Tarek. He was the focus here. The only thing that mattered right now. Yes, she had a whole heap of other problems to deal with, but the child’s safety had to come first. She didn’t know any other children, but some new instinct, more powerful than anything she had learned in Valkyrie training, told her that. She turned back to the boy. “How do you know this man?”
“I don’t know him. I have never met him, but I heard my father talking about him on the phone.” Tarek clung to her hand. “I was supposed to be in bed, but I sneaked onto the landing and listened. I was frightened because my father was shouting and he sounded scared. He kept saying ‘you have to listen to me.’” He swallowed hard. “I don’t think they listened to him.”
“Do you know who he was talking to?” Adam asked.
“My father called him ‘sir.’ Only once, he said his name. Then, he called him ‘Shepherd.’ I remember everything he said because it scared me so much. He said the Reaper wasn’t one man, it was a con-sor-tium.” Tarek spoke the word carefully in the manner of one who had rehearsed it many times. Out of the corner of her eye, Maja saw Adam sit up a little straighter. “But he said one man was the brains behind it all. My father said he had two years’ worth of evidence on this guy. It was enough to bring him down. The next day—the day after my father made that phone call—they bombed the university where he worked and my father was killed. That was two weeks ago.”
Maja wrapped her arms around the trembling boy, holding him close. “Why would they come for you, Tarek? How did those men know you had this information?”
“I don’t know.” Tears filled his dark eyes. “You are the first people I have told.”
“It’s possible they were just taking no chances. Getting rid of any family members just to be sure,” Adam said. “But you definitely heard your father say the name of the man behind this corporation?” As Adam asked the question, Maja sensed he was reining in a feeling of urgency.
“It was an easy name to remember. It sounds like a name from a fairy tale,” Tarek said. “It was Knight Valentine.”
Adam’s reaction surprised Maja. Hissing out a breath, he got to his feet. Although it was clear he was still weak and in pain, he paced from one end of the small room to the other for several minutes, clearly lost in thought. That name meant something to him, and whatever the meaning was, she sensed it wasn’t good.
Maja, meanwhile, spoke softly to Tarek. Reassuring him that he had done the right thing in telling them everything, she promised they would make sure the Reaper would not be able to find him. Could she carry through that promise? She knew nothing of this world, and she was now an outcast from her own. In an act of rebellion so complete, she had ensured she could never return to Valhalla. That was just the start of her personal problems. Odin was famed for his vindictiveness. He was unlikely to let a rogue Valkyrie live in peace. Scratch that. He was unlikely to let a rogue Valkyrie live. And live where? All she knew was her warrior lifestyle, and she wasn’t human, so even if she might be able to hide from Odin, there was no place for her here in the mortal realm.
“I will get you out of here.” When Adam came back to his seat, his firm voice, together with Maja’s encouragement, seemed to boost Tarek’s confidence.
Even so, the boy raised troubled eyes to Maja’s face. “Will you stay with me?”
She lifted her own eyes to Adam’s, seeking confirmation. He nodded. “I’ll stay with you. We both will.”
Reassured, Tarek went off to find Edith, to organize food for Leo.
“How will we keep our promise?” Maja asked. “How will we get him out of here?”
Adam grinned. “I haven’t figured out the finer details. I’ll admit that getting a child, a Valkyrie—” the grin turned into a grimace “—and a dog out of a war-torn country is going to stretch my ingenuity. But I’ll think of something.”
* * *
Sitting at the kitchen table in the mission, they planned the operation long into the night. Edith had handed over the keys to her car without blinking. Much the way she had accepted the presence of a corset-clad, sword-wielding Norsewoman in the heart of Syria. Adam suspected that the Englishwoman’s life contained many interesting stories. Maja was just one more.
“You can’t fly out of Syria without a visa, and we don’t have time to obtain one for Tarek,” Edith said. She spread a map of the region on the table. Tracing various locations with her finger, she pointed out a route. “One by one, the surrounding countries have closed down their borders. You won’t be able to take Tarek across at any official points without the correct documentation, but if you have money, there are places where it can be done.”
“I have money.” Adam’s jacket might be torn and bloodied, but the concealed inner pocket still contained thousands of US dollars and his cell phone. He had a feeling that his best asset in the next few days was sitting at his right-hand side, studying the map in silence. A Valkyrie warrior who could use her invisibility to his advantage was going to be more useful than any amount of money when it came to getting Tarek out of this troubled land.
“The best way out of here will be to drive across the border into Lebanon.” Edith tapped the map. “I have a contact near the old port of Batroun. He will take you by boat to Cyprus. From there, you can arrange to travel to the United States.”
Those words were the sweetest Adam had ever heard. Even so, it seemed he had a long way to go before he could say he was safely home.
“Does Tarek have a passport?” That was Adam’s biggest concern. Maja could take care of herself. Her invisibility would prove to be a handy trick when it came to border control.
Edith nodded. “It was among the possessions that were brought here from his home. It’s in my study, along with his other proof of identity.”
“So, our biggest problem will be Leo.” Adam was thinking ahead. How the hell was he going to get the dog into the United States?
“I’m not going without him.” Tarek’s expression became stubborn as he wrapped his arms around his pet.
Edith pursed her lips, disappeared briefly and returned with a Leo-sized gym bag.
“He won’t like it.” Tarek eyed the bag gloomily.
“He’ll have to put up with it if he wants to come with us.” Adam kept his voice firm. He was in charge, and everyone else—including Leo—had better get used to the idea.
Leo sniffed the gym bag thoughtfully, clearly decided it wasn’t too bad, and with a weary sigh, clambered inside it and curled up. Tarek laughed and clapped his hands. “He thinks it’s his new bed.”
* * *
The dog remained asleep as they set off. Three hours later, as dawn broke, Adam figured they must be approaching the point at the border where Edith had thought they would be able to bribe their way across. Following the route she had suggested, their journey had been uneventful, though the roads were poor. Adam had been driving one-handed over the potholes. His whole body was rattled, his shoulder was throbbing and he felt drained of energy.
Maja turned in her seat and studied Tarek as he slumbered in the rear, one arm draped protectively over the gym bag. Even clad in Edith’s cast-off clothing, Adam’s Valkyrie companion was proving to be a severe test of his ability to remain focused on the journey. Baggy linen pants, battered sneakers and a blouse that might once have been white but was now a faded gray color, made up an uninspiring outfit and covered her figure. Her hair hung in a braid almost to her waist and a baseball cap topped her head. How was it that she still managed to look like the hottest thing he had ever seen? Every time he looked her way, his mind went into overdrive as he pictured the lush curves beneath those drab clothes. At the same time, his body remembered how she had felt in his arms and demanded a replay.
Focus. He was in charge