put her hand on Eliza’s shoulder as she rushed past. “Thank you.”
Eliza nodded. They were the best words she’d heard in eleven years.
Even before she stepped out of the bus, a helicopter was landing, the largest one Eliza had ever seen. Two men in helmets and full military gear jumped out and began lifting the girls inside. Then one of the soldiers saw Luke and he shouted to someone in the aircraft. “Help! He needs a medic!”
A different soldier from inside the helicopter helped Luke up and moved him toward the back. At the same time, Agent Terri and the others on Luke’s team helped the girls into two rows of seats facing each other.
Eliza sat three spots from the rear, where a man was working on Luke’s shoulder. Four of the girls were quietly crying, but most of them just looked shocked. Poor girls, Eliza thought. She’d never seen them cry. Crying wasn’t allowed at the Palace.
The sound of the helicopter filled the air. One door was still open, but the men in uniform sat at the edge, their feet dangling out, guns aimed at the ground. Like they were ready to fight anyone who tried to hurt them.
Eliza closed her eyes. Her head was spinning, trying to get her mind around so many details. Her life at the Palace was over. Her father was dead. And she was overcome by the fear that had been her constant companion since she met Luke.
Heart-stopping, unbridled fear.
In all her years at the Palace, when darkness fell and Eliza was alone, when she knew what was happening to her friends down the hall, Eliza had never felt afraid. Sick and angry, yes. But she knew how to handle that, too. She would simply close her eyes. And in a single moment she would not be alone in her princess bedroom.
She would be in Lower Barton Creek with her mother and brother, Daniel. The sun would be shining through the dense jungle palms and she and Daniel would be playing with the other children. And Mama’s voice would sing across the open fields, the way it had called to her every afternoon when she was little. “Lizzie James, dinner! Bring your brother!”
“Yes, Mama!” And Lizzie would look at her mother standing in the distance, long brown hair blowing over her shoulders, those light blue eyes like Lizzie’s. And she would grab hold of Daniel’s hand. “Let’s go! Chicken pie for dinner. Your favorite.”
Or was it rice pudding?
The memory had faded and changed over time, like someone had taken an eraser to the lines. But when she put herself there, back in one of those beautiful Lower Barton days, Eliza could forget what was happening all around her. What the other girls were going through.
Eliza wasn’t afraid, because if one of the guards killed her, she would go to be with Mama and Daniel. Even now she could hear her mother.
Of all God’s gifts, her mama was saying, you two are my favorites.
But she couldn’t find those memories now. Not with fear grabbing at her throat and making it hard to breathe. What was going to happen to her? Would they put her in jail for her part? Where would she live?
Eliza opened her eyes and looked at Luke. The man in the uniform was still tending to him, working a roll of heavy gauze under his arm and over his shoulder. “How’s the pain?” the man was asking.
“It’s fine.” Luke shot a quick look at Eliza. First time since he showed up at the window. “It doesn’t hurt.”
Guilt rose inside her. She had been venomous toward Luke, because she detested him. The way he demanded her participation in the raid… and the fact that he had used her for information, the way her father had used her to grow his business. Even so, Luke was different. He didn’t look at her and the other girls the way customers at the Palace always looked at them.
Her fear receded some. Whatever happened next, Luke had been honest with her. They were being rescued. She leaned back against the hard cushion, and as she did she became aware of her elaborate long white dress. Her father had insisted she wear white all week. She crossed her arms. What had seemed normal at the Palace was suddenly shameful, grotesque.
How come she hadn’t tried to leave sooner? Tried to rescue the girls at the house? So what if the guards had killed her? Heaven held her mother and