A Distant Shore by Karen Kingsbury (books for students to read .txt) 📕

There didn’t seem to be other customers in the place, but they wouldn’t take a chance. “We keep the vinyls back here.”

She led them to a room at the rear of the store, and from there Jack called his police contact in Nassau. The conversation played on speakerphone, just loud enough for Eliza to hear. The Bahamian woman took Bella into an adjacent office so she wouldn’t hear what was happening.

The police officer confirmed that Bella lived in a troubled group home. Children had been taken from the house in recent months, with no sign of their whereabouts. Public officials were trying to get the home closed.

The man said he was dispatching an unmarked car to the rear of the store. “There is a couple from my church.” The officer sounded hopeful. “Bella will stay there. We can make a case for the girl to be handed over to this couple permanently.”

Eliza leaned against the wall in the back room. Her heart rate slowly returned to normal. She had done it! She had saved one child from trafficking! They had showed up just in time, and risked their cover to take her away from the predators.

Nothing had ever felt this good in all her life, not since her days in Lower Barton Creek.

Jack turned to her. Then he took her in his arms. For a long time he just held her, his hand on the back of her head, their hearts beating in time. Eliza had never known this feeling, the way it felt to be protected and cared for. She closed her eyes. Maybe love felt like this. And then something else occurred to her. There wasn’t a single person watching them. Which could only mean one thing.

Here, in this moment, Jack wasn’t acting.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes.

—Psalm 38:10

Jack got the news from an informant still on the ground in Belize. Ike Armstrong, the historian from Lower Barton Creek, had died in his sleep. He hadn’t been reunited with his family, after all. The news hit hard. Jack made himself a morning coffee and took it out on his deck. The Topaz had a bigger balcony than any other suite at the Reef. He angled the chaise lounge toward the water.

Poor Ike. He had been so sure he’d meet his family again one day, that somehow they’d be found and come home. That they’d all be together in time.

Jack downed a swig of his coffee and stared out at the sea. Maybe Ike and his family really were in the same place now. The place where Jack’s brother and parents lived… if God were real. He pulled one knee up and remembered the rescue yesterday.

When Oliver first brought up the idea of pairing him with Eliza, Jack obviously had his doubts. Not that he didn’t want to spend four days walking the Bahamian beaches with her. But he had wondered if she’d really bring an advantage to the surveillance efforts.

Jack shouldn’t have second-guessed her.

Eliza had an innate ability to spot traffickers, victims and children about to be captured. She couldn’t just see it, she could sense it. But there was a problem. In her fervor, she had almost blown their cover. Jack pictured the events again. If he hadn’t run up with his story about Eliza loving the swings, the men might’ve taken her at gunpoint.

Of course they were armed. The handle of one of their guns was visible the entire time. Eliza had seen it, too, but she hadn’t cared. She only wanted to save the young girl. She’s like me, Jack thought. But Eliza would need to be more careful, and he would have to make sure nothing happened to her.

He remembered again the moment in the back room of the bookstore. The victory was so tangible, so important, he could do nothing but take her in his arms. Yes, they’d gotten comfortable in the last two days, playing with ease the role of a married couple.

Until they returned to the room. At that point she’d pulled back, instantly cooler, which was exactly what she was supposed to do. Still, for those few minutes in that quiet bookstore back room, the two of them had shared something real. Very real.

Jack took another drink of his coffee. She’s an informant, he told himself. Don’t think about her. But he couldn’t help himself. And he could never let her see the truth—that he was falling for her. She really was a victim, after all. Anything beyond friendship was forbidden.

And what about him? He had joined the FBI because he never wanted love, never wanted a family. God had taken the three people he loved most, so there was no reason to ever love again. Better to be an island. Fight hard, rescue people, put away bad guys, and stay on mission. Until one day a bullet pierced not just his shoulder… but his heart. His head.

Deep breath, he told himself. What about Eliza, God? She doesn’t even know what love is. A part of him wanted to show her, to stop pretending and let her know how much he cared for her, the child he had rescued that long-ago day. He could tell her about that life-altering event and how he was the one who had saved her. They could at least be friends, then.

The possibility dissolved. None of it could happen. They had more work today, and in a few sunsets they’d be back in San Antonio. Where he’d be thankful that he’d stuck to the job, and that he hadn’t let himself really fall for her.

Thankful that moments like the one in the back of the bookstore were few and far between.

THE ACTION ON the beach was about to pick up, that’s what Eliza had told him. Jack spread a blanket down on the sand and the two sat side by side, leaning back on their hands, shoulders touching. It was