Sands of Time

"That’s right," she said casually. "I should have mentioned that. I’ll explain everything when you get back. Have you any more news of the girl?"

"No, but she can’t hide out for very long. The whole country’s looking for her."

"Let me hear from you as soon as she’s found."

The line went dead.

Alan Tucker sat there, staring at the dead telephone in his hand. She’s a cool lady, he thought admiringly. I wonder how she’s going to feel about having a partner?

I made a mistake in sending him, Ellen Scott thought. Now I’ll have to stop him. And what was she going to do about the girl? A nun! I won’t Judge her until I see her.

Her secretary buzzed her on the intercom.

"They’re ready for you in the boardroom, Mrs. Scott."

"I’m coming."

Lucia and Rubio kept moving through the woods, stumbling and slipping, fighting off tree limbs and bushes and insects, and each step took them farther away from their pursuers.

Finally, Rubio said, "We can stop here. They won’t find us."

They were high in the mountains in the middle of a dense forest.

Lucia lay down on the ground, fighting to catch her breath. In her mind, she replayed the terrible scene she had witnessed earlier. Tomas shot down without warning. And the bastards intended to murder us all, Lucia thought. The only reason she was still alive was because of the man sitting beside her.

She watched Rubio as he got to his feet and scouted the area around them.

"We can spend the rest of the night here, Sister."

"All right." She was impatient to get moving, but she knew she needed to rest.

As though reading her mind, Rubio said, "We’ll move on again at dawn."

Lucia felt a gnawing in her stomach. Even as she was thinking about it, Rubio said, "You must be hungry. I’ll go find some food for us. Will you be all right here by yourself?"

"Yes. I’ll be fine."

The big man crouched down beside her.

"Please try not to be frightened. I know how difficult it must be for you to be out in the world again after all those years in the convent. Everything must seem very strange to you."

Lucia looked up at him and said tonelessly, "I’ll try to get used to it."

"You’re very brave, Sister." He rose. "I’ll be back soon."

She watched Rubio disappear into the trees. It was time to make a decision, and she had two choices: She could escape now, try to reach a nearby town and trade the gold cross for a passport and enough money to get to Switzerland, or she could stay with this man until they got farther away from the soldiers. That will be safer, Lucia decided.

She heard a noise in the woods and swung around. It was Rubio. He moved toward her, smiling. In his hand he held his beret, which was bulging with tomatoes, grapes, and apples.

He sat down on the ground next to her. "Breakfast. A nice, plump chicken was available, but the fire we would have needed to cook it would have given us away. There is a farm just down the mountainside."

Lucia stared at the contents of the beret. "It looks great. I’m starving."

He handed her an apple. "Try this."

They had finished eating and Rubio was talking, but Lucia, absorbed in her own thoughts, was not paying attention.

"Ten years, you said you were in the convent, Sister?"

Lucia was startled out of her reverie. "What?"

"You’ve been in the convent for ten years?"

"Oh. Yes."

He shook his head. "Then you have no idea what’s been happening in all that time."

"Uh – no."

"In the last ten years the world has changed a great deal, Sister."

"Has it?"

"Si." Rubio said earnestly, "Franco has died."

"No!"

"Oh, yes. Last year."

And named Don Juan Carlos his heir, she thought.

"You may find this very hard to believe, but a man walked on the moon for the first time. That is the truth."

"Really?" Actually, two men, Lucia thought. What were their names? Neil Armstrong and Buzz Something.

"Oh, yes. North Americans. And there is now a plane for passengers that travels faster than sound."

"Incredible." I can’t wait to ride the Concorde, Lucia thought.

Rubio was childlike, so pleased to be bringing her up to date on world events.

"There has been a revolution in Portugal, and in the United States of America, their President Nixon was involved in a big scandal and had to resign."

Rubio is really sweet, Lucia decided.

He took out a pack of Ducados cigarettes, the heavy black tobacco of Spain. "I hope it won’t offend you if I smoke, Sister?"

"No," Lucia said. "Please go ahead."

She watched him light up, and the moment the smoke reached her nostrils she was desperate to have a cigarette.

"Do you mind if I try one?"

He looked at her in surprise. "You wish to try a cigarette?"

"Just to see what it’s like," Lucia said quickly.

"Oh. Of course."

He held the pack toward her. She took out a cigarette, put it between her lips, and he lit the end of it. Lucia inhaled deeply, and as the smoke filled her lungs she felt wonderful.

Rubio was watching her, puzzled.

She coughed. "So that’s what a cigarette tastes like."

"Do you like it?"

"Not really, but – "

Lucia took another deep, satisfying puff. God, how she had missed this. But she knew she had to be careful. She did not want to make him suspicious. So she put out the cigarette she held clumsily in her fingers. She had been in the convent for only a few months, and yet Rubio was right. It did seem strange to be out in the world again. She wondered how Megan and Graciela were doing. And what had happened to Sister Teresa? Had she been captured by the soldiers?