Vistaria Has Fallen (The Vistaria Affair/Vistaria Has Fallen #1)(34)

“You should check in a mirror.” His grin faded. “Calli...” He shook his head. “You’re a hero, Calli. You saved Duardo’s life and every man here knows it. Only there can never be any acknowledgment of what you did here tonight. There can’t be.”

“I don’t want it.”

“You deserve it. There is a handful of Vistarian men who will for the rest of their lives consider themselves in your debt because of what you did for their captain. They cannot speak of it and neither can I.”

“No problems.”

“Yes it is a goddam problem!” His fist slapped the wall by her head. “We should not be in such dire straits we dare not breathe about the efforts of an American amongst us, yet we are and it will only get worse.”

“Worse?”

“Much worse. This is the beginning, I think. I will know more later. If I’m right, this is the first faint sound of disaster for Vistaria.”

“You mean, this explosion was deliberate?” Calli shook her head. “Someone blew up the house on purpose? My god.” She caught at his arm. “Nick, I know someone was hurt. Is Duardo...did he...?”

“Duardo will be fine,” he said. “Menaka died. She sat right next to the kitchen. She had no chance. Nor did Hernandez.”

“Oh, Nick, and the baby?”

“Lives, poor orphaned soul. They delivered it a few minutes ago.”

“Elvira?”

“She is badly hurt.”

Deep sadness welled in her. Calli hung her head. Nick drew her to him and she rested her cheek against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, only nothing stirred in her. The waste, the pointless loss, pained her too much.

A more terrible possibility occurred to her. “Nick, this didn’t happen because of Minnie and me, did it? They didn’t do it because we came here?”

“No,” he said quickly. “This valley is full of army personnel and a party at any house here would be thick with officers. The valley is a natural target if one is looking for targets. We just didn’t think they were looking for targets like this.” He sighed.

She closed her eyes and let her hand rest against his shoulder. Silk and firm, warm flesh beneath.

His arms came around her, tightening. With a low groan, he pulled her away from him. “I only have a moment, Calli. You must listen, for this is important. You and Minnie will fly back to las colinas. I’ve arranged medical care for you both—you’ll be checked and treated as needed. You’ll get fresh clothes, a chance to clean up, then you’ll be dropped at your apartment tonight just as if you had been to the party. You may feel the need to tell your uncle what happened. I won’t prevent that. You must tell no one else, though. Things will happen now and you must stay removed from them. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

He paused and drew back, surprised, as if he had been expecting a protest from her.

“I’m not stupid, Nick. I can see what is happening here as clearly as you. If this was not an accident, then the rebels have made their first move. You must find out how they knew about this party, how they penetrated it without detection. The only way that could have happened is that you have rebel sympathizers inside the army. That means everyone is suspect, no one can be trusted.”

He cupped her cheek. “You continue to astonish me.”

His praise, his admiration, warmed her. It made the touch of his hand more than a simple comfort. Her senses stirred. She pushed aside the distraction because another horrible possibility occurred to her. “It also means you’re a target, doesn’t it?”

His hand dropped away. “Yes,” he said flatly.

From the valley came a roar of an engine. A rhythmic percussive sound beat at her ears, inside her head. It was a helicopter, very close.

A man stepped around the corner. He carried a rifle and wore a bandolier of rifle shells over one shoulder. “El helicóptero espera, se?or.”

“Gracias. Deme un momento,” Nick murmured.

“Sí, se?or.” The man stepped back around the house.

Nick turned back to her. “This is a race, Calli. If we can find them and root them out, we may still win the day. We have to pull their teeth—weaken them before we can dig them up out of their mountain strongholds. We must do it quickly, before this gets out of hand. So for now everything must appear to go along as usual. The mine must still operate, people will work and live and we must give no hint we are hunting them. And you must stay out of it.”

She gave in to her need to touch him and rested her hands on his chest. “I’m afraid for you, Nick.”

“Don’t be. I have the nine lives of a cat, don’t you know?”

“Se?or?” The soldier had returned.

Nick barely glanced at him. “The helicopter is here for you,” he told her.

“I know.” She looked at the soldier. “Uno más momento, por favor.”

“Sí,” he agreed and moved away again.

Nick smiled. “You’ve been studying.”

“I’m a fast learner.” She sighed. “Economics seems very remote right now.”

“You have one moment more,” he reminded her.

She gripped his shirt. “It’s not enough,” she confessed. “I’m confused, Nick. I thought I had it sorted out before all this happened, only now...I don’t know. You’re right to send me away. All I know is that I don’t want to leave you.”