Page 52 of Close Pursuit

“I already told you. I don’t know.” He had his suspicions about both, but he wasn’t about to share those with her. The less she knew of him, the less danger she would be in.

Thankfully, a brightly lit border crossing loomed ahead of them, effectively distracting her. He passed both of their passports and the birth certificate he’d filled out for Dawn through his window to the border guard.

The fellow gave them a little grief over him signing the baby’s birth certificate until he explained that he was a doctor and showed the guy his medical pack. But soon enough, they were speeding onward into the night. Hopefully, minus their Kyrgyz tails.

Tashkent was a larger city than Osh, somewhat more modern, but it, too, suffered from a general sense of post-Soviet decay. Independence might have been emotionally satisfying to the southern states of the former USSR, but economically, it hadn’t been kind to them.

It was nearing dawn as he chose a random hotel in Tashkent because of its covered parking garage. No sense flaunting their stolen car. He would sell it tomorrow onto the black market where no one would be inclined to tell any authorities where it had come from.

He woke Katie gently, and she stumbled into the lobby with him. She was alert enough to frown when he pulled out five hundred American greenbacks to pay for the room and pay for the clerk’s discretion, but she didn’t comment on it.

He took Dawn from her, mixed baby formula from the can he’d bought back in Osh and gave the baby a bottle—in an actual baby bottle—while Katie collapsed in bed.

He had to admit, there was something deeply calming about holding a baby and feeding it. The sense of protectiveness that flowed through him was frankly shocking.

He changed Dawn and laid her on several blankets on the floor that she wouldn’t suffocate herself on. With a sigh of relief, he crawled into bed beside Katie. Almost immediately she rolled over and draped her sleeping self over him.

He tensed at first. He made a policy of never sleeping with his women. But she was not one of the prostitutes from his past, and she seemed to genuinely like him. If only she knew what she was getting into, she wouldn’t feel so charitable towards him.

Resolved to enjoy this novel, what-it-would-be-like-to-have-a-family experience, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep with a woman in his arms.

Katie took the next shift feeding Dawn and he took the following one. The three of them slept nearly twelve hours, and it was dark again outside when they finally roused for good.

“Feel better?” he asked Katie as she smiled sleepily at him from her pillow.

“Yes. Much. You?”

“Mmm hmm.” Come to think of it, he hadn’t been this relaxed for as long as he could remember. “Interested in some supper?”

“I’m starving,” she declared.

He laughed at her infectious good cheer. “Are you always so chipper when you wake up?”

“Pretty much. Are you always so cranky?”

“Pretty much.”

She laughed at him and rolled out of bed. “I call dibs on the bathroom,” she sang.

He lounged in bed and turned on the television. He found a Russian news channel and watched it lazily. Interesting how no news outlet had picked up on the use of attack drones in Zaghastan against civilians. Had it happened in any other country in the region, there would have been an international outcry over it.

Hypocrites, he mentally accused the newscasters.

Katie’s voice drifted out of the bathroom as she sang a pop song in the bath. Something about halos.

For an angel, Katie was pretty hot. He couldn’t recall ever reminiscing about non-sex with a woman before, but he was definitely enjoying the memory of her swollen, hot flesh dancing on his fingers while she moaned her pleasure. Dammit. He was going to need a cold shower when it was his turn in the bathroom.

Katie eventually emerged wrapped in one of the hotel’s bathrobes, her skin rosy and dewy. She was beautiful completely devoid of make-up. He watched her fondly as she cooed at Dawn, who was awake and learning how to wave her arms and legs around. A natural mother, Katie was.

He took a shower that relieved the worst of his frustration and shaved with the razor Katie had snagged when they fled Osh. He toweled dry and dressed, eager to spend the evening with her. She was a constant source of surprise to him.

The concierge recommended a good restaurant within walking distance where Dawn would be welcome. They were most of the way to the place before Alex’s internal warning system fired off. Loudly.

“Keep walking like everything’s fine,” he murmured to Katie from behind a pasted on smile.

“Everything is fine, isn’t it?”

“Nope. We’ve got company.”

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