The Phoenix Encounter (18 page)

He moved so quickly she didn't see it coming. One moment she was standing alone, and in the next instant her body was flush against his. He stared at her with a fierce expression, his nostrils flaring.

“Don't ever say that,” he said between clenched teeth.

“It has to be said.”

“Damn it, Lily—”

“I need to know Jack will be—”

Her words were cut off abruptly when he crushed his mouth to hers. Anger that he would kiss her when she was trying to say something so important sparked at the back of her brain. But that spark was quickly doused by the feel of his mouth against hers. The taste of desperation on his lips. The emotion pounding through her with every beat of her heart.

He released her an instant later. Lily stumbled back, stunned by the truth of the moment, shocked even more by how badly it had shaken her. Robert stood a few feet away from her, breathing hard, looking every bit as shaken as she felt.

“It doesn't have to be like this,” he said.

“Once the transfusion is complete, I'm going to meet with the rebels.”

“No, damn it.”

“Robert, I need to do this. I have to.” But even as she said the words, Lily sensed danger. She felt the black presence of impending doom pressing down on her like a thunderhead.

And even with the sun shining and the man she loved close enough to touch, she knew that all would not end well, just as it had not ended well for a little girl named Strawberry.

T
he Hospité de Rajalla was in dismal condition, Robert thought as they entered the building through a rear exit. Two years ago it had been a bustling city within a city, with a state-of-the-art surgical center and two hundred beds. But, like the rest of Rebelia, the civil war had made its mark. The south wing, once the maternity ward, had been so badly damaged it was closed and cordoned off with wooden horses and great sheets of polyurethane. Several of the windows had been broken and hastily repaired with cardboard and tape.

He squashed the uneasy desire to look over his shoulder as they walked down the wide hall toward the bright overhead lights of the nursing center. He felt relatively certain none of DeBruzkya's soldiers had spotted them, but there was no way he could be absolutely sure. He would do everything in his power to expedite Jack's transfusion, then he planned to take Lily and Jack to the ARIES base camp he'd set up when he'd arrived.

If a man and a woman traveling with backpacks and an
infant were out of place, no one gave any indication. Nurses in white uniforms rushed down the wide hallways with purposeful strides, their shoes muted on the tile floor. A female voice blared in rapid Rebelian over the intercom system.

Upon entering the city limits, they'd stuck to the back streets and alleyways. But they'd passed very close to a group of soldiers several blocks from the hospital. Four of them, wearing camouflage and the identifying black berets. They'd been smoking cigarettes and drinking black tea, but Robert hadn't missed their watchful eyes or the automatic weapons strapped to their shoulders.

“Do you think those soldiers noticed us?” Lily asked.

Robert looked over at her, felt the familiar pull and tried hard not to think about all the things that could go wrong while they were here. “I think they were too busy showing off those nifty new uniforms to the women at the café across the street.”

She shot him a quick smile. “Especially the one in the short skirt.”

“She had nice legs.”

She arched a brow.

He rolled his shoulder. “Hey, I'm a doctor. I appreciate fine anatomy.”

She huffed. “Well, she didn't look very impressed.”

If he hadn't been so tense he might have laughed. Even in a time of war life went on, he thought. Young men tried to impress young women. People laughed and cried and overcame.

Men and women fell in love.

He looked at her, felt an odd quiver in his gut. Several strands of hair had broken free of the ponytail and curled around her face. A face that was pale and smooth and so beautiful he couldn't take his eyes off her.

For a crazy moment he wanted to stop her, draw her to him and kiss her until she forgot all about the rebellion. Until she forgot about everything except him and Jack and a future that was growing dimmer with every step they
took. But he knew even if he kissed her now, she would still do what she deemed necessary. No matter how many times he asked her not to. No matter how dangerous.

He looked down at Jack, and a different kind of emotion gripped him. The baby stared at him with guileless blue eyes and reached out to grasp his chin with pudgy fingers. Turning his head slightly, Robert kissed his son's tiny hand and tried not to think about how badly it was going to hurt to lose him.

They reached the nurse's station, and a pretty young woman with dark eyes and a friendly smile greeted them in Rebelian.

“We're looking for Dr. Orloff,” Robert answered in perfect Rebelian.

“I just saw him a few minutes ago,” she said. “Let me page him for you.”

Several minutes later Dr. Roman Orloff came through a set of double swinging doors. He was about six feet tall and wore the traditional white lab coat over dark slacks and a colorful sweater. He spotted Robert immediately and headed in their direction at a determined clip.

“Dr. Mercier! Good to see you. I trust you didn't have any problems getting here?” He was grinning a bit too brightly. His eyes swept to Lily and Jack then back to Robert.

“Thanks for seeing us, Roman,” Robert said quietly.

Dr. Orloff extended his hand. “Don't say anything,” he said in a low voice, never losing his overzealous smile. “Follow me. Smile a lot. Don't look directly at anyone.”

A surge of adrenaline skittered through Robert. “What is it?”

“You two are wanted. There are signs everywhere.”

“Have soldiers been here?”

“Not yet, but I'm sure they'll come eventually.”

Robert felt Lily's eyes on him, but he didn't look at her. The weight of the decision he was about to make weighed
down on him, staggering him. “Do you have a safe room?” he asked.

Orloff nodded. “It's in the basement.”

“Can we do the transfusion down there?”

“Yes.”

“Good. The baby took a turn for the worse earlier,” Robert said and followed him into the elevator.

 

The basement made Lily feel claustrophobic. The ceilings were low. There were no windows. Dim overhead lighting revealed water stains on drooping acoustic tiles. As she and Robert and Dr. Orloff walked down the narrow hall, she cuddled Jack and reminded herself that they were safe here. Still, those internal reassurances did little to alleviate the knot of fear in her stomach.

It had taken them nearly ten minutes to reach the safe room. The main elevator had taken them to the third floor, where part of the wall had been damaged by some kind of explosion. From there they'd taken a narrow stairway down to a freight elevator. The car had rattled and shook as it lowered them to the basement.

“The procedure room is very well maintained.” Dr. Orloff removed a set of keys from his trousers and inserted a key into a locked door. He shoved it open and hit a light switch set into the wall.

Lily blinked against the sudden bright light. The room closely resembled an operating room. Two beds dominated the center of the room. Gleaming stainless steel counters surrounded them on three sides. A double stainless steel sink was set into the opposite wall. Floor-to-ceiling glass-front cabinets comprised the wall to her right.

“I'm impressed,” Robert said.

Orloff grinned. “It's not George Washington University, but it'll do in a pinch.”

“And then some.”

“We've treated our share of rebels in this hospital.” Dr.
Orloff looked at Lily. “Doesn't do much for our funding to advertise that sort of thing.”

“What are your capabilities?” Robert asked.

“We've got it all. Oxygen. X-ray machine. MRI room two doors down. Refrigeration for blood storage, though our supplies are critically low.” He motioned toward the cabinets. “Our medications are low, but we've got the essentials.”

“I can donate blood,” Lily blurted.

Both men looked over at her.

“I mean, for your blood bank,” she said.

Robert looked at her. “Both of us can donate.”

“I'm not going to turn you down. We need blood desperately.” Dr. Orloff shrugged. “Of course, we're fresh out of juice and cookies.”

Lily choked out a pent-up laugh. She looked at Jack, realized she'd been so preoccupied with getting him to the hospital safely, she hadn't yet asked about the transfusion. “How is the transfusion done?”

“Very simple,” Dr. Orloff said. “We're going to sedate Jack and transfer a very small amount of blood-bank blood to him.”

Robert walked to Lily and eased Jack from her arms. “Because of the hemoedema, Jack's circulation is affected, and his organs aren't getting the amount of blood they need to function properly. He needs a bone marrow transplant, but a transfusion will increase his red blood cell count and his blood volume. It should last several weeks.”

Lily's arms felt empty without Jack. She'd told herself she wasn't going to let this upset her, but as she watched Robert lay her baby on the bed, a stab of melancholy went right through her center. All she'd ever wanted was for him to be healthy and happy and have all the things she hadn't.

Like a mother and father.

The thought seemed to come out of nowhere and hit her with surprising force. Vaguely, she was aware of Dr. Orloff scrubbing with iodine soap up to his elbows, humming a
tune that was much too cheery for this dreary basement room. Unbearably anxious, she stood next to Robert and watched him administer the sedation. Jack cried briefly, then settled, his eyes drooping. “He looks so tiny lying there all alone,” she said.

“He's not alone,” Robert said. “We're with him. He's going to be fine.”

She looked at him and in the blue depths of his eyes she saw the truth of those words, felt it in her heart. And as impossible as it seemed, she knew that somehow things were going to work out.

“Here we go.”

Lily stepped back when Dr. Orloff walked over to them with the tray upon which was the intravenous needle.

“Let me,” Robert said.

Dr. Orloff passed the needle to Robert. Lily watched, transfixed, as Robert expertly inserted the IV into Jack's tiny vein. She winced when Jack whimpered. She leaned toward him and put her hand on his forehead. “It's all right, sweetheart,” she said quietly. “Mommy's right here.”

“He's doing great,” Robert said once the needle was in place.

“I think I'm the wreck,” she said.

“You're doing fine.”

“I'm glad it's you who's doing this.”

Her heart beat a little fast when he smiled at her, but the moment was broken when Dr. Orloff rolled the wheeled IV tree and collapsible bag of donor blood. “Thirty milliliters. Type A.”

Robert double-checked the label, then attached the length of tube to the IV needle in Jack's arm. “Right.”

“How long will this take,” Lily asked.

“About an hour.” Without looking at her, Robert crossed to the second bed, kicked the brake up and rolled it closer to the bed where Jack lay. “You're exhausted. Why don't you lie down and try to get some sleep?”

She shook her head automatically. “There's no way I can sleep with Jack—”

“Dr. Orloff will be here to monitor him.”

“Where are you going?”

Robert grimaced. “I've got to check in with one of my colleagues.”

Lily wasn't sure why, but she didn't believe him. Ever since he'd come to her door she'd sensed that he was keeping secrets from her. She couldn't imagine why. But if she'd learned anything since coming to Rebelia, it was that ignorance was never bliss.

“You're lying to me,” she said quietly. “And I don't understand why.”

Dr. Orloff looked at them sharply from his place at the counter across the room, then returned his attention to the chart as if realizing he was eavesdropping on a personal conversation. Glancing over his shoulder, Robert took her arm and guided her to the door, then into the hall and closed the door behind them. “Don't ask any more questions, Lily. I'm not going to answer them.”

“You're not telling me something.”

“I'm not telling you a lot of things.”

“That makes me feel a hell of a lot better.”

“You're going to have to trust me on this.”

“I do. I just…don't like being kept in the dark.”

He stared at her for a long time before speaking, then removed a tiny disk the size of a watch battery from his breast pocket. “I want you to keep this on you at all times,” he said.

Lily opened her hand and he dropped the disk into her palm. “What is it?”

“Don't ask me that, Lily,” he said. “Please. Just…trust me. Keep it for me, okay? Keep it with you at all times no matter what.”

“All right,” she said, baffled and growing increasingly anxious.

“When I come back, I want you to come with me to give a statement to some people I've been working with.”

“
Statement?
What are you talking about?”

“I'm talking about Bruno DeBruzkya.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I think you know him.”

“What's going on, Robert?”

“I can't tell you.”

“Damn it—”

Jaw tight, he yanked open the door and crossed to where his backpack leaned against the wall and hefted it over his shoulder. “Dr. Orloff, if you need me for any reason you've got the number to my satellite phone.”

Orloff looked up from the counter where he was hunched over a board, scribbling. “Yes, of course.”

Robert turned to Lily. “Stay with Jack. Try to get some rest.”

A swirl of panic coiled inside her. “Where are you going?”

Instead of answering, Robert leaned close to her, cupped the back of her head and kissed her hard on the mouth. The question fizzled, and for a staggering moment all Lily could think about was the way his mouth felt against hers. The gentle pressure of his lips. The taste that was uniquely his. The firm press of his body against hers. The reassuring strength that seemed to emanate from him. And the myriad emotions uncoiling inside her every time she was close to him.

An instant later he released her. “We'll finish this when I get back.”

“Don't leave,” she said.

“I'll be back.” He raised his hand, brushed his fingers gently across her cheek, then looked at Orloff. “Keep an eye on them.”

The urge to rush to him and keep him from leaving was strong, but Lily held her ground. Feeling desperate and helpless and unreasonably frightened, she watched him walk out the door.

 

Robert skirted the main street, sticking to the alleys, bombed-out buildings and interior courtyards whenever possible. There seemed to be an inordinate number of soldiers in the city—a hell of a lot more than he'd expected. He tried to reassure himself that the soldiers had nothing to do with two wanted Americans, but he didn't believe it.

Even though the morning was cool, he was sweating profusely as he made his way up the narrow wooden staircase and used his key to open the door. The apartment smelled of old wood and dust motes, but Robert barely noticed as he crossed to the satellite radio he'd set up on the floor.