Free Chosen by Lisa T. Bergren Page A

course, this puts you in the terrible position of choosing between reporting firsthand on the attack or trying to stop it. The report could also be false: a test to see if you truly are trustworthy, where your loyalties lie, which you fail if Hamas finds out that you alerted the Israeli authorities.”
    “Yes, yes. And?”
    “I assume you know when and where this bus attack is to occur.”
    “I do.
If
my contact told me the truth. Alexana, I need your advice.”
    His pleading, honest look went straight to her heart. The way he treated her, spoke to her … everything he did made her feel respected and valued. As much as she wanted to keep her distance from the man, he drew her like few had.
I had better bury myself in my work soon, or this man will have me, hook, line, and sinker.
She cast up a silent prayer:
Protect my heart, Father.
    She sighed and forced herself to concentrate on their subject instead of Ridge. “My problem is that I understand the pain, the passion each group feels. I know many moderates on both sides who want only to find a peaceful, godly solution. I also know many radicals who want only to destroy their enemies. That is not of God. If the Jews were attempting a forceful takeover, endangering lives, if the Palestinians were attempting to make a statement by blowing up a bus … in either case I would have to try and avert it.”
    “So you’re the Switzerland of the Middle East,” he said, nodding at the waiter as he poured their sparkling water into glasses.
    “I suppose you could put it that way.”
    “Yet my job is to report the facts, not get entangled in the political goings-on of a war-torn country. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen impassioned people trying to tear each other apart. Check out Liberia on your next vacation, and you’ll see what I mean.”
    “No, thanks. Israel is enough for me,” she said. “When I go on vacation, I want it to be far away from the pain I see here every day.”
    He nodded again, studying her. “So, Switzerland, what should … what would …” He paused. “What would a Christian do in a situation like this?”
    Alexana stared into his eyes, wondering that he would bring up Christianity.
Maybe Jerome got to him after all …
“I believe that a true person of God would do everything in his power to save a Jew or a Palestinian from death,” she said.
    Ridge nodded again, thinking. “There’s more.”
    “More?”
    “My contact mentioned the Haram.”
    Alexana’s eyes narrowed. “The Haram? What was said?”
    “Very little. He just intimated that his organization was aware that the Jews were trying to ‘take it over.’ Could he be referring to the Solomon’s Stables dig? Could that be misconstrued as a Jewish plot?” Ridge leaned forward and covered her hand with his. “I’m worried for you, Alexana. These people are dangerous. What if they try and stop your dig … any way they know how?”
    She gently withdrew her hand and stared back into his eyes. “They can try. But this is the first time we’ve gotten permission from both sides to excavate. I have to try. Do you understand? I have to try.”
    Much later, Alexana left Ridge at the restaurant, assuring him that she could see herself home. Needing advice of her own, she decided to stop by Lydia’s house. Although Sam and Lydia had broken up, the two women were still as close as sisters. She knocked and held her breath, praying that Lydia was home.
    A pretty little girl opened the door, and Alexana sighed. “Marahaba, Maria,” she greeted Lydia’s younger sister. “Is Lydia here?”
    Maria nodded and left the door open behind her as she yelled up the stairs.
    “Yes, yes. What is it?” Lydia called down, toweling her hair dry after an evening bath.
    “It’s me,” Alexana said, smiling up at the pretty Palestinian. “I need to talk with you in private.”
    “Sana! Come up! We can talk on the balcony.”
    Alexana climbed the narrow, curving stairs and hugged her