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Keep reading for an excerpt from
Her Delta Force Protector, book two in the
K-9 Defenders series, by Sandra Owens.
Chapter One
“I need help.”
Kade Church’s heart skipped a beat at the voice he never expected to hear again, mainly because she was dead. “Harper?” The only reason he’d answered the call from a number he didn’t recognize was because it could be from Talon Security, the Charlotte-based company he had an interview with in the morning.
“It’s me. They found me, Kade.”
“Harper, I...” Kade shook his head, this couldn’t be Harper. “This isn’t funny. Who is this?” He was all for practical jokes when they were good ones. This one was not good. Whoever this was had her voice down pat, and he felt the loss of his best friend all over again.
“I swear, it’s me.”
“Whose Celebration of Life did I attend?” Had it been only five weeks since he’d sat in the back of the base chapel and listened to her father and her friends give their eulogies of a daughter, a friend, and a woman he felt honored to know? It seemed like yesterday and at the same time, a lifetime of missing her. He stared out the kitchen window as he tried to wrap his head around hearing her very much alive voice.
“Mine.”
“So this is a call from the beyond?” He’d grieved for this woman, still did. And all this time she’d been alive?
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Ridiculous was getting a call from the dead. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“I can’t, not over the phone. Please, Kade. I need help. I don’t know who else to call.”
“Where are you?”
“Myrtle Beach.”
That was why he was hearing motorcycles in the background. It was the Myrtle Beach Fall Rally Bike Week. “What kind of help?”
“Help staying alive. I have to go. I’ve been on this phone too long.”
“Okay. Hole up in a motel and don’t leave the room. Can you pay cash?”
“Yes, but I doubt there are any vacancies with all these bikers here.”
“If not, lose yourself in the crowd or find a hole-in-the-wall bar that has dark corners. Can I reach you at this number?”
“I’m keeping my phone off, but if I know what time you’ll call, I’ll turn it on.”
He glanced at his watch and did some calculations. Marsville, North Carolina, was about five hours from Myrtle Beach. “Turn your phone on at eight.” He could be there tonight and get her back to his house, where she’d be safe. Although just barely, there would still be time to make it to his interview. That was one thing he didn’t want to mess up. Talon Security had a stellar reputation, and he wanted that job.
“Okay. Kade?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“See ya tonight.” He stared at the screen after disconnecting as his mind tried to wrap around the fact that Harper was alive. She sounded like she was fighting tears, but he wasn’t ready to forgive her. Even if she had to fake her death, she could have come to him. No matter how grave the situation was, he would have been there for her. She knew that.
Duke, the dog Harper had conned him into fostering while she was in the Peace Corps, sat at his feet, wearing his goofy smile. Kade had brought the dog home for his brothers to take care of until he was back for good. The golden retriever believed humans were put on this earth for his personal pleasure. When Kade headed for his baby brother’s art studio, Duke tripped over his feet in his excitement that they were going somewhere.
“You’re a goofball.”
