SEAL Under Siege (Men of Valor) (19 page)

Now she was on the other side of a closed door, and it was taking all his self-control not to just walk back into the station and see if there was something he could do. He sent some hurried prayers for patience up toward the heavens. But the answer seemed in no hurry to arrive.

“Sometimes, all God calls you to do, is wait....”
The voice of his buddy Zack flickered in the back of his mind. Part of an elite peacekeeping squadron, Zack often said the greatest strength came from self-control. It was still two days before they were supposed to meet up at the campsite, but he dialed his number anyway and left a quick message, asking him to pray for Katie. There, now he wasn’t praying alone.

He looked back up at the sky, and a thought simmered in the back of his mind. Should he have asked Zack to pray for him, too? After all, tomorrow he was walking into a meeting with the one man he’d sworn he’d never speak to again—his father. No, the less said about that the better. Some battles were just easier faced alone.

He checked his watch. While he was at it, he might as well put a call in to Nick, his second in command at TRUST. Although, hopefully Nick had left work by now. It was hardly a secret Nick’s fiancée, Jenny, was getting tired of finding him hunched beside Mark at the workbench long into the night.

Nick answered on the first ring. “Good to see you’re still alive.”

“Sorry. I decided to stop by the lake to run a quick broadcast test with the radio unit prototype—” and to ask God to give him the strength he’d need to face his dad tomorrow
“—and I interrupted a crime in process.”

Nick sucked in a breath. “Everyone okay?”

“Yeah. A couple of guys tried to abduct a woman as she got off the train. She’s all right now. Just a bit shaken up.”

“Thank God. When I see Jenny, we’ll be sure to send up a prayer.”

Guess that answered the question of whether he was still working. “You about ready to pack up for the night?”

“Pretty much. Jenny’s on her way over. We’re meeting with our pastor tonight to talk about something wedding related. I don’t know what. But Jenny sounded pretty serious.”

Mark ran his hand over the back of his neck. “Everything okay there?”

“I hope so.” Nick chuckled nervously. “The bigger problem is we got a call from the Chipe Orphanage in Zimbabwe today. Their electricity is on the fritz due to flooding, and they were hoping TRUST could help improve the weather resistance of their infant incubators.”

Mark groaned. If the electricity was already cutting out in October, there was no way the orphanage would survive when the real rainy season hit. Plus, knowing the African nation’s crumbling infrastructure, chances were they wouldn’t even get their lights on for weeks without outside help.

He was already booked to fly to Lebanon at the end of the month, and Nick was scheduled to be in Romania in December. Donations weren’t as strong as they used to be, and the cost of airfare had skyrocketed.

“Shall I tell them we’re grounded?” Nick offered.

“No.” Since founding the charity three years ago, he had yet to turn down a single plea for help. He was not about to start today. “I’ve got two boxes of vinyl records back at the apartment. Rob from church has been eyeing them for months. Tell him we need the money for a trip. He’ll make a generous offer.”

“Will do.” Relief flooded Nick’s voice. “You know, I’m still not clear on who you’re meeting tomorrow or what you’re hoping to sell him.”

Because you don’t need to worry about it.
“Just the deed to a small, useless piece of land.”

“Huh. How are you feeling about it?”

So anxious he was almost sick to his stomach with stress. “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” At least that’s what he was going to keep telling himself. Too many lives were counting on him for it to be any other way.

ISBN: 9781460319079

SEAL UNDER SIEGE

Copyright © 2013 by Elizabeth Johnson

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