“Hmmm.”I shook my head at her impish tone.“Your job is still to do as you’re told.”
“I don’t remember agreeing to that.”She sighed dramatically.“You’re not my commander general anymore, you know.”
“I’ll always be your commander general.”Lowering my head, I grazed a kiss on her forehead.“And I’m telling you to go back to sleep.We still have hours before Hans will stop to rest.”And even then, who knows how easy it will be for him to let us out for a quick stroll?
“How many hours?”Her brow creased.
“Traffic permitting, it’s almost nine hours from Rotterdam to Zurich.”I hadn’t relayed the expected timings until that moment, and her faltering expression conveyed how little she liked the idea.
“Nine hours?”she groaned.
“In total,” I confirmed.“So, sleep.I’ll wake you when we stop.”
She pulled in a slow breath.“Okay, you win, Sir.”
I chuckled at how she made that sound.Taking Caroline as my prize meant that, despite my reduced status and our unknown future, I was every inch the winner, and I always would be.I had something Ian and the rest of them would never have, something they could never understand.I had a woman who adored me and who served me, not because she was terrified of the reprisals for refusal, but because she loved me and yearned to obey.
The connection she and I enjoyed was actual magic.
“Sweet dreams, little girl.”Shifting my weight, I stroked the back of her head as she flicked the flashlight off and snuggled into me.Her hand gripped my forearm, and the sound of her contented exhale met my ears.
We weren’t yet in comfortable surroundings, but for the first time in what must have seemed like a lifetime, she was safe.Or as ‘safe’ as anyone on the run could be.Safe enough to be able to rest.
Succumbing to the shroud of darkness as it fell over me once more, I closed my eyes, waiting until the sounds of her rhythmic breath were just about audible over the racket of the lorry.Sitting there in the black, it was difficult to process the extent to which my life had irrevocably altered in the last twenty-four hours, but even in the silent privacy of my thoughts, there was no sense of regret.
I’d got her out, and I’d saved as many other women as I could in the meantime.Not much of an achievement for the man who’d presided over their doom, but it was something, and even more miraculously, neither she nor I had been hurt in the process.Aside from Armitage’s less-than-reassuring news about my neurological health—a conclusion I still needed time to process—everything had gone according to plan.
“We were lucky,” I breathed, absurdly grateful for the way events had unfolded.Apart from the sentry on guard, who I’d had to take out as we fled, there’d been no more bloodshed.Things could have been substantially worse.“Except for the Macmillan mystery.”
I didn’t know for sure that anything awful had befallen my old mentor, but my instinct wasn’t hopeful.He’d been my driver for years and had always been reliable, so I couldn’t understand him being M.I.A.when we needed him.Something must have happened to prevent him from collecting Caroline and me as planned, and even though we’d managed to make it out of the country without his help, I couldn’t help but assume thatsomethingwas sinister.
“Ian.”
Not wanting to stir Caroline, I muttered his name through my gritted teeth, my eyes opening to the gloom.I had no explanation as to how the man who was my so-called superior all those years could have intercepted our plans, or why, if he had known about them, he hadn’t come for us.
Tension tightened in my stomach at the idea that he could still be waiting out there for us, like an omnipresent threat we could battle and never win, but it was a ridiculous concern.Ian had no jurisdiction anywhere in Europe, and without me at the helm at Fortorus, I wondered how long he’d hold onto absolute power at home.
“Someone must have intercepted my messages to Macmillan.”Mouthing the sentence, I realized it was the only way anyone could have known about our plans to get to Felixstowe.“But why take him out and not us?”
Not that I wasn’t beyond grateful for the stroke of luck.Getting the woman I loved out of Fortorus and away from Ian’s sweaty grasp had been my number one priority, and I was more than relieved to have accomplished the feat, but something about our escape didn’t sit right.
It just didn’t add up.
Keep it together.My jaw clenched at the unspoken instruction.Don’t start unraveling.Caroline needs me to stay strong.
I glanced down at the woman sleeping peacefully over me in the darkness, unable to see her properly but recalling every detail of her face from the scores of times I had studied her during our time together.It was as though the image of her was burned into my consciousness for all time, every inch of her skin visible in my mind’s eye.Comforted by the thought, I considered taking her advice and trying to rest for an hour.Reassured by her body heat, I allowed my mind to try and relax.I’d lost track of our time in transit, but we hadn’t been moving for that long, and it was going to be a while until Hans stopped for fuel.
My head fell toward the cab where the Dutchman was driving.Hans had done nothing to overtly perturb me, agreeing to take us across the continent for another wad of British cash, but the fact that I didn’t know him gnawed at my peace.Granted, I hadn’t known Andrew either, but Macmillan had vouched for him.Hans was a complete stranger, and I couldn’t help but wonder why a decent guy would have been so easily persuaded to smuggle two refugees on the back of his truck.
That’s what we are now.My brow furrowed.Refugees.
It was the life we’d chosen in preference to staying in Britain and fighting for Caroline’s life.It was her only chance of staying alive.
At least this way, we’re free.I exhaled, wishing I could release some of the anxiety tightening my muscles.At least this way, we’re...
My train of thought was abruptly broken when the truck slowed, coming to a complete halt.Adrenaline flooded my system, waking me out of my drowsy state in a heartbeat, my body straightening.
“Sir?”Caroline roused at the same moment, as though the momentum of the vehicle had been the only thing lulling her to slumber.“What’s—”
