COLOGNE, GERMANY

A hand on Arianna’s shoulder startled her awake. She scrambled out of bed and reached for the lamp as a weapon against the night-time intruder.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! It’s me…Zach.” He held her arm steady, so she couldn’t strike him.

“Zach?” She released the lamp and flew into his arms, bursting into tears.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

She burrowed her face in his chest, tears flowing freely, no words coming.

“Aw, babe, I’m so sorry. I heard what happened. Are you all right?” He stroked her hair and tried to comfort her.

“No. No.” She rolled her head from side to side. “My face. Everywhere. I’m all beat-up,” she sobbed.

He gently guided her away from his chest to look at her. He touched the gash above her eye, ran his knuckles down her cheek, and a finger lightly across her swollen lips. He cradled her chin in his hand and brushed kisses across her forehead and on every uninjured area of her face. “It kills me to see you like this. This should never have happened.”

His tender words and gentle touch brought on a fresh wave of tears. “Their hands were touching me everywhere,” she cried, as bitter tears consumed her. “One man tried to rape me. I was so scared…I thought they were going to kill me.” She threw herself down on the bed and sobbed.

“Aw, Arianna, I’m so sorry.” He reached out and pulled her to him. “I can’t stand to see you hurt like this.”

She dabbed at her tears and let out a shuddering sigh. “I’ll get over it. This is silly. I’m being overly emotional.” She cleared her throat and tried to pull herself together. “Risk is part of the job. I just need to buck up and move on.”

Zach shook his head vehemently back and forth. “No, Arianna. No, you don’t. Cry all you want, babe. Getting attacked like this is not part of the job, and no way do you need to buck up and act like nothing happened.”

There was more of a quiver in his voice than his male ego preferred to show, and tears formed in his eyes. Her pain was his pain too. “Cry. Yell. Scream. Whatever you feel. What happened to you sucks. No need to try to deny your feelings.”

“I feel totally violated.” She balled her hands into fists. “I hate those filthy men. Their hands were everywhere. And you…and you.” She was sobbing so hard she could hardly get the words out. “And you will probably never want to touch me again after this.”

“Oh, no, no, no.” He looked her straight in the eye. “Don’t even think that…not for a second. Nothing could ever separate me from you.” He pulled her into his arms and pressed her to him.

“Oow, easy,” she said, wincing in pain. “My shoulder and ribs…they’re all bruised.”

He relaxed his embrace. Anger built within him. Whoever was responsible for Raul being pulled away from guarding her was going to be in a world of hurt when he found him.

He gently kissed her. “I’m going to be right here with you. We’re going to get through this together.”

She nestled into his arms. “I’d like to go home for a few days. I need some time to get over this.”

“I think that’s a good idea. We can leave as soon as you want.”

“With you.” She turned so she could face him. “Please tell me you’re going to be home for a while.”

“I’m not going anywhere, but home with you.”

“But after I’m better, I want to go back to work. I’m not going to let this stop me from doing my job.” She hesitated a moment. “You’re not going to try to stop me, are you?”

Instantly, an internal battle raged within him, the same one he’d struggled with over and over. He could stop her. One phone call from him and her job would instantly vanish. Something deep inside him wanted to make that call. Wanted her to stay home and get a regular job…something safe, non-controversial, or even better, no job at all. She didn’t need to work. He’d take care of her, but she’d be miserable. She loved her work even as much as he loved his. But her happiness was his main concern, so no, he wouldn’t stop her.

“Think we’ve talked about this before,” he finally said. “When you’re ready, you’ll go back to work.”

ZACH HAD been up all night traveling to get to Cologne. He fell asleep, cradling Arianna in his arms. After a few hours of sleep, they arose to start their day. Coming out of the bedroom, they joined Raul and Kevin who were having coffee in the shared suite. Juan was just waking up from his bed on the sofa.

“Hey, Juan, nice to see you,” Arianna said with a chuckle. “I look like hell. I did a face plant right onto some concrete. The concrete got the better end of the deal.”

He came forward and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. “You’re still beautiful. Just battle-tested now. Sorry about what happened.”

“Arianna, come look at this,” Kevin said. “I’ve been watching the news, and your report was a hit. The network has been running your story all day back in the States. Other networks have picked it up, too. Come see.”

They all crowded around his laptop to watch a video that was streaming live. A caption ran across the bottom of the screen.

CNS foreign correspondent, Arianna Garrett, attacked as she gathered details of refugee crisis in Europe.

In the forefront was the president speaking, talking about a ban on relocating thousands of refugees to the US.

Zach stood with his arm around Arianna’s waist and kissed the top of her head. “Well, you sure got his attention. Good job, babe. I’m proud of you.”

“Oh! Look at my face. I look like I stepped out of a war zone. Someone should have stopped me from filming that.”

“Are you kidding me?” Kevin said. “That’s what made the story so good…the raw, unfiltered picture of exactly what is happening here.”

“Besides, you were quite determined to get this story on air,” Raul added, with a sly grin on his face. “Pity the poor guy who tried to stop you.”

Tony entered the suite and seeing everyone gathered around the computer asked, “Hey, what’s all the excitement?” He set a bag of pastries on the table and came over to join them. Giving Arianna a quick hug and kiss, he said, “Sorry to hear about your misfortune. You doing okay?’

She nodded. “I’ll survive. But I’m surprised you’re here. Thought you’d be on your way home to see Lisa. Surprised both you and Juan aren’t on your way home.”

“We will be shortly. Uh, we have a little business to attend to, then we’re all out of here. At least I think that’s the plan.” Tony looked over at Zach.

“Business?” What business? Zach, you have business here?”

“Maybe.” He opened the bag Tony brought and pulled out several slices of apple streusel. “Help yourself everyone.”

Arianna’s phone rang. She looked down. The call was from Monica Friedland, editor of Der Spiegel magazine.

“Good morning, Arianna. I saw your broadcast,” the editor said. “Wunderbar. You’ve broken the silence and brought this evil front and center in the world news. Well done.”

“Thank you. I appreciate your help and good work in this area, too. I looked like hell, but yes, I got the story out there, especially in the States. I think they might need a wake-up call about what could be coming to our country very soon if our immigration laws don’t change.”

“Ja, I’m afraid you found out the hard way what’s been happening in our country. Thanks for hanging in there and covering this story. Good luck in the future. I’m looking for great things from you.”

Arianna hung up the phone. “That was Monica,” she said to Kevin. “She called to congratulate me on our story.”

“See, I told you, you were a hero. You delivered the goods, little sis.”

As everyone was finishing their coffee and pastries, there was a loud pounding on the door. Everyone looked up in surprise.

“I got it,” Raul said. He drew his weapon and moved to the door. As a precaution, he stood to the side of the doorway instead of directly in front of it. A bad guy with a powerful weapon could shoot right through the door. Not knowing who was on the other side, he was taking no chances.

“Who is it?” he yelled.

“It’s Miller. Let me in.”

Raul, his hand still on his weapon, opened the door. The agitated security chief burst into the room.

“Ooh,” Miller paused, seeing Zach. “Now I get it. It’s you. You did this.”

“What are you talking about?” Arianna asked. “He just arrived this morning. What is it you think he did?”

“Ask him. He’ll tell you.”

“Tell me what? Zach?” She looked at Zach who sat nonchalantly eating his pastry. He took a sip of coffee, looked up at Miller, but never said a word.

“Okay, enough of this cat and mouse thing,” Arianna said. “Dan, what’s going on?”

Miller threw his hands in the air. “They fired me.”

“What? Fired you? Who? When?”

“I got a call from Roger Carr, CEO and chairman of CNS news, the main boss himself. He told me I’m fired.”

“Why?” Arianna asked. “Just out of the blue they up and fire you? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“That’s what I thought,” Miller said, pacing back and forth. “Seems they didn’t like my handling of the security detail in the refugee camp. They blame me for your getting attacked, but that’s bullshit. I was attacked, too. Did they ever think of that?” Turning toward Arianna, he hissed, “You’re the one who wanted to go in there. I just went along, doing my job. Maybe they should fire you for choosing such a dangerous location.”

Zach jumped out of his chair and started for Miller, but Tony and Juan stepped up and stopped him.

“Zach. Zach. Not now. Let it go,” Tony said, blocking his way.

“Later,” Juan said under his breath. “You’ll get your chance later. Hold on.”

Raul stepped to the door and opened it. Looking over at Miller, he said, “I think you better leave while you can still walk out of here on your own two legs.”

“Yeah, big tough guy.” Miller turned and glared at Zach. “You have no idea how hard this security work is, pretty boy, living in your fancy mansion, kicking back playing the stock market all day while you sip on Jack Daniels. Good thing your friends stopped you. In the Marines, we have a way of dealing with pussys like you.”

Zach stared back at him, totally unaffected by what the man was saying. “Have a good day,” he said coolly. “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”

Miller stomped out, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“What a prick,” Raul said. “He’s worthless as a security guard.”

Arianna burst into tears and ran into the bedroom. Zach, alarmed by her reaction, followed.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head back and forth, not talking.

“Arianna, look at me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“This is all my fault. I hate this. I hate all of what happened. I should have never done that interview. I caused all this.”

“Stop, Arianna. You’re just upset about all you’ve been through. Believe me. This is not your fault. I never trusted this guy from the first time I met him in New York. That’s why I sent Raul along. Miller deserved to get fired. He’s a loser who should never have been in that line of work. Him getting fired is a good thing, okay?”

At first she didn’t answer.

“Okay?” Zach repeated.

She sighed and nodded. “Ah, I just need to go home and relax. I’m an emotional basket case.”

Zach leaned down and kissed her. “And so we will. Start packing. Tony, Juan and I have some business we need to attend to. By the time you’re packed and ready to go, we’ll be back, and we can all leave.”

“Business? That’s what Tony said.” Arianna shot him a skeptical look. “What kind of business?”

Zach shook his head. “Don’t ask. Just get packed and be ready to go.” With that he turned and left.