“We met years ago.”
“I guess you’re right,” he conceded. “We met each other, but we didn’t really notice who it was we were looking at.” His gaze drifted from her eyes, to her lips. “If we had, would we have missed out on this?” His lips brushed hers, and a thrill of excitement shot straight into her heart.
Not just for that moment, for that sweet, sweet kiss, but for Gavin, for his honesty and strength, for all the things that made him who he was.
“No,” she whispered, breathless with joy, with contentment. “I don’t suppose we would have.”
He smiled and took her hand. “Once Michael’s killer is caught, we’re going to do something fun together. Something that doesn’t involve separating kids, bribing little boys, cleaning up messes.”
“Dodging bullets?”
“That, either.”
“Do you think it will ever be over? It seems to me, you and your team have a lot of leads, but no solid evidence.”
“It will end. We’ll find Michael’s killer.”
“And Rosa’s?”
“Yes. Hers, too.” He led the way downstairs. Tommy was already at the sink, scrubbing dishes, water and bubbles splashing onto the floor.
“I hope you’re right, Gavin. Rosa and Michael deserve justice. And the kids need to be home. They need to go to school, see their friends. Do all the things that normal kids do.”
“They’re going to be fine. As far as I can tell, they’re having the time of their lives here.”
“They act that way, but—”
“I thought we agreed that worry was a waste of energy. Seeing as how you believe that God is in control.”
“My mouth agreed. My heart is a little more reluctant.”
“It will be okay,” he said, opening the back door and stepping outside. “Come on. You need a little fresh air.”
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere quiet,” he responded, leading her across the grassy yard to an apple tree that was just beginning to bloom. He’d spread a blanket out underneath it and held it down with several small rocks. A picnic basket sat to one side of the blanket. Glory dropped down beside it, her tongue lolling out, her expression so rapturous, Cassie smiled.
“You’ve been busy, Gavin.”
“I finally have some time on my hands,” he responded. “I want to make the most of it.”
“By having a picnic with your lead witness?”
“You’re not a witness anymore. The guy you saw is dead,” he reminded her.
“But the person who hired him isn’t.”
“Let’s forget about that for a while, okay?” He touched her cheek and smiled.
And, she couldn’t resist that smile or him.
“Okay.”
“Because, I’ve been thinking about this picnic for a while. I’ve got it all planned out.”
“Yeah?” she asked, dropping down onto the blanket.
“I brought enough food for an army.” He glanced at the house. “Because I figured we were going to have to share.”
“Do you mind?” she asked as the first kid walked around the side of the house, spotted them on the blanket and ran back. Probably to get the rest of the crew.
“Not a bit.” He smiled and lay on his back so he was staring up at the boughs of the apple tree. “Did I ever tell you about Helena?” he asked.
“You know you didn’t.”
“And I know I want to. She and I were engaged a few years back. I thought she was everything I wanted, everything God wanted for me.”
“What happened?” she asked, stroking his hair back from his forehead, enjoying the silky feel of it beneath her fingers.
“My job happened. She got tired of waiting for me. She got tired of dining alone. She got tired of playing second fiddle to my career. She broke things off in the parking lot of my apartment about a month before the wedding.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, and she meant it, because Gavin deserved better.
“I’m not. Helena was a great lady, but she had a problem. Something it took me a long time to recognize.”
“Selfishness?”
“No.” He chuckled. “The problem with Helena was that she wasn’t you.”
“I think that’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me,” she responded, lying down beside him, a few inches separating their bodies. She could feel his presence, anyway, feel the warmth of his arm, his hip, his thigh.
Above her, thick old apple boughs twined together, their tiny green buds adding color to the gray-brown bark. Soon the tree would bloom, flowers would replace the buds. Eventually there’d be lush sweet apples.
Nothing could be as sweet as this moment, though.
Nothing could be quite as nice as lying beside Gavin, not touching, not speaking, just being together.
His fingers traced the curve of her arm, finding their way to her palm. He held her hand for the longest time as the sun drifted across the sky and kids’ voices drifted on the air.
“I held them off as long as I could,” Virginia hollered. “But, brace yourselves. They’re on the way.”
“I guess that’s our cue,” Gavin said.
“I guess it is. Thank you for the best picnic I’ve ever had.”
“You didn’t eat a thing,” he said as he helped her to her feet.
“I did something better,” she responded. “I spent time with you.”
He smiled again, tugging her away from the tree, the blanket, the basket as the kids ran toward them, Virginia trudging along behind.
They had a long way to go, Cassie’s little family. They had a lot more that they’d have to face, but she wasn’t worried. Not anymore. She had Gavin, she had her faith and she had all the time in the world to enjoy the life God had given her.
A good life, she thought as she looked at the kids.
A great one, her heart replied as Gavin squeezed her hand and led her back across the yard.
*
If you liked this CAPITOL K-9 UNIT novel, watch for the next book in the series,
DUTY BOUND GUARDIAN by Terri Reed.
And don’t miss a single story in the CAPITOL K-9 UNIT miniseries:
Book #1: PROTECTION DETAIL
by Shirlee McCoy
Book #2: DUTY BOUND GUARDIAN
by Terri Reed
Book #3: TRAIL OF EVIDENCE
by Lynette Eason
Book #4: SECURITY BREACH
by Margaret Daley
Book #5: DETECTING DANGER
by Valerie Hansen
Book #6: PROOF OF INNOCENCE
by Lenora Worth
Keep reading for an excerpt from STRANDED by Debby Giusti.
Dear Reader,
I was so excited when I was asked to take part in the 2015 Love Inspired Suspense continuity. When I found out that it was another K-9 continuity and that my heroine was a foster mother, I was over the moon! My husband and I adopted our youngest daughter five years ago. An orphan nearly from birth, she had been deemed unadoptable and lived in an orphanage in China for three years before her foster mother found her sitting in a hallway there. Liz was immediately taken with my blonde-haired blue-eyed daughter and begged to be allowed to foster her. Three months later, she was finally able to bring her home. Because of Liz’s love, my daughter blossomed. She learned to walk, to talk, to feed herself. Most importantly, she learned to love. When we finally met her, she was a beautiful seven-year-old girl with all the spunk and personality that a child that age should have. Foster parenting is difficult work. It takes a special kind of person to do it and do it well. Writing Protection Detail allowed me to explore that. I hope you enjoy reading about Cassie and her crew of foster kids. Gavin is the perfect hero for the group. A former foster child, he is ready to put his life on the line to protect those he cares about. With his protection dog, Glory, at his side, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep Cassie and her kids safe. I hope you enjoy the first in the Capitol K-9 Series. I love to hear from readers. If
you have time, drop me a line at [email protected].
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense story.
You enjoy a dash of danger. Love Inspired Suspense stories feature strong heroes and heroines whose faith is central in solving mysteries and saving lives.
Enjoy six new stories from Love Inspired Suspense every month!
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ONE
Gripping the steering wheel with one hand, Colleen Brennan shoved a wayward lock of red hair behind her ear with the other and glanced, yet again, at the rearview mirror to ensure she hadn’t been followed. She had left Atlanta two hours ago and had been looking over her shoulder ever since.
Her stomach knotted as she turned her focus to the storm clouds overhead. The rapidly deteriorating weather was a threat she hadn’t expected.
“Doppler radar…storms that caused damage in Montgomery earlier today…moving into Georgia.”
Adjusting the volume on her car radio, she leaned closer to the dashboard, hoping to hear the weather report over the squawk of static.
“Hail…gusting winds. Conditions ideal for tornadoes. Everyone in the listening area is cautioned to be watchful.”
The darkening sky and gusting winds added concern to her heavily burdened heart. She didn’t like driving on remote Georgia roads with an encroaching storm, but she had an appointment to keep with Vivian Davis. The army wife had promised to provide evidence that would convince the authorities Trey Howard was involved in an illegal drug operation.
Hot tears burned Colleen’s eyes. She was still raw from her sister’s overdose and death on drugs Trey had trafficked. If only Colleen had been less focused on her flight-attendant career and more tuned in to her sister’s needs, she might have responded to Briana’s call for help.
Colleen had vowed to stop Trey lest he entice other young women to follow in her sister’s footsteps. If the Atlanta police continued to turn a blind eye to his South American operation, Colleen would find someone at the federal level who would respond to what she knew to be true.
Needing evidence to substantiate her claims, she had photographed documents in Trey’s office and had taken a memory card that had come from one of the digital cameras he used in his photography business, a business that provided a legitimate cover for his illegal operation.
She sighed with frustration. How could the Atlanta PD ignore evidence that proved Trey’s involvement? Yet, they had done just that, and when she’d phoned to follow up on the information she’d submitted, they’d made it sound as if she was the drug smuggler instead of Trey.
Despite her protests, the cop with whom she’d dealt had mentioned a photograph mailed to the narcotics unit anonymously. The picture indicated Colleen’s participation in the trafficking operation she was trying to pin on Trey.
Foolishly, she had allowed him to photograph her with a couple of his friends. A seemingly innocent pose, except those so-called friends must have been part of the drug racket. From what she’d learned about Trey over the past few months, he’d probably altered the photo of her to include evidence of possession and then mailed it to the police.
Too often he’d boasted of being well connected with law enforcement. Evidently, he’d been telling the truth. In hindsight, she realized the cop had probably been on the take.
She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. No matter how much she wanted Trey behind bars, she couldn’t trust anyone involved in law enforcement at the local level. For all she knew, they were all receiving kickbacks.
Later tonight, after returning to the motel in Atlanta where Colleen had been holed up and hiding out, she would overnight copies of everything she had secreted from Trey’s office, along with whatever evidence Vivian could provide, to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta office. Surely Trey didn’t have influence with the federal DEA agents, although after the pointed questions she’d fielded following her sister’s death, Colleen didn’t have a warm spot in her heart for cops at any level.
Glancing at her GPS, she anticipated the upcoming turn into a roadside picnic park. Vivian had insisted they meet in the country, far from where the army wife lived at Fort Rickman and the neighboring town of Freemont, Georgia.
Colleen glanced again at her rearview mirror, relieved that hers was the only vehicle on the road. Vivian was right. Meeting away from Freemont and Fort Rickman had been a good decision. Except for the storm that threatened to add an unexpected complication to an already dangerous situation.
Turning into the picnic park, Colleen spotted a car. A woman sat at the wheel. Braking to a stop next to the sedan, Colleen grabbed her purse off the seat and threw it in the rear. Then stretching across the console, she opened the passenger door, all the while keeping the motor running.
Clutching a leather shoulder bag in one hand and a cell phone in the other, Vivian stepped from her car and slipped into the front seat. She was as tall as Colleen’s five feet seven inches, but with a pixie haircut that framed her alabaster skin and full mouth, which made her appear even more slender in person than in the photographs Colleen had seen on Facebook.
Fear flashed from eyes that flicked around the car and the surrounding roadside park.
“Were you followed?” Vivian nervously fingered her purse and then dropped it at her feet.
“I doubled back a few times and didn’t see anyone.” Colleen pointed to the thick woods surrounding the off-road setting. “No one will find us here, Vivian. You’re safe.”
Rain started to ping against the roof of the car. Colleen turned on the wipers.
“I don’t feel safe.” Vivian bit her chipped nails and slumped lower in the seat. “And I’m not even sure I should trust you.”
“I told you we’ll work together.”
“What if my husband finds out?”
Colleen understood the woman’s concern. “He was deployed. You were depressed, not yourself. If you’re honest with him, he’ll understand.”
“He won’t understand why his wife accepted an all-expense-paid trip to a Colombian resort while he was deployed to a war zone. He also won’t understand how I got involved with Trey Howard.”
Colleen’s sister had been as naive as Vivian. Briana had been used and abused by the drug dealer, which made Colleen realize how easily Vivian could have been taken in by Trey.
“My sister made the same mistake. Two other women did, as well. That’s why I contacted you. You still have a chance to escape.”
Vivian glanced out the window. “My husband has orders for Fort Hood. We’re moving in three weeks.” She raked her hand through her short hair. “I’ll be okay, unless the cops find out I smuggled drugs into the country.”
“I’ll mail whatever evidence you brought today to the DEA without mentioning your name or mine. They won’t be able to trace anything back to either of us.” Colleen rubbed her hand reassuringly over the young woman’s shoulder. “Besides, you didn’t know what was in the package Trey had you bring into the US for him.”
“I knew enough not to ask questions, which means I could end up in jail.” Vivian shrugged away from Colleen and reached for the door handle. “I made a mistake meeting you.”
“Vivian, please.” Colleen grabbed the young woman’s arm before she stepped from the car.
A shot rang out.
Vivian clutched her side and fell onto the seat.
Colleen’s heart stopped. She glanced into the woods, seeing movement. A man stood partially hidden in the underbrush, a raised rifle in his hands.
Trey.
A car was parked nearby. She couldn’t make out the make or model.
“Stay down,” Colleen warned. Leaning across th
e console and around Vivian, she pulled the passenger door closed.
Another shot. A rear window shattered.
Vivian screamed.
Fear clawed at Colleen’s throat. She threw the car into gear and floored the accelerator. The wheels squealed in protest as they left the roadside park.
A weight settled on Colleen’s chest. Struggling to catch her breath, she gripped the steering wheel white-knuckled and focused on the two-lane country road that stretched before them.
“He tried to kill me,” Vivian gasped. Tears filled her eyes.
Colleen glanced at the hole in the window and the spray of glass that covered the rear seat. “He tried to kill both of us.”
She should have known Trey would follow her. He loved fast cars, and no matter what he was driving today, her Honda Civic couldn’t outrun his vehicle of choice.
Hot tears burned her eyes. “Our only chance is to find a place to hide and hope Trey thinks we continued north toward the interstate.”
He’d eventually realize his mistake and double back to search for them. By then, they would have left the area by another route.
“I’m scared,” Vivian groaned.
Refusing to give voice to her own fear, Colleen focused on their most immediate problem. “What’s near here that could offer shelter? We need to stow the car out of sight.”
“An Amish community.” Vivian pointed to the upcoming intersection. “Turn left. Then take the next right. There’s a small shop. An old barn sits in the rear. It’s usually empty when I drive by.”
Colleen followed the younger woman’s directions, all the while checking the rearview mirror.
Vivian glanced over her shoulder. “If he catches us, he’ll kill us.”
“Not if we hole up in the barn. He won’t look for us there.”
The army wife pointed to the upcoming intersection. “Turn right. Then crest the hill. The Amish store is on the other side of the rise.”
Colleen’s stomach tightened with determination. She turned at the intersection and kept the accelerator floored until the car bounded over the hill.
The rain intensified. Squinting through the downpour, she spied the Amish store. One-story, wooden frame, large wraparound porch. Just as Vivian had said, a barn stood at the side of the shop.
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