Kathleen Tailer - The Reluctant Witness

LEFT FOR DEAD

When his partner turns on him and tries to kill him, FBI agent Jack Mitchell is framed for murder and abandoned…until a blue-eyed beauty saves his life. Even in his wounded haze Jack sees Casey Johnson is hiding a secret. As the only witness to his innocence, Jack needs her. But Casey doesn’t know who’s more dangerous—the man who wants Jack dead or the handsome agent himself. For if Jack knew the reason she escaped to the wilderness with her niece, he’d have to arrest her. But on the run with Jack, Casey realizes that more than her secret is at stake now. So is her heart.…

“We should call the police.

“We can tell them what happened at your cabin yesterday, and you can tell them about when I got shot. This whole thing can be over right now.”

Casey took a step back, her eyes wide and fearful. “I can’t do that, Jack.” What was it that had her so scared?

A flash of frustration filled him. “Can’t, or won’t?”

“Both. It’s the same thing.”

Jack noticed that she didn’t deny she’d seen the shooting. She was just refusing to testify, and without her testimony, Jack still had nothing concrete to prove his innocence or Stevens’s guilt.

He glanced back up at Casey, who had taken another step backward. She looked incredibly vulnerable and her expression squeezed his heart. He still didn’t know her story, but she had just saved his life. Again. Jack made a decision. He would figure out her history and the cause of her reticence at some point, but for now he’d have to think of something else.

KATHLEEN TAILER

is an attorney who works for the Supreme Court of Florida in the Office of the State Courts Administrator, where she works on programs that are designed to enhance and improve dependency courts throughout the state. She previously worked for the Florida Department of Children and Families, handling child-abuse cases both as a line attorney and in the DCF General Counsel’s Office. She enjoys teaching business law online classes at Liberty University and working on finding homes for orphans with the Open Door Adoption Agency. She and her husband have eight children, five of whom they adopted. When not in the office, Kathleen spends most of her time cheering for her kids at different events or spending quiet time (hah!) at home. Kathleen has previously published two articles for Fostering Families Today, a magazine for foster families, and two novels, entitled Children in the Wind and Under the Marshal’s Protection. She also plays drums on the worship team at Calvary Chapel Thomasville.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

—John 15:13

For my dear friends Wendy Maxwell Franchell, Suzy Harrington and Linda Merritt.

Some friendships fade over time, but in you, I’ve found friendship that will last a lifetime.

May God bless each of you with a full and happy life.

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

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

DEAR READER

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

EXCERPT

ONE

The first bullet whizzed by his head and ricocheted off the rock behind him. The second caught him square in the shoulder and burned like fire immediately upon impact. Pain shot down his arm, and he could feel the blood dampening his shirt as it pooled around the wound.

FBI agent Jack Mitchell took a fortifying breath, then cast a quick look around the tree and returned fire. A shootout was the last thing he’d expected when he’d come to the isolated cabin looking for a lead in his current case. But while he hadn’t been expecting the gunmen, they had clearly been expecting him.

As best he could tell, there were at least two men out there shooting at him. He fired again and heard a moan as one of his bullets struck home, eliminating one of his enemies. He took cover again behind the tree and patted his pocket to assess his ammunition stock. He still had one full clip of fifteen cartridges left. He hoped it was enough. The remaining gunman was still shooting at him, and bits of bark and leaves flew like fireworks as the bullets decimated the surrounding forest.

The shooting stopped abruptly, and Jack guessed that his opponent was reloading or changing his position. He looked quickly around the tree and saw no movement, but he knew the remaining shooter was still out there somewhere. He bent and looked carefully around the surrounding area. It was time for him to move, too—he just needed to decide which direction was safest. He grimaced as pain from his shoulder intensified and he shifted to ease the throbbing. With a short prayer, he headed up toward a boulder to his right.

He never made it.

Another bullet caught him in the thigh and he fell hard, way short of his destination. He struggled to stand again and make it to cover as agonizing pain radiated through his leg, but he could barely do more than shift himself forward. The pain on its own was nearly debilitating, and it didn’t help that he was losing blood fast.

Suddenly he heard a noise from directly in front of him and realized there was a weapon pointed straight at his chest. He glanced up to lock eyes with the man holding the gun and saw a coldness there that chilled him right to the bone. He’d known Brett Stevens since they’d gone to the academy together. They had been partners for almost five years, yet he had never suspected the man of being dirty. Stevens had hid it well. And the gun he held on Jack with no hint of regret made it clear that he planned to hide it awhile longer.

Dread washed over him. He was going to die, right here on the forest floor. Regrets flashed through his head. He wasn’t ready to die. He was only thirty years old, and the rising star in the Bureau’s local field office. There were still plenty of things he was planning to do with his life. Apparently, he wasn’t going to get the chance.

“You shouldn’t have come out here, Mitchell,” Stevens said, his voice grating like gravel. “Put your gun down now.”

Another gunman joined them in the clearing and Jack realized that there had been more men out in the woods than he had originally thought. With three guns against him he had been outmaneuvered from the beginning. He glanced at the new man, but once he realized that the guy was a stranger, Jack ignored him and focused on Stevens. Maybe he had a chance of convincing his partner that murder wasn’t the answer.

“This can all be worked out, Brett. If you give yourself up now, we can still fix this. Don’t throw your life away.”

“My life? My life has been over ever since my team lost the Super Bowl. I have debts, Jack. Colby offered me a chance to make the cash to pay what I owe. It was all working out just fine...until you decided to start digging. You brought this on yourself.” He motioned slightly with his gun, then brought it back to point at Jack’s midriff. “Besides, Jack, out of all the lives out here, the one you should be worried about is your own.”