"No change," the nurse said.

"Check back later."

"I can't even see my own father?"

Ms. Devlin peered at Vicki over her gla.s.ses.

"You look a little old to be his daughter," she said.

"But anyway, his doctor says no visitors until his illness is identified."

John and Mark were at Judd's that evening when Ryan handed Judd a card with a beautiful picture of clouds on the front.

"It's for Bruce," Ryan said.

"I hope he likes "I'm sure he will," Judd said, "but I can't promise when he'll get it."

"Then I'll take it to him myself."

"You can't," Judd said.

"I told you that."

Judd answered the phone, and a mysterious voice asked for Mark.

When Mark took it, he said, "We are? When? Where? I'll be there."

"Hey, I got a hot date I forgot about," Mark said. Judd and John didn't smile.

"Can you give John a ride home?"

Judd nodded.

Mark paused at the door.

"You guys take care of yourselves, OK?" The phone woke Vicki Sat.u.r.day morning.

Judd was frantic.

"I need your help," Judd said.

"Ryan isn't in his room. He's gone."

"Where could he be?"

"He talked about going to see Bruce."

"That's a long way on busy streets," Vicki said.

"What can I do?"

"Come help me look for him," Judd said.

"Will do. Chaya and I are heading to the hospital to check on her mom, anyway," Vicki said.

"We'll look for him there. How's Bruce?"

"Loretta says he called for his laptop, which was good news, but then she found out they were moving him to Intensive Care. She thinks he had a premonition."

"A premonition?" Vicki said.

"About what? He's not that sick, is he?"

"I don't know," Judd said.

"Bruce asked her to print out everything from his hard drive."

"By the way," Judd added quickly, "John said Mark didn't come home last night."

Ryan pedaled faster. He hated shuttingPhoenixup at the house, but there was no way he could take him.

He wanted to stay on less crowded streets, but to get his bearings he had to follow the main roads.

He asked directions several times and was relieved when a woman told him to cut through her yard. The hospital was on the other side of a gra.s.sy knoll.

Ryan parked his bike and locked it to a post near the emergency room entrance. Finding the hospital was the easy part. The hard part would be making it to Bruce's room.

An older woman at the information desk told him Bruce was on the fourth floor in Intensive Care.

"But you won't be able to go up there, son."

Ryan waited until the elevator was empty, pushed the b.u.t.ton for the fourth floor, then hit floor five as well. On the fourth floor Ryan saw the nurses' station and noticed three nurses pushing a man in a wheelchair.

The doors closed, and Ryan rode up to five.

From there he hurried to the stairway, walked down one flight, and watched the nurses through the small window.

When everyone seemed busy he opened the door and slipped down the hall. He found Bruce's room and made sure no one was watching as he entered.

Ryan wasn't sure it was Bruce, there were so many machines and tubes hooked up to him. When he finally saw his face, Ryan knew.

"I brought you something," Ryan said softly.

Ryan held the card in front of Bruce's closed eyes.

"It looks like heaven, or at least what I think heaven might look like," Ryan said.

He heard voices and a cart outside. Ryan hit the floor and rolled under the bed as someone entered, took something, and left.

Ryan rolled out from under the bed. He touched Bruce's face.

"If it hadn't been for you," he whispered, "I don't know what would have happened to me."

Ryan pulled up a chair, sat, and laid his head on the bed beside Bruce.

Ryan felt something on his shoulder and flinched. He was afraid someone had discovered him. But it was Bruce's hand, barely moving, patting Ryan's shoulder.

Loretta was ashen when Judd found her at the church. She sat alone, staring at the computer as the printer worked away.

"That young man taught me more about the Bible than I learned in all my years of Sunday school," she said.

"What's happened?" Judd said.

"I just got off the phone with the hospital. Bruce has slipped into a coma."

Vicki saw no sign of Ryan. Chaya's mother came through surgery, but they wouldn't know for a few days if the last-ditch effort was successful. Chaya visited her mother, while Vicki headed for Intensive Care.

Vicki briskly walked past the nurses' station, hoping she could find Bruce's room quickly and ask him if Ryan had been there.

The writing was poor on the clipboards on each door. Vicki bent close to read, when the door opened and an orderly nearly knocked her over. He eyed Vicki suspiciously.

"This is Intensive Care. You shouldn't be here."

"Is this Pastor Barnes's room?" Vicki said.

"It is, but..." "I'm his daughter."

"You're Vicki?" he said.

"You know my name?"

"Pastor Bruce told me about you before he slipped into a coma."

Vicki gasped.

He pulled her inside the room and shut the door.

"I'm sorry.

I a.s.sumed you knew. "

Vicki heard the beep of the monitors fastened to Bruce's chest. Tubes ran everywhere, and an oxygen mask covered his face.

"What did he say?" Vicki said, choking back tears.

"First thing he wanted to know was if I knew Jesus. He was in and out after that. Might have been dreaming. Mumbled something about a wedding."

Vicki nodded.

"He opened his eyes and asked me if I was Vicki. I said I didn't know who Vicki was, but I sure hoped she didn't look like me. He said you were his only daughter now. Then he went back to sleep.

The next time I came in, he was in a coma."

Bruce's Bible lay on the nightstand. Beside it was a card with clouds on the front.

"You'd better get back to the waiting room," the orderly said.

"Wait," Vicki said.

"You didn't see a boy up here, did you?"

"No boys in this room. Just doctors and nurses, and me, of course. Now come on."

"One more thing," Vicki said.

"How did you answer? Do you know Jesus?" The orderly smiled.

"You're Pastor Bruce's daughter all right."

Vicki met Chaya in the lobby.

"Mother actually had a Bible open," Chaya said.

"But she was afraid Dad would walk in."

Vicki asked at the front desk, but no one had seen a boy on a bike. As she and Chaya were getting into the car, a plane flew low over the parking lot.

Seconds later, a huge explosion erupted.

Judd felt the earth shudder at the church before the loud rumble.

Windowpanes crashed in the back. From the parking lot he saw black smoke rise in the distance and bombers from all directions. Another explosion, then a bigger one, hurtled plumes of smoke high into the air.

He jumped in his car and headed toward the hospital. He dialed his house on his cell phone. Lionel answered.

"Any sign of Ryan Judd said.

"Not yet. Did you hear that noise?"

"I heard it. Take cover in the bas.e.m.e.nt." Fire trucks, ambulances, and police cruisers swirled around Judd.

The radio gave the sports report, then the weather.

"Come on, come on, what happened?" Judd said.

Finally a voice interrupted.

"This breaking story! An explosion in northwest suburbanArlington Heights. We have a reporter on the way. Wait, excuse me. I'm told we have a woman on the phone who's at the scene. h.e.l.lo? Ma'am?"