He’ll do whatever it takes

To protect his family

When a plane crash leaves special ops soldier Hawk Jacobson with amnesia, all he knows is that the plane was sabotaged and he has a target on his back. His survival depends on letting everyone—including his wife, Jillian Wade—believe he’s dead. Until gunmen come after Jillian and the daughter he never knew existed. Can Jillian help him regain his memory in time to expose a killer?

Justice Seekers

LAURA SCOTT is a nurse by day and an author by night. She has always loved romance and read faith-based books by Grace Livingston Hill in her teenage years. She’s thrilled to have published over twenty-five books for Love Inspired Suspense. She has two adult children and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her husband of over thirty years. Please visit Laura at laurascottbooks.com, as she loves to hear from her readers.

Also By Laura Scott

Justice Seekers

Soldier’s Christmas Secrets

Callahan Confidential

Shielding His Christmas Witness

The Only Witness

Christmas Amnesia

Shattered Lullaby

Primary Suspect

Protecting His Secret Son

True Blue K-9 Unit

Blind Trust

Military K-9 Unit

Battle Tested

Military K-9 Unit Christmas

“Yuletide Target”

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Soldier’s Christmas Secrets

Laura Scott

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09891-5

SOLDIER’S CHRISTMAS SECRETS

© 2019 Laura Iding

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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A movement outside caught Hawk’s attention. The men had found the cabin.

“We need to go. Get your coats, leave the duffel behind. We’re heading out the back.”

“The back?” The confusion in Jillian’s green gaze morphed into fear. “They’re here?”

He nodded. Keeping Jillian in front of him, he covered their backs as he guided them into the woods. Hawk continued sweeping his gaze over the area, looking for signs the hostiles were near.

When they reached the cluster of bushes, he carved out a small space with his hands and drew Jillian down. “Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”

She clutched at his arm. “Don’t leave us,” she begged.

“I have a snowmobile nearby. I promise I’ll be quick.”

Tears welled in her eyes, but she gave a jerky nod, showing she understood. He drew out his gun and handed it to her.

He hesitated. There was so much he wanted to say, but there wasn’t time. He needed to move, to draw the hostiles away from Jillian and Lizzy.

He’d willingly sacrifice himself to keep them alive and safe.

Dear Reader,

I hope you’ve enjoyed Hawk and Jillian’s story, Soldier’s Christmas Secrets. Many of you asked for Hawk to find his own happy ending, and frankly, I wasn’t quite willing to give up the Callahans, either.

I have the utmost respect for all of those who serve our country, and I hope you give this new miniseries, Justice Seekers, a try.

Please take a moment to leave a review; reviews are very important for authors. Also know I love hearing from my readers. I can be found through my website at www.laurascottbooks.com, through Facebook at Laura Scott Author and on Twitter @Laurascottbooks. If you’re interested in when Ryker’s story will be available, join my newsletter through my website. That’s where I announce new releases, and I offer a free novella that is not for sale anywhere else, to all newsletter subscribers.

Until next time,

Laura Scott

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

—Deuteronomy 31:6

This book is dedicated to Michael Christman, a man who has bravely faced cancer only to come out stronger within his faith. This book is for you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

EVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

ONE

Hawk Jacobson parked his SUV and moved silently through the dark, cold December night, automatically raking his gaze over the area searching for a possible threat. As a private investigator, he didn’t have set hours, and tonight he was returning home later than usual.

After entering his house, he didn’t bother turning his lights on as he made his way through the interior. Hawk paused near the side window, the one overlooking Jillian’s home. Dark windows outlined by bright Christmas lights indicated his neighbor, Jillian Wade, and her young daughter, Lizzy, had retired for the night.

Just as he was about to step back from the window, he saw two men, dressed in black from head to toe, ski masks covering their faces and guns held at the ready in their hands, moving silently through the night and heading straight for Jillian’s house. No! Hawk sprang into action. Armed with a knife and a gun, yet hoping not to use either, he silently let himself out of his house. Picking the second man who was still standing on the driveway as his target, he stealthily approached from behind. With surprise on his side, he took him down, hitting him in the back of the head and rendering him unconscious. With one hostile out of commission, he went searching for the other.

The front door of Jillian’s house was ajar, and he hated knowing the guy had breached her personal space. Years of military training enabled Hawk to move silently down the hall. The gunman was hovering between the two bedroom doorways, as if unsure which one to try first. Indecision was his enemy. Hawk grabbed him from behind, covered the guy’s mouth and took him roughly to the ground and held his gun at his temple.

“Who sent you?” Hawk asked in a harsh whisper. “Why are you here?”

The man’s eyes, which Hawk could see from the round openings of the ski mask, showed no emotion. The hostile didn’t make a sound, apparently too well-trained to talk. Hawk was about to knock the guy unconscious when a slight movement caught his eye. The door to the second bedroom was open a crack and he saw Lizzy’s frightened face peering out at him.

He froze, wishing more than anything that the little girl didn’t look so terrified. Was she afraid of the gun? Probably, but he couldn’t risk hiding it from her. “It’s okay,” he called softly. “It’s me. Hawk.”

She quickly closed the door. With a frustrated sigh, Hawk pressed on the man’s twin carotid arteries to put him to sleep, making sure he was unconscious but not dead. He took a moment to lift the ski mask, but the man’s face wasn’t familiar. Hawk didn’t recognize him. Leaving him be, Hawk rose to his feet and lightly rapped on Jillian’s door. “Jillian? It’s Hawk. I’m coming in.”

“Hawk?” Jillian’s voice was sleepy. “What are you doing here?”

Entering her room felt wrong, but there wasn’t a moment to waste. The two hostiles wouldn’t stay unconscious forever. “I stopped two guys from trying to kill you. Get up. We need to leave.”

“What are you talking about?” She sounded grumpy. “What two men? I can’t leave. Lizzy’s asleep.”

“No, she’s not. I just saw her. One man is on the driveway near the front door, the other is just outside your room. Hurry. I’ll get Lizzy while you throw some stuff together. But don’t pack like this is a vacation, we’re traveling light.”

“But...”

Hawk was done talking. He turned and made his way to Lizzy’s room, stepping carefully over the body on the floor. He pressed again on the guy’s neck to give them more time, then reached for the door of the second bedroom and opened it. “Lizzy? It’s Hawk. I know you’re scared, but you and your mom need to come with me, okay?”

Lizzy didn’t answer. Not that he really expected her to. He stood for a moment, sweeping his gaze over the area. Lizzy’s bed was empty. There was a small desk, a dollhouse, a closet and dresser. She must be hiding in fear, likely in the closet or under the bed.

The bed. He dropped to his hands and knees, pressed his cheek to the floor. “Lizzy, your mom is waiting for us. We need to go.”

A muffled sob was the only sound she uttered.

His heart squeezed painfully in his chest, but he forced himself to ignore it. There was no time to waste. He reached under the twin bed, found her arm and tugged. She resisted, but the little girl was no match for him. He gently pulled her out and gathered her stiff body into his arms. She clutched a tattered brown teddy bear against her pink fleece footie pajamas, like a shield.

“I’m sorry, Lizzy. But we have to go.” He carried her to the next room, where a grim-faced Jillian was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, tossing items into an overnight duffel bag.

“Lizzy.” She held out her arms for her daughter and Lizzy practically jumped to get away from him, grabbing onto her mother and clinging like a baby monkey.

He told himself not to take it personally as he slung the duffel over his shoulder and cupped Jillian’s elbow in his hand. “Grab coats for you and Lizzy. We’ll take my car.”

“I’m not sure—” She stopped abruptly when she saw the man lying in the hallway. “Who? What? Oh my—” She looked as if she might scream, so he cut her off.

“Later. We need to be quiet in case there are others nearby.” Hawk steered her around the body. The man groaned, indicating they were running out of time.

In the kitchen, Jillian snagged her purse from the counter. They paused long enough to grab winter gear, especially for Lizzy. There hadn’t been time to change her out of her pajamas, but that didn’t stop Jillian from putting winter boots on her daughter. Hawk waited impatiently, desperate to get them out of the house.

Outside, the second man remained unmoving. Hawk’s SUV was in the driveway, where he’d left it. But Jillian dug in her heels, resisting him much like her daughter.

“Wait. Where are we going? Shouldn’t we call the police? I don’t understand...”

“Not now,” he said forcefully. “We’ll talk later.”

“Fine, but I’m not going without Lizzy’s car seat.”

Giving in was easier than arguing. “Give me your keys, then get into the SUV.”

Thankfully she did as she was told. He grabbed the child seat out of Jillian’s rusted sedan and hurried over to his vehicle. Within minutes he had the car seat strapped in and Lizzy plunked inside. The little girl’s crying shredded him.

After sliding in behind the wheel, he wasted no time in backing out of the driveway. Keeping an eye on Jillian’s house in the rearview mirror as he drove away, he caught a fleeting glimpse of a black-clad man staggering out through the front door, holding the ski mask in his hand.

Fearing more hostiles on the way, Hawk hit the gas, speeding as fast as he dared through the slick, snow-covered streets of their Brookland, Wisconsin, neighborhood, until he reached Highway 18. Then he headed west toward the interstate.

“I don’t understand,” Jillian said. “What’s going on? Who were those men?”

He glanced over at her. “I don’t know. But they were armed and dangerous.”

“Why did they come after me?” Jillian’s voice sounded shaky and confused. He had to give her credit for not falling apart. She lifted a hand to her long, dark-red hair, a gold wedding band on the third finger of her left hand glinting in the moonlight.

“Could they have been looking for your husband?”

“My husband is dead,” she said in a flat tone.

“Lizzy’s father?”

She glared at him with clear exasperation. “Weren’t you listening? My husband, Lizzy’s father, is dead. James was killed in Afghanistan a few years ago.”

Hawk went perfectly still, his gaze locked on the highway stretching out before him. He wanted to tell Jillian that he was really James—and that he wasn’t dead. That he didn’t die in Afghanistan but almost had from a small plane crash that had killed his three teammates and their pilot, deep in the Appalachian Mountains. That despite the fact that he looked completely different thanks to the horrible facial fractures and scars he now wore on his face, he was right here, next to her. But the words remained locked in his throat.

Two hostiles. Professional hit men. No way they had shown up just to take out Jillian or Lizzy.

They’d come for him.

To finish the job of killing him.

Jillian gripped the armrest with such force her fingertips went numb. Two men wearing ski masks and carrying guns had come to her house! She couldn’t comprehend what was happening—it was all so surreal. If she hadn’t seen them for herself, one lying in the hallway and the other on the snow-covered ground, she would have thought Hawk had lost his mind.

Lizzy’s crying increased in volume.

“It’s okay, Lizzy.” She reached back to stroke her daughter’s knee. The four-year-old was obviously terrified. “We’re fine, see? Everything is just fine. Mr. Hawk has come to save us, isn’t that nice? We’re going to be all right.”

It took a while, but her daughter’s sobs slowly quieted. As Jillian had hoped, the little girl began to nod off, still clutching the teddy bear close. Car rides had that effect on her.

Jillian glanced at Hawk. Her strong, silent, scarred yet kind neighbor who didn’t say much but was always there to lend a hand. At times it was as if he knew what she needed done before she did. She would come home from work to find her lawn had been mowed or a broken shutter repaired. Just that morning he’d gotten up early to shovel her driveway so that it was clear before she needed to head to work, the last day of school before Christmas break. It was odd yet sweet. Hawk wasn’t one for small talk, either. He would simply lift a hand to acknowledge her, and that was all.

Frankly they’d spoken more tonight than they had in the five months she’d known him.

She was grateful he was there to help her now. She noticed Hawk kept his eyes on the road and made several turns, getting off the interstate, taking side streets and then getting back on. He was obviously taking care to be sure they weren’t followed.

Not once since he’d moved in next door had he ever made her feel uncomfortable. He’d never indicated he was interested in anything other than being neighborly. Maybe because he assumed she was married.

Her gaze dropped to the gold wedding band her deceased husband had given to her five years ago. She’d taken the diamond engagement ring off but not the plain band. She wasn’t sure why. James had been the love of her life, but barely a year after they’d married he was deployed to Afghanistan. Two months after he’d gotten there, he’d been sent off on some secret mission that he couldn’t talk about. One that had ultimately killed him.

James had never known about Lizzy. She hadn’t known about her pregnancy until after he’d died. She’d never understood why God had taken James from her so quickly, and she had stopped attending church after his death for several months. When she’d moved here to be closer to her mother, she’d found her faith and comfort in the church again.

“Jillian?”

“Huh?” She pulled away from her sorrowful thoughts. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I have a cabin in the north woods. I’d like to take you and Lizzy there until we can figure out what’s going on.”

“A cabin?” She wasn’t sure why the news surprised her. In the months she’d known Hawk, he’d been home at odd hours. Sometimes leaving before she did, and at other times, remaining at home as she left for school. In fact she’d often wondered exactly what he did for work but hadn’t wanted to pry. From the scar on his face, she thought he might be on disability or something. He knew she was a second grade school teacher at Brookland Elementary, but only because she’d offered the information.

“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable with me,” he went on. “There are two bedrooms, a small kitchen and bathroom with indoor plumbing. It will be safer there than at a motel.”

“Safer how? I still can’t figure out why those two men came to find me in the first place. I’m a teacher. Why would anyone want to hurt me?”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

She let out a sigh. None of this was his fault. “Your cabin sounds fine. But shouldn’t we call the police?”

“Not yet.”

She frowned. “Why not?”

“By the time the police arrive, the two gunmen will be long gone. I only temporarily incapacitated them, I didn’t kill them. There’s no real proof of what happened—it would be our word against no one. I need to do a little digging before we call the authorities.”

She wasn’t sure she understood his rationale, but the idea that the gunmen might already be gone bothered her. She wished she’d thought to take a picture with her cell phone, especially of the guy lying on the floor outside her bedroom.

Silence stretched between them. Now that Lizzy was asleep, her thoughts raced. One gunman had gotten all the way inside her house. How was it that she hadn’t heard anything? She was normally an extremely light sleeper.

And how had Hawk gotten there in time to prevent the gunmen from hurting her? The fact that he’d taken out two gunmen without making a sound should have scared her to death.

But she felt safe. Ironic, since she didn’t even know Hawk’s last name or what he did for a living.

“Hawk—is that your real name?”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “Hawk Jacobson.”

She nodded, rolling the name around in her mind. “I want to thank you. For coming over to save us.”

He was silent for a long moment. “I’m just glad I was able to get to you and Lizzy in time.”

“Me, too.” She shivered and rubbed her hands together. “How far is the cabin?”

“Thirty minutes.” He glanced at her, his gaze impossible to read in the darkness. “Try to get some rest.”

She shook her head, knowing sleep would be impossible. “Do you think this could be related to one of my students? Like maybe one of the kids’ parents is into something illegal? I just can’t figure out what else it could be.”

“Anything is possible.” Hawk’s voice was husky and a bit hoarse, something she hadn’t noticed before now. As if he might have a sore throat. “When we get to the cabin you can make a list of possible suspects.”

“They’re students, not suspects.” The words were sharp and she winced, knowing she was taking her frustration out on Hawk. “Besides, I think the police should be the one to search for the men responsible.”

Another brief pause before Hawk spoke. “I’m a private investigator and I have friends who are cops in the Milwaukee Police Department. I need you to trust my judgment on this. Give me a little time to figure out what’s going on.”

Hawk Jacobson. Private Investigator. Friends who were cops. That was a whole lot more than she’d known about him an hour ago.

“Okay,” she reluctantly agreed.

The rest of the car ride was silent. Hawk exited the freeway and took a curvy highway heading northwest. Then he pulled off on the side of the road and shut down the vehicle.

“I need to go in on foot, make sure the place is safe,” he told her. He took a gun out of his side holster and held it out to her. “Stay here. If anyone approaches, I want you to shoot first and ask questions later.”

She recoiled from the weapon as if it were a venomous snake. “I’m not touching that thing.” She glanced at Lizzy. “We’re better off without it.”

Hawk’s lips tightened, giving her the impression he wasn’t happy. But he so rarely revealed any emotion that she thought she may have misinterpreted it. He gently placed the weapon in her lap. “You’ll use it if your life or Lizzy’s is threatened.”

Without waiting for her to respond, he slipped out of the car and shut the door behind him.

She watched him round the front of the SUV and head into the woods. One minute he was there, the next he was gone, somehow without leaving obvious boot prints in the snow behind. The man moved with incredible silence, making her wonder where he’d learned such a skill.

The service? Had Hawk spent time in the military the way James had? Yet if that was the case, why was he working as a private investigator? Why not join a police force?

She shook her head. This insatiable curiosity about her neighbor wasn’t healthy. Hawk’s personal decisions were not any of her business. She wasn’t interested in anything beyond friendship.

Ignoring the gun in her lap, she twisted the wedding band on her finger, thinking about James. How much she missed him. How he was everything she could have asked for in a husband and how he would have been an amazing father to Lizzy.

Then she thought about Hawk. Who was here, now. Who had not only helped her with house maintenance without being asked but was determined to keep her and Lizzy safe.

She slipped the ring off, and then, besieged by a rush of guilt, pushed it back on. Staring out through the windshield, she wondered how long it would take Hawk to check out the cabin. This sitting in the darkness, waiting, was getting on her nerves.

She heard a noise and froze. Then she did something she never thought she’d do. She picked up the gun. It felt heavy and cold in her hand and she had to wrap both her hands around the handle to keep it steady.

Another rustle and she instinctively knew the sound wasn’t from Hawk returning. The man was too quiet to cause this much noise. She tightened her grip on the gun, sweeping her gaze from the windshield to the passenger-side window, searching for anything amiss.

Two deer walked out from the woods. They stopped, looked at her with glassy eyes and then gracefully leaped and ran across the street right in front of the SUV.

She let out her breath in a whoosh. Deer. A doe and her fawn. Not men wearing ski masks.

Yet she didn’t release her grip on the gun.

Five minutes later, she noticed a dark shadow stepping out of the woods. She tightened her grip on the weapon but within a few seconds recognized the shadow as Hawk. The moonlight on his face made it easy to see his scar.

He quietly approached the car, nodding an acknowledgement when he caught her looking at him. He came around and slid into the driver’s seat.

“It’s clear.”

She held out the weapon. “Take this. I don’t want it.”

He took the gun and pushed it back into its holster. He drove a quarter mile down the road and turned into a gravel driveway.

The cabin was about a hundred yards in, nicely surrounded by trees. He pulled to a stop and then climbed out. “Do you want me to carry Lizzy?”

“I’ll get her. She might cry if she wakes up to a stranger.”

He nodded, grabbed the duffel and went over to hold the door. A dusting of snow clung to her boots, so she kicked the lower doorjamb to clear them before going inside. Lizzy snuggled against her chest as Jillian carried her across the living room. She hesitated, glancing at Hawk questioningly.

“There are twin beds in this room.” He opened the door to the right of what looked to be a bathroom. “The other room is off the kitchen.”

“Thanks.” She went inside and gently set Lizzy on the twin bed closest to the door. After removing her winter coat and boots, she tucked her daughter into the sleeping bag on top of the bed. She straightened and turned to find Hawk standing close.

Too close.

In the darkness she couldn’t see his face very clearly, but she had often wondered about the deep scar he carried along his left cheek. Catching a whiff of his aftershave, she found her pulse kicking up and her knees going weak.

It was the same brand James used to buy.

“Excuse me.” Moving abruptly, she ducked around him and left the bedroom. Her heart was pounding erratically and for a moment she feared she was losing her mind.

In that brief instant, she’d thought the man standing beside her was James. Same height, same weight, same aftershave.

Impossible. James was dead. This was nothing more than her overactive imagination playing tricks on her. Hormones reacting to a familiar scent.

She wasn’t interested in a relationship with Hawk.

Yet for the moment, her life and Lizzy’s depended on him. On his strength and ability to keep them both safe from harm.

TWO

Battling guilt, Hawk silently followed Jillian into the living room and began making a fire in the wood-burning stove to heat up the cabin. He hadn’t meant to frighten her, but given the way she’d bolted out of the room, he knew he must have. He’d worked hard over the past several months to remain nonthreatening. To provide help without getting too close.

But discovering Lizzy was his daughter had changed things. He’d wanted to peer down at her tiny face while she slept. He’d wanted the right to bend down to kiss her forehead and whisper good-night.

Unfortunately, his life, the life he should have had, remained far out of reach. Maybe forever.

Not that it should matter. There were more important things to worry about at the moment. Like who’d sent professional assassins to Jillian’s home. To kidnap them? Or kill them? Kidnapping he could understand, because it would be a way to use Jillian and Lizzy as leverage against him. But killing them made no sense.

It occurred to him that if his real identity had been uncovered, then the assassins would have come directly to his house, not Jillian’s. Which meant his current identity was safe.

For now.

Yet he knew his recent probing into Rick Barton’s past had not gone unnoticed. Senator Barton was a powerful man in Washington, DC, but very few knew the truth about how Barton had climbed the ranks. Hawk must have gotten close enough to discover certain information about Barton to trip someone’s suspicions.

Almost two years had passed since he’d begun to remember his past, yet it also felt as if it had only happened yesterday. His memory had more holes in it than Swiss cheese. He hadn’t even remembered Jillian right away. Memories and images had come to him in bits and pieces.

He was the only special ops soldier who knew the truth about what happened in Afghanistan, and even then, he didn’t have a good memory to guide him. The other members of his team who’d been with him that fateful day were gone. Powerful men had tried to silence him once. They wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. It was up to him to expose the truth.

Too bad he had no idea whom he could trust.

When he finished with the fire, he stood. “I’ll make coffee.”

Hawk went into the kitchen and opened the cabinet that housed the coffee maker. He filled the carafe with water and added scoops of coffee from the can he kept in the freezer. As the coffee dripped, he did a quick mental inventory of his house back in Brookland. He had no doubt that at some point the professional hit men would go back to the scene of their failure, eventually identifying him as the one who’d helped Jillian and Lizzy escape.

They wouldn’t find anything personal at his place. He didn’t have a home office, preferring, instead, to work in the small space he rented in the strip mall not far from where he lived. The only information he kept at his office was related to his clients. All of his personal paperwork, most of which had been expertly forged two years ago, was kept in a safe deposit box at the bank.

For years, he’d thought his secret was safe. Until now. How long before the hit men put two and two together to figure out that Hawk Jacobson was really James Wade?

Based on the extensive governmental resources he believed Barton had at his disposal? Not long.

Feeling grim, he realized they’d be forced to move locations first thing in the morning. And go where? He had no clue.

“I can’t drink coffee this late,” Jillian said. He glanced over to find her standing on the other side of the room, her arms crossed over her chest as if she didn’t dare get too close. “But I think we need to call the police. Now. Tonight.”

He didn’t answer, mostly because he wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted, needed to tell her the truth, but this didn’t seem like the proper time or place.

She wouldn’t appreciate his view that going to the authorities could very well be like stepping on a rotten log, allowing professional hit men to pour out like termites.

“Calling the police is what normal people do,” Jillian insisted. “Just because you happen to be a private investigator, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t let the authorities know that two men came into my house with weapons with the intent to kill me.”

“Actually, we don’t really know what they intended to do.”

She scowled. “I’m pretty sure they didn’t intend to play nice with their guns.”

It was a good point. He decided to probe further. “Does the name Senator Barton mean anything to you?”

She blinked in confusion. “Senator Rick Barton? Not really. I mean, I know he sits on a committee related to the Department of Defense, but I can’t even tell you what state he’s from or what he looks like.”

“He sits on the Armed Services Committee,” Hawk corrected. “He’s a senator from Virginia and happens to be good friends with Todd Hayes, the current Secretary of Defense.” He waited for some sort of recognition to dawn in her eyes, but she only shrugged.

“Yeah, okay. That sounds right. I’m not totally up on all the players in our government, but whatever. I don’t see what either of those guys has to do with your decision to postpone calling the police.”

“Powerful people in high places can convince the cops to turn a blind eye to what might be happening under their nose.” He hesitated, the holes in his memory making it difficult to say anything with certainty. All he remembered was seeing Major Rick Barton deep in the hills where he wasn’t supposed to be. He sensed there was more but couldn’t bring the fragments of his memory together into a full picture.

Now she looked annoyed. “Oh, come on—” She abruptly cut off what she was about to say when Lizzy began to cry.

“Mommy! Mommy! Bad mans are coming to get me!”

Jillian spun on her heel and charged into the bedroom. Hawk stayed where he was, unwilling to add to Lizzy’s frightened state. He knew she’d watched him holding a gun on one of the intruders and was reliving that scary moment in her nightmares.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. He needed to think. To understand what was going on so he could plan his next steps. A good soldier always had at least one backup plan.

Several things bothered him. Why had Barton decided to send hit men after Jillian tonight? The fact that James Wade had married her five years ago wasn’t a secret. The army knew about Jillian, they’d provided her benefits while he was overseas, and he assumed they’d provided death benefits after he’d been pronounced dead, despite how they’d obviously never found his body.

So why now?

And why not wait until the dead of night rather than 10:30 p.m.? The two guys had been professionals, but they were clearly not prepared to face an opponent like Hawk—someone with equal or better training than they had. Whoever provided the intel must have mentioned they were facing a grade school teacher and a four-year-old child. Not a soldier.

The burn of anger at the thought of those two men getting their hands on Jillian and Lizzy was difficult to ignore. But anger, much like indecision, was the enemy.

He took a deep breath and let it out, slowly. He toyed with the idea of calling Mike Callahan, a former private investigator he’d once worked with. Mike had recently gotten married and had taken a position with the sheriff’s department. Mike owed him a favor, and Hawk could easily collect. Not that he’d really have to use the favor as leverage. Hawk knew that Mike, or any of the Callahan siblings, would help him out, no questions asked. That was the type of family they were. The Callahans had welcomed him into their home and made him feel like he was one of them.

Still, he preferred to work alone. At least for now. But he wouldn’t risk any harm coming to Jillian or Lizzy.

What he really wanted to do was to stash Jillian and Lizzy someplace safe while he continued working the case. Should he send her to stay with the Callahans? They were about the only people he trusted. Yet at the same time, he didn’t dare let Jillian and Lizzy out of his sight.

Not when he knew that he was the only reason they were in danger.

He scrubbed his hands over his face, fighting a wave of exhaustion. Jillian deserved to know the truth about his real identity. Yet he worried how she’d react. Five months ago, when he’d found her, he had moved in next door as a way to help her out. He’d noticed the plain gold wedding ring on her finger without the diamond engagement ring he’d given her. That, along with her little girl, had convinced him she’d moved on with another man. He couldn’t blame her since he was legally dead.

But he’d been wrong.

He had a daughter. The news was stunning and he realized he should have figured it out sooner. He wanted to talk to Jillian but feared she’d be upset with him when she learned the truth. And worst of all, she might feel as if she needed to stay with him to honor their five-year-old wedding vows despite the horrible scars that grooved his face.

She was the beauty and he was the beast. With a face that scared Lizzy. He hated knowing his own daughter was frightened of him. Yet he couldn’t change who he was. Who he’d become.

When it was clear Jillian wasn’t returning to the kitchen to pick up the conversation where they’d left it off, he dumped the dregs of his coffee in the sink and made his way into his room.

Tomorrow morning, he’d have several decisions to make. They’d need a new place to go and they needed to air the truth.

If she was angry with him, then fine. He’d take her anger over her pity any day of the week.

Jillian fell asleep comforting Lizzy, only to wake up at dawn with a crick in her neck.

Stretching with a muffled groan, she eased out from Lizzy’s bed. She tiptoed out of the room to use the bathroom and then headed into the kitchen, shivering a bit in the cool air.

There was no sign of Hawk. Clearly, he hadn’t followed through on her request to call the police.

Even now his reluctance made no sense. But enough was enough. Better late than never, right? She went over to her purse and dug out her cell phone.

One bar, indicating the battery was nearly dead. Great. She didn’t have a charger and, from what she could tell, there wasn’t one around here, either. The place was comfortable but rustic.

She stared at the screen, wondering who would respond if she called 911. Surely not anyone from the Brookland Police Department, which was where the crime had taken place.

“What are you doing?”

Hawk’s hoarse voice was so unexpected she let out a yelp and almost dropped the phone.

“You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that.” She knew she sounded cranky, but seriously, the man needed to wear a cowbell around his neck.

“Don’t call the police yet. Not until we talk.”

Now he was reading her mind? Ugh. She turned the phone off to preserve what was left of her battery and tucked it into the pocket of her sweatshirt. “Talking isn’t exactly your strength,” she felt compelled to point out.

The right corner of his mouth kicked up in what may have been the hint of a smile. The first she’d ever seen from him. “Maybe not, but you’ll want to hear my story.”

His story? The one behind his scar? He was right about that, since she’d been wondering about his story for the past five months.

“Sounds like we’ll need coffee.” She moved into the kitchen and made a fresh pot of coffee. While she did that Hawk opened a cupboard and pulled out a box of instant oatmeal packets.

“This is about all I have on hand for breakfast,” he said, his voice full of apology. “Or we can stop for breakfast when we leave.”

“Leave?” Once again he knocked her off-balance. “Why are we leaving so soon?”

He didn’t answer right away, a trait that annoyed her.

“Well?” She pulled two mugs out of the cabinet and set them beside the coffeepot. “I thought you said we were safe here.”

He filled a teapot with water and put it on the stove. “We are, but it’s only a matter of time before they track us here.”

Her stomach clenched. “They? Who?”

“The men who came for you last night. They’ll find out my name and will search for my license plate number and for any other properties that I might own. That will lead them here, to this cabin.”

His words sent a chill down her spine. “Okay, now you’re scaring me.”

“I know. I’m sorry, but we’ll stay one step ahead of them.”

She poured two mugs of coffee and, since there wasn’t any milk, made do with adding sugar to hers before handing him the one that was black. Their fingers brushed and she was startled by the tingle of awareness she felt. What was wrong with her? This was the wrong time, wrong place and definitely the wrong man!

“You said we need to talk.”

He nodded before taking a sip from his mug. “It’s a long story, goes back a couple of years.”

“Okay.” She took a seat at the table. “I’m listening.”

“I used to be in the military,” he said, his blue gaze centered on hers.

“I thought so,” she said with a nod. “Just like James.” At his silent stare, she added, “My husband.”

“Yeah. Well.” Hawk looked away, clearly uncomfortable. “I—I did a lot of work that was considered classified.”

Just like James, but this time she didn’t voice the comparison out loud.

“I was on a team with three other guys,” he went on and suddenly a bad feeling came over her.

“You were with James, weren’t you? Is that what you’ve been trying to tell me? That you knew my husband?” She knew her voice was getting louder but couldn’t stop it. “All this time, you knew James but never said anything?”

“Jilly, please, just listen for a minute,” he begged.

She sucked in a harsh breath. “What did you call me?”

Hawk winced and blanched. “I—uh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so familiar...”

“No.” She rose to her feet and took a step back from him, her mind whirling. He’d called her Jilly, just like James used to.

Then she remembered that brief moment in the bedroom when she’d thought Hawk was actually James. She stared at him, her thoughts spinning out of control.

“Jillian, I’m sorry to tell you like this. But I was sent on a secret mission, and me and my team saw something we shouldn’t have. We were flown home to be debriefed by the Pentagon, only there was a storm that took us further west. We ended up landing in Columbus, Ohio, and they stuck us in a small prop plane. We crashed in the Appalachian Mountains. Everyone died in the crash except for me. And I—” his voice trailed off for a long moment before he continued “—I was badly injured. I had no memory, no ability to walk, my face was damaged beyond recognition and I still don’t know how I managed to survive.”

“You—you’re James?” The blood drained from her face and she collapsed in the chair she’d just vacated. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m Hawk,” he corrected. “I didn’t even remember my name for a full year. I only remember watching hawks flying over my head for days on end, so that’s the name I went with. I picked Jacobson because I had some dim memory of my father being named Jacob.”

Her heart squeezed in her chest at what he’d gone through. Then she realized what he’d said. “But you did eventually realize you were James, right? And chose not to come home to me. To us.”

“That’s not entirely true. I didn’t remember you right away, and when I did, there were only bits and pieces. I stayed away because after the crash I saw men combing the woods, searching for me.” Hawk’s expression went cold. “They were not there to rescue me but to kill me. They had guns, Jilly. And if the older couple who’d found me hadn’t sheltered me from those men, I wouldn’t be here now.”

“But what about five months ago?” she persisted. “You moved in next door to me on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” The teakettle whistled and he quickly removed it from the burner. “I came to Milwaukee because I knew you had family here and wouldn’t have stayed at Fort Bragg. Even then, it took me a while to find you in Brookland. Once I did, I couldn’t stay away. I needed to make sure you were safe.”

She couldn’t argue that he had saved them.

“I want you to know I won’t hold you to anything,” Hawk continued. “James as you knew him is gone. Hawk was the lone survivor of that plane crash. Where we go from here is totally up to you.”

“Where we go from here?” The realization of what he was saying sank deep.

Hawk was James. He was her husband. Lizzy’s father.

And she had absolutely no idea where to go from here.

THREE

Hawk busied himself with making a bowl of instant oatmeal for Jillian. The truth hung between them like a dark storm cloud, threatening to burst, bringing snow and ice pelting down. Telling her the story wasn’t as difficult as he’d anticipated, but he wasn’t sure the truth had fully sunk in yet.

He’d been honest with her when he’d claimed James was dead. That year he spent hiding in the mountains, recuperating from his injuries, had changed him. James had died in the plane crash, leaving a man called Hawk behind.

That he’d survived when the rest of his team had died haunted him still. The Callahans would claim God had a plan, but he didn’t believe it. Not the way he used to. He’d lost his entire life that day.

Even now, sometimes he awoke from a nightmare, hearing his team’s screams as the plane plummeted down into the mountainside. Only to realize it was his throat that was sore from screaming.

His time on the mountain was a blur. He’d lost track of the days that had passed, the hours that had gone by while he watched a pair of hawks flying high in the sky. He’d dragged himself down the mountain, inch by painful inch, with no particular destination in mind. Thankfully, he’d eventually come across a cabin tucked into the woods. It was actually the garden offering fresh vegetables that had caught his eye. He’d been helping himself to fresh tomatoes and cucumbers when Jolene and Ken Thornhill had found him.

Ken had carried a shotgun, but one look at Hawk’s scars had him putting the weapon away. Hawk had convinced them not to call the authorities, and the couple, being mountain people and distrustful of the cops anyway, had readily agreed. The Thornhills helped get him back on his feet. Their home remedies worked just as well as any hospital-based therapy.

Except for the scar.

And when the men with guns had come looking for him, they’d hidden him in their root cellar until they were gone. Hawk was convinced the men were soldiers sent by Barton to find him and silence him for good. Especially since the plane had gone down after conveniently springing a fuel leak.

He owed the Thornhills his life. But they hadn’t wanted any form of payment. He’d sent them cash when he’d managed to work enough to get some, but the money had come back to him as undeliverable.

Shaking himself from thoughts of the past, he carried the bowl of oatmeal to the table and set it in front of Jillian. She hadn’t said anything for the past several minutes and, even now, avoided looking directly at him.

“Eat,” he encouraged softly. “You’ll need to keep up your strength.”

She obediently picked up the spoon and took a small bite. Lizzy chose that moment to come out of the bedroom rubbing her sleepy eyes, looking adorable in her pink footie pajamas.

“I hav’ta go potty.”

“Sure. This way, sweetie.” Jillian jumped up from the table and crossed over to their daughter, steering her into the bathroom.

Hawk put the kettle back on to boil, hoping Lizzy liked oatmeal. He had no idea what his daughter liked to eat or her favorite things to do. He’d noticed a dollhouse in the corner of her bedroom and now wished he’d thought to bring some of the dolls along for her to play with.

At least she had her teddy bear. The one she’d clutched protectively as he’d pulled her from beneath the bed.

He glanced at his watch, estimating how much time they had before they needed to hit the road. Less than an hour. Doable, but only if Jillian and Lizzy finished their breakfast ASAP.

The teakettle whistled as Jillian and Lizzy emerged from the bathroom. Lizzy clapped her hands over her ears.

“Too loud!”

Hawk winced, nodded and moved the kettle, adding hot water to two more bowls of oatmeal. Then he carried them to the kitchen table, setting one down near Jillian’s bowl and taking his to the other side.

Jillian lifted Lizzy onto her lap. It pained him to know Lizzy wouldn’t want to sit with him. As he watched, Jillian bowed her head and softly thanked God for the food she was about to eat. He was reminded of how the Callahans always prayed out loud before meals, but he’d never joined in.

No one spoke for several long moments as they ate. And it was Lizzy who eventually broke the silence.

“Can we go home, Mommy?”

The question hit him in the face like a blow. He looked at Jillian, unsure if he should speak up or not.

“Not today, sweetie.” Jillian hitched the little girl higher on her lap. “Finish up your oatmeal like a good girl.”

“We can try to find a place that’s kid-friendly,” he offered. “I know a place that rents individual cabins. It’s not too far away and has a playground I’m sure Lizzy would love.”

Jillian shrugged. “Whatever you think is best. We’ll make the most of wherever we end up, won’t we Lizzy-girl?”

Lizzy nodded her head, her drooping pigtails bobbing up and down. His daughter’s hair was dark, like his, without any sign of Jillian’s reddish glints. But the rest of her features were mirror images of her mother’s. She’d be just as beautiful as Jillian someday.

He finished his meal before they did and carried his dishes to the sink. “We’ll need to leave soon.”

“Okay.” Jillian’s voice sounded resigned.

There was no point in saying anything further; moving again was necessary in order to keep them alive. And while he still felt terrible knowing that he’d brought danger to their doorstep, the only thing he could do now was to stay ahead of the danger curve.

He took his turn in the bathroom, spending less than ten minutes. He heard Jillian and Lizzy’s voices in their bedroom and hoped they were getting their things together.

Thankfully, Jillian had done the dishes, so there was nothing more that needed his attention. He pulled on his leather coat, grabbed his keys and waited, gazing out through the large picture window of the living room.

A movement outside caught his attention. He froze, his gaze tracking the shifting of leaves and the sudden uprising of a bird from the bushes.

Too late! They’d found the cabin.

He hurried into the bedroom as Jillian was trying to coax the teddy bear from Lizzy’s grip. “We need to go. Get your coats, leave the duffel behind. We’re heading out the back.”

“The back?” The confusion in Jillian’s green gaze morphed into fear. She instantly yanked the bear away, shoved Lizzy’s coat on, then hers, before lifting Lizzy into her arms. She returned the teddy bear hoping the stuffed animal would help keep Lizzy calm. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “They’re here?”

He nodded, gently pulling her toward him. Ushering her into his bedroom and to the back doorway he had built in there just for this type of thing, he considered their options. First, they needed to get out of the cabin and deeper into the woods without leaving a blatant footprint trail behind. Using the SUV was out of the question; the hostiles were too close. He’d have to make do with the snowmobile he had hidden in the woods toward the back of his property.

Outside, the December air was crisp and cool despite the sunshine. Keeping Jillian in front of him, he covered their backs as he guided them into the woods. He could tell Jillian was trying to move silently, but to his ears it sounded as if they were a stampede of elephants announcing their location to anyone within a fifty-mile radius. He worried, too, about leaving footprints in the snow. The snow wasn’t deep and there were spots where there were leafy areas to step on as a way to mitigate the risk.

Thankfully, Lizzy didn’t say anything but kept her head tucked against her mother’s shoulder, still gripping the tattered teddy bear. He wished the little girl trusted him enough to allow him to carry her, knowing they’d be able to move more quickly. But he didn’t want to risk her tears.

Knowing the woods helped. Prior to renting the house next to Jillian’s he’d spent a lot of time up here. The place had reminded him of the Thornhill cabin in the mountains.

The cluster of bushes he’d been aiming for was straight ahead. He picked up his pace, moving ahead. Jillian did her best to keep up, but her foot got caught on a branch. He managed to catch her before she hit the ground.

He gently set her on her feet and gestured toward the cluster of bushes. She nodded her understanding and headed in that direction. Hawk continued sweeping his gaze over the area, looking for signs the hostiles were near, surprised that they hadn’t covered the back side of the cabin but had chosen to come in from the front and the west.

Although he knew there very well could be more.

When they reached the cluster of bushes, he carved out a small space with his hands and drew Jillian down. “Stay here, I’ll be back soon.”

She clutched at his arm. “Don’t leave us,” she begged.

It wasn’t by choice but out of necessity. He leaned down so his mouth was near her ear. “I have a snowmobile nearby. I promise I’ll be quick.”

Tears welled in her eyes, but she gave a jerky nod, showing she understood. He drew out his gun and handed it to her. This time she didn’t protest but clutched it with both hands while keeping one arm around Lizzy, holding her close.

He hesitated. There was so much he wanted to say, but there wasn’t time. He needed to move, to draw the hostiles away from Jillian and Lizzy.

He’d willingly sacrifice himself to keep them alive and safe.

This was so much worse than waiting in the car. Since they were surrounded by snow-covered trees and bushes, any sense of being safe was eroded by the cold breeze that made her shiver. Her fingers were beginning to go numb, but she didn’t dare let go of the gun.

She silently prayed that God would watch over them. Keeping an internal monologue in her head helped keep her fear in check. Hawk would return for them. He had a snowmobile nearby and would be here soon. He wouldn’t let the men combing the woods reach her and Lizzy.

Hawk was James, except he wasn’t. Her husband had never moved so stealthily. Her husband had smiled and laughed often, and while he may not have been verbose, he certainly had spoken more than Hawk did.

Nevertheless, he was her husband. She was still married to the man. Wasn’t she? Maybe not, since James had been declared dead. But he wasn’t dead, not really. He was just—different. Thinking about it made her head hurt. It was all so confusing.

Come on, Hawk, where are you?

“Mommy?” Lizzy lifted her head.

“Shh,” she whispered.

Lizzy wiggled a little and Jillian feared her daughter wasn’t going to stay silent much longer. Hoping and praying Hawk would return soon, she kept her mouth right near her daughter’s ear.

“Be quiet for just a little while longer.”

Lizzy nodded her head and leaned against her, rubbing her cheek against the teddy bear’s head.

Jillian let out a sigh of relief. So far, so good.

A twig snapped. The sound sent a stab of terror deep into her stomach. She went still, her breath locked in her throat and her heart thundering in her chest. She pressed Lizzy’s face against her chest, hoping the little girl wouldn’t do or say something to give them away.

Since rediscovering the church after moving to Wisconsin, she’d leaned on God often and didn’t hesitate to do that again, now.

Please keep us safe, Lord! Please!

The sound of rustling leaves seemed close. She imagined one of the black ski-masked men making his way toward their hiding spot. How much longer? She dreaded every passing second, fearing the worst.

Then abruptly there was an oomph sound and a muffled thud. Still, she didn’t move, didn’t so much as blink. She wanted desperately to believe Hawk had taken care of the guy, but for all she knew, he’d fallen flat on his face the way she nearly had a few minutes ago.

Another ten seconds passed. She strained to listen but heard nothing.

Suddenly Hawk loomed in front of them, a streak of dirt covering his scar. He gave a nod and held out his hand. She shakily put her hand in his, allowing him to pull her and Lizzy to her feet.

She wanted to ask what was going on, but as if he sensed her intent, he lifted a finger to his lips. She nodded in understanding.

They weren’t safe yet. And it struck her then that they may never be safe again.

From this moment on, safety could very well be nothing more than an illusion.

Hawk gently but firmly pulled her in a different direction. She couldn’t tell if they were going closer toward the cabin or farther away. It wasn’t easy to navigate while carrying Lizzy, because she couldn’t see her feet. Twice she felt a branch of some sort pressing against her shin, making her lift her foot higher to get over it.

They moved through the dense woods in what felt like slow motion. But soon enough, Hawk tugged on her arm, indicating they could stop here.

She glanced around, thinking she’d find the snowmobile he’d mentioned. When she didn’t see it, her hopes plummeted. Had someone stolen it? Or had the ski-mask guys found it before Hawk had?

Hawk stepped over to a bush and began moving snow-laden branches. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the camouflage-green snowmobile hidden behind the shrubbery.

It took Hawk a while to get the thing uncovered. It soon became clear that the bush hadn’t been a bush at all but dozens of loose branches placed strategically around the machine.

He swung his leg over the seat and gestured for her to get on in front of him. She hesitated, worried about Lizzy.

“Keep her in front of you,” he whispered.

She nodded and did as he asked. The seat seemed far too small for the three of them but her protest was swallowed by the roar of the engine.

She felt Lizzy shuddering against her, guessing that the little girl hated the loud sound. Hawk hit the gas and the machine moved forward, the twin skis gliding over the snow, fallen branches and leaves. She let out a screech as he went even faster, tearing a path through the woods.

Stealth was not an option now. The way they roared through the woods broadcasted their location to anyone still searching for them. Clutching Hawk’s knee with one arm, while clinging to Lizzy with the other, she grew convinced that he was the only one capable of getting them out of there.

But where would they go? It wasn’t as if you could drive a snowmobile down the center of a plowed road. Or could you? Maybe. Yet as fast as they were moving, she knew the machine carrying them didn’t have the necessary speed to outrun a car.

Bare branches slapped her in the face, making her eyes sting with tears. She curled her body around Lizzy’s, protecting the little girl the only way she could.

The trees thinned and she wondered if they were getting close to the road or to the end of Hawk’s property. She felt certain they’d escaped, until she heard the loud echo of gunfire above the drone of the engine.

No! Jillian gasped, horrified that the ski-masked men were still out there, shooting at them.

“Keep your head down,” he ordered.

Doing anything else was impossible anyway, but what about Hawk? He was the most exposed, and if something happened to him...there was no hope for her and Lizzy to survive.

She prayed again as Hawk continued driving. The woods seemed to go on forever, thinning out a bit, then growing thicker again. She had no idea how much land Hawk owned, or if they were out on someone else’s property by now.

Did it matter if they were? It gave her a measure of hope that the owners might call the police.

The gunfire had stopped, but she couldn’t relax. Not with Hawk still driving like a maniac.

Then he abruptly pulled over and stopped the machine. Silence reigned except for the ringing in her ears.

“Take Lizzy and stand over there for a minute,” Hawk said, urging her off the snowmobile and pointing at a pine tree.

She wanted to protest but knew it was useless. She awkwardly climbed off the machine, feeling Lizzy’s weight slipping down.

Hawk jumped back on the snowmobile and rode it about eighty yards away before abandoning it. Then he pulled several items out of a storage area behind the seat, before hurrying toward her. He was careful to step only on the tracks made by the sled.

She was impressed by his actions, knowing the machine would draw the men in the woods away from them. She hitched Lizzy in her arms.

“I’ll take her.” Hawk didn’t wait for permission but took Lizzy from her, after storing what looked like duct tape and twine in his jacket pocket. “This way.”

Lizzy didn’t cry, too frightened to do anything but hang on. They once again moved through the woods, faster now that Jillian wasn’t impeded by her daughter’s weight.

Hawk stopped in front of a large tree. “We’re going up.”

Her jaw dropped. “Up? The tree?”

He nodded, pulling another length of twine out of his jacket pocket. “I’ll carry you while you hold Lizzy.”

She shook her head, thinking he was crazy. No way could Hawk carry both of them all the way up a tree. And what would they do when they got up there? Swing from the branches like Tarzan and Jane? She’d fall on her face for sure.

“Like this.” He placed Lizzy back in her arms. “You’re going to put your arms around my neck and lock your legs around my waist, keeping Lizzy tucked between us.”

“She’ll fall,” she protested.

“She won’t. She’ll hang on to you. Trust me.”

She did trust Hawk. Had trusted him to get them out of danger twice now. Knew that God was somehow guiding him.

“Hold tight, Lizzy.” The little girl nodded and wrapped her tiny arms snugly around her neck. Then Jillian faced Hawk’s back and locked her arms around his chest. When she lifted her legs around his waist, pressing Lizzy securely between them, he began to climb, using the rope around the tree for leverage.

How he made it up the tree was a mystery. The muscles of his chest and shoulders bunched beneath her arms with the strain, but he didn’t make a sound as he went vertical.

She wasn’t sure what she expected, but the flat platform about two-thirds of the way up the tree was a surprise. Especially when she saw that there were three full sides to the thing that protected them from view. Hawk managed to get up and over the edge of the platform, landing on his hands and knees.

“You can get off now,” he whispered.

It was scary being up so high, but she unlocked her legs first, then slid to the side so she was sitting on the platform next to him. Holding Lizzy close, she edged closer to the trunk of the tree, seeking some sense of stability.

“We made it,” she whispered in awe.

Hawk nodded. “We still need to be quiet, okay?” He didn’t wait for a response but pulled out his gun and flattened himself against the platform. He inched to the edge, peering down to see what was going on down below.

She lifted her hand to push her hair out of her face, frowning when she saw blood. For a moment she didn’t understand, but then she noticed several more drops of blood staining the platform.

He’d been shot!

FOUR

“Hawk! You’re hurt!” Jillian whispered in a low, urgent tone.

“It’s nothing. Keep Lizzy quiet, okay?” Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Hawk looked carefully over the edge of the deer blind, searching for hostiles. He had two guns and a knife but didn’t want to use them unless there was absolutely no other option. He’d taken one man temporarily out of commission, but there were three more, and he couldn’t bear the thought of Jillian and Lizzy witnessing him killing a man.

Yet he’d do whatever was necessary to keep them safe.

They were in danger because of him. Because he’d poked the sleeping bear by probing for information on Senator Barton. It was the only thing that made sense.

Pushing the thought away, he kept his gaze focused on the wooded area below while internally planning their next move. He needed to call Mike Callahan for help, but he wasn’t thrilled with the idea of putting his buddy in danger.

Jillian did her best to soothe Lizzy, urging the little girl to stay quiet. Lizzy’s hiccuping sobs were muffled against Jillian’s chest and he hated knowing his daughter was so frightened.

Peering through the trees, he could see the dark shape of the snowmobile where he’d left it, eighty yards from where they were hiding.

Time to implement the next phase of his plan.

“Stay up here with Lizzy,” he whispered to Jillian.

“Where are you going?” There was thinly veiled panic in her voice.

He wasn’t sure how to answer her without causing her to become even more afraid. He trusted his ability to take out the three men but hated leaving her here, alone. Pulling out his phone, he found Mike Callahan’s number and showed it to her. “If I’m not back in an hour, call Mike. He’s a cop and will keep you and Lizzy safe.”

“Why can’t we call him now?” Jillian argued. “Then you can stay here with us.”

“He’s at least forty-five minutes away, maybe more.” He thrust the phone at her. “Please, Jilly. I’m asking you to trust me on this.”

She held his gaze for a long moment, before reluctantly nodding. He wanted nothing more than to pull her close in a reassuring hug but needed to get moving.

Soundlessly, he climbed down the tree, ignoring his injured shoulder, and moved quickly without the added burden of having to carry Jillian and Lizzy. On the ground, he took a moment to get his bearings.

He found a branch and used it to help wipe away his footprints from the base of the tree. Then he took a roundabout and silent path toward the snowmobile.

Hawk halted behind a tree when he caught sight of one hostile positioned twenty yards in front of him. Hawk could only see his back, it was clear the man’s attention was focused on the snowmobile.

His mistake. Hawk managed to sneak up on him from behind, taking him down without making much of a sound despite the ache in his shoulder. Hawk knocked him unconscious, then bound and gagged him using the duct tape in his pocket.

Another one down, two more to go.

Hawk moved silently away, estimating that another assailant would be at the three o’clock position. Hiding behind a tree, he searched for a sign and then found him.

The second guy didn’t go down as quietly as the first one. Could be because Hawk was feeling the effect of blood loss, but he refused to acknowledge weakness. When he had the second man unconscious and tied up securely, as well, he looked for the next one.

Keenly aware of the minutes ticking by on his allotted hour, he hoped Jillian wouldn’t place the call to Mike before he’d had the chance to take the last attacker out of commission.

Hawk knew that taking down the last man would be the most difficult. The hostile must know that his cohorts were compromised and would have no reason to stay at his point location.

Ducking behind a thorny bush, Hawk wiped snow away to uncover a large rock. He tossed it high in the air, then crouched down and watched carefully for signs of movement when it landed with a dull thud.

For several long seconds there was nothing, but finally, the slightest movement from the twelve o’clock position caught his eye. Target in sight, Hawk moved in.

Another movement had him dropping to the ground. The sound of gunfire echoed loudly through the woods, narrowly missing him. Gut instinct had Hawk rolling to the side and returning fire at the spot where he’d seen the muzzle flash.

Then there was nothing but silence.

Because he’d hit his target? He wasn’t sure.

He waited another five minutes before edging along the ground toward the nine o’clock position. The man was lying there, dead from a gunshot wound to his chest.

Hawk sighed and rose to his feet, staggering a bit. Four men taken down total, one dead. A wave of despair hit him hard. He hated knowing that he’d killed a man even though it was in self-defense.

After a long moment, he pulled off the man’s ski mask, realizing this guy was the same one who’d been in Jillian’s house. Searching for ID proved fruitless, but he did find a set of car keys. Hawk tucked them away. Returning to the snowmobile, he fired it up and rode back to the tree with the deer blind.

“Jillian? You and Lizzy okay?”

“Yes,” came the faint response. “Just cold.”

“I know. Did you call Mike?”

“Not yet.”

“Good.” He gathered every ounce of strength and determination, knowing he’d need it get up the tree and back down with Lizzy and Jillian. It was much harder this time: his left arm was weak and he didn’t have the same surge of adrenaline roaring through his veins. But he managed, and soon the three of them were back on solid ground.

“Now what?” Jillian asked, her body shivering with cold.

He indicated the snowmobile. “Now we find the vehicle belonging to the men who came to find us.”

She looked as if she wanted to argue, but he gestured for her to get on the snowmobile first with Lizzy. He slid in behind them and reached out to grab the handlebars.

The trip to the highway didn’t take long, and he quickly found the black SUV, a newer make and model compared to his own.

“We need Lizzy’s car seat,” Jillian protested as he ushered them inside.

“I know.” Hawk didn’t want to stay at the cabin for much longer, fearing more men were on the way, but the cabin was only a half mile up the road. Getting the car seat didn’t take much time, and soon they were back on the highway.

He cranked the heat for Jillian and Lizzy while considering their next move. They’d been found at the cabin far too quickly. He never should have gone there in the first place.

The weight of Jillian’s and Lizzy’s safety was incredibly heavy on his shoulders.

He couldn’t afford to make another mistake.

Jillian gratefully absorbed the warm air blasting from the vents of the SUV. She’d prayed the entire time they’d been up in the tree stand, and God had answered by not only keeping them safe but providing a method of escape.

Between Hawk’s ingenuity and God’s support, they’d made it out the woods alive. Yet it was difficult to relax. She felt certain the danger was far from over.

She wrestled with the fact that Hawk was really James. She’d lived next door to him for five months—how could she not have figured it out? This all seemed like some sort of twisted movie plot rather than something that happened in real life.

She glanced over at him, searching his profile for signs of the man she’d once married.

Now that she knew the truth, it was easy to spot the similarities and differences. His intense blue eyes were the same, but the prominent cheekbones were gone, and she felt bad about the deep scar grooving his face. Hawk was leaner and more muscular than she remembered, and his voice, which always sounded hoarse now, made her wonder if there had been some sort of internal damage to his vocal cords as a result of the plane crash.

Hawk didn’t laugh the way James had, or talk as much. He was serious and to the point.

She turned away, mourning the loss all over again. Maybe Hawk was right to claim James had died in the Appalachian Mountains. The man sitting beside her, the one who’d climbed up and down a tree with her and Lizzy on his back, seemed very different than the man she’d married.

And for the life of her, she couldn’t look at him and think James. He was Hawk.

“You’ll need to stop at a drugstore. I need bandages and other supplies to take care of your wound.”

He gave a small nod. “Later. Right now I need to figure out a place to go where we’ll be safe.”

“You mentioned a place with individual cabins and a playground for Lizzy,” she reminded.

He hesitated and shrugged. “Yeah, that’s where we’re headed. But it’s just five days before Christmas and I’m not sure they have openings.”

“I can’t imagine individual cabins being a hot place to spend Christmas.”

He glanced at her in surprise. “It is for me.”

“Because you’re a single guy without a family.” The minute the words were out of her mouth, she wished them back. “I mean, until now.”

Hawk didn’t respond and she knew that she’d stuck her foot in her mouth, big-time. Yet it was hardly her fault. She’d only known he was James for a few hours.

Terrifying hours that they’d spent hiding from armed men wearing ski masks.

The silence grew uncomfortable. More proof that they were virtual strangers rather than husband and wife.

“How do you know about this place with cabins and a playground anyway?”

“Used it last summer when a friend of mine needed to hide out for a while.”

“Mike Callahan? That friend?”

He nodded.

More silence, and it occurred to her that attempting to have a conversation with Hawk was harder work than panning for gold. Not that she’d ever tried panning for gold.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said.

He frowned. “For what?”

She let out a sigh. “For insinuating that you don’t have a family. It’s just—difficult to wrap my mind around all of this.”

“Understandable. And as I said before, it doesn’t have to change anything between us.”

But it did, she thought. Knowing Hawk was James changed everything.

She found herself thinking about the future more than ever. How her relationship with Hawk would move forward after the danger was over.

“Mommy, I’m hungry,” Lizzy said plaintively.

Glancing at the clock, she was surprised to see it was approaching eleven o’clock in the morning. Considering they’d been up by six and running for their lives since seven, she couldn’t blame Lizzy for wanting to eat.

“We’ll stop at a restaurant soon,” Hawk surprised her by saying. “There’s one not too far away. And there’s a drugstore nearby, too.”

She was glad to hear they’d soon have the supplies they needed to tend to his wound.

“Can I have chicken strips?” Lizzy asked.

Jillian smiled. “Sure.”

“Okay.” Lizzy was satisfied with that response.

“I take it those are her favorites?” Hawk asked.

“Yes. With lots of ketchup.” She was saddened by the fact that Hawk didn’t know these small details about his daughter. Her favorite foods, favorite books, her friends at day care.

Five months that they could have spent getting reunited had been wasted. In fact, she doubted that Hawk would have come clean at all if it hadn’t been for her need to be rescued.

“You have no idea who they were?” She glanced over her shoulder at Lizzy to make sure she wasn’t listening. Amazingly, despite running for their lives, riding a snowmobile and going up into a tree, Lizzy still had her ragged teddy bear. Her cheek was resting on the teddy bear’s head, her eyes drooping with sleepiness.

“No. Other than I assume they were sent by either Barton or Hayes.”

“But why come to my house?” Jillian asked.

Hawk glanced at her. “It’s no secret we were once married. The only thing I can figure out is that they intended to kidnap you and Lizzy in order to get me to come out of hiding.”

Chills rippled down her spine at his theory. “But that doesn’t make any sense. It wouldn’t have worked. I didn’t even know you were alive until this morning.”

“They didn’t know that,” Hawk reasoned. “I have to assume that my prying into Senator Barton’s past triggered several alarms. They’d never found my body after the plane crash but probably chalked that up to me crawling off somewhere to die.”

“Maybe.” She wasn’t convinced.

“It’s possible they now believe we’ve been in touch with each other over the years.”

Ridiculous, since there had been no contact since the day she’d been informed that James had died.

“That was the worst day of my life,” she said in a low voice.

“What was?”

She struggled to ward off tears. “Finding out you were dead on the same day I discovered I was pregnant.”

Hawk’s grip on the steering wheel tightened to the point his knuckles went white. A thick, heavy silence hung between them for several miles. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he finally managed.

She sniffled and swiped at her face. Why she was getting all emotional over this, she had no idea. She felt guilty for making him feel bad. “It was hardly your fault. It was just—rotten timing.”

“Yeah.” There was a pause, then he asked, “Who came to see you?”

She shook her head helplessly. “I can’t remember his name now but probably have it at home somewhere. I think he left his card. Master Sergeant Somebody-or-other.”

“I’m surprised you kept it all these years.”

“I kept a lot of things over the years.” There was no reason to feel defensive, and she tried to tone it down. “I have several pictures of us together. I show them to Lizzy so she’ll remember you.”

“That’s, uh, nice.” Hawk’s tone held uncertainty and she realized she’d done it again. Lizzy didn’t have to remember her father from a photo.

He was here now. He looked different, yes, but he was still her father. And they needed to find a time to tell the little girl that Hawk was her daddy.

Which also meant that in the eyes of God, they were still married.

All at once, it all seemed overwhelming. She’d made a life for herself and Lizzy, and now things would never be the same. Hawk deserved to spend time with his daughter, she wouldn’t keep that from him.

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