Page 72 of Wait for Me

Abdul nodded. Jonas began to scribble in the notebook. “I’m taking notes about the geezers.”

Several people turned their heads toward Jonas.

“Glaciers,” Logan explained. “We’re still working on pronunciation and everything else.”

A few of the elderly passengers nodded.

“It’s safe outside,” Marie said quietly to Logan, just in case Jonas had altogether forgotten about the glaciers.

“As of two minutes ago?” Logan whispered.

“Trust God to keep us safe.” Marie swiped her phone, tapped a few times, and showed Logan what she had screen captured and saved. It was Psalm 61:3, one of her favorite verses that God had brought to her mind many times over while she had been behind enemy lines.

For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.

“I like that. Email it to me?” Logan asked.

“Sure.” And she did.

Logan’s right hand reached for her left hand. Marie didn’t protest.

* * *

“Whoa!” Jonas jumped up and down on the deck as another giant chunk of glacier crashed into the cold sea.

He urged Abdul to jump too. Abdul glanced at his mother, as if looking for permission. She smiled and nodded slightly.

The two boys jumped and shouted, “Whoa!”

Surrounding them were the two families, although Abdul’s family seemed to have more bodyguards today than in Ketchikan. Speaking of which, Logan had changed his mind about that morning only the day before. He was confident now that Jonas had been safe walking about with Abdul’s family.

His concerns had been unfounded.

Logan wasn’t sure who among the crowd were part of Abdul’s protection unit, and he wished that he were more observant. He decided to ask Marie later—if he had a chance—whether she noticed new people in the crowd.

Marie was standing next to Abdul’s mother and her assistant. None of them said a word to one another. They stood there, smiling. Marie was taking photos of Jonas, the glaciers, and then back to Jonas.

Logan lost track of what the geologist was talking about. It looked like Jonas had also forgotten that he had been assigned to take notes. The backpack carrying all that school stuff was now in Marie’s hands.

Somehow Logan felt a bit safer in the crowd. Like nobody in their right minds would try to take down a thousand people milling about on this open deck.

Besides, Marie had informed him that the ship had beefed up security after what happened on Wednesday night. The evidence had to be all around them, although Logan couldn’t tell with everyone wearing thick jackets in the chilly weather. Yeah, it was still July, but there was ice all around them.

Logan made eye contact with one of Zaid’s men whom he recognized. He was sure they all knew who he was—a civilian who had survived some sort of terrorist attack in Marie’s stateroom, and had war wounds to prove he had been there in person.

Chapter Thirty-Four

“Yes, I believe that’s the safest thing to do, considering all that we went through,” Marie said to Logan after dinner when they had time alone.

Logan seemed to have expected their evening walk on the deck, and she didn’t want to disappoint him. The night was cloudy, and the air nippy, but they walked anyway.

It was their last night on the cruise.

“When we tell Jonas in the morning, I don’t know how he’ll react,” Logan asked quietly. He didn’t hold her hands, but he was walking close enough to put his good arm around her shoulder, although he did not.

“Safety first. If he doesn’t understand now, he will understand later.”

“Interestingly, his friend is staying through until the ship docks in Seattle on Saturday.”

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