * *
Joshua strode fast for the secret command base. Richert’s satellites might be tracking him, but that didn’t matter. The baron would think Joshua planned to meet the few troops permanently stationed inside the caves of these isolated, southern m
ountains; Joshua’s home. Maybe Richert knew that. Maybe not. Either way, it meant nothing.
The old man didn’t know the real truth. No one but his most elite pilots knew the location of Zebra Charlie Alpha, for it was written nowhere. Once inducted into the elite force, his most trusted men memorized its latitude and longitude. It was never mentioned again.
Joshua trusted no one except for his select force.
Somehow, Onred had discovered Donetsk’s transponder codes. Onred’s men had been able to track down Joshua’s pilots and destroy their craft. Worse, Onred had been able to disarm Astana and Irgiz’s missile defense systems. Joshua meant to speak to his brother about it.
He strode down the last, steep hill.
The huge cavern leading to the heart of the mountain loomed ahead. The two men guarding it raised their lasers when they spotted him. Joshua cut his hand through the air in a short, three motion signal. Immediately, the men lowered their weapons. A moment later, however, they raised them again. They aimed at a spot behind Joshua.
Joshua spun, whipping out his weapon.
A slight figure, all in black, ran down through the snow. Dark hair floated in the breeze and a black bag slapped against his—no, her—thigh.
Anya.
Disbelief…frustration…and finally fury consumed him. What was she doing out here? She was supposed to be safe!
But she wasn’t safe anymore. Despair hit him.
Joshua chewed out a string of curses bluer than the cobalt sky.
* * * * *
Anya halted in her tracks. Joshua’s curses didn’t frighten her, but his expression did. His reaction was worse than she had imagined.
The two soldiers guarding the cave entrance leveled lasers on her, stances wide and threatening, their weapons no doubt set to kill.
“Baron?”
“Stand down.” Joshua’s eyes did not leave Anya. With purposeful steps, he advanced toward her.
She swallowed. Hadn’t she known this would happen? Time for courage, Anya. Slowly, her feet moved toward him. Unfortunately, her heart beat faster as his expression grew sharper, in full, livid detail. Had she ever seen him this angry before?
Nope. Didn’t think so.
“I’m here.” She stopped a meter shy and lifted her chin. “You can’t make me leave.”
He didn’t answer, but his topaz gaze burned like unholy fire.
She dared add, “What assignment will you give me?”
“To start, how about you bend over my knee?” he suggested in a very soft voice.
Anya flushed. “You don’t frighten me. I’m a grown woman…”
“Who behaves like a child!”
She didn’t like the look in his eyes. The guards, watching now with interest, increased her feeling of discomfort. “You’re not a barbarian…” She gasped when he grabbed her arm and dragged her close to him.
“I am a barbarian,” he said through clenched teeth. “And I’ll prove it, right now.”
“No!” Suddenly panicked, she tried to free herself, but his wide grip was too strong. It burned her skin as she struggled. Tears blurred her eyes. “You’re hurting me,” she whispered.
At once, he let go. He stared at her, his chest heaving. Frosty white blasts expelled from his lips. “Go back to the bird that brought you here. Go back to Richert.”
“I can’t.” She licked her lips. “It’s gone.”
“Damn it!”
Anya rubbed her smarting wrist. Her own anger rose to match his. “Back at you,” she told him. “I have every right to be here. My people are in danger. Have you forgotten it’s my fault this war started in the first place?”
“What do you plan to do? You can’t fly. You’re not trained for combat.”
“I can do something!” she cried out. “I won’t be shut up like a child in a nursery. I’m an adult. Don’t deny me the right to help my family. To help you.”
“Damn it.”
“Let me help you. Onred wants both of us. We’ll go together to free my family.”
“No!” That violent bellow startled her. “I will not let that bastard touch you. Not again.”
“Joshua. Onred has to think he’s getting both of us. I have some ideas. Together, we can beat him. I know we can.”
He briefly closed his eyes. “For now, you’ll stay with me. But when it’s time to meet Onred, you’ll stay here. Or I’ll chain you down myself.”
Not a full victory, but a start. “Thank you.”
He frowned, and then took her arm and bared her skin at the wrist. Three finger marks reddened her skin. “I’m sorry.” He stared at it, as if unable to accept what he had done. “I’m sorry,” he said again, his tone even quieter.
“It’s all right.”
“No, it’s not.” His lips whitened.
“Kiss it and make it better,” she dared to say, and added a small smile.
He stared at her in clear disbelief.
“That’s how my mother made hurts go away.” Anya could barely believe that she’d just asked him to kiss her. She continued to smile, letting him know that she had already forgiven him. After all, she wasn’t without fault. She had disobeyed a direct order from her baron. She had gone into this situation knowing full well that he would be livid. And rightfully so.
To her full surprise, Joshua lifted her wrist. When his lips touched her skin, his lids lowered. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. His kisses felt as soft as butterfly wings on each of the marks. Shocked joy streamed into her heart.
“See?” she said, voice shaky, when he let her go. “All better.”
Bemused, he looked down at her.
“Now,” Anya glanced at the huge cavern, “what are you doing here?”
“This is Tash. Home. I need to speak to my brother.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
This was Joshua’s home? Anya had read about the primitive conditions of Tash in her school texts. She wondered now if Joshua had landed the Altai airbird near Tash’s entrance on purpose, while at the same time appearing to comply with the Tarim demand to stay out of Tarim airspace.
Anya hurried to keep up as he strode for the wide entrance into the mountain. Now that he had accepted her presence, Joshua seemed to be in a hurry to reach his destination.
With a brief word of greeting to the two guards, he entered the dark, empty cave.
She said, “I thought people lived in this cave.”
“No.” He didn’t seem inclined to talk.
During the last twelve hours Anya had come to realize how little she knew about him. She wouldn’t keep quiet now. “Tell me about your family.” He’d briefly mentioned a brother once, long ago, but that was all she knew.
Joshua didn’t answer. They had come to a metal door. He punched a button beside it. A creaking groan sounded from inside the mountain.
“Surely you have a family,” she pressed.
The door slid open, and Joshua stepped inside. A pale, vertical strip lit the elevator. It leant a greenish gray hue to the utilitarian chamber. Joshua punched the “down” button.
“My father is dead.” He stated it as a fact, without emotion.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.”
He stared straight ahead, his face resembling a stone mask.
“What about sisters, or brothers?”
“I have one brother. Three sisters. Probably more I don’t know about.”
The door slid open to reveal a humungous cavern, lit in the center by a leaping bonfire. An invisible draught of air sucked the smoke skyward, toward a black opening.
The cavern was jammed full of all sorts of people. Flat, plastic television screens dominated the southern wall. Images flickered on them. One repeated the Astana and Irgiz explosions. The orange, billowing cloud that was Astana, stamped in violent color across the black night, hit Anya like a fist punch to her gut. She gasped, and her steps faltered. Her home…her friends…all dead. Joshua’s shoulders stiffened, but he kept moving toward his intended de
stination. Few Tash residents paid attention to the silent screens.
Drawing a steadying breath, she hurried after Joshua. Wasn’t that why they were here? To avenge Astana and Irgiz, and defeat Onred.
Most inhabitants gathered around tables, haggling for vegetables and meat. In the far corner, children played with scuttling rodents.
Anya stilled a shudder, and followed Joshua into the noisy chaos. “What about your mother?”
“Dead.” He strode for the northern side of the chamber.
As they passed a table of snow boots, an old man’s face lit up in a toothless smile. “Joshua!”
Others quickly turned and cried cheerful greetings to him.
Joshua replied curtly, still heading for his unknown destination, which appeared to be a passageway coming up on the right.
“Joshua, I love you,” cried out a blond girl, and then swooned into the arms of an irritated looking man.
Anya caught up when he entered the dimly lit passage. Overhead, thin light strips dimly lit the hall. “Did these people really throw you out?”
“It’s convenient for them to forget now.” He stopped and pounded on a scarred wooden door. “Michael. It’s Joshua.”
The door opened. A man whose features bore a marked resemblance to Joshua’s regarded them for a second, and then ushered them inside. The cave dweller was taller and bigger than Joshua, with dark blond hair and sable brows and dark green eyes. A scar marked his face, from left ear to jaw.
“You’re alive.” Michael’s gravelly voice bottomed out in a bass register.
“Surprised? Or disappointed?”
“Relieved.”
The two men eyed each other. No familial warmth lurked.
She held out her hand. “I’m Anya.”
Michael enveloped hers in a warm shake. “Michael. Joshua’s younger brother.”
Anya returned the firm pressure. “Pleased to meet you.”
Michael’s attention returned to Joshua. “We intercepted Onred’s transmission to Richert.”
“So you know I’m supposed to offer myself as a sacrifice for peace.”
Ice Baron (Ice Chronicles, Book One (science fiction romance)) Page 9
