Read Online Never Fear by Heather Graham - Free Book Online Page A

please,
look after my house. I hope we will be returning someday soon.”
Father grabbed Sabra’s hand and she reciprocated by grabbing her
little brother’s, Fahim’s, hand.
    Qadir took the lead and led the family
down to the river bank and to the shallow spot. Father released his
grip on Sabra’s hand and, with his son, Qadir, began checking the
depth of the water and scanning the opposite bank for
militants.
    Sabra zipped up her jacket, less
concerned with the freezing cold water they were about to traverse
than with protecting the one item she had taken the time to grab
before abandoning their home, a Christmas card. Her uncle, aunt,
and cousins had been granted asylum in Australia during the height
of the insurgency. Their uncle knew nothing about dry-cleaning when
he left Iraq, but that did not stop him from opening a successful
and growing chain of shops. The front of the card bore a painting
of the Nativity, the Holy Family kneeling beside a manger with a
bright star dominating the sky. A picture of Sabra’s relatives
beside a Christmas tree had been slipped inside, and her aunt had
scribbled a blessing of peace across the card’s
interior.
    “ Come on, Fahim,” Qadir
said, picking up his brother. The child whined as he rubbed his
tired eyes. Qadir pulled the jacket hood over his brother’s head to
keep out the frigid wind.
    “ Come, Sabra.” She wrapped
her arms around Father’s neck and he hoisted her off the ground. He
groaned while carrying her. She was much bigger than the last time
he had carried her, his age adding to the effort required to carry
his daughter
    Qadir unconsciously sucked in his
breath, stepping into the gelid water. Sabra pulled herself tight
against Father’s chest, an extra precaution to keep the card safe.
Mother muttered a prayer to Christ that they should cross the river
as safely as when He had walked upon the waters.
    Father began to shiver. The river
water soon lapped against Sabra’s toes and then crept up her leg
until her bottom submerged. The water felt like needles. As the
cold seeped into her legs, tears forced themselves from her eyes
and she sobbed into Father’s chest.
    Father and daughter shivered in
synchronized convulsions and it comforted her to know she was not
alone in her pain.
    “ Shh, quiet yourself,
Sabra. We are almost there, only a little farther. God has graced
us with a calm current. Your brother’s misbehavior and skipping
school appear to have been a blessing so he could guide us to
safety.”
    Sabra nodded and pulled herself as
tightly as she could into what remained of her father’s warmth
while her mother prayed them to safety.
    The sky erupted with sound, as if the
stars were being ripped from the firmament. A pop resonated over
their heads and Sabra forgot the numbing cold just long enough to
lift her head and take in the dazzling golden orb of light drifting
lackadaisically over their heads, an illuminating mortar round
suspended by a tiny white parachute.
    Shouts came from the city’s riverbank.
Sabra could not see the militants in the shadows, but she knew they
saw them, knew orders were being shouted to condemn the family to
death.
    “ Qadir! Run!” Mother
shouted. Fahim wailed as sporadic gunfire cracked overhead, the
shooters putting little effort into aiming at the exaggerated
shadows the gold light of the illumination round caused. More
shouts came from the riverbank and Sabra buried her face back into
Father’s chest, the cold long since forgotten.
    “ Do not look back, Qadir,”
Father shouted over the ruckus of combat and Fahim’s cries. “Run
for the trees.”
    A brief quiet overcame the militants
on the riverbank, then a shout followed by an explosion. The
rocket-propelled grenade sailed over the family’s heads and tore
apart a date-palm on the river’s far shore. The tree’s top
collapsed as its midsection splintered, the base igniting with
dull, orange flames that came to life as the gold illumination
round hovering