Valerie Hansen - Face of Danger

“How do you know?” Cade asked.

“Because I saw him!” The tears finally spilled down Paige’s cheeks. “I got away, but…”

“Where are you now?”

“Inside.”

“Okay. Just stay put and lock your doors,” Cade ordered. “I’ll be right there.”

She hung up and went to make sure all the doors and windows were secure. Merely knowing that the Ranger was on his way was amazingly comforting.

It belatedly occurred to her that most people would have called 911 instead. Not her. Any time she could rely directly on the Texas Rangers for help, they’d be her first and only choice. Even the one she’d just phoned.

In her mind, that statement was immediately altered to Especially the one she’d just phoned.

TEXAS RANGER JUSTICE:

Keeping the Lone Star State safe

Daughter of Texas—Terri Reed, January 2011

Body of Evidence—Lenora Worth, February 2011

Face of Danger—Valerie Hansen, March 2011

Trail of Lies—Margaret Daley, April 2011

Threat of Exposure—Lynette Eason, May 2011

Out of Time—Shirlee McCoy, June 2011

was thirty when she awoke to the presence of the Lord in her life and turned to Jesus. In the years that followed she worked with young children, both in church and secular environments. She also raised a family of her own and played foster mother to a wide assortment of furred and feathered critters.

Married to her high school sweetheart since age seventeen, she now lives in an old farmhouse she and her husband renovated with their own hands. She loves to hike the wooded hills behind the house and reflect on the marvelous turn her life has taken. Not only is she privileged to reside among the loving, accepting folks in the breathtakingly beautiful Ozark mountains of Arkansas, she also gets to share her personal faith by telling the stories of her heart for all of Steeple Hill’s Love Inspired lines.

Life doesn’t get much better than that!

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You will call and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say, “Here I am.”

—Isaiah 58:9

As always, many thanks to the other authors involved in this Texas Ranger series: Terri Reed, Lenora Worth, Margaret Daley, Lynette Eason and Shirlee McCoy.

And, of course, my Joe, who works hard to keep me fed and happy while I’m chained to my computer!

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

EPILOGUE

Texas Ranger Cade Jarvis gripped the wheel of his pickup truck, his neck and shoulder muscles knotting. He was on the most important mission of his career and nothing was going to stop him from reaching Austin. Nothing.

His glance darted to the rearview mirror. He’d been keeping an eye on the erratic movements of a set of headlights approaching behind him. The SUV was speeding, cutting in and out of the heavy traffic as if that driver thought he was on a racetrack instead of the highway.

Cade tensed. The guy was crowding everyone he passed and scattering them like a flock of scared chickens.

The dark SUV drew parallel with his truck and swerved toward him. Cade sounded his horn. There was no discernible reaction from the speeder.

Cade managed to avoid physical contact once, twice. Again. He muttered, “Sober up before you kill us both,” and clenched his teeth.

The SUV matched him move for move while other drivers did their best to distance themselves from the obvious confrontation.

The reckless driver closed the sideways gap so abruptly, so forcefully, Cade couldn’t dodge this time. The sound of rending, crushing, sliding metal against metal squealed through the cold November night.

Hitting his brakes, Cade braced for an even worse collision. He glanced over at the evidence case resting next to him on the seat and prayed instinctively, “Dear God. Don’t let anything stop me from getting that to the forensic artist.”

Tires sliding, truck body slewing sideways, Cade felt his front bumper clip the supporting post of a highway sign. The pickup’s chassis did a 180 and ended up half on and half off the road, facing oncoming traffic, before Cade was finally able to bring it to a stop.

The high, bright headlights of an eighteen-wheeler were bearing down on him. He could hear the semi’s air horn blasting, its brakes locking and tires squealing. Throwing his arms over his face, he prayed he’d live through the next few seconds.

The usually busy Texas Ranger headquarters building in Austin was quiet—except for the beating of Paige Bryant’s heart and her niggling feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

“Stop it. Just stop it. You’re being silly,” the forensic artist told herself as she leaned out of her studio and peered down the empty hallway. It looked as though everyone in that part of the office had already gone home for the night. Which was where she should be. Where she would be if she weren’t waiting for a delivery.

She closed her office door and began to pace. It was only about seventy-five miles from Company D in San Antonio to this main Ranger office in Austin, and easy, highway driving almost all the way. What could be keeping that Ranger? She didn’t know Cade Jarvis well, but the few times they had met she’d been favorably impressed.

Paige huffed, disgusted with herself. Impressed? Boy, was that an understatement. If Ranger Jarvis was half as good-looking as she recalled, he’d be attractive enough to curl her toes. He stood nearly six feet tall, with dusky blond hair and mischievous eyes the color of warm mocha java. And when he smiled, the fine lines of an outdoorsman crinkled at the corners of those appealing eyes, though she doubted the man was much over thirty, if that.

She was about to give up on him and head for home when her phone rang. She snatched it up before the second ring. “Hello?”

“Ms. Bryant? This is Cade Jarvis,” the slightly breathless male voice said. “I’m going to be a little late.”

He was already more than a little late but something in his tone gave Paige pause and made her ask, “Are you all right?”

“Boy, news travels fast.”

“I beg your pardon?” It was becoming clear to Paige that this call was not the result of a normal travel delay. “What news? What’s happened?”

“I was run off the road not far from there.”

Her free hand flew to her throat and her eyes widened. “Oh, no! Are you all right?”

“Fine. Actually, I’m in better shape than my truck is. It would have been a lot worse if other drivers hadn’t steered around me after I spun out. As soon as the troopers finish their report, I’ll hitch a ride with one of them and have him drop me at your office.”