Agent’s Mountain Rescue

by Jennifer D. Bokal

  Sophie stood at the front door.

  “What are you looking for, Daddy? Is it Holly?”

  Who said he needed a car to chase after love?

  He dropped to a knee. “Hold on to my neck, baby girl,” he said.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To catch Holly and bring her back.”

  With that, Liam took off at a sprint. His legs pumped as they carried him down the street. Holly let off the brake. Her car rolled forward.

  “Hey,” he yelled. Waving his arm, he yelled again, “Hey, Holly!”

  The car accelerated, moving faster than he could ever hope to run. That meant only one thing. If Holly had seen Liam, she’d decided not to stop.

  * * *

  Holly drove, yet she was tempted to look back, just once. Why? So, she could feel another pain from her heartbreak? Pressing her foot gently on the accelerator, the car rolled forward. As her auto picked up speed, she glanced in her sideview mirror. Inhaling sharply, she slammed on the brake. Holly turned in her seat and stared out the rear windshield. With Sophie clinging to his neck, Liam Alexander ran up the street. Holly put the car into Park and flung open the door.

  She jogged toward him. “Liam, what are you doing?”

  “Stay,” he said, breathless.

  “What?” she asked. “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “You know why.” But really, he didn’t. Practically speaking, she needed a job. But in reality, would Liam want a woman who couldn’t have children? He already had Sophie—certainly he wanted more.

  “Stay.” Liam reached for Holly’s hand and placed it on the middle of his chest. “Please.”

  She leaned into his strong and solid chest. “I want to, but I can’t.” She paused. Maybe now was the time to be honest with Liam.

  “You can,” he said. “Hear me out...”

  She placed her fingertips on his lips. “I can’t have children, Liam.” She looked away for a moment, then turned back to face him. “It’s because of the car accident in high school. I was injured, and now it’s impossible.”

  “I have Sophie.” He gripped his daughter’s hand. “We would have Sophie. We would be together. I don’t need any more than that.”

  “There’s more,” she said. “The night of the accident, the driver was speeding. He was trying to impress me with how fast his car would go. I never told him to slow down. I should have—and I didn’t.” She paused. “He died in that wreck.”

  “That’s not your fault,” said Liam.

  “You’re wrong. It was.”

  “You aren’t responsible for what happened. It was an accident. You can’t fix everything—even though I imagine that you try. I’m the opposite. After Charlie’s accident, I shut myself away from the world. With you, I couldn’t hide.”

  Liam placed his lips on top of Holly’s head. “I’m sure you studied trauma because of the car accident in high school. But is that why you came back to Pleasant Pines and opened a school? Because you felt like you had to make amends with your community? Are you looking for absolution?”

  She knew that Liam was right. Still, she wasn’t ready to relent—not yet. She continued, “But it’s too late. I’ve already accepted the new job and canceled the lease on my house.”

  “Quit the job and call your landlord. You can re-rent your house. It’s only been a few hours.”

  “Holly,” said Sophie, speaking for the first time. “Stay here, with me and my daddy.”

  Liam said, “For the first time in a long time, I’ve found someone worth keeping. It’s you, Holly. But if you need to leave to be complete, then I have no choice but to let you go.”

  “If I stay,” she said, “what would I do? I don’t have a job. I can’t open another day-care center. I was a good teacher, a decent administrator, but a lousy business owner.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  A few more words for her next book came to mind. Certainly, the windfall from RMJ would help her survive for a few months—plenty of time to get a proposal to her agent.

  “Please, Holly,” said Sophie, filling the silence. “Stay. Then we can have breakfast together every morning.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  Liam looked at her. “Say that you’ll stay. Say that you’ll help me make a family. Say that you love me as much as I love you.”

  “Oh, Liam.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. She also collected Sophie in her embrace. “It’s crazy to have fallen so fast, but I love you—both of you.”

  “Then don’t leave.”

  Holly looked at her car, packed full of her belongings. The engine idled, and a wave of exhaust rolled across the street. Then she looked at Liam. There were two paths for her life. This was the moment where the trails completely diverged. In the end, the choice wasn’t hard. “Yes,” she said. “I’ll stay.” For the first time, she was filled with confidence for the future. “Do you think it’ll work?” she asked.

  Liam wrapped his arms around Holly’s waist, pulling her close. He placed his lips on hers, claiming her with his kiss. “Do I think it will work?” he asked, repeating her question. “I do. Now, how about we pull that car around and head for home?”

  Epilogue

  Northern Wyoming Correctional Facility

  Two weeks later

  Darcy Owens sat in the small conference room at the regional jail. Her wrists were shackled and chained to the metal table. The cinder block walls were yellow. At one time the color had been sunny, but it now looked of weak urine. After being arrested, Darcy had received medical treatment for her wounded shoulder. Then she had been given two orange jumpsuits, industrial underwear and a set of shower shoes, before being thrown into a cell.

  Since that time, she hadn’t had any visitors other than her lawyer. Until today, that is. The district attorney had come by, looking for a confession. The other woman had provided Darcy with a pad of paper, a pencil and all the time she needed to recount her long list of crimes.

  Darcy glanced at the empty sheet before her.

  “I can’t help you if you don’t help me,” said Chloe Ryder, the district attorney. “Wyoming has capital punishment. I’ve heard that the governor’s going to ask that you be executed.”

  Darcy looked up at the dark-haired woman, who sat on the other side of the table. “I want to help,” said Darcy, pushing aside the paper. “I know what you said. If I confess to everything, you won’t seek the death penalty. It’s just that I don’t remember much.”

  “Let’s start with what you do recall,” said Chloe.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Do you know a woman named Everly Baker?”

  “Sure,” said Darcy. “She was a guest at the Pleasant Pines Inn. I used to work at the inn as a desk clerk. I met Everly a few times.”

  “Do you recall anything after trying to hang her at the old schoolhouse?”

  Darcy shook her head. “I don’t remember anything until I woke up in that bunker in the woods.”

  “Do you know a man named William ‘Billy’ Dawson?”

  Picking up the pen, Darcy moved the pad of paper close. “Do you want me to confess to killing Billy? I will, happily. He locked me in the bunker. He kept me a prisoner there. He forced himself on me.”

  Chloe asked, “What else do you remember? How’d you end up working at the White Wind resort?”

  “I remember you,” said Darcy. “I remember that you used to work at my high school. You were a social work intern. You always asked a lot of questions about what happened at home.”

  Chloe sucked in a breath and sat back. “What about high school?” she asked after a moment.

  “You knew what happened at my house,” said Darcy. She began to draw a spiral. The rotations grew until the doodle looked like a vortex. “I’m convinced that you kne
w what my father did. Even though it was your job, you did nothing to help me.”

  “I talked to you,” said Chloe. “I tried to get you to trust me.”

  “Talk? Trust?” Darcy echoed. “Did you call the police? Or even tell the principal?”

  “I talked to some of the other teachers and the administration,” said Chloe. “They came to you. You adamantly denied that anything was wrong.”

  “Anything wrong? Isn’t that a polite way to refer to the hell that I lived through?”

  “This interview isn’t about me,” said Chloe. “It’s about you and the people you murdered.”

  “Like I said,” Darcy repeated, “I don’t remember killing anyone—except Billy. I’ll stand before a judge and swear that he had it coming.”

  “I want you to talk to a psychologist. They might be able to help you with your repressed memories.”

  Scooting the pad of paper across the table, Darcy eased back in the chair. “You can bring in whoever you want. For now, I’m tired. I don’t want to talk to anyone else. Especially you.”

  “I understand,” said Chloe.

  Her heels clicked on the tile floor as she walked away.

  I understand. Chloe’s final words echoed in Darcy’s head. With a smile, Darcy stared at the ceiling. Darcy doubted that Chloe understood much at all. There were still people in the community willing to help her. And there was more than that. Soon, oh, so soon, Chloe would understand a single but important fact. Darcy Owens was much more dangerous in a cage than she had ever been while free.

  * * *

  Look for Luis and Julia’s story,

  the next installment of Wyoming Nights,

  Jennifer D. Bokal’s miniseries for

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense.

  Coming soon!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Colton 911: In Hot Pursuit by Geri Krotow.

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  Colton 911: In Hot Pursuit

  by Geri Krotow

  Chapter 1

  “This case has gone too far, Vikki. I think it’d be best if you ask to take your active-duty stint another time and do your part for our family business. Keep the Army out of this case.” Riley Colton, CEO of Colton Investigations, stared at his little sister, Sergeant Victoria Colton, US Army Reserves JAG paralegal, his blue eyes bright with concern. Many people withered under Riley’s scrutiny, but not Vikki. Strong, powerful men aiming their focus on her wasn’t anything that bothered her. At Army JAG headquarters in Northern Virginia, she had often briefed general officers on legal cases and was used to taking her share of verbal volleys.

  Vikki was even more accustomed to her older brother’s intensity. Fifteen years her senior, Riley had helped raise his younger siblings after their parents had been tragically killed years ago. Riley knew her well, and it was difficult to hide anything from him. Except when it came to her job. While she worked as a legal consultant for CI, she was also a United States reserve soldier, a paralegal. Nothing trumped her duty to country. Currently a reservist on active duty, her orders were to investigate the death of an Army spouse at the nearby Fort Rapids base. The woman had been taking the RevitaYou supplement and died due to a toxic ingredient.

  “I still can’t tell you exactly what I’m doing for the Army with this case, Riley. Or any of you, as much as I’d love to put your minds at ease.” She looked at the other four of her siblings who sat at the large dining-room table Riley insisted on using as a conference table, along with their tech expert, Ashanti Silver, and primary researcher, Bailey Chang. A half dozen other law enforcement officials occupied chairs in a second semicircle around the table. Colton Investigations was a multimillion-dollar operation and they used the table they’d all grown up with. Sorrow tempered with understanding pierced her musings when her gaze fell on her twin Sadie’s empty chair.

  “We don’t want you endangered like Sadie.” Kiely spoke up, and Vikki found the concern in her eyes heartbreaking. Kiely worked as a PI and was in high demand from law enforcement agencies at all levels.

  Philippa, Kiely’s twin, nodded in agreement. An attorney like their brother Griffin, Pippa missed nothing. Vikki trusted her judgment. Griffin sat across from her and stared at his legal pad, tapping his pencil. They were all worried sick about Sadie, even with her ensconced in a safe house Riley had found.

  Vikki cleared her throat. “Unlike Sadie, I don’t have an ex-fiancé who bankrolled a poisonous supplement.” Her twin had been thrown when she discovered her ex-fiancé, Tate Greer, had been part of the major investor group at the top of the RevitaYou supplement’s pyramid scheme. The epitome of a shark in dolphin clothing, he’d recently escaped custody and remained at large. His unknown whereabouts weighed heavily on the Colton siblings, as they wanted more than anything to keep Vikki’s twin, Sadie, safe. “And remember, I’m trained to protect myself. I’m good. Trust me.”

  “It’s not you we’re concerned about, Vikki. It’s Landon Street.” Griffin yanked on his tie. “When I was in court for an adoption case earlier today, all the other lawyers were talking about was the legal case the Army could mount against the man who masterminded the RevitaYou formula. It’s killed people after promising them the fountain of youth. The threat has to be a huge concern for Landon and his criminal cohorts. There’s no telling what they’ll be willing to do to keep the truth from getting out.”

  Vikki was set to interview Landon’s half brother, a sergeant stationed at Fort Rapids. After failing to track down the suspect, her superiors at Fort Rapids needed to know Landon Street’s whereabouts, and they figured his half brother, Flynn Cruz-Street, was a good place to start.

  She looked at her fitness band for the time. “I’m already behind schedule. I need to get to Fort Rapids at the right time or I’m going to have to wait until tomorrow to start my investigation.” She didn’t want to wait. Finding justice for another dead victim of the tainted supplement RevitaYou, the promised youth elixir that for some unknown reason hadn’t killed more people yet, was her top priority. She was tasked with collecting as much information as possible over the next twenty-four hours.

  “Riley, have you heard from Brody lately?” Vikki posed the question before Riley ended the meeting. “The last I heard, he was still trying to avoid the RevitaYou debt collectors.” Brody was their all-but-adopted brother, a disadvantaged teen whom their now deceased parents had taken under their wing. Recently, Brody got lured in by the lucrative promises of the supplement. He’d thought it’d be a great way to pay off his student loan debt. It enraged Vikki that he was the target of such lowlifes.

  Riley waited for anyone else to speak up, then shook his head. “No. I’m afraid he’s put himself undercover, not only hiding from the bad guys, but doing whatever he can to collect evidence against them.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me.” Still, it worried her. Brody was part of their family, too.

  “Any chance you’ll get out of the Army and join us at CI, sis?” Riley’s countenance had softened and she saw the worry lines around his eyes. Since finding the love of his life, Charlize, Riley had mellowed, become more attentive to the lasting things in life: family, relationships, love. And they had a baby on the way, a true blessing for all of the Coltons.

  Still, working at CI was the pivot point for their family. Vikki acknowledged that she and her five siblings were all so different, yet one thing they shared was their drive to be the best at whatever they found their calling to be. Luckily for CI, they were able to help out on various cases as needed, many on a volunteer basis. Riley kept it all going, solving crimes that often the local law enforcement agencies struggled with due to case overlo
ad.

  “Not if you’re going to grill me at every meeting.” That drew a round of laughs from the group and Vikki grinned. She’d missed them all so much. Army duty, even in the reserves, had taken her around the globe more than once, missing too many opportunities to bask in her family’s affection. So much had changed for the Coltons in the last six months, including the addition of an entire new generation. Riley was about to become a father. Griffin was already a dad, as he and his love, Abigail, a noted scientist, were adopting her foster daughter, Maya. And Pippa and Kiely, also twins, had each found their fiancés in the midst of the RevitaYou investigation. Kiely was a new mom, thanks to FBI agent Cooper Winston’s toddler son, Alfie. Pippa, long the intellectual heart of the family, had finally found a match in Grand Rapids PD detective Emmanuel. Everyone, except for Vikki and Sadie, was settling into their new families, enjoying the embrace of their partners. The pang of being away so much with several active-duty stints had hit Vikki harder this past year, since the awful betrayal by her cheating ex-boyfriend, Peter Stanley. Funny, she hadn’t thought of him or how much he’d hurt her in a while. Her workload and concern over her twin had proved powerful distractions from her heartache. Hope sprang eternal that one day she’d forget him entirely. She prayed that would happen to Sadie one day. No matter how bad an egg any man proved to be, and in Tate’s case, a criminal, it was still a loss. Sadie mourned the loss of the relationship. Vikki felt her twin’s grief deep in her heart, as if it was her own.

  Riley stood, indicating the meeting was over. “Be careful on your drive back to post, Vikki. Weather reports show we may get a lake effect.” Riley was always watching the weather, trying to control anything that could slow an investigation.

  “This early?” She’d only recently put her few Halloween decorations away.

  “It’s November, sis.”

  “I brought a warm coat. I’ll be home before a storm hits, anyhow.”