LITMIR.BIZ

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of the emotion that swept through him.

      Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maja go down, and he wanted to roar like a wounded animal in response. He would never have imagined himself capable of anything so primal and raw. Thought took second place to feeling. Acting on nothing but instinct, he raised his arm and fired an answering shot.

      Adam’s bullet hit the rebel in the throat; the man’s body hitting the red dust shook the mission workers into action. Two of the militants had been taken out, which meant their chances were improving. Seizing the initiative, they turned on their attackers. Although gunshots rang out, Adam didn’t see anyone get hit. But that might have been because his attention was on Maja.

      After being struck by the bullet, she had dropped to one knee. Now, she was up again and powering forward at a run that would put an Olympic sprinter to shame. Adam shook his head to clear it. He had seen that bullet hit her square in the center of her body. She should be dead or dying, sprawled in the Syrian dust.

      She’s real, but she’s not human.

      Right now, he couldn’t see a problem with that. As Maja thundered into the fight, sword discarded, Adam was very thankful to have an invincible warrior princess on his side. He watched in admiration as, in one stylish movement, she brought a foot up under the chin of one of the rebels while swinging her elbow full force into the windpipe of another. They would be debilitating blows in any circumstances. He had a feeling, from the way those men crumpled like discarded toys, that from Maja, they were more. She must have a strength over and beyond anything mortal. Those men were never getting up again. The fifth rebel clearly shared his conviction and attempted to run.

      “We can’t let him get away.” Edith sounded almost regretful. “If he goes back to his masters and tells them what happened here, the mission is finished.”

      Adam helped her to her feet. Edith turned her face away as one of the mission workers fired the final shot at the fifth attacker.

      “We need to dispose of these bodies. Fast.” Adam’s face was grim. Had he ever envisaged a situation in which he would utter those words?

      As he surveyed the scene, Maja moved toward the drystone wall. As she neared the gap, Tarek burst through the opening and hurled himself into her arms, twining his small body around her like a monkey climbing a tree. An unusually subdued Leo came to sit at her feet.

      “Don’t leave me, Maja.” The boy’s desperate plea reached Adam’s ears.

      Maja’s voice was soft and reassuring as she cradled Tarek to her. “You are safe now. We won’t let them hurt you.”

      Her eyes met Adam’s over Tarek’s head and there was a silent appeal in those blue depths. When she said “we,” she meant the two of them. With an emotion close to shock, he realized he would be the boy’s rescuer. He would do whatever it took to keep him safe, and do it happily. For the first time since Danny’s disappearance, Adam had someone to care for. He might not like the circumstances, but he didn’t dislike the feeling.

      Edith was organizing the removal of the bodies. Her men would load them onto the mission truck and drive them out into the desert. Sadly, a pile of anonymous corpses lying in the red sand was not uncommon. Their clothing, with its telltale Reaper insignia, would be burned. No one wanted the Reapers seeking revenge for the deaths of their comrades.

      While that activity was taking place outside, Maja carried a terrified Tarek into the building.

      “I know you told me to run.” He turned his head to look at Adam, who had followed them inside. “But my legs would not work.”

      * * *

      “It’s okay.” Maja could see the lines of pain etched into Adam’s face and wondered how he was still standing. “My legs were feeling the same way.”

      They went into the kitchen and sat at the table that occupied the center of the room. There was a jug of water and Maja poured glasses for Tarek and Adam. They both gulped the lukewarm liquid gratefully.

      “Why were those men looking for you, Tarek?” There was a gentle note in Adam’s voice that surprised Maja.

      Tarek’s hand tightened convulsively in Maja’s and he turned wide eyes to hers as if seeking reassurance. “You are not in any trouble,” she explained. “We can only help you if we know the truth.”

      Her words seemed to help him reach a decision and he nodded. “It is because I know who he is.” He drew a deep breath as though the words were being dragged up from somewhere deep inside him. “The one they call ‘the Reaper.’”

      Maja was watching Adam’s face and she could tell Tarek’s admission had a powerful effect on him. His eyes darkened and a frown line pulled his brows together. She sensed he was trying not to express disbelief, and she was glad when he won his internal battle. She might not know much about these things, but if they were going to support Tarek, they had to show him that they believed him unconditionally.

      “I don’t understand.” Maja looked from Tarek to Adam. “Who is this man?”

      “The Reaper is a vicious murderer and one of the most feared terrorist masterminds in the world,” Adam said. “His network extends across the globe, but his headquarters are thought to be in this part of the world. I’m saying ‘thought to be’ because no one really knows anything about him. His true identity is carefully concealed. Armed forces have been hunting him for the last two years with no luck.”

      While his words revealed a disgust for the man who could unleash that sort of terror on the world, they didn’t explain the sadness she had seen when he first heard Tarek’s words. Sensitivity wasn’t Maja’s strong point, and patience was not considered a virtue in the Valkyrie, but she decided to wait in case Adam had more to say. After about a minute, during which he appeared lost in thought, he spoke again.

      “A bomb was planted in the office of my Boston newspaper headquarters after we published an article condemning the activities of his terrorist group. Luckily, a security guard saw a suspicious package and raised the alarm before it went off, so no one was killed. The building was destroyed.”

      He smiled, and her heart gave a strange little leap. It was most perplexing, because there was no one she could go to for advice about that. She suspected there was nothing actually wrong with her heart, and that its erratic behavior was an Adam-related occurrence. Until now, she had never envied mortals. Their lives seemed short and drab. Now, she wondered if she might have been wrong. If she had been a mortal woman, she probably would have been able to ask someone about the unnerving effect Adam had on her. She could always ask him, of course. Maybe just not right now...

      “And the heroic security guard is still alive, so he wasn’t picked up by one of your squad mates and transported to Valhalla.”

      The words heralded a change in approach. They were a definite signal that he no longer viewed her as a figment of his imagination. Which meant he knew what had happened between them had been real. Real and devastating. The thought tipped her world slightly off balance. She had an uncomfortable feeling Adam knew exactly what she was thinking. How had it suddenly gotten so hard to breathe?

      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.’

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