Page 38 of A Moon Lake Christmas Hero

Somebody wanted her brakes to fail.

Somebody wanted her car to crash.

Somebody wanted her injured, or dead.

And she refused to talk to me about it.

Moon Lake was reasonably safe. Everyone in town knew to look out for her. She was now one of us. And the people of Moon Lake looked out for each other. A stranger asking for her would be a red flag and would set the chain in motion.

But I should talk to Peter and Richard about it. Get them clued in and alert.

It wasn’t my place to do so. I was overstepping again. But for fuck’s sake, if she wouldn’t look out for herself, I would do it.

While keeping my distance.

For now.

JAMES

When I walked into Blake’s bar, the Moon Lake Bar and Grill, and found it brimming with almost everyone, and in addition the guys from Raptor Security over at Whitebrook, I stopped, and adrenaline mixed with gratitude was tingling through my body.

I was blown away—didn’t expect that many prospects for our joint emergency response team.

Especially since this was just a preliminary brainstorming session.

The bar's Christmas decorations cast a warm glow over the crowd, pine garlands and twinkling lights creating a festive atmosphere despite the serious nature of our meeting. The large windows were frosted at the edges, and someone had painted winter scenes on them. The warmth inside was a welcome contrast to the biting cold outside. The snow had finally led up, but quite an impressive amount had accumulated over the past week, guaranteeing a white Christmas.

“Hey, guys.” I shook Blake’s and Peter’s hands because they were closest to me.

Next up came Richard.

“Hey, James, you good?”

I nodded, then shook Carter’s hand, who came up next to me.

Carter was a real estate guy just like me who’d outbid me on a property in Three Oaks a while ago. He’d had a bad-boy billionaire reputation and was frequently featured in magazines when he first came to our neck of the woods, which had been a while ago.

His company, Security Operation Bravo Team—SOG for short, had been focusing on fighting human trafficking and rescue missions.

But the latest news I heard was that Carter had joined forces with Hawk, another newcomer, and they now operated under the name Raptor Security, which was originally Hawk’s company name.

Carter was a fellow marine like Richard and Hawk I’d only met once or twice but never really had an in-depth conversation with.

“Since we decided to keep the company headquarters in the area, we’d like to volunteer as well,” Hawk said.

“So you’ll stay in Three Oaks?”

Carter nodded, then shook his head. “Not yet determined. But since Max here”—he pointed at Max who immediately joined our little circle—“decided to stay in that cabin of his, at least he’s officially a Mooney.”

“A Mooney?” I asked.

“Well”—Carter rubbed his neck—“or however you people in Moon Lake call yourselves.”

Richard chuckled, and I did, too. We didn’t have a name, but if we had one, it sure as shit wouldn’t be Mooneys.

“Max”—I shook his hand—“glad you could make it.”

I looked around as more and more gathered around. All the guys looked incredibly fit, and trained. It was actually quite impressive how many of us who settled around here had a military background.

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