Authors: Kimberley Woodhouse
"We have to run through it," Cole spoke in her ear. "I'll protect Andie as much as I can, so you'll just have to hang on to my arm and run, okay? The plane should be about a hundred yards from here."
He shifted Andie into both arms, curling her up against his body.
All Jenna could do was nod. Her leg was a mess.
God, we need some divine intervention. Please, help us. Please.
In that instant, a strong wind blew in, and the flames shifted, opening a small gap no larger than two feet. Cole must've seen it too, because he led them straight for it and they ran through. Flames licking at their heels as the wall closed back in and grew higher.
They fell to the ground in a heap about twenty yards from the fire. Dasha barking, dashing back and forth to the plane, panic in her eyes.
Cold water poured over Andie and Jenna as Bill, their bloody bodyguard, dumped out the contents of two water bottles on them.
"Bill! You're alive!" Jenna reached up to hug him.
"Barely." He gasped, pressing a hand to the gunshot wound in his upper chest. "I think the good Lord has plans for me yet." He handed her another bottle of water and let out a groan. "I was so worried about you all when I heard the explosion. Didn't know how long I'd been out. But I think it's time to leave."
"You're right." Cole lifted Andie back into his arms and headed for the plane. Gently laying Andie on the back seat, he grabbed Bill's arm. "Get them outta here. As far away as you can, and get that little girl cooled off."
Jenna poured more water on Andie, and she moaned. "Hey, sweet girl. Wake up."
She opened her eyes. "Mom?"
Dasha licked Andie's face.
"Hey, baby, I'm here."
"So thirsty."
Jenna opened the last water bottle. "Here you go."
As Andie drank, her eyes followed Cole. Jenna looked behind her. Cole wasn't getting in the plane.
She jumped out and yanked at Cole's arm. "We're not leaving without you!"
"Jenna, you have to. AMI is still back there. I can't risk them finding it."
She gripped his waist and tugged him close. Lifting a hand to his head, she pulled his lips down to hers and kissed him with all the emotion locked inside her. God help her, she loved this man.
"Jenna," he spoke against her lips, "I . . . I . . ."
She kissed him again and then pulled back. "I know. Thank you."
His arms wrapped around her in a tight hug and he lifted her into the plane. "We'll talk later. I promise. Now go."
Hot tears streamed down Jenna's face.
He closed the door of the plane and she pressed her hand against the glass. He laid his on the outside.
God, keep him safe. Please.
The plane began to taxi away. Jenna kept her hand on the window as she watched Cole head back into the fiery abyss.
He needs You, Father.
As the small plane picked up speed, her heart thundered inside her chest. Would she ever get the chance to tell him that she loved him? She gripped Andie's hands as the plane lifted into the air. Andie lay unconscious again, still flushed from the heat. Jenna prayed there wouldn't be permanent damage, but the heat had been too much, lasted too long.
Oh, God. Please help her. Help us all.
So much at stake.
Flashing lights drew her attention back to the window. Emergency vehicles swarmed the scene of her property, their red-and-blue lights a welcome sight. Help had finally arrived.
They circled around, watching, and waiting. Her eyes found the bunker, just as Cole's head appeared in the doorway. Cole looked up at the plane and raised his hand to her.
Thank You, God, he's safe.
She placed her hand on the cool window and rested her forehead against it. She couldn't wait to have Cole's strong arms around her again. She brushed Andie's face with her hand. Maybe then, everything would feel righ—
Boom!
Boom! BOOM!
The massive explosions sent a shock wave that hit the plane a second later.
A scream started in the depths of her soul and pushed its way through her lips like a tidal wave.
"Cole!"
Her voice echoed through the plane.
In her head.
In her ears.
And pierced her heart.
Placing both hands on the glass window of the plane, she searched the rolling cloud of flame and smoke. The barn was gone. The house was gone. The bunker, where she last saw Cole . . . gone.
Engulfed in fire.
Flashing lights formed a perimeter and were the only break in the devastation below. Everything from her life before . . . gone.
Everything she'd been hoping for her future, for her daughter's future.
Gone.
Bill steadied the shaken aircraft and headed in the other direction.
She tore away from the window. There was nothing to see.
Cole was gone.
Sobs shook her body as she clung to Andie's hand. Her daughter moaned again, and she gave her more water. All the while, the if-onlys stampeding through her mind.
If only she'd told him how she truly felt . . .
If only he hadn't gone back . . .
If only . . .
And then a still, small voice.
Greater love has no man than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
JENNA
April 15
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital
Fairbanks, Alaska
10:55 a.m.
The familiar beeping awoke her. She blinked the sleep away, rubbing her eyes with her hand. Wow, she was groggy. Her mouth felt filled with cotton.
A glance to her right brought Andie in a hospital bed into view. She looked back down at herself and found she, too, was in a hospital bed.
Hooked up to machines.
Again.
What happened? What day was it?
Cole!
Her heart ached.
God, why? Why? Why would You take him away? He needed You so badly . . . and . . . and . . . I loved him!
She closed her eyes to the pain, wishing she could close her heart to it as well. Tears streamed down her cheeks. It was all her fault. She could've prevented it. She could've done more. She could've saved Cole.
"Ahem." A low and rumbling voice broke through her thoughts.
Opening her eyes, she swiped at her wet cheeks with her hands.
"Mrs. Tikaani-Gray, I'm Special Agent Phillips." The man paused and nodded to another man beside him. "And this is Special Agent Miller. Your husband, Marcus, contacted me at the Bureau. He was a good man, and I'm sorry we lost him. But we've come here to thank you for all you've done to get AMI back into U.S. hands."
The trembling of her lower lip kept her from speaking. She nodded instead.
"We're very sorry for all you've had to endure."
"That man . . . he wasn't an agent, was he?"
He shook his head. "We found Special Agent McAdams dead in his car."
Jenna closed her eyes. "So many people have been lost because of all this . . ."
"There has been some good come out of it. Thanks to your husband contacting us, and to Mr. Maddox's intervention, we've been able to secure the technology and locate the black-market buyers."
Cole. She'd never see him again. Never hear his voice—never feel his arms around her. She turned away. Hugged herself tight as gut-wrenching sobs wracked her frame.
"Mrs. Gray."
She shook her head and waved them off. Pulling her good knee up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around it, and laid her head down, giving in to the torrent of emotion.
"Jenna."
Great. Now she was imagining things. She longed for Cole so much, she heard his voice. Why couldn't they all just leave her alone?
"Mom." Andie's weak voice pursued her. "Mom. It's okay. Please don't cry. I'm all right. Please, Mom. Please. Open your eyes."
Breathe, Jenna. Breathe. Andie needs you. Suck it up. You can do it.
Stop crying like a two-year-old.
But it hurt. And she just wanted the pain to go away.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds . . ."
Of course. She had to remember
that
verse. Now. Of all times.
"Jenna."
There it was again. Cole's voice. Would the torment never end?
Wait a minute.
Cole's voice.
Her eyes popped open and she lifted her head with a jerk.
"Cole." Tears continued to stream down her face. Her nose ran. Chin quivered. "You're here."
He winked from his wheelchair, his right arm and leg wrapped in bandages, Andie's arms securely around his neck.
"I'm here. And I'm not going away."
COLE
April 15
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital
4:00 p.m.
Cole thought his heart would burst. Never in his life had he been in so much physical pain, but it paled in comparison to the joy flooding his heart.
Thank You, God.
He'd been given a second chance. And he planned to do everything within his power to make it count.
Glancing around the room, he watched Andie play with Dasha on her bed, all smiles and giggles even though thirty-six hours before she'd suffered an intense heat stroke. Talk about miracles.
The FBI agents stood in the corner drinking coffee.
The doctor talked to Jenna.
His girls would have quite a recovery period, but they were his. And they were safe.
A knock sounded at the door, and Dasha barked.
Andie giggled. "That means, 'come in.'"
A woman wheeled Bill into the room. "Hi, guys. How's everyone doin' today?"
"Bill!" Jenna and Andie both exclaimed.
Andie clapped gleefully. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
Bill smiled at them.
"Thank you." More tears streamed down Jenna's face. "Thank you for everything."
"Bill, there's one question, I really want to ask." Her daughter tapped the man's arm.
"All right. I'm ready." The big man winked.
"What does it feel like to get shot?"
———
The afternoon held one joyful reunion after another. After Bill arrived, Anesia and Zoya returned with new clothes for Andie and Jenna. And M&Ms.
Lots of M&Ms.
Questions flew around the room as everyone put the pieces of the puzzle together.
"Cole, how did you survive the explosions? I watched from the plane, and just knew you were dead." Jenna's voice shook as she fiddled with Marc's little black box.
"Paul," he nodded toward Anesia, "the pilot who flew me up there, noticed the charges when he was leaving. The first explosion took out his plane, so he tried to see what he could do to help. When he spotted me heading back to the bunker, he followed me. Another explosion threw us back, into the bunker. Paul pulled the door shut before the next blast could fry us both. The steel door slammed in the nick of time."
The action of that perfect stranger hit him hard. Like another Stranger who gave everything for him. "He lost his plane in the blast, but he saved our lives. Thankfully, Marc had a wife who was paranoid so he built a bunker that could withstand that kind of blast." He winked at Jenna as the others laughed.
"God knew what He was doing." Cole tried to convey his heart to the woman he loved.
Her eyebrows raised. The
do you believe
question clear in her eyes.
They shared a smile. What he wouldn't give to see that every day. Jenna turned to Bill, her eyes somber. "What happened after we left the plane. I thought . . . I was so sure . . ."
"Well, ma'am. I think that was my own little miracle. I fell forward after the bullet hit me. My blood just drippin' out of me—my life drainin' before my eyes. I closed my eyes and knew my time had come." He took a deep breath. "After Viper took off with you, Dasha appeared in the pilot's seat, nudgin' her way under me. Crazy dog pushed me up and licked my face until I came to. And then, your dog kept pawin' at the door by me. I wasn't coherent enough yet to do anything to help myself, but she kept pushing me toward that door. She came in through the other door that was left open, so I didn't understand why she was so blasted determined to get me to open the door, but thankfully, I didn't argue. I must've fallen out of the plane with her, because I woke up face-down on the ground. Thing was, I landed in mud, and the force of my fall packed the mud into my wound. I have no doubt that saved my life."
Cole nodded. "Slowed the bleeding."
Bill shifted in his chair. "I must have passed out, but when I came to, I managed to get up and pull the first aid kit from the plane and bandage the wound. I was checking for whatever I could use against Viper when I found the water bottles stashed in the back."
"And that's when we arrived." Jenna's whispered voice reflected her wonder. "That's why you had the water bottles ready when Andie needed them."
Cole knew how she felt. Every moment, every thing they faced . . . God had been there. Providing. He'd thought Jenna was so naïve when they were on the mountain. So foolish to trust this imaginary God of hers. But now he knew. She was right.
It wasn't Cole's strength . . . or Bill's, or Charles's . . . that saved them. It was God's. And it was time he let his girls know he didn't just understand that—he believed it.
"Jenna, Andie, I want to tell you both something."
"Would you like to be alone?"
He knew Bill was kidding, but he considered it. It would be easier to just tell the girls . . . but no. He needed to be up-front with them all. "No. Stay. Please. I want you to know something."
Andie beamed, her dimples practically jumping out of her cheeks. "I know what it is." She clapped her hands. "You accepted God's gift, didn't you?"
The prick of tears forced him to blink. "Yes, Andie, I did."
"I knew it. I could see it in your eyes."
Jenna burst into laughing sobs. Her hands shot up to her face, wiping at the tears, but the love and happiness reflected in her eyes made his heart swell with pride.
Ever-quiet Zoya snuck up to his side. "I'm proud of you." She popped another M&M in her mouth.
Anesia hugged him, holding him so tight it hurt. But he didn't care. It felt great.
Bill smacked him on the arm, then extended a hand. "That's great news, brother. Welcome to the family."