Virginia Vaughan - Cold Case Cover-Up

Title Page Cold Case Cover-Up Virginia Vaughan www.millsandboon.co.uk

Copyright ISBN: 978-1-474-08562-5 COLD CASE COVER-UP © 2018 Virginia Vaughan Published in Great Britain 2018 by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental. By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher. ® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries. www.millsandboon.co.uk Version: 2020-03-02

Introduction “Get down!” Quinn hollered as a shot rang out, hitting the back of his truck’s bed. He grabbed hold of Dana and pushed her to the seat. “Who are they?” she shouted. Gripping the steering wheel, Quinn kicked in to survival mode, swerving on the road to make them more difficult to hit. He glanced out the mirror at the pursuing car and saw both the driver and passenger were wearing masks. “I wish I knew.” Another shot sounded, this one shattering the back window. Dana covered her head with her hands as she crouched by the seat as best she could. A third shot hit the tire. Quinn heard the pop of the rubber blow, then the truck veered sharply to the right, sending them spinning. He turned into the spin, doing his best to right the vehicle, but the truck was going too fast. “Hang on,” he managed to shout before the truck smashed into the guardrail and tilted into the air. His seat belt locked as he was thrown forward, and he heard Dana scream as the truck plummeted down the embankment, rolling with each sickening second.

Dear Reader Dear Reader Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Introduction Dear Reader Bible Verse Dedication ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN Extract About the Publisher , Is there anything more fun than finding a new series to delve into? It’s the same for writers! I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to start this new series, Covert Operatives, with Quinn and Dana’s story. These were two such independent characters that at times they were difficult for even me to understand. But they both needed the same thing we all do—love and family. Coming from a rather large family myself, I sometimes wish I had the freedom to pick up and go and do my own thing without having to worry about family obligations, but when I delve into a story like this one and remember there are so many people out there like Dana—possibly even some of my readers—who are searching for the very thing I often take for granted, I’m humbled and thankful. I hope you enjoyed this story and will continue with me on this journey into this new series. I love hearing from my readers! You can connect with me online through my website virginiavaughanonline.com and at Facebook.com/ginvaughanbooks . Sincerely, Virginia Vaughan

Bible Verse For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. —Jeremiah 29:11

Dedication To Jon Michael and Carter. You’ve given my life new meaning. I love you.

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

Extract

About the Publisher

ONE

Someone was watching her.

The hairs on her neck prickled a warning. Dana Lang glanced around the coffee shop but saw no one looking her way or appearing fixated on her. Still, her instincts were never wrong. As a television investigative journalist, she was used to people recognizing her, but this felt different. This felt like daggers in her back.

She tried to shake off the feeling and tell herself she was being silly. No one in this sleepy little town of West Bend, Missouri, knew her. She glanced at the television mounted to the wall while she waited for her coffee to be ready. The news channels were still reporting about the embassy attack six weeks earlier and the heroic eight-man team of CIA-contracted security operatives who’d rescued eighteen Americans trapped inside. Five people had died in all, including two of the operatives involved in the rescue.

She accepted her drink as her own interview with one of the contractors replayed in her mind. She’d stumbled upon a gold mine when Michael “Rizzo” Ricardo had contacted her wanting to tell his story about the night of the attack and how the US government had ordered the operatives to stand down. They’d defied orders instead and become national heroes in the process. He’d felt betrayed by his government’s response to the attack and wanted to let the world know it. Until his interview, only the names of the two operatives who had died—Tommy Woods and Mike Piven—had been released.

Dana ignored the reminder that she needed to be back in Chicago—or anywhere but West Bend—digging in to Rizzo’s life and trying to uncover the identities of his teammates to corroborate his story. So far, Rizzo was the only one to come forward to tell the tale of being abandoned by their country during the attack.

But she resisted the urge to pack up and leave. Every reporter in the nation was vying for that story, and while uncovering the names of the other operatives would be a monumental boost to her career, the case she was focusing on now would impact her life so much more. Five days ago, the night before her interview with Rizzo, she’d discovered a box in her late mother’s belongings that had shattered her world and sent her on this quest to West Bend to uncover the truth about her lineage.

The box she’d found had contained adoption papers. Dana had never even known she’d been adopted. But the surprises hadn’t ended there. She’d also discovered a newspaper article about the murders of Rene Renfield and her infant daughter, Alicia, along with a photograph that looked suspiciously like one of Dana’s own baby photos. There was also a letter from the preacher who’d arranged her adoption that explained to her parents how she’d been left at the church, which had been considered a safe haven, by someone he trusted who’d insisted the child was in danger and needed to be believed dead. And there was a short note from the person who’d abandoned her. She didn’t know if her parents had ever discovered anything solid in their questioning, if they’d taken the preacher’s word and decided not to rock the boat, or if her father’s death in a car wreck when Dana was eleven had ended their search for answers. Regardless, now that she knew, she was determined to finish their investigation and uncover the truth. Was she Alicia Renfield? And, if she was, who murdered her birth mother and left her for dead?