His Duty to Defend by Lisa Phillips

Author:Lisa Phillips
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-03-22T16:02:02+00:00

TWO

Mackenzie watched the realization wash over his face.

“You think I’m Eric.”

She didn’t know what to say. This was Eric. Had he hit his head when he pulled her down onto the sidewalk?

“I’m not Eric.”

This was bizarre. “Well, if you’re not Eric, then who are you?”

The man’s lips curled up into a smile, and he stuck out his hand. “Sergeant Aaron Hanning, U.S. Army. I’m Eric’s twin brother.”

She stared at his hand. What was there to smile about? “I just told you I’m in witness protection.”

“How was I supposed to know you were going to say that?”

“I thought you were Eric!”

“That’s apparent now, but I didn’t know it then.”

“This is awful. Eric’s going to make me move for sure. I don’t want to leave. I like it here. I’ve lived in Phoenix for years.” Mackenzie sucked in a breath to try to get control, but Sergeant Aaron Hanning, U.S. Army, just stood there smiling at her. She put her hands on her hips. “There is nothing funny about any of this.”

“You just told me my brother works in WITSEC. I thought he worked at the courthouse, or ferrying prisoners around and whatnot. This is cool.”

“Cool? It’s going to get out. I’ll be exposed. My life is over because of you.”

“Me?” He glanced around the room, and then sighed and looked back at her. “Look, I’ll call Eric. We’ll get this figured out. Get your name removed from the witness statement or something so you’re not in danger.”

“You’d better.”

“Excuse me?”

“This is your fault. I’m already in danger, I didn’t need this.”

His eyes widened. “I didn’t shoot at you. I saved your life. Maybe you should say thank-you instead of yelling at me because you blew your cover to me.”

Mackenzie gasped. “It’s not a cover, it’s my life.”

“Okay, okay, calm down already.”

“Calm—”

Sergeant Aaron Hanning, U.S. Army, put his hand over her mouth. “I’m going to call Eric, okay? He’ll tell us what to do, and we’ll get you squared away.”

She took a breath and nodded. The frustration bled away a little, leaving a sick feeling its place. His eyes flickered, but he didn’t look away. He just kept staring into her eyes until Mackenzie reached up and pulled his hand away from her mouth. “Please call Eric.”

He blinked and whatever connection they had dissipated. Aaron pulled out his phone and stepped away. He stuck the phone between his ear and shoulder and pulled open the first-aid kit that was on the counter.

Officer Parkwell strode back in, his mouth set in a thin line. “We have a witness that identified the plates of the car your shooter was driving. It belongs to a local gang member. At this point we think it’s highly unlikely this was anything but a random shooting. Unless you can think of a reason someone might want to harm you?”

“It could be about the arts center where I work. In fact, I think it is about the center. Someone slashed my tires before they shot at me.”

It wasn’t a happy thought to consider that she was the cause of someone being hurt.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.