The Savage Horde

Chapter 56

David Balfry looked up from his desk, as though startled. She thought that was silly. He'd sent word he wanted to see her, she'd knocked before entering the room in the farmhouse, he'd told her, "Come in, Sarah."

She stopped in front of his desk, suddenly feeling grubby. She pulled the blue and white bandanna from her hair, shook her head to relax her hair.

"Sit down, Sarah," he told her smiling. "Got some news about your husband."

She sank into the chair. "He's all right?"

"I don't know—no reason to assume he isn't," and Balfry smiled, gesturing behind him out the window. "No more or less all right than anybody else these days."

"What—what is—"

"Close to three weeks ago—your husband left U.S. II headquarters before it moved off the Texas Louisiana border. He was with a younger man—a man named Paul Rubenstein. Seems they've been hanging around together ever since the Night of The War. And he was with someone else."

"Who?"

Why did she ask that, she asked herself. "Who was he with?"

"A Russian woman—major in the KGB. Natalia—Natalia something," and Balfry looked through the papers on his littered desk. "Natalia Tiemerovna—middle name Anastasia. Her husband was the head of the KGB in America here—until your husband gunned him down on

the street—while ago in Athens, Georgia. Intelligence sources indicate the woman showed up in Chicago—that's Soviet Headquarters for the North American Army of Occupation—"

"I know that," Sarah nodded.

"Showed up in Chicago—without your husband or this Rubenstein character. Then she disappeared. Maybe to rejoin your husband."

Sarah licked her lips. "Russian woman."

Balfry threw down the paper in his hand—contemptuously, she thought absently.

"Doctor Rourke might be dead—maybe—"

"What?" she asked, not looking at Balfry.

"Look, Sarah—you're a beautiful woman. Who the hell knows how much time any of us have left." She heard the sounds of his chair scraping across the wood of the floor. She heard his footsteps—he was coming around the desk.

"Sarah," his voice purred to her. She looked up; David Balfry crouched in front of her chair, by her knees, his hands holding her hands against her thighs.

"Sarah—he probably figures you and your children are dead. He's done what any normal man would do—taken up with somebody else. This Russian woman. He's not coming because he's not looking."

Sarah looked into Balfry's eyes. "I—I have to get—to get out of here."

She stood up, stepping past him as he stood, turning away from him, starting toward the door. She felt his hands, the fingers strong, pressing into her upper arms. She felt him turn her around.

She looked at his chest, not his face.

"Sarah—" He drew her close to him. She could feel his breath—his clothes smelled like his pipe tobacco.

She felt his hands—they moved to her face, cradling her. She looked at his eyes.

His mouth.

It opened slightly as he bent his face toward her.

His lips—they were moist. There was strength in the way he crushed against her mouth.

Her arms—she moved them around his neck. She leaned her head against his chest.

"Sarah—you're a woman. You need a man to care for you—let me care for you," she heard him whisper. "You've been brave beyond what most men could do—let alone a—"

She pushed away from his chest, stepped back, her hands groping behind her, finding the doorknob. "A woman?" she rasped. "Just what the hell is so damn wrong with being a woman? I should fall over dead in a faint when somebody shoots at me? I should let my children die because Pm crying and can't do anything to help myself? A Russian woman—fine. But he's still looking for me.

I'm still looking for him. If there's a Russian woman—Natalia whats-her-name—whatever the hell she is—then fine. He'll tell me about her. And if we never see each other again—what should I do? Give away everything in myself to you—or somebody else?"

She found the doorknob—finally. She twisted it open, breaking a nail on it.

"Damn," she muttered.

"What?" Balfry asked her.

"Go to hell," she told him. She ran through the doorway.