Page 38 of Her Delta Force Protector

After Theo Watson had found a perch that allowed him a view of the yard, he’d expected to settle in for however long it took for Harper Jansen to appear. Luck was on his side because she and Kade Church came out to the deck thirty minutes later. Problem was that a little girl was with them.

He was tempted to shoot Kade Church first, before he put a bullet through Harper Jansen’s heart. From his perch in the lower branch of a tree, he put his eye to the scope of his rifle and sighted it between the man’s eyes.

So tempting. But Church’s brother was a police chief, and the chief’s fiancée a sheriff. That was trouble they didn’t need. Kade Church was spoiling his fun, though, and that pissed him off.

Getting close enough to Jansen to grab her with a man like Church around wasn’t worth the risk, even for the fun he would have with her before he killed her. After Rex had located her and learned who the people she was staying with were, he’d done a deep dive in the Church family. Bad enough that it was a family of cops, but Kade Church was the one who got their attention.

Rex had discovered that he was in the Army, but that was about all. “The dude’s records are classified.”

Theo had shrugged. “So, you’re already in the Army’s files. Just get into those records.”

“Too risky. One wrong move that alerts someone I’m in classified files, and we’ll have the Army and probably the FBI and Secret Service breathing down our necks. His records being classified means he’s Special Forces of some kind, a man whose radar we don’t want to be on.”

“So we just walk away?”

“Might be the smart thing to do.”

Theo considered putting his fist through his cousin’s face. Rex needed to grow some balls. “And what if Jansen gets impatient with Detective Johnson stalling her and decides to go to some other police department?”

“So, let her. The only real evidence she has to connect us to the warehouse are your and Stockton’s license plates, and I took care of that problem. Besides, she’s probably already talking to other cops, Tristan Church and his girlfriend, and they got nothing on us.”

“It’s the fucking principle of the thing, Rex. Harper Jansen stuck her nose where it didn’t belong. She hid Lisa from us.” That last one burned. Lisa was his creation. He’d taken a girl looking for love in all the wrong places and was making a porn queen out of her. He never left a job unfinished. This one might not finish the way he’d planned, but sometimes plans changed and one had to adapt.

He peered through the scope again. Good, the little girl had gone inside. He wasn’t a monster, and he hadn’t wanted to risk her running into the line of fire. He aimed the rifle at Church. “Bang,” he murmured, his finger itching to pull the trigger, but control was one of his strengths, so instead of taking the shot, he pointed the gun at Harper Jansen.

Church stood a second before Theo pulled the trigger. Theo stared in disbelief as Church tackled her, taking her down to the deck. How the fuck had the man known? Church toppled the table they’d been sitting at, hiding them from view. The little girl came to the door, and Church grabbed her and raced inside the house, leaving Jansen alone.

“Gotcha,” he whispered. He lowered the barrel, aiming for the bottom of the table, and fired. He wished to hell that he could see her, know if he’d aimed true. For good measure, he shot again. Church came back out of the house and dived behind the table, then the table began to slide across the deck toward the door.

Was Jansen hurt, hopefully dead? Was he dragging her body to the house? When the table stopped moving, Theo peered through the scope. “Shit,” he said when Church and Jansen popped up from behind the table and disappeared into the house.

Once Church was sure she was safe, he’d come looking for the shooter. It was time to rock and roll. Sirens sounded, getting louder by the second. Definitely time to haul ass. He jumped to the ground, gathered the shell casings, and ran to the road behind the Church property where Rex was waiting.

Who the hell was Kade Church? For the first time, fear crept in. Theo shook it off. The man wasn’t some kind of superhero. The simple answer was that his senses were honed because of his special ops skills. Something to remember and prepare for.

“You get her?” Rex said the second Theo fell into the passenger seat.

“No. Time to go.”

Rex had been waiting with the engine idling, and he put the car in gear and took off. “What happened?”

“They had a bit of luck is all. I’ll get her next time.” A soldier with an ego bigger than his brains wasn’t going to get the best of Theo Watson.

Chapter Nineteen

“Hey. Can I come in?” Skylar said from the doorway of Tristan’s bedroom.

“Sure.” Harper eyed with regret the new clothes she’d gotten at Fanny’s. They wouldn’t fit into her duffel, so she was going to have to leave them behind.

Skylar sat on the edge of the bed. “Are you okay?”

“I’m alive. That’s a good thing.” She picked up the red leather jacket. If she wore it, she could take it with her.

“That’s a beautiful jacket.”

“Yeah. Fanny has some great stuff. I’m going to have to leave it all here, since everything won’t fit in my duffel.” Unless she could wear all her new things until she got to where she was going...wherever that was.

Skylar stood and disappeared into Tristan’s closet. Harper hadn’t peeked in there since it seemed like an invasion of his privacy. Skylar returned with a suitcase that she set on the bed.

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