Peril at Christmas
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Virginia Vaughan
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Chapter One
Assistant District Attorney Ashlynn Morris’s hands were shaking as she hurried down the steps of the courthouse toward her car. It couldn’t be him. It just couldn’t. But it had been Garrett Lewis in the foyer of the courthouse. The one man she’d never expected to see again.
She hadn’t seen him in years—five to be exact—and she hadn’t allowed herself to think about him in all that time except when she looked into her son Jacob’s face and saw Garrett’s eyes staring back at her. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how he’d devastated her when he abruptly ended their engagement, choosing his life as an army ranger over a life with her and Jacob.
The December wind nipped at her cheeks as she reached her car and opened the door, dumping belongings that had been in her briefcase onto the seat. She hadn’t even bothered to slip on her coat in her haste to get out of the courthouse. She’d gone stone cold when she’d seen Garrett standing in the hall, his hands casually in his pockets and his easygoing manner apparent. His sandy hair was long on his neck and ears, and a goatee decorated his face, but his eyes were unmistakably kind when he turned to look at her, his expression just as surprised as she knew her own must be. She’d frozen in place, engulfed in a trance until someone had bumped into her, knocking her briefcase from her hands and spilling its contents on the floor. After quickly recovering her items with the stranger’s help, she’d turned and rushed from the courthouse.
“Ashlynn,” Garrett called, his baritone voice another shock to her system. “Ashlynn, wait.”
How could she face him now when she’d loved him so amazingly deeply? He’d shattered her world by rejecting her, leaving her a twenty-two-year-old law school student suddenly on her own with a baby on the way.
It had been a struggle to raise a child alone and finish law school, but she hadn’t given up. She’d fought for a better life for herself and Jacob just as she’d battled for everything good in her life. Her mentor, Judge Warren, often called her a survivor, and she was. She handled more pressure on a daily basis in her job as a prosecutor than most people ever faced, and she never blinked. She wouldn’t—she couldn’t—let Garrett see her blink, either.
Steeling herself against the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her, she shut her car door quickly before she acted on her need to jump inside and roar away. She would face him. It was time to finally put this behind her once and for all. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she took a deep, fortifying breath then turned and closed the distance between them. “Garrett, what are you doing here?”
His green eyes bored into hers so intensely that it made her breath catch, and when he spoke, his low, husky voice was just as she remembered; his deep southern drawl unmistakable. “I’ve started mentoring foster kids through my local church, and one of the boys is here to see his mother, who was picked up for drugs. I’m here to support him.”
Her mind spun at the idea that he was mentoring foster kids. Yes, he’d been one, and yes, he’d found a successful career as an army ranger, but what kind of role model ran out on the people who needed him most? He might fool some with his good-guy act, but not her, not after how he’d abandoned her. But he’d misunderstood her question. “No, what are you doing here in Jackson?”
“Oh, that. I’ve been back in town for a while now. I’m living over on Sutton Lane out by the Reservoir.” He gave her an uncertain shrug. “I didn’t know whether or not to call. I heard you’d gotten married and started a family.”
Yes, she’d gone on with her life after he’d left her. No need for him to know how it was currently falling apart. Her marriage was over, and her ex-husband wanted Jacob to live with him full-time. But those were her problems, and he didn’t need to know about them.
“It’s better you didn’t,” she said, determined not to let her vulnerability show. “We’ve both moved on.”
“I’m working with the police now. I took a job training local law enforcement in anti-terror response tactics.”
She gasped at this revelation. “You left the army?” Being a ranger had been everything to him. He’d chosen that life over a life with her, having promised to marry her during an extended leave from the rangers only to change his mind once he rejoined his unit.
He nodded, but his voice caught and she thought she spotted something lurking in his eyes—pain? “I did.”
For Ashlynn, that was a final blow to her ego. He’d told her he couldn’t be a ranger and be with her, then he’d abandoned them both. Now he would be around town and working with the police. She might see him through the course of her work. Jackson, Mississippi, was a big town, but law enforcement was a small community, and in her job as a prosecutor she often worked closely with the police. It was just one more insulting kick in the teeth to her already encumbered life. “I have to go. I’m expected at home.”
She hurried away from him and back toward her car. It unnerved her to think he was so close now and she might see him regularly. She made a mental note to conduct as much of her business as possible at the secondary jailhouse, where she would be less likely to run into him again instead of the primary jailhouse where he was now working. But, for now, she needed to concentrate on Jacob and looked forward to winding down after an incredibly hectic day by snuggling with him on the couch tonight and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas on television.
She was nearly to her car when an explosion rocked the air. Ashlynn was thrown backward, landing hard on the asphalt. She tumbled back against a car, ramming her head. Blinding pain ripped through her and her head felt heavy, but she managed to glance up to see her car in flames and debris falling all around. People were running toward her. Garrett was the only one she could make out clearly. He appeared to be screaming, but she couldn’t hear him or anything over the ringing in her ears.
He reached her and pulled her to her feet then hurried her away from the debris and flames. Her body was numb, but when her knees buckled beneath her, he scooped her into his arms and carried her. Noise began to seep back through to her—the huff of air through Garrett’s lungs as he ran, the distant wail of sirens and the roar of the fire raging a few feet away. The overwhelming smell of burning rubber permeated the air. She caught the worried expression on Garrett’s face as her vision faded, and she laid her head against his chest and slipped into unconsciousness.
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 recently been released from prison or escaped.”
“I don’t make a lot of friends in my job as a prosecutor, but no one has made overt threats. I can have my investigator send you some names to check out. He’s familiar with all the threats the office receives.”
He nodded. “Tell him to call me. Meanwhile, I’m going to follow up with forensics to see if there’s any identifying information about that bomb. Fortunately, we haven’t discovered any further devices. Until we determine otherwise, it appears you were the primary target. Would you like me to have an officer drive you home?”
“Yes, that would be good,” Ashlynn said. She couldn’t wait to go home and wash this day from her memory.
“No need. I’ll take her,” Garrett said.
Vince looked at her questioningly, allowing her to make the decision.
“It’s fine,” she said, and Vince nodded.
“I’ll be in touch, then.” He walked off, leaving Ashlynn alone with Garrett as he hurried back to the scene.
“You didn’t have to offer,” she said. She didn’t want him thinking she couldn’t take care of herself. She was a successful career woman. She’d built a life without him.
But the glint of his smile melted her resolve. “I would feel better knowing you made it home safely. Besides, I don’t mind.”
She hated that he could still have such an effect on her, but she’d been captivated by Garrett ever since he first smiled at her at a friend’s party. She’d been fresh out of college and he was already a decorated soldier home on an extended leave. She’d fallen hard and fast, and his protective manner had made her feel safe and loved for the first time in her life. But she wasn’t that young girl anymore and she didn’t need rescuing...yet she did like the way his hand rested protectively on the small of her back, guiding her and keeping her steady as they walked toward his truck.
He opened the door for her to sit in the passenger’s seat then walked around and slid behind the wheel. He grinned at her in a familiar manner she remembered so well, and she felt her heart flutter. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. She’d just wanted to get home. But now, the twenty-minute drive to her neighborhood seemed like an eternity. What did one say to the man who’d promised to spend his life with her then left her and her unborn child to pursue his career as a ranger?
After giving him directions to her home, she decided avoiding anything personal was the best solution. She should call Ken Barrett, her investigator at the DA’s office, and get him started on gathering those names for Vince. But her phone was a charred mess in what was left of her car. “May I borrow your cell phone to call my investigator?” Her first task tomorrow would be obtaining a new phone.
He handed it over and she dialed Ken’s number, thankful she knew it by heart. He answered, his deep bass voice familiar and reassuring. She had only known him six months, but they had become fast friends in that time, and she often looked to him as a brotherly figure, though they were only ten years apart in age.
“Ashlynn? Are you okay? I heard about what happened downtown. Is it true someone placed a bomb in your car?”
“It does look that way,” she admitted. “Vince Mason wants a list of all the threats our office has received, especially any directed at me specifically or any involving explosive devices.”
“I’ll take care of it,” he said, then in a tone of concern added, “I’m glad you’re safe. I wish you’d be more careful, Ashlynn. I’ve tried to warn you that there are a bunch of crazies out there.”
“I know, Ken, but I’m fine. I just want to get home. I’ll see you tomorrow at the office.”
She ended the call, then handed the phone back to Garrett. He slid it into a holder on the dashboard. Suddenly, the silence grew awkward between them, and she realized she should have kept Ken on the phone longer. She could have asked him for an update on any number of cases they were working on together.
The uncomfortable silence lengthened. At least they were nearly to her house.
“So, you have a son,” he said. “What’s his name?”
Her heart hammered in her chest at his question. She didn’t like where this conversation was going. Didn’t want him asking about Jacob. He’d given up that right when he’d abandoned them, and she already had one man trying to pull her child from her. She didn’t need another. She had to keep him at arm’s length when it came to her little boy. How could he ever make up for the fact that he hadn’t wanted her and his child?
“Jacob,” she said, then thankfully noticed they were nearing her home. “That’s my house,” she said, pointing out the driveway. He pulled in and parked beside Mira’s small sedan.
“Thank you for the ride,” she said, hoping that would be the end of it and they could each go their separate ways.
But Garrett was already getting out. “I’d feel better if you let me check inside.”
“That’s really not necessary.”
“Someone tried to kill you today, Ashlynn. Who’s to say they haven’t come here to finish the job?”
“I would know if someone had been here, Garrett. I have a security system.”
He spotted the car in the driveway. “I guess your husband would have phoned you, huh?”
It was none of his business about her marriage, and she didn’t want him to think she’d failed without him. “My nanny and son are in the house. Mira would have called me if something was wrong.”
“Still, I would feel better if you’d let me check it out. It won’t take long.”
She finally relented and walked to the front door. Anything to satisfy him and get him away from her home and away from her son. However, she stopped walking when she noticed the front door ajar, a flicker of fear racing through her.
Garrett saw it too and stiffened as he reached for his gun, pushing past her. “Stay here,” he commanded. He shoved open the door and entered the house.
But she wasn’t going to obey that command. Her son was inside that house. If someone else was there, someone who meant to get back at her by harming her son, she wasn’t going to be still.
“Jacob!” she screamed, hurrying past him and running up the stairs.
“Ashlynn, wait.”
She heard his footsteps behind her but she wouldn’t stop until she knew Jacob was safe.
Sounds from the TV in the playroom greeted her at the top of the stairs, but she heard nothing else. Jacob was a rambunctious four-year-old and the house was too quiet. Panic ripped through her and she took the last few stairs in a haze of anxiety and fear. She pushed open the playroom door. Jacob’s toys littered the floor and the television was still playing his favorite evening show...but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“Jacob!”
She rushed into the room, intent on looking in his favorite hiding spots. She tripped over something beside the couch and hit the floor, landing hard on her hands. Ashlynn turned to see what she’d tripped over and saw a leg jutting out from behind the couch. Panic hit her at the sight. It was too big to be Jacob’s leg, but...
She looked up at Garrett, who now stood in the doorway, his gun drawn. His eyes focused on the leg. She moved to look behind the couch and saw Mira on the floor. The young girl wasn’t moving, her eyes were vacant, and the carpet was stained red with blood around her.
Ashlynn didn’t need to check for a pulse to know Mira was dead.
She screamed Jacob’s name and leaped to her feet. If someone had broken in and killed Mira, Jacob might have gotten scared and hidden.
“Jacob!” She ran down the hall to his bedroom and burst in, searching under the bed and in the closet. He wasn’t there. She checked her bedroom then rushed downstairs. She called for him, frantic with worry as she checked every nook and cubby, searching for any place he might have hidden.
He was nowhere to be found.
Panic filled her. Mira was dead, murdered, and Jacob was missing. If something had happened to him...
Ashlynn dropped to her knees as anguish rushed through her.
Where was her child? Oh, God, where is Jacob?
Seeing her this way was like a sucker punch to his gut, and all Garrett wanted to do was sweep her up into his arms and make everything better. He checked that response, realizing not only might she object, but her husband wouldn’t be too thrilled with him, either. He’d noticed the family portrait of them when he entered the house. And he no longer had that right. Even if she hadn’t been married with a child, there could never be a future for them, not after all he’d seen and all he’d done. He’d walked out of a firefight unscathed when other men, better men with families, had died, and his grief had pushed him to kill and maim all in the name of war.
But his heart hurt for her. He couldn’t imagine the devastation of having her child ripped from her. She’d already had such a difficult life, having lost her parents in a car accident when she was eight then being placed in an abusive foster home and nearly beaten to death by her foster mother. But it seemed she’d turned that all around now. She had a nice home in a fancy neighborhood, a good job in the DA’s office and a beautiful family.
He holstered his gun and pulled out his cell phone to alert the police about the dead girl in the playroom and the missing child. This couldn’t be a coincidence. It had to somehow be connected to the bomb in her car earlier today.
Garrett stopped dialing when he heard a noise from outside the house. His ears perked up and all his senses went on alert. He put away his phone and retrieved his gun. Someone was here. He grabbed Ashlynn’s hand, pulled her to her feet and pressed his hand against her mouth to keep her from speaking. Her eyes widened in fear and her lashes were wet with tears, but she didn’t ask questions.
“Follow me,” he whispered, his instincts warning him to tread cautiously. He led her away from the front windows but peered out of them from the side, peeking through the heavy curtains. He saw nothing but the setting sun.
Something was wrong. He felt it in his gut. He sensed someone watching them. His truck was parked in the driveway but the direct route to it would be dangerous if he was right and someone was out there.
He grabbed a lamp from the end table and waggled it in front of the window. A shot rang out, bursting through the glass and shattering the lamp in his hand. Ashlynn screamed, but Garrett grabbed her arm and pulled her back up the stairs, his heart heavy at the continuing threat against her. Now that the shooter had made himself known, but failed to kill them, he would watch the exits closely or possibly come inside to finish them off. They had to find a way out of the house.
He led her into the master bedroom and locked the door. It wouldn’t hold off an intruder with a gun for long, but possibly long enough for them to escape. He had his weapon, but it would be no match for the shooter’s gun which, by the sound of it, Garrett recognized as a semi-automatic rifle, a serious weapon with serious intent. He hurried to the balcony and swung open the doors. Their only chance was to get out of this house, and now that they were upstairs this was their only way out. They would have to jump. He glanced down and saw a concrete patio below. It wasn’t a high drop, but it would hurt. He holstered his gun.
“I’ll go first. Then you follow behind me.”
She shook her head, fear pooling in her wide brown eyes. “I can’t.”
“You have to, Ashlynn. You have to stay alive for Jacob.” His words were meant to provoke her to action, knowing she would do whatever she had to in order to find her son. It worked. She considered his words for only a moment before fortifying herself and nodding.
He crawled over the railing and climbed down, letting himself drop and hitting the ground. Pain ripped through his leg, but he ignored it. He’d sustained worse injuries and kept moving. He looked up and motioned for Ashlynn to jump.
She nodded and swung one leg over the railing. Just then, he heard the sound of the door cracking open and the shout of the gunman as he burst into the room. Ashlynn’s head jerked up and the dat-dat-dat of gunfire filled the air. His gut clenched as her fingers slipped from the railing and she fell, tumbling backward toward the ground.
