and a whole lot of less easily identifiable trash.
There wasn’t much there they could make use of, at least not that Robin could see.
Sam, however, seemed fascinated by what looked like an ancient circuit breaker box in the corner across from a long-cold coal burner—no doubt about it, this place now featured only cold-water flats.
Robin’s stomach churned and burbled, and he dug for his own phone to use it to light his way to the far corner of the room, stopping to grab a rusting shovel. But right before he turned away, he realized what it was that Sam was looking at.
Those were telephone wires coming into the building—wires that led up through the walls to the various apartments above them.
And as Robin quickly dug a shallow hole in which to place his continuing misery, so to speak, he realized that rescue—via a quick phone call to Troubleshooters Incorporated—was close at hand.
Sure, they were going to have to break into one of the apartments and either use the phone or steal a phone. But that seemed simple enough compared to what they’d already done and where they’d been and—
“Holy fah … leh-lah, leh-lah,” Sam said.
“What’s wrong?” Gina asked.
“No,” Sam said. “Nothing’s wrong. It’s good, in fact, it’s great.” He laughed. “Someone in the building has a nonsecure wireless network. I don’t have phone service, that’s still down, but I can use my phone to access the Internet through this open wireless system, and send an email.”
“I’ll dictate,” Robin said, using the shovel to cover up his deposit before he used his cell phone to light his way back to the others. “Dear Dave and/or Decker, Please come and get us ASAP. Love, Sam. P.S. Don’t kiss us on the mouth when you greet us because we are fah … leh-lah contagious.”
“I’m paraphrasing,” Sam said dryly. “With luck, they’re already looking for us and … Yeah, Dave was definitely standing by and thank you sweet baby Jesus. The SEALs have retaken the airport. And the Embassy. We’re safe, but Dave recommends we stay put, out of sight, until they can send someone out here to pick us up.”
“Is there any way we can get a message to Max?” Gina asked, her arms tightly around Mikey and Emma. “He and Alyssa and Jules must be going crazy, worrying about us.”
“I’m on it,” Sam said, his thumbs flying across his phone’s keyboard. He’d put Ash into his frontpack, but after he sent the email, he gave the baby a hug. “You are such a good boy,” he told his son.
Who mewed once and then vomited down Sam’s shirt and jeans.
“Robin,” Sam said quietly.
“I’m right here,” Robin said. “I’ll take him.”
“Thank you.”
He took the baby, and Sam took the shovel. And ran.
“Shh, it’s okay,” Robin said, as Ash started to cry. “You’re okay, Big Guy. It’s four A.M. You’re right on schedule. Mikey’s next.”
“I’m pretty sure Mike had it first,” Gina told him. “I thought it was just normal baby spit-up, but in hindsight …”
“Really?” Robin said, using a piece of one of the sheets to clean off Ash. “Yay.”
CHAPTER TEN
Greek Isles
Jules found Robin sleeping on the beach, beneath an umbrella. “Hey, babe.”
Robin sat up so fast he almost fell out of his lounge chair. “Oh, my God! You’re here!”
“Yeah, we caught an earlier flight.” Jules laughed as Robin enveloped him in a hug and kissed the bejesus out of him.
God, yes, this was exactly what he’d needed …
But then Robin pulled back to look at him. “Two weeks earlier?” he asked.
“The assignment took less time than we’d originally thought.”
Robin ran his hand self-consciously across the dark stubble that covered his head. “I thought I’d have more time to, you know, grow this out.”
“It’s actually adorable. And amazing,” Jules said, “and it makes it kind of impossible to ignore what happened to you, and Gina, and Sam and the kids—God, when we heard, we were sick, we were so worried.”
“No, actually, we were sick,” Robin quipped.
But Jules wasn’t ready to laugh. “What a nightmare and Jesus, all I could think was this kind of worrying is what I put you through, this is what I willingly do to you, every time I go out there and put myself in danger.”
“No, babe,” Robin said, pulling him close and enveloping him in his arms. “No, that’s just not true. I mean, yeah, it can be scary, but I know—I know, in fact, I’ve just had the ultimate reminder that you can take care of yourself. I