Sharon Dunn - Guard Duty

“IF YOU TELL, YOU DIE.”

As a potential murder witness, rookie K-9 police officer Valerie Salgado is living with a death threat and caring for her young niece. And things get worse when FBI agent Trevor Lewis comes to Sagebrush, Texas. In exchange for her help on his case, Trevor offers Valerie protection, but Trevor has more walls around him than a maximum-security prison. And now Valerie must convince him that she, her niece and her K-9 partner would make the perfect family for him, if they can stay alive....

Valerie stared at the email... and felt shaken from the inside.

Bethany is such a pretty baby. It would be a shame to have anything happen to her.

“Everything okay?” Trevor asked, coming to stand beside her desk.

She forced the fear from her voice. “Sure. Why?”

“Your hands are shaking.” He cupped his hand over hers.

She felt the warmth of his touch, saw the concern in his eyes. Would he think her weak if she revealed her fear? There probably wasn’t anything that made this man afraid.

The warmth in his gaze told her to risk sharing. “I just got this.”

Trevor’s jaw hardened as he looked at the screen. “This is all part of a game. Threatening your kid to upset you.”

She let out a shaky breath. “Then it’s working.”

TEXAS K-9 UNIT:

These lawmen solve the toughest cases

with the help of their brave canine partners

Tracking Justice—Shirlee McCoy, January 2013

Detection Mission—Margaret Daley, February 2013

Guard Duty—Sharon Dunn, March 2013

Explosive Secrets—Valerie Hansen, April 2013

Scent of Danger—Terri Reed, May 2013

Lone Star Protector—Lenora Worth, June 2013

SHARON DUNN

has always loved writing, but didn’t decide to write for publication until she was expecting her first baby. Pregnancy makes you do crazy things. Three kids, many articles and two mystery series later, she still hasn’t found her sanity. Her books have won awards, including a Book of the Year award from American Christian Fiction Writers. She was also a finalist for an RT Book Reviews Inspirational Book of the Year award.

Sharon has performed in theater and church productions, has degrees in film production and history and worked for many years as a college tutor and instructor. Despite the fact that her résumé looks as if she couldn’t decide what she wanted to be when she grew up, all the education and experience have played a part in helping her write good stories.

When she isn’t writing or taking her kids to activities, she reads, plays board games and contemplates organizing her closet. In addition to her three kids, Sharon lives with her husband of twenty-two years, three cats and lots of dust bunnies. You can reach Sharon through her website, www.sharondunnbooks.net.

Guard Duty

Sharon Dunn

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

—Psalms 10:17,18

For Bart, the nervous Border collie,

who has brought laughter

and unconditional devotion into my life.

Special thanks and acknowledgment to Sharon Dunn for her contribution to the Texas K-9 Unit miniseries.

Contents

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

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Excerpt

ONE

“K-9 unit 349. Convenience-store robbery, corner of State and Grand. Suspects are on the run.”

As she pushed the talk button to respond to dispatch, rookie officer Valerie Salgado felt that strange mixture of fear and excitement that came every time she responded to a call on patrol.

“Copy. I’m about five blocks from that location. Any idea what direction our perps were going?”

Dispatch responded. “Clerk doesn’t know which way they ran. Three males. Two Caucasian, one African American. All dressed in dark clothing.”

For the past few months, every call had an extra sense of danger attached to it. A rash of robberies, drugs and murders that had been escalating in Sagebrush for years had recently been linked to a crime syndicate with an unknown leader.

Valerie hit her siren and sped up.

Maybe this was just a run-of-the-mill robbery, but maybe it was another symptom of a city under siege.

In the back of the patrol car, Valerie’s K-9 partner, Lexi, paced from one window to the other, emitting an almost ultrasonic whine. The only one more excited to catch a criminal than Valerie was her two-year-old Rottweiler.

Dispatch came across the line. “Clerk says that two of the men were armed.”

Valerie took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. “At least we know what we are dealing with, huh, Lex?”

The dog whined as though she understood.

As she neared the convenience store, Valerie scanned the streets and sidewalks for any sign of movement. Now that it was 10 p.m. and dark, it would be easy enough for the robbers to blend into surroundings if they were smart enough to walk instead of run. Traffic was light, and most of the shops were closed. The all-night burger joint up the street had attracted a little bit of a crowd.

Valerie pulled into the convenience store parking lot. The clerk was easy enough to spot, a distraught fifty-something woman pacing by the store entrance. Valerie got out of her patrol car.

The woman came toward her, eyes wide with fear. The unnatural hair color and heavy makeup revealed rather than hid the woman’s age.

The clerk wrapped her arms around herself. Her gaze flitted everywhere. The robbery had shaken the poor woman up. Valerie wanted to hug her and tell her it was going to be all right. But that was not what cops did. Instead, she pulled a notebook out of her utility belt.

She hoped her voice conveyed the level of compassion she felt for what the clerk had just been through. “Ma’am, I’m Officer Salgado. Can you tell me what happened here?”

The woman combed her fingers through her hair. “They took over three hundred dollars. My manager is going to fire me.” Her agitated state made her south Texas drawl even more exaggerated.

“How long has it been since the robbers fled the store?”

The clerk closed her eyes as though she were struggling to answer the question. “Umm...they made me lay on the floor facedown.” She let out a heavy breath. “I waited until I was sure they weren’t going to come back. I...I...called as quickly as I could.” She put a trembling hand to her chest. “Maybe five minutes.”

Valerie felt torn between desiring to comfort the clerk and wanting to catch the thugs who had terrorized her. Picturing her own mother having to go through something like this made her resolve even stronger. The best comfort she could give this woman would be to see that these perps went to jail.