“Y-yes. We . . . Kaylee is so sick. When they let her out of the hospital, she’ll need ongoing tests and treatments. We have to ride the bus everywhere. It takes us an hour—sometimes longer—to get to her appointments. If we had a car . . . if Jack paid child support . . .”
Filled with sudden boldness, Zander said, “Donna. It may take a little time, but we’re going to find a car for you.”
Donna’s hardness cracked a little. Behind the façade, Zander saw hope warring with despair and doubt. He tipped his head toward the door to Kaylee’s room.
“Jack told me last evening that Kaylee is ill. He is very concerned for her.”
A little of the anger that had gone out of Donna resurfaced. “He’s concerned? How touching!”
Zander took Donna’s hand and sandwiched it between his. She tried to pull it away, but he held on and squeezed it gently to get her attention. “Donna, I want to say something to you. Something important. Is that all right?”
She looked down at her hand in his. When she looked back up, he saw tears in her eyes.
“Donna? Is it all right for me to tell you something important?”
She gave a nearly imperceptible nod.
“Thank you. What I want to say is this: Jack knows how badly he’s messed up. He admits to how badly he’s let you and Kaylee down. He wants to do better, and he’s trying to break the hold addiction has on him. It’s not going to be easy or fast, but if he continues the way he’s begun, he will, eventually, be able to hold down a job and support Kaylee as he should. He told me himself that he wants to do right by you and Kaylee.”
Zander again gestured toward Kaylee’s room. “Jack is heartbroken that Kaylee is ill. Although he wants to be here to support you through this difficult time, he acknowledges that the restraining order is his fault, that he deserves it. So, he asked me to come visit you and Kaylee in his place. That’s why I’m here. To offer you assurances that Jack intends to do better soon. Jack also asked if I would pray for you and Kaylee. Would you allow me to do that? Would you allow me to pray for you and pray for Kaylee?”
Donna’s face crumpled into deep lines of stress. “Does . . . does Jack know Kaylee has leukemia?”
“Yes, and he is grieving—just as you are. Despite his many hurtful choices, Jack loves Kaylee. Will you allow me to pray for her? For you?”
Donna slowly nodded. “Yeah. All right.”
Still holding Donna by the hand—and Donna clinging to his—Zander led her into Kaylee’s room. He approached the bed and studied the little figure under the blankets.
Beneath her brown, curly hair, Kaylee’s face was abnormally pale. Translucent. One arm lay outside the covers. Zander noted the IV catheter in her arm and the deep bruising around it and elsewhere on her arm. A nasal cannula delivered oxygen to the child as she slept.
“The doctors call it acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” Donna whispered. “Her bone marrow makes defective white blood cells. Those are the leukemia cells. Her bone marrow has made so many leukemia cells that they are crowding out all the healthy blood cells and platelets.”
Zander squeezed Donna’s hand. “God knows how to help Kaylee. Let’s pray, shall we?”
“I . . . I haven’t prayed in a really long time.”
“That’s okay. Why don’t you agree with me as I pray?”
“Yeah. All right.”
Zander took Donna’s hand and laid it on Kaylee’s forehead. He placed his own hand on hers. “Lord God,” he prayed, “we come to you in the mighty name of Jesus, asking that you heal Kaylee’s body. You know where the problem is; you know what is causing these abnormal cells to multiply. We ask that you fix this problem, that you stop the production of leukemia cells.”
He added, “I thank you for strengthening Kaylee’s immune system and increasing the number of good blood cells in her system. Lord, I also ask you to draw near to Donna and encourage her heart.”
Then, he prayed, “Father, Donna needs a car. Nothing is too difficult for you, Lord, so right now, we ask, in the name of Jesus, that you provide the car Donna needs. Thank you, Lord, for hearing us and for answering. When you answer, we will give you all the glory. Amen.”
“Amen,” Donna breathed.
Outside Kaylee’s room, Zander prepared to say goodbye. “I’ll go right to work to find you a car, Donna.” He took out his phone. “May I have your number? If it’s all right, I’d like to check in with you in a few days.”
She gave him her number. “Um, Zander? You wanted to give me your card. May I still have one?”
He grinned and plucked one from his shirt pocket. “Of course.”
“Thank you. Thank you for coming, and . . . tell Jack thank you, too.”
“I will.”
As Zander left the hospital and headed for the National Aquarium to meet Abe and Emilio, he murmured, “Well, Lord? Looks like we’re gonna need two cars. Good thing you own the cattle on a thousand hills.”
Part 2:
The Head of the Snake
Chapter 21
THE HEAT OF SUMMER took a break on Saturday when we woke to a pounding rain.
Jayda Cruz, the rain will abate midmorning. Flights out of BWI will not be affected.
“Okay. Thanks, Nano.”
Rats. On one hand, we needed Abe and Emilio safely away from us and the work we were doing. On the other hand, I hated that they were leaving so soon.
Although it was early, Abe was already up when I came out of our bedroom. He was standing at the window watching the torrents running from the roofline. Emilio, however, was bedded down on the living room floor; he was snuggled down into his blankets, oblivious to the world.
I knelt over Emilio’s slumbering form and whispered, “Up and at ’em, Tiger.”
He grumbled, of course, and I tousled his hair and planted a kiss on his cheek. Then I set to work assembling breakfast: waffles, eggs, sausages, OJ.
We left our apartment just after eight and delivered our precious cargo to their departure gate half an hour later. It was not an easy goodbye. Emilio held himself with stoic indifference, but I couldn’t.
“We’ll see you soon,” I blubbered.
“When? When is soon?”
“I don’t know, Emilio. Will you pray for Zander and me? Pray that we do our job well and get it done?”
Emilio sniveled a little but fixed his eyes somewhere over my shoulder. “Then you’ll come home?”
“Yes. Then we’ll come home.”
“Okay. I’ll pray.”
Abe hugged me, too. “Be strong, Jayda. Remember Joshua 1:9: The Lord your God will be with you wherever—wherever—you go.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Abe and Emilio rolled their suitcases toward the nearest airport entrance, and I stared after them, bereft.
Please, Lord. Please help us to finish our assignment. Help us to identify those who helped Harmon. I want to go home to our boy.
When the doors slid closed, I lost sight of them and turned away, but as Zander and I left the airport, the Scripture Abe had partially quoted rang in my heart.
Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you
wherever you go.
Thank you, Lord, I prayed silently. I will not—I cannot—allow myself to be afraid or discouraged. Thank you for reminding me.
We were almost home from the airport when Zander’s phone rang. “Get that for me, Jay?”
“Sure.” I answered and put the phone on speaker.
“Zander? It’s Jack.”
“Hey, Jack. How are you doing?”
I could tell that Zander couldn’t wait to share about his hospital visit to meet Donna and pray for Kaylee. Jack’s news stopped him in his tracks.
“Well, I’m not sure, man. The strangest things have happened since the CR meeting Thursday evening.”
“Oh?” Zander glanced at me, the
n back to the road.
“See, I went for a job interview yesterday at this landscaping place. I told the guy, the owner, I told him straight up that I was clean but recently so. He said he was sorry, but he couldn’t afford to hire someone to work on a landscaping crew he couldn’t rely on, who might lose him customers if he didn’t show up at the job.”
“Um, I guess I can see his point, Jack. Can you?”
“Well, sure. The thing is, though, he walked me through their nursery—it’s huge, by the way—and on the way to their parking lot, he showed me all their plants and shrubs and stuff.”
“Uh-huh.”
“He mentioned they had a weird bug infestation going on, weird because the insects were behaving strangely. Not to bore you or anything, but my dad was an arborist, and I grew up hearing about plant disease and such.
“Anyway, I suggested that the infestation could be a parasitic fungus that grows inside insects and causes erratic behavior—the most damaging being that the fungus causes the insects to climb to the tops of trees and bushes, so that the fungus can maximize the spread of its spores.”
“Interesting.” Zander again glanced at me and made a face. Interesting and kinda gross.
Jack laughed. “You’re kidding me, right? It’s as interesting as dirt. Well, this guy starts asking me all kinds of questions about how to care for plants, shrubs, and trees, and we spent like half an hour just talking—and then he hires me.”
“What? Really?”
“Really. Not to work on a crew, but to work in the nursery. It’s not a great paying job, but it’s a job. The state will take child support out of my checks and give it to Donna and, after I save a little, I’ll be able to move out of the shelter, get a place of my own.”
“Praise God, Jack! What wonderful news.”
“Want more?”
“Um, more good news?”
“Yeah, and this is where it gets really strange. I was leaving the nursery, see, when the owner says to me, ‘Jack, do you by chance need a car?’”
Zander’s jaw went slack. “He what?”
“Yeah, man. He asked if I needed a car! He has an old VW bug that runs great, but he just bought an SUV and doesn’t need the bug. I told him thanks, but there’s no place at the shelter for me to park it. I couldn’t afford to license it or buy insurance, either.”
“Um, Jack?”
“Yeah?”
“How’d you like to be Donna’s hero?”
“You kidding? I’d give my right arm.”
“Actually, all you need do is give her that car.”
Zander filled Jack in on his visit to the hospital. Jack was, of course, more concerned about Kaylee’s condition than about the ‘coincidence’ of the car, but he listened as Zander explained.
“Jack, you would love for God to eventually repair your broken marriage and family, wouldn’t you?”
“Absolutely, Zander.”
“Well, the Lord has his ways of fixing things, sometimes via the most roundabout and unlikely circumstances. Donna’s greatest need right now is for a car. Kaylee is going to require a lot of medical treatment and getting her to and from appointments will be difficult, not to mention exhausting, if Donna has to rely on public transportation. I told her we would help her get a car. Do you see God’s hand at work now?”
“Zander, this blows me away. I-I’ll call my new boss and tell him I’ve changed my mind.”
“Don’t be afraid to tell him what the car is for, Jack. I have a feeling it will bless your boss to know his gift is going to help your sick daughter.”
GAMBLE VISITED A CORNER drug store and used their pay phone to dial Trujillo’s number.
“How’s it going?”
“Can’t complain.”
“Uh . . .” Gamble’s voice stuck in his throat. “Are you hungry? I thought we could catch some dinner.”
“If I have to catch my food first, I’ll die of starvation before it’s on the table.”
Gamble chuckled. “Let me rephrase that. Could I buy you dinner?”
“I think so.”
They met at an Indian restaurant and ordered chai lattes before studying the menu. “Albuquerque only had a few Indian restaurants,” Gamble said by way of cracking the awkward silence between them. “I’ve eaten at this place five times since I moved here. It’s great.”
“I love just about anything in a sweet coconut curry sauce.”
“Hey, me, too. And if you give me garlic naan to sop it up, I’ll make a meal out of it.”
Trujillo’s eyes came to life, and she grinned. “I wondered if you’d ever call me. You know, for this.”
Gamble laughed in relief. “If I’m honest, I wanted to in Albuquerque, but . . .”
“But things were about as complicated as they could get.”
“Yeah, A certain crazed general . . .”
This time it was Trujillo who breathed a sigh of relief. “Those were . . . strange times, and that was the assignment from Hades.”
Gamble reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “I’m glad you came out of it all right, Trujillo.”
“Thank you. Me, too.”
She twiddled with her spoon. “So, how exactly did you meet our little ‘jewel’?”
Gamble laughed. “That’s quite the story.”
“Am I cleared to hear it?”
“Yes, by Presidential Order.”
She looked around the restaurant then back to linger on their joined hands. “Think you could call me Janice?”
“I’d like that.”
Amused but cautious, she studied him. “It’s Ross, right?”
He nodded. “Guess we got used to calling each other by our surnames.”
“Well, I’m glad we can change that.”
Chapter 22
SUNDAY MORNING, AT the end of the service, I lined up with eleven other candidates for baptism. I’d seen a few baptisms as a kid and had been underwhelmed. But today? Today I was excited and nervous at the same time, because each person was to profess their faith in Jesus before the pastors “dunked” them.
I was fifth in line. A teen by the name of Josh was first, and I had thought he was a shy kid. However, before he stepped into the water, he straightened his shoulders and spoke clearly, loud enough to carry across the sanctuary, even without a microphone.
“I want to confess to all of you today that without Jesus, I would be dead. I tried to kill myself four times. Each time, the Lord performed a miracle and brought me back. I know he intervened because my parents and my sister were praying for me. I was trapped in a lot of nasty stuff of my own choosing, but they loved me anyway and they never gave up on me.
“The last time I tried to kill myself, I went up to our cabin where no one would find me in time. I took a bottle of pills that should have put down a horse. Instead, I woke up two days later in a pool of my own dried vomit. I woke up . . . and God spoke to me.”
Josh’s voice gave out momentarily, and he had to clear his throat. “I woke up, and God said, ‘Josh, this is a picture of your life without me: You are lying in your own vomit. I sent Jesus to rescue you from your despair, but this is your last chance. You know the truth; now you must act on it.’”
The kid couldn’t have been more than seventeen, but he seemed much older when he said, “I knew then that I could try any means to end my life—any means at all—and this time, it would work. Suddenly, I was terrified. If I died, I knew I would spend eternity in hell. I-I cried out to Jesus and begged him to save me, begged him to forgive me.”
Josh’s parents and sister, sitting in the third row from us, were weeping.
Josh looked away, into a distance we couldn’t see. “Jesus came to me. I felt a fire inside, burning, cleansing, washing me clean. I got up, took a shower, cleaned up the cabin, and went home. All the way, during the drive, the presence of God was on me. That was two weeks ago. I’m here today to publicly confess my salvation, to profess my faith in Jesus Christ. I don’t deserve what
he’s done for me, but I am so grateful.”
I was so caught up in the power of Josh’s testimony that I never heard the other professions of faith. When it was my turn, all my nervousness was gone. I said the congregation, “Hello. My name is Jayda Cruz. A year ago, I would never have dreamed I’d be a Christian, let alone be getting baptized. You see, I’d been raised in church and wounded in church, so I had erected a wall as hard as concrete between me and God. In fact, I despised Christians.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you how the Lord managed to break through that wall.”
I smiled at Zander, and he chuckled. No, that part of my story truly was unbelievable.
“It is enough here and now to say that Jesus brought me to a place of surrender. Surrender is an essential part of being a believer in Christ. I had to surrender my unforgiveness, my bitterness, my will, my way of doing things. I had to surrender everything to the Lordship of Christ. Since he is my Savior and Lord, I am acting in obedience to his word and asking to be baptized.”
I went down into the water and came up to shouts, applause, and the nanomites quoting Acts 2:38 in my ear: Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
My heart was full.
Chapter 23
“GOOD MONDAY MORNING to you all. This is Jillian Framer, reporting live from Capitol Hill, where both the Senate and the House Rules and Administration Committees are set to take up hearings on the President’s nominee for the vacant office of Vice President. The last time the country experienced a Vice Presidential vacancy was in 1973 during the administration of Richard Nixon, when Nixon’s first Vice President, Spiro Agnew, was forced to resign over a charge of federal income tax evasion.”
“Jillian, what can you tell our viewers about the tone within Congress over the nomination of Senator Simon Delancey?”
“Tom, Congress’ first reaction could have been described as ‘perfect astonishment.’ Not much goes on in Washington these days that takes the city by surprise, but the President’s announcement, made on the south lawn of the White House during his Independence Day Reception, stunned lawmakers—first for its unexpectedness and, second, for Jackson’s nominee himself, who is not a member of the President’s party.
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