Free Everlasting by Iris Johansen Page A

the
mondava?”
    “I accept it,” Zack said quietly. “With all my heart.”
    The belligerence suddenly faded, replaced by weariness. “That goes without saying. It has to be with all your heart or there is no
mondava.”
She turned away. “It must be done as quickly as possible. I'm finding this very difficult.”
    “Tonight,” Zack said.
    Her face took on a sudden fierceness. “No! You've had your chance. You can wait now until we can do it properly and with all due ceremony.”
    Zack frowned. “The hell I will. We don't even know when that will be and I'm already going crazy.”
    There was the slightest hint of malicious pleasure in Marna's smile. “How unfortunate. Then you'll just have to arrange matters so the ceremony can take place quite soon, won't you?”
    Zack muttered a low oath under his breath. “Has it slipped your memory that right now we have to concentrate on your escape from Tamrovia?”
    “I thought you'd both forgotten,” Kira said caustically. “You won't mind if I interrupt this cryptic conversation to remind you that we came here to inform Marna we're planning on getting her out of here tomorrow?”
    Marna's gaze moved to Zack's face. “How?”
    “Tomorrow night there will be a reception at the palace and people will be coming and going constantly. Your guards will be bribed to allowyou to be smuggled out of here and through Belajo to the woods south of the city. A helicopter will be waiting there. Kira and I will join you as soon as we can get away from the reception. Then we'll take off. By dawn we should have crossed the border into Switzerland.” He turned to Kira. “Are the grounds to the rear of the palace as well guarded as the main gate?”
    “Yes,” she said thoughtfully. “But you won't have to take her out either the back or the front.” Her eyes met Marna's and she smiled. “There's another way.”
    Zack's brows lifted. “A flying carpet.”
    She grinned. “Better. A secret passage in my apartment that leads underneath the grounds and the main gate and into a cave in the woods. All you have to do is arrange to have a car standing by out of sight of the palace.”
    “A secret passage,” Zack repeated, a little smile tugging at his lips. “I should have known. What else could I expect in a situation like this? Gypsies, palaces, and Balkan intrigue. It fits right in. I wonder why I even bothered to formulate an efficient plan.”
    “It
is
efficient,” Marna said slowly. “Just what I would have expected of you, Zack. I will make only one alteration.”
    Zack frowned. “Alteration?”
    “The helicopter pilot will put us down in a clearing that I will designate, about eighty miles from here. He will be ordered to return in twenty-four hours.” She smiled calmly. “And
then
he will fly us to Switzerland.”
    “No!” Zack said. “It's too risky. The entire countryside may be crawling with—”
    Marna held up her hand to stop him. “It is the only way I will go.”
    “Marna, please,” Kira pleaded. “I don't know what this is all about, but if Zack thinks it's too dangerous, then I believe you should do as he asks.”
    A curious smile tugged at Marna's lips. “You trust him?”
    Kira met her eyes steadily. “I trust him.”
    “Good,” Marna said. “I trust him, too, but we'll still follow my plan and not his.” She patted Kira's cheek gently. “Give in to me in this, little one. It is for the best, I promise you. For this lasttime, let me be the one to make things as they should be for you.”
    This last time. The words were weighted with a strange sadness that made Kira vaguely uneasy. “Marna…” She stared at her helplessly. Then she turned to Zack, unconsciously squaring her shoulders. “Zack, I think we should do as she wishes. Can't you find some way to make it safe for her? It's only for one night and—”
    “All right.” The quiet assent surprised her so much that she broke off in mid-sentence. Where she had expected to find