Broken Falcon, page 33
Sling Man and Jacked Knee had gone on to say Dearborn had shot Tobias and then called them, demanding they help frame Chase by driving his unconscious body to another location and leaving him covered in blood in the driver’s seat of Redford’s vehicle.
They did it, no questions asked. The two men didn’t know—or particularly care—why one partner had killed the other.
Seong thought Dearborn’s claim that Tobias had balked at putting a chip in Eden’s head had the ring of truth. Dearborn needed Tobias’s help because Parks had entrusted the younger man with information on the procedure. It seemed she played the two men off each other. When questioned about whether or not Parks was sleeping with Tobias Redford, Dearborn claimed he didn’t know.
Eden suspected it was another reason he’d wanted to punish his lover.
Penny was another loose end Seong was taking care of. They’d learned the girl had, as Chase suspected, tossed the pipe bomb that injured five people. Seong was giving her the same care she’d given Chase and ensuring the young woman didn’t face charges for crimes she committed when she was under Dearborn’s control.
Today, Sara was full of smiles after months of heartbreaking investigation. “You both look radiant!”
She kissed Chase’s cheeks and hugged Eden. She whispered in her ear, “You have no idea how thrilled I am to see you both so happy, and Chase…he just holds a special place in my heart. I’m so glad he found you.”
Eden teared up at that and hugged the woman tightly.
During a lull in greeting guests, Eden slipped her arm around her husband’s waist and squeezed. “I think this is the most perfect day of my life—so far.”
He grinned down at her. “And we haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.”
A happy exhaustion filled Chase as he picked up his bride and carried her over the threshold of the cabin that was too big to be called a cabin. The wedding was over; their guests were departing down the long driveway. It was just him and his new wife at last.
The day after tomorrow, they would catch a flight to New Zealand for a two-week honeymoon. It was a bucket list destination for them both, and they figured it would be a good time to explore before Eden buckled down and resumed classes with the summer term. It had taken months to sort everything out, but the issue of Eden’s very legal sex work was nothing compared to the fact that the head of the department had murdered a student, sex-trafficked young girls, and experimented on them. Then there were the students who had been sexually harassed by both Redford and Dearborn coming forward and demanding action from the university.
Basically, the school was bending over backward to give scholarships and reenroll everyone they could.
Eden was back in business.
Desiree, of course, was not. She’d retired. Her last airing had been the morning she’d been forced to read a fake letter at gunpoint.
All that was behind them, though. For the first time since Alaska, Chase believed the darkness and storm clouds would stay behind him. He no longer feared losing time.
No longer feared losing his mind to the rage.
Penny was on her own road to recovery.
And he had Eden. The light he’d found in one of his darkest moments. With her, he felt whole again.
He kissed her softly but deeply as he unzipped her wedding dress. They were both exhausted, but having her perfect body next to his energized him.
She peeled off the layers of his tux, and it wasn’t long before they were both naked and eager.
He smiled down at her. “I’ve been planning this night ever since you said yes.”
She grinned. “Have you now?”
“Yes. I figured we needed to make it special. Something we’ve never done before.”
She cleared her throat. “Ahem. I don’t think there’s much unexplored territory in that area.”
“I beg to differ.”
Her eyes widened. “What is it? You know how I feel about spanking.”
He laughed and kissed her nose. “No spanking. I promise. You’ve got to leave the room for just a minute.”
She nibbled on his jaw. “Okay. I can’t wait to find out what you have planned.”
He grabbed her butt and squeezed. “Scoot.”
It only took him a minute to get into position because he’d set up everything ahead of time, but he waited an extra moment to get his heart rate to relax. He’d be lying to himself if he didn’t admit to being a bit scared. But he trusted Eden with everything.
Finally he called out. “You can come in.”
She opened the door, and her jaw dropped when she saw him splayed out on the center of their bed with his wrists wrapped in padded cuffs and bound to the headboard.
“I was thinking it’s time I let you have complete control.”
“Oh, Chase.”
“I was also thinking it’s my turn to be blindfolded so I can’t see you, but you can see me. A reversal. Falcon gets a taste of his own medicine.”
“Oh, Chase,” she said again. “You’re amazing.”
He grinned. “And that right there is why I didn’t put the blindfold on yet. Seeing your smile, that’s the best part of this perfect day.”
Thank you for reading Broken Falcon, I hope you found Chase’s hard-earned happily ever after as satisfying to read as I did to write. The Evidence world continues in INTO THE STORM the first book in Evidence: Under Fire.
As a storm rolls in, a team of elite Navy SEALs arrives at a remote lodge for a wilderness training exercise that becomes terrifyingly real…
Xavier Rivera planned the exercise down to the smallest detail, but he didn’t plan the arrival of archaeologist Audrey Kendrick—a woman he shared a passionate night with before betraying her in the worst way.
As the storm is unleashed on the historic lodge it becomes clear the training has been compromised. Trapped by weather, isolated by the remote wilderness, and silenced as communication with the world has been severed, unarmed SEALs face an unexpected and deadly foe. Audrey and Xavier must work together to save a team under fire and survive in a battle against the wild.
Turn the page to read the first chapter.
or
Pre-order INTO THE STORM Now
While you wait for INTO THE STORM, I have a new action/adventure/archaeology/romance series for you to enjoy.
DANGEROUS GROUND
In the remote and unpredictable Aleutians, danger comes without warning…
Archaeologist Fiona Carver has unfinished business in the Aleutian Islands. After an emergency evacuation cut her last expedition short, she’s finally back and eager to get to work, but there is something off about the new ornithologist hired to find a rare bird. Having bluffed his way onto Fiona’s team with fake credentials, wildlife photographer Dean Slater is willing to risk more than federal prison to find his missing brother, but he needs Fiona’s help. When the two set out together on a perilous journey, it becomes more than a rescue mission. In their fight for survival, nature isn’t the only threat. They aren’t the only ones on the hunt. Mile by dangerous mile, someone is hunting them.
One-Click DANGEROUS GROUND Now
or
Visit my Website for an Excerpt & Audio Sample
If you’d like to know when my next book is available, you can sign up for my mailing list or visit my website. I’m also on Goodreads, where you can see what I’m currently reading (usually research material for my next book).
For a little added fun, visit RATinformant.com, a website companion to the Evidence Series (plus you’ll find my other books there too).
Reviews help like-minded readers find books. Please consider leaving a review for Broken Falcon at your favorite online retailer.
Into the Storm Excerpt
Chapter One
Olympic National Park, Washington
January
Adrenaline flooded Audrey Kendrick’s system as the SUV slid toward the edge of the road. Black ice. The invisible, treacherous patches were the reason this winding road through the Olympic foothills was closed to park visitors in winter. There was no shoulder, just a steep drop dotted with evergreens that clung to the slope. If she went over the edge, thick, old growth trunks would break the fall, but the damage could be deadly to both her and the trees.
She turned into the skid. Tires gripped pavement and the vehicle veered back into the center of the road, saving both her and the evergreens.
She tapped the brakes as shaking hands held the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip. Her heart pounded at a rate that couldn’t be healthy. The SUV slowed and she took a deep breath to calm herself. She needed to focus on the pavement ahead and not what she’d find at the end of it.
Thankfully, with the road closed to all but park employees and inholding landowners, she didn’t have to worry about other cars. She could take this calming break without fear she’d cause an accident if a vehicle careened around the curves behind her.
A roadside mile marker sank her already dark mood even deeper. She was only eight miles from the gate that closed the road in winter months. She had ten more slick and twisty miles to go before she would reach Lake Olympus Lodge.
She wished she could have waited at the gate for law enforcement Park Ranger Jae-jin Son, but according to the dispatcher, Jae was stuck at Mora Campground, dealing with visitors who thought park rules were for other people. She couldn’t wait. As it was, she’d be lucky to have thirty minutes of daylight to inspect the site before nightfall and the predicted storm rolled in.
Her belly cramped with fear, an unpleasant accompaniment to her racing heart. Had the site been looted again? Why hadn’t George called her back?
A little more than an hour ago, she’d been at the Forks Ranger Station, planning a spring break archaeology camp for tweens and teens with an interpretation park ranger, when she got a call from headquarters informing her the four cameras she’d set up to protect the archaeological site had stopped transmitting.
She’d installed the cameras herself in November, after the site had been looted and tribal elder George Shaw had looked at her with such disappointment. The memory of his words still cut straight to her heart. “I recommended you to replace Ron when he retired as park archaeologist. I trusted you to protect our sacred sites. Maybe this time the looting isn’t your fault. But if it happens again, it will be.”
George took the desecration personally, and she, as the person entrusted to protect all cultural resources within Olympic National Park, had failed him and the tribe. She’d installed the cameras within days. They couldn’t stop looting, but they could alert her department when it happened.
And now the cameras weren’t working.
According to headquarters, the lodge had electricity. This wasn’t a simple power outage. Meaning this could be her worst-case scenario: looters cut the line before digging up the site.
Her first call had been to George, who had an inholding cabin near the ancestral village. George was one of the few people who wintered near the lodge, and with the forecasted storm, he’d be settled in for the week, ready to ride out the wind and rain. But he didn’t answer her call or respond to her messages.
From the moment she couldn’t reach George, her fear had shifted from the archaeological site to George himself. What if he’d seen the looters and confronted them? Looters were known to get violent when caught in the act. She couldn’t simply wait by the gate for Jae as the dispatcher had instructed. She had to check on the site and George.
She picked up her phone from the center console to check for messages. No bars. Expected, but no less frustrating. This was one of the park’s many dead zones for cellular coverage. She wouldn’t be in call range until she neared the cell tower on the hill above the lodge.
Jae might be angry when he learned she didn’t wait for him to make this trek, but with a winter storm rolling in tonight, the heavy rain would freeze on the pavement. Tomorrow, this road would be an endless slick of black ice, far worse than it was today. It could be days before she made it back out here, and by the time she did, the storm could have washed away evidence that might identify the looters. If she found anything at the site, she had all the tools she needed to photograph, map, record, and collect it like a forensic investigator. CSI and archaeologists shared a lot of the same methodology.
She put the SUV in drive again and inched forward, skittish about finding more black ice. The headlights cut through the dark curves, but ice remained impossible to see. She touched her hand to her belly then returned it to the wheel. She dropped her speed by five miles per hour. Slow and cautious.
Her fingers ached from the tight grip on the steering wheel, but the SUV remained steady on the shadowed, winding road. In the summer, this road would be dappled with sunshine and flowers. She touched her belly again, thinking about what the road would look like in late July. The wind would ease in from the ocean, keeping the air fresh and cool in spite of the heat.
In July, the days would be long. The sun would shine. And everything about her life would change.
At last, thirty minutes after nearly sliding off the road, she rounded the bend and the magnificent old Lake Olympus Lodge spread out before her. Built in the 1920s, the hotel embraced the lake with wide arms. In the summer, it would be full of guests, all enjoying the most magnificent of US National Parks. Today, however, the old building was cold and silent, abandoned and forlorn.
Even after the stressful drive, Audrey couldn’t look at the lodge without thinking of Xavier. It was a mixed bag of emotions. Part of her never wanted to forget the surprising, intense, hot night spent in this very lodge. There’d been a magic she wanted to hold on to. But now the lodge also represented betrayal.
Xavier had been an old friend of Jae’s, which should have made him trustworthy. Attraction had flared, strong and bright, probably blinding her.
He’d been handsome, sure, but it was his energy that spoke to her. Like her, he was an avid outdoor enthusiast. Plus, he’d been charming and funny and made her feel desirable after a breakup that had left her questioning herself.
Still, she’d accepted the no-strings fling for what it was, even if she did want more. There was no real future for them. She lived on the Olympic Peninsula and was only a year into her tenure at the job she’d wanted since she was eleven, and he lived…she didn’t even know where he lived. In the Bay Area, near where he grew up with Jae?
They hadn’t exchanged phone numbers. He’d made it clear from the start that one night was all they’d have. As they’d said goodbye, it had stung, but she’d accepted it.
Until the test came back positive.
She’d been shocked. And elated. At thirty-eight, she was well aware her biological clock was winding down. She hadn’t planned this pregnancy, and they’d used condoms to prevent it—apparently, those expiration dates mattered—but she was glad she hadn’t read the fine print. She was thankful for the wild, impulsive night with Xavier, because she wanted this baby with every fiber of her being.
In December, she’d been nervously excited to tell him the news. She’d planned what to say. She was having his baby, but she wouldn’t force him to be a father. He could make his own decisions about what role he wanted to have in their child’s life. She didn’t want her child to be fatherless, but neither did she want her baby to have a dad who resented the responsibility.
She’d called Jae and left him a message, asking him to tell Xavier to call her. It was the only way she had to get ahold of him. She then spent the rest of the day waiting with her cell phone in hand.
Nothing could have prepared her for the shock she felt the following morning when she stepped into park headquarters and came face to face with Xavier. For a moment, she’d thought he was there because he’d guessed why she needed to speak with him and wanted to hear the news in person. But no. Her happy fantasy flamed out when she learned he was there to complain to the park superintendent. About her. He was angry she’d refused to sign off on a Navy SEAL training slated for Lake Olympus Lodge and the surrounding forest.
The proposal had crossed her desk days after the site was looted. Upset by the damage to the site, she would admit she’d viewed the proposed training with a jaundiced eye. What if she approved, and then the SEALs harmed the historic or prehistoric sites that dotted the lakeshore? Sites were everywhere around the lake. For thousands of years, Lake Olympus had been an important gathering place for indigenous people. If SEALs playing war games harmed those sites after she’d given them the green light, it would be her fault.
She’d never be able to look George in the eye again.
She sent the proposal back and suggested they resubmit with more information about how they’d protect cultural resources. Perhaps with more information and after extensive consultation with local tribes, they’d be approved for the following year.
It turned out Xavier didn’t take rejection well. With the full backing of the US Navy, he turned to the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation—the ultimate governing body over her profession—to get approval for the training. But he didn’t simply object to her findings, he smeared her, claiming she wouldn’t sign the Finding of No Significant Impact because of their personal involvement. Because he’d slept with her and then rejected her.
The accusation was ridiculous—she hadn’t even known Xavier was in the Navy until she saw him in uniform at park headquarters—and she certainly hadn’t known he had anything to do with the proposed training. But the truth hadn’t mattered to ACHP. They’d believed him.
His accusations nearly got her fired. She was still a little surprised she hadn’t been. Her boss, at least, had believed her, but that didn’t mean her job wasn’t hanging by a thread. And that this all had happened on the heels of the looting? Not a great month for the head archaeologist at ONP. A month later, her job remained on shaky ground.
