by Jodie Bailey
Meyer appeared on the small front porch, dragging Jenna alongside him.
They were moving.
If Meyer wanted her dead, he wouldn’t bother changing locations. Either he’d discovered she wasn’t Amy and was planning to use her as bait to reel in her sister or...
Or he had much worse plans for her.
His grip on his pistol tightened. They had to move. Now. If they lost Jenna, she could survive, but in a fate worse than death could ever be.
Nance had to see the consequences. Had to know them.
Wyatt clenched and unclenched his fists. Come on... He had no control. None. Jenna’s life was in someone else’s hands and all he could do was wait for an order that might never come.
Lord, if You can save her, please... Because Wyatt couldn’t. He never could. Her life was in hands bigger than his.
Jenna was fighting with all she had, slowing Meyer as they crossed the small porch.
Two gunshots rang out in quick succession. Meyer dropped to the porch, dragging Jenna with him as the two tires closest to the porch rapidly deflated.
Someone in the house had fired on the SUV?
Early. He must still be inside.
The man in the driver’s seat fired toward the house as a volley of shots came from the woods, placing Jenna in the cross fire.
Two more shots came from inside the house, then two men ran out the back, firing into the woods, shouting. Someone there had been spotted.
The driver of the SUV was firing volleys toward the woods in front of the house, preventing the chief and Owens from moving from their positions.
Meyer ran straight toward Wyatt, dragging Jenna with him.
This was it. His one chance to save her.
With one last quick prayer, Wyatt eased out of his secure position as Meyer dragged Jenna toward him.
The other man froze, planted his feet and pulled Jenna between himself and Wyatt.
Jenna’s eyes widened. Fresh bruises marred her jaw and cheek, fueling Wyatt’s anger. Relief mingled with the fear on her face. But when Meyer jabbed a pistol into her side, she froze.
Wyatt leveled his aim on Meyer’s head, praying someone near the house would see what was going on and engage.
They likely wouldn’t. It would be too easy to hit Jenna from such a distance. It was the same reason Wyatt couldn’t risk a shot now. Jenna could not be this close to rescue only to end up becoming collateral damage.
Wyatt swallowed his fear for her and prayed his voice would be firm. “You won’t get far dragging her through the woods with you. Let her go.”
“And hand over my leverage?” Meyer was cocky, unwilling to admit he’d been bested already. His attitude made him twice as dangerous. “Forget it.”
Wyatt held his gun level and tried another tactic. “You think you can survive in these woods? You grew up in the city. Lived in the city your whole life. You don’t know these mountains. All sorts of creatures live out there. You have no food, no water... And you’ll have me dogging your steps all the way. You won’t last the night.”
A shadow of doubt crossed Meyer’s features, but he tightened his hold on Jenna, jabbing the pistol deeper into her rib cage until she gasped at the pain.
Wyatt had never wanted to beat a man so badly in his life. If he could get one blow to that man’s solar plexus, he could drop him like...
One blow. Hope surged through Wyatt. With gunshots still ringing from the house, help wasn’t coming from anyone on the police force or the FBI.
But help might come from Jenna herself.
Jenna, who’d been taught to fight for herself by the one man who’d ever treated her like a daughter.
Wyatt made eye contact with her, forcing her to keep looking at him, praying silently she’d understand. “Meyer, you’re a city boy. You probably fight like a girl.”
Meyer spoke but Wyatt didn’t process the words, because Jenna’s eyes suddenly cleared, smoothing from fear to gritty determination.
He’d gotten through. Jenna heard him loud and clear. She shifted her stance slightly, lifting her hands slowly as if surrendering. “I’ll go with you. But please... Don’t hurt anyone else. Please. And let Brian’s sister go. He did what you asked.”
Now he heard her loud and clear. Don’t shoot to kill if you want to find Brian’s sister. Nina Early was in danger. Her brother was being blackmailed to help Meyer and his crew.
Another gunshot cracked from the house.
Meyer’s grip on Jenna slackened at the sound, the gun shifting.
Pivoting, Jenna drove her finger into Grant Meyer’s eye, then dropped to the ground and rolled as he bellowed.
Wyatt fired.
Jenna screamed as Grant Meyer fell beside her, gun falling uselessly to the ground, blood seeping from his shoulder. She rushed to Wyatt, hands and knees crunching dead leaves as she scrambled to her feet.
He kicked the pistol out of reach, then reached for Jenna, keeping one eye and his pistol on Meyer as he drew her near.
“I’m on him.” Brian Early’s voice came from the direction of the house. He stepped forward deliberately, pistol trained on Meyer with one hand, while the other arm cradled against his stomach, blood seeping through his shirt from a wound on his shoulder. His face was drawn white with pain, but his expression was tight and determined. “You take care of Jenna.”
“Your sister?” Jenna’s voice shook, and she kept her head in Wyatt’s shoulder.
“We’ll find her next. And if he lied about where she is, we’ll ask again. He’ll tell us.” Early toed Meyer’s shoulder, eliciting a moan and a rough curse. “He’s in no position not to.”
Wyatt pulled Jenna closer, pressing his lips to her hair, keeping a wary eye on the two men before him. Just in case.
And then the clearing was flooded with vehicles, the silence shattered as the hostage rescue team spilled into the clearing, armed to the teeth and ready to put an end to the chaos.
Wyatt holstered his weapon, wrapped both arms around Jenna and held her close, her heart beating against his chest.
She was finally safe.
SEVENTEEN
Jenna stared at the fireplace in her apartment, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, the silence deafening.
She was safe. There was no one else coming for her. It was over.
In spite of the truth, her brain wouldn’t turn off the alarm bells or stop screaming the need for flight. Less than a week of fearing for her life and this sense of paranoid urgency had somehow become a new normal she hadn’t expected to escape.
About fifteen minutes earlier, Jenna had convinced Erin, Jason and Shelley to leave her alone for a bit. She needed time to process.
They’d argued at first but eventually left the apartment, although Jenna was pretty certain they were either downstairs in the coffee shop or at the foot of the stairs standing unnecessary guard duty.
She’d needed the space, just for a minute. She’d spent the entire night in a whirlwind, first at the hospital, then in an interview with the FBI and Homeland Security, then with a crisis counselor. It had been days since she’d had time alone, and she craved it.
Except...she didn’t.
Silence and solitude weren’t what she needed. The only thing that was going to make her world right again was Wyatt.
Everything had happened so fast at Brian Early’s cabin. They’d been separated almost as soon as the federal agents arrived, and she hadn’t seen him since. Hours. All night. Every time someone new had entered the room, her heart had jumped, hoping it was him.
It never was.
There was no telling how long he’d be working with the aftermath of her kidnapping and the gun battle at Early’s cabin. They’d asked her questions until her head spun, and she was a civilian. What would they ask of Wyatt?
She laid her head on the couch and stared at th
e ceiling, then closed her burning, sleep-starved eyes. He’d come. She had no doubt.
Maybe he’d even bring news about Amy.
With Meyer in custody and Logan dead, would her sister be free to come out of hiding? Would she even want to? Jenna had lived with terror for a few days. Amy had been running for three years. Detoxing from a life in hiding would take time.
Her sister deserved to be free. She was a hero. She’d put her life on the line to rescue the women Grant Meyer had traded like property, assigning them monetary value.
Value.
It was what Wyatt had been trying to tell her before, when they were hiding. She had value that exceeded this world. Sure, she’d accepted Christ, but she hadn’t really let Him love her. She’d let men assign her value as easily as Grant Meyer had done, had measured herself next to others, had found herself wanting because of the way other people had behaved. The Matthew verse... God cared about the birds, and she was more valuable than them.
Because God loved her. God assigned her value, not a monster like Grant Meyer. Not her mother. Not even herself.
God.
The same God who spoke everything she saw and heard into being loved her. Even at her worst, when she’d tangled her life with Logan’s, He’d loved her. He’d taken care of her.
Her eyes burned with unshed tears. He’d taken care of her using every means He had, even a known criminal like Anthony.
And a man like Wyatt.
Neither of them were perfect, but Christ had valued her enough to die for her.
And Wyatt had valued her enough to stare down death for her, too.
Jenna breathed in a peace, an assurance she’d never known before. Life wasn’t perfect. Men weren’t perfect. But her value didn’t come from them.
It came from Christ.
And even though she wasn’t perfect and Wyatt wasn’t perfect...he cared about her. For the first time in her life she knew...she was worthy of being loved.
Two swift knocks at the door lifted her head. Her name came softly behind them.
Wyatt.
Jenna was at the door before she realized she’d moved, pulling it open without even asking for clarification.
And there he stood. Freshly showered. Blue jeans and a gray sweater doing everything to make him look perfect.
To make him look all Wyatt.
All hers?
He stood there, one hand behind his back, blue eyes locked on hers for a time that seemed to stretch into forever yet was not nearly long enough.
Jenna tilted her head, overcome by a shyness she couldn’t explain. She stood in front of a man who had saved her life by risking his own and who now completely held her heart in his hands. His hands... “What are you hiding behind your back?”
A soft smile tipped his lips and he lifted his hand, extending a to-go cup from downstairs. “I wasn’t sure if you’d made any or not.”
Jenna’s lower lip trembled as she accepted the gift. Tears pressed at her eyes as she looked at the cup. No, they hadn’t talked about the stellar, toe-curling kiss. They hadn’t talked about their pasts or their futures or anything. But she knew exactly what he was telling her. His feelings were on display in a large paper cup, the same as they had been while she sat in an apartment in Asheville, wondering where he was and what he was thinking.
He’d found a way to tell her.
She’d found a way to believe him.
She sniffed, then lifted her gaze to his, giving him a watery smile. “I love you, too.”
Wyatt’s cell buzzed. His gaze skipped to the side then returned to Jenna’s. Without looking away, he pulled the phone from his pocket. “Ten six, Chief.” The words tilted on a mischievous smile as he killed the call.
Like the first night he’d been in her home. I’m in the middle of something and can’t be interrupted unless the world’s about to explode. Jenna’s stomach looped. Oh, please. No interruptions now, not with him looking at her like that.
He slipped the phone in his pocket and the coffee from her hand, set the cup on the table by the door and moved fully into the room, drawing her to him as he did. As he kicked the door closed behind him, he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around hers and finding her lips in a kiss she hoped would never end, one that said everything his gift to her had said and so much more.
She was breathless when he pulled away, then pressed his forehead to hers.
Seemed he was, too. “So...” He cleared his throat. “Looks like we have something to talk about.”
“Like what?” If he kept looking at her this way, she’d talk to him about anything he wanted.
He inched back, searching for an answer. “Genevieve? Eve? Or Jenna?”
“Does it matter?” Her heart pounded.
“Definitely. Because one day, fairly soon, I think...” He swept the hair from her forehead, his eyes following his fingers as he tucked the lock behind her ear in a gesture of protection no man had ever lavished on her before. “I plan to ask one of those women to marry me. I’d love to know which one.”
The thrill of him ran from the top of her head straight through to her toes, curling into the hardwood. Suddenly, it did matter. It mattered a lot. “Jenna.”
His eyebrow arched in a question as his lips went to hers again, asking for permission.
“None of the others knew you,” she whispered, meeting him halfway, sealing their future with the truth of exactly whom she was meant to be.
* * *
If you enjoyed Mistaken Twin, look for these other stories by Jodie Bailey: Dead Run, Calculated Vendetta and Fatal Response.
Keep reading for an excerpt from Explosive Reunion by Karen Kirst
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Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for joining me for Wyatt and Jenna’s story! It has been an interesting one to write. Jenna even kept a few secrets from me until she was ready to tell. So did her sister, Amy, whom you will get to meet in the next book!
Sadly, too many of us feel like Jenna—unwanted, unlovable, broken. That’s one of the reasons I love Matthew 10:29-31, which was the driving verse for this book: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” I also love Psalm 139, where it talks about God knowing all of the days of our lives before we were born, loving us so much that He wrote them down. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel safe, protected by the Father who created me. Trivia bit—if you read Erin and Jason’s story in Fatal Response, you can see how Psalm 139 plays into that one, too.
This is what I want you to know, what I’m desperate for you to know if you don’t already—God loves you. He loves you so big that He has even counted the number of hairs on your head—also Matthew 10. You might feel alone. You might feel like Jenna does—wholly unlovable. But that is never true. It has never been true. Whether you know Him or not, God loves you and He has already set up a way for you to know Him. I’d love it if you took a minute to ponder those verses in Matthew or if you went to Psalm 139 and saw His love for you firsthand.
Truly, my prayer is that this book and others like it will not only entertain you, but will also lead you to the truth of how fully you are loved.
Stop by and visit me at www.jodiebailey.com and let me know how you’re doing. I’d love to hear your God story!
Jodie Bailey
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Explosive Reunion
by Karen Kirst
ONE
Sneads Ferry, North Carolina
Marines didn’t tuck tail and run at the first hint of trouble. They didn’t panic. They assessed problems and devised practical solutions. Ten years of service had honed Staff Sergeant Cade McMann’s skills and cemented his confidence. He should be able to have a simple conversation with his ex-fiancée without trembling in his boots.
When he’d learned Tori James was moving back to their small fishing community, he’d known there’d be adjustments. But she’d been home a month, and pretending they didn’t share a painful history—and attempting to avoid each other despite their families’ close ties—had become a problem. Time to deal with it.
As he approached her place, a gray-and-white Queen Anne home set in a narrow lot, house flags whipped in the wind and chimes clattered a discordant alarm. The sign advertising Tori’s pet-supply shop swayed on creaking chains. The Canine Companion occupied the first floor. The second had been converted into an apartment years ago. A tinkling bell heralded the exit of a customer and her four-legged pet. She was chatting and laughing with a petite blonde woman.