She sneaked out of her bedchamber and moved as quietly as possible down the hallway. No one saw her, and she thanked whatever being helped aid her. That same being was most likely responsible for her current situation altogether, but she wasn’t going to complain. She had to make it out of the embassy safely.
Anya stepped outside and rushed over to the garage and opened the door. She went inside and looked at the cars available. There were several cars to choose from. Did they really need this many available at the embassy? She stared at them for a moment and then went over to the closest one to the garage door.
She’d have to open that first… Anya had never had to open a garage door before. How did they work? She stared at it for several minutes, trying to figure it out, and frowned. This was going all wrong.
“Why are you in here?” a man asked.
Anya jumped, startled by the sound. She lifted her hand to her chest and took several breaths, then glanced up to meet Arthur Jones’s gaze. “You scared me.”
“I seem to be doing that a lot lately.” He frowned. “You didn’t answer my question.” He didn’t waver once as he stared at her. Anya didn’t doubt for one second he would let her go without an explanation. Should she trust him? He didn’t seem to like Dierk or even Edward Wegner, but that didn’t mean he’d help her.
“I want to take one of the cars.” Would he accept that and let her go without any more details? It might be too much to hope for, but what else did she have?
“Where are you going?” He folded his arms over his chest. “And why are you dressed this way?”
That would be much harder to explain. He wouldn’t take a simple account of her plans. Anastasia probably never did anything she wasn’t supposed to; Anya never followed the rules. She’d done so more than she wanted to since she’d woken up in the wrong time. She sighed. “Would you believe me if I said I wanted to remain anonymous?”
‘Yes,” he said. “The question is why.”
He definitely wasn’t going to make any of this easy for her. “I need to help some children.” He might believe that. Especially since it was the truth. Surely he wouldn’t stand in her way now that she’d been honest with him. He seemed like a good man.
“You’re not in a position to help anyone,” he reminded her. His voice was a combination of sternness and trepidation. “Are you trying to get yourself killed or worse?”
She stared at him. What was worse than being killed? She shook that thought away. Somehow, she didn’t think she wanted to know the answer to that question. “No,” she said quietly. “But I can’t let them be hurt when I could have done something to prevent it.”
He rubbed his hands over his face and let out a groan, then swore a few times. Arthur Jones paced several times and then stopped in front of her suddenly. “All right.”
“All right?” She tilted her head to the side. “I don’t understand.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re beautiful when you’re confused?” Arthur asked.
“No,” she replied, a little surprised at his statement. Then nibbled on her bottom lip. Not that it mattered much. He seemed to like Ana and but he had no idea what she truly looked like—he believed her to be someone else, and that troubled her. It shouldn’t bother her, but it did. “That doesn’t tell me anything either.”
“All right, I’ll help you.” He gestured toward the car. “Get in. It’s going to be a long night, and we don’t have much time left.”
Anya didn’t stop to question his motivations. She was grateful for the help. It also surprised her a little he didn’t question what she wanted to do. Though it shouldn’t have… He’d been in the car too when Dierk and Edward had discussed the raid. Hopefully they wouldn’t come to regret their decision to help those kids. They still had to make it to them in time.
