“The thing is,” he continued, “I remember him trying to keep me alive as they carried me out of the mountains to the chopper. We talked about our kids. He showed me a pic that he kept in his helmet. He very much thought about you, Tae. He wanted to come home to you, just like I wanted to come home to my daughter.”

Her throat closed.

“I never saw him again, to thank him. But you need to know that his sacrifice was very much worth it to the people he saved. To the loved ones they left behind.” His gaze went to Noemi. “And to the people who went on to save others’ lives. Like me saving Ranger’s life when he nearly drowned in Key West. And Ranger saving Colt’s life in Nigeria. It’s all knitted together in God’s timing and purpose. But we can’t possibly see the big picture. And from our vantage point, yes, it seems like evil is winning.”

She stared down the hall. They were taking a long time.

“The fact is, if you try to depend on yourself and all your amazing talents and abilities to fight this war, you will run dry. The more you try to control, the more you find slipping out of your hands. You must trust in God, in his victory. And in his goodness, even in the face of defeat. In fact, it is God’s goodness in us that even desires to fight evil. Without him, we would be helpless.”

She didn’t want to hear it. “Pete. God abandoned me long ago. I spent years asking God for answers to my father’s death. My mom nearly went crazy with it. And he never answered.”

“Until now.”

She blinked at him.

“Now, when you most need to know that God hears you. When you are run dry. Now, when that truth can save you from what the enemy wants most . . . despair.”

Silence.

“You are not alone,” Ham said.

Funny, that’s what Colt had said.

And for a moment, her mind tracked back, to the past three months. To the moment Echo and Dodge had found her in the snow. To Colt’s words, after they’d found the plane. “The fact you survived is . . . well, a miracle.”

Huh.

Footsteps made her look up. Dodge came down the hall, Ranger beside him.

She braced herself.

Dodge walked right up to her. “The procedure went well, and he’s breathing better. Now, we just wait.” He glanced at Ham. “And pray.”

“There’s a chapel somewhere in this building. Do you want to join me?” Ham stood up and held out his hand to Tae.

She glanced at Pete. He met her gaze with a smile. Nodded.

She rose and took Ham’s hand.

He was still alive.

So that was good, right?