8. Nataliya
EIGHT
“So, you and Adrian, huh?” Emily asked later as we prepared a light dinner for everyone. Nate was still finding a new license plate, and when he called to check in, Adrian asked him to pick up two fresh burner phones. Adrian’s phone was bureau-issued and as secure as it could possibly be, and I’d been using a burner phone already—no need to tie myself to a phone plan when I could just pay as I went—but it still seemed safer to start over with new numbers. Adrian would power down his agency phone and take out the battery, and we would ditch my old phone.
I jolted at Emily’s question. “Wha—?” She smiled, knowingly, and I shook my head. “There is nothing between Adrian and me…I’ve only known him for a few days, and this is just a mission, and—” Her smile never faltered, and I stole a glance into the living room where Adrian was entertaining the boys and sighed. “I don’t want there to be anything between us.”
“But?” Emily prompted.
I nearly bit my tongue. “But, I mean, look at him.”
She chuckled. “I know.” When I looked at her, maybe a touch sharply, she laughed again. “Don’t worry. I have my own SEAL to cuddle up with at night.”
“Cuddling is the last thing I’m thinking about,” I said mournfully. What the hell am I saying!? I barely knew this woman, but here I was, gossiping like we had been friends for ages. And admitting things that I rarely even admitted to myself—like how much I missed sex. Limiting my social life had been the smart choice, both so I could keep a low profile and so I could be there for Elias whenever he needed me, but that didn’t keep me from getting lonely. It had been a long damn time since I’d had a man in my bed, for cuddling or anything else. I groaned and tried to refocus on the apples I was currently massacring. “I don’t even know where my head is,” I groused. “Elias and I have been just fine for years, and suddenly?—”
“Suddenly there he is. Big and gorgeous, and he’s protecting you and your son.”
She could read me like a book. “That sounds shallow.”
“Only if you see him as a piece of meat to slobber over.”
I wrinkled my nose. Adrian was a lot more than just a body. He was protective, yes, but he was also sweet. Once he’d understood just how hard traveling was for Elias in his condition, he’d gone out of his way to make it as easy as possible for us. He was smart too. Tracking me down had not been an easy task—I made sure of it—but he’d done it. “He’s more than what he looks like,” I said.
Emily hummed. “Then, it’s not shallow to want to climb him a little. So long as you respect him.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. God, how long had it been since I’d done that—deep and true from the belly? “What are you two laughing about?” Adrian asked, coming around the corner.
“Boy mom stuff,” Emily answered immediately.
Adrian didn’t look like he believed us, but he offered to grab the kids so we could get dinner on the table. It was a simple meal: sandwiches, chips, and the fruit that survived my knife wielding. Emily had apologized for having bare cupboards—they’d initially planned to head back home the next day, so they were getting close to the end of the supplies they had bought.
I didn’t mind simple meals. Sometimes, that was all Elias was willing to try to eat anyway. Even when he wasn’t hungry, I could usually get him to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich easily enough. I couldn’t understand America’s or my son’s obsession with peanut butter, but some days, it was the only way to put protein in his body. I would never turn it down.
As Emily and I were moving the plates to the table, Nate came through the door, plastic bag slung over his arm. His expression was bleak; it sucked all of the previous amusement from the room. “What happened?” Emily asked.
“They put up a missing child’s poster,” he said. “With Elias’s picture on it. The poster is legitimate. Hayes really is pulling out all the stops.”
Bile splashed the back of my throat. “Could I end up being arrested?” I asked.
Adrian winced, but he didn’t sugarcoat his answer. I appreciated that. “You could,” he said, “and if they have your real name, it stands to reason they could alert ICE about the falsified documents. They could separate you and Elias, and it would be very hard to get him back.”
A shiver ran down my spine; my hands trembled, and I pressed them against the counter in an effort to steady them. “What can we do?” I asked, even though my first instinct was to snatch Elias and run like someone was trying to set us ablaze. You trust these people, I had to remind myself. Adrian isn’t a bad man. And running away from him won’t protect you. It’ll just make you more vulnerable.
Nate held up a set of keys. “Get to Birmingham and figure out your next steps from there. You shouldn’t have any problems in our car.” He tossed the keys to Adrian. “Don’t get pulled over. If you have to take a break, don’t do it at a rest stop, if you can avoid it. I filled up the tank, but if you have to stop at a gas station to use the bathroom or buy something to eat, Adrian should be the one making any purchases since it’s just you and Elias in the photos and the Amber alert, Nataliya. They say you’re traveling with an ‘unidentified man,’ but they haven’t named Adrian or used his picture.”
“Why not?” I couldn’t help asking. “Surely, they know who he is. Hayes put a tracker on his car.”
“They’ve gotten the local police involved,” Adrian explained grimly. “Which means they have to make their claims look legit. If they admit you’re traveling with a federal agent, their story that you kidnapped your son won’t be plausible. So they’ll just imply that I’m some random scumbag who’s helping you break the law.”
I nodded to show I understood. “Our bags—” I asked.
“Are on the porch,” Adrian said. “I’ll start loading them into the trunk.” He glanced behind into the living room. “Want me to break it to Elias?”
I shook my head. “It’s better if it’s me.” He was used to me taking him away from playmates. Rounding the corner, I watched Elias with Matthew—he was taking such care to include the little boy in their game, not to run over him and take over. My heart clenched. “Sakharok.”
Elias looked up, smiling, but my expression wiped it away in moments. “Can’t we stay? Just for a little while longer?”
I shook my head. “I’m so sorry?—”
Where my son was usually quietly sad and accepting, today Elias’s face screwed up in frustration. “I don’t want to go,” he said, petulant.
“Sakharok, we can’t stay—it’s not safe,” I said, keeping my tone level but firm.
He pointed at Matthew, who was watching us with owlish eyes. “But it’s safe for him?! He’s younger than I am, even if I am sick, so why should it be safer for him?”
“This isn’t about being sick or being young. You know what this is about. We’ve talked about the bad men.” Still, he glared and refused to get up. “Elias, I am not asking,” I said. “We are going as soon as the trunk is packed, and that is that.”
He all but snarled at me, like an angry cat. “I hate this,” he declared, and even if he didn’t say it, I heard the and I hate you loud and clear. He stood and stomped to the front door.
When he threw it open, I fully expected for it to slam against the wall…but I didn’t even hear it. Not when all I could see was three men in tactical gear with guns. They had been aiming their weapons at Adrian, who had his hands raised over his head, but the noise of Elias trying to stomp his way out of the house startled everyone, and one of the men swung around, pointing his gun at him.
I was across the room in an instant, tugging him behind me. I heard Nate move, but I resisted the urge to look away from the man pointing a gun in my face. “Nataliya Koza,” the man said, voice muffled behind a mask, “you are under arrest for the kidnapping of Elias Koza. Please kneel and put your hands behind your back.”
My eyes slid to Adrian, who shook his head. These men weren’t the police. “Let me see a warrant,” I said, straightening my shoulders to the best of my ability. Remain calm, I told myself.
“Kneel and put your hands behind your back,” the man reiterated.
“After you show me a warrant,” I shot back. “Or a badge.”
The man took a menacing step in my direction. The other two men were watching us…which meant they weren’t watching Adrian. Apparently, that was the opening he had been looking for, because he was off the ground in an instant and launching himself at the man who was closest to me. He was able to knock the gun out of his hands, and Nate was there to grab it. He swung and aimed it at the other two men who immediately crouched down beside the car.
Where had they come from? The only cars in front of the house were Nate and Emily’s and mine. These men must have come out of the woods.
With a sickening crunch, Adrian put the man who had aimed at me on the ground. He was breathing…but that was about all he was doing. Adrian looked at me. “Close the door, Nataliya.”
I complied and retreated to where Emily had gathered the boys and pushed them behind her, shielding them. “It’s going to be okay,” I murmured as she looped her arm through mine. Her fingers dug into my arm, no doubt leaving bruises, with every gunshot or shout from outside.
“Mama,” Elias sniffled behind me.
I shook my head. “Not now.” There had to be a back door. We needed to move that way. Just in case. We needed a backup plan. “Come on,” I murmured to Emily. “We need to get out of the living room.”
She nodded sharply. “Right. Let’s go.” She followed me as we crept out of the living room and headed toward the back of the house. Like I thought, there was a back exit that went out to a private porch.
Before I could open the sliding glass door as quietly as possible, the front door into the living room burst open like someone kicked it. So much for stealth. I threw the back door open, and we ran for it, each with our son in our arms.
“The woods,” I panted. “Don’t run in a straight line.”
We crashed into the trees, skidding on fallen leaves as we went. The brush was dense, but it didn’t feel like enough cover. Finally, a thick tangle of branches and leaves caught my eye, and I pointed it out to Emily. We took cover, making sure the boys were hidden best of all. “No talking,” I murmured against Elias’s hair. He was shaking in my grasp. No doubt in some pain and terrified out of his mind. This was worse than Las Vegas. At least then they hadn’t shot at anything, just ran after us.
For all the commotion from before, things were quiet now—almost eerily so. I could hear Emily trying to steady her breathing beside me, and I found her hand and squeezed. He’s okay, I tried to send her. He’s going to be just fine.
But what about Adrian?
My heart lurched at the thought of him hurt. “Em!” It was Nate. “Matty!”
She squeezed my hand again, and we scrambled back out from our hiding place. Nate and Adrian, both looking worse for wear, stood nearby. Emily and Matthew practically threw themselves at Nate, who hugged them back just as fiercely.
The impulse to do the same to Adrian was…stronger than it should have been. But I resisted, instead holding Elias to me all the tighter. He squeaked out a protest but didn’t push me away. On the contrary, he clung to me like he hadn’t since he was just a toddler. My poor baby—this really had scared him.
“You’re hurt!” he said to Adrian, horrified. Looking over, I saw that he was right. Adrian was bleeding from a cut in his temple, and his shirt was wet at the shoulder. “Are you okay?” I asked, breathless.
“Fine, but we need to go.”
“There might be more coming,” Nate said. “I can clean up this mess here. You two need to keep moving though. Get to Owen and the others in Birmingham.”
I wasn’t about to argue, and Elias didn’t say a word of protest as we made our way back to the car. “Close your eyes, sakharok,” I said, not sure what we would find when we rounded the house. “Don’t open them until I say.”
The men were unconscious and bound, and I barely spared them a glance as I carried Elias to Nate and Emily’s car. Getting him settled took a moment, but I shut his door and turned to look at Adrian. He was holding out the keys. “I don’t think I should drive,” he said, voice tight.
“We should get you cleaned up before we go.”
“There’s really no time,” Nate said. “Go as far as you can, over the state line if possible, and at your first stop, patch him up.”
“Okay,” I said and took the keys. I tried to steady my breathing, but for once, it was hard to find my bravery. “Okay,” I said again, more to myself than anyone else.