Page 1 of The Truth

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Sometimes he struggledwith accepting the evil that humanity could unleash upon others. Pastor Gunn Hiller of the Hope Life Church in Value, Texas tried to reconcile what he had seen happen to his little sister today and his faith.

Not in God. That was not in question.

It was his faith in humanity that was shaken tonight.

There had been a pair of six-inch scissors jammed into his little sister’s shoulder. Twice. He hadn’t been close enough to stop it. To protect her.

Gunn had been there at the hospital emergency department to counsel an ailing parishioner. He’d seen his sister and one of his brothers in the ER where they both worked. He’d been hanging around, waiting to see if Genny needed a ride home after her shift.

Then the attack had happened.

He had watched it happen to Genny, and had been completely helpless to stop it. Terror had filled him. He had started running toward her the instant she had screamed.

Just running, trying to get there before the monster who had hurt her could hurt her again and again, or the woman nextto her. Her close friend, Aubrey. That monster had just kept hurting them.

Right there in the middle of the hospital where his sister worked as a nurse and Aubrey as a doctor. His brother Guthrie had been there, too. Running toward Genny and Aubrey, too.

He and Guthrie had wanted to protect, and had been helpless to. To stop it all.

Helpless.

Their good friend, Chad—a man who had grown up next door and gone to med school with Guthrie—had been the one to stop the man from hurting Genny again.

Thank God Chad had been close enough to do something. Gunn meant that literally.

Genny was in surgery now. Her friend Aubrey would most likely end up with a black eye where the man had roundhouse punched her when she’d tried to protect Genny. Stitches along one arm. Defensive wounds. She’d have scars herself from those scissors before he’d plunged them into Genny’s body.

Gunn didn’t understand it at all.

Together,Aubrey and Genny didn’t even weigh what that man did.

The man, adoctor,had a good fifty pounds on Gunn’s own two-forty, and had been just as tall as Gunn’s six-three, maybe taller.Whywould a man that size think it was okay to hurt someone so much smaller, weaker? They had been defenseless against a threat like that.

Genny was the stereotypical ninety-pound weakling, and the most kind-hearted person Gunn had ever known. She had never hurt anyone. She’d do anything to help someone who needed it. Anything.

She hadn’t deserved this at all.

He adored her. Flat-out adored her. He hadn’t wanted to leave the hospital until they knew she was on her way out ofsurgery. But Aubrey had been panicking, worried for her own younger sister, as the other doctors were trying to keep Aubrey still long enough to tend to her arm.

It was late, and she hadn’t wanted the younger woman waiting after dark at the library where she volunteered part-time. Aubrey had been more worried about her sister than herself, this woman who had been hurt trying to shelter Genny.

Gunn wouldneverforget tonight, and what it had shown him about humanity, and love. Sacrifice. He would see Aubrey Fisher’s arms wrapping aroundhis little sister’sbody in a desperate attempt to protect Genny in his dreams for a long time to come.

Genny’s best friend had tried to get between Genny and a madman tonight. She hadn’t hesitated for even a second. Aubrey had tried so hard to protect Genny. Even though she would be hurt, too. Could have been killed.

Gunn had volunteered to drive over and get Aubrey’s younger sister. It was a simple task, and he could do it. At least then he was doingsomething.Besides sitting there in the waiting room, praying. Not that he was averse to praying—he was a man of God, after all. And he felt that down to the bottom of his heart. But at least now he wasdoingsomething to help.

It had hurt him to see Genny’s close friend so upset if he could do something to make it better. The least he could do for her was pick her sister up at the library a mile away. Keep her sister safe, like she’d tried to keep his.

He would never forget what Aubrey had done tonight.

The rest of their family were on their way in, anyway. He would do this one little task, then get back to the hospital to be there when Genny came out of surgery. He’d take care of Aubrey’s sister, like she had tried to take care of his.

He owed her that much, no question.

He parked in front of the library and headed inside. The woman he was looking for was right there, next to the checkout desk, and the man who ran the library. Gunn had known Jake Dillon his entire life—he’d been friends with Gunn’s older brother Gene since kindergarten. Jake was now married to Gunn’s brother George’s wife’s youngest sister.

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