“All right,” sighed Malakhi. “Now what is this absurdity about Shechem? I thought you were spying on us that night around the fire, and now I now why.”
    Feeling gooseflesh prickle on my now-wobbly legs, I unwound my tunic hem from my belt and brushed the fabric back down over my knees. “You said you need someone who can get close. Much closer than the men you’ve already sent in. I have a plan.”
    He shook his head. “I am not sending my sister into a hornet’s nest. Forget this.”
    “I won’t.” I gritted my teeth. “I spent all of my younger years practically training alongside you. Running. Shooting. Wrestling. Sword-fighting. I may not be a man, but for a woman I am more than capable. I’ve wasted a few years, of course, but it won’t take long for me to get back into the form I was in before I married.”
    He opened his mouth to protest, but I was quicker.
    “I have much to learn, I know. But I am the daughter of one of the most talented spies our people have ever had. You may have noticed me listening the other night because I was not trying to be that careful, but next time you won’t know I am there, I guarantee it. I will train hard. I will do anything you ask of me—anything, without argument. But I can do this, Malakhi.”
    With his chin tilted to the side, he kept his one good eye pinned on me, searching my face intently—for what I could not guess—but I could tell that he was wavering by the softening of his mouth and the contemplative expression on his face.
    “You have plenty of men in your company who can get into Shechem,” I continued. “But for this task you need something different. You need a cook who can go into the high commander’s home every single day without suspicion, who can serve at the Aramean’s table and keep her ears and eyes wide open as she does so. You need a woman who understands the importance of this mission and yet is unmarried and without children. You need me.“
    Since the day I’d spoken to my father about remarriage, I’d only become more convinced that since Yahweh had not seen fit to give me children, this was the path he’d determined for me. I may never be a mother, but I could fight to ensure that Imri and the rest of my nieces and nephews lived without fear, and that future generations would enjoy the Land of Promise in freedom and peace.
    “Let me be of service to Israel, Malakhi. Let me fight against the monsters who slaughtered Eliya and tossed his body into a ditch with the refuse.” My voice quavered, but I swallowed the emotion and forged ahead. “Like you said, the time is now to take a stand against Kushan. Now, when Othniel has been making so much progress. If our generation does not throw off these chains soon there will be nothing left of us. I may be a woman, but I am ready and willing to stand for Yahweh.”

Download a longer excerpt at Baker House Publishing