Killing himself would mean dying a coward's death. But it would be an act of mercy to spare his son and wife humiliation and suffering.
Julian shivered against his side.
There was no way he could kill his son; simply no way. Not even for the best reasons.
The barking intensified. The dogs were getting closer.
But they were going in the wrong direction! Confused by the shifting wind, they were doubling back over the trail.
Voda barely trusted the senses that told him this. He waited, holding his breath. Finally, his wife shook her head free of his hand.
"You have to call the Americans," she said. "You have to, so they can find us."
"Yes," said Voda. "Come on, we'll cross over to the other side of the hill while they're going in the other direction. We have to be quiet."
He picked up Julian. The boy seemed even heavier than he had earlier.
"Are you going to call?" Mircea asked.
"I will."
"I hear a helicopter."
Voda froze. "Hide!" he said. "Get as low to the ground as you can."
General Samson hit his Talk button. "Samson."
"This is General Locusta. You have helicopters in my area." "I don't have helicopters." "Don't lie. I can hear them."
"We have an Osprey standing by in the area where we are operating," said Samson, hedging, of course. "It is a search and rescue craft, ready in case one of our planes — or yours— is shot down by the Russians."
"We believe the criminals have taken prisoners, perhaps the president's son and wife," said Locusta. "They may kill them if they get desperate. Tell your helicopter to back off."
"I can release my aircraft to assist you," said Samson.
"We do not require your assistance."
"In that case, I want it on station for an emergency."
"If your aircraft persists, I'll shoot it down myself," said Locusta.
The clouds had cleared, allowing the moon to shine brightly. Voda saw more of the woods around them, but this wasn't a good thing — it meant the men searching for them would have an easier time as well.
He and his wife and son cleared the crest of the hill and started down. There was a bald spot a few yards from the top. As Voda reached it, his footing slipped. Julian fell from his grasp and both father and son tumbled down against the rocks, rolling about five yards before coming to a stop.
Voda's knee felt as if it had been broken. The pain seized his entire leg, constricted his throat. He felt as if he couldn't breathe, as if his head had been buried in the dirt.
Julian began to whimper. Voda forced himself over to the boy, pulled his arms around him.
"Alin?" hissed his wife.
"Sssssh. We're here. I'll call now."
Voda pulled out the phone. His hands were trembling. What if it had broken in the fall? He should have called earlier, no matter the risk.
He pressed the Power button, waiting for it come to life.
If it didn't work, they'd go down the hill, they'd find a way past the soldiers, they'd walk, they'd crawl all the way back to Bucharest if they had to. They would do whatever they had to do, just to survive.
The phone lit.
Voda tapped the number the ambassador had given him. It was an international number — but it didn't seem to work.
Voda realized he had not remembered it correctly.
"We can't stay here. It's too easy to see us," said Mircea, reaching them.
"We're not going to stay," he told her. "Come on."
He grabbed her side and pulled himself up, thumbing for the number of the ambassador while they started down the hill.
"Romanian aircraft are returning south,Colonel," said Spiff. "No more Russians. I think we've seen the last of them."
"Don't place any bets," said Dog.
The Dreamland channel buzzed. Samson was on the line.
"Bastian."
"Locusta claims he'll the shoot the Osprey down if it flies over the hill," said Samson. "He implied that the guerrillas have the president's son and wife as hostages, and that they'll kill them if we get too close. I think it's a bunch of bull."
"All right."
"What the hell do we do now, Bastian?" Samson asked. "If we can't use the Osprey, how do we get him out? How do we get our people in there?"
"Let's ask them," said Dog.
"What do you mean?"
"Conference everyone in and see what they think." Samson didn't say anything. He was used to working from the top down — he came up with ideas, and people genuflected. Dreamland had never worked that way. Neither had Dog. "All right," said Samson finally. "How the hell do we do that?"
The problem wasn't just getting the president out— they had to find him first. The Bennett's radar couldn't spot him because of the trees, which would also block the infrared sensors aboard the Flighthawks unless the aircraft descended low enough to be heard.
Zen took Starship onto another channel to give him some pointers for tweaking the filters the computer used to interpret the infrared, even though he knew it was a long shot. The sensors' long-range capabilities were designed primarily to find objects in the sky; they simply couldn't do what they wanted.
By the time they went back on the conference line, Danny was suggesting that he and his men parachute into the hill.
"Even with the moon out, it's still dark enough to jump without being seen," he said. "If we take the Osprey to 25,000 feet, it won't be heard."
"How do you get out of there?" Dog asked.
"There's a spot at the base of the back hill that's not covered by the patrols the troops have set up," said Danny. "We can come down the hill, work our way across and then out. We get across the road, then we have the Osprey pick us up on the other side of this second hill here."
"That'll take hours," said Dog.
"I don't think he's getting out on his own," said Danny.
"General Samson, incoming message from the ambassador," said Breanna.
"Good. Stockard, can you plug me into him?"
It took Zen a moment to realize Samson was talking to his wife. No one spoke, waiting for the general.
"I want this on line. Can you get it on line?"
Zen could hear Breanna explaining in the background that they could conference it, though the quality would be poor.
"Well, do it," said Samson gruffly. "Is everyone listening?" "We're here," said Dog.
"Stockard, can you get us on line?" Samson asked again. "It's on."
Zen heard someone breathing in the background.
"President Voda, are you there?" said Samson.
"Yes. The men with the dogs are on the other side of the hill," answered a soft, distant foreign voice. "But there are many soldiers around."
"Where exactly are you?" asked Danny.
"We're on the other side of the hill from my house."
"Below the bald rocks?"
"The rocks? Yes, yes. About twenty feet below them, in the center."
"Good."
"They're coming!" Voda shouted, his hushed voice rising. There were muffled sounds.
Oh God, thought Zen, we're going to hear him get killed. But they didn't.
"I have to leave," whispered Voda a few seconds later. "We have to move."
The phone dropped off the circuit.
"Stockard, get Dreamland Command to call him back," said Samson. "Osprey — get moving. We'll have him vector you in."
"If we call him and they're nearby, they'll hear and kill him," said Dog.