DANGER NEVER TAKES A HOLIDAY...

TWO NOVELLAS IN THE CLASSIFIED K-9 UNIT SERIES

A Killer Christmas by Lenora Worth

When FBI K-9 agent Nina Atkins thwarts an attempted murder, she becomes a target of the killer—the same hit man US Marshal Thomas Grant is tracking. Even caught in the crosshairs, Nina’s reluctant to share her case, but working with Thomas may be the only way to capture a murderer before she becomes his next victim.

Yuletide Stalking by Terri Reed

Determined to stop an arsonist with the help of his accelerant-detecting K-9 partner, FBI agent Tim Ramsey must protect the only witness. But when the criminal begins stalking Vickie Petrov, can Tim convince her to trust him…and help her survive to see another Christmas?

Meet the officers of the Classified K-9 Unit series and their brave canine partners

Officer: Nina Atkins

K-9 Partner: Sam the rottweiler

Assignment: Team up with US Marshal Thomas Grant to track down a serial killer at Christmas.

Officer: Tim Ramsey

K-9 Partner: Frodo the German shepherd

Assignment: Find the arsonist Vickie Petrov saw in action and keep her alive to see the new year.

With over seventy books published and millions in print, LENORA WORTH writes award-winning romance and romantic suspense. Three of her books finaled in the ACFW Carol Awards, and her Love Inspired Suspense novel Body of Evidence became a New York Times bestseller. Her novella in Mistletoe Kisses made her a USA TODAY bestselling author. Lenora goes on adventures with her retired husband, Don, and enjoys reading, baking and shopping...especially shoe shopping.

TERRI REED’s romance and romantic suspense novels have appeared on the Publishers Weekly top twenty-five and Nielsen BookScan’s top one hundred lists, and have been featured in USA TODAY, Christian Fiction Magazine and RT Book Reviews. Her books have been finalists for the Romance Writers of America RITA® Award and the National Readers’ Choice Award, and finalists three times for the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. Contact Terri at terrireed.com or PO Box 19555, Portland, OR 97224.

Classified K-9 Unit Christmas

A Killer Christmas

Lenora Worth

Yuletide Stalking

Terri Reed

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Table of Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Authors

Title Page

A Killer Christmas

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

Yuletide Stalking

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

Extract

Copyright

A Killer Christmas

Lenora Worth

Dear Reader,

While this subject matter was disturbing, I enjoyed working with the talented Terri Reed in this two-in-one story. It was exciting to put a strong female FBI agent with an equally strong US Deputy Marshal. Nina and Thomas stole my heart. I knew their story would be a challenge since they both wanted the same thing—to get the bad guy. And yet, they needed each other, too.

Sometimes in trying to be strong, we forget that God sees our weaknesses and helps us overcome them. Having faith gives us strength beyond measure. But accepting God’s help can be hard to do at times.

I hope you have a good Christmas. Think of Nina taking Thomas home to a place of love and happiness. I want you to feel that, too, no matter where you are in life.

Until next time, may the angels watch over you.

Always.

Lenora Worth

To Terri Reed—you make me proud every day.

I’m so glad to be here with you!

For He will give His angels charge concerning you to guard you in all of your ways.

—Psalms 91:11

ONE

The full moon grinned down on her with a wintry smile. FBI Tactical K-9 Unit Agent Nina Atkins held on to the leash and kept an eye on the big dog running with her. Sam loved being outside, no matter the weather, no matter the crunch of snow underneath his paws. The three-year-old K-9 rottweiler, a smart but gentle giant that specialized in cadaver detection, had no idea that most humans were terrified of him. Especially the criminal kind.

Tonight, however, they weren’t looking for criminals. Nina was just out for a nice run and then home to a long, hot shower. Two weeks before Christmas, and after a harrowing year where one of their own had gone bad and lost his life, thankfully all was quiet around the Billings, Montana, FBI Tactical K-9 Unit headquarters. Special Agent in Charge Max West would be back before Christmas, but right now he was taking some time off with his bride, Katerina. Even tech wiz Dylan O’Leary had taken a few days away to spend some time with the parents of his wife, Zara. So many of her friends and fellow agents had fallen in love lately, Nina’s head was spinning. Which was probably why she’d felt the need for a quick run. She lived for her work. No time for romance. Okay, maybe she’d just given up on a love life since her last brief relationship had fizzled out like a mountain stream in a serious drought.

Nina lived about twenty miles from downtown Billings, in the quaint town of Iris Rock. Regardless of her single status, she loved going on these nightly runs through the quiet foothills near the Elk Basin.

“C’mon, Sam,” Nina said now, her nose cold. “Just around the bend and then we’ll cool down on the way home.”

Sam woofed in response, comfortable in his own rich brown fur. But instead of moving on, the big dog came to an abrupt halt that almost threw Nina right over his broad body.

“Sam?”

The rottweiler glanced back at her with his work expression. What kind of scent had he picked up?

Then she heard something.

“I don’t know anything. Please, don’t do this.”

Female. Youngish voice. Scared and shaky.

Giving Sam a hand signal to stay quiet, Nina moved from the narrow gravel jogging path to the snow-covered woods, each footstep slow and calculated. Sam led the way, as quiet as a desert rat.

“I need the key. The senator said you’d give it to me.”

Nina and Sam hid behind a copse of trees and dead brambles and watched the two figures a few yards away, standing in an open spot.

A big, tall man was holding a gun on a young woman with long dark hair. The girl was sobbing and wringing her hands out, palms up. Nina recognized that defensive move.

Was he going to shoot her?

Then Nina noticed something else.

A shallow, open pit right behind the girl. Could that be a newly dug grave?

Nina didn’t stop to ponder that question, but she knew to be careful, too. Giving Sam another “quiet” signal, she called out, “Hey, everything okay here?”

The girl gasped and stared at her with fear-filled eyes, but stayed frozen to the spot.

The man turned to face her. Nina used a hand signal to allow Sam to bark, hoping to distract the man so the girl could run. The dog did his job, his ferocious bark echoing loudly out over the winter woods. Since she didn’t have her weapon, Sam was Nina’s only hope right now in stopping the girl from getting shot. That could give her time to call for help.

The man stared at Nina, giving her a good view of his face in the eerie white light from the moon. He shot at her and just missed, and then pivoted back toward the girl, weapon in hand. Sam kept barking. The man looked panicked, so Nina motioned the rottweiler forward, all the while taking in the assailant’s appearance.

The big dog growled, but stopped when she signaled him. “My dog is trained to attack,” she said. “You should drop that gun now.”

The man shook his head and raised the gun, but Nina signaled Sam again. The animal danced and barked, causing a panicked expression on the man’s face. He started backing away, but in a lightning-fast move, pivoted and took one quick shot at the girl.

She screamed, grabbed at her shoulder and fell into the open pit behind her as the gunman disappeared into the woods.

Sam kept barking, eager for some action.

Nina pulled out her phone and hurriedly called in the crime, describing the scene and her location. “Suspect somewhere in the Iris Rock woods just off the Eastern trail.”

Jumping down into the pit, she breathed a sigh of relief. The girl was still alive, though her pulse was weak. Nina almost sent Sam after the man, but instead ordered him to guard in case the killer came back. Because Nina knew in her gut that he would return. She hoped by then she’d have backup.

She’d need it, and she’d need to pray for protection. He’d left his victim alive, and the girl had seen his face. So had Nina. She and Sam had surprised the man and thrown him off guard long enough to defuse the situation. And because of that, he’d probably come back for all of them.

* * *

US Deputy Marshal Thomas Grant brought his big Chevy pickup to a halt just off the edge of the woods. Something was certainly going on. Several police cars and a few big black SUVs sat caddy-cornered off the narrow road ahead, lights flashing to warn any passersby. Official-looking people milled around, some dressed in black and wearing FBI vests. A couple officers had K-9s with them, sniffing here and there.

He decided to investigate, because his gut told him this was more than a traffic stop or an accident. This looked like an all-out manhunt in progress.

Dressed in civilian clothes as he was, he pulled out his ID as soon as he climbed from the truck, and flashed it at the first officer he came into contact with.

“What are you doing here?” the young patrolman asked with a skeptical tone.

“Looking for a wanted man,” Thomas replied on a droll note. “He could be in these parts.”

The cop nodded and let him through.

Then Thomas spotted her.

A female wearing heavy jogging clothes and a bright purple wool hat hopped up out of a dark, six-foot-long hole in the snow-speckled ground. A big, fierce-looking dog met her and wagged his tail, while she held up her hands to show the crime scene techs what looked like dirt and blood.

Thomas watched as the woman talked to an officer, her hands lifted in the air. Then he glanced to where an ambulance had backed up into the woods. Two EMTs pushed a stretcher carrying a young woman hooked up to an IV toward the waiting bus.

Before he could announce his presence, the jogger glanced over at Thomas and stalked toward him. “May I ask what you’re doing here, Deputy Marshal?”

He took in the light blond hair underneath the wool hat and the big brown eyes full of distrust. He had to look down at her, but she stood straight and didn’t flinch.

He showed her his credentials even though he’d given the officer his name already. “US Deputy Marshal Thomas Grant. I was passing by and saw the ruckus. I’m looking for a man—.”

“Hey, Nina, can you come over here?”

“Hold that thought,” she told Thomas with a puzzled glare, before she turned back to a man wearing an official FBI jacket.

“Coming,” she said, scooting toward where a group of FBI agents gathered by the open earth. They stood in a cluster and talked among themselves, the woman right in the middle.

Thomas waited and listened, two things he was good at. Soon enough, he’d stitched together the details. The cute blonde had been out jogging and had stumbled across a crime in progress. A man holding a gun on a young girl. The jogger must have called it in.

So the young woman was on the way to the ER and the man was long gone. And from the way the blonde was calling out information and discussing details with the K-9 agents, he’d guess she had to be someone official, too. That and the big dog shadowing her summed it up.

She was an FBI agent. And the dog was obviously her K-9 partner. Off duty and on a run, but now on full speed ahead to find the man who’d tried to kill that girl. A girl she’d obviously tried to save, from what he’d seen.

Before Thomas could corner her, someone shouted out, “Nina, we’ve found another body. That makes two.”

“Coming, Tim.” She whirled like a little cyclone and took off.

Thomas’s gut burned even hotter. Two bodies and one girl shot?

Could the man who’d done this be the assassin he’d come to Montana to find?

* * *

Nina did a final sweep of the scene and then turned to leave for headquarters. She needed to file her report and meet with a sketch artist so they could get an image of the shooter to put out to the local media. The team also now had the gruesome task of helping the medical examiner to identify the two female bodies. They’d already sent out the necessary warnings and alerts to be on the lookout, and she’d talked to SAC Max West a few minutes ago to give him an update. The few agents on holiday duty had come through on doing what needed to be done, and the local sheriff’s department was on it, too.

Now if she could factor in why a US Deputy Marshal had suddenly shown up, she might be able to get home and have a good night’s sleep. No, that wouldn’t happen. She’d seen that gunman’s cold black eyes and heard that poor girl screaming. She should probably stay at headquarters and work tonight.

“Okay, Deputy Marshal Grant,” she said, marching up to the tall, big-boned man wearing the suede jacket and worn jeans. “I’m Agent Nina Atkins from the FBI Tactical K-9 Unit in Billings. What’s your interest in this crime scene? Did you just happen to be in the neighborhood?”

He stared her in the face with a calm scrutiny that made her shiver inside her wicking outerwear. “I happen to be here on a case. Looking for a man who could allegedly be a hired assassin, reported to possibly be last seen in Montana, near Billings. The MO mentioned here tonight sounds like his. I’d hoped you could fill me in so we can compare notes.”

Suspicious, Nina gave him a long once-over while she tried to sum him up. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“I know your unit,” he said. “I was assigned to protecting Esme Dupree earlier this year. She was in the witness protection program, before she bolted on me. I hear she testified against her brother Reginald and that she’s married to one of your team members now.”

Nina gave him another scrutinizing look, surprise sparking through her system. She did hazily recall his name from that investigation, but then being a new member of the team, she hadn’t been front and center on every aspect of the Dupree case, so she’d never met him. Nina felt sure she would have remembered Thomas Grant. “So, Deputy Marshal Grant—”

“Thomas,” he said, his stormy gray eyes still and quiet.

“So, Thomas, tell me more about who you’re looking for and maybe I’ll share what I know.” She turned to go to her SUV, thinking he’d follow her.

When she looked around to check, she found him right behind her. How did he do that without her hearing him?

“Where’re we going?” he asked with a wry smile, and a husky Southern accent that shouted Texas.

“I’m going back to headquarters to finish out this night,” she retorted. “I’ve got to get my partner some food and let him rest. But we can talk after I put Sam in his kennel.”

She hit the fob button and the rear door to the SUV popped open. After letting Sam inside, Nina made sure he had some water and a treat. Then she turned back to Tall, Blond and Intimidating.

She decided to stake her territory. “I need whatever information you have before I can confirm what happened here tonight.”

“Of course. I’ll follow you to headquarters,” he said, not moving.

He looked so relaxed they could be talking about the weather. He wasn’t going to give up.

“Why not tell me here?” she asked.

He glanced around and shrugged. “It’s dark and cold, and if my gut is right...there’s a storm coming. It’s gonna be a long night. I could use some coffee and food. Y’all do have a kitchen there, right?” Then he blocked her in a going-bodyguard way. “Plus, that shooter could be watching.”

Nina blinked, taking in that summary and the way his voice got all gravelly and husky again. This man made her nervous, which was silly. She didn’t do nervous. But if the marshal had information on the person who’d committed this shooting, she didn’t mind spending some time with him. And he had a point.

It wasn’t safe in these woods.

“I’ve got all night,” she said. “Follow me.”

* * *

Thomas did as the lady asked, thinking he’d better not slip up and call her a lady. She’d probably deck him. If he wasn’t so intent on finding Bernard Russo, he could have enjoyed getting to know Agent Nina Atkins a little better.

But that was probably a bad idea on all accounts. They both had dangerous, stressful jobs. One reason he didn’t do long-term dating. That, and him being a nomad of sorts. Women wanted a settle-down kind of guy. He wasn’t that.

And he had a feeling this particular woman wasn’t a settle-down kind of girl, either.

Better to stick to business and get his man so he could decide where to land for the holidays. Hunting and fishing here in Montana, or maybe surfing and sailing in California? Too many options. Thomas thought about that as they traveled up the interstate to Billings.

A few minutes later, he turned into the drive leading to an impressive building in the center of the city. He’d heard the FBI Tactical K-9 Unit occupied two floors here, one for administration purposes and one for training.

Thomas followed Nina’s SUV into a gated garage and found a spot two down from where she parked on the ground-floor level. They walked to the elevator together.

“The few team members we have on holiday duty are in and out,” she explained. “We’ve had some suspicious fires in the downtown area that could be arson, but nothing much else has been going on around here until tonight.”

“Well, if we’re looking for the same man, your holiday duty might get a little more exciting,” he replied, taking in the sight of her in the dull elevator lights.

She was buff and solid muscle, petite but with a stance that didn’t mess around. Her hair shone a deep golden blond and went every which way around her face and neck. Her eyes were expressive and sparkling, a muted brown like apple cider and cinnamon.

Boy, did he have it bad. He needed to date more often. He was latching on to this woman like a puppy trying to form a bond.

Nina straightened from leaning on the elevator wall when the door opened. “I think this holiday season has already gotten exciting. We often have a lot of US Marshals coming around, but never one for Christmas. Santa must have decided I’ve been good this year.”

Thomas had to chuckle at that sarcastic remark. Then he turned serious about what they had ahead of them. “Sorry you had to deal with this,” he said. “I hope that girl makes it.”

The agent gave an appreciative nod. “I’m praying for her to survive. We need to find the man who put a bullet in her shoulder.”

If the man who’d shot that girl was indeed Bernard Russo, then they had a deadly killer to track down. A killer who this feisty agent had seen up close.

He could come after her.

And that would not be a good Christmas at all.

TWO

Nina sat down in a small conference room, her laptop on the table. She’d grabbed a quick shower in the locker room and put Sam in the capable hands of one of the trainers for some tender loving care. Now she was ready to get down to business. Thomas handed her a fresh cup of coffee and pulled out an electronic tablet.

“So you go first,” she said, still wondering how he’d appeared out of thin air. But when she’d called Max West and given him the lowdown, the SAC had reassured her.

“Thomas Grant is a good man and one of the best in the business. He’s been with the US Marshal Office for at least five years, so he’s high ranking. You can take his word to the bank and, of course, he has jurisdiction in all fifty states and any US territories. Cooperate with him, but stay focused on your case. He knows to stand back and not overstep. But he is authorized to help out if he needs to. Send me the particulars, too. I can go over the reports at least. And if you need me...”

“Yes, sir. You enjoy your time with Katerina and her dad. I’ll keep you posted.”

Not that she minded so much that she had a US Marshal to deal with. The man was gorgeous in a way that reminded her of the movie character Thor that she and her friends drooled over. Getting her mind back to business, she let out a sigh and then stifled a yawn. “Sorry, long day. Go ahead.”

Thomas opened his tablet. “Is this the man you saw tonight?”

Nina took a good look at the picture and nodded, her heart pumping as she had a flashback. “It sure looks like him. It was dark but the moon was full. He was taller than average. I remember the salt-and-pepper longish hair and the craggy skin.” Then she wrapped her arms across her chest and said, “I thought you were going first.”

Thomas gave her that wry smile again. “This is me going first. I wanted you to identify him. This is Bernard Russo. He’s the man I’m looking for. We have reason to believe he’s killed several people across the country from Florida to Montana, and who knows where else. He’s a hired contractor. An assassin.”

“And you’re here to find him?”

“Yes. I got a tip that he’d possibly been sighted in Montana. Several assets reported seeing him around the state. He came here either to hide out or to take a job. He killed an informant we’d hidden to testify against a major drug ring in Texas.”

“Killed, as in before you could move the informant into the witness protection program?”

“Yes, and we’re not proud of it. We were moving him to a new location when someone shot out one of the tires on our transport vehicle and snatched the witness, after shooting two of our officers. They both survived, but didn’t see the shooter.”

“I took a different jogging path and came up on them tonight,” Nina said, a delayed reaction coursing through her body. She set her coffee on the table and held her hands in her lap so he wouldn’t see how they were beginning to shake. “I didn’t have my weapon. Not even a Taser. I should have at least had that, or pepper spray. I didn’t identify myself as FBI, but I did my best to stop him from killing her.”

“You had Sam,” he replied, his astute eyes watching her.

“Yes, my strongest weapon. That and lots of prayers.” Sam was resting in his kennel in the training area while they talked. “I planned to order him to attack, but the man turned and shot at me and then turned the gun on the girl. Then I needed Sam to protect us while I tried to...save her.”

She’d taken her shower while Thomas talked to some of the other agents, but she could still see the blood on her clothes and hands, could remember the girl’s cold, pale body. A shiver moved down Nina’s spine, reminding her how close that poor young woman had come to being murdered.

Help her, Lord. Help this poor girl so we can find out what’s going on.

“And you did save her,” Thomas said, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. “She’s alive because you came along at the right time.”

“She’s in surgery, so let’s hope everything will be okay. He planned to kill her and dump her just like the others.”

“So you think the other two females were killed by this same man?”

“I don’t know. I’m speculating. But it makes sense because he purposely brought her to that spot, from what we can tell. I’m waiting to hear from the medical examiner regarding their cause of death and their IDs. We’ll have to notify their next of kin, too.”

“A grisly undertaking,” Thomas replied. “My gut tells me Russo is your man for all three crimes.”

“I’ll have to wait to concur with you on that, but yes, it’s looking like a possibility.”

He nodded. “Understood.”

She leaned forward. “Sam must have picked up a strong scent, because after the shooter shot the girl and ran away, Sam immediately alerted on the two other graves. Shallow graves, a little over a foot and a half deep. The gunman knew that would keep anyone from detecting the scent of decaying bodies. Until Sam got a whiff anyway. I can’t say how long they’ve been there, but the ME said maybe months.”

Putting her head in her hands and raking her wet hair back, she said, “Sam and I have jogged by those woods for months now and...those girls were out there. All alone. Now, I’m questioning if Sam tried to alert me before and I maybe thought he’d seen a squirrel or some other animal. I should have caught this sooner.” Lifting her head, she added, “The killer must be using that site as his burial ground since, according to the ME, one body has been there longer than the other one.”

“Sam knows his business. He wasn’t working when you jogged by before and he could have false alerted, since he was on downtime. But tonight, like you said, he picked up on the dangerous situation. The shooter’s scent—maybe a cologne or aftershave, or maybe even from the coat he was wearing—caused Sam to search the area, and then he alerted on the bodies. Which makes it highly likely the same man killed those two.”

“Not good news for any family, especially this time of year.”

“No,” the marshal said, his expression grim. “But it sounds as if you have a strong faith to carry you through. That’s a plus.”

“I couldn’t do this without it,” she admitted.

“I hear that,” he said, that long Texas drawl moving like gentle fingers across her heart.

Nina didn’t talk about her faith much but it was there, instilled in her by a strong, loving family. She was glad to hear Thomas apparently had the same shield.

They continued to talk about the details until she’d given him as much information as she could and he’d done the same for her.

“I think I’m going home,” she said, standing to stretch. “I’ll pick back up on the details there, since I probably won’t get any sleep.”

“I’ve got a room at the Wild Iris Inn,” he said. “Sounded like a nice out-of-the-way spot. I didn’t want to stay in Billings.”

“The inn is the only place available near Iris Rock, and not far from my house,” she said with a grin. “But you’re in good hands. Miss Claire still works there part-time, but she’s turned over management to Penny Potter, soon to be Penny Morrow. Penny plans to marry one of our agents—Zeke Morrow—on Valentine’s Day next year.”

She went on to tell him how Jake Morrow had been a double agent and how his half brother, Zeke, had come to help track him and had been in on his capture and death. But in spite of the horrible tragedy, several of the team members had somehow found true love. Why Nina had decided to share the joy with the marshal, she didn’t know. Except that she wanted to believe in hope and love, even if she didn’t have a significant other in her life right now.

And she didn’t need anyone. She had enough trouble trying to prove herself as an agent.

“This year was rough for all of you,” Thomas said, bringing her back to reality. “I’m glad everyone is safe and sound.” They’d reached the doors to the parking garage. “Speaking of that, I’m walking you to your vehicle.”

Nina blinked and stared up at him. “I’m parked near you, anyway, and I have Sam.”

Thomas shook his head. “Look, let’s get this part over with. I know you’re strong and capable and tough or you wouldn’t be here, but...a killer saw you tonight. You’re a witness to an attempted murder by a very dangerous man. You’re gonna need someone to watch your back.”

She turned when they were almost to her vehicle. “Have you appointed yourself for that job?”

Before he could respond, a shot rang out and the windshield of the car next to them shattered. Thomas threw his body over Nina and pushed her to the ground. Another shot rang out, blasting a nearby wall.

Nina’s heart pressed beats against her lungs. She couldn’t breathe. And she couldn’t get past the sure knowledge that Thomas had probably just saved her life.

* * *

An hour later, Nina and Thomas were back inside headquarters filing yet another report, and Thomas was now a partner in this investigation. He didn’t mind that, since he needed to be a part of it if Russo was involved.

But that hadn’t been established. This pattern didn’t match Russo’s way of taking care of business.

The shooter was nowhere to be found, and surveillance cameras didn’t show anyone sneaking into the garage. So the shooter must have had a good view of where they were parked from an off-site spot. They’d canvassed the whole place and the surrounding buildings, and they’d put out more alerts on Russo. The techs were still trying to establish where he’d been hidden. But the destruction from the shots indicated a shotgun. Which meant he’d been close. Too close.

“He’s after you,” Thomas said to Nina, when they were alone. “You can’t go back to your place tonight.”

“I’ll bunk here,” Nina retorted, obviously not in the mood to be told what to do. “I’ve done it before. And I intend to keep digging. Dylan O’Leary is our best tech and he’ll be back on this tomorrow. He’ll do research based on what you’ve told us. Thanks for your help.”

Thomas put his hands on his hips. “Are you dismissing me, Agent Atkins?”

She gave him a tired glare. “It’s almost two in the morning. Don’t you ever sleep?”

“Do you?”

She stood and paced, her green sweater long and droopy, her jeans old and worn. Locker clothes. But she looked cute in them. “Have you considered that he might have been aiming at you, Thomas?”

He rubbed his jaw. “Always a possibility, and yes, he could have taken both of us out and called it a day. But he missed, which is kind of surprising.”

“Do you think he blinked, got the shakes?”

Thomas figured this man knew how to use any kind of weapon. “He could have been interrupted or startled, but why a shotgun? Maybe the darkness and seeing both of us together shook him. He sure wasn’t expecting to see me here.”

“Now he knows you’re in town,” she said, her fingers twisting in the cuffs of her sweater. “You might need to bunk here tonight, too.”

Thomas hadn’t planned on that. “I could hang around.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“And I’m saying I can hang around.” Seeing the objection on her heart-shaped face, he held up his hands in defense. “Hey, neither of us is gonna get much sleep. We can get a head start on the facts and get our ducks in a row.”

She stared at him, her eyes changing so swiftly he felt as if he was chasing glints of pure copper. “Are you hungry?” she finally asked.

Did this mean she would listen to reason and let him do his job?

“Starving. That snack cake I found in the machine went stale in my stomach a couple hours ago.”

“I think we have leftover hamburgers in the fridge. Somebody brought in a whole dozen or so from our favorite downtown eatery.”

“Sounds good. Lead me to the kitchen.”

Nina shot him another mixed-message glance. “We’re in this together now, Deputy Marshal. And I have orders from my SAC to cooperate with you whether I like it or not.”

“Won’t be the first time a woman has tried to resist my charms,” he quipped, hoping to lighten the mood.

“I’m an agent first,” she retorted. “And a woman second.”

Okey-dokey. “Whatever you say, ma’am.”

Thomas followed her through the maze of offices and cubicles, thinking at least he had someone interesting to work with. This one would try her best to keep him on his toes.

And he’d try his best to keep her alive.

THREE

“The girl’s awake.”

Nina rose from her chair, boots hitting the floor, and followed Dylan O’Leary, the agency’s tech expert, down the hallway. “Is she talking?”

Thomas saw them and came out of the chair he’d found in a corner of the big cubicle-filled room. “Identity?”

Dylan kept right on going, his glasses stuck to his nose as always. “Kelly Denton. Twenty-four years old. College student who grew up in Helena and worked for former State Senator Richard Slaton. She’d moved away from Helena this year but went home to visit her parents for Christmas. They’ve verified that and said she had left a message that she was spending the night with a friend. That was night before last. They’re on their way here.” Dylan hurried off and then turned back around. “Oh, and don’t mention the other girls to her yet. We’re still trying to establish if they’re connected. She could voluntarily fill in the blanks.”

“Got it. We’re on our way to investigate.” Nina turned to Thomas. “Ready to question our witness?”

“Been ready,” he said, grabbing his coat.

Soon, they were in Nina’s SUV headed east to the Billings Medical Center.

“How’d you sleep?” Nina asked, recalling how she’d tossed and turned and had nightmares the entire three hours she’d tried to sleep.

“Like a baby,” he quipped with a wry smile. “I was exhausted after that long drive from Texas.”

“Why’d you drive across the country in the dead of winter?”

“I like long drives. Helps me think. Plus I was trying to track Russo’s every step so I could establish that he drove here, too. Found some rental cars he’d used here and there, but nothing concrete. So you didn’t see or hear him leaving in a vehicle last night?”

Nina shook her head and merged into traffic. “Nope. He ran away, headed into the woods. I still don’t get it. He could have shot me, too.”

“Maybe Sam distracted him. Sam would have gone after him, don’t you think?”

“Possibly. I’m sure he’d have brought down the man. But I was worried that he’d shoot Sam and return to finish the job. Why do you think he ran like that?”

“He panicked. He wasn’t expecting anyone to stumble on the scene.”

“Yes. Sam and I did surprise him. I know the woods beyond that spot and across the stream are on private property. Someone owns a hunting lodge up there. He could have hidden in it, possibly, but until we find out who owns that place, we can’t get a warrant to look.”

“But he shot at you—shot at us—last night,” Thomas reminded her. “And missed. Russo’s trained never to miss. Something’s not right about this whole thing.”

“I’m kind of glad he missed,” Nina replied, wondering what was bugging Thomas. “So...we both think something’s off here, right?”

“He’s after Kelly. We’ll have to watch the hospital. He might be trying to distract us while he moves in on her.”

“We do have her surrounded,” Nina said. “Agents twenty-four/seven, guarding her room.”

“I hope that will keep Russo away.”

Thomas didn’t sound so confident, but they were dealing with a trained assassin. Nina couldn’t blame the marshal for being concerned. “Remember, for all he knows she’s dead. We only broadcasted that we were looking for him. Not that he’d tried to kill someone.”

“But that kind of news tends to leak,” Thomas replied. “We might need to move her, and quickly.”

They made it to the hospital without incident and were inside safe and sound in under an hour.

After getting permission from the hospital staff to interrogate Kelly Denton, they went into her room. The guard at the door was a massive sheriff deputy. No one would get past that man.

Nina approached the pale young girl, remembering her there in the moonlight last night. The bullet had just missed her heart and had become lodged in her left shoulder, but the surgery had gone as well as could be expected. Her prognosis was good, barring the killer didn’t come back. Now if they could match that bullet the surgeon had dug out to the gun that shot her, they’d have an idea what kind of weapon the killer was carrying. A stretch, but something to hope for.

“Kelly, do you remember me?” Nina asked, hoping the girl would recognize her.

She moved her head and stared with bleary eyes. “I... I don’t know.”

“I saw you last night with that man...”

The girl’s face turned deadly pale and all the numbers and graphs on the monitor jittered and changed. “He tried to kill me.”

“I know,” Nina said, glancing to where Thomas stood by the closed drapery over the window. “I was jogging and I came upon you.”

“You saved my life.”

“I tried to stop him,” Nina said. “But he shot at me and he did shoot you.” Touching Kelly’s hand, she said, “Can you tell us how you wound up with him, so far from Helena?”

“He...he took me when I was walking to my car,” the girl said, her whispers full of fear. “I’d just left a restaurant. He was waiting with an open van and he had a gun.”

Nina wrote down the name of the place. “And he drove you here to Billings?”

“Yes, he tied me up and put a blindfold on me. I was in the back—a small van.”

“Do you know the color or model?”

“No. He shoved me inside and put the blindfold on me and then tied me up. I couldn’t get to my purse or phone.” She tried to sit up, her eyes wild now. “Where is my phone? I need my phone.”

“We didn’t find your purse or phone,” Nina said, gently lowering her back down. “He probably tossed them.”

Thomas shot Nina a knowing glance. “Can you tell us anything else, Kelly?”

The girl lay still, her fingers clutching the light blanket spread over her. Nina glanced at Thomas. She’d worked with enough traumatized women to know when someone was truly terrified.

“He kept asking about a key,” Kelly said in a weak voice, her gaze darting down and to the left. “I don’t know what he was talking about. I don’t know anything. I shouldn’t have gone back there.”

“Back where?” Thomas asked.

“To Helena. I—I should have stayed away. When can I go home?”

Thomas stepped away from the window. The girl’s vitals were going crazy. “Are you sure you don’t remember something? A detail we could use?” he asked, keeping his gaze on the beeping machines. “Were you in danger before you left Helena?”

Kelly gripped the blankets, clutching them like a lifeline. “No. I can’t talk about this. I just want to go home. When are my parents coming?”

A nurse came in, her expression stern. “Time’s up.”

“Your parents are on their way,” Nina said, wishing she could comfort the girl more and find out what she seemed so afraid of. “You’re safe here. We have a guard on your room.”

“Is he coming back?” Kelly asked, fear in her eyes. “That man? If he does, he’ll kill me! He told me he’d kill me.”

“Not if we can help it,” Thomas said, honesty in each word. “If you remember anything—or decide to tell us the truth—please tell the deputy and he’ll alert us. The more we know, the sooner we can end this and then you’ll be safe.”

The girl didn’t seem so sure. She was frightened, and for good reason. Nina talked to the deputy and felt reassured when he told her one of her team members would be here later with his K-9 partner.

Nina tugged at Thomas’s jacket sleeve when they reached the elevator. “Let’s stay here a while. We can see her door from the waiting room. And...we can talk to her parents after they arrive and they’ve seen her. Maybe they can shed some light on whatever she’s not telling us.”

He nodded. “Okay, but I’m hungry. Let’s go down to the cafeteria.”

“Didn’t you eat one of those pastries from Petrov Bakery? Or maybe even two?”

He gave her a mock frown. “That was breakfast.”

“Yes, only two hours ago.”

“I have to be fed every two hours.”

Nina snorted and shook her head. “Right.” Then she said, “Okay, we’ll get you fed, but then I’m hanging out here. I’m worried about that girl.”

“She’s hiding something, no doubt,” Thomas said, turning serious in that lightning quick way she’d noticed. “She said she should never have gone back to Helena. She knows about the key and she panicked when she realized she didn’t have her phone.”

“And you can read minds?” Nina asked in surprise. But she had to agree with him.

“I can read people,” Thomas replied. “That girl is scared, of course. But it’s more. I think she purposely dropped that bit about the key to give us a hint. She’s terrified and that’s understandable, but she said she didn’t know anything. Which to me means she knows a lot.”

“You have a point,” Nina said, as they hurried through the buffet line. She got a salad and Thomas ordered meat loaf, mashed potatoes with gravy and a giant biscuit. The man knew how to down some serious food. How did he stay in such good shape? “She did seem pretty emphatic about not knowing anything.”

“My gut is burning,” he retorted.

“Maybe that’s just the pastries and the meat loaf,” she said with a grin.

“Ha, ha.” He chewed on a chunk of meat loaf before he answered. “No, this is my gut telling me I’m right.”

“Are you always right?”

“Not always. But about 99 percent of the time.”

She had to laugh. He made her do that. “Tell me about you, Deputy Marshal. So I get from the accent and the way you can go all cowboy that you grew up in Texas.”

He leaned close, his gray eyes twinkling. “Why, yes ma’am, I sure did. Texas through and through. Went to college in Austin, got my degree in criminal justice, worked in law enforcement in several capacities, applied to become a US Marshal and I’ve been one for five years now. Based out of Florida for a while, but I had a hankering to come back West.”

His smile was pro but his eyes went beyond professional. They turned all smoky and flirtatious in a quicksilver way that made her insides shake like the Jell-O the man at the next table was trying to eat.

“You like your job, don’t you?” she asked, to keep the conversation moving. To make his eyes change back to a safe level of gray.

“I do. I mean, chasing bad guys, yeah, what’s not to like?”

Nodding, she laughed at that. “Same here. I love being a K-9 officer for the FBI.”

“It’s dangerous work.”

“You mean for a woman.”

“I mean for anyone.”

Then he did the stern, serious thing again. “What put that chip on your shoulder?”

“Oh, you mean the chip about how hard it is to be a woman in what most consider a man’s profession?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“I told you I come from a big family, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I have four brothers. All in law enforcement.”

“Ouch. So you joined up because you had to prove yourself to them.”

“And to my father, who is a retired sheriff.”

“Whoa. Can’t they see how good you are at your job?”

“No, what they see is their little sister trying to do a job they think is not suitable for her. And...they’re all kind of jealous that I’m in this elite FBI unit when they’re locals who work hard.”

“They should be proud of you,” Thomas said, the passion in his words shaking her. “I never had much of a family. My parents divorced when I was little and I kind of got shoved from my grandparents to my aunts and uncles. My dad worked construction and traveled a little too much, and my mom skipped out on me once they got divorced.”

Nina’s heart did a little flip. No wonder the man moved around like a nomad. “Do you ever go back to Texas?”

“Yeah. My granddad left me a small ranch there. I head straight to it when I need some downtime. He was a good man, a churchgoer, just not an affectionate man.”

Nina wanted to keep talking, but they needed to get back. She stood up and said, “Well, remember, if we get through this, you are definitely coming to my family’s house for Christmas.”

Then she realized she’d overstepped and wished she could take it back. Maybe they’d be done before Christmas.

He grinned, which only made him even more handsome. “Oh, so you want to make those ornery brothers even more jealous. I mean, who wouldn’t be impressed with a US Marshal, right?”

She shook her head at his antics. “Right.”

They’d just turned the corner back to the waiting area when a male nurse hurried up to the guard at Kelly Denton’s door. When the nurse saw them, he took off running in the other direction.

FOUR

Thomas went into action, tackling the man dressed in hospital scrubs in time to stop him from getting away. Another nurse immediately called security. The hospital would go on lockdown until they cleared this up.

The deputy who’d been guarding Kelly’s room didn’t miss a beat. He helped Thomas by putting a heavy, booted foot on the man’s backbone while Thomas grabbed his hands and cuffed him. Together, they lifted him up and slammed him down in a nearby chair. Thomas searched his scrubs and found a small knife.

Nina held her gun on the man until she knew he was secure. “I’ll check on the girl.”

By now, nurses and doctors were merging inside the room where Kelly Denton lay sleeping. She woke with a start, her eyes wide. “What’s going on?”

“Everything’s okay,” Nina said, thinking they should have stayed close by. But at least they had a suspect now. Only the man they’d tackled wasn’t Russo. “Just a ruckus outside. You’re safe.” Better not to upset her again so soon.

But she had to wonder if the girl needed to be moved again.

When the medical team had checked and rechecked Kelly, her parents came in. After they’d seen her and were reassured she was on the mend, Nina took them outside and explained what had happened.

“Do you know of any reason someone would want to harm your daughter?” she asked.

“No,” they both replied.

“But she’s been away for almost a year,” her mom added. “Maybe someone followed her to Helena?”

“It’s your job to find that out,” Mr. Denton said. “I thought she was being protected.”

“She is. We’ve taken the man into custody, but he’s not talking. He won’t tell us who hired him, but he’s not going anywhere, I promise.”

“They could send someone else,” Kelly’s mother whispered, tears in her eyes. “Can’t we take her home to Helena?”

Nina glanced at Thomas, who had joined them. He frowned and pondered that. “The doctors aren’t ready to release her yet, but when they do, we’ll have to send someone with her if the man who shot her is still at large. Do you have any other place you could take her for a few days?”

“My parents live about thirty miles from Helena in a gated community. We could take her there,” Mrs. Denton offered.

“I’ll call ahead when it’s time and if it comes to that,” Thomas said. “She could become a possible witness in a federal case. We can help protect her here and...we might have to put her into witness protection if this drags out too long.”

The Dentons both seemed confused and frightened by that. “You don’t mean forever, do you?” her mother asked with tears in her eyes.

Nina shot Thomas a thankful glance. “We hope it won’t come to that. For now, we’ll be in touch to coordinate things as soon as she’s clear to leave the hospital. And we’ll have someone here to escort all of you to your destination.”

“Meantime, we have the deputy and a K-9 team member here, so she’ll have two people guarding her door at all times,” Thomas added. “And if she tells either of you anything, please let us know. We can’t help her if we don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

Kelly’s parents nodded, but they looked shell-shocked.

“We can also have her moved to another room,” Nina said, promising to talk to the hospital administrators.

She and Thomas went to take care of the details. Soon, everything was in place to move Kelly to a room near the nurses’ station, where she could be monitored more closely by both the guards and the staff.

Having assured her parents that Kelly would be safe, and telling them they’d be watched, too, Nina and the marshal went back to headquarters, hoping to question the man they’d taken into custody.

Three hours later, after questioning the noncommunicative suspect and then going over files and trying to establish leads, all they had to go on was the suspect’s rap sheet of petty crime, and the fact that he refused to give them any information. Robby Collier was a local who’d been minding his own business in a bar when he’d been offered a job paying a huge amount of money.

He regretted that decision, but said he couldn’t tell them anything more. “The man made it pretty clear if I got caught, I was on my own. I don’t know nothing except I was supposed to take down the guard at the door.”

“I guess you didn’t think that part through, either,” Nina had noted, before they left him locked up tight.

“He thinks he’s safer in lockup than out there,” Thomas said now. “This has Russo all over it. He hired someone to bring down the guard, which means he was probably in the hospital, too. I’m surprised he didn’t shoot dear Robby on the spot for failing in his mission.”

“But they locked the place down,” Nina said, regretting that she’d left Sam with the handlers here while they’d gone to the hospital. Sam could have helped chase down the assailant. “He had to get away quick. Why would he send someone so unreliable and, well, green?”

“He messed up and left a witness, something he’s never done before. And now, because of one determined K-9 officer, he wants this over and done. He has to know you’re FBI by now. You’re both still in danger.”

“So because the heat’s on, he turned to desperate measures and sent that clown to do his dirty work,” Nina said.

“Russo knows how to get away in a hurry,” Thomas pointed out. “He wouldn’t hang around since this mission got botched, too. But...he’s not going to give up. Like our Robby, he knows he’s in serious danger himself. Whoever hired him has been informed by now that things went bad.”

“But how did he know the girl wasn’t dead? We haven’t released any details to the press.”

“The crime scene,” Thomas said. “It was active and it got a lot of attention. Anyone could have seen the first responders carting Kelly away. I walked right up. A reporter or newshound could have easily done the same.”

“Russo could have still been hanging around, too,” she said, glad Sam had picked up his scent. But then, Sam did specialize in cadaver detection and he’d done that job to perfection last night. After that, a lot of people had passed through those woods.

Tired and unable to gather her thoughts, Nina stood up and stretched. “I’m going home tonight. Tim and Zeke checked my place and it’s safe. No one’s been there that we can tell.”

“That you know of,” Thomas retorted. “You’re safer here.”

“I’m safe at my house, too,” she replied. “I have security and I have Sam. And I have several weapons.”

“A woman after my own heart,” he deadpanned. “I’ll be two miles down the road, letting Penny Potter and the Wild Iris staff pamper me.”

“Good.” She kind of wished he’d offered to at least come to her house for coffee. But then, they’d both drunk enough of that dark brew...and she had to resist whatever was brewing between them, too. “I’m going to decorate the tree I brought home the other day before all the needles fall off, and make myself a big cup of hot chocolate. Maybe watch a sappy Christmas movie just for kicks.”

In reality she’d grab some popcorn and go back over this bizarre case. But he didn’t need to know that.

They walked out together, both searching the area for another sniper, Sam trotting at their feet and two armed guards set up in the parking garage. When they reached their vehicles, Thomas turned to her. “I’m kind of lonely, you know. I haven’t had a real Christmas in years. I’d enjoy helping you decorate that dying tree.”

Nina’s heart betrayed her by bouncing all around her chest. “Are you inviting yourself to dinner, Thomas?”

“Are you asking me to dinner, Nina?”

“No.”

He laughed. “Then yes, I’m inviting myself to dinner, but I really only wanted to decorate the tree. But if you insist...”

“I don’t recall insisting.”

“But you were thinking it, right?”

She wondered how he did that. No wonder bad guys tried to steer clear of him.

“No,” she said with a laugh, “I was thinking too bad I don’t cook.”

He leaned close, his whisper half a step away. “Even better. I do.”

She’d never had a man cook for her before. Should she tell him to get lost? Or should she let him follow her home so they could brainstorm this case all over again?

She glanced down at the rottweiler. “What do you think, Sam? Should Thomas cook us dinner, but only because we want to pick his brain later and try to figure out things on this investigation?”

The big dog looked from her to the marshal and let out a woof.

“I think that was a yes,” Thomas said, his handsome face full of a triumphant smugness.

“Only because it’s Christmas and you’re a stranger in a strange land.”

“I hear that,” he replied. Then he scanned the parking garage. “We sure don’t need to be standing here out in the open arguing about it, so let’s go.”

* * *

Nina turned off the security alarm and rushed inside the tiny cottage she’d lived in since she’d arrived in Iris Rock a few months ago. The drive to and from Billings could be tricky on a night such as this, when a new snowfall seemed imminent. But she’d grown up in the bitter cold of Wyoming and knew how to mount snow tires on her vehicle and how to use her head and her driving skills while braking. She was pretty capable at most things, except when it came to kitchen duty. But she wasn’t really serious about letting Thomas cook for her.

“What was I thinking?” she asked Sam. He shadowed her, hoping for his own dinner. “I don’t have food and I don’t cook. I can’t offer him your dinner, right?”

The dog shot her a doleful glance that stated “Nope.”

Knowing Thomas would be close behind her, she tidied up, clearing away the local paper and some research books and novels off the couch, then hurried to change into jeans and a blue-and-white-striped wool sweater. She was running a comb through her tousled hair and putting on pink lip gloss when the doorbell rang.

She’d never actually invited anyone here before. Especially not a man.

“Mom would be proud,” she whispered to Sam.

Sam woofed a positive approval that the person at her door came in peace.

But she checked the peephole, anyway.

Too much tall stood there.

Now she was sweating in her sweater.

“C’mon in,” she said, her words deceitfully calm. “I’m going to be honest. I’m not sure I have anything on hand to make an edible meal.”

Shrugging out of his heavy coat, Thomas took in the small living room and galley kitchen. Nina watched him for signs of disappointment or regret. But in typical lawman fashion, he seemed to be sizing up security—and taking in information on how she lived.

Heavy beige curtains covered the sliding doors to the tiny backyard that she and Sam loved to play in. The furniture came with the place, and it was mismatched and clunky.

Wishing she’d taken a little time to decorate the rooms with her own sense of style, Nina crossed her arms over her midsection and stood her ground. She worked too much to worry about making it into Architectural Digest.

“It ain’t much, but it’s home,” she chirped, motioning to the big doors and several windows. “On good days, I can see the Pryor Mountains, which is kind of cool since I could also see them from my bedroom in Wyoming, growing up.”

His stormy eyes widened. “What, you circled the mountain and settled on the other side?”

“Something like that.” Looking at her sad little home through the eyes of someone else made Nina self-conscious and almost embarrassed. But she shook that off the way she shook off everything she couldn’t deal with. “Let’s see what we can round up.”

She headed to the refrigerator and stared at the barren shelves. “I see a few carrots and two potatoes.” Then she checked the freezer. “And a bag of chicken breasts that might have come with the house.”

Thomas snorted and gently moved her aside. “The date on the chicken is still within the safe zone. We’ll hope the same with the potatoes and carrots. Do you stock any canned goods?”

She nodded and opened an overhead cabinet by the refrigerator. “Oh, look, chicken noodle soup and tomato soup. If only we had some crackers.”

“We don’t need crackers,” he stated, already rolling up his sleeves. “You get the decorations ready and I’ll get dinner going.”

“What exactly do you plan to cook?” she asked, wondering how she’d managed to get in this predicament in the first place.

“The Thomas Grant special, ma’am,” he said in his best Texas drawl. “You’re gonna love it.”

She doubted that, but she’d give it a shot since she couldn’t kick him out now. Sam’s head moved in ping-pong style back and forth between them. Obviously, he smelled something in the air. Something distinctive and different.

Another human in the kitchen. Or a tad too much of some new and exciting undercurrent.

Soon, Thomas had the chicken and potatoes browning in a big pot, along with some onions and peppers he’d discovered in a crisper drawer with all the joy of a kid opening a present. He hummed while he cooked.

Nina pretended to be unraveling Christmas lights, but she couldn’t help glancing over at him. A giant wearing boots had taken over her home. And it was beginning to smell good, which caused her stomach to make strange noises and her heart to do funny jumps and bumps.

Finally, after he’d dismantled cans and rummaged for spices and splashed this and that into the pot, he turned it to simmer and came to sit beside her on the now-too-small floral love seat in front of the tiny electric fireplace. “Chicken noodle soup and biscuits coming up in about a half hour.”

“Really?” she asked, surprised. “We could have just opened a can for the soup. And I’m not sure how you managed biscuits.”

“Really, I opened two cans for my special soup. And added a few special ingredients.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“Then don’t.”

“And the biscuits?”

“You had flour, milk, eggs and baking powder.”

“My mom restocks every time she comes to visit.”

“Well, that turned out to be a good thing.”

His eyes were so amazing. They’d turned as blue-gray as the storm she’d seen over the big sky at dusk and just as mysterious.

Nina laughed and inhaled. “Well, I have to admit that smells better than the soggy pizza I usually bring home.”

“You’re almost out of protein bars,” he replied. “I didn’t throw your last two into the pot.”

“I’m so glad you didn’t.”

They bantered back and forth while they got the lights straightened out and wrapped around the sad little evergreen.

“I think this tree is going to be lost in a burst of color,” Thomas stated. “Where did you buy it? ’Cause I think you need a refund.”

“Ha, funny.” She shrugged. “A kid was selling them to make money to buy a bicycle. I felt sorry for him. He’d obviously scoured the back forty and...found the best of the lot.”

“We could find you a prettier tree,” Thomas pointed out. “But this one is kind of tugging at my heartstrings in that Charlie Brown kind of way.”

“I wish you could see the tree my mom and dad put up each year,” she replied, not even thinking about her words. “It’s fresh and has to be at least nine feet tall and covers one corner of the den in our log house. Dad fusses every year, but he loves hanging the lights on the tree and along the staircase. We all gather on Christmas Eve and sing carols and hymns, and then we eat a big meal of barbecue and all the trimmings. My brothers and their families all live nearby and I usually show up at the last minute and then...it’s Christmas.”

“That is Christmas,” Thomas said, his eyes dark with a longing that tore at Nina’s heart. “Sounds wonderful.”

“You’ll see, Thomas,” she said. “My family has a steadfast rule that we can bring anyone we want home for Christmas.”

He nodded, but he didn’t look so sure about that invitation.

Did he think she was pushing him in the wrong way? Nina wondered. Because she’d done it again. Invited him to go home with her for Christmas. She wouldn’t ask anymore.

Or was he too afraid to stop being alone to enjoy being with someone during the holidays?

She was about to ask him that when the buzzer on the stove dinged and caused her to step back.

“Dinner is ready,” he said, that distant longing still in his eyes, his smile beautiful but full of resolve and regret. “We’d better eat so we can finish making this tree as special as the one you just described.”

FIVE

“I have to admit, that was some pretty good soup. Noodles and potatoes and carrots and...what kind of spices did you put in there?”

Thomas grinned and winked. “You had some ginger and rosemary stashed away in the spice drawer.”

Nina hit a hand against her head. “Oh, my mom gave me a whole spice rack last time I was home. I think she was trying to give me a hint. You know, get some spice in your life and find someone and get married and make babies.”

“All that from a couple of shakes into the pot?”

“All that and more,” she replied, before taking a sip of her hot chocolate. “She also gave me this cocoa mix.”

He toasted her with his own. “I think mixing up the recipe in a Mason jar is sweet. It’s a mama thing.”

Remembering he’d never had that, she nodded. “I have a good family so I shouldn’t complain.”

Misreading her statement for pity, he put down the mug with a motif of a laughing reindeer centered on it. “Hey, don’t apologize or downplay that on my account. I’m okay. I have a good job and I get to travel the whole country having fun.”

“Fun? You call some of the things we deal with fun?”

“No. I said I was having fun, not that it is fun.”

“Oh, so that makes a big difference.”

“I love my job,” he admitted with a sheepish shrug. “If I can’t have a big family, I can help someone else get home to theirs.”

“I guess that’s a good way to look at it,” she replied, turning serious while her heart did that strange little beat again. “Except those two dead girls never had that chance.”

“We’ll find him,” Thomas said. “I have a steadfast rule. I always get the bad guy.”

“I try to enforce that same rule,” she said. “But I’m still new to the team. I’ve been here almost a year now and things are getting better, but I never wanted to up my status by stumbling into something this twisted and strange.”

“You were the first officer on the scene. Your SAC is wise to stand back and let you do your job.”

“Maybe,” she said. And then she asked Thomas something she’d been wondering. “But is he doing that because of my abilities or because you just happened along to help out?”

Surprise filled Thomas’s eyes. “Does it matter? We’re in it together now.”

She stood and took their empty mugs to the sink. “But would I be carrying the same clout if you weren’t here?”

Irritation shadowed his expression. “Are we seriously having this conversation? Am I a threat to you, Nina?”

“No. But am I an equal to you?”

“You’re way above my pay scale, even if you earn less than me,” he said, gathering his coat. “I came here for one reason—to bring a killer back to Texas. I can’t change the circumstances that brought us together, but I intend to do my job. But you seem to have a one track mind on getting bad guys, so that makes you more valuable than me right now.”

In spite of you, she figured he wanted to say. He intended to do his job in spite of her.

Wishing she’d kept her mouth shut, Nina pushed at her hair and then tugged at her sweater. “I’m sorry. I want to do my job, too.”

“Then cut that kind of talk,” he said, jamming his meaty arms into his coat. “It’s been a long day. I think I’ll head back to the inn. I would offer to check the place, but I don’t want to offend your stubborn need to measure up.”

She deserved that, Nina decided. Why had she even let him see her insecurities? That only made her look weak and helpless.

“Thanks, Thomas,” she said in a low voice. “For helping with the tree and...for cooking.”

“You can enjoy the leftovers tomorrow night,” he retorted.

Alone.

The silence shouted that one word between them.

He turned for the door, Nina close behind.

And then the whole house went black.

* * *

Sam growled quietly. Nina didn’t move, but she crouched low next to her partner. Listening, she heard a noise out in the carport attached to the house. It sounded as if someone had stumbled into the empty trash can. Then she heard the groan of something heavy being shoved aside.

The rottweiler woofed. “Sam, quiet,” she ordered. “Stay.”

She could hear Thomas by the door. “Nina, stay down.”

“I am down,” she whispered. “But I don’t have my weapon and I never reset the alarm after we came in tonight.”

“I’ve got my weapon,” he said. “And he’d have probably disengaged the alarm, anyway.”

He came near and grasped her by the arm. “It could be the storm. Where’s your circuit breaker?”

“The kitchen, by the door to the carport. But I heard something—”

“I did, too.”

“Let’s check.”

He didn’t argue. Together, they stayed down and worked their way to the kitchen. Nina sat and scooted toward the corner where the circuit box was located. “I’ll need some light,” she whispered.

Thomas followed her and pulled out his phone and handed it to her. Using the faint moonlight creeping through the shuttered blinds, she found the flashlight app and slowly worked her way up the wall.

But before she could check the circuit breaker, the door right beside her jiggled and a shot rang out, splintering the wood and sending fragments flying as Thomas threw her to the floor.

“He’s bold,” the marshal said, sitting up with his weapon drawn.

“Shoot,” she suggested, wishing she had her own gun.

Thomas got in front of Nina on one knee and shot back, adding more bullet holes to the shattered wood.

“I guess if he’s dead, we’ll have to explain,” she whispered. “But I would technically be protecting my castle.”

“I’ll go and find him,” Thomas suggested instead. “If I didn’t get him already.”

Nina thought about what she’d have done if Thomas hadn’t been here. She would have grabbed her weapon and taken control. “Or I could open the door and let Sam do his job.”

“Good idea. But both those strategies are risky.”

“We need to call for backup.”

“The best plan. And if they don’t make it in time, I’m shooting to kill.”

That’s what she would have done. Weapon, backup, shoot to defend and protect.

She made the call with his phone, giving her name, rank and location.

When they heard a bang against the glass sliding doors, Nina ordered Sam to bark and guard. The dog headed in that direction, sounding every bit as fierce as he looked.

“Guess I missed,” Thomas said.

“He won’t give up,” Nina replied.

“What is he doing here?” the marshal retorted. “He has to know we’re both in here and armed.”

“And that I have security. Not that it matters now.”

“He’s prowling, for some reason. He didn’t get to Kelly, so now he’s after us.”

Another shot streaked through the air, this time shattering a window just above their heads.

Nina jumped up and looked through the slats of the blinds. “If I can see him, I might be able to ID him as the man in the woods.”

“He’s toying with us,” Thomas answered. “To flush us out.”

“He’ll shoot us both if we try to get out. And if we don’t, he’ll keep shooting until he hits one of us.”

“Agreed...” The big man shifted and eyed the side door that held a scatter-shot scar. “I’m not sure what his plan is, but he’s angry, so he’s enjoying this.”

Nina moved around the small area where they were crouched. She stood, but Thomas pulled her back down. “Don’t try to locate him. He’ll be expecting that.”

“I wasn’t,” she said in a weak whisper. “I wanted to grab the hot chocolate my mom made. I don’t want it to get shot.”

* * *

Thomas fell for her just a little bit more after that soft-spoken confession. But he had to protect the stubborn woman so they could share that hot chocolate.

“We’ll worry about that later,” he said, holding her down. “We’ll have to sit right here until help comes.”

“I don’t want to sit,” she replied. “Let me go around the house and at least try to find him. Sam will show me the trail.” Sam stood guarding the sliding glass doors.

“We wait until we can’t take it anymore,” he replied. “It’s too risky.”

“But I need my weapon. It’s what I’d do if I were here alone. I’d get to my weapon and go after him.”

“But you’re not alone, and right now, I don’t want to argue about it.”

Nina squirmed and held on to the jar of hot chocolate. “I don’t like your being here, but I’m glad you are.”

“You are a paradox,” he retorted.

Sam’s woofs sounded like questions. “What’s the plan?”

“I vote we make a run for it now,” Nina said, her tone decisive. “I won’t sit here and wait to die.”

“Okay.” Thomas helped her up and gave her his coat. “Put this on. We’ll go out the kitchen door and use our vehicles as a shield if he starts shooting.”

“That’ll work,” she said, already preparing. She summoned Sam and ordered him to guard. “For now,” she told Thomas.

The marshal went ahead and slowly cracked open the side door. The burst of cold air nearly took his breath away, but the blast of the next shot caused him to duck down and slam the door again.

“Are you sure you want to go out there?” he asked Nina.

“What choice do we have?”

“Once we get out, I can circle back and take him,” Thomas replied. “If he’s still here.”

Nina nodded, concern in her eyes. At least she hadn’t argued with him.

While Nina hadn’t parked her vehicle under the carport, she had pulled it up alongside the open garage. But when Thomas tried to open the door again, and wider this time, it moved only a couple inches.

“He’s blocked us in. What do you have in that trash can?”

“I just emptied it,” she said. Then she let out a breath. “I have a potting bench right next to it. He must have wedged it against the can.”

“Nina?”

She eyed the situation from behind him and then carefully placed her hot chocolate mix in a nearby cabinet. “We’re trapped,” she said, her tone calm, all things considered. “He’s trapping us until he can find a way in.”

“But we’ll find a way out,” Thomas said. “If I can shove the table away a few more inches and we run fast, we might be able to get out before he returns to the garage. He must be making his way around the house and back.”

“It’s that or die trying,” Nina said. “I need my weapon. I think I can get to it in the linen closet.”

“No. No time.”

He could tell she wanted to argue, but she clamped her mouth shut and silently glared at him in the muted moonlight. Then she called “Come” to Sam.

“Okay then,” Thomas said, glad for another small victory. “On three, we crouch and run toward my truck.” He turned and pulled his coat over her head. “Keep that on, okay?” The coat’s suede skin and shearling lining might shield her from the shooter’s aim if she kept running.

“Okay,” she said in a reluctant whisper, followed by, “Thomas, thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he said. Then he shoved against the door and heard the potting table groaning. Thomas grunted and pushed his way through, ignoring the spattering of shots all around them. Both the trash can and the heavy potting table actually served as deflectors.

Nina hurried along behind him, Sam bringing up the rear in silence. The next shot tore a hole in the tin carport roof. Thomas shoved her ahead of him, behind his truck. “Get underneath,” he said, urging her to crawl between the big tires.

“Sam, come,” she called again. The K-9 got on his belly and did as he’d been trained to do.

Soon, they were safe under the truck’s heavy armor.

Thomas lay on his belly, his chest and head lifted, and listened for the footsteps he knew would be coming. It didn’t take long.

“I’ll try to sneak around,” he whispered against Nina’s sweet-smelling hair.

The crunch and cracking of boots hitting snow and dirt stopped him. Too late.

Nina pointed to the left.

Thomas nodded. If he could take aim, he could at least maim the intruder.

The man inched within a few feet from them in a matter of seconds. Nina pointed to Sam. Thomas nodded. What better way to take the man down and keep him alive to talk?

Nina raised herself up, about to sound the attack command, when they heard sirens on the road.

The man turned and took off running. Nina shouted, “Attack!”

Sam bolted from under the truck and went into the woods, following the scent of the stranger. Nina pushed away Thomas’s coat and started to follow, but he pulled her back. “Wait for backup.”

“Give me your weapon,” she shouted. Snow was falling all around them now, and her house was full of bullet holes and scattershot.

Thomas shook his head, glad when Max West stalked toward them and asked, “Agent Atkins, are you all right?”

“Yes, sir,” Nina answered. Then she launched into a full report, Sam’s fierce barking making her fidget. “I need to pursue the suspect, sir.”

Max put his hand on her arm. “We’ve got it covered. Why don’t you let the EMTs check out your injuries?”

“I don’t have any injuries,” she retorted, anger marking each word.

“Yes, you do,” Thomas said, taking her by the arm.

She was bleeding from her left shoulder.

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