Page 135 of Running to You

The girl pointed them out, and she chose a couple, which Sam gave her cash to pay for.

“Is there a computer I can use?”

“Yup.” The cashier rounded the counter. “Follow me.”

When Eliza was set up at the desktop on the far end of the store, she navigated to the secure server and keyed in the login and password she’d hidden in the collar of her shirt.

The information filled the screen, and Eliza let out a whoosh of breath. Because she’d known it was there, or should be. But so many things had gone wrong.

She started the process of copying onto the first thumb drive, then sat back and waited.

The waiting was the worst. When she had something to do, to occupy her mind and hands, she could drown out all the what-ifs. But stillness was torture. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe through her fear and focus on the here and now. Everyday sounds—the bell over the door, the chatter of customers, the rhythmic whush and whirr of the copy machine behind her.

Her father’s voice found her. All you can do is your best. You can’t make it work. You can’t control anybody else. You can’t see into the future. You make choices, and you trust that God’s got you, no matter what the outcome.

And God had told her to trust Him.

But had she made one misstep too many? Was He really going to save her family—or was He going to let her live with the consequences of her bad decisions?

Please, Lord. Don’t let anyone else pay the price for my mistakes.

She felt Sam’s presence when he walked up behind her.

She needed to tell him.

She needed to tell him everything. Soon.

He pulled a chair up and sat. “You all right?” At least his voice was a little warmer.

“Sorry I slapped you.”

“I deserved it. I deserved worse. I’m so sorry I said those things.”

“Why? You were right. I was manipulated. I did use my talents to make him rich.”

“You didn’t know. And when you figured it out, you did the right thing. That took amazing courage and strength. I was just…jealous and petty. And I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”

“If you can forgive me.”

“Always.” He reached over and squeezed her hand. “We’re going to get them back.”

She didn’t know if that was true, but the words calmed her.

Michael approached her other side, and Sam said, “What’s up?”

“I’m trying to think who we should send these to,” Michael said.

Sam stood, and Eliza swiveled the chair and looked up at the brothers. “Why not the FBI? Don’t we want them to have it?”

“We do.” Michael’s answer came slowly.

“But we don’t want them acting on the information until we get Levi and Linda back, right?” Sam clarified. “That would tip our hand. Unless you could get them to hold off.”

“I don’t have that kind of pull. I don’t think they’d go in that fast, but—”

“A couple more days shouldn’t matter,” Eliza said. “If the women are still at The Ranch, they’re safe. He doesn’t want to hurt his followers.”

“How sure are you?” Michael asked.