by Marx, J. A.
The helicopter lifted. One hundred feet and climbing. Two hundred feet …
Pressing into the side window, Isaac saw a charcoal-colored ship in the distance. A potential threat to the helicopter. An imminent prison for Chiara.
In front of him, Sabio had the binoculars engaged. “They’re stopping!” His voice cut through the engine’s deafening whir.
The helicopter hovered in place, and Isaac’s temples throbbed. He unbuckled the safety belt and hurled into the front of the cabin to search out the windshield. He saw Chiara stand and … jump into the water.
Grabbing the latch behind him, he jerked up and shoved open the door.
“Ize! No!” Akiko seized his shirttail.
Fletch yanked back his headset and looked over his shoulder. “Isaac Young. Stay in this aircraft.”
Sideswiped by anguish, Isaac hunched under the doorframe. Through the downwash beating his face, he spotted Chiara. Small and helpless in the middle of the sea. “But—”
“I can’t rescue two of you out of the water. We won’t leave her, I promise. I need you here.”
Isaac clenched the doorframe. Jumping from this height guaranteed him a compression fracture.
“Obey me,” his mentor cried. “A dead EMT can’t help anybody.”
We won’t leave you, Chiara. Resolving to stay in control this time, he forced out a “Yes, sir.”
Pulled into the middle seat by his friends, he stifled a howl when Akiko closed the door.
Sabio twisted around in the front seat and faced them. Tears clouded his eyes. “They shot her.”
“I’ll kill ’em!” Isaac lunged for the latch.
Akiko blocked him.
Aiming to slug the Asian out of the way, Isaac smacked the wall at the last second. He pressed his face to the window and located Chiara. Floundering but not sinking. The black raft sped toward the mother ship.
“Listen!” Fletch waved. “I’ll tell you when we’re close enough to pick her up.”
The proposal staggered Isaac. Rescue missions were not standard operations for this JetRanger. Nor safe. Fletch had obviously weighed the cost and considered the worse alternative—Isaac jumping.
The chopper descended.
Endeavoring to think straight as work had trained him, he instructed Jase and Akiko. “Make a human chain.” He opened the door and situated himself on the edge of the floor with his sneakers on the landing skid.
Akiko sat behind him, braced his feet against the wall, and held the back of Isaac’s shorts like safety line. Jase, the anchor, latched on to Akiko.
The chopper slowed to a hover, and the front cabin door swung open. Sabio positioned himself on the skid near Isaac and guided Fletch toward the target.
Below them, Chiara kept her back to the salvo of whitecaps caused by the downwash. She held one arm in the air until her head sunk then paddled back up and repeated the action.
Isaac reached as far as he could. Not far enough.
“Lower.” Sabio signaled Fletch.
The chopper descended and held steady. Blades slashed the air. The tail boom dipped toward the water. Fletch lifted her higher.
Risking five lives to save one is stupid.
Dismissing that tormenting thought, Isaac lowered onto the skid and faced the cabin. He locked his legs around the skid then gave Akiko one wrist to hold. Leaning back, Isaac entered the rotor’s windstorm, squinting against the gusts.
Swiping at Chiara’s extended arm, he missed. He waited for the next swell. If he missed again, he was diving in.
“Hurry,” Sabio cried. “Sharks!”
Hammering down visions of Vétis’s munched-up corpse, Isaac stretched out. “Chiara!”
The swell lifted her. She thrust her hand into the air.
They grabbed wrists.
Electricity zipped through Isaac’s arm and shoulder and down to his toes. He’d expected a deadlier static shock yet only his arm hair felt singed. Thank you, Jesus.
Akiko’s two-handed grip tightened, pulling his arm.
Held down by soaking deadweight, Isaac’s torso twisted. His shoulder cramped. He couldn’t lift. His heart jackhammered its cage at the sight of blood dribbling down Chiara’s waist and dripping off her bare feet. Her free arm, obviously injured, hugged her side.
“Lord, please help!” He then spotted three sleek, gray forms rushing in from the east. Dolphins.
“Shark!” Sabio’s pointing finger highlighted a lone fin to the north, right before it submerged. Straddling the skid, he swung down and grasped the bloody hem of Chiara’s jeans.
They lifted her together.
A gaping mouth armed with razor teeth sprang from the sea, freezing Isaac’s lungs.
A dolphin soared out of the water and rammed the shark. Two circling dolphins slapped their flukes against the water as the predator sank.
Echolocation…helps them determine the enemy’s weak spot. Isaac loosed his breath and a tear. “Way to go, Beaker.”
He, Sabio, and Akiko worked to haul a wobbly, shaky Chiara up to the skid. Isaac wrapped both arms around her waist.
Screaming and cradling her side, she pushed him off.
Isaac gripped her jeans in time to stop a fall and ducked backward into the cabin. She collapsed into him, pinning him to the far wall.
Already seated, Akiko and Jase slid their hands under her and lifted her onto their laps.
Squeezing into the far seat, Isaac propped her head and shoulders against the window. He still couldn’t believe Fletch had executed such a perilous maneuver.
The Asian reached around her feet and shut the door. “We’re clear.”
As the chopper bolted from paradise, Chiara—no, the victim—labored for breaths, shivering.
Firmly in EMT mode, Isaac pressed his hand over the jagged gash on her upper arm, well aware of a warm wetness dribbling down his legs.
Extracting the first aid kit from the storage compartment, Akiko opened it atop Chiara’s legs.
Isaac made the musician hold her arm in the air before collecting two gauze pads. He placed both over the wound then started wrapping the bandage.
“Ize.” Jase’s anxious stare directed him toward Chiara’s far side and the fresh blood saturating her blouse.
How many slugs did she take? Isaac nodded toward the damaged area. “Apply pressure.”
“I can’t see it.”
Neither could Isaac. “Guess.”
The victim writhed and gritted her teeth as Jase’s hand settled. His face crumpled. “Blood’s leaking through my fingers.”
“Squeeze ’em shut.” And stop freaking out. Isaac tied off the bandage around her arm.
Sabio, observing from the front cabin, took over elevating Chiara’s hand.
Isaac gave an appreciative nod then untied the knot on Chiara’s shirt. He folded the shirtfront up over her ribcage and Jase lifted his hand, red and dripping. Feeling along her ribs, Isaac’s finger brushed the torn tissue below her bottom rib. He applied gauze.
The victim’s scream eclipsed the engine’s drumfire.
Judging by her reactions and level of consciousness, he speculated that the bullet had not penetrated any organs. “Hold more gauze on top these.”
His aide applied fresh pads.
Unable to bandage the wound from this position, Isaac adopted the only viable option. “I need you to keep steady pressure until we get there.”
Jase grimaced.
“You can handle this. You have to.” Isaac lightly elbowed Jase. “Steady pressure.”
The victim’s breathing was shallow. Eyes tired. She hadn’t stopped shivering.
Isaac located the blanket behind the seat. “Keep her feet raised,” he told Akiko, hoping to prevent her from going into shock, which would take another miracle.
Trying to reclaim the elevated arm so he could cover it, Isaac met resistance.
Sabio wouldn’t let go of her wrist. “Please,” he mouthed, legitimately sympathetic toward life, for once.
&nb
sp; Snapping out of his professional trance, Isaac took in the moment.
Jase’s hand that usually entertained people was keeping life from flowing out of Chiara. He beamed with a purity that wasn’t there before.
Akiko rested his head on her shins while her feet pressed against the window. After a bad start on the Cay, he was now genuinely dedicated to a God and a cause greater than any of them had imagined.
Nobly inspired hearts. Knowing his friends loved Chiara as family mattered as much to Isaac as a blood bank at wartime. He spread out the blanket, and they wrapped her up. Easing her forward, he slipped his arm behind her shoulders, hoping to make her more comfortable.
Streaked with tears, her ashen face and drowsy gaze tugged at his soul. Her mouth moved as if trying to speak.
He brought his ear closer so she wouldn’t strain.
“I knew you’d come for me.”
Her long sought-after trust honored him to a depth overflowing. With bloodstained fingers, he peeled back strands of wet hair from her cheeks and forehead. “Were those men with the Lux?”
She nodded. Her enfeebled condition couldn’t mask her beauty.
“Why’d they let you go?”
“I told them who my new King was. They”—A grimace competed with her smile—“Got a little ticked off.”
He smiled proudly. But the tears clogging his throat wouldn’t let Isaac relay the glory to his friends.
Chiara’s uninjured arm snaked out from the blanket. Her fingers groped his chest until he held her hand and bent close to listen.
“It’s burns, Wild Man.”
“Don’t be afraid.” He said it as much to himself as to her.
He hadn’t meant for their tears to mingle, but they did. Resting his head against hers, he closed his eyes and let himself reminisce …
Christmas carols in May, and Queen Amnesia. He didn’t let her drown.
Replaying the moment he fell out of the tree, he opened dreaming eyes. Beauty hovered over him, paralyzing him … Replay.
Let’s not play lover’s games, Chuck, she teased.
He could finally laugh at her orneriness. Escaping the raft to play with the dolphins. Free soloing the cliff wall.
Ahh, the fruit-bouquet she’d surprised them with at breakfast. It dawned on him that Chiara had declared him a courageous, respectable guy.
Keep talking, girl. I’ve got time.
Reflections wheeled him back to the morning he found her half-dead on the beach. She was leaving Fletcher’s Cay the same way she arrived, clinging to life—
Startled out of a contented daze, Isaac lifted his head.
Lying listlessly against his arm with her eyes shut, the one he loved was no longer shaking. Her chest rose and fell. A good sign. But she mustn’t sleep.
“Chiara?”
“I’m not afraid.” She had more to tell the lifeguard—like how their physical proximity bothered her—but pain blurred her mind. She needed a tick-tack.
Her gamble had paid off. The Foursome survived a confrontation with the Lux. Regardless of the present suffering she’d make the same sacrifice again. Next time, she’d be better prepared.
When Isaac leaned closer, she didn’t mean to ignore him. She was just so … tired …
“Chiara?”
Opening her eyes, she blinked to let him know she was okay.
“You have to stay awake, princess.”
Searching for her injured arm, she found it with the sphinx. She wanted to squeeze Sabio’s hand and thank him for pressing in that night she’d tried to hide the truth. He squeezed her hand instead.
Feeling the musician’s palm pressed against her side, she wished Jase could play the song he wrote for her. She winked. Where was her beacon of strength?
As if reading her mind, Jase put on his bubbly grin.
She wiggled her toes against the chopper’s side window.
Akiko sported a worried frown. He had frowned much harder while trying to “save” her when she free soloed Turtle’s Head.
Dare to climb, Kiko.
Finally, she looked at Isaac, wishing she understood him.
Words of affection danced clumsily on Isaac’s tongue, words he would someday declare to the world. If only he could hurry up the future.
She opened her mouth, and he bent closer. “God’s in control.” She tapped the front of his muscle shirt that had inspired Hope.
I know friendship, she’d said last night. I’m at peace with the world. Her faith rocked.
Isaac squeezed her hand as revelation unfolded in his heart. Love’s radical pursuit had brought him and his friends on this vacation. Despite his flaws and limitations, he had chosen to venture beyond his comfort zone—and Chiara Shadi Spencer walked out of darkness a free woman. He could think of no experience more significant.
Life was more than it seemed.
Isaac accepted the invitation to an empowered destiny.
Discussion Questions
1) The characters
a. Which character can you most closely identify with?
• Riki Hammad: anger and pain, victim of sex trafficking or the like
• Isaac Young: pride, over-confidence
• Akiko Foxx: unbelief, experimenting in occult
• Jasen Simon: lust, excessive flirting
• Sabio Quinn: over reliance on logic & human intellect
• Lord Vétis: Rebellion toward God
b. What is the Holy Spirit speaking to you about this area of your life?
2) Etiquette Academy
a. Does it matter how we treat people, even those we dislike? Why or why not?
b. After reading Riki’s experience, what changes are you going to make in the way you treat others?
3) Friendship
The Foursome obviously had an intimate bond.
a. What were some examples of their tough love for one another?
b. How did their interactions affect Riki?
4) Evangelism
The Foursome did not “share the gospel” in the way a traditional evangelist might declare needs to happen. Review some of these points then answer the following.
a. What characteristic(s) of God was expressed through the Foursome that did help bring Hope to the point of repentance? (Romans 4:1-4)
b. What actions/character would have pushed her away from God?
5) Supernatural
a. How important to you is this aspect of our relationship with God?
b. Where’s your comfort level in the area of the supernatural and the Holy Spirit?
Recommended reading: “The God I Never Knew” by Robert Morris
6) Spiritual Warfare
Look up: 1 John 3:8; Matthew 16:19; Luke 4:18-19; John 14:12-14; Eph 6:10-18
a. What are your thoughts/beliefs regarding the devil that is out to “kill, steal, and destroy”? Are we in a spiritual battle?
b. Do you feel equipped to fight in this spiritual battle? Why or why not?
Recommended reading: “The Invisible War” by Chip Ingram
About the Author
J.A. Marx
J.A.’s companions are adventure and imagination. Add in the supernatural, and her day is complete. When she’s not writing Embattled Spirit novels, she’s at the gym or cooking healthy meals. Her favorite pastimes include playing cards and dancing the Argentine tango.
Above all, J.A.’s desire is to see people set free to live and love. She feels her purpose on earth is to participate in what Jesus Christ came to do: destroy the works of darkness. (1 John 3:8b; Matthew 16:19).
Her desire to promote health and wholeness grew from 17 plus years in marriage coaching and developing small group ministries in four different states across the USA.
Growing up in Colorado, she spent much of her childhood climbing trees and rocks, and riding horses. An endless imagination filled her mind with countless stories, yet she never wrote any down until in her late 30s. She graduated from Colorado State University with a BA in Arts & Humanities a
nd a double minor in French and music.
She and her wild-at-heart husband presently reside in Texas near their two grown children and a newly added daughter-in-love.
Visit J.A. Marx Online
Scripture quotations
in Destiny Defied
are taken from the following:
The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, New Life Version, copyright 1969-2003, Christian Literature International, P.O. Box 777, Canby, OR 97013. Used by permission.
THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
The Holy Bible, Contemporary English Version®. Copyright © 1995 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.
Watch for the next book in
The Destiny Series
releasing later this year!
After escaping nineteen years in captivity, Chiara starts rebuilding her life from scratch. She has two desires: to be trusted, and to never leave the land of the free.
