NICK SLIPPED THE whole chicken into the oven and set the timer for an hour. He was trying his hand at cooking something more than a sandwich or noodles so he could tell Kaylan on their date. She would be proud. He grinned to himself as he imagined her shocked face. Maybe he would cook her something the next time he saw her. By then he would be a pro. Work had seemed to drag, but it was almost time to see her face, even if only on the screen.
“What time’s dinner ready, man?” Micah slapped him on the back and hopped up on the counter.
“About five o’clock.”
“I should have set you up with my sister when we first met if it meant you would start cooking. It better taste good.”
“Well, you could try your hand at it. You are related to her. You must have some artsy or domestic ability in your blood somewhere.”
“Naw. It skipped me and went to her. She stopped trying when she found out she was fighting a losing battle. Better to let me mooch off your success.”
Nick grinned and snapped Micah with a towel, starting a war that turned the house into a battlefield of tipped furniture and a couple broken lamp bulbs.
The door banged open, and Nick and Micah immediately stilled, battle senses taking over at the sudden action.
Caveman stumbled in, breathing hard, his keys rattling in his hand. He pointed to the flat screen. “Turn it on. The news. It’s all over. Bad.” He held a hand on his chest and bent over, inhaling hard.
Micah jumped over the couch and flipped to CNN, where a white-bearded announcer declared, “We are following an earthquake in Haiti originating about ten miles from the capital of Port-au-Prince. Early reports estimate the earthquake as a 7.0 magnitude. It occurred about 4:53 local time, and we estimate significant casualties. High magnitude aftershocks continue. Buildings are collapsed, and cries appear to come from the rubble. Landslides and tsunamis are possible because of the shallowness of the shakes. We are monitoring the situation closely.”
Nick whirled to find Micah diving for his cell. Nick grabbed his phone too and dialed Kaylan’s number. A busy signal buzzed in his ear like an annoying fly. He threw the phone on the couch and ran to his laptop in the bedroom, pulling up Skype and attempting to call Kaylan. Nothing.
He dashed back into the room. Micah’s conversation and the news reports blended in a hurricane of noise around his head.
Oh, God, not Kaylan. Please, anything but that.
“Mom, turn on the news. Something happened in Haiti.”
Nick could hear Marian Richards’s confused voice coming through the phone as he muted the television. He didn’t want to listen. He needed a plan. Caveman stood in the door. At Nick’s nod, he turned to leave.
“Thanks for telling us.”
“I’m sorry. I hope she’s okay.”
Nick could only hope.
“We can’t get a hold of her, Mom. Nick already tried.” Micah looked to Nick for confirmation.
Nick nodded.
“The phone lines are down. We’ll try to do something. Maybe we can get down there?”
The question in Micah’s voice was aimed at Nick, and his mind traveled through his list of contacts. Who could he call?
“Tell Seth and David and the rest of the family. I’ll call when we have a plan. I’m praying, Mom. She has to be okay.” Micah hung up the phone and swung his arm with the phone in the direction of the wall. Nick wanted to throw something too, but that phone would become a precious lifeline in the coming hours.
“Can we do something?”
Nick scrolled through his contacts. “I can’t sit here. If there’s a way to get out of Florida with a team of Marines in the morning, are you in?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then let me make a few calls. We can hop a flight.”
“I have to find my sister, Hawk.”
“We both do.” In the back of Nick’s mind he relived a very different disaster in the desert, one filled with fire, guns, and the death of good men.
His eyes wandered to a plaque hanging over the front door. “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him,” he muttered under his breath, knowing he would cling to that promise in the days to come.