her cheeks. Was she being honest with herself? Was she really seeking the American Lion, or was she looking for an excuse to go back to Adam? She decided the two things were so closely entwined that it would be impossible to separate them. Tell yourself that. It sounds so much better than the truth...that you cannot stay away from him.
Unearthing her cloak, helmet and weapons from the space beneath the stairs where she had hidden them, she decided the only way she would know for sure about any connection between Adam and the American Lion would be to ask him outright.
A heavenly dawn light was breaking through the wispy cloud as Maja retraced her steps. She had never had a chance to appreciate the beauty of the mortal realm on previous missions. Although humans had a terrible capacity to cause harm to each other, this world of theirs had the power to move her with its magnificence. The contrast between the destruction that had taken place within the town, and the rolling countryside around it, unveiled now by the emerging light, could not have been starker.
As Maja followed the road out of the village, she picked up the sound of conflict. They were, after all, the sort of noises with which she was most familiar. Angry, raised voices, growled instructions, cries of pain, shocked protests, and gunfire. But it was her job to know when there was hostility in the air, and her finely tuned Valkyrie senses had told that the fighting in Warda was over. Yet this disturbance was coming from the direction of the mission.
Breaking into a run as she used her invisibility as a shield, she dashed into the courtyard in time to see a group of five men dragging the three male mission workers and Edith Blair out of the old house. They forced the frightened group to their knees, holding guns to the back of their heads. One of the attackers paced up and down in front of them.
He barked a question at them in Arabic. The Valkyries had a unique understanding of all mortal languages, but the man repeated the words in English as he paused in front of Edith. “Where is the boy?”
Maja had to admire the woman’s courage as, despite the gun pressed into the base of her skull, she maintained eye contact and spoke coolly. “I know a number of boys. You’ll have to be specific.”
His lips drew back in a snarl. “Don’t play games. We are looking for the boy called Tarek.”
As he spoke, a movement just beyond the edge of the building caught Maja’s eye. Her senses were keener than those of most mortals and she doubted the leader of the group who were seeking Tarek would have seen it. The house was surrounded by a drystone wall. Roughly shoulder height, it dipped in places and had some glaring gaps in its uneven surface.
It was through one of these gaps that Maja caught sight of a man’s arm. It was the briefest glimpse, but it made her heart bound. The arm was strong, corded with muscle, and a white bandage stood out starkly against the tanned flesh of the shoulder. The man’s hand was wrapped protectively around something. Maja could just make out a mop of dark, curly hair.
She breathed a sigh of relief. Adam would protect Tarek. Now it was up to her to keep Edith and her mission workers safe. Any thoughts of the Valkyrie Code were long gone as she strode into the midst of the action.
The Valkyries were not just pretty faces who collected souls for Odin and waited on his soldiers. They were highly trained warriors. Martial arts, street fighting, hand-to-hand combat... Maja was as equally comfortable with her fists and feet as she was with a sword or a gun.
Using her invisibility to give her the element of surprise, she drop-kicked the leader of the attackers in the head. He hit the ground like a fallen statue. As Maja materialized, sword swinging, before his openmouthed followers, she was conscious of a buzz of pure elation. Being the bad Valkyrie was starting to feel very good.
When the shooting started, the only thing on Adam’s mind had been to get Tarek to safety. Since he had only a sketchy idea of the layout of the house, and he guessed the gunmen were on their way inside, he decided the best option was to get outside and try and find a hiding place.
Ignoring the searing pain in his shoulder, he had shielded Tarek with his body as he pulled open the door and glanced left and right. His room opened onto a narrow corridor that, despite the noise, was still empty. Adam judged it was a situation that was unlikely to last long.
“Which way will get us out of here?”
Tarek, still clutching Leo tightly to his chest, didn’t hesitate. “Left.”
A few feet brought them to a utility area with an industrial-size sink and a washing machine that was in midcycle and seemed to be doing its best to start a small earthquake. Through an open door, Adam could see a small courtyard lined with garbage cans. Beyond that was the familiar undulating countryside.
Keeping hold of Tarek’s upper arm with his good hand, he skittered into the morning sunlight at speed, assessing his options the whole time. Making for the hills was no good. They would be too exposed out there in the open. He had no idea what these people wanted. The fact that they were prepared to burst into a charitable mission firing guns didn’t make Adam feel inclined to stick around and converse with them. As far as he was concerned, their motives could remain shrouded in mystery.
As they passed the garbage cans, they drew level with the wall that bordered the property. At the same time, the shouting from within the house intensified.
“What are they saying?” Adam asked.
“They are looking for me.” Tarek’s voice wobbled on a new note of fear.
There wasn’t time to ask for clarification about that statement. Instead, the words strengthened Adam’s resolve to get the boy out of harm’s way. The other side of the wall seemed like a good place to be right now. There were no guarantees the bad guys wouldn’t think to look there, but at least they wouldn’t be so vulnerable, and they could keep moving while hidden from view.
There was no way Adam’s injury would allow him to climb the shoulder-high wall, but its poor state of repair meant there were places where it had deteriorated and become almost a pile of rubble. After scrambling through one of these, he and Tarek clung to the rough rocks on the opposite side of the mission building, making their way along the length of the wall until they were in line with the main entrance.
Hearing Edith’s voice, Adam paused, viewing the scene at the front of the mission through a gap in the stones. What he saw made his blood turn to ice. The kindhearted English doctor and her three assistants were kneeling on the ground with their hands behind their backs, while men with guns stood behind them.
Adam slumped slightly, feeling the rough-hewn rocks pressing into his back. What the hell was he supposed to do? Save the boy or try to help Edith? He almost laughed aloud. And what exactly are you—a one-armed man—going to do against five gunmen?
In the end, it came down to one simple fact. He couldn’t cower behind a wall while people who had helped him took a bullet to the head. Even if the only thing he could do was walk out there and provide a momentary distraction for the gunmen—and let’s face it, that’s likely to be all I can do—then he would do it.
“Keep going along this wall,” he told Tarek, ignoring the boy’s look of horror. “Get as far from this place as fast as you can. Don’t look back.”
Giving Tarek a push to spur him on, Adam moved back in the direction they had just come, finding a broken-down place in the wall. Taking a breath, he clambered over the gap before his resolve faltered. Clenching his jaw to hide his fear, he stepped into the courtyard.
He fully expected the force of five weapons to be turned on him as he walked toward the group of people in front of the mission doors. Instead, no one even glanced his way. That was because their attention was focused entirely on the strange behavior of the leader of the group of militants. Without warning, he stopped screaming at Edith. His head spun so sharply to the right that Adam, still several feet away, heard a crack. It was as if his neck had just broken from an invisible kick to the head. Then the man dropped