Карен Кингсбери - A Distant Shore [calibre]

He pulled her close and kissed her cheek this time. Both of them looked straight ahead, like they were trying to see the beach past the swings. Sure enough, the men suddenly backed away from the younger girl, leaving her alone. And in their place, the older girls stepped up, suddenly all giggles and grins.

“That young girl has maybe five minutes.” Eliza had seen this played out too many times to count. Times when she was the one convincing an unsuspecting child that all her dreams were about to come true—if only she would follow Eliza back to the Palace.

No! Eliza’s heart raced. No, not here. Not now. There was still time to save this one. She stood and pulled Jack to his feet. Then without waiting for him, she half ran, half skipped to the swing set. Like she was a child herself. “Hey, girls!”

The two older teens looked at her and then at the child. They moved closer to the girl. Eliza could only imagine what terrible things would happen to the teens if the little girl got away. Things Alexa and Rosa had told her about.

“Honey!” Jack was at her side. “Want me to push you?” He grinned at the older girls. “It’s our honeymoon.”

The teens weren’t smiling. Instead they glanced over their shoulders at the men waiting near the trees. They shifted and took a few more steps toward the swing set. Eliza had seen the look in their eyes before. They weren’t going to stand by and let Eliza ruin this for them.

She leaned her head back and kicked her feet to the sky. “Swings… right by the beach!”

Jack gave her a light push. “Anything for you, baby.”

From the shadows, the two men started to approach. Not today, you monsters. Eliza clenched her teeth and jumped off the swing, all while maintaining her smile. She hurried to the younger girl and crouched down in front of the child’s swing. “Want some ice cream? I saw your mama over there.” Eliza stood and pointed down the beach a ways. “Come on, sweetie. I’ll race you.”

The child looked confused. But at the mention of ice cream she was off her swing and running beside Eliza. Jack took the rear, jogging just behind them. Eliza had never felt more safe.

“Hey!”

From the corner of her eye, Eliza saw one of the men start chasing them. But then the other grabbed his partner’s arm. The second man scowled and shook his head, as if to say they’d get the next one.

But they won’t take this one. Eliza reached for the girl’s hand. “What’s your name?”

“Bella.” She looked up, clearly concerned.

“I’m Masey.” Eliza stopped for a moment and bent down to eye level with the girl. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

They took Bella to the nearest ice cream stand and bought her a vanilla cone. Then Eliza put her hands on her knees and dropped to the young teen’s level again. “Where is your mama, little one?”

The girl only blinked and ate her ice cream. After a few seconds she shrugged. “I don’t have a mama.”

Jack put his arm around Eliza and joined the conversation. “We’re going to get you help. Where do you live?”

The girl was Hispanic. No telling how she got stranded in the Bahamas. “Down there.” She pointed to a street that headed inland.

Eliza couldn’t believe it. Wherever the child lived, her guardians didn’t care if she roamed the street. It took all her energy not to look furious. Whatever the girl’s prior situation, it was going to change today.

The men were probably still watching. Eliza took Bella’s hand again and faced Jack. “We have to get her out of here.”

“I know.” Jack nuzzled his face alongside Eliza’s. His voice was little more than a whisper. “Follow me.”

Jack hailed a cab and he and Eliza and Bella stepped inside. Only then did Eliza allow herself to breathe. She glanced over her shoulder at the children’s play area. The two men and teenage girls were gone.

Even now they couldn’t be too careful. The driver could be connected with the trafficking ring. Jack had his arm around Eliza, who was sitting in the middle, with Bella on the other side. “Well, Bella, it’s time for you to go home.” Jack grinned. “But let’s get something to eat first.”

Jack instructed the driver to take them to Solomon’s Fresh Market, not far from the bridge to Atlantis. Jack made the event sound fun. “I’ve been there before. They have the best cookies.”

“Okay.” Bella didn’t say anything to give them away. Almost as if she knew she could trust them.

As soon as they were out of the car, Jack took hold of Eliza’s hand, and she took hold of Bella’s. They had talked about this, how if they were able to rescue children in danger they would bring them here. A local informant worked at the Logos Christian bookstore, a few doors down from Solomon’s.

With the right knock, their door would open any time during the next few days. Right now that wasn’t necessary, since these were business hours. The three stepped inside the bookshop. There the clerk must’ve recognized Jack. She was a young woman in her early twenties, a Bahamian native who was working with several honest police officers—all of them aware of the likelihood of the trafficking ring in their midst.

When the raid went down in this city, it would be in part because this woman had helped make it happen. Brave and determined to save children, even if she died for the cause.

Eliza wanted to be just like her.

“I’m looking for an old Michael W. Smith album.” Jack smiled at the young woman. “Vinyl.”

“Ah, yes. Vinyl.” There didn’t seem to be other customers in the place, but they wouldn’t take a chance. “We keep the vinyls back here.”

She led them to a room at the rear of the store, and from there Jack called his police contact in Nassau. The conversation played on speakerphone, just loud enough for Eliza to hear. The Bahamian woman took Bella into an adjacent office so she wouldn’t hear what was happening.

The police officer confirmed that Bella lived in a troubled group home. Children had been taken from the house in recent months, with no sign of their whereabouts. Public officials were trying to get the home closed.

The man said he was dispatching an unmarked car to the rear of the store. “There is a couple from my church.” The officer sounded hopeful. “Bella will stay there. We can make a case for the girl to be handed over to this couple permanently.”

Eliza leaned against the wall in the back room. Her heart rate slowly returned to normal. She had done it! She had saved one child from trafficking! They had showed up just in time, and risked their cover to take her away from the predators.

Nothing had ever felt this good in all her life, not since her days in Lower Barton Creek.

Jack turned to her. Then he took her in his arms. For a long time he just held her, his hand on the back of her head, their hearts beating in time. Eliza had never known this feeling, the way it felt to be protected and cared for. She closed her eyes. Maybe love felt like this. And then something else occurred to her. There wasn’t a single person watching them. Which could only mean one thing.

Here, in this moment, Jack wasn’t acting.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes.

—Psalm 38:10

Jack got the news from an informant still on the ground in Belize. Ike Armstrong, the historian from Lower Barton Creek, had died in his sleep. He hadn’t been reunited with his family, after all. The news hit hard. Jack made himself a morning coffee and took it out on his deck. The Topaz had a bigger balcony than any other suite at the Reef. He angled the chaise lounge toward the water.

Poor Ike. He had been so sure he’d meet his family again one day, that somehow they’d be found and come home. That they’d all be together in time.