Subhas met his demand with a coiled fury.“Do you honestly care?”
Adam’s jaw firmed stubbornly.“She’s a good kid.”
Subhas measured the reply and begrudgingly accepted it.He returned his attention to the boy.
The child rattled off the rest of his account, and Subhas’s mouth tightened into a tense line.“He says Vanika went to talk to the soldiers, then sent the other children back with a message.”
“What message?”Ellie pressed.
Subhas’s dark eyes snapped with threat—and worry.“That she found Borthwick… and has the situation under control.”
“Hell,” Adam cursed feelingly.
?
Nineteen
Subhas leaped downfrom the porch, stalking through the village.Adam followed him.
Ellie hurried after, still cold with shock.“Borthwick ishere?How is that possible?He was going to Nandapur!How could he have made it here so quickly if he hadn’t even arrived by the time we left?”
“Because he never went to Nandapur,” Adam bit out.“I’m guessing he never meant to… which means he planted that rumor specifically to keep Connie’s family pinned down.”
Ellie felt the blood drain from her face.“He suspects they’re involved in this.”
Adam caught up to Subhas.“You’re sure those kids saw soldiers?Not police?”
“They know the difference,” Subhas retorted.
“Why does that matter?”Ellie pressed with a twist of unease.
“Bigger guns.Better training.”Adam glanced at Subhas.“And I’m guessing the Indian Army doesn’t hand out detachments for just any damned reason.”
“No,” Subhas returned shortly.
“How on earth does a twelve-year-old girl think she has that situationunder control?” Ellie demanded.
“Bhanja said he recognized two of the English words she spoke to the soldiers,” Subhas replied.
“What words?”Adam pressed.
Subhas met his gaze.“‘Help’—and ‘money.’”
Adam closed his eyes.“The damned kid’s trying to bluff Borthwick into thinking he can bribe her as a guide.”
Ellie recalled Vanika’s brash confidence and found Adam’s theory all too plausible.
A new and terrible thought snapped through her.“Was there another white man with the soldiers?Lean and pale with dark hair and eyes?He wouldn’t have been in uniform.”
Subhas frowned with irritation at the question, but he called out to Vanika’s young messenger, who was now on the porch of one of the nearby houses with his mother.
The boy answered.Even without knowing Kuvi, Ellie could tell it was an affirmative.
Jignesh called Subhas from across the village.Ellie grasped Adam’s arm as Subhas stepped away to join him.
“Jacobs is there.And he’ll know she was lying.”
“Yeah,” Adam agreed grimly.
