“Joshua, no!”
“Yes. Yes, I was. When the elders finally caught me and threw me out in the snow, I was relieved. Finally, my miserable, worthless life would end. I only regretted that my sisters and brother would have to take my place.” A long pause elapsed. “It turned out I was the lucky one. The military saved me. It disciplined me, and eventually gave me back my self respect.”
“Thank goodness.” Anya’s voice broke with feeling. “Your father was a horrible man.” No wonder Joshua had shown no regret that his father was dead. “How lucky you’re nothing like him.”
Quietly, he said, “I was never meant to become baron, Anya. Your husband will be baron, and that is as it should be. My life is expendable. Yours is not.” Intense dark eyes bored into hers. “That is why I will protect you to my dying breath. It is one pledge to your father I will not break.”
Implying he had broken others. His kisses, to her? Possibly. In Joshua’s honorable mind, those would be a crime. No doubt punishable by death. His own death.
How could she get through to him?
“You are not expendable,” she told him. “I told you once, and I’ll tell you again: You’re the best baron Donetsk has ever had. Even better than my father. He was a hard man, and a brutal one, too, sometimes. You have a natural gift for command. All the men respect you. To survive, Donetsk needs you.”
Whether Joshua realized it or not, he was the glue that had held their whole territory together during the last few years. How could he not see that? Onred knew it. It was why he wanted so desperately to kill him. Once Joshua was dead, and she was gone, the backbone of the territory would disintegrate. She’d heard mutters and rumors of discouragement lately, of a desire for peace at any cost. It was a shortsighted view, of course, and could possibly end in the death of half of her people. Anya would never let that happen. Not if she had any say in the matter.
“It needs you more,” he told her.
“I don’t think so. But maybe we can agree it needs both of us.”
He shook his head.
“Understand one thing, Joshua. No matter what happens, know this now: I will never take the baronship from you. You’re the best man for the job. You’ve earned it, and you deserve it.” It was true. It was also true that in order for him to remain baron, she could never marry.
A tortured expression crossed his features. “You deserve children and a husband who loves you.”
Anya did not answer. If he could be stubborn, she could be more so. And the truth was, she wanted no man but Joshua. If she couldn’t have him, then she wanted no one. She was quite prepared to live the rest of her life alone. “You don’t get to choose for me.”
“When I’m gone, you will marry.” He said it grimly.
“I won’t let you die. You know how determined you are to protect me? Well, I’m equally determined to protect you. If it wasn’t for me, you would be dead right now.”
“I know.”
“Then stop fighting me!” she said in exasperation. “Treat me as an equal. I’m going to fight Onred and free my family. Now, I can either do it with you, or I can do it alone. Which do you prefer?”
He pulled free. His gaze flashed a warning. “Don’t give me ultimatums.”
His hard tone did not deter her. More softly, though, she said, “We both want to defeat Onred, right?”
He did not answer.
Time for a new tactic. “If we don’t defeat him, my husband will have no territory to rule.” At the word “husband,” Joshua flinched. Encouraged, she continued. “In which case my birth means nothing. My life means nothing.”
Joshua cursed. “An…”
“Let me finish,” she said calmly. “Donetskis are my people, too. And my family is at stake. I mean it, Joshua. I would do anything to save them.” She crossed her arms and pulled back a little. “Just like I’d do anything to save you.”
* * * * *
Joshua didn’t know how to win this argument. In his gut, he knew he’d never keep Anya out of the fight against Onred. She was too spirited, too determined…too damn smart for her own good.
He didn’t like it, and cursed softly under his breath. He wanted to protect her. If he’d had his way, she’d be back at Richert’s headquarters now. The man might be a snake, but he wouldn’t harm Anya; of this, Joshua felt certain. The cunning old man had plans for her—what, Joshua didn’t know yet—but then again, he hadn’t intended for her to stay in Tarim long enough to find out.
“What do you say?” Anya regarded him with one dark brow arched. “Will you swear to put me on your team?”
“You have no training.”
“I can skyjump. I can shoot a laser. I understand how communication systems work. I can survive in the artic for weeks.” She paused, and then finished with a smug note of triumph, “And I’m the bait Onred will take. He wants me. He’ll invite me into his palace, into his home, into his…”
Joshua saw red. “Damn it, no!” He raked his fingers through his hair in an effort to obliterate the images that had leaped in living color into his mind.
“I can kill him, Joshua.” That feline, confident smile couldn’t come from his sweet, innocent Anya.
“No.”
A faint frown drew her delicate brows together “Tell me a better plan, then.”
“My plans do not include you behaving like a whore.”
She scowled. “I won’t sleep with him. I’ll kill him.”
“You will not go into Onred’s bedroom,” he bellowed.
The tiniest smile twitched her lips. “Funny. A few days ago, you ordered me to marry him. Where did you think I would end up?”
He growled, and jerked away from her. “I wish you’d stayed in Aksu.” And yet he deserved that barb. He wanted to go outside and pace off his frustration.
“You are so unreasonable,” she snapped. “You act like a cave man. This is the fourth millennium, in case you’ve forgotten. Women can read, write and make decisions about their own lives. We don’t need a man’s protection. I don’t need your protection.”
“You’ve forgotten your history. Remember the last millennium? In a barbaric world, only the strong survive. Women were almost wiped out.”
“Thanks to terrorist scientists,” she agreed. “But they’re dead. Things are different now. Protectors and male chauvinism are dead. Join the thirty-second century!”
He shook his head. “I grew up in Tash, and it still lives in the last millennium. So do Donetsk and Tarim Territories. We all live under the Old Barons’ Law for a reason. Women must be protected, or they will die. And if you die, our whole race will die.”
With a glare, she crossed her arms. “This particular woman’s line will die, if a certain man won’t give her what she wants.”
Heat caught Joshua by surprise. She couldn’t possibly mean what his depraved mind instantly imagined. “You don’t know what you’re saying,” he said softly.
“I do.”
The faint blush on her cheeks disturbed Joshua more deeply than he liked. Time to take command of the situation. Anya would not be deterred, so he’d minimize the collateral damage…meaning no one would ever lay a finger on her. Wherever she went, he would go. Grimly, he reflected that although she didn’t want a protector, she had one…for as long as a heart beat in his body.
“You can go on the mission,” he gritted. “But you’ll do what I say. You’ll be my communications officer.”
A beatific smile lit her face. “Really?”
“You will obey me,” he said through his teeth. “Swear on your honor you’ll obey every one of my orders.”
The sunny smile did not dim. “Oh Joshua, I will. I promise!” She flung her arms around him and held him tight. “You won’t regret it. I promise.”
Joshua’s arms closed around her slim, fragile body. Regret already pulled at his gut. His arms tightened around her, wanting to protect her. His jaw slid through her clean, sweet smelling hair. “We’ll beat Onred,” he muttered. “I swea
r it.”
He could not die now. Joshua trusted no one but himself to protect Anya.
CHAPTER TWENTY
After Joshua agreed that Anya could accompany him on the mission to defeat Onred, he seemed to withdraw into himself. When he discovered his transmitter didn’t work, Anya handed him Michael’s phone, and he texted a message to ZCA. Shortly afterward, he shouldered out of the aircraft and into the crisp white morning.
Fresh snow coated pine branches and softened last night’s foot imprints. When Anya followed Joshua outside, her nose hairs stuck together in the frosty dawn. It was cold. Maybe -40° C. The sky was blue, but puffy, dark gray clouds bunched on the eastern horizon. Probably it was the storm that had just left them.
Daylight showed just how lucky her crash landing had been. Joshua examined the crushed rear of the airbird, which was crumpled up against the granite cliff face. A large pine tree pinned the nose to the ground. The bird should be demolished, and yet it wasn’t. It was as if the protective, divine hand of providence had curled around the ship, preventing its destruction. In the light of day, Anya marveled at the sheer, crazy stubbornness that had made her pilot the sophisticated craft in the first place. She should be dead, and breathed a prayer of thanks that she wasn’t.
The small clearing encircling the airbird’s door was completely enclosed by the fallen pine and the cliff; a small, cozy space, and apparently, from Joshua’s stiff movements, confining. When he checked the phone again, she said, “When are they coming?”
“An hour.”
“I have food. Do you want breakfast?”
Without a word, he followed her inside the aircraft. She divided the rations in equal silence, and they ate. When they finished, she said, “I should check your leg.”
“I can do it.” He took the healing kit and administered the treatment himself.
It was a rebuff, but she recognized his tactic. She should, for it was a familiar one. He had shut her out. He had done it in Astana, before she’d left for Bogd. And he’d attempted to do it just minutes ago, when he’d tried to put a wall between them and intimidate her into obeying him. Always in the past, when things became too emotional between them—whether she was arguing about a longer curfew, or dating a boy of whom he did not approve—afterwards, Joshua always retreated behind an impenetrable barrier. On the surface, he would return to work. However, usually he’d barely speak to her for a day or more afterward. For the first time, Anya began to understand why.
His childhood had been rough. Certainly, he had received no love from his father. He had taken the role of protector over his younger siblings at a very early age. It appeared his mother had made no effort to protect her children from their father. Had Joshua felt alone as a little boy? Was that why he allowed no one to get too close to him? Was it why he felt he needed to face his enemies alone now? Without a doubt, he felt he needed to prove himself. Perhaps he also felt the need to pay, over and over again, for his past sins—choices that had been forced upon him by a weak, cruel father.
Anya wanted to touch Joshua and reassure him that she would never hurt him. And yet she suspected part of the distance he’d put between them now was a result of anger, and perhaps fear. During the upcoming mission, he would be unable to wholly protect her. She understood his feelings, for the thought of Joshua being hurt—perhaps more severely than last night—scared her to death.
Sharp blasts of static burst from Michael’s phone.
“Report,” Joshua said tersely.
“Five minutes out. Enemy birds are in the area. Be ready to run.”
“Roger.”
Swiftly, Anya packed up her bag, tarp, and medical kit and followed Joshua outside, and then shoved the bag under the fallen pine. Joshua took it and helped her through the shallow tunnel through the snow to the other side.
Anya glanced up at the clear blue sky, listening for the slicing whoosh of an oncoming airbird. Where were Onred’s aircraft? The silence of the still forest around them seemed eerie. As if someone might be watching from beyond the trees.
A high-pitched shriek indicated a bird’s fast approach. Anya spotted the dark speck in the southern sky a split second before two black airbirds shot up from the trees. Faint thunder rumbled as they jetted for the incoming aircraft.
“Onred’s men,” she gasped.
Joshua’s expression remained impassive. His gaze swept the northern horizon. Anya followed his line of sight. A sleek, silent airbird approached, flying meters above the tree tops. Blue and cream identified it as one of their own. Within seconds, it dropped into their tiny clearing and hovered above the lumpy snow pack. When the door slid open, Anya sprinted for it. Joshua tumbled inside after her. Even before the door closed, they ascended at stomach emptying velocity and shot north.
“Good to see you alive.” Michael rumbled from the pilot’s chair.
Joshua slapped his brother’s shoulder. “Didn’t think anything could get you out of ZCA.”
“Only saving your sorry backside.” Michael’s lips thinned. “Buckle up. We’ve got company.” The aircraft swerved left, and Anya tumbled sideways, slamming her shoulder into the wall.
Joshua’s strong hands helped her overcome the G forces of the accelerating aircraft. He saw her settled into the seat behind Michael’s before strapping into his own. He directed his words to his brother. “Status on the decoy?”
Michael gave a brief chuckle. “Victor Echo and Yankee Delta are goosing Onred’s birds.” Faint explosions reached Anya’s ears. Grimly, he finished, “The black ones are gone.”
“What’s the report on the extraction team?”
Michael’s fingers swiftly moved over the control board. “Answer my question first. Where are we going?”
“Zyra.”
“Zyra?” Anya repeated. “Why?”
“It’s closest to Onred’s territory.” Tersely, Joshua said, “The report, Michael.”
“We intercepted garbled messages. Onred must have expected our men. Five birds were shot down crossing the Altai mountains. Three pilots skyjumped onto the city. Two made it inside.” Michael spared a backward glance for Anya. “Your family wasn’t there. Neither was Onred.”
“They weren’t?” This news came as an unpleasant shock. “Were the men sure?”
“Positive. Pete broke into Onred’s quarters and set up explosives. They got cornered, and the last we heard was static. Satellite shows a big hole in Bogd.”
Anya swallowed back a horrified gasp. She fisted her hands, trying to control her emotions. Pete was dead. Just yesterday, he had been happy, teasing, and full of life. Now he was gone.
“They’re heroes,” Michael stated. “The bomb destroyed Bogd’s heating units. The city is freezing. That’ll slow them down.”
“Earlier, Onred ordered Belar to nuke Omsk,” Joshua said. “Any way to trace his transmission?”
“Nope. Tried. The bastard’s smart. He routed it through Bogd.”
Joshua fell silent.
“My family might still be alive.” Anya brushed away welling tears for Pete, and clung to this small hope. “They might still be with Onred.”
“Maybe,” Michael offered, but Joshua remained silent.
Anya prayed again for her siblings, as she’d repeatedly done over the last twenty-four hours. Where could Onred be? And she offered a prayer for Pete, too. And for the rest of her people, living in the freezing wasteland. What foul plan did Onred plan to implement next? But the ones in immediate danger were her family, if they were with Onred. They would bear the immediate brunt of his rage over losing Bogd.
Extracting her family from Onred’s clutches had seemed like a monumental task from the start. Now it seemed impossible. Where could Onred be hiding?
“How will we ever find them?” she whispered.
The aircraft spun without warning, and Michael’s white lasers drilled the sky. Black airbirds peeled east and west. Blue birds followed one, and with a terse word, Michael pursued the other. Within minutes, the bla
ck one fell in flames from the sky.
Michael spit, “Onred knows we picked you up.”
“Wish we still had that hijacked bird,” Anya said. “Maybe we could figure out how to listen in on their transmissions.”
“They change frequencies every ten minutes.”
“It probably wouldn’t have helped, anyway,” she said. “I think Richert sabotaged the system.”
“What?” Joshua said sharply.
Anya described Richert broadcast while she’d flown the enemy ship. “His techs must have hacked into Altai’s communications system.”
“Gives us hope,” Michael said grimly. “Maybe he’s following their transmissions.”
“We need to contact him,” Joshua said.
“How?” Anya wanted to know. “Do we trust him enough to transmit to him over our secure channels?”
Michael barked out a laugh. “Not a chance.”
“Onred will intercept if we use the Alpha channel,” she pointed out.
“We can’t take that chance,” Joshua agreed. “We’ll use our voice network. I’ll warn the commanders it’s no longer secure. I’ll use your phone, Michael. Anya lifted it from your apartment.”
She winced. “Sorry about your door,” she said meekly.
“I won’t ask.” Humor laced Michael’s rumble.
“I’ve got the code to one of Richert’s frequencies. Hope it still works,” Joshua muttered.
“Put it on speaker when you get through,” his brother advised.
Long moments passed, and then Joshua said tersely, “Joshua Van Heisman.” Then, “Give me a line to Richert.” Frustration deepened his next words. “Yesterday, man. Now.”
More silence, then Joshua said, “Richert. Van Heisman.”
Static crackled. “You’re alive,” came Richert’s brusque response.
Ice Baron (Ice Chronicles, Book One (science fiction romance)) Page 16
