The Military K-9 Unit Collection. Valerie Hansen

      He held out a hand toward Serena. “Don’t.”

      She halted in the doorway. “What’s wrong?”

      Jason swallowed though his mouth had become as dry as the Texas sun. “I’ve stepped on an IED.”

      * * *

      Serena’s heart plummeted. “You stepped on an improvised explosive device? Like a land mine?”

      She yanked her flashlight off her utility belt and aimed it at the floor. Jason’s left boot rested on a lighter colored plank of wood. Clearly the board was newer, having been replaced at some recent point in time, but in all other regards it looked the same as the other floorboards. “How do you know?”

      “I heard the click. Trust me. You need to get out of here. I can’t lose another person because of my stupidity.”

      His words plunged into her heart. “I’m not leaving you. We’ll figure out how to disarm it.”

      “Are you an explosives expert?”

      “We’ve all had some training.” But not enough to deal with something like this. Her heart beat in her ears. “The FBI would have a bomb expert.” Hope clawed through the fear. She grabbed the radio, uncaring about the noise.

      The radio crackled and hissed. She spun the dial for a connection. “Dispatch!” She couldn’t reach anyone. This couldn’t be happening.

      “You need to go to the top of the bluff. You’ll have service there.”

      Jason’s calm tone did nothing for her nerves. “What if that maniac comes back?”

      “Then I’ll take him out with me.”

      Her body trembled with panic. “Don’t talk like that. You’re not going to die here today.”

      “It doesn’t matter about me. But you and Ginger need to go.”

      “You can’t want to die.” She wouldn’t allow it. For the first time in forever she’d finally met a man she found interesting and challenging and who she wanted to know more about. “I know you blame yourself for your wife’s and your partner’s deaths. But you didn’t put them there.”

      “It should’ve been me. Why wasn’t it?”

      “That’s something only God can answer.” She dug her fingers into her palm to keep from reaching out to him. “You had no control over their deaths.”

      He shook his head. “Just go. Please.”

      The pleading tone in his voice sent a shiver over her flesh. “No. You don’t want me to die on your watch and I don’t want you to die on my watch, so I guess we’re at an impasse.”

      In the gloomy light of the cabin she could see the fierceness on his handsome face. “You have too much to live for.”

      “We both have too much to live for.” She wanted to shake him. Instead, she opened a vein. “We’ve only just met.” And she wanted time to get to know him. Please, Lord.

      His eyes widened. Tenderness filled his expression. “Then you better get us some help.”

      Tears burned the backs of her eyes. “Promise me you won’t die while I’m gone.”

      He flashed a strained grin. “I’m not going anywhere.” He held out his hand. Tentatively, she took it. “When this is all over and done with...” He squeezed her fingers lightly.

      “I’m going to hold you to that.”

      He released her hand. “Go. And hurry back.”

      Pausing in the shack’s doorway with her gun raised, Serena scanned the area for the sniper.

      “Go,” Jason prompted. “He would have picked us off already if that’s how he’d planned to do it. He’s counting on the bomb, now.”

      The sick roll of her stomach let her know Jason was right. With Ginger by her side, Serena ran in the direction they had come. The sun had dropped low, causing shadowy fingers across the landscape like a greedy specter of death. Every few minutes, she checked her phone and the radio with a prayer on her lips: “Please, Lord, I don’t know what you have in store for Jason or for me, but I want more time.”

       SIX

      Jason replayed Serena’s words over and over in his head. She wanted more with him. He wanted more with her, too. More time. More opportunity to know her. To see her smile, hear her laugh. To discover all there was about the pretty deputy.

      He’d promised Serena he wouldn’t die while she was gone. He prayed he’d be able to keep that promise.

      As the minutes ticked by, his thoughts turned to asking why Mary and Paul had been together that night. Had they been having an affair? Jason had found no evidence to suggest his wife and partner had betrayed him. Witnesses at the restaurant had claimed the two had been in an intense discussion. But that could’ve been about anything. Like a surprise party as Serena had suggested.

      Whatever the two had been doing had died with them and left Jason riddled with guilt.

      He heard the sound of boots on gravel, and his spirits lifted. Serena was back already? He was going to kiss that woman the next time he saw her.

      The unhurried steps on the porch sent caution sloshing over him like a bucket of ice. Slowly, so as not to move too much and cause an explosion, he withdrew his gun and held it at his side.

      The door opened. A man holding a sniper rifle in one hand and a dozen roses in the other entered the shack and stopped. The surprise on his face was comical, and if the situation hadn’t been so dire Jason would have relished getting the drop on the Red Rose Killer. But really, the situation was reversed. Jason was the one caught in a trap.

      They aimed their weapons at each other.

      Yet neither fired. Hyperaware of the explosive device beneath his foot, Jason expelled a harsh breath. Until this morning when a certain deputy showed up on his ranch, he wouldn’t have cared if he lived or died. But now he wanted to live. He had to live for Serena. He’d promised her.

      The man in the doorway had regular features, nothing special or memorable. A symmetrical round head with dark blond hair and ice-cold blue eyes. He wore camouflage clothing, heavy boots and a sneer on his face.

      “Well, well. Isn’t this a treat?” He moved out of the doorway, keeping the barrel of his rifle trained on Jason. “Drop your weapon.”

      “You drop yours.”

      The man’s lip curled. “I’m not the one standing on a landmine of my own design.”

      “If I move, we both die.”

      “If you were going to move, you’d have done so already. And if you shoot me...” He pulled a remote detonator from his pocket and gave Jason a wicked grin. “You die. I’d say you’re in a bad place, Mr. Hargrove.”

      So he knew who Jason was. Had he been casing his ranch? Anger simmered within Jason. His fingers tightened around the Sig Sauer but self-preservation kept him from pulling the trigger.

      “How about I walk out and shoot you from a distance? That would be more fun,” the killer taunted. “I can’t use this place anymore. Might as well blow it up and you right along with it.” The man pivoted and walked back out the door.

      Dread twisted in Jason’s gut. He had to keep the guy here and talking. And not get blown up in the process. He had to give Serena time to get help. “Wait!”

      He hoped to extract information that could be used later—if Jason survived. He sent up a silent plea that he’d get out of this situation. For now, the only thing he could do was to comply and trust God and Serena.

      With