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“But the airport was bombed today,” she continued, “preventing my departure. Lena stopped and picked us up.”
The captain’s grip on her arm tightened. “You said she was a friend.”
Grace’s heart skipped a beat. Meeting his suspicious glare, she was struck by the amber brown of his eyes along with the feeling that they’d met before. “Well, she was very kind to me.”
Oscar stuffed the dossier back into her pack. “Let’s go find this woman and compare stories. You,” He turned toward the soldier who had found her backpack. “Take the boy from her arms. He belongs here.”
“No.” Grace clutched Mateo harder, rousing him without meaning to. Seeing them surrounded by strangers and sensing Grace’s fear, he shrieked, causing the soldier named Joaquim to hesitate.
“Take him!” Oscar insisted.
A game of tug-a-war ensued. Mateo clung to Grace as fiercely as she held onto him. The captain, whose fingers dug into her arm, cuffed her with his free hand. Stunned by the blow, her hold on Mateo slipped. The soldier wrenched him free, dragging a maternal roar out of Grace that chilled her own blood.
Her knees folded abruptly. She scarcely felt the pain of her kneecaps striking the concrete floor. The captain hauled her up again, his face taut with impatience and disgust. Amos’s words sounded in Grace’s head, “Evil is real.”
A chill impaled her heart as she stared into his reddish-brown eyes. She had met his like before.
“¿Qué demonios está pasando aquí?”
A woman’s firm voice resonated throughout the warehouse causing everyone, even the soldiers loading crates into the covered trucks, to gape up at the speaker.What the devil is happening here?
Even in her distraught state, Grace recognized that Lena was putting herself at risk by coming to her aid. Yet, she appeared magnificent, standing at the top of a long run of stairs, her hands propped on her slim hips, her expression indignant. “You don’t think that poor orphan boy has suffered enough?”
Her words, though projected, could scarcely be heard over Mateo’s shrieks as Joaquim hovered, uncertain of his orders. Lena started down the stairs. Grace heard her say something to the effect that the country was at war, and they had better things to do than obstruct an innocent woman’s adoption.
“Now give her back the boy,” she added, “and we’ll be on our way. I am done with my work. I’ll take her home with me.”
She marched up to them with a determined expression. Grace kept one eye on Mateo, and the other on Lena. The captain looked to Oscar for direction.
“Not so fast.” The elegant man’s mouth curled at one corner. “Tell me first why you have come to work on a Sunday.”
Lena had the temerity to roll her eyes. “I often work on Sundays, Oscar, so that I can take Friday off.”
“Indeed.” His tone implied disbelief. “And how is it that you met this woman?” He gestured at Grace.
Lena flicked her a probing glance, clearly trying to glean what she had told Oscar already. “I saw her at the bus station near my home last night and planned to take her to the airport today, only now the cursed rebels have destroyed it, so she is stuck here.”
She spoke with so much credibility, Oscar might have believed her if Grace hadn’t already told a different story.
“Hmph.” Oscar’s heavy-lidded eyes glinted with suspicion. “That’s not whatshesaid. I always suspected there was more to you than met the eye, Señorita Montoya.Capitán,” He turned to the larger man still gripping Grace’s arm, “take the two women upstairs. Search them for communication devices, electronics, or anything. My guess is they are both spies for the Rebel Army. Restrain them and leave them there. Let them die when the rebels attack.”
“No! Mateo!” Grace raked a hand over her captor’s face, only to be cuffed so hard that she would have fallen to the floor if he didn’t immediately yank her upright.
She expected Lena to go on the offensive, as well. However, a quick look showed the woman standing perfectly still, unresisting as the captain barked orders that brought two soldiers stepping forward to restrain her.
“Put that boy in the front of this truck and keep him there,” he added to Joaquim. “No more sons of Venezuela will be leaving the country.”
“No!” For the second time in less than a month, Grace watched Mateo being carried away from her, one arm outstretched, his face streaming with tears. It was too much to watch. How could this be happening? God had been protecting them up till then.
“Let’s go.” The captain jerked her forward, marching her toward the metal stairs with Lena being led up right behind them.
Grace staggered and stumbled the whole way. Her soul seemed to have left her body, for she was scarcely aware of where her feet carried her. All she could focus on were Mateo’s cries, which grew fainter as he was stuffed into the cab of a cargo truck—to go where? How would he ever survive without her? This couldn’t happen. God had to do something!
Devastated, Grace was only distantly aware that she’d been led into an office with a window at one end. A desk lamp snapped on, illuminating a desk, a coffee bar, a bookcase. Rough hands patted her down, squeezing her inappropriately. Thinking only of Mateo, she did not react. Nor did the search yield anything of interest to the captain. He pawed through her backpack next, while another soldier searched Lena, making crude comments all the while. Lena suffered the search in stoic silence.
“There’s nothing on her,Capitán.Just a simple watch.”
“Not even a cell phone?”
