Page 61 of Protecting Maggie
Silence fell between the two men once more. Preacher didn’t feel the least bit sleepy. The creaks and groans of the dilapidated building over their heads didn’t exactly make him feel all that safe. But all they needed to do was waitthings out. Kevlar and the others would hopefully be there soon.
All of a sudden, there was a scraping sound from the direction of where they’d entered the small room.
Preacher sat up straighter, and MacGyver did the same.
Moving Maggie so she was lying down instead of using him as a pillow, he took note of how she didn’t even flinch. Getting pissed all over again at how exhausted she had to be, Preacher pulled his KA-BAR knife out of the sheath at his side. MacGyver had done the same thing as they prepared to face whoever was about to enter the room. They moved silently to either side of the entrance, ready to subdue whatever threat might appear.
To their surprise, three children crawled through the makeshift door.
Preacher grabbed the biggest, putting an arm around the kid’s chest and lifting him off his feet. MacGyver did the same to the next largest intruder, and they hauled them into the middle of the small room.
Chaos immediately broke out. The kids struggled, the third one—the child who hadn’t been grabbed, and who couldn’t have been older than around five—didn’t hesitate to run up to Preacher, kicking and hitting him.
The extremely odd thing about the entire situation was how it was all done silently. These kids obviously knew not to announce their location to anyone else who might be nearby.
“Calm down,” Preacher ordered firmly but quietly—and amazingly, they did. Moving slowly, he put down the boyhe’d grabbed, and MacGyver did the same. The little girl who’d so violently attempted to protect the boys ran to them, and they immediately hugged her, then shoved her behind them as they glared at the two men.
Preacher re-sheathed his knife at the same time as MacGyver, then crouched down on the balls of his feet. “Hello,” he said, wondering how much English the kids understood.
“Why you here?” the largest boy asked. His English was accented, and a little stilted, but Preacher was impressed that he was speaking it all the same.
“We came to rest and to hide from the bad guys.”
“This isourplace,” the other boy said.
“I’m sorry, we didn’t realize. Can we share?” Preacher asked.
The older boy looked from him to MacGyver, then back to him. His eyes filled with tears, but the boy angrily wiped them away with his arm. “No. We go.”
“Wait!” Preacher exclaimed. Now that he’d gotten a better look at the trio, he couldn’t in good conscience let them simply leave. All three were filthy, covered in dirt and grime. Their clothes were ripped and torn, and the shoes on their feet were nothing but basically slippers. They all had the hollow eyes of hardened soldiers who’d seen too much hate and death. It tugged at his heartstrings.
“Stay,” MacGyver said. “I promise we won’t hurt you.”
The younger boy looked over at Maggie. “You hurt girl.”
“What? No. She isn’t hurt. She’s sleeping,” MacGyver protested.
Preacher hated that these kids thought they’d hurt Maggie, but he wasn’t that surprised. War had devastated the city, and these kids had seen things they never should’ve had to see. He stepped over to Maggie and gently shook her shoulder. “Maggie? Wake up, sweetheart.”
Her eyes popped open in an instant, as if she was used to coming awake at a moment’s notice, and he supposed she probably was. Letting down your guard behind bars was probably a dangerous thing to do. Even while sleeping.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. We have guests,” Preacher told her.
Her eyes focused on the three children. “Oh!” she whispered.
“See? She’s okay. Not hurt,” MacGyver said. He’d moved so he was sitting on his butt on the ground, and he was holding up his hands as if to show he was unarmed. “We don’t have any food, but we have some water. It’s clean. Do you want some?”
The boys looked skeptical, but the little girl tugged on the older kid’s shirt and said something in Ukrainian. He nodded once.
MacGyver smiled and leaned forward, placing his canteen on the floor in front of the children, then sat back.
The smaller boy took one step and snatched the water up so fast, if Preacher hadn’t been watching, he would’ve missed it. Instead of drinking the water himself, he handedit to the girl. She smiled at him as if he was her whole world and brought the canteen to her lips.
“What are your names?” MacGyver asked softly.
“Where did they come from?” Maggie whispered to Preacher.
