Page 81 of Inferno

“Bruises?”

She shrugged.

“Okay, think you can stand?” Julio wrapped her arm. “Or I can get a stretcher in here and we’ll carry you.”

She signed,I want to walk.

“Okay.” He put his things in the medical bag and peeled off his gloves, a lot less tense than he’d been when he came in. He touched her cheek with his good hand, his palm warm against her face. “I’m glad you’re okay. So glad. I was praying the whole time, asking God to intervene. To keep you safe. He did, and I’m so thankful.”

She didn’t have the voice to say that God hadn’t shown up. She’d been rescued by cops and friends.

Julio shifted and helped her to her feet, sliding an arm across her back so he could take her weight and lead her to the door. Tucking her on his good side, so she wasn’t against his injured shoulder.

The brightness outside glared, sending shards of pain through her temples. She lifted a hand and shielded her eyes.

The shade over her face allowed her to see the ocean of people around the cabin.

So many cops. K-9 handlers, vests on with their dogs beside them. More cops. A few firefighters. They were walking back and forth up a narrow dirt road between the swaths of forest up a hill to this clearing.

Heat surrounded her, but the fresh breeze blowing through the trees was a much-needed change from inside the cabin. Her clothes clung to her.

As she picked her way across the clearing, tucked close to Julio, people started to notice. Cops turned. Watched. Someone clapped. Another guy said, “Good to see you, Jesse.”

“Yeah, Detective. You held out.” The man who’d said that raised a fist and pumped it in the air.

She bit the inside of her lip.

More turned, backing up until they had a clear path to go. A quarter mile down the road, a car backed up, stopping before they reached it, and Romeo jumped out. He ran around and opened the back door for her.

Samantha got close enough she could lift up and kiss his cheek.

“Hey, now.”

She ignored Julio and signed,Thank you.

Romeo nodded. “Wish we could’ve got here sooner.”

She figured they’d shown up right on time. Samantha put her hand on the top of the door and looked back at the ugly old cabin at the top of the hill. Not because she wanted to see it again before she left and never came here ever again. She wanted to look at the ocean of people.

All of whom had shown up here to get her back from Walter Barnes.

Deerdan was alive. Samantha’s sister was safe. No one else had been hurt. Maybe God had shown up after all—not just in any way she’d realized. He’d kept worse things from happening to her than what she’d handled. Now that it was over, she was more than relieved, but she’d missed something.

God was real—she’d known that for years. The things He said were true.

It shouldn’t be about what she could get out of it, or her faith was just about being selfish. And yet, what an abundance of things God had done today. She’d just had to see it for herself. As if she were still a young believer, looking for proof rather than having a testimony of things that were a solid foundation of knowledge. She’d be able to stand on that foundation, but it felt like she’d never taken the time to build it.

She’dsaidshe was a Christian.

So why had she never acted like it? Or even truly believed Him in her heart, rather than just accepting it as logical and reasonable to do the right thing.

Now, she had proof. Like Walter in the back of a police car, being driven away. Arrested. And he wouldn’t get out anytime soon since he’d attempted to murder a police sergeant and kidnapped another officer. She had a crowd of people who’d shown up. Brought together by God, because they cared about her or they were the kind of people who stepped up for a cop who’d been hurt. Didn’t matter. It meant God could give her back Julio in her life.

“Hey.” Julio tipped his face close to hers. “Ready to go?”

She didn’t want to go to the hospital. She wanted to go home, but Bristol wasn’t there. The place would be empty. She signed,Your house.

“You mean ours.”

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