Secret Agent Minister (13 page)

“Lydia!”

She heard his voice coming through the roar of the blood pounding inside her temples.

“Lydia, take my hand.”

The flare of more shots brought her head up. She blinked, lifted her good hand, now covered in blood, toward him. Then suddenly she was propelled through the air and into the cockpit of the plane. Pastor Dev shoved her over the controls, causing her to cry out in pain.

“I’m sorry,” he said on a winded breath. “I’ve got to get us moving.”

“They finally got me,” she said, her words weak and low, her eyes shut to the sight of blood. “Finally got me.”

“You’ll be okay,” he said. “It’s not that bad. Just a flesh wound. Thankfully, whoever’s out there isn’t a very good shot.”

Or they’d both be dead right now.
Lydia got that unspoken message loud and clear. Through the hum of pain rumbling inside her brain, she could hear the roar of the plane’s engine coming to life.

Briefly, she felt his hand on her arm. “Try to put some pressure on the wound with your other hand, to stop the bleeding.”

She grimaced, gritted her teeth and did as he said. “It hurts,” she told him, her eyes tightly shut.

“I know it does, sweetheart, but you’re going to be fine, Lydia. Do you hear me? I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“You don’t sound convincing,” she replied, thinking she liked him better when he was in his confident, commando mode. He sounded scared. She didn’t like scared. But she knew he wasn’t a coward. He was worried about her, scared for her sake. That brought a little bit of warmth and comfort to the pain coursing through her system.

She reluctantly opened her eyes, watching as he turned the plane on a quick tailspin and got it lined up on the haphazard runway. The sound of bullets hitting the fuselage didn’t help her mood.

“They’re still shooting.”

“I can see them now,” Pastor Dev said, his hands moving over buttons and controls. “Two of them. They’re on foot and they’re lousy shots, so we have the advantage.”

“What advantage would that be?” she asked, one eye open toward him.

He leaned back and looked straight ahead. “This.”

The plane picked up speed and then in a matter of seconds, they were lifting off into the air, the roar inside Lydia’s head now a steady match for the roar of the big engines. She felt sick all over again, but she swallowed back the queasiness and tried to pray her way back to being coherent.

Until she looked up and saw the mountain straight ahead of them.

“This isn’t good,” she said on a moan. “Not good at all. Do you see that big rock?”

“I see the mountain, but we’re not going to hit it. It’s farther away than it looks.” Pastor Dev’s gaze met hers. He started hitting buttons, his eyes going back to the screen. “And we don’t have enough fuel to get very far.”

“What?” Lydia sat up, dizziness clouding her vision. On the instrument panel, the lights were fading like fireflies, one by one. And the mountain which he’d just assured her was far away loomed straight ahead. Panic rising in her stomach, she tried to focus. Then she screamed, “What do we do now?”

Pastor Dev reached behind them, scrambling around until his hand hit what he’d been looking for. “We jump.”

L
ydia looked at the mountains around them, and then fixed her gaze on Pastor Dev. “Jump?” she shouted at him over the roar of the plane. “Did you say jump?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he hit some buttons and switches before climbing into the back of the plane, then turned and grasped her waist, lifting her up after him. He flipped her around and forced a harness over her head and down around her shoulders.

“This is gonna hurt,” he said as he lifted her arms.

It did. She screamed out in pain as her wound throbbed a protest, then tried to push his hands away. “Let go of me.”

“I can’t,” he said close to her ear, his hands working on shutting and snapping and arranging. “We have about a minute before we have to let go of this plane.”

He was actually hooking them together, her harness connecting to the one he’d somehow managed to get around his own body. And she didn’t dare look too long at the contraption attached to all of the harnesses and belts.

“Let go of the plane?” She shook her head, her gaze glued to the ever-approaching mountains all around them. “I don’t want to let go of the plane. I want the plane to land again, with me inside.”

She could hear him adjusting and fitting clunky things around them. He leaned in close, his voice coming in her left ear. “The plane is going to crash, Lydia. But we’re going to bail out before that happens. It’s the only way.”

Lydia swallowed the fear and nausea roiling up from her insides like a giant tidal wave. “I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you can.” He had his hands over hers now. “We’re going to jump—it’s called a tandem jump, actually more like a Mr. Bill jump. You’ll be with me—hooked to me. All you have to do is wrap your arms and legs around me like a pretzel and hang on. I’ll do the rest. But first, we have to get this door open and ourselves into the exit position. Piece of cake.”

Lydia pushed his hands away. “You expect me to believe that?”

“I expect you to be brave and to stay quiet and to do exactly as I tell you.” He dragged them both toward the exit door as he kept talking. “Don’t worry, I’ve been trained in every kind of jump possible. I’ve got my jump wings, been through HALO and HAHO jumps. All part of the job.”

His commando mode.

He was really going to throw them both out of this plane. Lydia prayed his HALO or HAHO or whatever it was he’d learned would be blessed. “I’m praying,” she said, her breath heaving. “I’m just going to pray.”

“That would be appreciated, sweetheart.”

While he hooked and connected and checked and rechecked, Lydia looked at the mountains, looked around the plane, then squinted at him. “Is this our only option?”

“I’m afraid so,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “And since this plane is going to tilt when we shift our weight, we have about twenty seconds to get ready.”

Lydia let out a groan of fear and frustration. “I can’t do this.”

“You can do this,” he told her, his voice calm and gentle and firm as he looked into her eyes. “We can do this, Lydia. Just look at me the whole time. I’ll be right here.”

She figured she had two choices on how she would die—in a plane that would surely crash into a mountain, or in the air as she plummeted to the rocky ground. She knew she wanted to go attached to the man she loved.

“Okay,” she said, sniffing back tears. “Okay. But…Pastor Dev…promise me you’ll hold on to me. Promise you won’t let go.”

“I won’t let go,” he said, his lips grazing her cheek, his head pressing against her temple. “I won’t let go, Lydia. Ever.”

She nodded, closed her eyes as she prayed for courage and strength.
No matter where I land, Dear God, please let us be together. I just want this to be over and I want to find peace in Your loving arms. And I want Pastor Dev to be right there with me
.

He started shifting them both toward the plane’s door, explaining how they had to perch on the jump step, but Lydia refused to open her eyes. She kept praying, mixing the Lord’s Prayer with the Twenty-third Psalm, just for good measure. “The Lord is my shepherd…I will fear no evil…thy will be done…on earth…forgive us our sins…the valley of the shadow of death…I will fear no evil…comfort me…the power, the glory…forever and ever…Amen.”

Did God hear frantic, half-worded, sheer-out-of-terror prayers? She believed he was listening.

“Here we go,” Pastor Dev shouted. “We’re at around seven thousand feet in elevation. Time to go.”

Lydia’s heart seemed to stop beating then. Her whole body went rigid. She heard the door groaning, felt the tug as he helped her find a foothold. She felt the rush of a hard wind surrounding them, blasting on her skin, on her face. She couldn’t, wouldn’t open her eyes.

“Lydia, come on, sweetheart. We have to move close.”

Somehow, she opened her eyes and did as he said, shifting her body along with his as they perched in the open door. “I can’t—”

“You can. You have to. I won’t let you die in this plane. I don’t intend to let you die at all.”

He explained their position and how he would free fall through the air. “I’ll push us out,” he told her. “We’ll somersault and then…it’ll be easy from there.”

She nodded, her eyes shutting again. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak. She just kept praying, her mind centered on her family and her world back home. Her safe, protected, sunny, wonderful world where fear and pain and evil didn’t exist. She thought of the crape myrtles blooming along the streets of Dixon, thought of the giant magnolia tree in her parents’ front yard, the ancient palm trees lining the city park. She could almost smell the gardenias blooming so bright white and sweet in her mother’s garden. She could taste the sweet tea and the coconut cream pie her mother would have waiting for her when she got home. Then she thought of heaven and wondered if she’d be able to find Pastor Dev when they got there.

Heaven.

I won’t be afraid,
she told herself.
I refuse to be afraid. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. I can. I can. I will. I will.

“I love you,” she said out loud, her eyes lifting open, her only thought that she had to tell him this before they both died.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he looked straight into her eyes, then pushed them out into thin air. And all Lydia could feel after that was a strange weightlessness and a rush of pure adrenaline. Closing her eyes again, she felt the warmth of the sun, felt the brightness of the blue sky surrounding her, felt the warmth and strength of the man holding her and guiding her back down to earth.

She opened her eyes just as he pulled the rip cord.

And suddenly, they were floating, slowly and surely, as if they were dancers on a cloud.

Lydia felt his head over hers, felt the quick touch of his face to her hair. He managed a feathery soft kiss somewhere near her neck.

The rush of wind subsided as they neared the earth, and oh, my, what a view.

The mountains, some high and distant and still tinged with long-lasting spots of stubborn snow, sparkled in lavender and rose all around them, the rich greens of the aspen trees mingled with the lavenders, whites and yellows of the wildflowers covering the colorful valley beneath. A turquoise-colored lake came into view, bright and shimmering with waterfalls, its fresh blue waters making Lydia hold her head up as she breathed deeply.

“Is this heaven?” she said, relief and awe in her words as she gazed over at him. “Or are we still alive?”

“Not heaven yet, sweetheart,” he replied, his eyes sparkling with hope and relief. “We’re alive.”

Then they heard it. The boom of the plane as it hit a far mountain and exploded.

The flare of the fire blinded Lydia, but the explosion was too far away now to hurt them. Floating here in Pastor Dev’s arm, she felt as they were too far away for anything to hurt them. Ever again.

But she knew she’d have to come back down to earth very soon.

And then it would begin all over again.

She’d told him she loved him.

Had Dev imagined her words or had she really said that to him? Of course she’d said it. Lydia loved him. He knew that now.

He could have answered the truth, telling her that he loved her, too. More than he could have imagined, more than he had ever dreamed of loving a woman.

He loved her.

But unlike Lydia, he didn’t have the guts to say that yet. Not yet. Not when he’d tried to hold back on his promises. Not when someone was determined to end both their lives. He had to make sure she was safe and back home in Dixon where she belonged. Only then would he feel that he had the right to tell her the same.

Right now, he had to land this chute and get her to a warm, safe place.

“Hold on,” he told her as they came gliding down to the meadow. “Just lean into me and I’ll catch us when we hit.”

She did as he asked, and in the next few minutes Dev felt the thud of the earth meeting his body as the chute dropped and dragged them. Steadying himself, he gripped the suspension lines and tugged at the now-deflated chute as he fell toward the ground. His body took the brunt of the landing to protect Lydia.

“Let’s get out of this thing,” he said, hurrying to release the harness. After helping her out and up, he tugged free of the chute, then turned to her. “How you doing?”

“I’ve been better,” she said, running a hand through her mussed hair. “No, strike that. I’m great. I’m fine. I’m alive.” She grabbed him by the shoulders, tears shining thorough her smile. “We’re alive.”

“We are,” he said, grinning down at her. “That was quite a ride.”

“You can say that again. It was so…beautiful.”

“Once you got past the thought of being hurled out of a plane, right?”

“Right.” She stood staring up at him, her heart revealed in the rich coppers and soft greens of her shimmering eyes. “Right.”

Then she turned to look around, but not before he saw the pain in those sweet eyes. She wanted to hear the words he couldn’t voice.

“Where are we?” she asked, one hand grasping her hurt arm. She was covered in dirt and grime and blood, but she’d never looked more beautiful to Dev.

He wanted to pull her close and kiss her again. But that might only lead to a confession. He had a feeling if he held her again, he’d never want to let go. And he had to let go so they could get their lives back. So they could have a life together—without the shadow of danger hanging over their heads.

Pushing on, he tugged the chute up, working to pack it. They might need the material to make a tent later. “We’re in Glenwood Canyon, somewhere just east of Hanging Lake. If I have my bearings, I-70 and the Colorado River are off to the west. But we need to head east.”

She nodded, breathed deep. “It’s so fresh and clean, so quiet.”

“We could use some quiet,” he said, taking her by the hand. “But first, I need to look at that arm.”

He sat her down on a nearby rock, then held her arm out to inspect the wound. “Looks like the bleeding has eased up. How does it feel?”

“It hurts like all get-out,” she admitted, wincing as he poked at the ugly gash just above her elbow. “But you were right. I think it just got grazed.”

Dev thanked God for that. Things had happened so fast back there, he hadn’t been sure if she’d been nicked or mortally wounded. He released a deep breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding. All he could see in his memory was her face and the blood running down her arm. But she was going to be all right now. He’d make sure of that.

“We’ll find some water and wash it out, at least. Then we’ll cover it with some of the material from the chute.”

She sat silently, letting him examine her. Then she halted his hand on her arm. Dev looked up to find her staring at him, her big eyes wide. “Where are we going now?”

He looked around, toward the east. “Well, I think I can find Eli’s cabin. I remember once we hiked to Hanging Lake in a day and stayed to camp overnight, but it’s been a while.”

“And you think you can just take us straight there, through mountain and valleys and rivers and lakes?”

He nodded, smiled. “I do.” Then he grinned. “I just took us through an almost impossible bailout, kiddo. You don’t think I can accomplish getting us over another mountain?”

“I do believe you can,” she said, returning his smile. “At least, I sure hope so.” Then she quit smiling. “Will we be safe there?”

Dev prayed they would. “Well, since it’s remote and extremely well-hidden and since Eli and I are about the only two people on earth who even know it exists, I’m banking on that.”

“But…people are after us,” she reminded him. “Those shooters—”

“Don’t know that we survived the plane crash,” he explained. “They probably think we’re dead.”

“Oh, and I guess that’s to our advantage, right?”

He grinned at her businesslike words. “I would hope so, yes. At least it will give us some time.”

“And what do we do when we get to this cabin? Just wait it out?”

That was a very good question. “I don’t know, exactly. I have my Treo. If the battery works and if I can get a signal, we just might be able to do some behind-the-scenes work. But with the area being so far away from anything, I doubt that will happen. So we might just have to lie low for a few days, then hike out.”

“Or we could pick wildflowers and frolic on the mountain.”

He looked up at her then, and saw the hope in her eyes. “We could do that, yes. We deserve a little R&R.”

“But…we’ll be all alone.”

Dev understood what she was saying, the reassurance she needed. “Yes, we will. But you’re safe with me, Lydia. I would never do anything to compromise you…or embarrass you. You have to know that.”

“Am I? Safe with you, I mean?”

The tight, clipped question took his breath away. “You don’t think—”

She waved her good arm in the air. “I know you are a perfect gentleman. I know I can trust you. But what I’m asking, what I need to know and understand is…if my heart is safe with you.”

“Your heart?” He hated to play dumb, but she was so direct and so beguiling and so cute and so hopeful, he had to stall just to find the right tactic.