A Matter of Circumstance by M J Marlow (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud .TXT) 📖

and frowned as he saw the boy sitting there still stunned. “Adam! There are two young women in trouble here! I need your help.” “They could be anywhere if their ‘dream woman’ is calling the shots,” Adam frowned. He saw Martin come in on a run. “I swear I had no idea they were going to do something like this, Uncle.” “Just help us find them before they do anything worse,” Hawk said to him. He looked at Martin. “Your wife is with her sister, Martin. She’ll protect Juliana.” “Joanna is tough and smart,” Martin nodded, “but there are four to her one. We need to hurry.” He called the incident into his superiors and was promised a team. He told them to rendezvous with him outside the entrance to the reservation lands. “Are we going to be allowed to pursue?” “The council will not stop us from hunting your wife,” Hawk said tightly. “Even if I have to hogtie them and go around them. There’s an airfield just the other side of the Res. I have a feeling she’ll take them there and we’ll be waiting.” He got his gun and opened the gun cabinet, tossing a rifle to the other two and getting his own. He shoved bullets into a bag and saw Adam’s look. “I’m hoping we can talk them down, Adam, but if it’s a question between the girls and your friends…” “I understand,” Adam nodded. He got a tracker and slid it into his pocket. Then he rushed to the door with the keys he’d lifted from Hawk’s pocket and locked them inside. He knew it wouldn’t hold them long, but he had to get to his friends and talk them out of this lunacy before they hurt Juliana and Joanna. “He’s your kin, Hawk,” Martin frowned as he looked at his friend. “He on our side?” “I’d stake my life on it, Martin.” “You’re staking Joanna’s and her sister’s life on it, Hawk,” Martin muttered as he raised the rifle butt and slammed it into the glass in the door. “You’d better be right.” 8 They had been driving about two hours when the truck stopped. Juliana watched as her sister was dragged out and staked down to the ground. Frank whipped out his knife and Juliana screamed and got free in time to shove him back. She bent down and picked up a rock. “You will not hurt her!” she said coldly as the boys moved in. “She is not important, Scarlet,” Grady said as he moved towards her. “You are the only one who matters here.” “You will NOT hurt my sister!” Juliana snarled and threw the rock, hitting him in the jaw with it. He fell back, groaning in pain. She knew she was fighting for Joanna’s life and she knew that her opponent was not the boys she was facing. “Let Joanna and these boys go,” she called out to the hills around them, “and I will not fight you.” She heard the woman’s pleased laughter and watched as the boys dropped as they were hit with tranq darts. “Come to me, little flame,” the woman said as she stepped out of hiding. She frowned as the girl checked on the boys. That tender nature was the first thing she would beat out of this girl. “They merely sleep. They will wake with no memory of what they did today.” She held her hand out. “Come along, Scarlet.” Joanna dropped the rock and headed towards her enemy. She saw a car approaching and knew she was caught. The door opened and they got in and drove off as the sound of sirens grew louder and louder. When the authorities arrived they found the boys and Joanna but the vehicle Juliana was in was not spotted as more than a dust cloud on the far horizon. “Such a beautiful child,” the woman purred as she stroked Juliana’s cheek while the girl sat there at her side. “I have so much I wish to teach you, little flame.” They drove to the airfield and got out of the vehicle to find themselves surrounded. The woman turned on Juliana and saw her impassive smile as she and her man were taken into custody. Her eyes widened in shock as the girl’s expression altered. The fear and resignation that had been there was replaced by assurance and anger. “Juliana said she would not fight,” Victoria said in her own voice as she met the woman’s anger. “I’m not Juliana.” “I will destroy you!” the woman hissed as she launched herself at Victoria. She got her hands around Victoria’s throat and it was a struggle for life then. The woman was far stronger than she looked and Victoria was losing consciousness as the air was cut off from her lungs. But then the woman was pulled off of her and Victoria lay back, gasping in air and struggling to her knees. “No! It is not possible! I won’t be defeated.” She returned to the attack and was shot down. “Victoria!” Joanna cried out as she saw the agent who had portrayed her sister on her knees. She pulled Victoria into her arms and saw the woman’s face. “Are you all right?” “It’s over,” Victoria said softly as she blinked and came back to her own mind. She let everything that was Juliana Marlow slip away and became herself again with relief. They had won and a girl had a chance for a happy and secure life now. “Your sister has her life back,” she sighed and then passed out cold. 9 Two months later, Victoria’s life had been returned to her. She mourned the loss of her long wavy hair but the new shorter hair cut had allowed her natural black color to return faster. And hair would grow back, she reminded herself. And Hawk didn’t seem to mind the loss of her hair. He had been there with her when the hair stylist had cut her hair to an inch in length and dyed it as close to her natural color as possible. “Do you really have to go, Hawk?” Victoria smiled as she ran the tips of her nails along his naked chest and smiled warmly at him. “Can’t Vincent take the training session?” “As tempting as the idea of staying here with you is, Victoria,” Hawk smiled as he cupped her cheek in his hand; “I thought we agreed to keep our hands off of each other until we know each other better.” He was as frustrated as she was by that decision, but he had given his word and he would not break it. Morning jogs together before a shared breakfast, dinners in the evening, but no co-habitation. The fact that she lived in a church rectory and her uncle was the reverend made it easier to keep their word. “I’ll see you in the morning, Victoria,” he smiled as he reached for his undershirt and slid it on over his head. He looked for his shirt and Victoria was holding it out to him. He let her put it on him, but as she started to button it, he put his hands over her and shook his head. “I can handle this, honey.” He kissed her warmly and turned her to the door. “Out!” “Spoilsport,” Victoria pouted and went to her office. She booted up her laptop and went to see what was going on with the organization. She had been given three months off but she was not taking well to the inactivity. So she had decided working from here was not really working. “What are you up to now?” she sent to her father as she moved into her email. “Haven’t heard from you lately.” “Headed out, honey,” Hawk said as he stuck his head in. He saw what she was doing. “You’re not big on R&R, are you?” Victoria shook her head and she laughed. “Try not to save the world all by yourself,” he said as he pulled her up into his arms and kissed her. “I’m going to miss you.” Victoria could only nod; his kiss had rendered her speechless. How could they have gotten so close in only two months? It was a question she had asked herself many times over the last eight weeks. Hawk was a part of her now. She could not bear thinking of him being out of her life. But she had no idea if he felt the same way. Until she did, she would follow the rules they had set. She heard him lock the door as he left and wondered why he would do that. She was in a church. Who would hurt her here? She spent the next eight hours working, checking in with her contacts, and tweaking the program she had been working on with her father. She was closing down to get some dinner when the phone rang. “Have you been at it all day, honey?” Hawk’s warm voice filled her ear.” “I don’t like being idle,” Victoria replied. She twisted the cord around her finger. “So how are your training sessions going?” “Headed into the last one now,” Hawk said to her. “Sleep well, honey. I’ll see you at six a.m.” “Good night, Hawk.” Victoria went the to the refrigerator and poured herself a glass of red wine. She’d been doing a lot of daydreaming about a certain tall federal agent with black hair and warm brown eyes lately. They had spent every day together since the Marlow case had ended. Tonight was the first time they would not be together. The phone rang and she picked it up, hoping it was Hawk. “You are supposed to be on stand down, ma petite,” her father, Nicol Beauclerc’s voice sounded in her ear. “Have you ever known me to be content with people telling me what to do, Papa? Victoria asked him with a happy laugh. “I was hoping to hear from you.” “I saw the work you did on the transmit program, Victoria,” Nicol said to her. “It will work now.” “Let’s hope you get a chance to use it,” Victoria replied. Her father was silent for far too long and she knew he was worried about something other than a computer program. “Papa? What is it?” “I am hearing disturbing rumors of an impending attack on you, ma fille,” Nicol said finally. “You will be careful?” “You are the one who is deep undercover, Papa,” Victoria replied. “I should be warning you to be careful.” “It is in my very nature to be careful,” Nicol laughed. “If that were not so, I would have been found out long ago, n’cest pas?” She spent a pleasant fifteen minutes in idle conversation and hung up and finished her wine. Her father had been working to bring down an international terrorist organization for the past several years. His work had led to the death of her mother and he had sent her to live with Victoria’s mother’s brother when she was three. Only the three of them had known the whole truth. She got her dinner out of the refrigerator and warmed it up in the microwave. Uncle William’s housekeeper, Mrs. Botley, always left her a plate of something. She had just put the plate in the drainer after finishing her meal and washing up when someone knocked on the door. She opened it to see a tall, round man with cold dark eyes standing there. “Victoria Ryan?” “Yes.” “My name is Fernand Cabrera,” the man’s voice was cold. “Your father sent me.” “Is something wrong?” Victoria asked as her mind raced. They’d discovered her father’s duplicity! He was going to be murdered. “Has he been hurt?” “We must hurry,” Fernand said to her. “You will drive,” he continued, leaving her with the assumption that this was merely a meeting and her father was not harmed. Victoria grabbed her car keys and drove them to