Love Inspired Suspense April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Laura Scott (speed reading book .txt) 📖

of keys to Paige. “You okay?” he asked, eyeing her arm with concern.

“Nothing a bath and clean clothes won’t take care of.”

“Heard you had a little problem.”

“You could say that. We almost ended up at the bottom of a canyon, along with Liam’s car.”

Rafe raised his eyebrows. “What’ve you gotten yourself into?” he asked, looking first at Paige and then at Liam.

Liam quickly outlined what had brought him to S&J. “Paige is helping me sort through it.”

“If anybody can do that, it’s Paige.” Jake winked at her, then his expression sobered. “Do you need backup?”

“We’re handling it.” She turned toward Liam. “Let’s go back to the office and get cleaned up. Then I want to find out who hacked your car.” Determination vibrated in every word.

Liam slammed a fist into his palm, the smacking sound mimicking what he’d like to do to the men who had hacked his car. “And tried to kill us.”

THREE

Four hours later, after a trip to the hospital, where Paige’s arm was put in a proper sling, and a shower and change of clothes, Liam and she were once more on the way to Willow Springs. The SUV belonging to S&J was a powerhouse, and they made the trip without incident.

Before leaving the office, Paige had set up a program to trace the hack into Liam’s car’s operating system. If they were fortunate, the program would give them a username. In the meantime, they had work to do.

Liam was more grateful than ever that he’d sought help from S&J. Paige had jumped right in and made his fight hers.

“Cheer up,” she said as she navigated the congested roads out of the city. “We’re making progress.”

“How do you figure?”

“Someone tried to kill us. That means he’s running scared.”

Liam snorted, thinking Paige had a strange idea of progress. “Whoever it is already tried to kill me. Forgive me if I don’t see a second attempt as progress.”

The pessimistic outlook wasn’t like him, but two attempts on his life in only a couple of days tended to take the humor right out of a person.

“But this time he didn’t try to make it look like an accident. The hacking is traceable. It’s provable,” she said. “We’ve got something to take to the police when we decide to involve them, which I hope is sooner rather than later.” An earlier attempt to tell the police what he suspected was met with outright disbelief.

“You’re right. On both counts. Maybe there’s a way to put an end to this before anyone else has to die.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “You’re pretty great, you know that?”

“How so?”

“You jump from a speeding car. You get tossed down the side of a cliff. You climb your way out with a sprained arm. And you don’t complain. Not once.”

“I was complaining plenty when the ER doctor decided I needed a tetanus shot.”

“You scared of a needle?”

“Not much. Well,” she amended, “maybe a little. And it was a really big needle.”

He laughed. “In that case, your fear is perfectly justified.”

“That looks good on you,” she said.

Some of the tension fell away from him, and he felt more like the young boy he’d once been, ready to take on the world.

Reality intruded far too quickly, though, reminding him that he was no longer that idealistic boy, certain he could change the world for the better. He had seen too much of the world’s violence and hatred and had come away sobered by the ugliness he’d witnessed. Waging war on those who preyed on his country and other freedom-loving countries had made him stronger, but it had also stripped away his innocence.

“What?” he asked.

“Laughter.”

“There hasn’t been much to laugh about lately.”

“No, I guess there hasn’t.”

Paige was quiet after that, her profile in repose, giving him the opportunity to notice the soft line of her cheek, the firm set of her jaw.

No woman had truly caught his interest since his wife had left him and Jonah. Though he’d dated a few times, he’d only been going through the motions. There’d never been a second date.

He kept his mind on the trip to his hometown and did his best to keep it off the very appealing Paige Walker.

The small town located west of Atlanta’s sprawl hadn’t changed much since Liam had left it fifteen years ago.

Memories too powerful to deny crowded his mind. Though Willow Springs was only a scant twelve miles from Atlanta, it might as well have been twelve hundred in terms of growth and progress.

Two white clapboard churches stood as sentinels on either end of Main Street. A dress store advertising “ladies’ fine apparel” occupied a small storefront, flanked on one side by the town’s only barbershop and on the other by the VFW. Veterans and nonveterans alike congregated outside, always ready to swap a tale that grew with each telling.

Liam recalled that, according to his father, his grandfather had marched in the town’s first veterans’ parade celebrating the end of WWII.

It was a good town. Or it had been. The accident had claimed more than five lives—it had claimed much of the town’s spirit, as well. The high school graduation that year had been subdued, the celebratory air associated with such events conspicuously absent. Everyone had done what they could to bring a festive note to the occasion, but the effort hadn’t been enough. In the end, the graduation ceremony had been cut short, even the mayor’s normally robust speech unable to rouse the newly minted graduates and their guests.

“It hasn’t changed much, has it?”

Paige’s question penetrated the murky mire of the past. “No.”

“I’ve been back a few times,” she said, surprising him. “I wanted to see if it was like I remembered.”

“What did you decide?”

“On the outside, yes. But the feeling was different. It was as though the town and everyone in it were only going through the motions.”

That mirrored his own thoughts. “I remember a headline from right after it happened. ‘Bus accident claims five of Willow Springs’ finest and brightest.’