The Shadow of Death (Psalm 23 Mysteries Book 9) (8 page)

When Jeremiah and Cindy finally broke apart Mark made eye contact with the rabbi. “I’ll continue to work on things here from my end. The murders we discussed. If I find anything interesting I’ll call you.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Jeremiah said.

Mark shook his hand. “Just make sure to let us know you’re okay.”

Jeremiah nodded.

Mark turned and hugged Cindy, struggling to hold back tears. “Watch out for each other, okay?”

She nodded.

“It’s a different world over there, an entirely different culture. You do everything Jeremiah tells you, too, okay?”

“I will,” she promised, her voice quavering.

Mark stepped back and wiped the back of his hand across his eyes. “Is there anything you need me to do?”

“If you could look after Captain, I’d appreciate it,” Jeremiah said.

“Done. Buster loves having company.”

“And if you could tell Marie that my cousin called...a family emergency...and I had to fly back to Israel. Tell her to get a substitute rabbi for at least three or four weeks, just to be safe.”

“I can do that. Should I tell the church something similar for you?” Mark asked, addressing Cindy.

She nodded.

“Alright, consider it done. Now get out of here, all of you, before someone makes a scene,” he said.

The three of them looked at each other and then turned and walked into the house. Mark stood for a moment, trying to gather himself together before following behind.

Cindy felt like she was walking through a dream. Nothing felt quite real to her. She was still coming to terms with what she’d just said and done and what it all meant. Israel. She was going to Israel with Jeremiah. She’d daydreamed before about being able to see the Holy Land with him as her guide, but what they were walking into was more of a nightmare. There was every chance that they were going to die and that terrified her. What terrified her more, though, was the thought of staying behind and having to keep on living if Jeremiah died.

All kinds of thoughts kept smashing together in her head. Maybe Traci was right about everything. Maybe Cindy needed to tell Jeremiah how she felt. Then again, she might have just done that. She was a little fuzzy on what all she had actually said.

Inside the house strained faces turned toward them. Everyone knew something was wrong. They just didn’t know what was wrong. Maybe it was better that way. Maybe not. She’d let Mark sort it out once they were gone.

The first person she saw was Geanie and she threw her arms around her and hugged her close. “Be safe,” Cindy whispered to her. After all, someone should be.

She let go of her and turned to find Traci standing, fear shimmering in the tears in her eyes. “It’s going to be okay,” she whispered to Traci as she hugged her, even though she knew that might be a lie.

At last Cindy saw Joseph. In some ways she was going to miss him most of all. He’d been one of her first, true close friends. She hugged him tight. “Take care of everyone for me,” she whispered.

“Take care of yourself,” he whispered back.

She nodded as she stepped back. She turned toward the door and saw Mark standing there. Tears were shining in his eyes. She walked up to him.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, voice so low only she could hear.

“Yes.”

She started to hug him and then pulled back. “I’m sorry,” she said, tears beginning to spill down her cheeks.

“I understand,” he said, tears flowing freely from his eyes as well. She pulled her keys out of her purse. “Here, to the car and the house. Geanie still has a set of house keys, too.”

Mark took them with a nod. Jeremiah handed over his keys as well.

Cindy was feeling dizzy as they walked out the front door. A small voice inside her head said it wasn’t too late to change her mind. She could stay and do the smart thing. She did her best to shut that voice out. For better or for
worse she had committed herself to this and she would see it through.

Jeremiah wrapped his hand around hers, startling her. When he squeezed her hand she squeezed back. Slowly her head began to clear. Whatever happened now, at least they were in it together.

Aaron had a rental car and Cindy got into the backseat, expecting Jeremiah to sit up front with Aaron. To her surprise he climbed in the back with her. He picked up her hand again and held it tight.

They made it to Jeremiah’s house and she watched in awe as he picked the lock on his front door in seconds. Inside he moved swiftly, gathering up the things he needed for the trip. Fifteen minutes later he was closing the door with a look of sorrow on his face.

A few minutes later they made it to Cindy’s house. She hadn’t even thought about needing to go there and pack when she gave Mark her key. She assumed Jeremiah would pick that lock, too, but he surprised her by producing a key.

“Where did you get that?”

“I’ve had this since the day after you moved into this house,” he said. “You never know when a thing like this will be useful.”

Inside the house she turned to him. “I don’t know what types of clothes I should pack,” she admitted.

“I’ll pack clothes for you. You get together your toiletries, undergarments, and anything else you might need. Deal?”

She nodded. She grabbed a suitcase out of her closet and handed it to him then got herself a small bag and headed into the bathroom. Five minutes later she handed him the bag of toiletries to put in the suitcase. She opened
her underwear drawer, scooped up what she could and shoved it into the suitcase. Flushing, she moved one of the shirts he’d already packed to cover them.

Next Cindy went into her office and got her passport out of the small safe she kept her valuable documents in. She had renewed it several months before in case she did get an opportunity to go to Israel someday. It was a good thing she had.

Hurry, hurry, hurry
. It was like a drumbeat pounding in her head. Once she’d gotten everything she could think of she walked around the house, looking at everything. It struck her after a moment that what she was actually doing was saying goodbye. She might not make it back, and if she did, odds were she would be changed and seeing everything with different eyes.

She hadn’t told Mark to say anything to her parents or Kyle. It was best this way. If she came back they would have spent the time needlessly worrying and they’d have questions she wouldn’t want to answer. If she didn’t...she trusted Geanie would say something to them when the time was right.

A minute later Jeremiah joined her in the living room, carrying her suitcase. She looked at him and then gestured around her. “Not much to show for a life,” she said.

He squeezed her shoulder with his free hand. “Actually, it’s quite a lot. Besides, this isn’t the end. It’s only the beginning of a new chapter.”

She prayed that he was right.

She turned and followed him out of the house, watching numbly as he locked the door. Aaron was waiting at the car and he took the bag from Jeremiah. She was appreciative of
the fact that he’d stayed outside instead of invading her home.

She climbed back in the backseat, grateful that Jeremiah did as well. He held her hand the entire drive to the airport which seemed to take a lifetime.

They moved through the airport quickly and efficiently. She stuck as close to Jeremiah as she could, trusting him to take care of everything while she still tried to come to terms with what was happening. Once they made it to the gate the three of them sat together somewhat separated from the other passengers.

She noticed that Jeremiah’s eyes were constantly moving, sweeping over the other passengers, people walking by, everyone and everything. It was the same with Aaron.

“We’ll be landing in New Jersey and changing planes there. Then it’s straight to Tel Aviv,” Jeremiah said quietly without looking at her.

“Okay,” she said. “Is there anything I need to do?”

“Get some rest if you can. They’ll be long flights and who knows what’s waiting for us on the other end.”

That wasn’t reassuring but it was good advice. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. It would be a start if she could at least unclench her fists.

After what seemed a very short time Jeremiah touched her arm. “They’re boarding our flight,” he said.

She had managed to tune out all the announcements that kept playing so she hadn’t realized it was time. She stood quickly, feeling nervous.

They boarded the plane and sat together with Jeremiah in the middle and Cindy in the window seat. She couldn’t help but feel like Aaron was sitting on the end to make sure they didn’t go anywhere. It was a plane, though. There was nowhere for them to run.

She dozed fitfully, having no interest in the movie that was playing. At last they touched down in New Jersey and again she found herself hovering next to Jeremiah as they made their way to the next gate.

Half an hour later she was sitting down on the second plane, the last one. If she closed her eyes to sleep when she opened them she’d be in Israel. Jeremiah squeezed her hand as though sensing her trepidation. They were in this together and that gave her courage. She had insisted on coming, she couldn’t slow him down. She had to be strong, careful, and do what he asked. She made a vow as she sat there in that plane seat as the wheels left the ground and they headed for Tel Aviv. No matter what happened they would survive and both of them would go home to California, together.

“Have you been back, since...” she asked, letting the question drift off because she was pretty sure she already knew the answer.

“No.”

Jeremiah leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes. A few minutes later his breathing slowed. He was asleep. That was good. She should probably try to sleep as well. It was dark outside and all the
shades were down. The cabin lights were off and a couple of reading lights burned in the darkness.

She tilted her head back and tried to relax. She focused on the sound of the engines that were near her seat. As the plane leveled off she could hear people around the cabin
beginning to snore. At least some people were getting to rest.

On the aisle Aaron shifted slightly in his seat then seemed to settle down. She wished she could. Jeremiah was sleeping away and she was going to be awake the entire flight, she could feel it. She wondered how soon before the flight attendants initiated a beverage service. Maybe she could get some hot tea to soothe her nerves.

Perhaps she could just hit the call button now and someone would be nice enough to get her the tea so she wouldn’t have to wait. She opened her eyes. She had her head tilted toward Jeremiah and Aaron. She expected them to both be asleep. Jeremiah was, but Aaron was awake and doing something with his hands. A moment later she saw that he was holding a needle and it was hovering over Jeremiah’s arm.

7

With a cry Cindy lunged forward and grabbed Aaron’s wrist, twisting it hard so that the syringe pointed toward him instead of Jeremiah. He grabbed her hand with his free one and tried to pry up her fingers. She held on desperately, trying to stand to get more leverage, but was thwarted by her seatbelt.

As he began to twist his hand back she frantically felt for the seatbelt release with her left. He was stronger than she was and she was losing ground. Just as the needle came within a hair’s breadth of Jeremiah’s leg her index finger caught the release. She yanked up on it, and her seatbelt released.

Cindy lunged to her feet, threw her body halfway across Jeremiah, and jabbed three of her fingers as hard as she could into Aaron’s throat right at his Adam’s apple. He gasped and let go of her hand to grab for his throat. Throwing her body weight behind her arm she was able to twist his hand with the syringe back toward him.

She fell further onto Jeremiah who stirred for the first time during the struggle. Suddenly his hand reached out, locked over Aaron’s hand and he managed to shove the needle into Aaron’s leg. Jeremiah depressed the plunger. Aaron was still gasping and choking, eyes bugging out of his head.

Jeremiah gently pushed Cindy back in the direction of her seat and she fell back into it, smacking her elbow hard on the arm rest. Jeremiah clamped his right hand over Aaron’s mouth and with his left removed the syringe. He leaned down and when he straightened he no longer had the needle.

A few seconds later Aaron’s entire body went lax. Jeremiah removed his hand from Aaron’s mouth and closed the man’s eyes. He leaned back in his chair just as a flight attendant appeared.

“Is there a problem?” the woman asked, her voice tense.

“I am so sorry,” Jeremiah said. “I was having a terrible nightmare and I’m afraid I might have been thrashing around a bit. Fortunately my wife was able to wake me,” he said, grabbing Cindy’s hand.

The woman’s eyes drifted to Aaron.

“My cousin usually sleeps like the dead. He’s afraid of flying so his doctor gave him something to relax him. I don’t think he’ll be waking up any time soon.”