Saint by Ted Dekker Page B

finally subsided. Then stopped. Then they sat in silence.
    And Carl began to forget the way he’d felt. Englishman was out there somewhere, waiting.
    â€œIT’S TIME,” Carl said.
    They’d been in the black tunnel for almost a day, he guessed. Exhausted by his time in the pit leading up to this day, he’d fallen asleep and rested for ten hours. Kelly had slept through the night as well, although they couldn’t tell day or night down here.
    They didn’t speak of their emotional outburst, but Kelly kissed him on the lips and assured him that it wasn’t his fault. She loved him very much. They’d left it at that, much to his relief.
    â€œCan you open the door that leads to the hospital?”
    â€œYou don’t want to exit through the hospital.”
    â€œMy opponent, likely Englishman, is either there or waiting upstairs in my barracks.”
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œHe’ll know by now that we hid close, beyond the reach of the GPS monitors, which he’s likely examined. The monitors are in the hospital. My guess is that he’s there, waiting for me to show my signature, or above, waiting for me to show my body. I’ll show myself in the barracks, and if he’s not there, I’ll backtrack through here and come around behind him.”
    â€œIf Englishman isn’t in the hospital?”
    â€œThen I’ll hunt him. Either way I have to go on the offensive.”
    She considered this for a moment, then agreed. “I’ll exit through the hospital and leave the door unlocked.”
    Carl started to leave, but she held his arm. “No matter what happens here, Carl, remember that I love you.”
    â€œI will.”
    She reached up in the dark and kissed him on the cheek. “Remember.”
    Carl waited until she opened the door at the far end before walking toward his pit. He hurried up the stairs, found the barracks empty, and waited by the window, eyes on the hospital a hundred yards away. From his vantage he would see anyone who attempted to leave the building.
    Five minutes passed. Then ten. Still no sign. If he was right, there should have been a sign by now. He had to change his course of action now, before—
    The door to the hospital flew open. Kelly ran out. Still no sign of Englishman. Was there a problem? Maybe something had happened after they’d gone into hiding. Why was she sprinting toward his bunker?
    He retreated to the stairwell so that his field of vision covered both the hall below and the door. If Dale came either way, he could make an escape under cover.
    Kelly pulled up to the door and threw it open. “He’s not there!”
    She was telling him this? Ordinarily she would only observe, never report. She’d unlocked the door for him only at his suggestion, not hers. The games were always between the recruits, never the handlers.
    Yet she was telling him that Dale wasn’t at the hospital.
    And then he knew for himself that Englishman wasn’t at the hospital, because he stepped up behind Kelly.
    Carl dropped into the stairwell. He landed on the fifth step and saw then that Englishman didn’t have the gun trained on him.
    He’d shoved it into Kelly’s temple and was pushing her into the bunkhouse.
    â€œYou go, she dies,” Englishman said.
    Carl’s first thought was that this maneuver had been planned by both of them. Why else would Englishman have waited for Kelly to arrive before stepping out? The coordination was too tight.
    Englishman smiled and jerked Kelly’s head back by her hair. “She’s right. I’m not in the hospital because I’m here, and I’m here because I knew within the hour yesterday that you were here, in your pathetic little pit. I’ve been waiting too. I didn’t expect such eager assistance from your lover. In the middle of the room, or she gets a bullet.”
    â€œHe’s lying!” Kelly cried. “What do you