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Oh, that was how it was done. So, Judah had a little team of rebels.
He looked over at her and smiled, his eyes seeming to twinkle.
“It reminds me of Montana. The air always felt almost thick with anticipation before a storm. I loved to watch the clouds roll over Glacier National Park.”
“You grew up there?”
“Just after I was ten. Before that I lived in Dallas with my mother. But she was…she was an addict, and after a while, it got too hard for her to take care of me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Or too hard for you to take care of her?”
How did he do that? She lifted a shoulder. “I thought I’d end up in foster care, but my uncle Ian took me in. Told me that I’d never be afraid again, but of course that wasn’t true.”
Judah just looked at her.
“A few years later, I saw my boyfriend beaten to death by a man I trusted. And I was very afraid. I ran, and for five years started a new life, but…eventually I had to go back and face him.”
Judah drew in a breath, looked beyond her, as if seeing something in his own past.
“Is that where you met Ned?”
Had she mentioned Ned? Probably. “No. I met him during a tornado, but yes, he was with me when I faced down the man who’d killed my boyfriend. He became a SEAL, and we’ve been dating for four years.”
“That’s a long time to date.”
“He wanted to wait until he was in a stable place.”
His mouth tweaked up at this.
“What?”
“Life is not safe. Not stable. You can’t stop bad things from happening. You have to learn to live life in the middle of the danger. And trust that there’s a bigger plan.”
She drew up her legs. “Feels like danger follows me. I’m not sure it’s a good idea for Ned to marry me.”
He cocked his head, and it seemed he might be making to say something when Vikka walked past her. Turned.
And then, just like that, Vikka hit her. Right in the face, and the blow was so shocking, Shae simply jerked back, her hand over her mouth.
“Vikka!” Judah jumped up. Grabbed her just as her arm went back for another blow. “What are you—”
Then she rounded on him. But he blocked her hit and grabbed her arm. “Stop it!”
“Pomogee menye!” she shouted as one of the female guards ran over. She pulled Vikka away as Captain Boris charged in.
Judah held up his hands.
Boris sent Judah to his knees with a club to the gut.
Shae screamed. “No—leave him!”
Boris hit him again, this time across the head, and his hat fell off.
Oh! The blasting powder—if Boris found it.
She grabbed the hat even as Boris hit him again, this time across the ribs.
She shoved the cap into her jacket, then hit her knees. “Please, please, stop, please—”
