Her Christmas Protector. Geri Krotow

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      “Watch her six for me, will you?” Superintendent Todd’s voice was gruff. That wasn’t unusual, but his more personal request to watch Colleen’s back, using the military term both Todd and Bryce knew well, certainly was. Superintendent Todd’s request was clear—he needed him to protect the mystery ride along.

      “Yes, sir.”

      Bryce ended the call and stared at the phone’s screen for a full beat.

      Just who the hell was Chaplain Colleen Hammermill?

      * * *

      Zora Krasny wanted to kick herself for even thinking about squirming when Bryce Campbell slid in beside her. She’d be able to do that later, after this mission was complete. The fact that he’d acted as if he was suspicious of her, as though he knew she was giving him a fake name, as if he might find her familiar, made her want to bolt.

      But they had a mission to accomplish.

      Zora unobtrusively stretched her shoulders under her body armor. While her Kevlar vest was like an old friend and still fit her perfectly, she needed to get used to it again. She rarely needed bulletproof gear in her new job. She’d resigned her navy commission and ended her seven-year naval intelligence officer career three years ago. After six months of downtime she agreed to go to work for the Trail Hikers on an as-needed basis while she completed her civilian counseling degree program.

      She’d been sporadically employed for the past two years by the Trail Hikers, a secret government shadow agency that existed to aid local and federal law enforcement with particularly difficult cases. Cases that needed more financial backing or expertise than was provided in the everyday operating budgets of regular law enforcement.

      The training she’d received from the Trail Hikers had far surpassed her military schooling and she relished the new tactics she’d learned. The only reason she felt any jitters at all was that Bryce Campbell was sitting next to her.

      So far the Trail Hikers had only sent her into the field on basic missions. Decoy, undercover distraction, tailing a suspect. Nice breaks from her schoolwork and new, permanent counseling position in the Silver Valley community. The Trail Hikers took care of clearing her counseling schedule whenever they needed her, as they paid for her answering service. She’d worked hard to get her psychology degree and knew that assisting clients through their tough times was one of her passions, as she’d had help in her darkest hours. When she’d had to start over because of the criminal actions of others.

      Justice was another passion.

      This was the first time the Trail Hikers had assigned her to track with the intent to ensnare a criminal. The fact that it was in her hometown made it that much more personal, more imperative to her that she get the suspect.

      The Female Preacher Killer, as the FBI and local law enforcement agencies—LEA—referred to the murderer, was blamed for two murders and three near misses in central Pennsylvania. The second killing had occurred in Silver Valley Township two months ago, and the Trail Hikers and every other LEA in Silver Valley wanted to catch the killer before they found another murdered minister.

      The last victim had been one of Zora’s clients, a Methodist minister who’d come to counseling to work through issues from her childhood. Like the first victim, she’d been found dead in her driveway. The near misses had been more recent, female ministers shot at as they’d left their respective church services. Two had sustained significant but not life-threatening injuries, while the third had been grazed on her temple by the killer’s bullet. Like her childhood best friend—Bryce Campbell, sitting next to her—this case was too close to home for Zora’s liking.

      She hadn’t run into Bryce Campbell in the entire time she’d been back home, not while living as herself nor as Reverend Colleen Hammermill. When she left the navy she’d moved back to Silver Valley, but to a different part of the sprawling suburb of Harrisburg than where she’d grown up since age twelve. With a population of twenty thousand, it wasn’t extraordinary that she hadn’t run into him yet. She hadn’t sought out any of her former high school classmates or friends.

      Why did she have to bump into him tonight, when her undercover disguise was vital to the operation’s success?

      “You nervous about doing this with that lunatic out there, Chaplain?” Bryce’s voice betrayed no suspicion of her. He was a pro.

      “No. I’ve got the best protection in Silver Valley, right?” She smiled but inwardly winced. Lying came too easily to her. The officers in the front seats thought she was a real chaplain, needing protection from the man or woman who’d been making female ministers a target for the past year.

      No one in SVPD knew about the Trail Hikers, except for one man. The man who ran the entire force, Superintendent Colt Todd.

      Officer Samuel pulled out of the SVPD lot and toward the main artery of the surrounding area. Zora cast a quick look at Bryce. His profile was more attractive than she’d remembered. Fifteen years had passed since they’d graduated from Silver Valley High School, fifteen years since she’d canceled their date for the senior prom and effectively ended their childhood bond.

       It was more than that.

      She’d given him a week’s warning that she wasn’t going to prom with him. Guilt still prodded at the mental floodgate that kept her memories of the boy who had been her best friend compartmentalized.

      He wasn’t the boy she’d known anymore, though. His profile was etched with the years that had passed.

      Her mother had tried to catch her up on Bryce and other classmates but Zora had asked her to stop. Truth was she had no intention of looking up Bryce or any past Silver Valley acquaintances.

      She should have checked the SVPD roster and told Superintendent Todd to assign a different detective to tonight’s mission, or she’d have to go back to the Trail Hikers and let one of the other women on the team fill in.

      Too late now.

      The bright lights of the football stadium, so large it rivaled many college fields, made the night sky glow even though they were a full mile away from their target area. It was a prime spot to lure out the killer. It had been announced for weeks that a female minister would give the invocation for the community’s holiday festival, and an exposition football game was part of the celebration. Zora, in her cover as a female minister, was to play the killer’s victim of choice.

      Adrenaline surged through her system and she curled her toes, trying to stay grounded. She really wanted to get this bastard.

      Officer Samuel spoke to her from the front seat. “Chaplain, we’ll continue as planned. You take your time walking around the concessions, around the bleachers where the fans are seated. We have officers all over the place—that stadium is on a virtual lockdown. Everyone attending the game has gone through a metal detector. When they call you out on the field for the invocation, go up and say the prayer. As soon as the marching band finishes the national anthem, leave the field and immediately go around the back of the main school building. We’ll be waiting for you in the teachers’ parking lot and we’ll bring you back to the station. You’re safe with us.”

      Zora nodded, sensing Bryce’s attention on her as he finished speaking.

      “Right. I’m not worried about my safety with you backing me up. I trust you. Besides, it СКАЧАТЬ