Page 9 of One Final Target

“You know as well as I do that adrenaline sometimes gets the better of us.”

She turned toward him, seemingly ready to say somethingwhen she looked over his shoulder. “Who is this?” she asked, hand on her weapon.

Sam turned and saw a pickup truck moving slowly toward them. “Ah, a friend,” he said. “George Upton, my first training officer. He retired and moved here. I was going to visit him after I came here.”

His explanation satisfied King; Sam saw her relax.

“What is going on with all the sirens?” George pulled closer and leaned out the window. “I heard gunshots.”

Sam felt Jodie follow him as he stepped close to speak to the man. “It’s a long story. It spawned a pursuit down Highway18 and a deputy just got shot.”

George closed his eyes and ran his hand over his face. “Heavens, I pray it’s not fatal.” When he opened his eyes, he focused on King. “You look familiar.”

“George, this is Jodie King. Jodie, this is George Upton, the finest cop I ever had the pleasure of working with.”

George opened the door and climbed out. He extended his hand. “I remember Sergeant King.” They shook. “I was here the day of the explosion. Thank God you survived.”

“It’s difficult to thank God when my team didn’t.” Ice dripped from her tone as frosty as the air. Sam heard the sudden animosity. He understood anger but was surprised, nonetheless.

George didn’t seem surprised or offended, though. His tone went soft, conciliatory. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intent to poke an old wound. The painful things in life are the hardest to reconcile with what we know about God, aren’t they, Sergeant King?”

Sam winced. George was always direct, too direct maybe, he thought as he watched Jodie give a tense nod.

“But it’s only if we forget that above all, he is a good God,”George continued. “Trust what you do know, not what you can’t see.”

“I can’t see any reason to justify what happened to my people.” Jaw set, Jodie said, “What I do know and can see is that an evil killer is still loose and needs to be stopped.”

“What happened was pure evil. Yet even with that, I believe with my whole heart that God can turn any evil into good. A horrible loss is difficult to get over, I agree. Grieve—it’s necessary—but don’t waste your life staying in the past. Trust me, you can’t honor their memories by staying put. Move on at your own pace, but move on.”

“I don’t need your pity or your advice—”

The rest of King’s sharp response was cut off when a sheriff’s vehicle roared up the road. It was a supervisor’s vehicle, not Takano. Sam guessed Takano was likely tied up at the scene with the stolen car.

As the sergeant got out of the car, Sam recognized the guy and noted his grim expression.

“Who was it, and how is he?” Sam asked, stepping between George and Jodie.

“Chad Logan. Shot in the face but stable right now. The shooter got clean away.”

Jodie swallowed and glowered at the old cop. He might as well have hadRetired Coptattooed on his forehead, he looked so much like one. Guarded posture, balanced stance, prepared for any threat, he still had a full head of gray hair cut in a neat crew cut and his expression said,“I see through all lies.”

Upton had hit a raw nerve. Anger smoldered. She found herselfopening and closing her fists, her shoulders knotted with tension. The temperature seemed to have dropped ten degrees in the last five minutes. She stepped away and took several deep breaths.

She watched as the three men shook hands all the way around. The old cop knew the supervisor well, from what she could see.

All she could think wasHow dare he?He had no idea what kind of losses she’d dealt with her whole life.

“I lost my parents when I was eight, you buffoon,”she wanted to scream.

Sam stepped toward her. “You okay?”

His gaze and his words snapped her out of the pit she felt herself toppling into. “Yeah, um, just processing this morning.”

He nodded. “Take your time. George can be direct. He means well. I’ll walk through everything for the boss, that good with you?”

“It is, thanks.” She felt her shoulders relax a tad. The three men walked to Sam’s car; Jodie could hear them talking in low tones. She wanted to hold on to her anger, but she’d learned in the last few months how exhausting that was. Her thoughts drifted back to her parents. Dedicated missionaries, they died in a plane crash taking them back to their calling.

After their deaths, she heard about “God’s plan” from every adult she encountered. At eight she really didn’t understand; all she wanted was Mom and Dad back. But with time, recognizing that somehow there was a reason behind their deaths, Jodie stopped questioning and started believing in “God’s plan” and his care in all circumstances. Until her team died in front of her eyes.

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