Danger Unknown by Kathi Oram Peterson

Author:Kathi Oram Peterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2021-12-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

They sat around the campfire, ready to eat Little Bear Paw’s rabbit stew. Like other times, Izzy insisted on a blessing, and Cap readily volunteered to do it. As they ate, Michael noticed that Izzy didn’t eat much. Neither did Brooke.

Maybe he’d pushed her too hard during target practice. He understood how it tore her up inside that he had to train her to use a gun in front of Izzy. But he’d seen what happened when adults tried too hard to shield children in dangerous situations.

After what happened to Bardol, Michael had vowed to never make the mistake again of assuming a child was too young to learn. He should have warned Bardol, should have told him it was too dangerous to hang around with an American soldier.

In a heartbeat Michael was back in Iraq, scooping the child’s slight frame into his arms and rushing toward his team.

“We can’t take him, Mike. Mike!” Cap blocked the path to the Bradley.

“Mike, are you all right?” Cap’s voice sounded different.

Michael shook his head. His eyes focused on a much older Cap weathered with age. His hair was no longer brown but silver. On that horrible day, Cap had stopped him from endangering the entire squad.

Giving a deep sigh, Michael said, “I’m fine, just caught up in the past.”

Cap gave him an understanding nod. “You need to answer Little Chickadee’s question.”

Michael hadn’t heard her. He glanced across the fire at Izzy. “I’m sorry. What did you say, sweetheart?”

“Mommy needs more target practice.” Her soft, innocent voice was filled with worry.

“Well . . .” He glanced at Brooke, whose expression he couldn’t read this far away. If he agreed with Izzy, it might upset Brooke. If he didn’t, he’d lose Izzy’s trust. He could see no way around the issue, except to dodge it. “No one is a good shot the first time. But she’ll get the hang of it.”

“It’s okay, Mommy.” Izzy placed her arm on her mother’s shoulder. “You’ll get better.”

Michael admired the child’s loyalty to her mother. Izzy put all her faith in Brooke. Her mother could do no wrong. And yet, he knew great fear stood behind Izzy’s words of comfort.

Michael should have pressed Brooke to let him teach Izzy to shoot as well just in case the worst possible scenario happened and she had to defend herself. But he just couldn’t get himself to do it.

“Isabella,” he said.

She stopped and looked at him as if surprised to hear him say her name instead of just Izzy, which was what he wanted. He had to impress upon her young mind the deadly seriousness of using a weapon. Forcing a no-nonsense tone in his voice, he said, “You must promise your mother and me that you will never ever play with a gun, that you won’t even hold one unless an adult is with you.”

Her small brows knitted together, and her bottom lip trembled as she nodded her answer. Then she turned and snuggled up to her mother.

Everyone stared at him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.