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  His face was the last thing she saw as darkness formed around him and his words were the last thing she heard. “I love you, too, my Rebecca.”

  * * *

  Rebecca awoke to the sound of monitors beeping. She opened her eyes and saw she was in a hospital room. Her neck hurt and she felt weak. She turned her head and spotted Collin asleep in the recliner by her bed. She reached out to him, touching his hand and he squirmed, then jolted awake.

  “Rebecca, you’re awake.”

  “What happened?” she asked. It came out only as a whisper and cut her throat.

  “Rayburn attacked you. Don’t you remember?”

  Images began to return of him pressing the knife to her throat and Collin shooting him. “The girls. What happened to the girls and Matthew?”

  “They’re fine. The girls are being questioned by the FBI about the people that were holding them. It seems Rayburn wasn’t lying about being a part of a greater organization. Most of those girls were taken from other states and brought here. David is cooperating with the FBI in the hopes of getting a lighter sentence. He’s given them names and locations of other organizations. The lead agent told me they’re already planning raids of three different operations across two states.”

  “What about Matthew?”

  “He’s fine. I phoned your father. He came by and picked him up.”

  “Missy. Have they found her yet?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t heard. I’m sure they’ll let us know as soon as they know something.”

  He squeezed her hand and she found comfort in that.

  “You were bleeding badly but one of the girls had been studying for her nurse’s license when she was abducted. She helped me keep the bleeding under control. We found a cell phone on one of Rayburn’s goons and called Kent for help. It was touch-and-go there for a while. I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it.” He took a deep breath. “I almost lost you again, Rebecca.”

  “You didn’t. I’m still here.”

  He touched her face and Rebecca saw true fear glistening in his eyes. He loved her. She had no doubts about that now. No matter what happened, she would never doubt that again.

  His face darkened. “But I need to tell you about the money from your father.”

  “You don’t have to explain, Collin.”

  “Yes, I do. I owe you the truth. I was so angry at how everything had turned out. I was angry at myself and at God and even at you because I couldn’t give you what I thought you deserved. I looked at men like your dad and it seemed like having money made everything right again. I wanted that. I was so tired of struggling. So I took that money and paid the medical bills.

  “It took me a long time to figure it out, but I finally learned that being a good man didn’t depend on the amount of money you had in the bank but on the love you have in your heart. And I love you, Rebecca, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for leaving you the way I did.”

  She placed her hand on his lips to stop him from speaking. “It’s time we put the past behind us, Collin. I’m ready to focus on the future instead.”

  “I’ll never leave you again,” he whispered to her and Rebecca took comfort in those words.

  Collin was back by her side and the future looked bright again.

  EPILOGUE

  Rebecca was washing dishes when she spotted Collin’s car pull into the driveway. She made certain Matthew was playing in the living room as she walked to the door. It had been a month since the incident at the warehouse. David had been arrested and agreed to tell what he knew about the baby-selling operation. She’d also heard from her father that David’s business deals had placed his company in a very precarious situation, yet she knew her father would bounce back with some goodwill from the community.

  Collin approached and drew her into a hug. “Have you heard anything?” she asked him, knowing that he’d spent the morning with Kent and the FBI.

  “So far, everything David has told them has checked out. The FBI raided another operation in Texas that was apparently a hub station for the organization.”

  “That’s good news. Have they found Missy? Is she alive?”

  Collin’s face spread into a grin. “She was in Texas. She’s safe and will soon be reunited with Dylan and their baby. The organization apparently kept good records and the FBI was able to locate their baby with a family in Ohio.”

  Rebecca felt relief flow through her. That was the kind of news she’d been hoping to hear. She glanced at Matthew playing on the rug. “What about him? Did they find out anything about Matthew’s mother?” It would break her heart to have to see her nephew go away, but she couldn’t justify keeping a child from his biological mother, especially knowing she had never given him away voluntarily.

  Collin sighed and nodded. “That’s actually why I’ve been gone for so long. They were able to identify who Matthew’s mother was. Unfortunately, she died a year ago from hemorrhaging during childbirth. They did their best to track down any family she had but couldn’t find anyone. No mention of a father in the picture.”

  She glanced at Matthew. “So he’s an orphan?”

  “Well, legally, David is still his father, although I imagine the adoption will be voided since he obtained him illegally. But Matthew doesn’t have to be alone.” Collin reached for her hand. “You and I could give him a good home.”

  She sucked in a breath. Although they’d declared their love for one another and she’d been hoping they would have a second chance together, they hadn’t spoken of it since she’d left the hospital. “You want us to adopt Matthew?”

  He put his arms around her and pulled her tightly to him. “I’m saying we’re getting a second chance. He should, too. I love you, Rebecca, and I’m never leaving you again. I want to spend my life with you and nothing would make me happier than marrying you and giving Matthew a home, along with a few brothers and sisters to boot.”

  God had truly restored to her what she’d lost. She may never understand why they’d had to be separated for all those years, but that no longer mattered. Only their future together mattered now. She was looking forward instead of backward. “It has always been my intention to be your wife, and that hasn’t changed.” There was just one problem with his plan. “But I can’t marry you, Collin.”

  He gave her a confused look. “Why not?”

  “Because, silly, we’re already married...and about to celebrate our twelfth anniversary.”

  “Twelve years spent apart. I promise you that won’t happen again. I’ll never leave you again, Rebecca. I love you. I want to be with you. And this time, I want the whole world to know we’re married. I don’t want to keep it a secret any longer.”

  He pulled something from his pocket and Rebecca saw it was the chain with her ring on it. She thought she’d lost it. He pulled the ring from the chain and lifted her hand up to it, slipping it onto her finger.

  “I want to be your husband and Matthew’s father and father to a handful of brothers and sisters for Matthew. All you have to do is say you want the same.”

  “I love you, too, Collin.” She leaned in to him and basked in the comfort of his arms. “Yes, I want to be your wife. I want all of it.” She’d been alone for so long and now it seemed her dreams were finally coming true.

  * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Inherited Threat by Jane M. Choate.

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  Dear Reader,

  Thanks so much for joining me in book three of my Covert Operatives series. I hope you enjoyed Collin and Rebecca’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  I love reunion stories and this one was no exception. These two characters fell in love at a very young age
, but the pressures of real life tore them apart. This happens all too often these days, but thankfully, we serve a God of second chances. One of my favorite Bible verses is Joel 2:25, where God tells how He will restore to us what the locusts ate. I clung to this verse during a dark time in my life when it seemed all my hopes and plans for the future were ruined. I wondered if life could ever be good again. It was. My past mistakes do not define me and neither do yours because no matter how dark your situation seems right now, we have hope through Jesus Christ. He wants to heal your pains. He wants to rebuild your life.

  I love hearing from my readers! You can contact me online through my website www.virginiavaughanonline.com or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ginvaughanbooks.

  Blessings!

  Virginia

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  Inherited Threat

  by Jane M. Choate

  ONE

  The caw of a crow reverberated through the early morning air, scraping already frayed nerves. Senses spiking, Laurel Landry approached Bernice’s—she had never earned the title mother—storage unit. Bernice’s murder a week ago had brought Laurel to this shabby place at this moment.

  Using the key she’d discovered in Bernice’s ancient double-wide trailer, Laurel let herself in and began her search. Sammy, her German shepherd, stood guard.

  Buried beneath a stack of boxes, she found a familiar “go-bag.” From the time Laurel had been a small child, Bernice had kept a suitcase for when the two of them had to leave town in a hurry, usually just before the rent was due.

  Inside the bag were three items: an envelope containing a picture of a lanky boy and a little girl that was labeled Jake and Shelley and dated more than twenty years ago, another photo, this one of Laurel’s mother and bearing the same date, along with a newspaper article about S&J Security/Protection; a ledger with what might have been names and dates written in some kind of code, the word Collective on the front; and packets of hundred dollar bills. A quick estimate put the amount at ten thousand dollars.

  Laurel stuffed the contents into her pack. The shiver that skittered down her spine had nothing to do with the chill of the cold locker and everything to do with the single word Collective.

  What was Bernice doing with a ledger bearing the name of a group of organized crime families that had infiltrated public and private sectors from banking to the US Attorney’s Office? News of the group’s exploits had reached her even during deployment in the Middle East.

  Bernice, what had you gotten yourself into?

  Laurel shook her head, the action one of resignation rather than denial. She’d long ago accepted that Bernice never thought through a decision and that she rarely, if ever, considered the effect her actions might have on others, especially her daughter. Her involvement with the Collective was but one more in an increasingly long string of bad choices. There’d be no more bad choices on Bernice’s part, Laurel reflected.

  Though the Collective was based in Atlanta, its tentacles were everywhere, apparently even here in this speck of a town where Bernice had lived.

  A chuff of noise outside the unit caused Laurel to go still. Had she been followed to the storage lockers? She’d been careful, but she had to admit that she had been more intent on reaching her destination than checking the rearview mirror.

  Awareness feathered her senses. A tingle of apprehension raced through her. Ranger training had taught her to trust her instincts.

  “Sammy,” she whispered to her dog as she pulled on her backpack, “time to go.”

  Something in her voice must have alerted him for he went on point.

  As she exited the unit, a large man swiped at her backpack. Fortunately, she had it secured around her waist as well as her shoulders.

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” she yelled and jerked away from him.

  He broadened his stance, the menacing move designed to intimidate. Too bad. She didn’t scare. “Give me what I want, and you can go.”

  Like she believed that. “I don’t have anything.”

  He ignored that and reached for her again.

  Sammy growled menacingly but remained still. He was too well-trained to attack without a command from her.

  Laurel knew she could take down the intruder. Ranger training had honed the already formidable skills she’d earned courtesy of the US Army. She twisted out of his reach and spun, kicking with her right leg and catching him in the chest cavity. The grunt of pain told her she’d made serious contact. Good.

  He went down. Hard.

  “Sammy, now.”

  Despite having only three legs, Sammy attacked, fastening his jaw around the man’s ankle.

  The man yelped. “Get him off me.”

  “Sammy, enough.”

  Sammy released his hold on the man.

  She glared at her would-be assailant. “Stay still or you’ll see what he can really do.”

  While he figured out that he wasn’t getting away, Laurel did some thinking of her own. If she waited for the police, she’d be letting herself in for prolonged questioning. It didn’t take much to surmise that the man belonged to the Collective and wanted the money and the ledger. Though she didn’t understand the meaning of the coded numbers listed in it, she knew instinctively she couldn’t let him have it.

  Laurel pulled her weapon and held it on the man. “Sammy, watch.”

  With her other hand, she fished through his pockets, found a pair of handcuffs—had he planned on using them on her?—and a set of keys. When she pressed the key fob, a beep from a nearby truck identified it as his. She marched him to the vehicle.

  “Open the driver’s and back doors, then put the right cuff on.” After he did so, she slipped the empty cuff through the exposed frame, clicked the second manacle around his other wrist and secured him there.

  He struggled against the restraint, all the while spewing a stream of venom. Mean eyes glittered with hate. “This ain’t over.”

  “You’re right. It ain’t. But you are.”

  The brief exchange sent her thoughts in a different direction. What if her career with the Rangers was over as a result of the injury she’d sustained while deployed?

  She’d meticulously constructed her life, a result of her chaotic childhood. A need to put order to everything had driven her first to the Army, then the Rangers. There, she’d found the first real home she’d ever known. Being part of something bigger than herself gave her life purpose.

  If she couldn’t be a Ranger any longer, she feared her life would lose its meaning.

  Nothing she could do about it now. At the moment, she was running for her life. There’d be time enough to worry over the future.

  Whispers of pink streaked the sky as she headed out of town on a narrow road of chewed
-up asphalt. She put a call in to the local police, gave the location of the storage unit and reported the man as a burglar.

  Outside one of the small towns that dotted the backwoods road, she found a coffee shop that advertised free Wi-Fi. Though she was anxious to be on her way, she booted up her laptop. First, she contacted a friend at the DOJ and asked for any information he had on the Collective.

  His answer came swiftly. Stay out of their way.

  She typed back. Too late.

  Okay, but you asked for it.

  Page after page of text filled her screen. She dug out a thumb drive and copied the information to it.

  Next she ran a search on S&J Security/Protection of Atlanta, Georgia. Articles about the firm were abundant, as were mentions of Jake Rabb and Shelley Rabb Judd and their emphasis on hiring ex-military and police personnel as operatives.

  Laurel did some quick calculations in her head, taking in the date on the picture and the probable current ages of the Rabb brother and sister. Could it be? Did she have a half-brother and half-sister?

  The idea filled her with such longing that tears stung her eyes. In the lonely years growing up, she’d prayed for a sister or brother, someone to laugh with, to cry with. The possibility that she had both a brother and a sister revived that childhood dream. If only...

  She put away the wishful thinking and turned her attention to the practical. She was going to have to do something she hated, something that stuck in her craw like having to bow and scrape to a smarmy politician: she was going to have to ask for help. She texted the contact number for S&J Security/Protection, gave a bullet point explanation of her situation, adding that she was a Ranger in the States on medical leave. When a reply came within minutes saying that an S&J operative, an ex-Ranger no less, would meet her, she knew she was on the right track.

  With a to-go mug of coffee and a bottle of water for Sammy’s bowl, Laurel left the shop and started on her way once more. The road climbed, an easy ascent until it reached the ridge. From there, the ribbon of asphalt narrowed, twisting and looping back and forth on itself like a sidewinder as it gradually descended.