Mistletoe Reunion Threat. Virginia Vaughan
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from it. He’d broken their engagement five years ago in order to keep her safe. His job as an army ranger had been a dangerous one, something he hadn’t fully considered in the midst of their whirlwind courtship. But on returning to the army after proposing, he had, in fact, been scarred by war and the ambush that wiped out his ranger squad.
It was that ambush, and watching his friends die and turn their wives into widows and their kids into orphans, that had convinced him he didn’t want that life for Ashlynn. He hadn’t wanted to saddle her with wondering if he would come home from a mission. He was glad she’d gotten on with her life, glad she’d found someone else to love and start a family with. Yet he’d always assumed her life without him would be quiet and uneventful. He’d never once dreamed she might become the victim of a car bomb.
The police arrived from the downtown precinct behind the courthouse. He could see the confusion on their faces as they wondered what had happened. Their first priority would be to keep the public safely away from the blaze and then scope out the area for other threats of danger.
He spotted his friend Vince Mason, his liaison with the Jackson police department, and called to him.
“What happened?” Vince asked, running up to him. “Did you see?”
Garrett swallowed the lump forming in his throat. “It was a car bomb.”
“Do we know whose car it was?”
Again Garrett held the answer. He glanced at Ashlynn lying unconscious on the grass. “It was hers.”
Vince stepped around him and saw her on the grass. “An attack on an ADA? That’s not good. How is she?”
“She needs medical attention.”
“Paramedics are on the way. Stay with her. We’re going to have to question you about what you saw,” he said, hurrying away. “Don’t go anywhere.”
He needn’t have worried. Garrett wasn’t leaving, not until he knew Ashlynn was all right. It had been her dream to become a lawyer and then a prosecutor ever since Judge Warren had encouraged her pursuit of law after her testimony against her abusive foster mother helped send the woman to jail. He was proud of her for accomplishing her dreams, but he’d never considered the danger such a job might place her in.
What else had changed in her world, he wondered. Had she found God since their time together? He hoped she had. His newfound faith was the only thing that had sustained him through the past years since the ambush. And while he still struggled, he was thankful to have God on his side. He hoped Ashlynn had found the same comfort in Jesus that he had, especially when he realized how close she’d just come to meeting Him.
Ashlynn began to squirm. Her hand went to her head and she groaned. “What happened?”
He knelt beside her, in his heart a mix of relief that she seemed okay and horror over what had happened. “There was an explosion. How do you feel?”
She sat up and looked at him, her expression confused as if she didn’t remember why he was there. She glanced past him toward the flames. The fire department had arrived on scene and was working to contain the blaze while the police were keeping people back, questioning witnesses and searching for other explosives. “My car.”
“It could have been worse,” he stated. “You could have been in it.”
Again that thought sent shivers through him. He took a deep breath and thanked God for His intervention today in keeping Ashlynn safe. Garrett had let her go five years ago in order to keep her safe.
Yet it seemed she’d managed to find danger all on her own.
* * *
Ashlynn allowed the paramedics to check her out and bandage a few scrapes she’d sustained in the explosion, but she waved off any talk of going to the hospital. She wasn’t seriously injured and she needed to get home to be with her son and relieve her nanny, Mira. Her mind was scrambled by the thought that someone had tried to kill her. Who had placed that bomb in her car? And why? She didn’t know, but the idea that someone might want her dead shook her.
Garrett approached with the precinct commander and Ashlynn realized that seeing Garrett again after all this time had shaken her nearly as much as the threat against her life. At first, she’d thought he was a dream or a flashback when she’d opened her eyes and seen him hovering over her, but then the events of the afternoon had come rushing in. Garrett Lewis was back in her life.
“Ashlynn, this is Vince Mason, he’s—”
“I know who he is,” she insisted, suddenly irritated that he thought he could waltz into town and act like she was the outsider. “I work with this police force every day.” She’d struggled to put herself through law school after Garrett left her, and she had been working in the DA’s office for nearly two years now.
Vince nodded. “Yes, we’ve worked together on cases many times. How are you feeling, counselor?”
Her ears were still ringing and she was sore, but mostly she was ready to wrap her son in a big hug. “I’m fine. I’m anxious to get home.”
“I know you are. I need to ask you some questions first, though. Do you have any idea who would place a bomb on your car?”
“Not at all.” It was the truth. She hadn’t worked any high-profile cases during her time in the DA’s office. In fact, she hadn’t worked any cases she could remember involving explosives of any kind.
“Have you received any threats recently?”
“No.”
“Can you think of anyone, perhaps someone you prosecuted, who would want to do you harm? We can check on people you’ve convicted that might have recently been released from prison or escaped.”
“I don’t make a lot of friends in my job as a prosecutor, but no one has made overt threats. I can have my investigator send you some names to check out. He’s familiar with all the threats the office receives.”
He nodded. “Tell him to call me. Meanwhile, I’m going to follow up with forensics to see if there’s any identifying information about that bomb. Fortunately, we haven’t discovered any further devices. Until we determine otherwise, it appears you were the primary target. Would you like me to have an officer drive you home?”
“Yes, that would be good,” Ashlynn said. She couldn’t wait to go home and wash this day from her memory.
“No need. I’ll take her,” Garrett said.
Vince looked at her questioningly, allowing her to make the decision.
“It’s fine,” she said, and Vince nodded.
“I’ll be in touch, then.” He walked off, leaving Ashlynn alone with Garrett as he hurried back to the scene.
“You didn’t have to offer,” she said. She didn’t want him thinking she couldn’t take care of herself. She was a successful career woman. She’d built a life without him.
But the glint of his smile melted her resolve. “I would feel better knowing you made it home safely. Besides, I don’t mind.”
She hated that he could still have such an effect on her, but she’d been captivated by Garrett ever since he first smiled at her at a friend’s party. She’d been fresh out of college and he was already a decorated soldier home on an extended leave. She’d fallen hard and fast, and his protective manner had made her feel safe and loved for the first time in her life. But she wasn’t that young girl anymore and she didn’t need rescuing...yet she did like the way his hand rested protectively on the small of her back, guiding her and keeping her steady as they walked toward his truck.
He opened the door for her to sit in the passenger’s seat then walked around and slid behind the wheel. He grinned at her in a familiar manner she remembered so well, and she felt her heart flutter. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. She’d just wanted to get home. But now, the twenty-minute drive to her neighborhood