Shadowed by Grace Read Online Free PDF Page A

that be God?
    She stood and dressed in her uniform, opting for khaki trousers instead of a skirt. Adding a shirt and tie, then the dark-olive dress jacket and garrison cap, and she looked like she belonged.
    If she could believe it.
    After grabbing her camera, she pulled her musette bag over her shoulder and headed downstairs. She’d arrive downstairs to meet Scott before the assigned time.
    When she reached the lobby, Lieutenant Lindstrom sat in an oversized chair, an Italian newspaper across his lap.
    “Planning to read that?”
    He startled from wherever his thoughts had carried him. “Pardon?”
    She gestured toward the paper. “Do you read Italian?”
    “Passable knowledge. I spent a year at the American Academy in Rome before returning to the States to work in a museum.”
    “That sounds more than passable.”
    “I’m trying to make it better. My job requires some fluency if I want to be effective.”
    She eased onto the chair next to him. “Why?”
    “Have you been to Rome, ma’am?”
    “No.” Only in her dreams carried on the wings of her momma’s remembrances.
    “There’s an ancient beauty to that city. To Italy. It collides with modern realities. It blends into a mix unique to this country. One moment you walk across stones laid by Romans centuries before Christ’s birth. The next you’re on asphalt squeezed across the narrow roads designed when horses were the main transport.”
    “You love it.”
    He inclined his chin. “I do. To help preserve its culture, I’ll need to connect with local art officials. There is value to the places. Buildings. Art. We are defined by what we love and respect.”
    “So what aspect will you show me today?”
    “I’m not sure.” He shrugged. “My mission exists in theory. The army believes there are more important duties at the moment. It’s hard to blame them. But with every day more is lost or destroyed.”
    Rachel pondered his words. He believed what he said. It was clear he valued his job, but it wasn’t fully formed yet. Was this why the general had thrust her off on him? Both of them lost in a sea of war without a real role?

    Her warm chocolate-colored eyes sparkled as she stroked her camera. Hard to imagine how such a small machine captured such vivid photos. Scott pulled the New York Herald Tribune from beneath the Naples daily rag. “Have you seen this?”
    “No. I don’t get much American news unless I’m in the press office.”
    “Turn to page A7.”
    She accepted the paper with a curious gleam. “Anything in particular I’m looking for?”
    “You’ll know it.”
    The pages rustled and then she straightened. The photo sat in the middle of the page of war news. A simple image that captured a soldier interacting with a child amid rubble. The photo conveyed how war had aged the child.
    One child.
    Her photo.
    His image.
    He wasn’t identified, but somehow the photo had made it back to the States and was already in print. He could imagine how many other papers had picked it up from the United Press or other photo wire service. The image captured so many nuances and realities in one frame.
    “Oh my.” She breathed the words, lifting one hand to her throat.
    “It’s a powerful image.”
    She nodded. “I knew it was special when I snapped it. But seeing it in print . . .”
    “How did it manage to land in the paper already?”
    “The editor picks a few photos to be wired immediately. The others are flown on military transports.” The pages trembled as she looked at him. “I dreamed it would be picked up.”
    Her enthusiasm charmed him, even as he knew he needed to quell it. “It’s not a good idea to have you join me, Captain Justice.”
    “You won’t take me?”
    He ran a hand along his neck trying to ease the tightness creeping into the muscles.
    She sat on the edge of a chair, her posture so perfect it looked painful as she waited for his decision. He had strict orders to take her, yet he couldn’t imagine a worse idea than