Page 66 of Protecting Maggie
“Shawn,” she whispered, not able to move her feet. She was as frozen now as she’d been when she’d seen the soldiers first start to beat Shawn and MacGyver. It had been horrible. Violent and full of hate. She’d seen fights when she’d been incarcerated, but nothing like what she’d just witnessed.
She kind of thought the siblings might disappear into the streets of the city without her. But to her surprise, Artem had a short conversation with Borysko, and the younger boy walked back to where she was standing and took her hand in his. “Come,” he said, repeating his brother’s simple instructions.
“Shawn,” Maggie said. “Ricky.” She used the name the children called MacGyver.
“We get. But first safe.”
Two words. That was all it took to get Maggie’s muscles working again.We get.She had no idea what three kids and a woman clearly out of her element could do to save two Navy SEALs from a roving band of Russian soldiers, but she so badly wanted to have faith in the boy, she allowed him to pull her forward as they made their way toward another hiding spot.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Fuck,” Preacher moaned as he rolled over.
“You really do sound like Blink,” MacGyver said from next to him.
Opening his eyes—no, his eye; one was swollen shut—Preacher saw his teammate lying in the dirt next to him. They were in a room much like the one they’d holed up in. It was obviously a bombed-out building, but this room was less protected from the elements. He could see two Russian soldiers standing outside the walls with their rifles at the ready.
“Maggie? The kids?” Preacher asked. The last thing he remembered was seeing Maggie standing at the top of the concrete ledge he’d hoisted her up to, staring down at them in horror.
“As far as I know, they got away,” MacGyver said.
Relief swamped through Preacher. That was followedby determination and anger. This was no place for three kids or Maggie to be wandering around. It would also be more difficult for them to stay hidden with Russian troops roaming the city.
He wondered if the crates of weapons they’d offloaded had really been for the Ukrainians, as they’d all thought, or if Robertson had been paid to leave the weapons for the Russians. If so, it would add treason to all of his other crimes.
At the moment, that didn’t matter. He and MacGyver needed to get the hell out of there. The last thing they wanted was to be transported over the border into Russia. Special forces units weren’t fighting in this conflict. Yes, the US was helping in other ways, by supplying weapons and training for Ukrainian soldiers, but if word got out to the media that there were Navy SEALs on the ground, things could get ugly for everyone involved.
“What’s the plan?” Preacher asked.
The other man chuckled, but the sound changed to a moan almost immediately. “Shit, I was hopingyouhad a plan,” MacGyver told him.
“Still got that tracker?” he asked.
“Yeah. Skivvies still on. Check.”
“Right, so Tex, and thus the team, still know where we are.”
“But not where Maggie is.”
Preacher frowned. He was right. She could literally be anywhere, and there wasn’t a chance in hell that he was leaving Maggie behind. Their separation made things moredifficult, but when rescue came, maybe enough of a ruckus would be made that she’d somehow be drawn to it, and they could get the hell out of here.
“The kids,” MacGyver said in a low, desolate tone.
Preacher closed his eyes. Their situation upset him too, but obviously they’d made a bigger impact on the taciturn MacGyver.
“We can’t leave them.”
“We can’ttakethem,” Preacher countered. “They’re not US citizens. It would be akin to kidnapping.”
“You saw them,” MacGyver said. “How skinny they are. They don’t have anyone to look after them.”
“We can get Tex to reach out to one of his contacts, make sure they’re found and brought to safety.”
But MacGyver snorted. “Then what? They go into the system?Whatsystem? Look around, Preacher, this country is being torn apart. And who are the people suffering the most? The kids. No one is going to adopt them. Especially not all three. Besides, I have a feeling Artem would rather be on his own, living in the rubble of burned-out buildings, than be separated from his brother and sister.”
“What do you want me to say? That we’ll take them with us? You know that won’t go down well. We can’t just be stealing kids from the countries we’re sent to.”
“I don’t want to steal them. I just want them to be safe. To have food in their bellies. For Artem not to have to be a grownup when he’s only eight. I want Yana to be able to play without fear.”
