over, too, then adjusted the straps of Lys’s to make it big enough to fit him, no doubt so that he could carry Mikey hands-free. “We’ve got to get out of here. Those sirens were a warning about a terrorist attack at the airport. And over at the American Embassy. There’s a hostage situation there, too.”
Sam curbed the urge to vomit at Robin’s news as he slipped on the baby-pack, and picked up his phone. Still no bars.
“Cell towers are down,” Robin reported. “At least in this part of town. And this hotel doesn’t have a landline.”
“Gina, wake up.” Sam went into the other bedroom, where Max’s wife was curled around Emma.
The little girl’s eyes opened first, so Sam held his hand out to her, his mind racing. They had to leave, but where would they go? He didn’t know this part of the city, his GPS wouldn’t work with the towers down, he didn’t have a weapon, he needed a weapon, there were men with weapons no doubt standing guard outside the airport, which wasn’t that far from here. Whatever they had was his for the taking. All he had to do was find a guard or a pair of guards who were isolated from the others. Disarming them and arming himself would be as easy as plucking Uzis from the idiot tree.
Except, Jesus he felt sick.
Sam forced himself to focus on the task at hand. “Em. Come on, hon, I need you to get up and use the bathroom, then I’m going to help you put on your clothes, okay, sweetheart?”
Emma looked down at Gina, who was still sound asleep, then up at Sam again before she nodded and solemnly took Sam’s hand.
“Good girl,” Sam said as he helped her up. “Need help in there?”
Emma shook her head no, pushing the bathroom door closed behind her.
Gina stirred then, looking up first at him and then over at Robin, who’d come to the doorway, packing a sleepy Mikey into the baby carrier he was now wearing.
“What …?” she said.
“There’s been a terrorist attack,” Robin said again. He turned to Sam, even as he found several bottles of water. He handed one to Gina before giving the baby a sip from the other. “I was asking the desk clerk about the sirens, and at first he said it was nothing, but there was a TV on, and the news came on and even though it wasn’t in English, I could see that there was a problem at the airport, so he told me about it and about the hostage situation at the Embassy, too, but I knew that if I hadn’t seen it on TV, he wouldn’t’ve told me. And I also knew—I just knew—that if I hadn’t played it cool and just been like, Wow, thanks for the info, I guess we won’t go to the airport tomorrow after all, we’ll just sleep in and wait for the problem to be resolved, the entire gang of ’em would’ve jumped me and tied me up and …” He took a deep breath. “We’ve got to leave—now—and not through that lobby. Because when I turned back to the stairs, one of the women said, Have a good evening, Mr. Robin, sir.”
“Shhh-yoot,” Sam said, as Gina scrambled into the bathroom, pushing past Emma, who was listening, of course, her eyes wide.
“Yeah,” Robin agreed as he handed Emma’s still-damp jeans to Sam. “They recognized me. Hey, bunny-girl, let Sam help you get these on, okay?”
“Come here, Em.” Sam crouched down next to the little girl. Her life was in his still-trembling hands, and she was looking at him as if she knew it. “We’re going to be okay,” he told her, told Robin, too. “There’s a back stairway, out into the alley.” It was possible that it was being guarded, but even if it was, Sam could handle the guards.
Even sick as a dog, he could do this with his eyes closed.
Meanwhile Robin continued, “The people who own this hotel probably have no connection to the terrorists, not politically or religiously, but a guy who pimps out children is gonna see this—me being here—as just another way to make a quick buck. I’m pretty sure he already sent someone over to the airport to try to sell me to the bad guys as the most recognizable hostage in all of Tarafashir. Most recognizable on CNN, that is. Of course, once they realize they have Max Bhagat’s wife and kids …”
That was going to