The sun had set and darkness stalked the Sorcière from the east. Laura watched Rick’s silhouette on the bridge. Every once in a while he’d turn to look at her.
She’d recovered from the shock. She’d said she had to think, and that was what she’d been doing … thinking about Rick deliberately causing the deaths of fifteen children. Unthinkable, unspeakable on the surface, but …
She’d known he could kill. She’d seen him kill. But she’d never thought he could do something like that.
Neither had he, most likely.
And yet …
He was a good man. She knew that. His revulsion had been all too clear as he’d described what those sick people had done to the kids. And the kids were not coming back from those mutilations. Even the ikhar would be useless against that level of injury. It couldn’t grow new eyes, a new tongue …
I keep telling myself I didn’t do it to them, I did it for them.
And she was sure that was true. He’d done it for them. He’d known no one else would have the will, the plain guts to take the situation in hand and save those children from the endless horror their lives had become and would continue to be.
So it had been left to him.
The easy way would have been to call the German authorities. Let them arrest the adults and stick them in mental institutions until they were either “cured” or escaped to start the same thing all over again.
And the children … house them where they’d live out their lives tumbling through a silent, formless black void, never again to hear a kind word or feel a gentle touch. And if science ever did reach a point where they could be helped, each would be irretrievably insane by then. If they weren’t already.
Rick had spared them that.
And rid the world of the scum who had hurt them.
But still …
The contradictions buffeted her.
She couldn’t help feeling betrayed. Not by Rick—he’d leveled with her. Betrayed by fate or life or whatever. She’d been closed off for years. Now, after finally opening up to someone, she learns …
But then again, back by the explosives and the VX, when she’d sensed Keith trying to distract her with all his chatter, she’d been doing the same to him, but hers had been a delaying tactic. For as sure as she knew the sun would rise and set, she’d known Rick was on his way. She knew he had her back. Wherever she might be, he’d have her back. And that was precious beyond compare.
So could she put his past behind her and look toward a future together?
Rationally, she said yes. She didn’t fear him. Not in the least. Here was a man who would lay down his life for her or Marissa without a second thought.
Emotionally, though, she still didn’t know.
But she wasn’t going to find out sitting down here, was she?
Laura rose and headed up to the bridge. She didn’t expect an easy fix, but they had hundreds of miles of water ahead to work out … something.