RACE AGAINST TIME
Lacey Phillips believes Captain Wade Spencer knows something about her brotherâs mysterious death. So she throws caution to the wind and tracks him down on Christmas Eve looking for answers. Wade tries to turn her awayâuntil bullets start to fly. He doesnât want to take the stubborn beauty on his life-or-death mission to find out the truth about how Wadeâs past may have cost her brother his life. But with killers lurking everywhere, he has to protect herâespecially when she breaches the walls around his heart. Can Wade and his faithful service dog keep Lacey alive long enough to figure out whoâs targeting them?
ROADS TO DANGER: Family secrets resurface
âSomeone is trying to kill youâ¦
âIf you knew that then,â Wade continued, âwould you have stayed home?â
Lacey looked at him. âNo. My brotherâs dead. I wonât stop until I know why.â
âI already told you. Because of me.â
âThose guys out there werenât sent by you. Thereâs more to the story. More than you even know.â
âThe story of my life. Ever since I found out my motherâs aliases, Iâve been living that reality.â
âThis is more than just finding out if your mother was a spy, isnât it?â When Wade hesitated she said, âPlease. We could be killed any second. Honesty is all we have left.â
He nodded. âBut thatâs all youâre going to get out of me. Talking only gets people killed. I get people killed.â
âBut you rescued your sisterââ
âDonât.â He captured her gaze. His eyes glittered. âDonât make me into some hero. I opened my mouth, and she was almost killed. And the next time, your brother paid the price.â His gaze darkened. âAnd if I canât fix this, youâre next.â
KATY LEE writes suspenseful romances that thrill and inspire. She believes every story should stir and satisfy the readerâfrom the edge of their seat. A native New Englander, Katy loves to knit warm wooly things. She enjoys traveling the side roads and exploring the localsâ hideaways. A homeschooling mom of three competitive swimmers, Katy often writes from the stands while cheering them on. Visit Katy at katyleebooks.com.
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
â1 John 3:18
To Ben and all the other service dogs like him who assist their military handlers on a daily basis. You truly inspire.
Acknowledgments
My stories would fall flat without real-life people sharing their experiences with me. They are the true heroes behind the stories. I want to especially thank Dennis Theodore Swols, SSG United States Army. His honesty in answering my many questions about post-traumatic stress disorder as well as the amazing service dogs that have helped him in his daily life are what brought the emotions to the page. Thank you, Dennis, and thank you to your dog, Ben, too. What a blessing you have both been to my story and my life.
ONE
âIn point two miles, your destination will be on your left,â the GPSâs mechanical voice spoke into the tension-filled interior of the old Honda Beat roadster. Lacey Phillips stole a quick glance at her rearview mirror. Blinding headlights from the car on her tail suggested she might not make it those point two miles. If this guy came any closer, she could be spending her Christmas Eve in a snowy New Hampshire ditch instead.
Not what a born-and-bred Southern girl was used to.
Lacey had nothing for warmth but a blue-jean coat and her brotherâs army beanie hat.
Check that: her deceased brotherâs.
âStay on the road, Lacey,â she said aloud, and tightened her hold on the wheel.
She could almost hear her brother whisper the same words to her. Theyâd been each otherâs spotter on the racetrack for so long, guiding each and every lane change from mouthpiece to earpiece, guarding against unforeseen hazards on the road ahead. Now it felt as though he guided her again. And it all started when Jeff had left her an envelope with nothing in it but a name and a key. Oh, how she wished there had been a warning of danger inside it, as well.
The car behind pulled up. For the past half hour it had kept the same taunting pace with her as when sheâd spotted it outside the small town of Norcastle, New Hampshire. Sheâd thought it curious when theyâd both took the cutoff to ascend these secluded mountain roads. Twenty more minutes of being tailgated through twists and turns and more cutoffs had caused her curiosity to change to full-on alarm.
Lacey wondered how long the car had been there before she noticed it. With her one-track mind on the sole purpose of this trip, it could have pulled up the moment sheâd left work at her dadâs South Carolina reconstruction race-car shop seventeen hours ago.