Page 13 of V-Day

She braced herself.

An armed Insurrecto private stepped through the door, his machine gun swinging to point at her belly. He moved to one side.

Ibarra came in behind him. He strolled with his hands behind him, his head turning, as if he wandered the paths of a varied garden, examining the blooms. He nodded when he saw her, a smile shifting his mouth into an upward curve. No corresponding warmth entered his eyes, which remained flat and lifeless.

“Please come with me,” he told her.

Calli didn’t move. “Where are we going?”

“Oh, downstairs,” he said airily. He flicked his hand at dust on his shoulder.

Her gut tightened. “Downstairs? Howfardownstairs?” The bordello was in the basement, although there were two other floors between her and the basement.

Ibarra shrugged. “Why, all the way,” he said and nodded to the private.

The soldier jerked the sub-machine gun. “Get up.”

Calli rose to her feet, her mind whirling. “What has happened? What has changed?” she demanded.

“Move,” the private said.

“Ibarra!” Calli said sharply. “Tell me.”

The use of his name made Ibarra jerk. His gaze met hers. Now life showed in his eyes. Intelligence. “Your beloved Nicolás has disappeared.” His tone was mild. “Your use as leverage has gone.”

Calli swallowed. “You’re lying. You knew that three days ago. Something else has happened.”

Ibarra considered her. Then he nodded, as if his assessment was to his satisfaction. “The Loyalist Army approaches Freonegro Pass, with Peña at its head. He has the US Marines and the Second Mexican Infantry Brigade on either side.”

Freonegro Pass! That narrow valley between the eastern and southern mountains was the only way to reach the city from the south…and it was only two hours away from the city by car.

Abruptly, the life drained from Ibarra’s eyes and his vapid smile returned. He stepped aside, gesturing toward the door. “Shall we?”

Calli considered, her heart working way too hard. She couldn’t defeat a man with a sub-machine gun, not inside a house where dozens, if not hundreds, of armed Insurrectos roamed.

She moved ahead of Ibarra out into the thickly carpeted hallway which ran down the center of this floor. As they moved toward the big rotunda where the double-helix stairs were, another thought struck Calli, one which made her chest squeeze and her gut to clamp tight.

Ibarra had told her what was happening. He had given her information that Daniel and Duardo and Nick would call classified and sensitive.

It meant Ibarra didn’t expect Calli would ever be in a position to pass the information on.