by Janie Crouch
He was a man of action—especially when it came to protecting his new undercover partner…
At ninenteen, Andrea Gordon’s life was forever changed. After proving herself instrumental in a bank hostage crisis, she became one of Omega Sector’s top agents. Four years later, her skill at reading people is unrivaled—until she meets fellow profiler Brandon Han. Paired together to track a serial killer who has been targeting at-risk women, the two become entangled beyond the case. Their mutual attraction deepens as they get closer to the truth. But when Andrea’s own sordid past surfaces, they will both be forced to question everything about the assignment...and each other.
He walked up to Andrea, careful to come at her slowly and from the side so he didn’t sneak up on her in any way.
“Hi.” He kept his voice even, calm. “What are you doing out here? Everything okay?”
She looked at him, then back at the parking lot.
Without being obvious about it, Brandon withdrew his weapon from the holster at his side. Had she seen something to do with the case?
“Andrea.” His voice was a little stronger now. “What’s going on? Is it something to do with the murders? Did you see something or did someone threaten you?”
She kept staring.
“Andrea, look at me.”
She finally turned to him, hair plastered to her head from the rain, makeup beginning to smear on her face.
“I need you to tell me what’s happening so I can do something about it.”
MAN OF
ACTION
Janie Crouch
Janie Crouch has loved to read romance her whole life. She cut her teeth on Harlequin Romance novels as a preteen, then moved on to a passion for romantic suspense as an adult. Janie lives with her husband and four children overseas. She enjoys traveling, long-distance running, movie watching, knitting and adventure/obstacle racing. You can find out more about her at janiecrouch.com.
Books by Author
Harlequin Intrigue
Omega Sector: Critical Response
Special Forces Savior
Fully Committed
Armored Attraction
Man of Action
Omega Sector
Infiltration
Countermeasures
Untraceable
Leverage
Primal Instinct
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CAST OF CHARACTERS
Brandon Han—Omega Sector’s most brilliant profiler. He holds doctorate degrees in both interpersonal communication and criminal justice, as well as being licensed to practice law. His specialty is being able to get inside the heads of killers, but the darkness inside his own mind sometimes threatens to overtake him.
Andrea Gordon—A naturally talented behavioral analyst who can read the body language and emotions of people around her to an astounding degree. She’s desperate to hide her sordid past from the knowledge of her Omega Sector colleagues.
Steve Drackett—Director of the Critical Response Division of Omega Sector.
Grace Parker—Head psychologist of Omega Sector.
Lance Kendrick—A deputy of the Maricopa County sheriff’s department in Andrea’s hometown of Buckeye, Arizona.
Keira Spencer—A dear friend of Andrea’s still working in Buckeye. She knows what Andrea has overcome in her life.
Jarrod McConnachie—A Buckeye local who knew Andrea in high school; he doesn’t have a job and still lives with his mother.
DJ Shawn “Shocker” Sheppard—Local Phoenix DJ who takes pride in making his listeners squirm. His newest gimmick: the Angels & Devils Pilgrimage to strip clubs all over the state.
Harry Minkley—Owner of Jaguar’s, Andrea’s prior place of employment.
To Anu-Riikka, because you talk me down from the ledge with almost every single book. Thank you for listening to me for hours on end and for offering a fresh perspective when I can’t see clearly any longer. You’re the greatest buddy a writer could have.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Excerpt from Mountain Bodyguard by Cassie Miles
Prologue
Andrea Gordon huddled inside her car in the bank parking lot as pandemonium reigned all around her. Cops, SWAT, ambulances and other emergency vehicles she didn’t even recognize flooded the area. Blue and red lights flashed in a rhythm that drummed brutally against her eyes. Officers pointed assault rifles toward the building. People ran back and forth.
Just behind the roped-off section, news crews formed the next layer of people, their lights and cords and equipment adding to the chaos.
Beyond that were the witnesses, the gawkers, hoping to catch something exciting. Andrea wasn’t sure what would pacify them. A chase? Bullets? A dead body? Smartphones recorded the scene from every angle.
Three men had taken sixteen people hostage after an attempted robbery had gone wrong in a bank just outside Phoenix, Arizona. Andrea would’ve been one of those sixteen, but she had seen the signs on the robbers’ faces when they’d first walked in.
Danger. Violence.
Andrea was only nineteen years old, but she was an expert at spotting the approach of danger. Maybe she should be thankful for all the times she’d had to discern it in her uncle to avoid his fists. Either way, it had gotten her out of that bank before the trouble went down.
The men hadn’t come in together, but they were definitely working as a team; Andrea had immediately seen that. It was obvious to her that they weren’t afraid to hurt, even to kill. Simmering violence was a vibe she was very attuned to.
Two of the men fairly buzzed with it. Excited about taking money that wasn’t theirs and maybe taking a life, too. But it was the third man, who stood completely still and broadcast almost no outward emotions at all, that scared her the most.
She’d waited a minute longer, studying them while pretending to fill in a deposit slip, in case she was wrong. The two hyped-up guys were making their way back toward the bank manager’s office. The other man, the scary one, stood against a side wall, a briefcase in his hand. He caressed it with a lover’s touch.
He felt her eyes and turned to her, giving a smile so dark, so full of violence, Andrea had turned and nearly run out of the bank. She’d felt his eyes follow her as she left.
She’d been the last one out. Not two minutes after her exit, shots had been fired inside. The robbery soon turned into a hostage situation. Once out, Andrea had hidden in her car, parked in the back of the bank lot, and watched as the police arrived minutes later, then observers, then press.
Andrea would’ve been escorted back with the observers if anyone had known she was in her car. She’d been so scared at the third man’s evil smile, she had literally melted herself into the driver’s seat of her vehicle, curling into a ball and protecting her head and face with her arms.
She’d learned long ago that position didn’t stop pain, but at least this time it had kept her away from anyone’s view. The uniformed officer who had been in charge of security and taping off the parking lot had walked right by Andrea’s car without even seeing her in the dimming hours of twilight.
Unfortunately, now she was trapped here since the lot was blocked off by police vehicles. There was no telling how long the showdown could continue with the three men inside. She would need to go find someone who could let her out if she wanted to leave this evening.
Andrea exited her car, kept her head down and walked toward the action, planning to talk to the first relatively nice cop she could find. She didn’t want to draw any attention to herself, just wanted to get the help she needed and get out.
When she got to the front line of police officers, Andrea started looking around more. There was a lot of excitement in most of these cops. Some were nervous, a few downright fearful. A couple were bored.
She was easily able to spot the man in charge. He exuded self-confidence and self-importance, even without a radio in each hand and people constantly asking him questions. When he gave orders he expected them to be followed, and he was definitely the one giving orders in this situation. Another man and woman were standing with him. Everything about their faces and body language also suggested confidence, but they were respectful, caring—not power hungry. They stood back slightly, observing.
Drawn by the situation even though she didn’t want to be, Andrea made her way toward those people in charge. She was careful not to get in anybody’s way or do anything to draw someone’s scrutiny, although she expected to be stopped at any moment. When she got close enough to hear the leaders, she stood beside an unmarked sedan, watching them studying and discussing the bank.
She heard the man and woman—the observers—arguing with the man in charge.
“Lionel, deadly force isn’t necessary yet,” the man stated, quiet but emphatic. “Plus we don’t know the exact situation. We have no inside intel.”
“This isn’t your operation, Drackett,” the man named Lionel snapped. He wasn’t interested in anyone else’s opinions. “Omega isn’t in charge here—the Bureau is.”
“We’re not even sure how many perps are in there, nor how many hostages,” the woman said, her voice as calm as Drackett’s had been.
“We’ve got eyes on the building. There’s obviously two gunmen holding a room of seventeen people. They’ve got everyone in one location to keep them in line.”
Lionel was wrong. There were three men involved. But Andrea imagined the third one with the evil smile just looked like one of the hostages if he hadn’t made any obvious threatening moves. With his briefcase and suit he’d blend right in.
And he meant to kill everyone in the building. Everything in his body language and his emotions had screamed violence.
“Neither of those guys have hurt anyone yet. Let us get our hostage negotiator down here to talk to them. Matarazzo is a whiz in this type of situation—you know that.” Drackett again. “He can be here within the hour.”
Lionel shook his head. “No, I don’t need your rich wonder boy. I will handle this the way I see fit. The two gunmen have left the back of the building ripe for our entry. They are obviously camped in the front. They’re nervous. I’m not going to wait until they kill someone before I make my move.”
Although their expressions changed for only the briefest moment, Andrea could feel the waves of frustration coming off Drackett and the woman he was with. Whatever was going on, it was personal. Lionel all but hated Drackett.
That disdain was going to get everyone in the building killed. She could hear Lionel getting a SWAT team ready to breach the back door.
She was afraid when they did, the third man would make his move. She had to tell the police leaders what she knew. She didn’t know if it would make a difference, if they would listen to her at all, but she had to try.
She walked over to Drackett and the woman before she could let herself chicken out. She didn’t try to talk to Lionel; she already knew he wouldn’t listen to her.
“Excuse me, Mr. Drackett? There’s a third man inside that bank. Someone more deadly than the other two you can see.”
Drackett immediately turned his focus to her, as did the woman. It was a little overwhelming. Andrea wasn’t used to people actually listening to her that intently.
“How do you know?” His voice was clipped but she knew it was because they were running out of time, not because he didn’t believe her.
“I was in there. I saw them come in. I’m—I’m pretty good at reading people, their expressions. I could tell something was not right with the three of them. Those two guys.” She pointed at the bank doors where the two men could be seen. “And another one you don’t know about.”
Drackett and the woman met eyes and stepped closer to Andrea. She could tell they had Lionel’s attention also, although he didn’t turn toward them.
“I’m Grace. Tell us everything, as quickly as you can.” The woman touched her on the arm. Andrea fought the urge to flinch even though she knew the woman meant her no harm.
“The two men, the ones with guns, are excited, a little shaky. They’re thrilled about a big payoff and perhaps about having to shoot their way out of the situation. They will kill if they have to, but that’s not their primary intent.”
“And the third man?”
“Evil.” Even in the Phoenix evening heat, Andrea felt cold permeate her bones. “He’ll kill everyone. Wants to kill everyone. I think he wants to take as many people as possible down with him.”
Drackett whispered something to Grace and she eased back and disappeared into the crowds of law enforcement. She was gone too quickly for Andrea to get a read on whether she believed Andrea or not.
“So help me God, Drackett, if you tell me we need to listen to what this child is telling us...”
“This young woman has more actual intel than anyone else here. I’m not asking you to stand down, Lionel, just to listen and make sure you have all the facts before making any big move.”
“I’m not going to wait for these gunmen to kill someone before we move in. SWAT will be ready to storm the back door in three minutes. We go then.”
Everything about Lionel screamed determination. Andrea didn’t even try to convince him; he wasn’t going to listen to her.
She took a step back. She had done all she could do. Things inside the bank would play out the way they would play out.
She was about to fade back even more when Drackett looked down at a message on his phone. He turned and walked the three steps so he was standing directly in front of her.
“You. Name. First and last.”
“Andrea Gordon.” He wasn’t angry with her but the abrupt statement had her giving her real name rather than a fake.
“Just wanted to know the name of the person who’s going to cost me my career if you’re wrong,” he whispered. “Go stand back there with that uniformed officer. All hell is about to break loose.” He motioned for the officer to come get her.
Andrea walked back with the cop, but when he became distracted with something else, she slipped away. She eased into the crowds. She’d come back for her car another time.
She heard and felt the chaos behind her a few moments later. A shot fired then a bunch of people yelling. She just kept walking, not looking back.
* * *
ANDREA WASN’T SURE what had happened in the bank that evening. She’d watched the news the next day and it seemed as if the men had been stopped
without any problems. One of the gunmen had been wounded in the raid; the other had surrendered without a fight. All the hostages had left the bank unharmed.
The third man was never mentioned or shown by the media. Andrea accepted that maybe she had been wrong; maybe he hadn’t had anything to do with it. But then she thought of that evil smile the man had given her in the bank. Even now it had the ability to make her stomach turn.
Andrea hoped Mr. Drackett and Grace hadn’t gotten in trouble because of what she had told them. She’d probably never have any way of knowing, so she put it out of her mind.
Until they both walked in to Jaguar’s a couple of hours later.
Andrea was immediately self-conscious. She wasn’t onstage dancing—thank God—but she was serving drinks, and even though the waitress outfits were more concealing than whatever the dancer was wearing, it still left very little to the imagination.
They were obviously here for her. Jaguar’s rarely got customers in business suits. Especially suits that screamed law enforcement.
It was too dark for Andrea to read their expressions and body language as well as she would like, but anger radiated off them. This had to be about the bank. They must have gotten in trouble. And now they were here to let Andrea know. She wondered if she was about to be arrested.
“Harry, I need a break. I’ll be back in fifteen,” she said to her manager.
Harry leered at her the way he always did. “Any more than that and I’ll dock your pay.” He stepped closer, grasping her chin. “Or we can work out our own way of you paying me back.”
He didn’t see that Drackett and Grace had made their way up behind him, overhearing his words. Drackett cleared his throat.
Harry pegged them as cops as soon as he turned around. “And by paying me back, I mean working extra shifts,” he muttered, going to stand farther behind the bar, glaring at the suits.
“Andrea, could we talk to you outside for a few minutes?” Grace said over the thump of the music.
“Am I about to be arrested?”