He was kneeling on the ground with six rifles pointed at his head.The woman he loved was still bleeding.
Shock and helplessness coiled around him like a snake, tightening his breath.
A shout of protest went up from behind the sepoys, and a moment later, Vanika pushed to the front of the line.Her gaze shot to Adam and narrowed into a ferociously disapproving glare.
Adam could read her meaning clearly enough.Vanika was furious at his intervention.
To be fair, she probably had been slightly better off before Adam had thrown himself at Borthwick’s feet in a spray of fish blood.
A gratingly familiar voice sounded from down the bridge.
“Excuse me!Pardon me!I really must be…”
Dawson stumbled past the soldiers, who glared at the intrusion.At the sight of Ellie and Adam, his eyes widened with shocked recognition.
He opened his mouth to speak—and Jacobs snapped an elbow into his gut.
Dawson wheezed, doubling over.
Borthwick glanced back at the two men with a frown.
“The professor’s feeling a bit off,” Jacobs filled in.
That counted as the second time in the last five minutes that Jacobs had saved Adam’s neck.It probably wouldn’t be the last, based on how quickly all of this was going to hell.
Adam wondered when Jacobs would get tired of it.
Focus, he reminded himself fiercely.He couldn’t afford to let his thoughts scatter.Only one thing mattered right now—more than Dawson or the tangled threads of Adam’s past that had suddenly whipped up to ensnare him.
Stay alive.Save the kid.
He drew in a deep breath, keeping his eyes on Borthwick.He forced his voice to steady.
Adam had no reason to be afraid.He was George Bates’s son.
“Are your men carrying a medical kit?”he asked.“I need to see to my wife.”
Borthwick briefly assessed the wounds on Ellie’s leg.“Subedar Singh Rao!”
An officer stepped forward.The stars on his collar and shoulders called out his higher rank.In the Indian Army, a subedar was roughly equivalent to a lieutenant.
“Sir,” Singh Rao said, coming to attention.He cut a striking figure, tall and broad-shouldered with graceful features over a glossy black beard.
“Have two of the men carry Mrs.Bates across.”Borthwick waved a dismissive hand at Ellie’s prone figure.
Adam quickly stepped in front of her.“I’ll take care of it.”
The words came out sharper than he had intended.Singh Rao paused in the process of giving an order to two of the riflemen, flashing Adam a thoughtful look.
“Come on, Princess,” he said, levering Ellie to her feet and scooping her into his arms.
Her leg was slick with blood where he held it.Eyes bored into the back of his head—Borthwick’s quietly measuring.Vanika’s fierce with irritation.
Jacobs’ flat with warning.
With the weight of all of that bearing down on him, Adam crossed the bridge.
?
