Unshakeable Pursuit (Christian Romantic Suspense)

Chapter 10b

Maylin woke with her head pounding even worse than it had before. The pain was so intense that she couldn't open her eyes for a long time. She was still in the trunk, and the bumps in the road were like hammer blows to her skull.

Oh, God. It came out like a sob. What did they say? No atheists in foxholes. Or car trunks, apparently.

He's not far away. He's always been there for me. Whenever I feel awful or afraid, I knew He was there. I wasn't alone.

Olivia's voice echoed in the trunk so loudly that it was almost as if she were right there, speaking it into Maylin's ear. She'd seen another side to God in Olivia's kindness, echoes of the one she'd read about in the Bible. And right now, she was all alone, with only a slim chance Geoffrey could rescue her. She had no one, but God.

God, please help me. I'm so alone.

The prayer brought tears to her eyes. The sobs came from deep in her gut, all the loneliness she'd ever felt, all the pain that her family and Sebastian had dealt to her. It was more than the stress, more than the situation she was in. It was like irrigating a wound.

And when the tears had faded, she was still in that trunk, still being driven to who knows where. But suddenly she became aware of a Presence there, something she couldn't see or hear or touch. But she just knew He was there with her, against all logic.

She wasn't alone. Jesus loved her and He would stay with her.

She rested in that Presence for a long time, that balm to her heart. She didn't know what would happen next, but she wasn't alone.

Then she became aware of a change in the road. They'd left a freeway and now drove on side streets. They'd soon reach their destination.

Against all odds, could God lead Geoffrey to her?

And then she had an idea.

She reached into her pocket, where she still had the pad of sticky notes, the green promotional ones from Oliver Medical Supply. She pulled one off and began folding.

She'd learned how to make paper cranes, strangely, in Sunday school at her parents' church. Not as part of the curriculum, but because one of her Sunday school classmates was a Japanese girl who was helping to make cranes for a wedding. She'd taught Maylin, and Maylin had helped her to fold cranes, because the bride needed a thousand of them, for good luck.

The sticky note was almost a square, just right for a crane. She folded, hampered by the jostling of the car, and not a perfect crane, but good enough.

When the car stopped, she held her breath. She needed to time this right.

The trunk opened, and the light speared her eyes. She closed them and pretended to be groggy. The air smelled of fish—she was near the bay, maybe in a marina.

One of the men grabbed her around the waist and dragged her from the trunk. She kept her hand curled around the crane. He hoisted her onto his shoulder, and the force shoved the air from her lungs. She grunted.

Perfect.

Where was the other man? Behind them or in front of them?

"Come on," said the voice of the man with the jacket. He was in front of the larger man, who was carrying her.

She opened her eyes and saw warehouses and empty streets, a dingy looking gas station, an exterminator business, a wholesale boating supply store. She couldn't see where she was carried, but when the larger man stopped, she heard the creak of a metal door being opened.

She dropped the crane, bright green against the gray and black ground. Would they notice it?

She kept her eyes on the crane as she was taken through a doorway into darkness. Then the door closed behind her.

***

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This is book #4.2 in my Sonoma romantic suspense series, so if you like my writing, check out my other books in the series.

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