Armored Attraction

by Janie Crouch

  One secret can change everything

  It’s been eight years since Liam Goetz has seen his ex-fiancé. Vanessa Epperson had everything: beauty, brains…and a family fortune. He chose her, while she chose a life of luxury and never imagined their paths would cross again. An unexpected phone call from Vanessa—desperate for his help in a human trafficking case—ressurects old longings. As they work together to save hostages and catch a predator, Liam begins to learn some shocking truths—about himself and the woman he thought he once knew so well…

  The thought that he could have lost her today—had come so close to losing her—had him crushing her to him.

  He wrapped one arm around her hips and threaded his other hand through her hair, bringing her lips to his.

  The heat was instant, as always. It chased all traces of cold away.

  “I thought I’d lost you tonight,” he murmured against her mouth.

  “I had the same fear when I couldn’t get you to wake up in the car,” she responded, her lips never moving away from his.

  There was no more talking. Neither of them wanted to think about death. Not right now. Liam didn’t want to even think about whether this was a good idea or not.

  All he wanted to think about was her body pressed up against his.

  ARMORED

  ATTRACTION

  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

  Fully Committed

  Armored Attraction

  Omega Sector

  Infiltration

  Countermeasures

  Untraceable

  Leverage

  Harlequin Intrigue

  Primal Instinct

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  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Liam Goetz—Leader of the Omega Sector Critical Response Division’s hostage rescue unit. Served in the army’s Special Forces and in the Drug Enforcement Agency before coming to work for Omega Sector. Travels to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to help out an old flame he thought he’d never hear from again.

  Vanessa Epperson—Social worker and former society princess of the Outer Banks. When she stumbles onto a human trafficking ring, she is forced to call the one man she’s avoided—and kept an important secret from—for eight years.

  Karine—Fifteen-year-old from Estonia in Eastern Europe. Victim of a human trafficking ring who escaped her captors.

  Andrea Gordon—Behavioral analyst for Omega Sector’s Critical Response Division, sent to help Liam, particularly with Karine.

  Steve Drackett—Director of Omega Sector’s Critical Response Division.

  Derek Waterman—Tactical teams specialist for Omega Sector. Friends with Liam. Sent to help any way he is needed.

  Joe Matarazzo—Hostage negotiator and part of the hostage rescue unit of Omega Sector. Friends with Liam and sent with Derek to help Liam with the case.

  Marcus McBrien—Sheriff of the Nags Head police department.

  Tommy Webb—Assistant sheriff of the Nags Head police department.

  To my parents, for being a constant example of God’s goodness, faith and love. Thank you for being a blessing not only to me but so many others.

  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

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Excerpt from Deep Secrets by Beverly Long

  Chapter One

  A leisurely walk along the beach in the evening was a chance for many people to ponder the meaning of life. Not for Vanessa Epperson. She rarely had time to walk along the beach at all anymore, much less waste that valuable time pondering.

  She was way too busy to ponder. But, ahh, how she loved the feel of the sand on her toes.

  She should have as much time as anyone to walk along the beach: her career as a social worker for a private organization—The Bridgespan Team—was technically nine to five, Monday through Friday. But in reality it rarely worked out that way. A call from a woman needing housing immediately because she’d finally gotten the courage to leave her abusive husband didn’t always come during normal business hours. Nor did a call from someone who had his first critical job interview in weeks and needed a ride at 7:00 a.m. because his car had broken down.

  Both of those scenarios had happened to Vanessa in the past forty-eight hours.

  Her coworkers told her she got too involved, that she needed to keep more of a professional distance between herself and her clients. Vanessa just shrugged her colleagues off. Sometimes people needed help beyond what was required from the job. When she could help, she did. Because there were far too many times when there was just nothing she could do.

  If they knew about it, she guessed most people would say she could dip into the five million dollars her parents had made readily available to her. But Vanessa couldn’t do that. Wouldn’t do that. She didn’t plan to ever touch that money.

  She pushed all thoughts of her family away as she walked along the sands of the Roanoke Sound of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She wouldn’t let them intrude on her rare moments of solitude and quiet.

  But this sand—this particular sand—in her toes renewed her. Helped her to remember that everything would be okay. Helped her to clear her mind and leave the problems she couldn’t solve somewhere else for a little while.

  It was the beginning of October. The sun had set a few minutes ago, casting the beach in a purple hue. It was empty. With summer gone, most of the tourists had long since left the Outer Banks; they would’ve been on the ocean side anyway, rather than the more boring sound side. Most locals weren’t out, either, having made their way to their homes or wherever they spent their evenings. Everyone was settling in.

  Vanessa would need to do the same soon, too. Tomorrow’s alarm at five thirty in the morning would come all too soon. She needed her sleep to fortify her for whatever the day would bring.

  But since the beach was so quiet, the sand so nice and cool in her toes, the breeze so gentle in the ever-darkening sky, she decided to keep walking. She would just walk up to the beached log she could barely make out a couple hundred feet ahead, then turn around and go back to her car.

/>   As with her family, she would categorically not think about other times she had walked along this very beach and whom she had walked along with. Thinking about it never led to anything but sadness anyway. Vanessa refused to be sad all the time. Life was too short.

  Before she knew it she had made it to the log and was about to turn to walk back—until the log groaned and began to move.

  Vanessa shrieked before she could help herself and jumped back. It was a person.

  She looked around for any other people—aware after the past few years at her job that danger could be found in the most innocent-looking places—and grabbed her pepper spray from her bag. A gun would’ve been better—she was licensed to carry a concealed weapon in North Carolina—but hers was back at her car.

  The log moaned again.

  Vanessa worked her way closer, cautiously, running scenarios in her head. It could be a drunk person who had passed out on the beach. Didn’t usually happen here, but it was possible. It could be someone who had fallen asleep.

  It could be someone waiting to ambush her, although a mugging on the beach in October at this time of night was not very likely. Still, Vanessa kept her pepper spray close.

  “Excuse me, are you okay?” When there was no answer she took a step closer. “Hello?”

  Maybe it was someone hurt. She didn’t let her guard down, but walked a few steps closer. Now she could see more of the person’s shape.

  If this person meant Vanessa harm, he or she must have a weapon. Now that Vanessa could see more clearly, she realized how small the person really was. Couldn’t be much taller than Vanessa’s own five feet two inches.

  “Are you okay? Hello?”

  Vanessa walked the rest of the way to the form. It was a female. She was lying unconscious on her stomach, long brown hair strung down her back, wet and full of sand and seaweed.

  Vanessa reached down and pressed gently on the woman’s shoulder. Her skin was icy to the touch.

  Whoever this was needed help.

  “Hello? Can you wake up?”

  She could possibly have a head or spinal injury. Vanessa didn’t want to move her. She cursed the fact that her cell phone was back in her car, although even if it was here, she probably wouldn’t get a signal.

  Vanessa rubbed up and down on the woman’s arm. “Hello? Can you hear me?”

  Vanessa jumped back when the woman suddenly scurried away from Vanessa’s touch, chest heaving, breaths sawing in and out. She put an arm out in front of her in a defensive posture.

  Not a woman. A girl. A teenager. Maybe fourteen or fifteen years old.

  Vanessa’s heart broke. She knew what that arm held out meant: abuse.

  At least there didn’t seem to be any spinal injury to worry about.

  “Hi, I’m Vanessa.” She spoke very slowly, softly. “Are you okay? How can I help you?”

  Vanessa made no move to get any closer to the girl, not wanting to scare her further.

  The girl shook her head, not saying anything.

  Vanessa realized the girl was wearing a dark T-shirt that was ripped and falling off her body. She didn’t seem to have anything on under it. Vanessa began to unbutton the lightweight jacket she was wearing.

  “I’m just going to take off my jacket. You might feel a little better if you have on more clothes.”

  Vanessa worked it the rest of the way off then stretched out her arm and dropped it. It landed close enough for the girl to grab, but not so close that it would touch her if she didn’t want it.

  “Is there anyone I can call for you? Parents? Friend? Boyfriend?”

  Vanessa was relieved when the girl reached for the jacket, but she didn’t answer any of her questions.

  “Can you at least tell me your name?”

  The girl looked up at her, big brown eyes seeming to swallow her entire face.

  “Ka-Karine,” she finally whispered. “My name is Karine.”

  Her English was broken at best, heavily accented—sounding Eastern European. That was probably why she hadn’t answered Vanessa’s other questions. She didn’t know enough English to understand what Vanessa was saying.

  And unless she had family visiting here, she was also a long way from home.

  “Hi, Karine,” Vanessa said gently, slowing her speech significantly to see if it would help the girl understand any better. “Can you tell me how you got here?”

  “Boat,” Karine whispered.

  “You were traveling on a boat? With your family? Was there an accident?”

  Karine began to cry. “No. Men took us. Put us on boat for many days.”

  “Someone kidnapped you? From here in the Outer Banks?”

  Vanessa could tell she had lost Karine again.

  “Where are you from?” Slowly again. “Where is your home?”

  “Estonia.”

  Vanessa wasn’t sure where that was. The United States? An entirely different country?

  “Is Estonia here in the United States?” Vanessa asked.

  “No, it is near Russia.”

  Vanessa’s breath whistled through her teeth. Was she understanding correctly?

  “Some men came and took you from Estonia and put you on a boat?”

  Karine nodded. “First one boat and then the smaller boat with the men who spoke only English.”

  Vanessa could see the girl begin to visibly shudder at the thought.

  “And there were other girls with you?”

  Karine nodded again. “Yes. There are seven more.”

  Vanessa felt nausea roll through her stomach. Karine and the other girls were obviously part of a human-trafficking ring right here in the Outer Banks.

  “How did you get here, Karine?” Vanessa asked. “How did you get away from the men?”

  She held up a hand covered in bruises around her wrist, obviously from handcuffs or other restraints.

  “Man tie us when no one is on boat with us. But I got out. And then I jump in water. I rather die from sharks than let them touch me again.” Karine closed her eyes and lowered her hand.

  There weren’t any sharks in the Roanoke Sound, Vanessa knew, although there could be painful jellyfish at this time of year. Either way, it had been an amazing feat for the small teenager to undertake. The Sound was more than five miles wide at some parts. There was no way Karine could’ve known how far she would have to swim when she’d jumped in.

  Whatever had been waiting for her on that boat had to have been bad enough that Karine was willing to risk her life to get away from it.

  Vanessa needed to get the girl to a hospital. Report this to the authorities. Get the cops or National Guard or Marines or all three to start looking for those other girls.

  “Karine, you were so brave,” she whispered. “I know it is hard, but do you think you could come with me? I can take you to the hospital. Get you the help you need.”

  “I promised other girls I would help them if I lived,” Karine whispered.

  “Yes.” Vanessa nodded. “Absolutely. We will go to the police so they can help find the other girls.”

  Vanessa thought for a moment that Karine might refuse her help, but she finally nodded and got up off the ground, wrapped in Vanessa’s jacket.

  “Okay, I go with you.”

  Karine didn’t seem to have many significant injuries. She was able to walk unassisted from the beach to Vanessa’s car. Dehydration was obviously an issue—she gulped down the contents of the water bottle Vanessa offered in seconds—as was hunger. She made short work of a package of crackers. Vanessa wished she had more to offer. She gave Karine a pair of yoga pants to put on, which were too big for the girl but at least were better than nothing.

  Vanessa took a direct route to the Nags Head Regional Hospital. She’d brought in enough cl
ients over the years that she was pretty well known there. She walked Karine in through the emergency entrance, relieved to see her friend Judy working the desk.

  “Hey, Judy.” Vanessa spoke only loud enough that the other woman could hear her. The last thing Karine needed was the media circus that would come along with anyone finding out she had been part of a probable human-trafficking ring in the area. “I have an assault victim here. Doesn’t speak much English. Probably also suffering from dehydration. She swam a long way to get away from the person or persons who were holding her against her will.”

  Judy shook her head and smiled softly at Karine. “I’m so sorry, honey. We’ll help you.” She turned to Vanessa. “It’s crazy busy in here tonight. Can we put her in temp room one? Just until something else opens up. We won’t do any exams there.”

  Temporary room one was at the front of the trauma unit. They rarely put assault victims there because it was so busy nearby and was only separated by curtains. Judy wouldn’t put them there if she had another choice.

  “Okay, sure. I’ll take Karine in myself.”

  She led the girl into the room and helped her to sit. She seemed to stare blankly out the crack in the curtain.

  Should Vanessa get her some food? She didn’t want to leave Karine alone, but who knew when she’d last had a decent meal? Maybe Judy could get something for them.

  A moment later Karine bounded out of the chair and backed away to the farthest point in the room. Her face was devoid of all color and her eyes were huge.

  “Leave. Leave.” The young woman was shuddering so hard that was all she could get out.

  Vanessa had no idea what was going on. Why was Karine freaking out now when she had been so docile since they’d arrived? Vanessa looked out through the crack in the curtain to where Karine had been looking.

  A uniformed member of the sheriff’s department was talking to Judy at the main desk.

  Had Vanessa misunderstood the whole situation? Was Karine running from the law?

  She turned back to the young woman and found her slipping under the curtains of the room. Vanessa rushed over, stopping her gently.

 
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