Janie Crouch - Countermeasures

Sawyer winced slightly as Megan put some antiseptic on his arm.

“All right, I patched you up as well as my medical expertise will take us. But I take no responsibility for anything if you get gangrene and your arm falls off.” Megan began to put away the first aid kit then stopped and just threw it on the counter. “This place is going to have to be burned to the ground anyway.”

She turned away and looked back into the bedroom. Sawyer put his shirt back on.

“You can’t stay here. Even after the police process it, it’s not safe for you to stay here.”

“I know.” Megan’s words were soft, her look lost.

Sawyer reached down and grabbed her hand, entwining their fingers together. “We’ll make it through this together. But right now we need to get out of here in case our vicious friend decides to come back with friends of his own.”

Countermeasures

Janie Crouch

www.millsandboon.co.uk

JANIE CROUCHhas loved to read romance her whole life. She cut her teeth on Mills & Boon ®novels as a pre-teen, then moved on to a passion for romantic suspense as an adult. Janie lives with her husband and four children in Virginia, where she teaches communication courses at a local college. Janie enjoys traveling, long-distance running, movie-watching, knitting and adventure/obstacle racing. You can find out more about her at janiecrouch.com.

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To my dear, sweet Megan. I count it as one of life’s greatest blessings that you and I found each other again. You are a treasure. I promise to never leave you in another vat of ice for as long as I live. Here’s to our adventures of the past, the present and the future.

Contents

Cover

Introduction Sawyer winced slightly as Megan put some antiseptic on his arm. “All right, I patched you up as well as my medical expertise will take us. But I take no responsibility for anything if you get gangrene and your arm falls off.” Megan began to put away the first aid kit then stopped and just threw it on the counter. “This place is going to have to be burned to the ground anyway.” She turned away and looked back into the bedroom. Sawyer put his shirt back on. “You can’t stay here. Even after the police process it, it’s not safe for you to stay here.” “I know.” Megan’s words were soft, her look lost. Sawyer reached down and grabbed her hand, entwining their fingers together. “We’ll make it through this together. But right now we need to get out of here in case our vicious friend decides to come back with friends of his own.”

Title Page Countermeasures Janie Crouch www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author JANIE CROUCH has loved to read romance her whole life. She cut her teeth on Mills & Boon ® novels as a pre-teen, then moved on to a passion for romantic suspense as an adult. Janie lives with her husband and four children in Virginia, where she teaches communication courses at a local college. Janie enjoys traveling, long-distance running, movie-watching, knitting and adventure/obstacle racing. You can find out more about her at janiecrouch.com .

Dedication To my dear, sweet Megan. I count it as one of life’s greatest blessings that you and I found each other again. You are a treasure. I promise to never leave you in another vat of ice for as long as I live. Here’s to our adventures of the past, the present and the future.

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

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

“Dude, I’m just saying, if you didn’t want a terrible job assignment then you probably shouldn’t have punched out your boss.”

Sawyer Branson rolled his eyes and kept walking down the hall of the nondescript building that housed the offices of Omega Sector Headquarters. “C’mon, Evan,” Sawyer told his fellow Omega agent. “I didn’t punch him out. I tripped.”

“Yeah, you tripped and your fist accidentally fell into Burgamy’s jaw.” Evan couldn’t even say it without chuckling.

Hell, just about everyone at Omega couldn’t say it without a chuckle now.

Sawyer stopped by his desk and began looking for a tie in the drawers. Okay, yeah, he had punched his boss two weeks ago, but only because it had been an emergency and his brother Cameron had been about to do much worse, like pull his gun on their boss.

So Sawyer had tripped and accidentally popped Dennis Burgamy—his supervisor here at Omega—right in the chin. But seriously, was it Sawyer’s fault Burgamy had crumpled to the ground like a rag doll at the slightest tap?

Most importantly, though, due to the “accident” with Burgamy’s chin, he and Cameron had saved Cameron’s fiancée’s life, arrested some very bad guys and pretty much saved the world.

Which had gotten Sawyer a two-week suspension without pay, thank you very much.

Sawyer rooted around in the drawer some more. Where was that damn tie? It was Sawyer’s first day back and he wasn’t about to walk into Burgamy’s office without a tie, despite the fact that proper office dress was not high on the priority list at Omega Sector.

As a multiagency task force, Omega Sector had much more perilous concerns than whether or not the people who worked there—all handpicked and highly qualified—were dressed too casually. Sawyer, a five-year Omega veteran at thirty years old, especially did not worry about it. Usually.

Sawyer cursed under his breath as he continued his search for a tie, smashing a finger in one drawer while opening another. He heard a throat clear from behind his back and turned to find Evan swinging a tie from his finger.

“Thanks, man.” Sawyer took the tie, figuring one with little golfers on it was better than no tie at all. “I’m just trying to do anything I can to get back toward Burgamy’s good graces.”

Evan gave a bark of laughter. “And also attempting to keep yourself from desk duty for the foreseeable future. Or the next twenty years if Burgamy has his way.”

Sawyer rubbed a hand over his eyes at the thought of desk duty. The normal charm and charisma Sawyer counted on seemed to escape him—he had no idea what he was going to say to Burgamy in their meeting. Lord, Sawyer hoped it wouldn’t come down to him being forced to a desk.

He was an agent. That was all Sawyer knew how to do. All he wanted to do.

And damn it, he was a good agent. Sawyer knew his strengths: he was likable and friendly. And people—witnesses, victims, hell, even perps a lot of times—had a way of opening up to Sawyer. Unlike his brothers, who tended to be the strong, sullen type, Sawyer was the strong, charming type. And people loved him for it.