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

the other man out, preferably somewhere far from Carly, and then take him down on his own.

With no real plan other than the vague knowledge of what he needed to do, Micha decided not to go back to Carly’s house just yet. He wondered if Andy had been watching the place. No doubt he had.

Which meant Micha would just have to make sure to be seen. If he could get Andy to follow him somewhere far away from Hyde Park and from Carly, he’d take him down or die trying. He just needed to figure out a way. Until then, Micha would need to stay far away from Carly, while managing to also keep her safe.

Quickly, he dialed Jones. Without going into too much detail, he explained what he needed. “Just stay with her, please. I’ve got a very real lead on who’s been behind all this and I need to pursue it. I absolutely need to know Carly is safe.”

Once Jones agreed, Micha cut him off before he could ask any more questions. “Tell her I’ll be in touch,” he said, and ended the call.

Then he began thinking of ways to trap Lieutenant Andy Shackleford. Micha definitely had the advantage here, since that had been one of the things he excelled in while in special ops.

The hunter was about to become the hunted. No matter what he had to do, no matter how long it took, Micha would end the threat once and for all.

Micha discarded any idea he had for drawing Andy out that would even remotely involve Carly. He had to figure out a way to let the guy know where to find him that didn’t involve being near Carly’s house.

Parking in a doughnut shop parking lot, Micha started making calls. He needed to locate someone who might know how to contact Shackleford, maybe even get ahold of his cell phone number.

But none of the people he reached had seen or heard from the guy in years. For all intents and purposes, Shackleford had become a ghost.

Micha refused to give up. But call after call, even reaching out to people who’d had extremely limited contact with him or Andy, yielded no results.

Frustrating. Gritting his teeth, Micha tried to think. He hadn’t known Andy well, even though they’d shared physical therapy sessions. Each man had been focused on his own healing, as he should be. But at one point, Micha thought Andy had mentioned having a girlfriend or fiancée, maybe even a wife. If Micha could locate her, he might be able to shed more light on Andy’s current location.

It was a long shot, but at the moment the only one he had.

Unfortunately, even that turned out to be a dead end.

Now what? Micha didn’t want to go back to Carly’s house, not yet. Now that he knew the name of his enemy, he also knew how dangerous Andy could be, especially if he escalated. From explosion to shooting, what would be next?

He worried Andy might decide to target Carly just to spite Micha. So he called Jones and, without giving a lot of details, asked him not to let Carly be alone. Jones agreed but wanted to know why. Micha had remained vague, promising to fill the other man in as soon as he knew more, and ended the call.

Now with one less thing to worry about, Micha needed to figure out a way to draw Andy out. Unfortunately, no matter which angle he used to approach the problem, they all pointed back to Carly’s house.

Which meant he’d have to get her out of the house. At least for a few days.

But would Carly go? She was stubborn, a trait he usually admired in her, but not if it got her hurt. He decided he’d need to level with her. He’d slip by later tonight and let himself in after most of the rest of the world had gone to sleep. Once he explained, he felt quite certain Carly would understand what she needed to do to keep her and Bridget safe. Once Micha no longer had to worry about her, he could set a better trap for taking down his enemy.

* * *

Carly walked out of the hospital after her shift and instinctively looked around for Micha’s black Jeep. While part of her thought his actions might be a tad bit overprotective, mostly she liked that he was willing to go through so much effort just to keep her safe. The police had also beefed up their patrols and it had become common to see them driving by two or three times a night.

Odd. She checked her watch. Micha must be running late.

“Carly!” Her brother Jones emerged from the parking garage, startling her. “Wait up.”

A quick frisson of fear went through her. But Jones was smiling, so that meant Micha had to be all right.

“What’s going on?” she asked, once Jones had caught up with her.

“Micha sent me,” he explained. “He asked me to stay with you this afternoon. He said he’ll call as soon as he can to explain.”

“Does that mean he got a lead?”

Jones shrugged. “He didn’t say. He made me promise to stay with you the rest of the day. I’m thinking he’ll be back before dark, because he knows I have to head over to the brewery.”

“Okay. Are you following me in your truck, then?”

Now Jones shuffled his feet, appearing slightly uncomfortable. “Micha told me to ask you to leave your vehicle here at the hospital and ride with me. I hope that’s okay with you.”

Intrigued despite herself, she nodded. “Sure. I’m guessing he figures it’ll be safer in the employee parking lot where there are cameras. I’ve got to get home and let Bridget out, so let’s get going.”

Side by side, they walked to Jones’s truck. He kept up a steady stream of conversation all the way to her house, though he fell silent as they pulled into her driveway.

“Just wait a second.” Jones touched her arm. “With all that’s going