The Sands of Time

by Sidney Sheldon

CHAPTER NINETEEN

  She was naked in her bed, and she could feel the male hardness of Benito Patas pressing into her groin. His body felt wonderful, and she moved closer to him, grinding her hips against him, feeling the heat growing in her loins. She started to stroke him, to excite him. But something was wrong. I killed Patas, she thought. He's dead.

  Lucia opened her eyes and sat up, trembling, looking around wildly. Benito was not there. She was in the forest, in a sleeping bag. Something was pressing against her thigh. Lucia reached down inside the sleeping bag and pulled out the canvas-wrapped cross. She stared at it unbelievingly. God just performed a miracle for me, she thought.

  Lucia had no idea how the cross had gotten there, nor did she care. She finally had it in her hands. All she had to do now was to slip away from the others.

  She crept out of the sleeping bag and looked over to where Sister Teresa had slept. She was gone. Lucia looked around in the darkness, and she could barely make out the figure of Tomas Sanjuro at the edge of the clearing, facing away from her. She was not sure where Rubio was. It doesn't matter. It's time to get out of here, Lucia thought.

  She started to move to the edge of the clearing, away from Sanjuro, bending low so she would not be seen.

  At that instant all hell broke loose.

  Colonel Fal Sostelo had a command decision to make. He had been given orders by the prime minister himself to work closely with Colonel Ramon Acoca to help capture Jaime Miro and the nuns. But fate had blessed him by delivering one of the nuns into his hands. Why share the credit with Colonel Acoca when he could catch the terrorists and keep all the glory? Fuck Colonel Acoca, Fal Sostelo thought. This one is mine. Maybe the OPUS MUNDO will use me instead of Acoca, with all his bullshit about chess games and getting into the minds of people. No, it's time to teach the scarred giant a lesson.

  Colonel Sostelo gave specific orders to his men.

  "Don't take any prisoners. You're dealing with terrorists. Shoot to kill. "

  Major Ponte hesitated. "Colonel, there are nuns up there with Miro's men. Shouldn't we - ?"

  "Let the terrorists hide behind the nuns? No, we'll take no chances. "

  Sostelo selected a dozen men to accompany him on the raid and saw to it that they were heavily armed. They moved noiselessly in the dark, up the slope of the mountain. The moon had disappeared behind clouds. There was almost no visibility. Good. They won't be able to see us coming.

  When his men were in position, Colonel Sostelo shouted, for the sake of the record, "Put down your arms. You're surrounded. " And in the same breath he called out the command, "Fire! Keep firing!"

  A dozen automatic weapons began to spray the clearing.

  Tomas Sanjuro never had a chance. A hail of machine-gun bullets caught him in the chest and he was dead before he hit the ground. Rubio Arzano was at the far edge of the clearing when the firing started. He saw Sanjuro fall, and he whirled and started to raise his gun to return the fire but stopped. It was pitch black in the clearing and the soldiers were firing blindly. If he returned their fire, he would give his position away.

  To his amazement, he saw Lucia crouched two feet away from him.

  "Where's Sister Teresa?" he whispered.

  "She - she's gone. "

  "Stay low," Rubio told her.

  He grabbed Lucia's hand and they zigzagged toward the forest, away from the enemy fire. Shots whizzed dangerously close as they ran, but moments later Lucia and Rubio were among the trees. They continued running.

  "Hold on to me, Sister," he said.

  They heard the sound of their attackers behind them, but gradually it died away. It was impossible to pursue anyone through the inky blackness of the woods.

  Rubio stopped to let Lucia catch her breath.

  "We've lost them for now," he told her. "But we have to keep moving. "

  Lucia was breathing hard.

  "If you want to rest for a minute - ?"

  "No," she said. She was exhausted, but she had no intention of letting them catch her. Not now when she had the cross. "I'm fine," she said. "Let's get out of here. "

  Colonel Fal Sostelo was facing disaster. One terrorist was dead, but God alone knew how many had escaped. He did not have Jaime Miro and he had only one of the nuns. He knew he would have to inform Colonel Acoca of what had happened, and he was not looking forward to it.

  The second call from Alan Tucker to Ellen Scott was even more disturbing than the first.

  "I've come across some rather interesting information, Mrs. Scott," he said cautiously.

  "Yes?"

  "I went through some old newspaper files here, hoping to get more information on the girl. "

  "And?" She braced herself for what she knew was coming.

  Tucker kept his voice casual. "It seems that the girl was abandoned about the time of your plane crash. "

  Silence.

  He went on. "The one that killed your brother-in-law and his wife and their daughter, Patricia. "

  Blackmail. There was no other explanation. So he had found out.

  "That's right," she said casually. "I should have mentioned that. I'll explain everything when you get back. Have you any more news of the girl?"

  "No, but she can't hide out for very long. The whole country's looking for her. "

  "Let me hear from you as soon as she's found. "

  The line went dead.

  Alan Tucker sat there, staring at the dead telephone in his hand. She's a cool lady, he thought admiringly. I wonder how she's going to feel about having a partner?

  I made a mistake in sending him, Ellen Scott thought. Now I'll have to stop him. And what was she going to do about the girl? A nun! I won't Judge her until I see her.

  Her secretary buzzed her on the intercom.

  "They're ready for you in the boardroom, Mrs. Scott. "

  "I'm coming. "

  Lucia and Rubio kept moving through the woods, stumbling and slipping, fighting off tree limbs and bushes and insects, and each step took them farther away from their pursuers.

  Finally, Rubio said, "We can stop here. They won't find us. "

  They were high in the mountains in the middle of a dense forest.

  Lucia lay down on the ground, fighting to catch her breath. In her mind, she replayed the terrible scene she had witnessed earlier. Tomas shot down without warning. And the bastards intended to murder us all, Lucia thought. The only reason she was still alive was because of the man sitting beside her.

  She watched Rubio as he got to his feet and scouted the area around them.

  "We can spend the rest of the night here, Sister. "

  "All right. " She was impatient to get moving, but she knew she needed to rest.

  As though reading her mind, Rubio said, "We'll move on again at dawn. "

  Lucia felt a gnawing in her stomach. Even as she was thinking about it, Rubio said, "You must be hungry. I'll go find some food for us. Will you be all right here by yourself?"

  "Yes. I'll be fine. "

  The big man crouched down beside her.

  "Please try not to be frightened. I know how difficult it must be for you to be out in the world again after all those years in the convent. Everything must seem very strange to you. "

  Lucia looked up at him and said tonelessly, "I'll try to get used to it. "

  "You're very brave, Sister. " He rose. "I'll be back soon. "

  She watched Rubio disappear into the trees. It was time to make a decision, and she had two choices: She could escape now, try to reach a nearby town and trade the gold cross for a passport and enough money to get to Switzerland, or she could stay with this man until they got farther away from the soldiers. That will be safer, Lucia decided.

  She heard a noise in the woods and swung around. It was Rubio. He moved toward her, smiling. In his hand he held his beret, which was bulging with tomatoes, grapes, and apples.

  He sat down on the gro
und next to her. "Breakfast. A nice, plump chicken was available, but the fire we would have needed to cook it would have given us away. There is a farm just down the mountainside. "

  Lucia stared at the contents of the beret. "It looks great. I'm starving. "

  He handed her an apple. "Try this. "

  They had finished eating and Rubio was talking, but Lucia, absorbed in her own thoughts, was not paying attention.

  "Ten years, you said you were in the convent, Sister?"

  Lucia was startled out of her reverie. "What?"

  "You've been in the convent for ten years?"

  "Oh. Yes. "

  He shook his head. "Then you have no idea what's been happening in all that time. "

  "Uh - no. "

  "In the last ten years the world has changed a great deal, Sister. "

  "Has it?"

  "Si. " Rubio said earnestly, "Franco has died. "

  "No!"

  "Oh, yes. Last year. "

  And named Don Juan Carlos his heir, she thought.

  "You may find this very hard to believe, but a man walked on the moon for the first time. That is the truth. "

  "Really?" Actually, two men, Lucia thought. What were their names? Neil Armstrong and Buzz Something.

  "Oh, yes. North Americans. And there is now a plane for passengers that travels faster than sound. "

  "Incredible. " I can't wait to ride the Concorde, Lucia thought.

  Rubio was childlike, so pleased to be bringing her up to date on world events.

  "There has been a revolution in Portugal, and in the United States of America, their President Nixon was involved in a big scandal and had to resign. "

  Rubio is really sweet, Lucia decided.

  He took out a pack of Ducados cigarettes, the heavy black tobacco of Spain. "I hope it won't offend you if I smoke, Sister?"

  "No," Lucia said. "Please go ahead. "

  She watched him light up, and the moment the smoke reached her nostrils she was desperate to have a cigarette.

  "Do you mind if I try one?"

  He looked at her in surprise. "You wish to try a cigarette?"

  "Just to see what it's like," Lucia said quickly.

  "Oh. Of course. "

  He held the pack toward her. She took out a cigarette, put it between her lips, and he lit the end of it. Lucia inhaled deeply, and as the smoke filled her lungs she felt wonderful.

  Rubio was watching her, puzzled.

  She coughed. "So that's what a cigarette tastes like. "

  "Do you like it?"

  "Not really, but - "

  Lucia took another deep, satisfying puff. God, how she had missed this. But she knew she had to be careful. She did not want to make him suspicious. So she put out the cigarette she held clumsily in her fingers. She had been in the convent for only a few months, and yet Rubio was right. It did seem strange to be out in the world again. She wondered how Megan and Graciela were doing. And what had happened to Sister Teresa? Had she been captured by the soldiers?

  Lucia's eyes were beginning to sting. It had been a long, tensionfilled night. "I think I may take a little nap. "

  "Don't worry. I will watch over you, Sister. "

  "Thank you," she said with a smile. Within moments she was asleep.

  Rubio Arzano looked down at her and thought: I have never seen a woman like this one. She was spiritual, having dedicated her life to God, and yet at the same time there was an earthiness about her. And she had behaved this night as bravely as any man. You are a very special woman, Rubio Arzano thought as he watched her sleep. Little sister of Jesus.