Awaken to Danger by Catherine Mann Read Free Book Online

Captains, when he was
    senior only in years and not her supervisor in any way. She was far more suited for him than Nikki, closer
    in age, they both understood the pressures of military life, combat, even captivity since Nola had been
    snatched during a mission in South America.
    Jesus.
    Surely the crappy-luck odds were about played out for them?
    Of course now with his new promotion in the squadron, a relationship was out of the question even if he
    was interested. Which he wasn't, because the chemistry wasn't there in spite of her bombshell-blonde
    looks...and he couldn't shake a certain leggy brunette from his brain.
    He definitely needed to keep his personal life simple for at least as long as the squadron stayed under his
    command. Lives depended on it.
    Thank God the runway neared. Time to pull his attention back on landing this lumbering beast of a plane.
    An instant before he could thumb the radio button to contact the control tower, the headset squawked in
    his ears.
    "Major Hunt, there's a message for you at the command post from Special Agent Reis. Something about
    an accident over at Nikki Price's place, a loose balcony railing."
    His muscles clenched as tight as the knot of dread in his gut. Screw having someone else check on her
    and keeping his distance. The second this plane touched down, he'd be out the hatch and on his way to
    Nikki's side. Where he intended to stay.

Chapter 4
    Enough already.
    Nikki considered herself a tough person overall, but had somebody painted a bull's-eye on her back
    while she wasn't looking?
    She toed off the water faucet in her steaming bathtub that hadn't come close to easing the kinks and cold
    from her tumble off her balcony into the pool. At least she'd been able to control her fall enough to land in
    the water when the wooden railing gave way. Thank God for all those gymnastics classes her parents had
    paid for when she was a kid.
    Her stomach still lurched just thinking about those horrifying seconds in midair. She rested her head back
    and wished she'd thought to turn on her stereo before she sank into the bubble bath. She could use all the
    help relaxing that she could scavenge.
    Three stories was a helluva long way to fall and hope that the dive angle you'd taken would land you in
    the pool rather than smack you onto the cement instead. She'd no doubt made a record breaking
    cannonball splash. EMS techs called by her neighbor declared her unharmed, although she would be
    black-and-blue by morning.
    What happened to her nice boring life? She was a junior high teacher whose biggest concern should have
    been whether or not her students made it to regionals for the history fair.
    Her doorbell echoed.
    Peace over.
    She hauled herself out of the water and grabbed for her jogging shorts and T-shirt resting on the edge of
    the vanity.
    The doorbell pealed again. Her mother, no doubt, since the gossipy little old man next door had called
    her family's house two seconds after phoning EMS. She really could have used a beach towel from him
    instead. It was darn cold in that pool in January, even in South Carolina.
    When she'd told her mother about Gary's death, her mom had—no surprise—freaked. Nikki had calmed
    her down by tapping into her mother's training for suggestions on regaining her memory. Keeping a
    dream journal and making an appointment with a hypnotherapist didn't feel like much, but at least she
    was taking action, already unearthing snippets of memories.
    When she wasn't busy diving off a third-floor balcony.
    The doorbell stuttered while she tugged her clothes onto her damp body. "Hold on, hold on, Mom." She
    hopped, one leg at a time into shorts. "I'm coming and I'm gonna chew you out for not putting up your
    feet like the doctor—"a building sneeze tingled through her sinuses, down her nose "—aaaachoo!"
    She snitched Carson's freshly washed and folded handkerchief from the stack of laundry on her sofa and
    tried to ignore the teacher voice inside of her that