Page 36 of Protecting You
CHAPTEREIGHT
Callan followed Alyssa into the living area, pulling his phone from his pocket, and settled on the desk chair.
Alyssa sat catty-corner to him. Her cheeks, pink with embarrassment earlier, had paled. Her eyes were wide and fearful.
He’d do anything, anything to get her out of this. But how?
“Go ahead.” He nodded to the cell in her hand. “Put it on speaker.”
She bent over her phone.
“Wait.”
She looked up, eyebrows lifted.
“I don’t know what you believe.” Was he really going to do this? Now that he’d stopped her, he could see no way out without looking moronic. And anyway, the idea had occurred to him—and probably hadn’t come from him. “Would it offend you if I prayed about it real quick?”
Surprise jolted her back straight. “Uh. No. That would be… Go ahead.”
Callan held his hand out, and she slipped hers into it.
He wasn’t in the habit of praying with people, certainly not at work. Certainly not in situations like this. To be fair, it wasn’t as if he had ever been in a situation like this—staying in a fancy boutique hotel with the one woman he’d never been able to get out of his head.
Her hand felt just right, nestled in his grip.
He prayed for Alyssa, asking God to give her wisdom and words and safety and guidance.
After he said, “Amen,” Alyssa’s head stayed bowed. So he kept his mouth shut, figuring she was asking for something she hadn’t wanted to say aloud.
He liked that.
Was she a Christian? He hadn’t known her well enough to ask before, but the way she prayed now made him wonder.
Just keep her safe, Lord. And me. And…and help me keep my head on straight.
Because as much as Alyssa meant to him, he had Peri to think about now. His daughter needed to be his top priority.
Alyssa looked up. “I’m ready.”
He released her hand and turned on his voice recorder before setting his phone on the coffee table. “Go ahead.”
She dialed.
The phone rang twice before Ghazi said, “Charles Sanders.”
“Charles, it’s Alyssa.” Her voice shook the slightest bit, and she cleared her throat, shifting away from Callan a little. “Sorry I missed your call.”
“It is early in the day. I realize it’s quite soon after giving you the assignment, but I’d hoped you might have a name for me.”
“Not yet, I’m sorry to say. I wanted to get that done ASAP,” Alyssa continued, “but it’s proving as difficult as I feared it would be. And now that Caleb is in town, I want to spend time with him. His job has him traveling so often.”
“I wasn’t aware of your engagement. And I noticed no ring last night.”
A ring! Why hadn’t Callan thought of a ring?
“We haven’t told our families yet.” Alyssa was good at thinking on her feet, which shouldn’t surprise him. “I’m not going to wear the ring until we do.”
“I’m sure they’ll be very happy.” The terrorist sounded perfectly pleasant and at ease. He was good at the deception game.
