Authors: Celeste Anwar
Almost instantly, as if he knew her though she knew
he couldn’t possibly remember her after so long, he began to quiet, snuffling
as he nuzzled his face against her chest. It took her several moments to
realize he was searching for the milk he smelled.
She looked up to discover that Jesse was watching
her. Her chin wobbled so hard she could barely speak. “He’s hungry.”
His lips tightened. “Wait here and feed him,” he
said harshly, motioning for the men to precede him from the room.
She wanted to, and yet she was fearful they would
be caught if she lingered to feed the baby.
Jesse wouldn’t have suggested it, though, if he’d
thought they would be in danger.
Moving away from the bodies of the techs, Erin
quickly unfastened her shirt and pushed the cup of her bra down, guiding the
baby to her breast.
He snorted as he finally found what he’d been
looking for, grabbing it and tugging on it for all he was worth. Such
happiness filled Erin she thought for several moments that she wouldn’t be able
to contain it. The urge to laugh was nearly overwhelming. She muffled the
sound, which erupted as a little snort that was almost her undoing.
Cuddling the baby close, she covered her mouth
with one hand.
Hysteria.
He was so adorable, though.
Ignoring the sounds of mass destruction she was
only vaguely aware of anyway, of muffled cries and screams and crashing, Erin
carefully examined the baby while he ate, lifting his foot where the needle had
been to kiss it. When she lifted her head again, she saw that Joshua had
opened his eyes to look at her questioningly--as if he was wondering what the
hell she was doing hanging over him while he was trying to eat.
She bit her lip to keep from chuckling.
He looked just like Jesse when he glared at her.
As if the thought had summoned him, Jesse
appeared in the doorway at that moment. “Time to go,” he said shortly.
Nodding, Erin tugged her nipple from the baby’s
mouth. The moment she did, he set up a wail of displeasure. She looked at
Jesse a little helplessly.
“He’s as hard headed as his mother, I see,” he
murmured wryly. “He’ll have to eat on the run, though. We’ve got trouble
heading our way.”
A shockwave of fear rolled over Erin. Lifting
her head, she heard the distant sound of gunfire and realized she’d been
hearing sporadic fire for several minutes. Tightening her hold on the baby,
she rushed from the room and down the corridor. Joshua lost his grip and began
to complain again, but Erin doubted his weak cries were loud enough to filter
very far.
Jesse grabbed her when she headed toward the elevator,
guiding her toward the stairwell instead. When he’d opened the door and
examined the area from top to bottom, he swept Erin and Joshua into his arms
and started pounding down the stairs. Alarmed at the rate of descent, Erin
clutched at Jesse with her free hand. “I can run,” she finally managed to say.
“I can run faster,” Jesse retorted.
“You can’t shoot and run with us in your arms,”
Erin shot back at him.
He ignored that. Someone burst through the door
on the next level down as they neared it. Before the guard could bring his
weapon up, Jesse slammed into the door with his shoulder. The man flew
backward, uttering a horrible gagging noise as he was crushed between the metal
door and its frame.
Erin shrieked as Jesse leapt over the railing. The
impact when they landed on the landing below gave her whiplash. A headache
blossomed behind her eyes almost instantly. Worriedly, she glanced down at the
baby, but he seemed to have been cushioned from the controlled fall. His eyes
were wide and curious when she leaned back to look at him. Relieved, she
cuddled him against her chest again, cupping the back of his head to protect
him from jarring injury as Jessie leapt over the next railing, sailing downward
to the level below.
When they landed jarringly, Jesse’s hand was
cupped firmly against her head that time, protecting her as she protected the
baby.
The storage level, Erin was relieved to see, was
still empty of threat.
Setting Erin on her feet, Jesse dropped the vinyl
bag he’d been carrying, jerked the zipper open and rifled through the contents
until he’d unearthed a flashlight. The bag contained electronics of some sort,
Erin saw, but she was still more in the dark than enlightened.
Looking up at her, Jesse lifted the flashlight.
“Go down to the cavern and wait for me there.”
“You’re not coming?” Erin gasped, fear surging
through her all over again.
“I need five minutes… ten at the most with one of
their terminals to plant a virus to destroy the data they’ve collected. Just
be careful. I don’t think they’ve had time to send anyone to the cavern, but
we can’t be sure of anything. Move quietly, quickly, and carefully. If you
hear anything, anything at all, turn around and head back this way. We’ll be
right behind you.”
Erin nodded shakily. She wanted to argue with
him, but she knew it was worse than useless. He wouldn’t listen and all she
would be doing would be adding to the danger by delaying him.
He grabbed her shoulders before she could leave,
jerking her to him and hugging her and the baby briefly. Erin stumbled back
when he released her almost as abruptly, staring up at him. “Jesse, I….” She
stopped, licking her lips nervously, but she couldn’t bring herself to say what
she wanted to. “We need you. Don’t take any unnecessary chances.”
Nodding, Jesse hefted the bag and headed back
toward the stairs.
Erin watched him until he’d disappeared, hoping
it wouldn’t be the last time she ever saw him. Resolutely, she turned when
he’d vanished from her sight and rushed across the wide cavern toward the
opening. She paused when she reached it, holding her breath to listen. When
she heard nothing, she flicked the flashlight on and began the long trek down,
pausing every few minutes to listen.
Dismay filled Erin when she reached the cavern at
last. The water had risen until it was lapping over the ledge where they’d
come ashore and the dingy was no where in sight.
Chapter Fourteen
Joshua began to fuss as Erin paced the ledge that
was growing narrower every moment, it seemed, as the water continued to rise.
They weren’t going to make it. There was no way
to get out. Soon, if the tide didn’t begin to turn, she would have to retreat
back up the passageway.
Stifling the urge to give in to despair, Eric
gave the baby her other breast, stroking him soothingly while he fed. Within
moments, he’d fallen asleep. Holding him awkwardly with one arm, Erin adjusted
her clothing, then settled him against her shoulder and commenced to pacing
again, trying to think of some alternative other than simply returning and
allowing them to be captured.
There wasn’t an alternative and she knew it.
This was the only way out, unless Jesse and the others killed everyone in the
facility.
She was tempted to march back and demand that he
wipe them out so that she could take her baby home.
She wasn’t an idiot or some weak minded female!
She was intelligent. She was a scientist! She was accustomed to making her
own decisions.
She’d never had to make a decision for anyone
else, though, particularly not a helpless baby.
If not for Joshua, she could swim out.
But what would be the point if she couldn’t take
him?
She’d wondered if it was right to risk his life
to save him, but she no longer had any doubts. If they hadn’t come, he would
not have lived much longer. She was his only hope. She had to think of
something!
Erin had already started back up the passage with
no clear objective in her mind when she heard the sounds of men coming toward
her. Panic instantly gripped her and she whirled and raced back to the cavern,
looking wildly around for a place to hide.
There
was
no place to hide.
Rushing to the lantern, which was still lit, Erin
blew the flame out and crouched against the cave wall furthest from the passage,
curling into as tiny a ball as she could manage.
“
Chère
?”
“Jesse?” Erin gasped, surging up, but afraid to
move when she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. In a moment she felt
the warmth of his nearness.
“We have to go. The men are back from the
assault on the compound.”
“We can’t get out! The cave entrance is
completely under water … and the dingy floated away.”
Jesse was silent for several moments. She felt
him move slightly away from her, heard the splash and clank as he dropped the
bag onto the ledge and poured the contents out. “Give him to me.”
“You can’t put him in the bag!” Erin exclaimed,
horrified at the very idea.
“It’ll protect him while we swim out.”
“It’ll leak.”
Uttering a sound of impatience, Jesse disappeared
for a moment. A light came on and Erin saw that he’d settled a flashlight on
an outcropping of rock to illuminate the area. Bending down, he filled the bag
with water and lifted it. Erin stared at the bag blankly, but she realized
after a moment that the water wasn’t pouring out of it. If it would hold
water, it would hold the water out.
She didn’t like the idea of putting Joshua in a
wet bag, but she hardly had a choice.
After pouring the water out and shaking as much
moisture from it as he could, Jesse set the bag on the rocky ledge again and
dove into the water. His head surfaced a moment later. At the far side of the
cavern, he caught the loose dingy and towed it back.
When he reached the ledge again, he met the gaze
of the Lycans, who were waiting for orders, and jerked his head in the
direction of the cave entrance. Almost as one, they dove in and headed for the
mouth of the cave, disappearing when they neared it.
“We’re not going to be able to get the dingy
out,” Erin said, placing the baby in the bag and leaning down to set the bag
carefully in the bottom of the dingy.
“Let me worry about that.”
Erin slid into the water, gasping sharply in
surprise to discover that it was colder than she’d expected. Together, she and
Jesse guided the dingy across the small pool.
“How well do you swim?”
“Well enough,” Erin said grimly.
“Well enough to carry the baby?”
She nodded jerkily, trying to fight down the
terror that was threatening to consume her. Jesse lifted the bag from the
dingy, closed the zipper tightly and handed it to her. “I’ll meet you on the
other side.”
Erin clutched the handle of the bag in a death
grip, summoning the courage to dive with her baby inside of it. Finally,
feeling vaguely nauseated from her fear, she pulled the bag close, sucked in
several deep breaths and dove. The bag, filled with air, was very nearly
ripped from her grasp. Erin found herself fighting the current and the bag as
she struggled blindly through the opening. It seemed to take forever. Her
lungs felt like they were on fire by the time she managed to surface on the
other side.
The moon was nearing the far horizon, but there
was still enough light for her to see well enough to move away from the
entrance. That, too, was a struggle, for the current was flowing strongly into
the cave, as if the cave was sucking the water inside.
Her teeth were chattering by the time the dingy
popped through the opening. Relieved, Erin rushed to catch it before it could
be dashed against the rocks. When Jesse surfaced, he had to pry the bag from
her fingers and lift it into the boat. Grabbing her as soon as he’d settled
the bag, Jesse lifted her up until she could slip into the dingy behind the
baby. With shaking fingers, she jerked at the zipper, struggling and finally
managing to open the bag wide enough to see Joshua. An indignant threat of a
cry greeted her and Erin felt like melting with relief.
She discovered when she’d scooped him from the
bag that he was wet all over and shivering, whether because he was cold or
frightened she wasn’t certain, but she pulled him close, trying to convey her
own warmth when she had little to give.