Echoes at Dawn (KGI #5)(61)

The boat was small, one guided with poles, though there were other motorboats pulled up on shore. Rio stepped carefully into the boat, keeping his weight in the center as he gently eased down with Grace held tightly in his arms. Terrence came aboard, followed by the old man, who then gestured for a young boy to come. The boy clambered on, moving swiftly to the back.

The old man and the young boy worked in unison, positioning the poles and pulling the boat into the current. They kept close to shore, in the shallower water, poles moving swiftly.

“How is she?” Terrence asked in a low voice.

Rio stared down at Grace’s still face. She was unmoving against him. She wasn’t moving enough air for him to even notice the rise of her chest. “I don’t know. She wasn’t strong enough for this, Terrence. I could kill Browning for this. She’s already been through so much. How could he ask her to do more? To risk her life this way?”

Terrence sighed and looked away. The big man was struggling. Rio knew him too well to be fooled.

“Say whatever it is that’s on your mind,” Rio said grimly.

Terrence looked back. “There’s no doubt what he did was wrong. I’ve gotten attached to this little lady. She’s strong. She’s a fighter. I like her style. Part of me wanted to stomp Browning’s miserable ass into a paste and feed him to the crocs.”

“And the other part?”

“Understood why he did what he did.”

Rio nodded. “That’s fair. If it were only that, I could overlook it. But he betrayed the team. He went against us. He chose dishonor over unity. That I can’t forgive.”

“Yeah, I don’t disagree. I guess I just get why he did it.”

“I let him live,” Rio said simply. “He’s free to make his life with his woman and child. But he’ll never work for me again.”

“That’s fair,” Terrence said. “Some wouldn’t have been as understanding as you.”

Rio’s lip curled into a snarl. “I wanted to kill him for daring to touch her. For frightening her and for one minute making her doubt me. Because he led her away on my order. I told her to go with him if he told her to. I told her to do it. And now she has to believe I fed her to the wolves. He’s lucky that my concern for Grace overshadowed my rage because I wanted to shed his blood.”

“She wouldn’t have believed that,” Terrence said in a quiet voice. “No matter what line of bullshit he fed her, once she war, em"s there, she knew you would have never sent her to do that.”

Rio returned his gaze to Grace and then leaned down to press his lips to her forehead. “I hope you’re right, T.”

As soon as the boat neared the dock in the alcove off the river that led to Rio’s compound, the old man leaned forward, waited until the boat got close enough and then jumped onto the aged wood and held the boat against the dock with his pole so the others could get off.

Terrence went first and reached down to collect Grace from Rio. Rio then hauled himself out of the boat and stopped beside the old man.

“Thank you. I appreciate your help.”

The old man nodded formally. “Ana is my granddaughter. This woman gave her back to me. My debt is still great. May the Great One be with her on her journey.”

“She’s not going anywhere,” Rio snarled.

The old man studied him for a long moment and then flashed a toothless smile. “No, I don’t suppose she will.”

He hopped down into the boat, and he and the boy maneuvered back into the main river channel to return to the village upriver.

Rio strode toward Terrence, who waited on the dock on the bank of the alcove, Grace still in his arms. Rio took her carefully from Terrence and cradled her close. He tucked his chin over her dark hair and began the climb up th

e stone walkway leading to the first security gate.

Fifteen minutes later, Rio stepped inside his house, some of the anxiety evaporating away. He was home. This was where he felt the safest. He had Grace back where she belonged. Now he had to make sure she got well again.

He laid Grace down in the bed where he’d made love to her just a day ago and tucked the covers around her chilled skin. He had no idea what to do for her. He had no idea to what extent she’d be ill.

Judging by what she’d said of the other illnesses and injuries she’d healed, she’d taken the baby’s ailment and made it her own. If the baby had been failing to thrive, for the next while, Grace would also struggle to thrive and survive. He just had to hope to hell she had the strength to fight long enough not to succumb to a losing battle.

CHAPTER 27

RIO never left her bedside over the next two days. He sat with her, not sleeping except in fits and spurts. He tried to get her to eat, to drink, but as with the baby, it did no good. She lacked the strength and will to survive.

Rio knew that it wasn’t her. It wasn’t her wanting to give up. But she was having to battle not only the weakness and the illness itself but the child’s will. He could only imagine the hell she was enduring.

And so he stayed with her through it all, never once leaving her side. He held her through the night. Sat with her during the day. He spoke to her, mostly nonsense, but he was determined that she not think he left her even for a moment. If he could somehow lend her strength by allowing her to know that he was fighting with her, then he’d damn well do it.