by Laura Scott
“No, it sure doesn’t,” she agreed.
“There’s no one right way to celebrate Christmas,” he went on, “and I like to think that what we do helps take a bit of the pressure off.”
She nodded for a long moment. Then ran her other hand over Liberty’s head.
“My parents send me gifts,” she said, eventually, “and I send them a care package too. They were proud of me when I told them I’d be working through Christmas. I knew that’s what my dad would say—take all the available hours, show them you’re a team player, especially since you gave up so much for...”
Her voice faltered. His hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“For what?” he asked.
“For Liberty,” she said. “I was a K-9 trainer for a long time, but I’m still a rookie when it comes to being an officer. My parents weren’t big fans of my making the switch to begin with. Their attitude was pretty much—why take the risk of a job change when things are going so well in what you’re already doing? Liberty and I had only been partnered a short while when a gunrunner put a bounty on her head for being too good at detecting smuggled weapons. My parents didn’t understand why I agreed to stop taking high-profile cases and didn’t just ask to switch to another dog. But I was so blessed to have Liberty as my partner I couldn’t just ditch her because it got hard.” Adam pulled to a stop at a red light, reached over and brushed her fingertips with his.
“Love and loyalty are complicated things,” she added.
“Yeah,” he said. “They are.”
They reached the center where the final event was being held. He parked the truck and they went inside. Uniformed NYPD officers greeted them at the door and he could see others inside, including several K-9 teams, but the increased police presence hadn’t dampened the crowd of eager children and parents. Lou Shmit from Dotty’s Toys had called as the giveaway was wrapping up to ask how things had gone. Adam thanked him again and told him everything was great. Yet somehow, even though the event went off without a hitch or even a hint of trouble, and every child left with a smiling face and a Christmas gift, something sat heavy in his heart. And whatever the weight was, it grew even more as the night ended, the doors closed and he drove back home.
They drove in awkward silence through the dark and snowy streets, no easy small talk that had flowed between them earlier. The snow had grown heavier now, clogging up the roads, snarling traffic and reducing the stop-and-go pace to a virtual standstill in places. Why did his heart feel so unbelievably heavy? The final gift-giving event of the season was over. Maybe so was his role in the case Noelle and her colleagues were investigating.
“You can drop us off here,” Noelle said. He glanced to his right and saw her police vehicle parked up ahead. “I’m guessing Matty will be in bed by now.”
She was right and if Matty woke up and found Noelle and Liberty there, it would take him ages to go back to sleep. He pulled over to the curb and turned to Noelle, wishing they could go somewhere private and talk. He couldn’t just say goodbye and let Noelle disappear from his life.
But what exactly was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to say? How could he possibly explain he didn’t want her to leave his life but also didn’t think he was ready for a relationship yet? How did a man ask a woman like Noelle to just hang out with him and let him get to know her better while he figured out his heart? She was worth more than that.
“So, you’ll get in touch and let me know what happens with the case?” he asked, his words feeling clunky as they fell off his tongue.
“Someone definitely will,” Noelle said.
She flashed him a dazzling smile and a slight panic crossed his heart to realize this might be the last time he’d ever see it.
Help me, Lord. I have to do something. I have to say something. What’s wrong with me? Why is this so hard?
She reached over to hug him goodbye. His arms slipped around her. Her cheek brushed against his.
“Thanks for everything, Adam.” Her voice was low in his ear. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.” He turned his head toward hers.
Then it happened. Their lips brushed. Had she kissed him? Had he kissed her? Had it been an accident? He had no idea. All he knew was his arms were around her and that somehow he was kissing her, and she was kissing him. She pulled back; so did he. They blinked at each other and he couldn’t tell if the kiss had lasted a minute, seconds or barely an instant.
His phone rang in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw it was home.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Daddy?”
His son’s voice sounded panicked, scared and like he was fighting back tears. Fear pierced Adam’s spine.
“Matty? Are you okay? Where’s Grandma and Grandpa?”
“Bad men broke into the house.” Matty choked back a sob. “And I’m hiding.”
* * *
In an instant Noelle had dispatch on the phone, reeling off information as she dashed to her vehicle long enough to grab her weapon, even though she was off duty and would have to stand down unless she was intervening to immediately save a life. The moment she leaped back into the truck, Adam gunned the engine and raced to his house. He’d wedged his cell phone into his scarf to create a makeshift hands-free device and filled her in as he drove, Noelle passing the information on to dispatch. Matty had woken up, found the living room empty and gone downstairs to his grandparents’ basement suite. Then he’d heard banging and loud and angry men shouting, so he’d dashed into the laundry room and crawled into the bundle of sleeping bags, patio cushions and summer picnic blankets Irene kept in the very bottom of the linen closet to hide. Noelle’s heart ached to think about how frightened the little boy must be.
She glanced at Adam and told him the response time that the dispatcher had given her. “Seven minutes.”
His face paled. The lights were out at the Jolly family’s house. Adam pulled past it and into an empty driveway one door down.
“The neighbors are away for Christmas,” Adam explained, as he cut the engine. “I have permission to be on their property and promised to shovel their sidewalk. Figured parking here, instead of my own driveway, would keep the perps from realizing we’re here.”
“Smart,” she said. She couldn’t imagine how the focused military combat veteran and panicked father sides of him were battling inside his heart right now. “Police are on their way.”
And an estimated seven minutes out thanks to the snow and traffic. How long and achingly scary could that be for Matty who, judging by the time of the call, had already been hiding in the closet for almost five minutes?
The festive hat Matty had lent her was sitting on the back seat. She stuffed it into her pocket in case she needed it to get Liberty to trace his scent.
“Police are on their way, Matty,” Adam said into the phone, pressing it against his ear as he ran up the neighbor’s driveway. “Stay there, stay safe and they’ll find you very soon.” Noelle watched as he swallowed hard. “And Grandpa and Grandma too. I promise.”
Adam must’ve put the call on speakerphone, because as she and Liberty reached his side, she heard Matty’s voice, soft and terrified. “Daddy, be fast.”
“I will. I promise. I love you,” Adam said. “Now the call might get quiet, but I can still hear you, okay? And if you talk to me, I’ll answer.”
She watched as he put the call on mute, she guessed to keep Matty from hearing anything that might scare him soon. Tears pressed into the corners of her eyes.
Help me, Lord! I need to rescue Matty and his grandparents.
Even though she was off duty, she still carried the full authority of a cop. Protocol was to wait for backup, but that didn’t apply if she thought she had to act immediately to stop someone from dying. Not that she was about to rush in blind. Of course, if things went squirrely, she might face an internal investig
ation. But that was a risk she was more than ready to take, despite whatever caution her father might’ve advised.
“I can’t wait seven minutes,” Adam said, pushing through a gate into the neighbor’s backyard, Noelle following. “I have to help my son and my parents.”
“Understood,” she said. The backyard was long and narrow, paved by the look of it and lined with snow-covered planters. She stepped up on a bench and looked over the fence into the Jollys’ yard. “I’ve been directed to wait for backup. And I need to remind you, as a civilian, you should not enter an active crime scene and to let law enforcement handle it.”
“Duly noted,” he said and stepped up on the bench beside her. “I just... I just can’t... I can’t do nothing.”
“I know,” she said. Her hand brushed his arm. “And coming around the back of the house through your neighbor’s yard is smart. Give me more details. I need more intel if I’m going to be smart about this. Matty’s alone in the basement?”
“Hiding in a closet,” he confirmed.
“And the hostiles have gone upstairs with your parents?”
“As far as I know.”
So the terrified child and the hostage elderly couple were in two different parts of the house.
Help me, Lord. I can’t be in two places at once and need to stay with Adam because I need his help and direction to help save his family.
She paused for a moment as her eyes scanned the scene. “Does the laundry room have a window?”
He pointed to a small one, only about six or seven inches high and not much larger than a ventilation grate. “That one, but—”
“What’s directly under it?”
“A giant laundry pile on a table. But it’s too high for Matty to climb up—”
“How high’s the drop?”
“Maybe a four-foot drop. Not high. But neither of us will fit through—”
“Yeah, but Liberty will.” She glanced at Liberty. The dog was cross-trained in protection. “Come on.”
Noelle leaped over the fence and landed low and silently in the deep snow in the Jollys’ backyard. A moment later, Liberty followed, she guessed taking a running leap and using the bench as a springboard. Adam followed immediately afterward. Now she could hear the faint sound of shouting coming from what sounded like the back of the house’s main floor. The even fainter sound of Matty singing quietly to himself, she guessed to calm his fear, came from the phone still in Adam’s hand. She glanced at her watch. Police were five minutes out. Her heart ached.
They crawled across the snow to the window.
“Can you open it?” she asked. “And can I talk to Matty?”
He took the phone off mute and handed it to her.
“Hi, Matty?” Noelle said. “It’s Noelle. Are you okay? Your daddy says you’re being brave.”
“Uh-huh,” Matty said. Tears muffled his voice. “You’re coming to save me, right?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “Right now, I’m going to send Liberty in to find you. She’s very good at protecting. She’ll stay with you and keep you safe. Okay? She’s coming now.”
Adam already had the window open. She handed the phone back to Adam, then pulled the Christmas hat Matty had lent her and waved it under Liberty’s nose. “Liberty. Find Matty. Protect Matty. Stay with Matty. Good dog.”
Liberty woofed softly. Then she pressed her body low against the snow and crawled through the open window. She heard a soft thump followed by a shuffle, which she guessed was Liberty landing on the table and then leaping onto the floor.
Adam’s gloved hand grabbed hers and squeezed it tightly. “Can she actually do this?”
“She can.” Noelle nodded. “She’ll place herself between Matty and danger, and she’ll bark, snap and growl if anyone comes near.”
“She’s here!” Matty’s voice filled the phone. “She found me! She’s pressed up right against me. Very soft and warm.”
“Thank you, God,” Adam prayed softly.
“She’ll keep him safe and warn us if anyone comes near him,” Noelle said. “She’ll give her life for your son before she lets anything happen to him. She’s a pretty ferocious protector.” Her eyes scanned Adam’s face, then glanced down at the hand holding hers.
So was he.
“Four minutes until backup,” she added. “It’s almost over.”
A gunshot sounded, taking out a back main floor window, sending glass cascading out into the snow. A woman’s voice filled the air, screaming for help.
It was Adam’s mother, and she was begging for mercy.
SIX
It was like something snapped inside Adam as he heard his mother cry out in fear. He couldn’t wait for the authorities another moment. He needed to do something to save his family, now. He turned and ran for the side door, praying with every step and feeling Noelle there by his side. He reached the door, stopped and turned to Noelle. Her gaze met his, firm and reassuring.
“Your son’s with Liberty,” she said. “Backup is two minutes out.”
“And my parents are in imminent danger,” he said. “I’m going in.”
“Stay behind me,” she said.
They reached the door. He heard her whisper a prayer and joined in with her, their prayers mingling together as one, as he thanked God that Liberty was protecting his son. Adam yanked the door open so swiftly it was almost silent, and they stepped into his home and listened. The sound of a struggle rose from his own master bedroom.
They ran down the hall toward the door as it lay ajar in front of them and pressed their back against the wall as they glanced in the narrow gap between the door hinges. The world slowed into a tableau before his eyes, the same way it used to when he was in uniform and driving tactically under enemy fire.
His father was lying on his stomach, down on the floor, holding his hands behind his head, while a masked man stood over him, pointing a gun at him. A second armed and masked figure stood beside his mother, holding a gun to her head and barking at her to open Adam’s bedroom safe. The door hinges creaked. The man holding his mother turned, his gun moving away from Irene’s head as he spun toward the door. Noelle fired through the door, sending splinters flying. Her precision bullet struck the masked man by the shoulder, immobilizing the arm holding the gun and sending him falling back.
The man who’d been aiming at Fred wheeled around, but he was too late, as Adam launched himself through the doorway, grabbing his hand and forcing the gun high above their heads. The weapon fired. The bullet flew into the ceiling, sending plaster raining down around them. Adam yanked the weapon from the man’s hand and then took him down to the ground and pinned him.
He glanced up. Noelle had the other masked man down on the ground and held him there. His mother helped his father to his feet, as Noelle reassured them that Liberty was guarding Matty. His eyes glanced to the clock. The whole thing had gone down in seconds. Then he heard sirens filling the air, the sound of his own front door open, voices announcing themselves as the Brooklyn K-9 Unit, and Noelle shouting back that they were in the master bedroom.
And just as suddenly as time had slowed, it sped back up again.
Men and women in uniform rushed into the room. He looked up to see Officer Morrow by his side and stepped back to let him cuff and apprehend the suspect.
“Come on.” Noelle grabbed Adam’s hand and he realized another officer had taken over the suspect she’d taken down. “We have to go get Matty. Liberty won’t stand down without my command.”
His hand tightened in hers. They ran through the house, now crowded with cops and paramedics, then pelted down the stairs and into the basement. Adam led her into the darkened laundry room, lit only by the dim glow of a night-light plugged into the wall. He crouched beside the linen closet and only then realized he was still holding Noelle’s hand.
The folding door was closed and he guess
ed Matty had shut it after Liberty had crawled in with him.
“Matty?” he called softly. “I’m here. It’s Daddy. It’s safe.”
Silence fell from the other side. Fear pooled in his heart. Was his son there? Was he all right? Noelle pulled her hand from his and Adam let her crouch in front of him, knowing better than to get in between a K-9 officer and her dog.
“Liberty.” Noelle’s voice was firm and yet somehow surprisingly soft as she slid the door open. “It’s me. All done. Good...” She swallowed hard as if swallowing tears. “Good dog.”
She sat back and he saw why her voice had choked. Depsite all the noise and chaos on the floor above, Matty was curled up and asleep in the nest of sleeping bags and blankets, with his chest rising and falling peacefully and his arms wrapped tightly around Liberty’s body as she lay protectively in front of the little boy. Matty’s face was buried deeply in her fur.
The dog’s large and serious eyes looked up into Adam’s eyes, as if Liberty knew that Matty was Adam’s child and wanted to reassure Adam she knew how important it was that she kept him safe.
“Thank you,” he told Liberty. He ran one hand along his child’s cheek as he slept peacefully, nuzzled up against the brave K-9 dog protecting him. He’d let Matty nap for a little while longer, while the chaos died down upstairs.
“I just texted Morrow to let him know we have Matty and he’s safe,” she said.
He turned to the incredible woman crouching on the floor beside him. She slid her phone back into her pocket.
“Thank you,” Adam said. “Thank you for everything. I don’t know where we’d be without you.”
“No problem,” she said. “All in a day’s work.”
But it was more than that, right? At least it was for him. He took both of her hands in his, letting their fingers link through. His arms longed to hold her and pull her into his chest. He wanted to kiss her like he had in the truck.
He wanted to hand her his vulnerable and damaged heart and trust her with it.
