Second Chance by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins Page A

Was this what it was going to be like, then? Nothing but trouble around the clock? And how awful about Lionel’s uncle! “I can take you to that high school where the morgue is,” Judd offered.
    “I’ve already got that covered,” Bruce said. “I’ll call to see where they’re shipping the bodies, because surely no high school has the equipment to hold bodies for long. We’ll find out where Lionel’s uncle André is, and we’ll get him over there to identify the body.”
    Bruce asked Ryan if he wanted to say anything. That was when Judd noticed that Ryan still had the tract he had taken from the foyer. He was pretending to study it, but he’d had time to read it over and over if he wanted. Ryan said nothing. He just shook his head.
    “Fair enough,” Bruce said. “No one’s going to pressure you. You can be a part of this group as long as you want, regardless of what you decide to do. When you’re ready, you make this decision on your own.”
    Finally, Ryan spoke. “And what if my decision is to say no?”
    Bruce said, “Nobody can make the decision for you. You have to live with the consequences.”
    “Or die with them,” Lionel said.
    Now Ryan was mad. Judd thought he might bolt again. “He’s been talking to me that way all day,” Ryan said. “What kind of a Christian is that?”
    “I’ve only been kidding. Kids our age crack on people all the time. Can’t you take it?”
    “This has to be a fragile time for him,” Bruce said.
    “It’s that way for all of us,” Lionel said. “But that doesn’t mean we have to be so touchy.”
    “I just want you to quit hassling me, Lionel. OK?”
    Lionel shrugged. “I guess. If it’s bothering you that much.”
    “It is.”
    “So if I start talking nicer to you, will you—”
    Bruce held up a hand. “No deals, no bribes, no pressure, remember?”
    Lionel nodded. “Sorry.”
    Judd wanted to make his offer. “I’d like both of you guys to stay at my place too.”
    “I was hoping you’d say that,” Ryan said.
    “I’d feel better about Vicki staying there if the other two were there too,” Bruce said.
    Judd felt some of his old rebellion surfacing. He resented Bruce’s implying that Juddwas responsible to him. Maybe Bruce considered himself Judd’s pastor already, and because he was older he thought he could boss him around. Judd thought maybe he did need somebody doing that, but his first reaction came from the person he used to be. He didn’t like being told what to do. What kind of a Christian was he going to be? Well, Bruce seemed more comfortable with everybody staying in the same house, so maybe it wouldn’t be an issue again. Judd hoped not.
    After the meeting the kids filed into Bruce’s office, where he began calling around to find out who in Chicago would know anything about Lionel’s uncle André. The phones still gave everyone fits, and between busy signals, bad connections, and the usual runarounds and red tape everyone had to go through, it appeared to Judd that Bruce was getting to the end of his rope.
    Finally someone was able to tell him that the bodies that had been delivered to the high school in André’s neighborhood would be available for identification at a city morgue in a nearby precinct late Friday afternoon, two days away.
    “I’ll take you then,” Bruce told Lionel. Then he helped load Ryan’s, Lionel’s, and Judd’s bikes into the trunk of Judd’s car.They took up so much room that Judd had to leave the trunk open as the four of them clambered in for the ride to his house.
    Judd rolled down his window and called out to Bruce. “You sure you wouldn’t rather stay with us too?”
    “Only if you really need me,” Bruce said. Judd was relieved. He wished Bruce had a place to stay that wouldn’t be so painful for him. But the independent part of Judd also liked the idea that he would be the oldest in the house, and the house was his, after all. He didn’t know if he was up to being in charge of three