Lila gasped.
Peter Gruber stepped onto the platform and looked from her to Dan and Angela with their patient in tow. He didn’t say a word but went to Lila and crushed her in an embrace, expression stricken.
“Are you okay?” he said. He held her at arm’s length after a moment, put his lantern down and framed her face with his hands. “My poor girl. You shouldn’t have come here. Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
She shook her head.
He gave her a relieved smile. “Then I arrived just in time. I’ve got to get you out before you drown.”
Lila looked utterly bewildered. “What... How did you know I was here?”
“No time now,” Peter said, guiding her by the shoulders. He looked at Dan and Angela. “I’ll get her out, call for an ambulance and then come back to help you. Take my lantern,” he said, putting it on a flat chunk of cement.
Dan did not trust Peter Gruber one bit. He could tell from Angela’s expression that she shared his feelings. They pulled Ralph up onto the platform as Peter led Lila away. Once they made it up onto the cement landing, they laid Ralph down. On hands and knees, they gasped for breath.
“You go on ahead,” Dan said. “I’ll carry him the rest of the way.”
She shook her head. “Nope. I’m here until we get him out.”
Her hair was dripping, shoulders quaking with the cold. The only spots of color on her face were those two green eyes, blazing with determination. He wished he had time to just stare at her, to drink in that incredible courage wrapped in a breathtakingly beautiful package. Instead he checked Ralph’s pulse. He felt nothing, only the beginnings of panic in his own gut. After chafing and blowing on his fingertips, he tried again. No throb of heartbeat. Perhaps it was too faint for him to feel.
Kneeling, he put his cheek next to Ralph’s.
“His heart’s stopped, and he’s not breathing.” Dan immediately started compressions. “You have to go and make sure Peter called for an ambulance.”
“No.”
“Angela, please,” he said, never ceasing the CPR. “We’re safe from the water for a while, but time is running out.”
“I...I don’t want to leave you.”
His gut, his heart, his body and mind all answered together. And I don’t want you to leave me, either. But he was faced again with the dilemma that had haunted him since Kandahar. Why did God give me the power to save, and the pain of watching when I can’t? Was he going to witness Ralph die in spite of his efforts?
“You have to go, Angela,” he said, continuing compressions.
She placed her hand on his shoulder and closed her eyes, a frown puckering her brow. He knew she was praying for him and Ralph, and that tender gesture from a woman who felt so far-flung from God rendered him breathless. He felt hopeful, filled with the very presence of the God who would not quit, the God who pursued His children even into the darkest corners, the hopeless chasms. He felt new energy course through him.
When she finished, he saw that it had not been easy for her.
“Thank you, Chaplain,” he whispered.
With an uncertain smile and one more squeeze of her hand, she ran into the darkness, sprinting across the platform and disappearing from view.
He was left alone. The rush of the water played a soothing counterpart to his compressions.
“Hey, Ralph,” he said. “I’m sorry you were alone down here. Stay with me awhile, okay? We’re going to do some praying, all right?”
And Dan did pray. He started with those he had not saved, their families.
Javier.
Smith.
Kesselman.
Guzman.
And he moved on to the others, as many as he could bring up. His hands continued to press against Ralph’s chest, as he prayed for those engaged in their own kind of battle, the ones who came home alive but still fought every day for their wholeness. Jeb, Angela, so many souls tortured by what they’d endured, yearning for a peace they could not find.
“And for you, Ralph,” he murmured. “Now we’re going to pray for you.”
He was still praying when Angela crawled back in, two paramedics right behind her. He gave them a quick overview and stepped away, exhausted, as they took over.
His arms ached from the compressions, his muscles depleted. Angela took his hand.
“Come on. Let’s go.”
“Wait,” he said, turning to her. The noise from the paramedics faded away and once again they were cocooned in shadows, with nothing but the sound of the water. “You prayed for me, didn’t you?”
She nodded.
“Tell me what you asked God for. Can you?”
She bit her lip. “I...I asked the Lord to give you the strength to do what He made you to do.”
Flickers of emotion cascaded through his body like droplets of water.
What He made you to do. Joy hitched up his breath for a second as he reconnected to the vine, the power of the Father. “And when you prayed,” he said carefully, “He gave you the strength to do what He made you to do.”
Her mouth twitched, eyes filling. “I’m not sure.”
He held her hands. “I’m sure.”
“Why would He call me to minister and then watch me fall apart?”
“I don’t know. Same reason He made me a doctor who can’t save all his patients.”
She stamped her foot. “Why would He do that?”
He smiled. “Beats me, but I’m going to ask Him someday.”
She laughed, an airy, bubbling peal of laughter that seemed to break through the gloom and ignite a sunrise in his heart. He pulled her to him, rocking her back and forth, until he felt her face upturned to his.
He kissed her forehead, her cheek. Her mouth hovered soft and inviting, a fraction of an inch away. Though he wanted to press a kiss there, he knew she was not ready.
And you’re not, either, he told himself. Not ready for love, ill prepared to offer up himself when he was not completely sure who he was anymore. Her head dropped, and she let out a quiet sigh. He took her hand, his own heart still beating hard in his chest.
“Ready?”
She nodded.
They climbed out, blinking against the sun. It seemed like a very long time since they’d crawled into that tunnel. Medics wrapped blankets around them and checked vitals. He watched them load Ralph into a waiting ambulance and speed away. It was unlikely the hospital would be able to revive the man. Dan swallowed. Though he’d never spoken a word to Ralph Pickford, he found himself desperately hoping he would live.
“Over to You now, God,” he whispered as he shook off the blanket.
* * *
Angela’s heart throbbed and, even with the blanket, she was cold to the bone. What had happened in that underground tomb? They’d found Lila and a stricken Ralph; someone had tried to drown them perhaps. But strangest of all, in that horrible place, she’d found the courage to pray again. It did not crowd away the numbing of her soul, but it had changed something. She’d felt a thread of divine connection, the barest glimmer. Did it mean healing at long last? Or false hope? She wished she had the courage to talk to Dan about it.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Peter Gruber, who strode over while the medics checked Lila for injury.
“You two okay?”
“What were you doing down there?” Angela demanded, relieved to put aside her confusing thoughts.
Peter looked offended. “Saving you and Lila.”
Dan joined her. “We would have made it out just fine by ourselves.”
Peter shrugged. “Whatever you say.”
“How did you know Lila was down there?”
“I heard her talking to Tank on the phone. He just can’t leave her alone. I knew he would go after her, so I’ve been following her to protect her.”
“From Tank? Or your brother?”
“My brother has never done anything but help Lila, and she’ll tell you the same thing. I met Lila when I guest lectured at her dental hygiene school. I told Harry about her, and he helped her get through, hired her to work as my hygienist.”
“Don’t you hire your own people?” Dan asked.
He colored. “Ah, yes, usually, but financially things have been difficult, so my brother employs her technically, though she works for me.”
“Your brother is a real philanthropist. How does he pay for everything?”
Peter stiffened. “Not that it’s your business, but he inherited a trucking company from my uncle. He’s worked real hard to make it a success. He’s going to retire soon. Go live with his daughter and grandkids, who adore him, by the way.”
“So Harry is a stand-up guy, huh?” Dan said.
“Yes, he is, in spite of what he’s endured. He watched his wife die waiting for a kidney transplant that never came because the doctors gave them away to other people, richer people.”
Dan shook his head. “That’s not how it works. The OPTN manages the transplant list.” He looked at Angela. “That’s the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, and it’s based on need, not income or anything else.”
Peter huffed. “Don’t try to have that conversation with Harry. He’ll cut you into a million pieces. It’s up to the OPTN who gets a transplant, but it’s up to the transplant centers to collect payment. And if you can’t pay, too bad.”
Dan frowned. “Not true. Transplant centers have financial assistance to help patients arrange payment.”
“Maybe, but even if they had put Harry’s wife first on the list and she got the organ, he would have been ruined trying to pay for the surgery. Or the antirejection drugs that follow. Those are sometimes more costly than the surgery.”
“It sounds like Harry worked with the wrong transplant center.”
“You doctors,” Peter said. “So quick to put yourself on a pedestal and cast the blame elsewhere.”
“All right, let’s leave the topic for now,” Angela said. “Someone choked Ralph almost to death. Who do you think that was, Peter?”
He shrugged. “I don’t even know the guy.”
“And how about the valve?” She pushed the wet hair from her face. “The fire department people said someone opened it up from above while we were down there. Who would want to drown us?”
“I told you. Tank is obsessed with Lila. He wants to own her. She’s told him to leave her alone, and he can’t accept it. He would rather see her die than be with anyone else.”
Anyone else? Angela thought. Did Peter think of himself as the man Lila really belonged with? Was Tank the delusional one, or Peter?
“I’ve discussed it with Lieutenant Torrey. He believes me that Tank is a stalker.”
That might explain the meeting between the two men that Jeb had witnessed. Peter hastened back to Lila, ushering her away from the medics and over to his car, which was parked near the hot dog vendor. They passed the police, who were just arriving. Angela braced herself for another round of questioning. Torrey was not going to be pleased at their latest escapade.
“Peter acts like Lila’s husband,” she said, watching Peter bend close to arrange the blanket around Lila’s shoulders, talking quietly in her ear.
“Does she feel that way, too?” Dan said.
Angela shook her head. “He may be in love with Lila, but I saw the look on her face. She doesn’t return the feeling.”
“Why go along with it then?” Dan said. “Why work for the guy and string him along?”
Their eyes locked.
“There’s only one emotion that I can think of that’s as strong as love,” Dan said.
Angela nodded slowly. “Fear.”
* * *
Angela was so exhausted when she returned to her hotel room, she could only manage to pull on some dry clothes and throw herself on the bed. She did not wake up until her cell buzzed sometime later.
“I can’t take it anymore. I’m ready to help you bring him down.”
Angela fought off the fuzziness. “Lila? Is that you?”
“Can you come meet me? Please? I’ll be at the clinic in forty-five minutes to get my things. Then I’m out of here.”
“Yes, but can’t we talk on the phone?”
“No. I’m going to give you the information, and then I’m leaving and I’m never coming back. Quinn and I are going to find someplace to live where the Grubers can’t find us.”
“But—”
“I’ll be at the clinic in forty-five minutes,” she repeated. “If you haven’t come by then...”
Lila disconnected.
Marco and Donna were still en route home from the airport, but she texted anyway so they would get the message when they landed. Her nerves were buzzing, hyperalert. She wanted to go put an end to it, to find the piece that would help Tank, and she wanted to do it alone. Her growing feelings for Dan confused her; added to the pile of emotions that had built up inside. Her heart was just too frayed, too tattered to handle her confusion over Dan.
But Angela was not a careless person, nor overly impulsive, at least she had not been before Kandahar. It was prudence, good judgment that made her place a call to Dan, her pulse pounding while she waited for him to pick up. He did not answer, so she left a message and checked her watch.
Forty minutes left. She began to pace, checking her phone to see if she had missed a message from Dan. Nothing.
The time ticked down. Thirty minutes. It would take her ten to drive over. She stalled for another few minutes.
At twenty minutes to the meeting time, she grabbed her keys.
She would go, park on the curb in a nice public spot and wait for Dan. They’d approach Lila together, and if Lila left before Dan arrived, Angela would follow her.
She rushed out, surprised to see through the window that it was raining again. Ten minutes left. There was no time to go back for a jacket.
She hit the elevator button and hopped inside. Just before the doors closed, someone jogged up. Her breath caught as Harry Gruber stepped in.
“Hello, Chaplain,” he said, pressing the button to close the doors.