Christmas Protection Detail

by Terri Reed

  The point of the game was to be the last one standing on a snowflake in order to win one of the many donated cakes sitting on the nearby table. If Kaitlyn didn’t need to watch every calorie, she’d want the lemon chiffon cake that Mrs. Johnson made every year.

  Movement to her left caught her attention and she groaned beneath her breath. Nick Delaney was headed her way at a fast clip. He was a constant source of irritation, like a saddle sore. Despite the flare of attraction that continually caught her by surprise, she wasn’t up to deflecting any more of his flirtations tonight. She had enough dealing with the coming change in the sheriff’s department.

  She didn’t much like change. It caused chaos and stress.

  On the verge of making a quick exit, she hesitated as she studied Nick’s face. He didn’t have his normal charming smile in place. Instead, obvious worry drew his dark eyebrows together and pinched in the sides of his well-shaped mouth. Her heart plummeted. Had something happened to his family?

  He’d explained earlier that his brother and father were out of the country. She braced herself, not sure what he would expect her to do. Or was this some new ploy to coax her into a date?

  A mix of dread and anticipation knotted her gut and kept her rooted in place. She really needed to figure out what it was about this man that threw her off balance. Normally, she was able to keep unwanted feelings in check. But not with him. Strange.

  Without preamble, Nick said, “Kaitlyn, I need your help.”

  Her natural wariness flared. “Okay. With what?”

  He held out his phone and stared at it. “I got the strangest call.” His gaze lifted. The deep chocolate-brown orbs were cloudy with worry. “A woman is in trouble. She acted like she knew me and was on her way to me. She sounded scared, and I think she crashed her car.”

  Not what Kaitlyn had expected. “She’s on her way to you? Meaning on her way here to Bristle Township?”

  His shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “Yes. She said something about the roads in town being slick.” His troubled gaze bored into Kaitlyn. “I’m sure I heard gunfire before the car crashed. She’s in trouble. We need to help her. I need you to help me help her.”

  Serving others was why she’d become a deputy. And she couldn’t deny there was a bit of relief that, for once, Nick wanted her as a deputy.

  Kaitlyn took the phone from him and searched for Hannah Nelson, the department’s forensic and computer tech, among the party attendees. Hannah’s long red hair was unmistakable. She was in the cakewalk. “This way.”

  With purpose lengthening her strides, Kaitlyn led the way to the edge of the cakewalk circle where Hannah was participating.

  “What are we doing?” Nick asked.

  Kaitlyn shot him a glance. He really was spooked. And it drove up her own anxiety. Kaitlyn called to her. “Hannah.”

  Hannah’s green eyes darted to her. She waved.

  Kaitlyn gestured for her to come over.

  With a frown, Hannah stepped out of the circle and headed in their direction. “You just cost me a German chocolate cake.”

  “I’ll make you one,” Kaitlyn told her. “We need your expertise.”

  Hannah’s gaze darted back and forth between Kaitlyn and Nick. A speculative gleam entered her eyes and a smile formed on her pink-glossed lips. “Really? With what?”

  Kaitlyn ground her teeth together. Everyone in town knew that Nick had been flirting with her for nearly a year. And that she had been brushing him off. She held up the device. “I need you to find the location of the person who made the last call to Nick’s phone. Someone is in trouble.”

  Hannah’s expression sobered. “Of course. We should inform the sheriff.”

  “Agreed.”

  The trio hurried over to where the new sheriff, as well as the newly retired sheriff, stood surrounded by a group of well-wishers. Kaitlyn nudged her way forward through the crowd.

  Sheriff Ryder’s bushy gray eyebrows rose to his hairline. “Is there something you wanted?”

  Her gaze bounced between the two men. She wasn’t sure which one she should address. Then Sheriff Ryder’s index finger came up and pointed at Alex.

  Sheriff Ryder was always so adept at reading her. Kaitlyn focused her attention on Alex. “We have a potential crash victim. Nick received a phone call from a mysterious woman. He heard what sounded like gunfire and a crash. Apparently the woman is on her way here. But we don’t know where she is exactly. I want permission to have Hannah ping her phone.”

  Alex nodded. “Of course. Keep me apprised of the situation.”

  “Yes, sir.” Kaitlyn retreated to where Nick and Hannah waited. “Let’s go.”

  They hurried to put on coats and head out into the snowy December night. The community center was attached to the Bristle Township Community Christian Church, which sat at one end of town. They hustled along the sidewalk and Kaitlyn was thankful for the dusting of rock salt so that none of them slipped in their haste to get to the station.

  Rather than entering through the front door, they went around to the back, where Hannah’s newly reconstructed lab was located.

  When a group of treasure hunters had torched the building, the Delaney family had paid to have the department rebuilt and equipped with all the high-tech equipment possible for the deputies and the forensic lab.

  Hannah didn’t even take off her coat. She went straight to her workstation to plug Nick’s phone into her computer and got to work. Within seconds, she said, “The call pinged off the tower at the top of Delaney Hill.” A moniker the locals had recently taken to calling the mountain where the Delaneys had built their home. “She must be somewhere on the road up to the estate.”

  Nick grabbed his phone and unplugged it from her computer. “Thank you.”

  He rushed toward the exit.

  Kaitlyn raced after him and grabbed his arm. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m going to find her.” He shrugged off her hand. “She needs help.”

  “You’re a civilian. Somebody trained to provide help needs to go.”

  He flashed her one of his smiles, but it didn’t dispel the anxiety in his eyes. “Then we can go together. I’ll even let you drive.”

  “You’ll let me...?” She rolled her eyes.

  Digging his keys from his coat pocket, he held them out to her. “You can drive my Humvee. It’s better equipped than yours.”

  Much as she wanted to argue that point, she didn’t. Because he was right. The big square vehicle he drove was state-of-the-art with armor plating and shatterproof windows and was built to navigate the terrain. It seemed everything that the Delaneys owned was state-of-the-art.

  “Fine.” She plucked the keys from his hand and turned to Hannah. “Can you inform the sheriff? And if for some reason that phone moves, let me know.”

  “You got it,” Hannah promised.

  “Come with me,” Kaitlyn said to Nick. Instead of immediately going out the door, Kaitlyn stopped where the department’s tactical gear was stored. She grabbed a duty belt and two flak vests. She tossed one to Nick. “Put that on.”

  He stared at her for a moment. “You believe that I heard gunfire?”

  Why would he think she wouldn’t? “Better to be prepared than dead.”

  He gave a sharp nod of his head and slipped the vest on. “Wow, I had no idea how heavy these things were.”

  She didn’t mention the weight of the utility belt strapped around her hips. Velcroing her vest in place over her Christmas sweater, she grabbed her department-issued shearling jacket and put it on, covering her sweater, which thankfully had an off switch to kill the blinking lights. “Let’s roll.”

  Once they were settled in the large SUV, Kaitlyn fired up the engine and drove through town. She had to admit the ride was smooth. Within moments, she turned onto the long winding road that led up t
he second-tallest mountain in the county. The bright headlights of the SUV cut through the darkness and bounced off the snow. They’d reached the summit near the gate of the estate when the SUV’s headlights swung across the accident scene. A dark gray sedan with chains on the tires had slid off the road into a tree.

  Nearby, a black SUV was parked at an angle and two men were dragging a female from the sedan’s driver’s seat. Kaitlyn’s hands gripped the steering wheel as she brought the vehicle to an abrupt halt.

  Nick popped open his door and slid out.

  “Wait!” Kaitlyn yelled at him. The fine hairs at her nape quivered.

  He froze, standing with the door open. “Kaitlyn?”

  Were these men Good Samaritans? Or something far more sinister?

  The men let go of the woman, letting her flop into the snow. Then both men swiveled to aim high-powered handguns at them.

  “Take cover!” Kaitlyn reached for the duty weapon at her side. She’d wanted Nick to appreciate her for the capable deputy she was, but not at the risk of his life.

  TWO

  A barrage of gunfire hit Nick’s SUV and echoed through his ears. He dived back onto the passenger seat. The glass separating him from the incoming bullets shuddered, and little divots pockmarked the outer layer. The energy of the projectiles dispersed outward into spiderweb-like fractures, but the window held against the onslaught. He was thankful for the bulletproof protection his father had insisted on.

  With gun in hand, Kaitlyn popped open her door. “Call for backup.”

  Fear that she’d be hit speared Nick. “Kait, stay inside!”

  “I’m not letting these two bozos get the better of me.” Wedging her weapon between the door and the vehicle, she shouted, “Sheriff’s department. Put down your weapons.”

  Instead of complying, the men shot at her, and she returned fire, causing the two armed men to duck behind their vehicle. Kaitlyn’s bullets pierced the metal of the other utility vehicle, unlike Nick’s armored SUV.

  He hadn’t realized she had a competitive streak. Or maybe it was just that she was out for blood after seeing somebody helpless being hurt. His heart pumped as he remembered how the men had so callously dropped the woman when they realized he and Kaitlyn had driven up. He could not abide those who preyed on the weak.

  Nick activated the SUV’s Bluetooth. “Call Alex Trevino.”

  Within a second Alex was on the line. “Nick?”

  “We’re being shot at! Near the summit. And we need an ambulance.”

  “We’re on our way,” Alex promised.

  Kaitlyn reloaded her weapon, giving the two men time to jump into their SUV. The taillights glowed bright red before the backup lights came on. The vehicle reversed away from the crash site and toward where Kaitlyn had brought Nick’s SUV to a halt.

  Anticipating the other SUV was going to ram into them, Nick braced himself. “Kaitlyn! Move.”

  She jumped out of the way, rolling on the ground and coming up firing at the SUV. The impact of the other vehicle ramming its back end into the front end of Nick’s SUV jarred through Nick with a violent shudder. Kaitlyn continued to fire at the vehicle as it sped away, taking out its back window. Soon the red taillights were a distant glow swallowed by the darkness of the mountain.

  Nick scrambled out of the SUV and rushed to the aid of the mysterious woman lying on the cold ground, dark hair splayed in the white snow illuminated by the headlights of his SUV. Blood seeped into the snow from a wound on her head. He knelt down next to her and checked for a pulse.

  He breathed a sigh of relief to feel the faint beat against his fingers. “She’s alive.”

  He brushed hair away from the woman’s face. Recognition tore through him. He sat back on his heels. “Lexi?”

  Kaitlyn dropped down next to him. “You know this woman?”

  “Yes. I do. Her name is Lexi Eng.” What was Lexi doing in Bristle Township? How had she found him? And why were men with guns trying to take her?

  Kaitlyn gently shook the woman. “Lexi, can you hear me?”

  Lexi’s eyes fluttered open. She groaned and shifted.

  “Don’t move,” Kaitlyn said. “An ambulance is on its way.”

  Lexi’s onyx-colored gaze met Nick’s. Her eyes widened and a small oh formed on her red lips. “Nick,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “You’re okay. We aren’t going to let anything happen to you,” Nick assured her. Where was that ambulance?

  “You said if I ever needed you...” Lexi grew agitated. Kaitlyn kept her from sitting up, so Lexi grabbed for the front of his shirt. “Oh, no. Nick, you have to keep her safe. Promise me.”

  “Uh, sure.” He wasn’t sure who her referred to, but the desperate look in Lexi’s gaze clutched at his heart.

  Lexi slumped back. “Good.” Her face twisted with pain and she cried out before her body went limp and her eyes rolled back.

  “Lexi!”

  Kaitlyn checked her pulse. “She passed out. She may be bleeding internally.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “I’ve seen injuries like this before,” Kaitlyn said.

  Agitated with the need to fix this, he asked, “What can I do to help her?”

  “Pray the ambulance arrives soon.”

  Nick sank back on his heels. That he could do. He sent up a silent plea. He thought about what Lexi had asked of him. “Keep who safe?”

  Not many people asked him for anything beyond his name, money and influence. Without those things, he could disappear and no one would notice.

  Distant sirens heralded the imminent arrival of help. Hope filled his chest.

  Kaitlyn stood and kicked one of the back tires of the sedan Lexi was driving. “There’s a bullet hole here. Probably why she crashed.”

  A noise, strange and out of place, filled the interior of the car. The sound reminded Nick of his nana’s calico when the feline caught its tail in the door. Nick jumped to his feet with a sudden jolt of adrenaline. Kaitlyn drew her weapon as she cautiously opened the back passenger door.

  She quickly holstered her weapon. “Nick, there’s a baby here.”

  “What?” Nick nudged Kaitlyn aside to confirm for himself.

  There was, indeed, an infant strapped in a car seat covered with a fuzzy pink blanket. The little girl had a full head of dark hair. She was bundled up, so it was hard to tell her age. Not that Nick would have been able to judge correctly. The closest he’d ever come to children were the ones he saw at church on Sundays.

  Concern arced through him. Though he’d never held an infant before, the urge to do something prompted him to reach for the baby.

  “No,” Kaitlyn warned. “Wait for the paramedics to arrive. If the baby’s hurt, we don’t want to injure her more.”

  Thankful for her clearheadedness, he nodded and stepped back. He’d been so focused on Lexi he hadn’t noticed the pink floral diaper bag lying a few feet away. A few diapers, a couple of pieces of baby-sized clothing and a bottle were strewn about the ground.

  From inside the car, the baby’s gurgling cries turned into full-fledged, lung-filled wailing. No doubt the little one was scared and wanting her mother. Empathy twisted in Nick’s chest and he fisted his hands to keep from trying to comfort the baby.

  He glanced at Lexi. Was she the child’s mother?

  Or had she kidnapped this child?

  The thought filled him with unease and dread.

  No. He rejected that idea. If those men had been after Lexi because of the baby, they would’ve taken the infant. There was something else going on here and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

  The ambulance rolled up, followed closely by Sheriff Trevino’s vehicle. The siren abruptly cut off, leaving the world with only the sound of the baby’s cries from within the sedan.

  Kaitlyn rushed to the
medics. “Unconscious woman with unknown injuries. There’s a baby in the back seat. We didn’t move her.”

  Alex halted beside Kaitlyn. While she told him the situation, Nick moved out of the way. He hated the helplessness seeping through him as the two paramedics tended to Lexi and the child. Money and influence couldn’t fix Lexi’s injuries, but Nick would use all his resources to protect her child. Assuming she was Lexi’s.

  After giving Alex her verbal report, Kaitlyn took out her phone and started taking pictures. The tire tracks in the snow, the crashed car and the bullet hole in the tire.

  The female paramedic removed the car seat from the back of the sedan and handed the infant to Nick. “Hold on to her.”

  He was surprised by the weight of the child and car seat in his hands. And even more disconcerted by the weight of responsibility descending heavily on his shoulders.

  Keep her safe, Lexi had said. Obviously Lexi had loved this child. He made a silent promise to Lexi and God that he would do whatever he could to make sure this infant was taken care of.

  After loading Lexi into the ambulance, the female paramedic came back to Nick and put out her hands, clearly expecting him to hand the infant over.

  He shook his head. “I’m coming with you and the baby.”

  “Nick.”

  Kaitlyn’s voice drew his attention. She shook her head.

  “Yes,” he said. “I’m staying with the child.”

  Just then another SUV rolled up. Deputies Daniel Rawlings and Chase Fredrick stepped out of the vehicle. Nick nodded at the two men as he passed them to enter the back bay of the ambulance. “Kaitlyn will fill you in. I’m going to the hospital with them.”

  Kaitlyn rushed forward. “Nick, you don’t have to go. I will stay with the victims.”

  “Her name is Lexi. And the baby’s my responsibility now. At least until you find Lexi’s family.”

  “You don’t need to,” she said. “I’ll keep them safe.”

  “Lexi asked me to.” No one ever asked much of him. He would do the right thing and honor her request. He climbed into the back of the ambulance with the female attendant, who immediately started an IV in Lexi’s arm.