Soldier's Christmas Secrets. Laura Scott

found Mike Callahan’s number and showed it to her. “If I’m not back in an hour, call Mike. He’s a cop and will keep you and Lizzy safe.”

      “Why can’t we call him now?” Jillian argued. “Then you can stay here with us.”

      “He’s at least forty-five minutes away, maybe more.” He thrust the phone at her. “Please, Jilly. I’m asking you to trust me on this.”

      She held his gaze for a long moment, before reluctantly nodding. He wanted nothing more than to pull her close in a reassuring hug but needed to get moving.

      Soundlessly, he climbed down the tree, ignoring his injured shoulder, and moved quickly without the added burden of having to carry Jillian and Lizzy. On the ground, he took a moment to get his bearings.

      He found a branch and used it to help wipe away his footprints from the base of the tree. Then he took a roundabout and silent path toward the snowmobile.

      Hawk halted behind a tree when he caught sight of one hostile positioned twenty yards in front of him. Hawk could only see his back, it was clear the man’s attention was focused on the snowmobile.

      His mistake. Hawk managed to sneak up on him from behind, taking him down without making much of a sound despite the ache in his shoulder. Hawk knocked him unconscious, then bound and gagged him using the duct tape in his pocket.

      Another one down, two more to go.

      Hawk moved silently away, estimating that another assailant would be at the three o’clock position. Hiding behind a tree, he searched for a sign and then found him.

      The second guy didn’t go down as quietly as the first one. Could be because Hawk was feeling the effect of blood loss, but he refused to acknowledge weakness. When he had the second man unconscious and tied up securely, as well, he looked for the next one.

      Keenly aware of the minutes ticking by on his allotted hour, he hoped Jillian wouldn’t place the call to Mike before he’d had the chance to take the last attacker out of commission.

      Hawk knew that taking down the last man would be the most difficult. The hostile must know that his cohorts were compromised and would have no reason to stay at his point location.

      Ducking behind a thorny bush, Hawk wiped snow away to uncover a large rock. He tossed it high in the air, then crouched down and watched carefully for signs of movement when it landed with a dull thud.

      For several long seconds there was nothing, but finally, the slightest movement from the twelve o’clock position caught his eye. Target in sight, Hawk moved in.

      Another movement had him dropping to the ground. The sound of gunfire echoed loudly through the woods, narrowly missing him. Gut instinct had Hawk rolling to the side and returning fire at the spot where he’d seen the muzzle flash.

      Then there was nothing but silence.

      Because he’d hit his target? He wasn’t sure.

      He waited another five minutes before edging along the ground toward the nine o’clock position. The man was lying there, dead from a gunshot wound to his chest.

      Hawk sighed and rose to his feet, staggering a bit. Four men taken down total, one dead. A wave of despair hit him hard. He hated knowing that he’d killed a man even though it was in self-defense.

      After a long moment, he pulled off the man’s ski mask, realizing this guy was the same one who’d been in Jillian’s house. Searching for ID proved fruitless, but he did find a set of car keys. Hawk tucked them away. Returning to the snowmobile, he fired it up and rode back to the tree with the deer blind.

      “Jillian? You and Lizzy okay?”

      “Yes,” came the faint response. “Just cold.”

      “I know. Did you call Mike?”

      “Not yet.”

      “Good.” He gathered every ounce of strength and determination, knowing he’d need it get up the tree and back down with Lizzy and Jillian. It was much harder this time: his left arm was weak and he didn’t have the same surge of adrenaline roaring through his veins. But he managed, and soon the three of them were back on solid ground.

      “Now what?” Jillian asked, her body shivering with cold.

      He indicated the snowmobile. “Now we find the vehicle belonging to the men who came to find us.”

      She looked as if she wanted to argue, but he gestured for her to get on the snowmobile first with Lizzy. He slid in behind them and reached out to grab the handlebars.

      The trip to the highway didn’t take long, and he quickly found the black SUV, a newer make and model compared to his own.

      “We need Lizzy’s car seat,” Jillian protested as he ushered them inside.

      “I know.” Hawk didn’t want to stay at the cabin for much longer, fearing more men were on the way, but the cabin was only a half mile up the road. Getting the car seat didn’t take much time, and soon they were back on the highway.

      He cranked the heat for Jillian and Lizzy while considering their next move. They’d been found at the cabin far too quickly. He never should have gone there in the first place.

      The weight of Jillian’s and Lizzy’s safety was incredibly heavy on his shoulders.

      He couldn’t afford to make another mistake.

      Jillian gratefully absorbed the warm air blasting from the vents of the SUV. She’d prayed the entire time they’d been up in the tree stand, and God had answered by not only keeping them safe but providing a method of escape.

      Between Hawk’s ingenuity and God’s support, they’d made it out the woods alive. Yet it was difficult to relax. She felt certain the danger was far from over.

      She wrestled with the fact that Hawk was really James. She’d lived next door to him for five months—how could she not have figured it out? This all seemed like some sort of twisted movie plot rather than something that happened in real life.

      She glanced over at him, searching his profile for signs of the man she’d once married.

      Now that she knew the truth, it was easy to spot the similarities and differences. His intense blue eyes were the same, but the prominent cheekbones were gone, and she felt bad about the deep scar grooving his face. Hawk was leaner and more muscular than she remembered, and his voice, which always sounded hoarse now, made her wonder if there had been some sort of internal damage to his vocal cords as a result of the plane crash.

      Hawk didn’t laugh the way James had, or talk as much. He was serious and to the point.

      She turned away, mourning the loss all over again. Maybe Hawk was right to claim James had died in the Appalachian Mountains. The man sitting beside her, the one who’d climbed up and down a tree with her and Lizzy on his back, seemed very different than the man she’d married.

      And for the life of her, she couldn’t look at him and think James. He was Hawk.

      “You’ll need to stop at a drugstore. I need bandages and other supplies to take care of your wound.”

      He gave a small nod. “Later. Right now I need to figure out a place to go where we’ll be safe.”

      “You mentioned a place with individual cabins and a playground for Lizzy,” she reminded.

      He hesitated and shrugged. “Yeah, that’s where we’re headed. But it’s just five days before Christmas and I’m not sure they have openings.”

      “I can’t imagine individual cabins being a hot place to spend Christmas.”

      He glanced at her in surprise. “It is for me.”

      “Because you’re a single guy without a family.” The minute the