Page 52 of Fear No Evil

Was he testing them?

“‘The Lord is my Shepherd,” he began while they both stayed quiet. “‘I shall not want; He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters…’”

A memory popped into Maggie’s head of this very psalm being recited in Spanish while she stared in shock at her mother’s coffin. Her mother’s car accident had left Maggie, at just eight years old, utterly alone with only a spinster aunt to take her in. Yet weeks later, Maggie had flown to the United States, where she’d been met at Dulles Airport by the father shehad never known and welcomed into a family she had only ever dreamed of having. With a falling sensation, she returned to the present.

“‘He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.’”

Her childhood had been unexpectedly salvaged.

“‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.’”

El Castillo was no valley, but the shadow of death held this place in its thrall. It had killed Mike Howitz. It could still kill Jake and her.

“‘For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.’”

Please comfort me!

“‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies…’”

As Gallo and Commander Marquez came to mind, the missionary’s voice faded into the background, and the memory of the firefight with the JUNGLA flashed into the foreground.

“‘…and I will dwell in the house of theLordforever.’ Amen.” The priest ended his prayer, squeezed their hands, and stepped back.

Maggie stared at him, strangely stunned. His words had shaken and strangely buoyed her.

Jake inclined his head. “Thank you,Père.”

“Yes, thank you,” she repeated.

The pointed clearing of a throat had them all spinning toward the young man standing mere feet away. David was back, bearing a familiar-looking branch in one hand. With the stealth of his Arhuaco ancestors, he’d materialized as soundlessly as he’d vanished, catching them all speaking in English, which Maggie wasn’t supposed to know.

Concern pricked her. Could this become a problem?

“David, perfect timing.” Father Joshua switched seamlessly into Spanish while waving the youth closer. “What have you got there?”

David’s gaze remained watchful, keeping Maggie from relaxing. “My mother’s people call itmatico. I will wet the leaves and lay them on Jacques’s skin, and soon the welts will subside.”

Maticowas the other name forcordoncillo, as Jake had pointed out when first showing the miraculous plant to her. The juice of its leaf had kept her incision from getting infected.

“Brilliant.” The missionary clasped the youth’s shoulder while looking back at them. “I leave you in good hands, then. Jacques and Lena, I hope to see you both again.”

“Au revoir, Père.”Calling her farewell in French, Maggie sought to mitigate her mistake. The words of the psalm, still lifting her spirits, kept her from feeling too alarmed.

The missionary’s appearance struck her as divinely choreographed. Only why would God go out of His way to comfort Maggie,of all people?

She kept quiet as David went to work treating Jake’s inflamed flesh. With competent movements, the young man crushed the peppery-smelling leaves between his palms, then laid them along Jake’s head, face, and neck.

Jake thanked him in Spanish. “It feels better already.”

Something just happened to me. Maggie wasn’t about to admit it to anyone, not even to Jake. But Father Joshua’s words had taken her from despairing and overwrought to feeling like everything would be okay. Like God always had and always would look out for her.

“I will fear no evil.”She held the words close. Maybe she wouldn’t fall apart without Jake holding her together.

At the sound of a young woman protesting something in Spanish, Jake’s eyes snapped open. Turning his head, he saw by the whites of Lena’s eyes shining in their cubicle that she was already awake. They both sat up at the same time, ears pricked to the heartrending pleas of one of the female rebels, begging to be released.

When the light of Gallo’s lantern filtered through the bamboo blinds at their feet, Lena threw off their blanket to investigate. Jake followed suit, crawling out from under their mosquito netting to peer through the bendable blinds that faced the camp.

Over by the free-standing lean-to that housed the rebel youth, Gallo was escorting both Ixtabel and Maife from their shelter by a rope wound around their wrists. Only Maife protested while Ixtabel clung to her older friend, clearly too afraid to protest.

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