Карен Кингсбери - A Distant Shore [calibre]

“Sorry, man,” one of them said to Jack. “Too much beer. He won’t bug you again.”

Jack was still staring at the guy on the ground. Like he wanted to kill him. He said nothing to the other three. Just shot the drunk man one final, menacing look and then turned to her. “Are you okay?” He fixed her hair and put his arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Eliza. That… that never should’ve happened.”

“I tried to trip him.” Her teeth were chattering. “He… he was stronger.”

“You’re stronger than you think, Eliza. You just need practice.”

“I thought… he would kidnap me.”

“No.” Jack searched her eyes. “No one will ever do that to you.” He studied her. “Come on.” He led her through the crowd. “I have somewhere I want to take you. Is that all right?”

“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate. It was nearly nine already, but Eliza didn’t care. Tomorrow they’d be separated for months. Maybe forever. Right now she didn’t want to be anywhere in the world but with Jack Ryder.

He drove her to the bureau building. “This won’t take long.”

“Are you allowed to be here? After hours?” The place looked dark. Only a few windows had lights behind them.

“Twenty-four-seven.” He winked at her. “FBI agents have flexible hours.”

He parked and hurried around the car to hold her door. Eliza hesitated because who was this guy? Treating her like a real princess? She’d read about guys like him in books, but she never dreamed they really existed.

Especially for a girl like her.

Jack entered a code on a panel near the elevator, and they rode up to the top floor. Eliza felt her heart beating hard against her chest as Jack walked with her to a small room marked STORAGE. “I know.” He looked at her as he worked the key in the door. “Now you think I’m crazy.”

“True.” She laughed and waited. “Long before this.”

Finally he made his way inside and after a few seconds he came out holding a flat leather bag, weathered and worn. The old bag looked somehow familiar. Jack pointed up. “Have you been to the rooftop?”

“Here at the bureau?” She had no idea what he was up to. “This building has a rooftop?”

“Let’s find out.”

She laughed. “Lead the way.”

Jack took her hand and when they were back in the elevator he pushed the R button. “Rooftop.” He grinned at her. “That’s… the R.”

“There’s always something new to learn around here.” Eliza studied him. The curve of his face and the strength in his arms. In the morning he would be on a flight to Nassau. Eliza had heard Camille say it was going to be the most dangerous raid of the year.

But right now Jack looked more like a college kid than a daring undercover agent.

The elevator doors opened again and they stepped out into a lush garden. Trees and bushes, a meandering pathway. All on the top of the FBI building. “It’s beautiful. I had no idea.”

“An oasis in the Hill Country of Texas.” Jack led her down the path to a covered swing with a view of the city. “You… said you like to swing.”

She laughed again. “See? We’re already friends.” She took the spot on one side of the swing. “Look how well you know me.”

“So true.” He sat beside her and held the worn bag on his lap. It wasn’t any bigger than a briefcase. The air between them grew more serious, and after a long moment he turned and handed it to her. “This is yours.”

“Mine?” She took the bag. No wonder it looked familiar. “How… where would you find something that belonged to me?”

“From your great-grandfather.” Jack set the swing in motion. Slow and easy. “Before I left that day, he went back into the house and brought out this. He wanted to go through the items one at a time. The things inside, they were precious to him. He asked me to give them to you.” He paused. “In case by some miracle I ever found Lizzie James alive.”

Eliza took the bag and then slowly she hugged it close. She remembered the feel of it. Her great-papa had loved her so much. She lifted her eyes to Jack’s again. “And here we are.”

“Right.” Jack shifted so he could see her better. “Here we are.”

She wasn’t sure she wanted to look through the contents now. But Jack was waiting, watching her. So she opened the soft container and one at a time, she removed the items. Her very best handwriting samples and a page of math work. A drawing of Eliza and her family with her name scribbled at the bottom.

Lizzie James.

Next was her drawing of their house, and finally a picture she’d colored of the ocean. Eliza stared at it for a long time. “I always loved the water.”

“You could see God there.” Jack rested his arm on the back of the swing. “I remember.”

“Yes.” She pulled out an old teddy bear. The one she had loved as a little girl. She held it to her face for a long moment. She could still smell her home in its fur. Finally she set the bag down and closed her eyes. “I saw Him… there at the far edge of the sea.” After a moment she opened her eyes and slid the items back into the bag. “My mother loved my drawings.”

He was looking at her the way he had looked at her in the Bahamas, when he thought people might be paying attention. Only no one was watching now. This feeling, the electricity between them was something he must have felt, too. Because he lightly brushed his fingers against her bare shoulder.

And then almost at the same time he folded his arms. He studied her for a long while. “Can I tell you about the angel?”

“Yes.” She exhaled. He was right to change the subject. If they were going to be friends, they couldn’t linger in times like this. “By angel… you mean a real angel? With wings?”

“No.” He smiled. “His name was Beck. He looked like a person. Like a police officer, maybe. Or an athlete. He showed up out of nowhere when I was taking a break on a trail near a lake.”

Then he told her how he’d been flying down the trail on the rented mountain bike, asking God question after question. “About life and my family.” He hesitated. “About you.”

She wanted desperately to know what he had asked God about her. But that could wait. “Is that when you took the break?”

“Yes. I sat on this hill overlooking the water and all these stories kept coming back. Things my parents had taught me from the Bible.”

The words hit hard. She had been raised in the same type of family. A mother who told Daniel and her stories from the Bible.

Jack continued, about how suddenly Beck had shown up. “He knew my name.” Jack moved the swing forward again. “Then he told me something no one could know. He said my family was doing good.”

“Your family?” She felt a chill run down her arms. “Did Beck maybe have you confused with someone else?”

“No.” Jack looked out at the night sky. “He knew my name, Eliza. And he knew my parents and my brother. He knew they didn’t live here. But he told me they were more alive now than ever. Because they had trusted Jesus.”

The words filled Eliza’s heart. More alive than ever? Was that how her mama and Daniel were? Running and playing and working in a city beyond the sky? Counting the days until she might join them? Was that where she’d be now if she hadn’t been rescued from the ocean that day?

Jack brought the angel story to life, every detail. Beck had told him that his family wanted more for him. Same with God. And that’s why he had come to talk with Jack. “And at the end he told me God was only a whisper away, and to forget the past.” Jack turned to her. “He told me God wanted me to love again. Then he disappeared.”

She didn’t move, didn’t speak.