I glanced at the closed door and lowered my voice. "I understand if you don't trust her entirely right now, but-"
He took me by the shoulders and turned me to face him. I startled. Jack hadn't touched me for so long. It felt both familiar and strange to be inches from his chest like this, his serious gray eyes pleading with me. "Avery. I know you haven't been with the Circle as long as we have. There are things you don't understand. Please let me do what I need to to protect you. As your Keeper and-"
He cut off.
Being under Jack's gaze like this, with his hands on me-it was too much. All of today was too much. And as much as I didn't want to admit it, no matter what Jack had done, when I started feeling this vulnerable, there was a part of me that wished more than anything that I could go back to how things were, melt back into his arms and let him protect me and convince me everything was okay.
I ducked away from him. If I was going to get through this, I had to turn all that off. "I get it. But we need Elodie." He started to protest again, and I held up a hand to stop him. "Just like we still needed you, after . . ."
Jack's face shuttered and he stepped away from me.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't mean to-"
"I understand. What are my orders on how to proceed, then?"
I studied the worn carpet. I hated treating him like an employee, but maybe at this point, it was the only thing to do. "I really don't think Elodie is going to put us in danger. We're not kicking her out," I said. "You can watch for anything improper, but I don't expect you to find it. We're going to continue to treat her like we always have. That's my decision."
I thought he might protest-either as Jack the Keeper or something else-but he just inclined his head.
Stellan's voice came up the stairs, obviously on the phone, sounding like he was leaving a message. He emerged from a stairwell to stand by the window at the end of the hall, and I heard the snick of a lighter. Jack and I waited while he lit one cigarette, and a couple minutes later, a second. Then he came back to where we waited in front of the room.
"We have fake passports, but this is Israel and there has just been a terrorist attack, and we're the prime suspects. We won't be able to get on a plane," he said gruffly.
I let my brain spin off of Elodie and on to what in the world we were going to do next. "Did you get ahold of Anya?" I said.
"No," he answered in a way that declared that the end of the conversation. He ran a hand over his face. His fingers were shaking a little, but even though he'd just had his whole world turned upside down, that was the only indication anything was wrong. I had to admire it. He probably had more control over himself-and as important, how other people saw him-than anyone I'd ever known.
"We'll have to get out overland," Jack said.
"Nowhere we could get to overland is an easy border with Israel, either," Stellan said. "This is a terrible place to sneak out of the country on a good day."
"I'm saying it will be easier than flying."
"Obviously." The two of them had no reason to be angry with each other, but the relief at seeing each other alive seemed to have evaporated under all this new stress.
The door opened, and we all turned. "The border with Egypt is sometimes less strict. We could go directly to Alexandria overland," Elodie said, standing in the doorway.
We all watched her silently for a second. "How could we get to the border-and across the border-without the Melechs knowing?" I said, signaling to everyone to let the rest go for now.
"We could hire a small plane. Or a helicopter," Jack said.
"We'd have to bribe the pilot to not say anything," Stellan said.
"Or threaten him," Elodie added.
As Circle, we'd gotten used to getting anything we wanted with a snap of our fingers. Suddenly, we were just regular people again.
That gave me an idea. "How about we take a bus?"
Elodie cocked her head to the side.
"A bus," I said. "Regular people transportation. We'd disappear in the crowd."
"Not a terrible idea," Jack said. "The border will still be difficult, though, since we won't be in their system." I must have looked confused, because he explained, "Israel is different from many countries. When you enter, you get an entry stamp and they check you in to their system, and they have to check you out, as it were, when you leave. We didn't have to show ID to get into the country, since we came in with the Circle, so the passports we use to get out won't be registered."