by Rebecca York
You want that on your head?
"I didn't bring you here for a lecture on morality," Singh snapped.
"I'm trying to save my people. I can't think in terms of individuals
who have despised us for generations."
"What if you're talking about your own death?"
"I've been prepared for that since the beginning."
"Good," Steve continued.
"Because you're about to put your principles to the test. The poison
you've come to get wasn't packaged properly. That's why Gibbs didn't
deliver it-it killed him."
"No."
"Look at the dead vegetation around you. And listen. Do you hear
anything moving? Have you heard anything but your own footsteps since
we got out of Gibbs's Rover?"
'Beside Abby, Oliver moaned.
With her attention ]riveted to Steve, she'd forgotten all about the man
who'd come back from the dead.
Quickly she crouched and covered his mouth with her hand, praying that
Singh hadn't heard.
Oliver yanked away from Abby's grasp and peered around the edge of the
stones.
She looked frantically from him to the scene on the road.
Singh had taken a step back from the door of the temple.
'Maybe if you leave now, you won't get a fatal dose," Steve grated.
" But I wouldn't count on it.
"You're lying! You've lied to me every step of the way, haven't you?
For a girl child. And a woman! " the Lion spat out.
"What kind of man are you?"
"A man who loves his wife and daughter."
"If the Omega is going to kill me, what about you?"
Steve shrugged.
"Like you, I've been prepared for that from the beginning."
Singh stared at him.
Then, as if he were acting against his own will, he turned to peer into
the lifeless jungle.
So did his men.
As soon as the gun was pointed the other way, Steve dived through the
door of the temple and disappeared into the darkness.
"It's a trick. The son of Satan tricked me!"
With a howl of rage, the rebel leader began to fire into the doorway.
The other men followed suit.
Beside her, Oliver scrambled to his feet, but he was only a blur at the
edge of Abby's vision.
Praying that he wouldn't get in her way, she reached into the supply
bag she'd brought.
Her fist closed around what felt like a molded metal pineapple.
A grenade.
It was one of half a dozen she'd taken from the carton in the storage
building.
She'd already had a good look at the firing mechanism.
It was simple enough to use.
You just yanked out the pin, like in an old John Wayne movie.
She'd planned to toss it into the jungle, to convince, Singh he was
under attack and draw his attention away from Steve.
She hadn't considered it as an offensive weapon-not with her husband
standing next to the rebel leader.
But Steve had turned her hastily devised plan on its head.
Instead of drawing Singh's attention, she had to stop him from going
into the temple.
Teeth clenched, she pulled the pin from the grenade, astonished that it
was so easy.
You were supposed to count to five before throwing it.
At least that's the way it worked in the movies.
One.
Two.
Three.
Abby felt each second tick by as an agony of lethal anticipation.
She didn't get any further than three.
With as much force as she could manage, she lobbed the grenade into the
clearing in front of the temple and crouched-just as Oliver began to
fire his weapon.
"It's me you want, you bastards!" he yelled as he sprayed the clearing
with bullets.
"No! " Abby shouted, but he lurched around the side of the wall, still
firing.
She didn't dare poke her head above the protective barrier.
Not when the detonation was only seconds away.
All her muscles tensed as she waited, listening as Oliver's machine gun
joined the clatter of the other weapons.
Bullets sprayed the rocks in front of her as Singh's gunmen whirled
around and fired back.
Then the weapons fire was cut off in mid-burst by an explosion that
shook the ground, sending a deadly hail of shrapnel slashing into tree
trunks, pinging off stones, tearing through leaves.
It seemed to go on forever.
Perhaps it lasted only a few seconds.
One moment the jungle was alive with the sounds of battle, then
everything was as deathly quiet as the first time she and Steve had
come up the road.
"Steve?"
Abby called out as she drew the gun from the waistband of her shorts
and peered from behind the wall of rocks.
"Steve?"
Shuddering, she looked at the bodies on the ground.
The rebels were near the temple.
Oliver was closer to the rocks.
He was lying on his side, much like the body they'd seen in his bed.
Kneeling beside him, she put down her gun and reached to feel for a
pulse at his neck.
But though she pressed her fingers hard against his flesh, she felt no
sign of life.
After a long moment, she looked toward Singh.
The rebel leader and his men were also on the ground.
Also unmoving.
But as she started to stand, the Lion roaned.
Raising his head, he stared directly at her, his dark eyes cloudy-yet
fierce.
A trickle of blood oozed from his mouth, but he pushed himself up.
"You!" he gasped, bringing his gun up and toward her.
"The wife of Satan."
Don't.
It's over.
:"For everyone. For your husband. For you."
Eyes riveted to the muzzle of the machine gun, Abby slid her hand
toward the weapon she'd laid beside Oliver.
From behind Singh, she caught a blur of motion.
Steve!
But everything was happening too fast.
Or too slowly.
Steve barreled out of the temple at a dead- run, heading for the
Lion.
"Abby! For God's sake, get back. Get back! he shouted.
Singh rolled to the side and'began t' o swing big weapon around.
Changing directions, Steve sprinted toward the little mound of dirt
where the closest guard lay sprawled.
The man's machine gun was still strapped to his lifeless shoulder.
Throwing himself to the ground beside the body, Steve grabbed the
weapon and tried to pull it into firing position.
It was stuck under the corpse.
But Singh had given Abby the precious seconds she needed.
She reached for the pistol she'd laid beside Oliver.
She didn't know who fired first-she or Singh.
Or Steve.
All she knew was that bullets spattered the ground around Singh and the
body in front of Steve.
The clatter stopped as abruptly as it had started.
The jungle was silent again.
No one moved.
"Steve?"
Heart blocking her windpipe, Abby sprinted past the now-lifeless bodies
of the rebels.
Her husband pushed himself up.
Then he was on his feet, running to mee
t her.
They came together with a choked sob.
Hers.
And a fervent prayer of thanks.
His.
Steve kissed her fiercely, as if he'd thought he might never see her
again.
And she returned the urgent pressure of his lips, hardly able to
believe that he was really in her arms, alive.
And well.
His hands cupped around her shoulders.
"Abby, what are you doing here?"
"I couldn't let you do it. The Omega. I couldn't let you-' " What
about Shannon?
" he cut in urgently.
f'She's at Rai's house, with Noel.
She's fine.
Steve let out a long, shuddering breath.
"Noel's here? She came with Jason?"
"Yes."
"Then the temple should be decontaminated. At least I hope it is."
"It is. And the Omega's in there wrapped up tighter than a surprise
package from the army special projects division."
They both whirled to see Jason and Rai standing on the road, both
breathing hard, both with weapons drawn.
The duo reholstered their pistols.
"And the interior of the temple has been chemically scrubbed.
Although I'd guess that's not going to save any of the plants within a
five-hundred-meter radius."
"So that's why it smelled to high heaven in there," Steve muttered.
"Jason. Thank you. Oh, thank you," Abby breathed, looking from him to
Steve and back again.
"Yeah. It's been a busy forty-eight hours."
"I'm sorry we were away from home when you arrived," Raj told Abby.
"I've had quite a bit of unexpected company lately."
"We got back from town, and Noel told us where you'd gone," Jason
said.
"I was afraid we were going to be too late. But I see you have things
under control.)) " Thanks to my Rambo wife," Steve interjected, pulling
Abby more tightly against his side.
She clung to him.
Now that the danger was over, she felt limp and shaky.
Steve stroked her back and shoulders as she struggled to keep from
going to pieces in front of their friends.
"Let's get out of here," Jason said.
"Yeah."
With an arm firmly around Abby, Steve began to lead her back down the
road.
Then he stopped and looked quizzically at-the bodies in the clearing
.
"Singh. And the three guards," he muttered.
"And someone else."
"Oliver," Abby whispered.
"That's impossible!"
" No," Raj told him. :,The man you found in his bed was someone
else."
"What?"
Steve swung around to face the physician.
"The medical examiner was suspicious because of the skeletal
development. It wasn't consistent with' western nutritional standards,
so he asked to see Oliver's medical records." i, "Steve, I'm sorry,"
Abby murmured.
"He's the one by the rocks. He showed up just before you and Singh.
And .
and he scared the wits out of me.
"I'll bet," Steve said slowly.
She took his hand, and his fingers tightened around hers.
"He told me the man in his bed was someone named Ari. He was the pilot
who flew the Omega here."
"Ari. Yeah."
Steve sighed.
"I'm sure Oliver was exposed, too," Abby said.
"I think it affected his mind-his judgment. He wouldn't stay under
cover. He was trying to save you from Singh. That's why he started
shooting."
Steve's eyes were watery.
"I'm sorry he ended up this way.1 P " I know," Abby whispered. At
least Steve had already had time to come to terms with Oliver's
death.
He stared back at his friend for a long moment and was very quiet as
the group made their way back to the vehicles.
But on the ride back to Raj's house, they had business to discuss.
"Someone's going to want to know how Amarjin Singh ended up dead out
here," Jason muttered.
"Not to mention what he was doing with arussian chemical weapon that
was supposed to have been destroyed."
"I'm way ahead of you," Steve told him.
"It's not going to be our problem. There are a couple of CIA agents
named Driscoll and McGuire who are going to be delighted to claim
credit for the operation. And I just happen to have a twenty-four-hour
number where I can reach them."
"I guess they can empty out Oliver's warehouse while they're at it,"
Abby said.
"Yeah. I was wondering who'd been in that box of grenades."
Steve nodded at Jason.
"I thought it might have been you."
"I looked through the stuff, but I didn't take anything."
"What about Tang Wu?"
Abby asked.
"What about him?"
"Will he come after us?"
"Not if we use the same insurance policy I took out with Singh. Only
this time it will be true. We'll write up an account of what happened
and leave it in our safedeposit box with instructions to deliver it to
the CIA if something happens to us. We'll explain that to him when we
send back his ring," Steve suggested.
Abby felt one more layer of worry lifted from her shoulders.
As soon as they reached the house, Noel, who must have been sitting by
the window looking down the road, came flying out the door holding
Shannon.
It was Steve who took the baby from her.
@-With a catch in his breath, he closed his eyes and cradled the infant
against his chest.
Abby felt'her heart contract as she watched Shannon snuggle against her
father.
Moving closer, she put her arms around the two , of them, trembling as
she thought about what mig have happened.
Peripherally she was aware that the hers had gone inside, giving them
privacy.
"Thank the Lord she's out of danger," Steve whispered, his hand
delicately stroking the back of Shannon's head.
Abby covered his large hand with her smaller one.
know.
I'm trying to absorb that.
We can go home now and be an ordinary family.
"Not quite ordinary," he whispered.
She looked up at him.
"Are you thinking about Omega?"
"What if we can't-" "The good Lord has given us one very wonderful
little girl," she said before he could finish the question.
"If that's all we're allowed, that will be enough for me."
Steve nodded, but his eyes were still troubled.
"What?"
Abby asked.
He swallowed.
" It's not something we can settle standing out here. Everybody's
waiting for us."
"Let them wait."
She made no move to enter the house, and the expectant silence
stretched.
"All right," he finally said.
"The whole time Singh had Shannon, I kept thinking that my past had
come back to put my wife and child in danger. How do you feel about
that?"
He looked at her challengingly, and she felt her insides melt.
"Steve, you weren't responsible for a stupid decision Oliver made.