Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 by Karen Whiddon (good e books to read txt) 📗

So far, so good. But Micha wasn’t willing to take any chances. He’d do this for as long as he had to, until whoever was after them had been caught. No way was he letting Carly put herself in danger. That’s why he really hoped she’d agree to go spend a week or two with one of her brothers. He’d breathe a lot easier once he felt she was safe.

Carly walked briskly up the sidewalk, her long blond hair up in a messy bun, her scrubs marking her as a health-care worker. Some mornings, one or two of her coworkers walked in with her. Others, like today, she made her way alone.

Micha decided to wait until Carly entered the hospital building.

And then Micha saw the man step out from behind a delivery van, clearly intent on Carly. Everything about him screamed of menace, from the too-tight line of his posture to the way he appeared to focus on her to the exclusion of everything else.

Heart pounding, Micha got out of his Jeep with a jump. He sprinted toward the door, worried the guy would take out a gun and shoot her. Instead, the man spun around at the sound of Micha’s approach.

Shock and hatred mingled in the man’s suddenly familiar face as he and Micha locked eyes.

Clearly unaware, Carly continued forward and slipped inside the doors, which closed behind her. The intruder ignored her, now completely focused on Micha. Something about him... Then Micha remembered.

“About time you got here,” the other man drawled. “I’d hate to have to hurt that pretty little lady of yours just to get back at you.”

Micha skidded to a halt, still twenty feet away. He ignored the blatant baiting. “I know you,” he said. “Lieutenant Andy Shackleford. What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you here?”

“Why? You really have to ask that, after you ruined my life? You deserve to pay for what you did to me.”

Pay? Micha had heard enough. “Bring it,” he said, settling into a fighting stance, even though he wasn’t sure if the other man might have a gun. “Let’s settle this like men. No more bombs or bullets. You and me, right now.”

“Not yet.” Lips lifted in a snarl, Andy spun around and took off running. He raced away. Though Micha sprinted after him, the other man had enough of a head start plus a leaner build to outpace him. How did he run so fast on a prosthetic leg? Micha wondered. Andy jumped on a low-slung motorcycle, kicked it to life and roared away. Knowing there was no way on earth he’d catch him, Micha stood and watched until the bike disappeared.

What the...? Micha hadn’t seen Andy for years. He hadn’t even thought of the man since getting out of the hospital, even when the FBI had asked him if he had any enemies. They’d gone their separate ways and Micha hadn’t honestly thought he’d ever see Andy Shackleford again.

Back then, Andy had hated him. Hell, he’d made no secret of that. Lieutenant Andy Shackleford had been part of the team sent in to rescue Micha in Afghanistan. He’d been on the helicopter when it crashed. Like Micha, he’d also been badly injured. Where Micha had suffered burns and a broken back, Andy had lost his leg. Though that accident had cost both men their military careers, Andy blamed Micha, since he was the one who’d needed rescuing. Micha had assumed Andy would eventually get past that. Clearly, he had not. In the time since, that hatred must have festered inside Andy, rotting away at his insides. Now Andy apparently hated Micha enough to wish him dead.

Of course Andy had been the one who’d set up the car bomb. Again, that made sense. Andy had been an ammunitions specialist in the army. His duties had including receiving, storing and issuing conventional ammunition, guided missiles and explosives. If anyone would know how to rig a car bomb, Andy would.

Micha dug out his phone. Though he hadn’t yet provided the FBI with a list of his enemies, now he had something concrete to tell them.

Special Agent Brad Howard answered on the third ring. He listened while Micha described what had just happened. After asking a series of pointed questions, he agreed with Micha’s assessment of the situation.

“Did you happen to get the license plate number on the motorcycle?” Agent Howard asked.

“No, I didn’t,” Micha replied, mentally kicking himself. “Everything happened too fast.”

“We’ll start looking into it. His military records should be easy to access and we’ll go from there. Don’t hesitate to call if you think of anything else or if you see him again.”

After agreeing, Micha ended the call. The only reason he could come up with for Andy staking out the hospital would be in hopes of seeing Micha with Carly. He must have tracked down Carly and possibly had been the one who’d been stalking her before Micha arrived.

But how had he known? A lot of time had passed since the helicopter crash, and their time at Walter Reed. Micha remembered that they’d both been in a lot of pain, and the long flight back from overseas. Micha remembered crying out for Carly. That was about all he remembered, though. Maybe Andy had pieced together something, or it was even possible Micha had said more than he knew.

A shudder ran through him. What if he hadn’t come to Chicago to check on Carly? What would Shackleford have done then? Would he have enacted some sort of painful revenge against the woman he knew Micha loved?

With resolve stiffening his spine, Micha strode back to his Jeep. While he knew the FBI would be searching for his enemy, he didn’t have the patience to wait too long. Especially since Andy knew he’d been made. He’d increase his efforts to take Micha down, which could also endanger Carly.

No. Micha knew he could not allow that to happen. He’d have to figure out a way to draw