Geri Krotow - Her Secret Christmas Agent

Claudia wouldn’t have had to tell him this gal was undercover, though. The new “student’s” appearance, along with his gut instinct, which was rarely wrong, clued him in. He had to give the undercover operative kudos—the kids wouldn’t think twice of her except as a new classmate.

He hoped like hell his instinct wasn’t letting him down now, because this woman was hotter than hell and he hadn’t ever glanced at one of his students and felt a physical attraction before.

“Mr. Everlock, Nika’s going to come to our Rainbows meeting this afternoon.” Rachel’s voice brought Mitch back to the classroom.

“Glad to have you, Nika.”

“Sure thing.”

Rachel checked her phone. “I’ve got to go or I’m going to be late for French. Madame Kramer is doing a big finals review today. I’ll see you later, Nika.”

“See you.” Nika wiggled her fingers just as Rachel had done, looking every bit the new, slightly awkward student who wanted to fit in.

Once they were alone in the classroom, he waited for her to speak. He had to. To make sure.

“I think you know who I am, Mr. Everlock.”

“Do I?”

She looked carefully around the classroom before she held out her hand. “Nika Pasczenko, SVPD.”

* * *

Mitch Everlock was going to get his due. It was only a matter of time. They were still holding the Rainbows meetings.

As he watched the students head to their next classes from his spot in the school parking lot, some leaving early, some skipping, his blood boiled. He’d been warned that it might not be so easy to sway Mitch Everlock. What the stupid teacher didn’t realize was that the messages telling him to end the Rainbows weren’t a joke. This was about the truth, what was best and right and true for everyone in Silver Valley. Whether they wanted to believe it or not.

No officals had been out to the farms to test the blood, not yet. He knew they were slow, but it was taking them a long time. He fully understood, though, that the SVPD would eventually show up asking for samples of their most recent slaughter.

He was already ahead of them. The blood he’d used was from last year. He’d frozen it after he’d met Mr. Wise at the New Thought meetings, just in case he’d be able to use it for a future escapade. And he had.

“Do you have time to talk to the folks from Agriculture today?” His assistant’s voice came over the car’s hands-free speaker. He hated distractions but had to pay his bills for the time being.

“Of course. Anytime. Let me know what works for them.”

“Will do.”

The government oversight was constant. The state and federal governments didn’t trust him to run his own damn farms any longer. Before long, it wouldn’t matter.

When he’d found out about the Rainbows at his very own dinner table he knew that his support of the New Thought planned community hadn’t been in vain. All of the meetings he had attended were going to pay off. He missed the meetings but trusted Leonard Wise. It was better for him to study at home now, while he helped Mr. Wise prepare Silver Valley for what was coming.

Leonard Wise was always right. He was a brilliant man who had come to save Silver Valley. It all made sense. Silver Valley High School was a nest of lies, the way the innocent children of their community were being indoctrinated into society’s evil ways. The Rainbows club’s existence only cemented it.

He’d done what he had to: sent adequate warning that the likes of their sick morals wouldn’t be tolerated. That stupid chemistry teacher thought he was so smart, so savvy, helping the kids get into faraway colleges where their sinful lives could be lived out without their parents watching over them. And there was another problem. Most of the parents in Silver Valley were just as stupid and blind as their children.

But he saw what was happening. Leonard Wise and his brave teachings had enlightened him, given him a reason, a purpose. He was going to bring down the Rainbows and all the students in the group. Mr. Wise would be so pleased, because it would help bring more members to their effort. Once the Rainbows were gone, and the school wasn’t able to function, the parents would be forced to see that their children were running wild. That they needed discipline. That their girls needed to be dedicated to New Thought and to bring new members into the fold in the best, most pure way. Through perfect births.

But first he had to take out the man at the center of the Rainbows. The idiot teacher who was poisoning the children with the same sick lies that were plastered across all the newspapers and internet.

Mr. Mitch Everlock.

Chapter 2

“Isn’t it risky to talk here?” Mitch Everlock placed a hand on the dark counter at the front of the classroom. “And you didn’t have to tell me who you are, Nika. I knew the minute you walked in.”

Nika wondered if he’d felt the same zing of attraction she had. His eyes were a deep holly green, sparkling like her favorite emerald earrings. Nika had left them on her dresser this morning as she’d prepared to come into Silver Valley High undercover. Her relief at Rachel’s acceptance of her as a student was derailed by the disapproving expression on Mitch Everlock’s face.

“You saw me check out the classroom for any students. I’m not here to play games, Mr. Everlock. As far as anyone is concerned, we’re just a student and teacher, right?” She shrugged, hoping the move she’d practiced looked like a typical adolescent gesture. He wasn’t what she’d expected and he made her nervous. The dowdy chemistry teacher she’d imagined was instead a hot stud. The kind of man she’d normally love to have a night or two with. Before she let him go. Because she always let them go.

“How old are you, Nika?”

“Let’s just say I graduated college while most of my ‘classmates’ were still in middle school. These kids were being born when I went through this same school at their age.” She made air quotation marks.

“Huh.” He stood back from the counter and stretched, affording her a nice view of his broad chest and lean hips. He started arranging beakers and scales on the laboratory surface, ignoring her. He didn’t fool her—his movements were meant to distract her, throw her off her game. “Why weren’t you at the station when I filed my report three days ago? I would have remembered you.” His voice was like a sexy caress and she hated herself for the clichéd comparison, damn it.

“Three days ago? I was on a domestic call. I didn’t know I’d be working the Rainbow Hater case with you until last night.” She hadn’t asked to be assigned to babysit a teacher who couldn’t keep control of enough of his classroom and students to already have cornered whoever had left the threats. But no one had asked for her opinion.

“Whoa, Nika. We’re not ‘working’ on anything together, not officially. I’m a Marine vet, no longer working any kind of cases or missions. I’m simply a chemistry teacher. If you have orders to be here, okay, but I’m fine on my own. I can handle whoever this idiot is. You called him the Rainbow Hater?”

“Yes.”

He was not going to make this any easier and Nika was tired of working with egos. She’d survived the ugliest breakup of her life last year and, in retrospect, saw that her ex had been egocentric. Sometimes she wished she could break up with people she worked with. Like this Everlock dude. For once couldn’t someone she had to deal with be reasonable, the yin to her yang? His tone made her want to scream. Instead she remained silent, waiting for him to speak.

“That’s fitting, because whoever it is has a lot of hate issues for the Rainbows. And while I appreciate you’ve been sent here to do your job, you have to understand that I’m the one who knows these kids. I’ll figure out who it is.”