Colton Christmas Protector

by Beth Cornelison

  Taming Deputy Harlow

  by Jennifer Morey

  Chapter 1

  “How did you find me?” Jamie Knox asked the big man wearing the cowboy hat. He took great care to not be easy to find. The fact that this man did spoke to the depth of his resources.

  Kadin Tandy walked across Jamie’s New York City studio apartment. “One of my detectives tracked you down. He said you were instrumental in closing a case he worked in Alaska.” He inspected the big-screen TV in the corner and then the queen-size bed in an alcove off the living room. “Something about creating a distraction with a helicopter and helping to save his client from the killer?”

  “Brycen Cage and Drury Decoteau?” Jamie wasn’t fooled that this man didn’t know exactly what had happened that day. He sipped from his bottle of water as he sat on the sofa.

  “They’d be the ones.” Kadin strolled back toward him and stopped beside the kitchen island, the only table Jamie had.

  Jamie stretched his arm out along the back of the sofa. “You came here to discuss my involvement in their case?”

  “No. I’m here to offer you redemption.”

  That got his attention. “How do you know I need redemption?”

  Kadin made a show of looking around Jamie’s studio apartment. “What made you decide to live here?”

  “It’s close to Central Park, public transportation, and places to shop and eat. But the boutique elevator really hooked me.”

  “Deep-city living appeals to you?” Kadin didn’t find his humor amusing, apparently.

  “It’s noisy and overpopulated.” He was beginning to regret letting the man in. He’d let homeless people in before, so maybe that meant he’d let anyone in. The homeless people he fed. This man... What did he need? Something significant if he went to such lengths to arrange this meeting.

  “Does that fill the void of rescuing people from insurgents in Third World countries?”

  “You’ve done your homework.” Jamie put the bottle of water on the coffee table.

  “I always do when I want to recruit someone.”

  As Jamie leaned back, he tried not to show his surprise. He’d expected something significant, but not this. “Been doing that a lot lately?”

  “I’m a start-up and I happen to be expanding to the international market.”

  “International?”

  “My company is growing. I need someone to develop a security program. Risk management and mitigation. That type of thing.”

  Risk management and mitigation? Buzzwords that meant something different to this man and to his business. Jamie knew all about Kaden’s past, how he’d come to be the man standing in his living room. He also knew what kind of security program he needed. One that mitigated with weapons and countermeasures. Maybe a little corporate security sprinkled in.

  “I’m not a homicide detective.”

  “No, but you have a security background. Not all of my investigators are trained like you. Some are a bit on the vigilante side, but most have cop backgrounds that may not equip them against criminals like the one you worked for. It’s not just about physical security in foreign countries. I also need my people secured in my building.”

  Jamie took a moment before he asked, “Why me?” That was the question he really needed answered.

  Kadin smiled; not an all-out smile, more like an I’m-glad-you-asked smile. “You weren’t the only good person who was snared by Dexter Watts and his boss. They all had a highly respectful opinion of you.”

  Admitting he was good at protecting or rescuing people from dangerous places and situations wouldn’t be conceited. He was good because he had experience. But he still didn’t understand why a man like this would single him out. So he’d helped one of Dark Alley’s detectives. He hadn’t done it for anyone but himself. To free himself from the clutches of two very bad men.

  “Are you interested?” Kadin asked.

  “You chose me because I came highly recommended?” He needed more of an explanation.

  “I’m getting more and more requests to look into international cases. So far I’ve personally taken them.” Kadin bobbed his head from side to side in a contemplative way. “Mostly for an excuse to take my family on vacation. The victims always come first, of course, but some of the places are paradise. My wife wouldn’t stand for it if I didn’t take her and my son along. But the workload is getting to be too much, and there have been some instances when the danger gets too risky with my family in tow. I’m putting more detectives in the field. Their lives are my top priority. I need someone I can trust to ensure their safety. Part of my decision was based on recommendation, but most of it was based on your history in security services. You’ve worked both sides. Military and private military. When the private side didn’t work so well you made the right choice by stomping Watts out of your life. Nothing got in your way of doing that, either, and you did it alone. That’s proof to me you’re not only capable, you’re someone I can trust.”

  He’d qualified by demonstrating his expertise and moral compass. That, Jamie believed. “All right. Then how will I redeem myself if I agree to work for you?”

  “You’ll be working on the right side of the law. My law. Your law. And, when it suits the case, whatever law applies to the country you or my detectives are in.”

  The man knew what the importance of being on the right side meant to Jamie. Jamie wouldn’t have done what he’d done in Alaska otherwise. “I thought I was on the right side when I joined Aesir International.”

  “Catchy name. Ice-ear. Multiple gods. Race of gods. Too bad Loki ran it.”

  “Still runs it from what I hear.” Jamie stood from the sofa and faced Kadin. Something made him seriously consider his offer, but the risk of impulsiveness kept him cautious.

  Kadin brushed the lapels of his jacket aside and rested his hands on his hips, exposing his pistols. “What kept you with Valdemar Stankovich for so long? There has to be a reason. What did he have to hang over your head? A man who agrees to work for the likes of Dexter Watts and then helps take him down isn’t a thug who does as told.”

  Jamie’s respect for the man increased with his recognition that Stankovich had leverage to force him to work for Watts.

  “I refused to do what he wanted and told him I was quitting,” Jamie answered honestly. “Let’s just say he didn’t respond well to that and came up with a witness and evidence that had me doing something incriminating. I went to work for Aesir thinking I’d have the opportunity to fight terrorism. Make a difference. I couldn’t allow him to destroy my reputation. So I waited for the right opportunity. I couldn’t make my move until I had every shred of false evidence he created against me. That all came to a head with Watts. Stankovich has nothing on me now.”

  “What about the witness? Isn’t he still a threat?”

  “I took care of him. He can’t talk anymore.” He watched Kadin for any kind of reaction and saw only understanding and a growing kinship. Here stood a man who knew what it took to take justice in his own hands—against seemingly insurmountable odds.

  “Maybe you’ve already had your redemption,” Kadin finally said, dropping his hands.

  “In some ways, I have.” Demons still haunted him, though. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to exorcize them. “Redemption for me would be living an honorable life, getting married, having children. Feeling normal.”

  Kadin glanced around the apartment again and looked through the window. A siren could be heard on the street below.

  “This is normal? You’d raise kids here?”

  Jamie had to agree the studio apartment and cramped city living wasn’t part of the fantasy. After Aesir, he wasn’t quite ready for suburbia. Or was he?

  “Come work for me,” Kadin said. “I need someone like you on my team. I can’t promise you normal, but I
can promise you an office and as much or as little travel as you want.”

  Professionally, Jamie didn’t know what he’d do with his future now that he had Stankovich off his back. His immediate need drew him back to his roots, close to his mother in New Hampshire, and deep-city living, as Kadin had put it. He planned to take some time off, find a woman and settle down. Other than that, he had a clean slate.

  Would joining an elite team such as Dark Alley Investigations give him the kind of life he needed?

  “Think it over,” Kadin said.

  When Jamie nodded once, he headed for the door.

  There, Kadin opened the door and stopped with his hand on the doorknob. “Consider moving to Wyoming, would you? This city-living thing is just a Band-Aid. The boutique elevator gave that away.”

  As the door shut, Jamie let out a breath of a laugh. Although highly intelligent and perceptive, Kadin acted as though Jamie had already accepted the job. Maybe he had. And without realizing it, he had moved to the city to still feel the connection to danger. Busy streets. Sirens. Gunshots. The noise gave him a sense of familiarity. But he was ready to settle down. He wanted that. Needed that. Craved it. Kadin’s visit only sealed that desire tighter. Kadin had one thing right. No more transition time. No more living in constant danger. Stankovich was part of the past now. Jamie had to make a move for the future.

  * * *

  Sitting at her kitchen table, Reese Harlow picked up the internet news article with trembling fingers. Hammers pounded and demolition work vibrated around her as she stared at the photo of a powerful man wearing a cowboy hat. He leaned on the back of a pickup truck parked at the head of an alley, shoulder harness exposed, two guns, one on each side. Steely gray eyes met the camera. Without even meeting him, she sensed an extraordinary man looking back at her from the photo.

  Her biological mother had emailed her the link to the article titled Cold Case Hero Expands Business. She’d searched herself and found this photo attached with other articles as though it had become a marketing piece. Former New York homicide detective, founder of Dark Alley Investigations. Father. Husband. She ran her finger over the man’s name printed beneath the photograph.

  Kadin Tandy. Her father.

  And he didn’t know about her...

  She had known since she was a young girl that she was adopted. She had good parents who loved her in their own way and were town fixtures, but as she grew older, she couldn’t stop wondering about the identity of her biological parents, as though their identity meant something to her own. Last week, she’d met her biological mother for the first time. While that had been strange and awkward and fascinating, and had consumed her thoughts all week, her mother hadn’t been able to tell her much about her father. She’d lost touch with the teenage boy who’d fathered the child she’d been forced to give up at the age of sixteen. Today she’d sent Reese the link to this article.

  If she went to meet Kadin, how would she approach him? She’d read he’d lost his young daughter—to murder, of all things. Reese couldn’t imagine enduring such profound tragedy. Blurting out she was his daughter might come as a bit of a shock. She should tell him, though. She had to tell him. Someone should have told him long ago. How could she do that in a tactful way? She didn’t think there would ever be any good time or any easy way. Maybe she’d get to know him first.

  But did she really want that? She’d accomplished what she’d set out to and found her biological parents. She had their names and where they lived. That didn’t mean she had to have them in her life from this day forward. Did it? Maybe she wasn’t quite finished with her exploration.

  Exhausted from her lengthy pondering, she bent her head to look down at the article again, not really seeing it as her long blond hair fell forward in its confined ponytail. She had contemplated cutting it into a shorter style, but liked letting it down every once in a while. She retained her feminine side while satisfying a more aggressive one that way. Her best friend in school had called her Cinderella, with her brandy-colored eyes, thick wavy hair, tiny waist and shapely breasts. She had fond memories of her friend’s well-meant teasing. And her friend hadn’t exactly been frumpy. More men went after her than Reese. Probably because Reese had always been more interested in school and her career than boys or men.

  The noise stopped and the sound of excited male voices pulled her attention back to the renovation. All the carpenters were in what would soon be her finished bedroom. What were they all in a fuss over?

  Reese stood and went down the freshly drywalled hallway. Stopping at her bedroom door, she saw three carpenters hunched over pried-up old floorboards. She moved closer until she saw a faded 1970s tin Star Wars lunchbox that had been removed from beneath the flooring. When the carpenter opened the metal latch to reveal stacks of hundred-dollar bills inside, Reese drew in a startled breath.

  A buried treasure? In her house? Nothing this exciting ever happened to her. She was just a small-town girl who’d gone to college and came back to get a job at the sheriff’s office.

  “Jeffrey Neville lived here before you,” one of the carpenters said.

  She’d discovered that when she’d bought the house. Jeffrey had died and had no family. The home had been escheated to the state and finally sold. He was the last of his line. Thinking about all the losing lottery tickets she’d bought, never in a million lightning strikes guessing she’d stumble upon someone’s primitive retirement fund, she took the lunchbox from the one who’d dug it up.

  “How did it get here?” she asked aloud, not expecting any of them to know. Life had certainly stirred up some surprises lately.

  “Maybe somebody used the house to deposit their savings,” another one of the carpenters said.

  “Jeffrey must not have known about this,” she said.

  He lived in this house for more than forty years. Why would he not have used the money for something if he’d known about it? He had no family to pass it on to. He had lived modestly up until the day he died. The way the money had been hidden suggested it hadn’t been meant to be found, and then something had happened to the person who’d put it here. Had it been stolen or otherwise obtained in some other nefarious fashion? Had Jeffrey known the person? A wife, perhaps? Strange, after living in this town her whole life, she didn’t really know much about one of its residents. She’d never thought to ask, either.

  “What are you going to do with it?” one of the carpenters asked.

  She looked down at the man who’d discovered it, realizing that they were hoping she’d be generous.

  “I don’t know, but a small thank-you for finding it is in order.” She tipped the carpenters handsomely and received a thank-you from each. She’d like to find out where the money came from, but first she’d put it somewhere safe.

  She looked at each of the carpenters’ excited faces. Nothing productive would get done after this today.

  “Why don’t you all take the rest of the day off?” In a couple of hours, it would be five, anyway. And she needed to be alone.

  They thanked her again and began to gather their tools.

  Reese returned to the kitchen, putting the tin lunchbox on the table, her gaze landing on the news article. Even finding the money didn’t overshadow the significance of what she contemplated regarding Kadin. Maybe his fame intrigued her. Maybe his love of law did more, lending a kind of a connection to him. Even though she’d never met him and he’d never seen her or known of her existence, she’d gone into the same type of work. How amazing was that? She’d like to know more about her biological father.

  How would he react to learning he had a daughter?

  * * *

  The next morning, bags packed and in the car, Reese stopped at the bank on her way to the Durango airport a county over. She’d fly to Rock Springs, Wyoming, later today. She’d made reservations after the carpenters had gone and she’d
thought for a while about the consequences of her making contact with Kadin Tandy. Good and bad. First and foremost, he deserved to know he had a living daughter. Even though she was incredibly nervous and had serious reservations about how it would change her life, she felt morally obligated to tell him. She’d deal with the fallout as it hit her.

  “Hello, Candace.” Reese put the lunchbox down on the counter in front of the redheaded teller. “I’d like to open a safe-deposit box.”

  “Reese. Congratulations on your windfall!” Candace’s green eyes danced with enthusiasm. Not much over five feet tall, her elbows rested easily on the counter.

  Reese laughed a little. “Thanks. I won’t even ask how you found out.”

  “The whole town is talking about it.” The teller gave her a form to fill out and then eyed the tin lunchbox as though it was a relic. “One of your carpenters told me. He made a deposit of his own yesterday. That was awfully nice of you to give them money.”

  “It’s what I would have wanted.” Reese handed the form to Candace. “And I’ll never get used to the rapid lines of communications in this town.”

  “That tin is pretty old. Too interesting not to talk, I suppose.” Candace handed her a key to a safe-deposit box and tucked some of her bobbed red hair behind her feather-jeweled ear. “You found it hidden in the floor?”

  Reese took the key. “Yes. Quite the mystery, huh?”

  “I’d say. Did Jeffrey’s wife hide it?”

  Reese went still. “His wife?” Why did she think his wife could have hidden money? And where was she now?

  “She was murdered some forty years ago. That would explain why Jeffrey never knew about the money. I wonder why she hid it? Everyone is wondering that in town. We haven’t had this much excitement in years.” She laughed lightly.

  Murdered...

  Reese was still trying to catch up to the significance of that as Candace rambled on.

  “Been so long, not many remember her. She was strangled to death and dumped on the side of Highway 149 on the way to Durango.”