Page 131 of Protecting You
“We’re going to be late if we don’t hustle.” Brooklynn swept all of her makeup back into the drawer, a mishmash of tubes and cylinders and palettes with zero regard for organization or tidiness. Typical.
She and Peri hurried out of the bedroom while Alyssa took a deep breath, trying to summon her courage.
She wasn’t ready for this, for any of it. But she was out of time.
CHAPTERTHIRTY
How long could it possibly take for one woman to change clothes?
By the little Callan heard coming from behind the closed bathroom door, he gathered Peri and Brooklynn were having a lot more fun dressing Alyssa up than she was having herself.
He’d spoken to Malcolm and left a message for Michael. It seemed that the information Alyssa had discovered about Ghazi’s girlfriend’s death and the bombing that had killed her, which he’d told his boss about immediately, should have led to something. But when he’d questioned Malcolm about fresh intel, he’d gotten nothing but an impatient, “I’m working on it.”
They were the CIA, for crying out loud. How could they not find out who’d ordered the bombing? What its true purpose had been?
His guess was that the answers were hidden for a reason, and that bothered him. A lot.
They needed to know what Ghazi’s endgame was before he demanded the zero-day exploit from Alyssa. If she had to turn it over—a flawed one that would infuriate him—then she’d have to go into hiding. She’d have to defy his demand that she give him the exploit in person.
That was absolutely not going to happen. Callan wouldn’t let Ghazi within a hundred yards of her.
But what about her family?
Would they all have to hide until Ghazi was stopped? How would that work for Gavin and his wife? For Alyssa’s four sisters, who had jobs and businesses and lives?
The other option was to bring Ghazi into custody and hope that whatever he was planning would be stopped when Ghazi was out of the picture.
There were too many holes in the emerging picture, and they were running out of time to place the rest of the puzzle pieces.
Callan was thankful Ghazi didn’t know who he really was. His family should be safe. But Alyssa…Alyssa wasn’t just an old college rival anymore. She wasn’t just a crush he’d never quite gotten over. She mattered to him.
How could he retreat to safety if her life was in danger? But if he stayed with her—and he refused to acknowledge how much the idea appealed—then what about Peri? Could she stay with them, or would being with Callan and Alyssa put her in danger?
He wouldn’t risk that.
Lord…
Before Peri had come into his life, he hadn't prayed much. He’d always been more about asking God to bless his own plans than following God’s lead.
But, despite all the danger he’d faced in the Army and in his work for the Agency, he’d never felt so out of his depth as he did now. Because the stakes had never been so high.
Help me. Show me what I’m supposed to do. Please, lead me. I’m desperate for You.
The prayer cracked something deep inside, a need for a deeper relationship with the Eternal. A need to know that all his efforts mattered, that he was achieving not human praise, but the smile of God.
Could God ever smile on a man who’d messed up so badly?
Can You forgive me, Lord?
Of course Callan knew the answer. He’d only needed to ask, and forgiveness was there for him.
Ask, and repent.
Which meant his life was about to change in ways he wasn’t ready to consider.
Whatever You want, Father. I’ll do it. Just please, please protect those I love.
A door opened down the hall, and Peri stepped into the living room. She wore a grin, her eyes wide and expectant.
