Page 79 of Dark Gambit Reliance
"Do you want me to read to you?" Geraldine asked.
"Tell me about the mission. What's the news on that?"
Her mother smiled indulgently. "It's still very hush-hush, and I'm not supposed to know anything, but Shai tells me bits and pieces. You'll probably slip away before I'm done, but fine."
Since the story sounded somewhat familiar, Darlene assumed that she'd heard it before. Maybe Eric and Annani had talked about it next to her, and she'd retained some of it.
Geraldine was nearing the end of the story when the door opened, and Eric walked in with a big brown bag and a tray with two cups of coffee.
"You're awake." He cast Geraldine an accusing glance. "Why didn't you call me?"
"I told her not to," Darlene said. "Come and give me a kiss."
As he handed her mother the bag and the tray and leaned over the bed, Darlene managed to lift her arms and embrace him. "I love you so much."
He looked into her eyes and smiled. "I love you more."
"Uh-uh. I love you more."
He caressed her cheek. "You seem to have more energy than you had the other times you woke up. You're more focused too."
Darlene frowned. "I feel good, and that coffee smells divine. Do you think you can give me some and not tell Bridget?"
He turned his head and looked at the open door. "She'll have my head. But there is nothing I won't do for you."
Darlene licked her lips again, this time in anticipation of a taste of coffee.
Her mother gave Eric a reproachful look, but she didn't argue when he took one of the paper cups off the tray, added cream and sugar, and stirred.
"Maybe that's the magic potion that will keep you awake."
He pressed a button on the remote, and the back of the bed lifted, bringing Darlene to a semi-reclining position.
"No wonder I was unconscious for four and a half days. I didn't have my morning coffee."
Eric brought the cup to her lips. "It's not too hot, but drink carefully and only a little. I'm sure that water would have been better, but you and I are rebels, right?" He winked at her.
Her heart swelled with so much love for him that it felt too big for her ribcage.
Taking a small sip, she sighed in bliss and then took two more before Eric took the cup away. "That's enough for now. If you stay awake for the next fifteen minutes, I'll give you more."
"That's an excellent incentive to stay awake."
55
SOFIA
Sofia hadn't known what to expect when they'd landed in St. Petersburg, and neither had Marcel.
He'd made several phone calls during the long flight, but no one could give him a straight answer because everything had still been in flux.
Things hadn't improved much when they'd met up with the Guardians who'd arrived on a large plane straight from wherever Marcel's village was.
Nearly an hour passed before the convoy of trucks arrived to pick them up. They must have used mind tricks that encompassed the entire private section of the airport because no one was paying them any attention.
"Is Toven doing this?" she asked Marcel as he helped her climb to the back of one of the trucks. "Is he somehow compelling everyone in the airport not to notice a convoy of army trucks collecting soldiers that arrived on a private plane from the United States?"
They sat on one of the two long benches lining the sides of the truck.