Blurb:
Free spirit Maddie O’Rourke loves the outdoors and photography. Out on a hike, she’s drawn to an abandoned barn, only to find the beautiful scene shattered when she witnesses—and photographs—the cold-blooded murder of two men. Maddie runs as if her life depends on it—which it does. Distance is the only thing that will keep her safe, so she flees to Black Pointe. But when strange things begin to happen and the people she cares about are put at risk, she knows she hasn’t escaped danger.
Logan Reed’s childhood was turbulent. His career with the Army gave him the structure he needed. As the newest bodyguard with KnightGuard Security, the last person he wants to watch over is a flighty artist with no sense of responsibility. But one of his first assignments is to protect Maddie O’Rourke. First, he has to find her.
Protecting Maddie won’t be easy—she and Logan are polar opposites. She loves people and despises rules, and he prefers a solitary, structured life. Can these two opposites meet in the middle before ruthless killers track her down, or will their relationship and any hope of love be lost forever?
Chapter 1
Branches whipped Maddie O’Rourke’s arms and face as she stumbled through the dense forest, one nearly taking out her eye. Thorny bushes tore her skin, and blood dripped down her clothes. Her breath came in quick gasps, ragged and uneven. Her sneakers crunched dead branches and echoed through the silent forest. The pounding of her heart was almost louder than her footsteps as she ran for her life through the woods, hoping to throw the men off her trail. Tears fell unchecked, but there was no time to stop and wipe them away.
Running and holding on to her camera slowed her progress, so Maddie let the camera bounce off her chest until that became unbearable. The camera strap strained and cut into her neck, but she didn’t want to give up her only proof.
The men weren’t far behind her now. They were yelling directions at each other, and Maddie knew they’d catch up unless she gained some speed. She tossed the camera into the brush, hoping that no one would find it and hoping to God that her pictures had uploaded to the cloud. Maybe she’d try to come back another day to search for it—that is, if she didn’t die before then.
“Stop!” one man yelled. He sounded close, but Maddie wasn’t turning around to find out. “Stop. We won’t hurt you.”
Riiight. Like she believed that.
She’d been running for at least ten minutes or an hour—it didn’t matter. If the men following her caught her, Maddie knew for sure she’d be dead.
She would die in the woods.
Alone.
All because she just had to get those extra shots with her camera.
Her friends and dad would wonder where she was or if she was hurt or worse. Maddie had told no one where she was going.
She’d gotten up early and driven to this new area that piqued her interest when she drove past it the other day.
She wandered through the woods, taking photographs of small animals, old stone fences, and birds. It wasn’t unusual for her to get up early and take pictures, but the reality of not telling someone meant no one would know when she was supposed to be back or where to look for her if she got into trouble. Hadn’t her father and friends warned her on more than one occasion about that? She poo-poohed them. Stupid.
That wasn’t the first mistake she would make today, though.
The second mistake was staying too long to take photographs of an abandoned barn. She’d been intrigued by the contrast of the worn, red peeling wood against the lush green field and the overgrown weeds flowering along one side. It would have been nice to get inside to see if there was old machinery, but a rusty lock on the doors prevented her from opening them, and cobwebs covered the outside windows, blackened with age. There was nothing else to see, so she left.
She’d just reached the tree line and turned to take one more shot when a magnificent buck stopped in front of the barn. His huge rack scraped the side of the building. Then he pawed the ground once before bounding off. Maddie inhaled the clean, piney air and looked at her watch. Time to go.
Engines revving in the distance disrupted her moment of peace. Maddie wondered if it was a farmer checking on the barn.
A truck filled with supplies squealed to a stop, kicking up dust from the dirt road. Behind it came a carload of men. A man and a woman exited the truck, then four men got out of the car in jeans, T-shirts, and caps. Ordinary except for the guns they were holding. Each turned a full three-sixty, surveying their surroundings.
Maddie honestly thought that they were there to repair the building. Stupid.
Innocent people didn’t come to repair something with shotguns. And innocent people didn’t drag men out of trucks and push them onto their knees as they cried, begging for their lives.
Oh, God. Maddie’s stomach roiled. What had she stumbled into? Was this a killing field? Were the men drug dealers? The mob? What crazy world had she fallen into?
She stepped behind a tree, engaged the burst mode on her camera, and kept her finger on the shutter. Click, click, click.
Pop. Pop. Pop. The first man stared at his chest in disbelief and slowly tilted toward the ground. Then silence. She watched as blood pooled around his chest.
Maddie gasped.
Click, click, click.
Pop. Pop. Pop. They shot the other man in the back who’d been screaming and trying to crawl away.
Silence.
My God. Bile gurgled in her gut. She swallowed hard. There was no time to vomit. She couldn’t let those men hear her. Maddie had never witnessed such violence.
Click, click, click.
Silence.
Holy shit! The birds stopped chirping and exploded out of treetops. The wind that had been caressing her cheek moments ago stopped moving. A dark cloud floated above, blocking the sun and turning the once-welcoming woods into something malevolent and mysterious.
Maddie shivered. Evil was coming.
One man cocked his head and looked around. The man who’d been directing the slaughter—the leader. Maddie’s heart was racing. Did they see her? Or hear her camera? She stepped farther back into the brush, unfortunately stepping on a branch. Crack!
No. No. No. Maddie’s heart thumped in tandem with her breath. Did they hear the noise? She peeked around a skinny oak tree. One that certainly didn’t provide the adequate cover she needed. She hoped the men hadn’t spotted her.
Suddenly, the man shouted, “There!” and pointed towards the woods. Towards Maddie. Their gazes connected. His black eyes dead. Surprise on his face.
Maddie turned and ran.
The men were about 150 feet away from her, and she was running uphill. She’d parked her car off-road, probably a half mile away. Maddie jogged every morning, so she was in shape. Hopefully, the men weren’t, but they were motivated. Well, so was she.
Today was not the day she was losing her life.
Chapter 2
Logan Reed opened the door to his apartment and tossed his go-bag on the sofa.
The breath he’d been holding came out in a rush. He was thankful to be home after three days of watching an irresponsible man-child with more money than brains, and who apparently had a death wish, act like a spoiled teenager.
He got about three hours of sleep each night on this assignment because the man thought it was funny to sneak out of their suite at the hotel to party at the local nightclub, even though his life was at risk. Then Logan had to get dressed, chase down the guy and bring him back to the hotel, moaning and complaining.
Whoever was looking for the man didn’t just threaten the asswipe; they were explicit in what they would do to him. The jackass had received a graphic picture of a mutilated body being fed to pigs. Not that it had meant anything to this idiot. But it certainly scared the shit out of Logan.
The question in Logan’s mind was, why play games with your life?
The man wasn’t completely stupid. He hired a bodyguard. So why was he tempting fate and not following instructions?
Logan sighed. It wasn’t his responsibility anymore. Earlier, the government picked up the man to bring him to a safe house until he was to testify in a RICO trial. Passing him off was a massive relief in Logan’s mind.
Bah, enough thinking about that idiot. He hoped the man stayed alive long enough to testify.
Logan wondered if this case was typical for KnightGuard Security. He sure hoped not. Being a bodyguard was serious work, and Logan liked it, but not if the person he was in charge of protecting was reckless. It wasn’t worth the risk.
Had Sam Knight, owner of KnightGuard Security, even vetted this man? He’d ask the next time he was in the office. He was told when Sam hired him that KGS didn’t take on nutjobs. Logan guessed that every once in a while, even the company got fooled.
He grabbed a beer from the fridge and contemplated taking a quick nap.
A knock at the door startled Logan out of his thoughts. He wasn’t expecting anyone, so he looked through the peephole. A tall, brown-haired man stood there and knocked again.
“I know you’re in there. Open up.”
Logan groaned. Any chance of catching up on sleep or having a few minutes of privacy was out the window. He thought about not answering but knew the man wasn’t leaving. Another knock.
He opened the door to one of his best friends from the service.
“Hey. I was around the corner and thought I’d stop by and see how your first assignment went.” Hank Peterman stood in the doorway, smirking, his blue eyes crinkling.
“Thanks loads.” Logan took a gulp of beer. “The guy was a number one asshole.”
Hank chuckled. “Look at it as an initiation. We’ve all had our share of stupid people.”
They stood there in silence for a minute. “Can I come in, or are we going to continue this conversation in the hall?” asked Hank.
“Yeah. Sorry.” Logan opened the door wider. “Grab a beer, and have a seat.”
“Seriously, how did it really go?”
“Hmmm.” Logan took another slug of beer. “I suppose it could have been worse. The guy wasn’t using his head.” He rolled his eyes. “How could he not be afraid? Christ, they threatened to cut his tongue and balls off and have him watch as they fed them to the pigs.”
“Ouch. There are plenty of stupid people who are oblivious to danger.” Hank shrugged and walked over to the fridge to get a beer. He followed Logan into the living room and tossed Logan’s overnight bag to the floor to sit. “What can I say? It is what it is.”
“Some philosopher you are.” Logan shook his head.
Hank laughed. “I try.”
“Changing the subject, how’s Laura?” asked Logan. “I had lunch at Salt & Sea last week with Danny, and the food is outstanding.” It had been great to catch up with Danny Knight. He, Hank, and Logan met in the service, and Danny introduced them to KnightGuard Security.
“The bistro is doing great. Now that her financial problems are behind her, she’s hired additional staff. Laura’s happy and not as stressed,” Hank replied. He leaned back in the chair, took a swallow of beer and winked. “Plus, I get to see her more.”
“I bet you do.” After the discovery of a secret room in the bistro from the speakeasy era, a mobster decided he wanted whatever riches were supposedly in it—bearer bonds and enough cash for a lifetime. However, Laura was in the way. He tried scaring her into selling. When that didn’t work, he tried to kill her. KnightGuard Security and Hank, Laura’s now fiancé, got there just in time to save her. Too bad the only items in the room were old bottles of whiskey. Valuable to connoisseurs but not valuable financially.
Hank leaned forward and slapped his hands on his knees. “I need to get back to the office. Then I’m meeting with my fiancée to discuss plans for our wedding.”
“Uh-huh.” Logan nodded. “That’s what I’d be doing if I had a woman.”
“Bah. You’re too uptight to have a woman. She’d have to make an appointment just to see you,” Hank replied.
“Asshole.” Logan huffed.
Hank was right. Logan never planned a fun-filled day or even took time to smell the roses. He made a schedule and kept to it.
Hank grinned, stood and walked towards the door. “Anyway, happy to have you on board. Don’t be a stranger.” He stopped. “Don’t forget, the guys are getting together for poker soon, and I expect to see you there.”
“Right, it’s on my calendar.”
They leaned in for a man hug. Then Logan closed the door behind Hank.
Logan turned to look around at his quiet apartment.
It was a two-bedroom on the third floor of a newer brick building in a decent neighborhood. He had the basics. No thrift-shop finds for him. There was no telling what people did on the furniture before he got it. Not that he was a germophobe, but he grew up with hand-me-downs and had enough of other people’s junk. The brown sofa wasn’t expensive, nor was it cheap. He got a furniture suite—the couch, coffee table, and two chairs. The same for his bedroom: a king-size bed, two end tables, and a dresser. It was easier to buy everything that matched, especially for a person with no decorating style.
Then he inhaled and exhaled. The air was fresh and clean, unlike the dump he grew up in with his father. There was no empty refrigerator or one filled with rotting food, no dirty dishes in the sink, and no beer bottles strewn around. And most importantly, no smell of piss. His father liked cats but hated taking care of them.
Logan’s place was neat except for the bedroom. He couldn’t stand messes.
He had been in a hurry to get to the job, so he knew he’d thrown clothes on the bed. He’d take care of those in a while.
He spent little time here, primarily sleeping and showering. Most of his time he spent at the shooting range or work. Occasionally he’d get together with Danny or Hank or play poker with some of the guys from work. Sometimes he went out for drinks. Not too often. Liquor was a waste of money. He never drank too much or got drunk.
His apartment was close to Riverwalk, yet far enough away that Logan didn’t hear activity from there.
Logan enjoyed being alone and quiet, but sometimes he wondered what it would be like to have someone to welcome him home, someone who loved him. A woman with a warm body who made his heart sing and liked to cuddle. A woman to make love to—especially to make love to.
He envied his friends who found that special woman. However, Logan wasn’t looking for a long-lasting relationship. He enjoyed the occasional hookup, sometimes dating the same woman for a few months at a time. If he thought the woman he was with was getting the wrong idea about their relationship or becoming too clingy, he’d break it off. Then work out or go to the shooting range until the feeling passed.
There was no warm relationship with his father or structure growing up. Logan’s only greeting when he was young was a hand across the face or worse.
Logan liked discipline and structure; it was what kept him alive after joining the service. One needed to be one step ahead of the bad guy. Never let anyone get the upper hand, never let your guard down, have a plan in place and always be aware of your surroundings.
Structure was safety.