“I know,” I say more gently. “I really do understand that. And I’m not going to throw myself into unnecessary danger. I promise. But I’m not hiding on the sidelines either.”
He stares at me, breathing heavily.
“You know me, Ben.”
“Yeah. I know you, baby.” He’s hoarse. Tired. “Just remember the stakes, is all I’m saying. You’re the most important thing in the world to me, but you’re not only important tome.”
A shudder runs through my body. I take a thick breath. “Damn it, Ben. If you even think of making me cry, right before?—”
“I’m sorry, but it needs to be said. Some people end up at the center of larger change in the world. They’re the hinge of a turning point, whether they want to be or not. You’re one of those people. So if something happens toyou, it won’t just destroy me. It will change the world for the worse.”
“It’s not?—”
“Yes, it is. It’s exactly like that. So remember the stakes every time you make a choice about your safety, is all I’m saying.”
His words still me. Silence me. I stare up at him blindly.
Finally I say, “Okay. Then why don’t…” I have to clear my throat. “Why don’t you decide if and when we need to go down?” I’m shaking a little, and I don’t even know why.
“You mean it?”
“Yes. I mean it.”
“Okay. I will.” He leans over to kiss me very softly. “Thank you.”
The first truckcomes into sight two minutes later.
Ben and I both straighten up, tense and alert as we watch the approach. The trucks are still driving together, one right after the other, maintaining a consistent speed. So when an explosion goes off, it should have blown the first truck off-balance and led to collision with the two behind it.
But the first explosion is slightly off mark, and it doesn’t damage the truck at all. It does startle the driver,causing him to swerve wildly to the other side of the road. The trucks behind him slow down but don’t collide.
“Shit,” Ben mutters, watching the road in the distance as closely as I am.
“There’s another?—”
The second explosion goes off before I finish the sentence.
This one was supposed to hit the second truck, but the first one is still on the road so the explosion hits it instead. It goes off right beneath the vehicle, and the force causes the right side of the truck to come off the road. It wobbles and falls.
This time the truck behind it swerves so dramatically it runs off the road, tipping sideways in the ditch.
The third truck is able to come to a safe stop, and the troops in the back come out shooting.
Our people are ready. They fire back from all sides in protected positions. Most of the guards in the third truck go down in the first wave. But the guards in the other two trucks are still alive. Some are injured, but others are simply banged around from the collisions.
There are a lot of them. And some of them manage to fortify themselves between two trucks and find a position to shoot back.
“Damn,” I say as I watch. “I was hoping it would be done before they found a safe position.”
Not all guards are buffoons like the arrogant assholewho followed us from my mother’s village. Some of them are smart and competent. And all of them have better weaponry than we do.
So far, we’re holding the advantage, but the guards still on their feet are going to kill some of my people before we’re able to kill them.
Ben and I need to go down.
Sometimes all it takes is one new angle of fire to shift the balance.
Every muscle in my body is tight as I sit and watch, holding myself back from action with nothing more than the power of my will.
