Geri Krotow - Her Secret Christmas Agent

Can a former marine and an undercover cop crack a deadly Christmas case?

When a cult threatens the high school where he teaches, ex-marine Mitch Everlock is on the case. His priority: protecting his students. His world is rocked when one of his pupils, Nika Pasczenko, reveals she’s an undercover police officer! But can the agent with secrets of his own trust his partner-in-crime?

The last thing Nika expected on this investigation was meeting a sexy veteran who makes her heart light up like a Christmas tree. But with both their lives at risk, and the students in danger, neither of them can afford the slightest distraction. Especially one as big as falling in love just as a killer closes in...

Was this how her luck, her attention to detail, was going to run out?

After the better part of a decade studying and training for this kind of situation, she was going to be outdone by a jammed door?

No. Freaking. Way.

Summoning every ounce of focus and strength she had, Nika moved the car’s collapsed front and side air bags out of her way. Using her left hand, she scrambled for the door handle again, but panic threatened as her fingers pulled at it with no luck.

Lean against the door.

She let gravity use her body weight and finally the door moved a fraction of an inch. Metal against metal. Bracing herself to shove her shoulder against it, she breathed in—and the door was yanked open. She fell out of the car, knowing the ground was going to be hard and cold. Instead she was caught in midair. The icy field below her face was still, her body secure.

“I’ve got you, Nika.”

Mitch.

She’d fallen into Mitch’s arms.

* * *

We hope you enjoy the Silver Valley P.D. miniseries.

Be sure to look for more stories in 2017!

* * *

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Dear Reader,

Thank you for taking the time to visit Silver Valley, Pennsylvania. Since the Silver Valley P.D. series has launched, you’ve been overwhelmingly supportive, and it tickles me each time you ask, “When’s the next one coming out?” I can’t thank you enough for your emails, Facebook posts and your attendance at my book signings.

Her Christmas Protector and Wedding Takedown set the stage for Silver Valley’s fight against a disbanded cult that’s determined to regroup in their cherished community. In Her Secret Christmas Agent, the True Believer cult has reached its tentacles into Silver Valley High School. I had to have the strongest hero and heroine possible to face this danger together. I think you’ll enjoy the result.

Again, no writer works alone, and I’m no exception. While many solitary hours are spent at my computer, I rely on the real-life everyday heroes who walk among us to inspire the Silver Valley series. I remain indebted to my local law enforcement and the many other law enforcement agents I’ve interviewed along the way.

Please continue the conversation with me on each story and character. Whether you prefer Facebook, the blog on my website, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or good old-fashioned email, you can reach me. And please sign up for my newsletter so you won’t miss out on the many contests I run. It’s all on my website, www.gerikrotow.com.

Until the next Silver Valley P.D. story—

Peace,

Geri

Her Secret Christmas Agent

Geri Krotow

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Former naval intelligence officer and US Naval Academy graduate GERI KROTOW draws inspiration from the global situations she’s experienced. Geri loves to hear from her readers. You can email her via her website and blog, gerikrotow.com.

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A girl can’t have too many sister-friends!

To Cathy Maxwell, thank you for the love and

real-time support. To Lena Zharichenko, thank you

for encouraging me to write romantic suspense.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Extract

Copyright

Chapter 1

You are going to die.

Mitch Everlock stared at the message written on butcher paper and taped across the chemistry classroom’s high-tech SMART Board. Its red letters were dripping as if they’d been drawn with blood. Judging from the unmistakable scarlet hue and the metallic tang permeating his classroom, it was blood. His arms were full as he held his travel coffee mug in one hand, his laptop bag slung over his shoulder, and a pile of heavy books in the other hand. All of which he wanted to hurl at the red-lettered message. As former Special Forces and a current Trail Hikers secret operative, he wasn’t afraid of or shocked by the grisly message meant for him.

He was annoyed as all get-out.

The boldness of the blood writing, in the midst of the buildup to the holiday season, infuriated Mitch. He didn’t care about his Christmas, but if his students saw the message it’d scare the Santa Claus out of them.

Dropping his armload on the laboratory counter, he ignored the beaker of candy canes he’d knocked over and pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket to take a few snapshots of the message before he used speed dial to call his second place of employment.

The Trail Hikers was a clandestine government shadow agency that officially didn’t exist, except for those who worked for it.

“This is Claudia.” Claudia Michaels, the CEO of Trail Hikers and his sister-in-arms, answered, her voice strong and commanding over the connection. She, too, was a war veteran; a retired US Marine Corps General.

“Good morning, Claudia. Mitch here. Our Rainbow Hater’s raised the ante. Now he’s threatening to kill me.” He told her about the fifth message from the entity they’d named the Rainbow Hater. So far there wasn’t conclusive evidence linking the hate crimes to the cult that had formed in Silver Valley last year, but several law-enforcement agencies, to include the FBI and more locally, Silver Valley PD, believed the crimes and cult were connected. The cult, known as the True Believers and originally based in Upstate New York, had regrouped in Silver Valley after prison sentences had forced its leaders into hibernation for two decades. The threats at Mitch’s school had a definite True Believers Cult “feel” to them. The cult had become a most unwelcome presence in otherwise serene Silver Valley, a quintessentially American town in South Central Pennsylvania.

As he sent Claudia the photos via text, he filled her in on his impressions. Since he was a Trail Hikers’ agent, he had the training to handle it himself, which was what he wanted.