Mistletoe Reunion Threat. Virginia Vaughan

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      The sky was on fire from the force of the blast and the heat radiating from what was left of the car. As she passed out in his arms, a horrible realization rushed through Garrett. He’d seen her put her things into the vehicle that was now ablaze. That was definitely her car. A sickening feeling pulsed through him. If he hadn’t stopped her, she would have been inside the car when it had blown up.

      The explosion immediately made him think of his time in the army and the night his ranger team was ambushed. Five years later and he was still reliving it. Anything could bring those memories front and center again, whisking him back to that dark place. To the echoing blasts of mortars and gunfire, the cries of agony and the anguish of hauling his best friend from the battle only to have him die in Garrett’s arms. This was his Ashlynn in the line of fire. And here he was, carrying someone he cared for out of danger once again. The way she slumped in his arms filled him with terror.

      Please, God, don’t let her be seriously injured.

      People rushed from the courthouse and surrounding downtown buildings. The fire still raged and the air smelled putrid. He carefully set Ashlynn down in a patch of grass beside the courthouse steps. She was light as a feather in his arms, and her skin was soft as he touched her face. Her brown hair spilled from a clip at the back of her neck. And he’d noticed while they were talking that her eyes still blazed with fire and her chin jutted when she spoke. She was a petite powerhouse of dedication and energy when she fixated on something important to her. He’d always loved that about her.

      He turned back to look at the car. Black smoke was pouring from it. He’d broken their engagement five years ago in order to keep her safe. His job as an army ranger had been a dangerous one, something he hadn’t fully considered in the midst of their whirlwind courtship. But on returning to the army after proposing, he had, in fact, been scarred by war and the ambush that wiped out his ranger squad.

      It was that ambush, and watching his friends die and turn their wives into widows and their kids into orphans, that had convinced him he didn’t want that life for Ashlynn. He hadn’t wanted to saddle her with wondering if he would come home from a mission. He was glad she’d gotten on with her life, glad she’d found someone else to love and start a family with. Yet he’d always assumed her life without him would be quiet and uneventful. He’d never once dreamed she might become the victim of a car bomb.

      The police arrived from the downtown precinct behind the courthouse. He could see the confusion on their faces as they wondered what had happened. Their first priority would be to keep the public safely away from the blaze and then scope out the area for other threats of danger.

      He spotted his friend Vince Mason, his liaison with the Jackson police department, and called to him.

      “What happened?” Vince asked, running up to him. “Did you see?”

      Garrett swallowed the lump forming in his throat. “It was a car bomb.”

      “Do we know whose car it was?”

      Again Garrett held the answer. He glanced at Ashlynn lying unconscious on the grass. “It was hers.”

      Vince stepped around him and saw her on the grass. “An attack on an ADA? That’s not good. How is she?”

      “She needs medical attention.”

      “Paramedics are on the way. Stay with her. We’re going to have to question you about what you saw,” he said, hurrying away. “Don’t go anywhere.”

      He needn’t have worried. Garrett wasn’t leaving, not until he knew Ashlynn was all right. It had been her dream to become a lawyer and then a prosecutor ever since Judge Warren had encouraged her pursuit of law after her testimony against her abusive foster mother helped send the woman to jail. He was proud of her for accomplishing her dreams, but he’d never considered the danger such a job might place her in.

      What else had changed in her world, he wondered. Had she found God since their time together? He hoped she had. His newfound faith was the only thing that had sustained him through the past years since the ambush. And while he still struggled, he was thankful to have God on his side. He hoped Ashlynn had found the same comfort in Jesus that he had, especially when he realized how close she’d just come to meeting Him.

      Ashlynn began to squirm. Her hand went to her head and she groaned. “What happened?”

      He knelt beside her, in his heart a mix of relief that she seemed okay and horror over what had happened. “There was an explosion. How do you feel?”

      She sat up and looked at him, her expression confused as if she didn’t remember why he was there. She glanced past him toward the flames. The fire department had arrived on scene and was working to contain the blaze while the police were keeping people back, questioning witnesses and searching for other explosives. “My car.”

      “It could have been worse,” he stated. “You could have been in it.”

      Again that thought sent shivers through him. He took a deep breath and thanked God for His intervention today in keeping Ashlynn safe. Garrett had let her go five years ago in order to keep her safe.

      Yet it seemed she’d managed to find danger all on her own.

      * * *

      Ashlynn allowed the paramedics to check her out and bandage a few scrapes she’d sustained in the explosion, but she waved off any talk of going to the hospital. She wasn’t seriously injured and she needed to get home to be with her son and relieve her nanny, Mira. Her mind was scrambled by the thought that someone had tried to kill her. Who had placed that bomb in her car? And why? She didn’t know, but the idea that someone might want her dead shook her.

      Garrett approached with the precinct commander and Ashlynn realized that seeing Garrett again after all this time had shaken her nearly as much as the threat against her life. At first, she’d thought he was a dream or a flashback when she’d opened her eyes and seen him hovering over her, but then the events of the afternoon had come rushing in. Garrett Lewis was back in her life.

      “Ashlynn, this is Vince Mason, he’s—”

      “I know who he is,” she insisted, suddenly irritated that he thought he could waltz into town and act like she was the outsider. “I work with this police force every day.” She’d struggled to put herself through law school after Garrett left her, and she had been working in the DA’s office for nearly two years now.

      Vince nodded. “Yes, we’ve worked together on cases many times. How are you feeling, counselor?”

      Her ears were still ringing and she was sore, but mostly she was ready to wrap her son in a big hug. “I’m fine. I’m anxious to get home.”

      “I know you are. I need to ask you some questions first, though. Do you have any idea who would place a bomb on your car?”

      “Not at all.” It was the truth. She hadn’t worked any high-profile cases during her time in the DA’s office. In fact, she hadn’t worked any cases she could remember involving explosives of any kind.

      “Have you received any threats recently?”

      “No.”

      “Can you think of anyone, perhaps someone you prosecuted, who would want to do you harm? We can check on people you’ve convicted that might have СКАЧАТЬ