by Terri Reed
Explosive Situation by Terri Reed, July 2020
Tracking a Kidnapper by Valerie Hansen, August 2020
Scene of the Crime by Sharon Dunn, September 2020
Cold Case Pursuit by Dana Mentink, October 2020
Delayed Justice by Shirlee McCoy, November 2020
True Blue K-9 Unit Christmas: Brooklyn by Laura Scott and Maggie K. Black, December 2020
Keep reading for an excerpt from Amish Sanctuary by Katy Lee.
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed this latest installment of the True Blue K-9 Unit: Brooklyn series. As always, it was a pleasure to work with the other authors and editors.
Writing Olivia and Henry’s story was challenging in a fun way. I wanted to make Olivia sympathetic and yet strong, because she was in a position of power. But she also had to be vulnerable enough to let down her guard and fall in love with Henry. Henry needed to be humble and likable enough to allow Olivia to blossom in the story. And he needed to realize that letting God have control works out much better than trying to control life by himself.
Having Henry and Olivia’s relationship begin with animosity was an exciting way to bring these two people together and watch them fight their feelings for one another as they worked to discover who was targeting Henry and those close to him. Add in a cute bomb-sniffing beagle and some rambunctious puppies, and how could the story end any other way than happy?
I am sure you will enjoy the rest of the continuing series. Next month, look for Valerie Hansen’s new installment titled, Tracking a Kidnapper. Happy reading!
Until we meet again,
Terri
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Amish Sanctuary
by Katy Lee
ONE
Racing back to the slow life of the Amish reminded Naomi Kemp of the night she ran away from it. Eight years ago, the one thing that propelled her into the dark unknown of the English world was her own fear. Tonight, it was someone else’s that sent her back.
On a frustrated sigh, she flicked the blinker of her small four-door SUV and took the exit off the Kentucky interstate. Ahead, her headlights flashed off the road sign that announced she’d arrived in the small town of Rogues Ridge, home to her Amish roots.
Roots that had been severed by her own hand...and for good reason.
Naomi would never expect a warm welcome from her family—or that certain someone who would have been her husband today. She wouldn’t expect forgiveness, but she would expect charity. Just as she had helped a friend in trouble today, she could count on her old community to do the same. They most likely would turn her away, but no one would turn away a child in need of safety.
Would they?
She glanced in the rearview mirror, but not to peer out the back window. The infant car seat behind her held a precious, innocent baby girl just shy of four months old. Chloe Hanover had been entrusted into Naomi’s care by a dear friend from her support group. Debby feared for her daughter’s safety. The child needed protection, Debby had said. She’d begged Naomi to take Chloe just a few hours ago, asking if she knew of a place they could hide out for a few days until she could fix the situation.
Naomi could think only of one.
Home.
But going home meant facing the people she had hurt the most.
“That’s not Chloe’s fault.” Naomi muttered her thought aloud and followed the old, familiar roads she would know in her sleep. But it wasn’t her fault either. At least that was what all that counseling told her. Whether old roads or old patterns of thought, doubts still resided in the deep recesses of her brain, lingering reminders of another time and place and way of life. One where she had been so naive. So trusting.
So blind to the truth.
Bright lights filled the interior of her car’s cabin. She flinched at the blaring assault and flipped her mirror up, squinting at the vehicle close behind. Before she could estimate the distance or pull over, a loud bang and crunch shocked her. Naomi gripped the steering wheel with all her might and hit the brakes.
The car hit her!
The tires squealed, but her car continued to careen down the road with a high-pitched screech and the stench of burning rubber. The vehicle stayed on hers and pushed her relentlessly from behind. The steering wheel shook in Naomi’s hands as the back end of the car slid out under the pressure and curved to the side of the road, nearing a steep embankment.
Loud screams filled the interior over the commotion. Naomi realized both she and the baby were causing them.
“Chloe!” Naomi called out in a panic. The rear right tire breached the road’s edge and slipped over it, causing the car to tilt. She screamed louder. She had no way to comfort the child in this moment of terror. She had no way to protect her as the child’s mother asked of her. She had no way to stop any of this.
Everything happened so fast. One moment, Naomi had been worrying what her family would say. The next, she feared she would never see them again.
The back end swerved sideways, and the car pushed her from the side. Naomi glanced to her left out her driver’s-side window. The hood of the other car was mere inches from her. She peered out into the dark interior of the other car, but could see nothing but the outline of the driver. She made out the brim of a round hat...and maybe glasses.
Too dark to tell.
Too quick to see.
The next second the back tires left the road for the embankment and gravity did its job. Naomi’s SUV picked up speed as it fell backward down the drop-off. The uneven and rocky terrain jostled them over every bump and hole, jarring her teeth. All she could do was hold tight to the steering wheel. At another time in her life, she would have prayed. But this night only proved her doubts in a loving God. A loving God wouldn’t let bad things happen. She had been wise to turn her back on Him that same night she left her family. Her only justification was He turned away from her first. He let that...that horrible thing happen to her and did nothing to stop it.
She pushed away the long-ago memory of her attack and focused on the child in her care now.
Now God would let this man kill an innocent child.
“I’m sorry, Debby!” Naomi cried out for failing her friend.
Thud.
The car came to an immediate stop, whipping her head back sharply, then forward. Naomi hit the wheel hard on the impact. The SUV must have hit a rock or a tree. Whatever it was, it stopped the car from continuing its descent any farther.
Her focus blurred. She moaned, then realized the baby had stopped crying.
Naomi’s heart pounded loud in her chest. Her breathing picked up in a panic. “Chloe?” She whimpered the child’s name. Every sound ceased into an unnerving silence. After the loud, tumultuous noises surrounding them moments before, the sound of dead silence instilled more fear in her than anything else.
Tears filled Naomi’s eyes at what she would find behind her. The poor baby.
Poor Debby.
After all the young mother had been through. She only wanted to give her child a safe life. The child that was innocent in all this.
Would Chloe be the one to pay with her life?
Naomi unclicked her seat belt buckle and prepared for the worst. She used the steering wheel to pull herself forward. The car’s position remained on a sharp incline with the hood of the SUV pointing up to the road. As Naomi leaned forward, she froze.
The headlights of the other car glowed dimly and unmoving.
He was still up there!
All Naomi could think was that he wanted to be sure she didn’t emerge. Was he waiting for her so he could finish her off? Was this man the trouble Debby fe
ared? All she had said was she thought she had been found. The fear in her eyes was enough for Naomi to go with no questions asked. Now she wished she had demanded answers.
This wasn’t a prank to this man. This was a calculated plan to kill.
But who?
Her?
Naomi looked into the dark back seat.
Or the child?
What if he’d already succeeded? Naomi needed to find out.
Slowly, she pushed up onto her knees and turned to face the back. She climbed through the dark car with only the lights from the dashboard and headlights beaming up to the road as her guidance. She left the car running and felt her way, and when she sat in the back seat and faced forward, only then did she reach tentative hands into the rear-facing car seat.
A white blanket covered Chloe. The soft cotton bunched in Naomi’s fingers as she pulled it toward her.
Then the blanket pulled back.
Naomi inhaled with a surge of hope. She leaned forward and felt for the baby. She found the hand holding the blanket in a tight grip.
“Chloe?” Naomi whispered.
A gurgle spoke back.
Naomi choked on a surge of grateful tears. Chloe was alive!
But for how long?
The question propelled Naomi into action. That man up there wouldn’t wait all night. Soon he would make the trek down to see for himself that his dirty work had been complete.
Naomi felt for the small bag of things she had thrown together. It had been on the seat, but in the impact had been thrown to the floor. Feeling for the zipper of the duffel bag, she opened it and withdrew a long black cloak and black brimmed bonnet.
Making quick work, Naomi soon resembled the young eighteen-year-old she had been the night she left Rogues Ridge. She hadn’t donned these clothes since that night and never thought she would again.
She ignored the lingering question about why she kept them and unbuckled the baby. Naomi snuggled the infant inside the cloak. Before opening the door, she leaned forward into the front seat to hit the switch for no interior lights that would alert the man above to her plan.
She would not be going back up the embankment to the road, but rather deeper into the woods. The one thing the man probably didn’t plan on was her knowledge of the area. Naomi knew exactly where she would come out on the other side.
Her old best friend’s family furniture store.
The idea of seeing Liza Stolzfus again induced a yearning to get a move on. Daylight would be breaking soon. She should arrive just as they were opening. Liza would welcome her with open arms. She would be the only one—but also the only one Naomi could trust.
She stepped out the rear door. She took a few steps around the car and noticed a large boulder had been what kept them from descending farther down the slope. Not God, but a rock.
She made her way down the incline, and just as she reached the tree line, she turned back.
The car lights above still glowed. The man obviously waited for her to come up...or not, because she was dead.
Let him think that, she thought and headed into the trees.
Three steps in, and the sound of a snapping twig from behind halted her. She looked back at the slope up to the road, but all she saw were dark lines of trees amid some rocks.
Then one of the lines had an outline of a circle around it.
No. She pressed her lips and tightened her hold on the baby. Not a circle, but a brim like an Amish hat. However, this one was curved on the sides, like a cowboy hat. The driver had worn a hat, she recalled, but now as she peered closer, she could see the full, tall frame of a man. He stood less than twenty feet away, and she knew the driver had come down the embankment to find her—to finish what he had started.
Naomi did the only thing she could.
She ran.
* * *
Sawyer Zook inserted the key into the back door of his furniture shop, Authentic Amish. Handmade craftsmanship at its simplest and finest. It had been four years since he’d taken ownership of the store, and four years since he’d brought the store from servicing local clients to buyers worldwide.
His boots shuffled along the wide-board floors as he closed the private entrance behind him and made his way to his desk. Dropping the keys in the top drawer, he closed it and removed his black wool coat. The pegs on the wall held minimal articles. He placed his coat on a free peg, and as he withdrew his hand, his fingers brushed against the black bonnet hanging from its strings. His frau had left it there the last time she worked.
Three years ago.
He turned to start his day just as he had since she’d given him the store after they married. The business had been in her family for generations. As the oldest of three girls, she inherited it and, upon marriage, welcomed him beside her. She had blessed him with such a gift.
It was so much more than he could have asked for. So much more than she got to enjoy. It wasn’t fair.
He grimaced at his wayward thought. Bishop Bontrager would scold him for thinking so worldly. It had nothing to do with fairness. God’s will would always be done. Even if it meant He took Liza home to be with Him so soon into their marriage.
The back door opened and in walked his apprentice.
“Gut morning,” Sawyer said to the young man. “Glad you’re early. We have a large order to fill.”
Caleb Yoder yawned his reply and hung up his coat. “My little brudder is teething. He cried all night. Kept the whole house awake. I couldn’t wait to get out of there this morning.”
Sawyer chuckled but couldn’t say he could relate. Liza died before having children. He often wondered what it would have been like if they had kinner. Running the business would be near impossible if he had to raise a boppli at the same time.
He pushed aside the idea and opened the file of orders his website partner brought over the night before. With his English friend Jim’s help, Sawyer had made Authentic Amish a huge success. Sawyer had no time to think about the loss of family when he had so much work to do. His store and all his employees were family enough, despite what his older sister, Anna, kept saying.
A bang from the front of the store echoed through to the backroom, startling them both.
Sawyer glanced at the clock above the doorway. “Too early for customers. The sun’s barely up. Stay here and go through these orders. Pick three to work on today. The stack won’t be so daunting.”
“Ach, you might need to hire another employee if these orders keep coming.” Caleb sat down to go through the file.
Sawyer left him to his task and wove his way through the workshop then the store. All the machinery in the workshop ran off diesel with nothing powered by electricity. Even the lights above were powered by gas. It was more efficient than the lanterns he used at his sister’s home, where he lived since shortly after Liza’s death. He and Liza had lived with her family, and when she became so sick it was best to stay there so they could help. But after she passed, he needed to be with his own family. He was grateful Anna had opened her home to him. She also allotted room in her barn for his woodshop. Now, if he could just convince her he didn’t need another wife, all would be peaceful.
Unlike the person banging so relentlessly on his glass storefront door.
As Sawyer made his way through the storefront, he kept the lights off. It allowed him to remain hidden until he could identify the person out so early in the dark of the predawn.
His feet stilled at the sight beyond the glass. It was a woman. The hint of the early sun cresting the ridge far off in the distance gave him the advantage to see her first.
An Amish woman cloaked in black with a black bonnet shielding her face stood outside. Her head was turned over her shoulder, facing the street, so he couldn’t make out her identity. But he could tell she cradled something in her arms.
A baby.
Sawyer
rolled his eyes to the ceiling. If this was another one of Anna’s matchmaking catastrophes, then she had really outdone herself this time. The last girl she’d tried to match him up with had brought him a picnic basket full of fried chicken. It was his favorite, but the skies had opened up and poured on her. He’d sent her home out of mercy.
Did Anna think he wouldn’t turn away a woman with a baby?
Sawyer sighed and resolved himself to the conversation ahead and went to turn the lock. As soon as he did, the woman pushed through in a rush and barreled inside.
“I need help.” She looked over her shoulder frantically. “I’m a friend of Liza’s. Is she here?”
“A friend of Liza’s?” Irritation threaded his voice. How dare this woman ask for his wife? She was no friend. A friend would know. She would have been at Liza’s vigil, which had lasted for three days. He withheld his retort and asked, “How do you know Liza?”
“Please, there’s no time. Someone’s chasing me.”
Sawyer reached for the light switch.
“No!” she shouted, still glancing over her shoulder. “Don’t turn it on. He’ll see I’m here.”
“And just who are you? And how do you know Liza?”
“We’re good friends,” the woman said, dropping her head down in a shake. She spoke breathlessly in a rush, saying, “I mean, we were friends. The best of friends. I’ve been gone for a long time. My name is Naomi Kemp. I grew up in Rogues Ridge. Please, won’t you help me?”
Sawyer shrank back.
Naomi Kemp? It couldn’t be.
His throat tightened and he could only sputter at the information just thrown at him. He denied such a thing, and in the next second, flipped the light switch to see for himself.
“I said no, don’t do that!” she cried with pure fear in her voice, dropping to the floor in a crouch.
The next second, the glass of his front window shattered into a million pieces, and the wall beside him splintered with a hole at the center.
