Page 156 of Running to You

“I’ll give you some notice, usually thirty seconds. And then I’ll count down. ‘Three. Two. One. Go.’ On go, you get down. Stay near Levi so you can make sure he’s down. The plan is to take them off guard and use stun guns to take them out. We don’t want to kill anybody. We don’t want bullets to fly. But we can’t control what the enemy does. And they’re armed. If they shoot, we’ll shoot back.”

“What if I can’t stay near Levi? What if he’s in another room and they won’t let me see him?” Panic had built as she tried to imagine the scene. Now it bubbled over. Her heart pounded, her feet itched to run. This was too much responsibility. What if she screwed up? What if she made a mistake? She could get everybody killed.

“Then you’ll tell us.” If anything, Jon’s voice was calmer and lower.

“How will I—?”

“You’ll ask about him. You’ll say, ‘I want to see Levi. Where is he?’ and we’ll hear the answer. We’ll be listening. We’ll know if you’re with him or if you’re not.”

“Right.” She pressed a hand to her heart, breathing heavily. “But what if he’s with Jed? What if he’s in the line of fire?”

“We can only do what we can do, Eliza.” Grant crouched beside her and squeezed her arm. “After that, we have to trust God. There’s a verse in Isaiah where God promises to rescue children from tyrants. Do you know it?”

She shook her head, wishing she’d had more time to study the Bible, to know Him.

“It says, “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.’”

I will save your children.

“Hang onto that promise,” Grant said. “God’s got this.”

She nodded, trying to get her emotions under control. “Is there anything else I need to know?”

Grant stood and propped a hip on the table behind Jon. “If you get into a room, if you have some privacy, try to let us know where you are. The windows are covered, but we’re hoping you’ll be able to uncover one from inside. Move the fabric back or tear the paper. We don’t need you to take the whole thing down. Just let a little bit of light out, if you can.”

“What if I can’t?”

“That’s okay,” Jon said. “You do what you can and trust us—and God—to do the rest. Even if you can let us know, don’t take so much down that they figure out what you’re up to. Understand?” She nodded. “When you get to the bus station, you’ll call Keller from a payphone. You have his number?”

“Sam has it.”

Michael held out a slip of paper. “I got it from him.”

“Thanks.” She shoved it into her pocket.

Michael checked his watch. “We’d better go if you’re going to make the four o’clock bus.”

Was she really going to do this, walk right into the enemy camp?

Where her friend and her mother and her son were being held.

Yes, yes she was.

She pushed to her feet. “I’ll get my things and meet you at the door in ten minutes.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Sam was out of time.

Eliza didn’t see him in the gift shop when she passed, shoulders back, ready for battle. Except she was going into battle with no weapons. No way to defend herself. No way to fight a psychopath.

She was walking away from Sam, right back into Keller’s life, and she’d probably get herself killed.

She was leaving him. Again.

To save her son. Their son. What kind of a mother would she be if she didn’t?

Even so, the snide little voice in Sam’s head told him she didn’t love him. She’d never loved him. How could she really love him if she was so willing to get herself killed? She’d only come back to Sam because she needed help, and what a brilliant play. He and his brothers were about to put their lives on the line for her.