that child has to be brought to the States from a war zone, then I need to know.” Now his smile had developed an edge. “I also coordinate any military involvement in Children of the Day projects—which probably will mean getting that child out.”
“Sorry.” That didn’t sound very gracious, did it? “I am sorry. I didn’t realize that you were involved to such an extent.”
He shrugged. “Now you know. So, are you ready to tell me about him now?”
“Of course.” She managed a smile. “I don’t know much yet. His name is Ali Tabiz, and he’s five years old. He was referred to Children of the Day by a Dr. Mike Montgomery.”
He nodded, his eyes intent as he studied the face on the screen. “I know Mike. If he wants our help, he has good reason.”
“I suppose so, but he hasn’t gotten back to us with much information on the boy’s condition yet. It’s apparently a heart problem that may need surgery. Oh, and we do know he’s an orphan.”
“Poor little guy.” Steve reached out and touched the screen. “What do you say we send him a message?”
“A message? Well, I suppose we could ask Dr. Mike to tell him something.”
“We can do better than that.” He nodded to her desk chair. “If you’ll let me use your computer for a minute, that is.”
In an effort to seem more congenial, she slid out of the chair and watched as he started an e-mail. But the letters that appeared on the screen were Arabic.
Her mouth was probably hanging open in surprise. “How did you do that?”
He grinned. “All the computers here are equipped to switch to an Arabic alphabet. It’s necessary, given where the greatest need is at the moment.”
“But how do you know Arabic?” Steve seemed to be full of surprises.
He shrugged. “I have a knack for languages, I guess. And I was in the Middle East in an earlier offensive.”
“I didn’t know.”
An awkward silence followed, making her wonder what war had been like for a chaplain.
He frowned at the screen. “Since he’s only five, he’s probably not reading much yet, so let’s keep it simple and say we love him and want to see him.”
“That sounds good.” It did, and she was touched that Steve had thought of something that hadn’t even occurred to her.
“There we go.” Steve addressed it to the doctor’s e-mail address and hit Send. “Mike will see that he gets it and that somebody reads it to him.”
“I wish the doctor would get back to us. There’s not much more I can do until I hear from him.”
“You can trust Mike to do what’s right. We’ve worked with him before. He’s one of the good guys.”
She was beginning to think that Steve was one of the good guys, too. But that didn’t mean she wanted him taking over her job.
“I have a few more things to do before I go home, so if you don’t mind—”
He nodded, getting up from the computer. “I know. It’s your job, not mine.”
“Well, yes, I guess that’s what I mean. I’d like to show my new boss I can do it.”
He stood watching her for a moment, and she almost thought there was a shadow of disappointment in his blue eyes.
“Not alone,” he said. “Nobody around here is a solo act. It takes all of us to make this work.”
“I’m sure cooperation is important, but—”
“But you’re staff, while I’m just a volunteer?”
“I didn’t mean that.” She wasn’t sure where this tension between them had come from.
He shrugged and started for the door, but before he reached it, he turned back toward her. “Keep me posted on Ali, will you?”
“All right.”
He didn’t seem convinced that she meant it. “Don’t forget that I’m your military contact, Caitlyn. You’d better get used to working with me.”
Chapter Three
Steve went in the side door of Children of the Day, hearing a hum of conversation from the lobby. Something must be going on, as it always was, but with a little luck he might be able to corner Anna for a private chat.
He had some information for her that might be helpful, but that wasn’t his primary reason for turning up. The truth was that he was curious to see how Caitlyn was working out.
She’d been with COTD for all of two days, but if he knew Anna, that was plenty of time for her to come to a conclusion about Caitlyn.
He’d been bothered since their conversation about Ali. Maybe Caitlyn was dynamite at her position in New York, but Children of the Day ran on cooperation, lots of cooperation from all sorts of people. And Caitlyn had given off unmistakable vibes that she preferred to do everything all by herself.
Or maybe he was just the one person she didn’t want to help her. That was always possible.
He tapped lightly on the French door to Anna’s office. It was standing ajar, as always, so that she could keep tabs on everything. With her passion and energy, it was no wonder the charity had grown from a small local effort to a world-respected organization in only five years.
He popped his head around the edge of the door. Anna was talking on the phone while staring intently at her computer screen, but at the sight of him, she smiled and waved him in.
In a moment she’d hung up the phone and turned her full attention to him. “Steve, how nice. I didn’t expect to see you today.”
“Well, since tomorrow’s the Fourth of July, I thought I’d best come by today. Have you heard anything more from Dr. Mike?”
“No.” Anna’s brow furrowed. “I expected to by this time.”
“I figured you might be concerned. The fact is that there’s been a heavy offensive in Mike’s area. I’d guess that’s keeping him busy right now.”
Anna’s blue eyes filled with concern. “Is there fighting near his field hospital?”
He hesitated for a second, but Anna would guess the worst if he didn’t level with her. “It sounds that way. It may be a day or two before things settle down.”
“If they settle down.” Anna rubbed at the line between her brows. “We both know how bad that can be. And that poor little boy. He could be right in the thick of things again.”
He nodded. Anna was right—they did both know how bad war could be, especially on the innocent ones. “He’s lost both his parents, and he’s facing possible
