Holiday Defenders : Mission: Christmas Rescuespecial Ops Christmashomefront Holiday Hero (9781460341254)

by Bailey, Jodie; Sleeman, Susan; Giusti, Debby

  Hah, get a grip. A second chance at love wasn’t for him. Wasn’t for most of the guys in his company. Women just couldn’t handle a Special Ops soldier continually leaving at a moment’s notice with no idea when they’d return. He didn’t like the situation, but he got it. Besides, Claire might be attracted to him but she’d made it perfectly clear that she wasn’t interested in pursuing anything, whether he wanted to or not.

  Feeling defeated, he parked in her driveway and sent Harper on his way. He found Claire curled up on the sofa, her Bible open on her lap.

  She looked up at him, her expression flat. He couldn’t get a read on her mood. “I was wondering if you were coming back.”

  “I could never stay away from you, Claire,” he teased to hide his emotional turmoil.

  She frowned. “Everything go okay with Mike?”

  Travis didn’t want to frighten her, and he considered not sharing Mike’s plan, but she had a right to know about the threat. He provided the highlights.

  “Sounds like you really think he’s our guy, then,” she said.

  Travis did, but was it because Mike wanted Claire or because Mike was the best suspect?

  “Travis?” Claire asked more pointedly.

  “I have nothing concrete to base it on, but he seems slimy to me.”

  “He is slimy, but that doesn’t mean he’s a thief, or that he attacked me.”

  “He’s our best lead.”

  “Yes, but we still have Kent and Alan.” A smug smile played on her lips. “While you were off playing private investigator, I thought of a way to get their alibis without raising their suspicions.”

  “How?”

  “I’m giving special Christmas presents to the team this year to say thank you for successfully concluding this phase of CATS. We can meet with Kent’s and Alan’s wife to get gift suggestions, and ask a few other questions while we’re at it.” Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm for her idea.

  “Perfect.” Loving her lighter mood, Travis perched on the arm of the sofa. “I thought this whole thing with Mike would bother you, but you’re taking it well.”

  “I’m trying to do a better job of trusting God.” She suddenly snapped her Bible closed and set it on the cushion next to her. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure,” he said, not liking the way her eyes had turned uneasy again.

  “I’ve been thinking about when Jeter died.” She shivered.

  Jeter. Travis focused on the ornate nativity scene on the sofa table and tried not to remember the pain he’d felt that day in her office when he’d learned his buddy had died in an ambush.

  “You were so broken up,” she continued. “But then you went on like nothing had happened. You even signed on for another four years.”

  Because you rejected my proposal that afternoon, he thought.

  “How can you do that?” Her tone was more accusatory than questioning. “I mean, if I were you I’d be terrified the same thing would happen to me, and I’d be a basket case on the job.”

  Where was she going with this? “I won’t pretend it’s a walk in the park, but there are other soldiers counting on us so we have to move on.”

  “Then there’s your family,” she said as if she was speaking her thoughts aloud instead of really talking to him. “I can’t imagine what it’s like for your mom and dad or even your sister. They must worry all the time, living every day knowing the danger you’re in. Wondering if today is the day that...” She jumped to her feet and started pacing.

  “Hey.” He went to her and turned her to face him. “What’s this all about?”

  She looked away.

  He tipped her face up and found concern and—dare he hope?—caring in her eyes. “Are you worried about me?”

  “Maybe. If we...” She paused and inhaled deeply. “I don’t know how...”

  He replayed their conversation and linked her worries with the day Jeter died. Had she connected Jeter’s death with their future, wondering how she might handle it if he were killed in action, too?

  He had to clarify even if she shut him down again. “Are you saying, if we were together you wouldn’t know how to handle being with someone who faces danger every day?”

  She nodded. “My mom handled it just fine, but then Dad hadn’t deployed to war-torn countries. So with you...” She shrugged.

  He led her back to the sofa and kept her hand in his, reveling in the fact that she didn’t try to remove it. “I know it’s hard on my family. It’s hard on all military families when a loved one deploys to a dangerous area. But Special Forces isn’t just a job to me. It’s like a calling. I can’t see the wrongs of the world and not try to right them. My parents made me who I am today, so they understand that.”

  “Isn’t there another way?” she whispered. “A safer way to do the same thing?”

  “Maybe, but right now it’s a good fit for me.” At least it was until I discovered how much it bothers you. “Plus, it helps that we’re a family of believers. We try to remember God has a plan and trust Him. Then we let it go.”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “Easy? No. There are days when bad things happen and I question everything. But if I let my feelings change my path then I’m not walking in what I believe is God’s will for me.”

  “I thought I did the same thing. Until tonight.” She bit her lip for a moment. “Julie, of all people, pointed out that I’ve failed to trust God since losing my dad.” She jerked her hand free and twisted her fingers together. “After he died, the pain nearly broke me, and I wasn’t going to go through that again. So without even thinking about what God might want for me, I swore off dating.”

  His mouth fell open. “What about us? We got together after that.”

  “We were a mistake,” she jumped in quickly. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. Quite the opposite.”

  A mistake. He was a mistake? Stunned at the fresh anguish ripping through him, he sat back.

  “I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “That’s how I felt at the time.”

  “And now?” He forced the question up a dry throat.

  “Now? I’m not sure.” She got up and, hugging her Bible like a shield, she walked out of the room in much the same way she’d once walked out of his life.

  EIGHT

  Claire tugged her coat closed against the howling wind outside Alan Burns’s house. Temperatures had dropped to the twenties overnight, giving Claire the first real feeling that Christmas was only a few days away. Despite the danger she was facing, she loved this time of year and wanted to get a tree and finish decorating. She’d ask Travis to help her pick one up at the end of the workday.

  She climbed into his car and took a final look at Alan’s house, which was devoid of Christmas decorations. Inez just didn’t have the strength for anything extra. She’d sat on the sofa, a blanket clutched around her frail shoulders, while Claire asked her questions only to learn that Alan had a good alibi. He’d been holding Inez’s hand while nausea from her treatment racked her body.

  Claire looked at Travis. “I feel bad for bothering Inez when she’s so sick.”

  “Me, too.” Travis cranked the heat up. “Now bothering Sylvia Norton? That I don’t feel bad about at all.”

  Claire thought about their earlier visit to Kent’s acerbic wife. “I never thought I’d feel sorry for Kent, but every time I see Sylvia, I do.”

  Travis shook his head in bewilderment. “She has everything money can buy. Diamonds. Expensive clothes. A decorator condo. And yet she wants more. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.”

  “What do you think about her claim that Kent’s been working nights at the institute?”

  He glanced at her. “We both know there aren’t any night shifts. So either she lied to us or Kent lied to her about where he’s
been at night.”

  “How do we figure out which one of them is telling the truth?”

  “Doesn’t matter. What’s important is where he’s been going. I’ll follow him tonight to find out.”

  Claire hated the thought of Travis going out again tonight, but at least he wasn’t going to some warring country. “Maybe Kent’s leaving home to get away from her.”

  “Could be.” He slowed for a stop sign and looked at her. “It’s equally as likely that he’s working a second job, trying to make enough money to keep her happy. And that makes him an ideal person to steal and sell an expensive prototype.”

  Travis’s dire tone settled over her as her phone rang, making her jump. She looked at Caller ID. “It’s the police department.” She pressed the button to answer using the speaker setting.

  “Ms. Reed, this is Detective Purcell.” His voice was filled with tension. “We’ve finished running the tests on the cloth recovered at your house after the break-in. As we suspected, it was saturated with chloroform.”

  Travis had suggested this might be the case, preparing Claire to hear such news. Still as the memory of the man’s hand hovering over her mouth came rushing back, her unease ratcheted up. “So we’re looking for someone with access to chloroform then.”

  “Unfortunately it’s readily available. It’s often used as a solvent in laboratories.” He paused for a moment. “Perhaps you know someone with access to a lab.”

  A lab? Her heart sank.

  “Can you hold for a second?” She muted her phone and looked at Travis. “Mike minored in chemistry in college. Maybe he has access to a lab through a friend or an old classmate. Should I tell Purcell?”

  “No.” Travis met her gaze, his intensity scaring her even more. “If you tell him, he’ll question Mike and that might spook him. The last thing I want is for that creep to move up plans that we can assume are meant to cause you harm.”

  Travis was right. They were barely staying one step ahead of the creep trying to abduct her. He’d come close to harming both her and Travis, and she wouldn’t to do anything to cause him to escalate these attacks.

  * * *

  Travis resisted letting his mouth hang open and left his meeting with Colonel Lynch. The meeting hadn’t gone as he planned at all. He’d expected the colonel in charge of the institute to ask for an update on the theft. He never expected him to offer him a job. But he had. A full-time one. Right here at the institute. With Claire. Not like it mattered. After her abrupt departure last night, he doubted she’d want him around.

  But if God wants you to be together, it can happen. The thought came out of nowhere.

  Travis had spent a restless night pondering her revelation about ignoring God. Maybe Travis had been doing the same thing. He’d been certain that being a Green Beret was the life God wanted him to lead, but had God really led him there, or had Travis decided for himself? And was it possible that this was the point where God wanted him to take a different fork in the road?

  Valid questions needing answers, when he had time to sort them out. Later. Much later, when Claire wasn’t waiting for him. He started down the deserted hallway to Claire’s office so he could drive her home.

  She looked up from stowing her laptop. “Right on time.”

  “On time for what?”

  “To escort Julie, Eric and me to pick out a Christmas tree.”

  All thoughts of a possible future together fled at the mention of her stepping into a potentially dangerous situation. “That’s not a good idea, Claire. You’ll be too exposed. Anyone could attempt an abduction.”

  She wrinkled her nose at him. “Julie’s the only one who knows where we’re going, and you can be sure no one follows us.”

  She had a point, but... “Can’t this wait until the thief is apprehended?”

  “Who knows how long that’ll take? We’re no closer to resolving this case than when we started, and I won’t let it ruin my Christmas celebration.” She took a stubborn stance.

  He gritted his teeth before her adorable expression had him yielding without thinking this through.

  She took a few steps closer to him. “Next you’ll tell me I can’t go to church on Christmas Eve if this isn’t over by then.”

  “Now you’re just trying to make me feel guilty.”

  An impish smile crossed her face. “Is it working?”

  “Yes,” he reluctantly admitted.

  “So we can go?” She came even closer, the plea in her eyes making him want to give in.

  Despite the heady effect she continued to have on him, he wasn’t ready to concede. Not without doing a bit of recon first. “Is there a particular place you want to visit?”

  “A big lot on the outskirts of town. I’ve gone there every year since I moved here, and if it helps, I know it’s fully fenced.”

  It helped some. “Give me the address. Let me check satellite photos and do a quick drive-by. If I think it’s safe, then we’ll go.”

  A jubilant smile brightened her face, and she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him hard. She felt warm and soft and smelled of springtime. He should push her away until he could be sure God really was telling him to go for it again, but he couldn’t think straight with her in his arms.

  His heart ached to have her in his life again. Ached for sunshiny mornings with her smiling up at him in a cozy home. Their home, with cookies baking in the oven and children with Claire’s luminous smile sitting down to sample them.

  For the first time since she’d sent him packing years ago, hope filled his heart. Nothing was clear yet, but he was willing to edge closer to a leap of faith. Claire was more than worth it.

  * * *

  Travis kept Claire by his side as he waited at the refreshment stand for her hot cocoa. Eric and Julie had insisted on driving separately to the tree lot and had arrived several minutes ago to stroll off arm in arm to look at trees. Travis had seen the longing in Claire’s eyes as she’d watched them. Despite her comments last night, he knew she really did want a relationship, though he doubted she’d accepted that yet.

  She shivered violently and ran her hands over her arms.

  “I’d have thought after growing up in the north that thirty degrees would seem like beach weather to you,” he teased.

  She cast him a playful grin. “That was before I moved to Orlando and acclimated to the sweltering summer temperatures. Now I get cold when it drops to the sixties.”

  “Lightweight.” He pulled her under his arm for warmth.

  Yeah, right. For warmth.

  She rested her head on his chest and his heart burst with happiness.

  She suddenly jerked her head up. “Do you see it?”

  Her urgent tone sent a bolt of apprehension through him. “See what?”

  “Over there.” She pointed across the lot. “The perfect tree.”

  A tree? He sagged in relief and dug out money to pay the cashier for the drinks. “Is there such a thing?”

  “Yes and someone else is about to claim it.” She shot away from him and across the lot.

  He charged after her, but a family of five stepped in front of him and she disappeared behind a row of trees.

  Fear sliced along his nerve endings. “Claire!” he shouted as people gave him funny looks. “Claire, where are you?”

  He rounded the corner just as a hooded man dragged her through trees lining the fence.

  “Stop!” Travis drew his weapon. “I’m armed and I won’t hesitate to fire.”

  People nearby gasped and rushed away as Travis raced for the trees. He plunged through the trees that slowed him down, knocking them off their stands. He found Claire sitting dazed on the ground like a discarded doll, a soaked rag lying next to her. Likely more chloroform. He spotted a gaping hole in the chain-link fence behind her and
Claire’s abductor disappearing through it. He wanted to go after the guy, but he needed to check on her even more. He dropped to his knees as a powerful engine roared to life on the other side of the trees.

  “Claire, honey.” He took her chin in his hand and looked into her confused eyes. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded woozily. “Go after him.”

  He evaluated her for another moment then raced to the fence. He eased through the opening in time to see a white van squeal onto the main road. The same white van from Claire’s original attack? Likely.

  Travis grabbed his phone and reported the incident to a 9-1-1 operator. Hoping to avoid a misunderstanding with the responding officers, he mentioned his military status and added that he was armed and had drawn his gun in the crowd. By the time he got back to Claire, she’d come to her feet and was clutching a tree to remain upright.

  He held her elbow to stabilize her. “You doing any better?”

  “The fog has cleared some, but I...” She shivered, and he knew it wasn’t from the cold.

  “That was a close call.” He stepped closer to her, needing to touch her and prove to himself that she hadn’t been harmed. Not shifting his focus, he drew her toward him, giving her every chance to pull away. Her eyes warmed instead, and he couldn’t help himself. He dipped his head and claimed her lips. Soft. Warm. Like he remembered. He put his heart and soul into the kiss, making sure she knew how he felt. She returned it ounce for ounce.

  He wanted to simply enjoy it, but this could end so badly. She was responding to him now, but was it out of love or just a need for connection after a frightening event? He knew that he loved her...but could he trust her to love him back? Could he give her the power to break his heart again?

  Would they have a chance to find out? Because before their love could ever have a chance, he needed to make sure her tenacious attacker didn’t lay his hands on her ever again.