Witness Undercover

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

ONE (#ulink_db306084-9476-5123-bece-2c667fd0c792)

Laura Prentiss hadn’t wanted a new beginning, a new name, but that was what she’d gotten. After the mess she’d made of her life, she was lucky to be alive.

Thanks to witness protection, she was now Laura Parker, assistant manager of Miss Behavin’, a ladies’ boutique in Pueblo, Colorado, that was currently closed for the night.

Thanksgiving was only weeks away. This would be her first here in Pueblo, her first without family. Laura tried not to feel sorry for herself.

She had a job and friends, even if they didn’t know her real name. Jesus had left behind his family without complaining. She would be fine.

Just as she opened a case of potpourri to stock, she heard a knock on the back door.

Laura froze, her hands going clammy. It couldn’t be a delivery, as it was after business hours. She reached for the bat in the corner kept for protection.

After her months in WitSec, had Vin Arrico finally found her?

The thought that her past might have caught up to her had Laura’s stomach knotting. She crept to the door at the back of the storage room.

The knock sounded again, making her jump.

“Laura? Miss Parker?”

She recognized the thick Texas accent. “Marshal Yates?”

“Yes. I need to see you.”

If the US marshal who had handled her case from the beginning had driven down from the field office in Colorado Springs, something was wrong. Very wrong.

Setting the bat aside, she unlocked the steel door and stepped back as the tall lanky man entered. He was followed by one of the biggest men Laura had ever seen. The stranger closed the door behind him, looking around at the shelves of candles, women’s shoes and boxes of unpacked jewelry before shifting his attention to her.

Her shoulders tensed. In the light of the single-bulb fixture, she couldn’t tell the color of his eyes, but they were piercing and glittered like steel. A strange sensation fluttered in her stomach. She turned to Floyd Yates.

“Has something happened with Vin?”

Laura had no doubt her ex-boyfriend could find her even from prison.

“No, nothing like that,” Floyd said. “Sorry to alarm you.”

He gestured to the man beside him. “Laura, this is Griffin Devaney.”

She nodded at the stranger with neatly trimmed dark hair and whisker stubble. His six-foot-four frame filled the space. He studied her with a quiet certainty that made it difficult to breathe. Who was he? Why had Floyd brought him?

The open space seemed small and cramped with Griffin Devaney there. His well-fitting denim jacket was faded to a soft blue, as were his jeans.

The marshal turned to her. “Devaney works with your aunt at Enigma, Inc.”

Laura started. Her aunt, Joy Langston, had worked at that company for years. Laura had never known how to label the enterprise. Private security? Personal security? Search and rescue?

Yates continued. “She sent Devaney for you and he contacted me.”

Even though Laura knew she shouldn’t have done so, she had told her aunt about WitSec the night she’d left Oklahoma City.

Joy knew Laura’s situation, knew the danger posed by exposing her. So why had Floyd brought Devaney here?

Palms clammy, she clasped her hands together, her attention locked on the man who had protected her for the past ten months. “Just tell me.”

“Your father has cancer,” Floyd said. “A relapse of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.”

Relapse? Panic punched her in the chest followed quickly by resentment and regret. Her mother had died from cancer. Was her father close to death? Did he want to see her?

“He was first diagnosed nine months ago. He was cautioned that if the cancer returned, he would need a bone marrow transplant.”

Devaney spoke up. “A lot of people have been tested, but you’re the only match.”

She frowned. “How do you know that?”

“You had a blood sample in the donor registry.”

Before going into hiding, Laura had regularly donated blood and made sure to put herself on the register for both blood and bone marrow donors. She turned to Floyd. “You said my dad had relapsed.”

“Yes. Two weeks ago, during his monthly check up, he learned the cancer was back.”

Two bouts of cancer. A bone marrow transplant. Her guilt over their years-long estrangement pinched at her. Laura was the last person on earth her father would want to help him, but Floyd and Devaney didn’t need to know that.

She glanced at the marshal. “Have you known about this since Dad’s first diagnosis?”

“No.” He hooked a thumb at the big man beside him. “Not until Devaney told me tonight.”

Even if Floyd had known, it would’ve done no good to tell Laura. She wouldn’t have been able to help her dad and her dad hadn’t needed her then. But he did now.

“What about Vin?”

“My boss called to tell me that Devaney was coming. He’s convinced this man can keep you safe. Devaney made a compelling case himself. He’ll be with you 24/7 and he has backup if he needs it.”

She could read nothing in the younger man’s rugged features, the tight mouth or eyes that she could now see were a perfect mix of blue and green. There was a stillness about him yet also a hum of coiled energy beneath the surface, as if he could explode into motion faster than she could blink.

She drew in a deep breath. The everyday scents of perfume and potpourri and a light citrus cleaner were comforting. “I’m supposed to just disappear? Again?”

“I’m sorry, but yes,” Floyd said gently. “I’ll have your apartment packed up and your things sent to you when you’re ready for them.”

“I’ll have to cancel my lease,” she said, half to herself. “Are you sure my leaving witness protection is safe?”

“It’s a risk. I won’t lie. Nobody would blame you if you said no. If you say no, we can all just forget about this conversation.”

“I can’t do that,” Laura said quickly. “Not if my dad really needs me.”