by Janie Crouch
He has to shut down the terrorists or lose everything. Including the woman who’s become a target.
Omega Sector: Critical Response agent Derek Waterman is hunting some very bad men. After weeks of chasing cold leads, he has found the evidence that could expose the architects of a lethal terrorist bombing. But before Derek can start busting bad guys, he needs help from Dr. Molly Humphries, Omega’s lead forensic scientist.
Molly works to retrieve the data—and overcome her debilitating crush on the super agent. And Derek carefully suppresses his mutual smoldering attraction, sure that his dark past will drive Molly away. But when Molly’s kidnapped, Derek will stop at nothing to save her. Even if a lethal enemy will do everything to keep him from doing so.
“Did I misread what I saw? Was it all in my imagination?”
Lie to her. That was all he needed to do. One tiny lie, let her down easy, and this crisis was averted. Moments passed. It was his tactical advantage and he knew he should take it.
But looking into her precious brown eyes, her sweet face, he couldn’t do it. “No. You didn’t imagine it.”
She took a step closer. He took a step back.
“Why, Derek?” Her question was barely more than a whisper. “Why have you stayed away from me all this time? You’ve had to know I wanted to be with you.”
“Molly, our worlds don’t mix. I’m not the right person for you.”
“Don’t you think I should get to be the judge of that?”
SPECIAL
FORCES
SAVIOR
Janie Crouch
Janie Crouch has loved to read romance her whole life. She cut her teeth on Harlequin Romance novels as a preteen, then moved on to a passion for romantic suspense as an adult. Janie lives with her husband and four children overseas. Janie enjoys traveling, long-distance running, movie-watching, knitting and adventure/obstacle racing. You can find out more about her at janiecrouch.com.
Books by Janie Crouch
Omega Sector: Critical Response
Special Forces Savior
Omega Sector
Infiltration
Countermeasures
Untraceable
Leverage
Harlequin Intrigue
Primal Instinct
Visit the Author Profile page at
Harlequin.com for more titles.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Derek Waterman—Tactical Teams Specialist for the Omega Sector: Critical Response Division. Raised on a ranch in Wyoming, and with a past in Special Forces, he’s a warrior at heart and a loner. He’s on the trail of terrorists who bombed Chicago two weeks ago.
Molly Humphries—Criminal pathologist and head of the forensic lab at Omega Sector. She is brilliant, focused and logical, except when it comes to Derek Waterman.
Jon Hatton—Behavior analyst and pilot for the Critical Response Division. Working the Chicago bombing case with Derek.
Liam Goetz—Part of the Hostage Rescue Unit of Omega Sector. Friends with Derek and Jon and helping them with the case.
Steve Drackett—Director of Omega Sector: Critical Response.
James Donald Hougland—US congressman on the oversight committee for the Chicago bombing.
Robert Edmundson—US senator and chair of the oversight committee.
Pablo Belisario—Colombian drug lord.
Andrea Gordon—Profiler for the Critical Response Division.
Brandon Han—Brilliant Critical Response Division agent. Licensed to practice law.
To my grandparents: Mittie and Quinton King, as you celebrate your 70th(!!!) wedding anniversary this very month. All the romantic stories I’ll ever write will never compare to the true love you’ve lived in a lifetime together. You’ve taught me that marriage is 80% adoration and 20% exasperation, but no matter what, it is always filled with respect. Thank you for being a living example of what love is to your children, your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren. Your legacy is many things, but most important, it is love.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Excerpt from Tough Justice: Exposed by Carla Cassidy
Chapter One
Pinned down behind his car with someone shooting at him from across the street was not how Omega Sector agent Derek Waterman had planned to spend his afternoon. He wasn’t exactly sure how he had planned to spend his afternoon, but this was definitely not it.
Derek slid closer to the ground as a bullet whizzed past his head and shattered the concrete behind him.
Whoa. Too close.
The saving grace in this situation was at least the entire block was empty of any innocent bystanders. No upstanding citizen had much reason to be in this section of West Philly. The less upstanding citizens had exited when Derek and his team had shown up, obviously law enforcement, and the shooting had started.
“Uh, what exactly was the intel you got on this place again, Derek?” Jon Hatton asked from where he was also pinned down a few feet away. Although highly trained in weapons and combat as all Omega Sector’s Critical Response agents were, Jon was primarily a behavior analyst in the Crisis Management Unit.
“What’s the matter? You having problems remembering how to use your weapon, Jon? Too much analyzing, not enough action in your life?” Liam Goetz, the other team member, smacked his gum and grinned. As a member of Omega’s Hostage Rescue team, no one ever asked Liam if he remembered how to use a weapon. Liam had pretty much been born with one in his hand.
“I’m just asking to see if there is any sort of plan here besides hide behind the car until the bad guys run out of ammo,” Jon responded. “Which, at the rate they’re shooting, should be sometime next week.”
True, the number of shots being fired at them seemed to be dwindling. The people in the building obviously weren’t trying to kill Derek and his team, just keep them pinned. But damned if this entire situation wasn’t starting to piss Derek off.
The empty apartment building across the street gave the enemy the tactical advantage. That advantage wasn’t something Derek, as the lead tactical team specialist of Omega’s SWAT generally gave up.
But the intel they’d received on this location had required an immediate response. Time for tactical analysis hadn’t been available. Thus, the taking cover behind their SUV as the bullets flew by their heads.
Derek had moved in on this location so quickly because it had been the first substantial lead pertaining to a terrorist attack on Chicago two weeks earlier. A bombing that had killed or injured over five hundred people.
None of the leads Omega had followed up on until now—and there had been hundreds of them—had provided any useful intel. Each location had been to
tally cold.
Another bullet flew by. This location definitely wasn’t cold.
“All right, to hell with this.” Derek looked over at Liam. “Jon and I will lay down cover-fire. You head around to the back of the building.”
Liam was grinning like an idiot. He loved this sort of thing, danger be damned. “Now you’re talking.”
Derek nodded. “Remember, we need them alive, if at all possible.”
“Hey, it’s me!” Liam actually winked at them. “I wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Derek rolled his eyes and heard Jon groan under his breath as Liam made his way down the line of abandoned cars parked on the street. Still using their SUV for as much cover as possible, Derek and Jon began firing their weapons toward the abandoned building, hoping to draw any return-fire back at them and away from Liam.
But there were no shots at all coming at them from the house.
Derek looked over at Jon. “Again.”
Using the hood to brace his arm, Derek fired three shots at the house while Jon did the same from the rear of the vehicle. Still no return-fire. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Liam make it across the street at the side of the building. No shots were fired at him, either.
The bad guys weren’t in the building anymore; they must be on the run. Whoever had been shooting at them just a few moments ago was Omega’s best lead in Chicago’s terrorist attack. They were the only lead. And now they were about to get away.
“Move in, but be careful,” Derek said to Jon as they made their way forward, weapons still raised.
Derek was reaching for the knob of the door, Jon covering him from a cross angle when they heard a rapid burst of gunfire from the back of the building where Liam had been heading.
Both men backed out of the doorway and sprinted around the building without a word. Each of them knew that getting inside was secondary to helping Liam if he was under fire. As they rounded the building, Derek was relieved to see Liam unharmed, chasing a suspect farther down the road behind the apartment building. Derek and Jon continued running to catch up with them. Helping capture a known suspect was better than sticking around for what may or may not be in the house.
“Stay with them,” Derek told Jon, then made a sharp turn. He would run down a parallel side street and try to cut off the runner. He forced more speed out of his legs.
As he made a sharp turn around the next group of buildings, Derek saw the perp slowing down with Liam only a few yards behind him, Jon just beyond that.
It was obvious Liam was going to catch the guy at any moment, and the perp knew it, too. He fired his weapon at the Omega agents behind his back in some haphazard fashion without even stopping his run, but the bullets didn’t come anywhere near either of them.
Derek turned again and began running toward them.
“Stop!” he called out to the man, and saw distress wash over his face. The man stopped running altogether, sliding to an awkward stop.
“You’re under arrest,” Derek continued between breaths. “Place the gun on the ground and put your hands on your head.”
The man turned around, frantically looking for another way out, but didn’t put his gun down. All the Omega agents gripped their weapons tighter. Nobody wanted to shoot this suspect, he was too important. But they would if necessary. Especially if he turned his weapon on them rather than where it currently lay in his hand pointing at the ground.
“Put your weapon down,” Derek repeated. He nodded toward the ground with his forehead, as the man turned back in his direction. “Do you understand? All we want to do is ask you some questions.”
That wasn’t entirely true, but Derek just wanted to get the man’s gun out of his hand.
The man nodded and Derek eased his finger off the trigger just the slightest bit. But then, almost as if it was in slow motion, and before any of them could react, the guy brought his gun up to his own temple and fired. He crumpled to the ground, dead instantly.
Derek’s curse was vile. Jon rushed up to the man and crouched down to take his pulse at the wrist, but Derek knew it was too late.
Their best lead—their only lead—had just blown his brains out rather than be taken into custody.
He looked over at Jon and Liam. “We need to call this in. Omega and local PD.”
Liam already had his phone out. “On it.”
“Okay, stay with the body until they get here.” Derek turned back toward the house. “Jon, let’s go see if there’s anything in the house. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
They hadn’t gone more than a few steps before they smelled it. Smoke, coming from the building the potential terrorist had just vacated.
If possible, Derek’s curse was even more vile. A burned house would destroy all possible evidence. The poor dead guy had probably just been a decoy to lure the Omega team away so whoever was left could start the fire.
Jon and Derek sprinted back to the house. Smoke was pouring out of the windows. If they were going to be able to salvage anything useful, they’d have to do it in a hurry. As safely as possible, Derek opened the back door, throwing a latex glove onto one hand to grab anything that might be useful for the investigation. Then he took off his jacket to use as a filter over his mouth.
Inside, everything was in flames. Whoever had been here had used some sort of accelerating agent, probably gasoline, to make the place burn more quickly. Bending low under the smoke, he and Jon made their way farther inside.
They’d been in the house less than a minute, squinting their way through the smoke and heat, when Jon pulled on Derek’s shoulder, gesturing back toward the door. Jon was right. This was too dangerous. They needed answers about the terrorist attack, but it wasn’t worth either of them losing their lives.
Derek saw a few pieces of some sort of computer hardware sitting broken on the floor. He crawled to them, wincing as his hand was burned picking up the more substantial pieces and placing them inside his jacket pocket. Jon was pulling on him again and Derek could feel the hairs singeing on his arms from the heat. It was time to go.
As they rushed to get out, Derek saw something just under the layer of smoke lying near the edge of the kitchen table. It looked like some sort of communication device, or maybe some sort of drive, about half the size of a cell phone. Derek pushed Jon toward the door, then dropped to his hands and knees to crawl to it. The smoke was now too heavy to remain upright. Derek smelled the putrid stench of burning flesh just before he felt pain on his shoulders and back. He was too close to the heat and it was burning his skin. He grabbed the device and wrapped it in his jacket, then began crawling for the door.
Or at least he hoped he was crawling in the direction of the door. He could no longer see in the smoke. Breathing was becoming damn near impossible. Derek kept crawling forward.
Hands reached from in front of him, grabbed him under the armpits and dragged him out of the building and into blessed clean and cool air.
“You are one stubborn son of a bitch,” Jon murmured to him as he dragged Derek down the three steps onto the ground.
“I’m okay,” Derek wheezed out, crawling a few more steps before sprawling on the ground. The pain in his back and shoulders was uncomfortable, but not excruciating. His lungs, though, felt seared. Both men lay, watching the building burn for long minutes, Derek’s lungs finally feeling a bit of ease as he continued to breathe clean air. Eventually he could hear the sirens signaling the firefighters’ arrival.
“I hope you got something in there,” Jon told him, obviously hearing the sirens, too. “Because the only thing that destroys evidence quicker than fire—”
“Is extinguishing it,” Derek finished for him. Water, foam, the firemen themselves. All were hell on evidence.
“Yep.”
“I think I might have gotten something important.” Still lying in the mostly dead grass o
f a lawn that hadn’t seen proper care for decades, Derek explained about the communication device. “We need to get it back to the lab so Molly can try to recover information from it.”
Jon snickered. “Uh, o-o-okay, D-Derek.” The stuttering was completely for show.
Sitting up, Derek rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Jon. She’s not that bad.” Derek knew he shouldn’t try to defend Molly Humphries, the forensic lab director. Yeah, the pretty pathologist tended to get a little tongue-tied around Derek. But the more he tried to defend her to his colleagues when they mentioned it—which was as often as damn possible—the worse everyone teased.
Jon smiled. “Hey, you know I like sweet Molly as much as anyone. But I have to admit that watching her go from the most intelligent scientist I know to a blushing, stammering schoolgirl around you is one of my favorite pastimes.”
“Shut up, Jon,” Derek repeated. “Just focus on the case.”
Jon was wise enough not to say anything else about Molly Humphries.
Both Jon and Derek were seen by paramedics as they waited for the firefighters to finish their job. Derek was decreed as suffering from first-degree burns on his shoulders and smoke inhalation, but didn’t require further medical attention. As he and Jon watched the firefighters work diligently, neither held out much hope of finding any further evidence. They would still check.
Liam joined them once local law enforcement came to pick up the body of the guy who had shot himself. Liam had taken the dead man’s prints and his weapon, as well as a sample of the man’s DNA. The body would be delivered to the Omega morgue later. All the items Liam had collected would go straight back to the lab.
A dead suspect, a burnt building and a few broken pieces of possible evidence. All in all a pretty terrible day. Definitely not any closer to solving the terrorist attack on Chicago. And Derek knew they were going to get chewed out again for it. Govermental-type bigwigs all the way up the food chain were demanding answers for the bombing. Derek was scheduled to provide an update to a committee via teleconference in just a few hours.
