Guard Duty. Sharon Dunn

      In the small Sagebrush station, Trevor’s warm bass voice carried across the room as he showed Murke’s picture to the other officers. She tried to focus on her computer screen instead of the joking that seemed to be going on between Trevor and the other officers.

      She adjusted her chair for the umpteenth time and leaned closer to the monitor. Trevor hadn’t hidden his ire at getting close to Murke, yet not catching him. Did he blame her for that? It was her own insecurity that made her wonder if he was fishing around for a different officer to assist him.

      She could only pick up bits and pieces of the conversation, and yet she had assumed that that was what was going on. Why did she even care? Having to help Trevor took away time from her regular work.

      Okay, so he didn’t like rookies. McNeal had paired them up for a reason. It couldn’t just be because it was extra protection for her. Trevor wasn’t going to ditch her for a more experienced officer who didn’t have any connection to the neighborhoods where Murke was likely to be. Valerie chided herself for worrying. Fine with her if he wanted to work with a different officer.

      She picked up a pen, making lines on a legal pad so deep they nearly cut through the paper. That caring tone he had used back at the warehouse had messed with her initial impression of him—that he was one of those lawmen who was good at his job but not so good at connecting with people. Maybe there was some chink in his armor. It wasn’t her job to try to find it. The sooner they caught Murke, the sooner Trevor Lewis would be gone.

      Pushing all thoughts of the impossibly handsome agent out of her head, she focused on the monitor, opening up a report she needed to complete. The voices around her faded, and all she heard was the tapping of the keys....

      She completed the report and opened her email. She smiled as she read the thank-you notes from children at a school where she and Lexi had given a K-9 demonstration. She loved teaching members of the community about what the K-9 units did.

      An email from her mother caught her attention as she scrolled down. Her mother usually used her private email. Her skin prickled as apprehension invaded her body.

      She opened it up and read.

      Bethany is such a pretty baby. It would be a shame to have anything happen to her.

      The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees as she stared at the computer screen. It was clear what had happened. Her mother would never send such a horrible email. So now the syndicate was hacking into family members’ emails and threatening the life of her niece?

      Her hands were shaking as she grabbed the phone to dial her home number.

      Stella picked up on the first ring. “Hello.”

      Valerie took a breath, hoping to hide the anxiety in her voice. “Hey, Mrs. Witherspoon, I was just checking to see how Bethany was doing.”

      Stella’s voice exuded cheerfulness. “She’s such a doll. She just finished her cereal and is playing with her blocks.”

      “So, everything’s okay?”

      “Couldn’t be better.” Stella paused as though she were thinking something over. “Are you having a little separation anxiety, dear?”

      Valerie gripped the phone a little tighter. “That must be it.”

      “It happens to every mother. Call here a thousand times a day if you need to.”

      Though she couldn’t let go of the fear over harm coming to Bethany, Valerie relaxed a little. Bethany was in good hands. “Mrs. Witherspoon, you are an answer to prayer.”

      Valerie said her goodbyes and hung up. She called her mother who said she didn’t think her email had been hacked. She barely turned her computer on. These guys were good. She pressed her trembling hands, palms down against the desk. Tuned into Valerie’s heightened emotion, Lexi lifted her head and looked at her with dark brown eyes.

      The words echoed through her mind. It would be a shame if anything happened to her. She felt like she was being shaken from the inside. Would Garry’s murderer hurt Bethany to get to her? Now she knew for sure she was being watched. They must have seen her with Bethany.

      “Everything okay?” Trevor stood beside her desk.

      She straightened her spine and squared her shoulders, forcing her voice to sound professional. “Sure. Why?”

      He sat down in the chair beside her, concern etched across his face. “Your complexion’s the color of rice.”

      “It’s nothing.” She couldn’t explain to him. He wouldn’t understand why she was so upset. It was just an email, right? It wasn’t like a gun had been pointed at her. “My face is always this color. I’m a light-skinned redhead.”

      He cracked a smile. “That you are, Officer Salgado, but that doesn’t explain why your hands are shaking.” He reached over and cupped his hand over hers.

      She’d laced her fingers together so tightly her knuckles were white. He pulled back and studied her while the warmth of his touch lingered. Would he think she lacked strength as an officer if she revealed how much the threat had shaken her up? Cops were supposed to have titanium spines, right? There probably wasn’t anything in the world that made Trevor Lewis afraid...except maybe feeding babies.

      The warmth in his eyes, the same that she had seen at the warehouse, told her she could risk sharing.

      She drew in a breath and turned the computer monitor toward him. “I just got this.” She pulled the photo of Bethany off her cubicle wall and held it to her chest. Images about bad things happening to Bethany rampaged through her head. She shivered.

      Trevor’s jaw hardened as he looked away from the screen. He shook his head. “Unbelievable. This has got to be the syndicate’s doing. Your mother would never send an email like that, right?”

      Valerie nodded. “Who else would do this but the syndicate? The first threat came in an email, as well.”

      His presence had a calming effect on her that she didn’t understand. Maybe it was just because he looked like he could smash small buildings with his fist. Being able to share with him had eased her fear. Now that she could get a deep breath, she felt like she was seeing things more clearly. “They wouldn’t actually hurt Bethany, would they? It’s me the Serpent is after.”

      “It doesn’t matter if they will or won’t. They are threatening your kid and upsetting you. It’s all part of a game they’re playing.” His tone suggested deep offense at what had been done to her.

      She exhaled. “It might be that it was meant to scare me. You know, the syndicate’s reminder that they are still watching and waiting for their chance to kill me.” She just didn’t want to believe that anyone would harm an innocent child.

      Trevor touched his clean-shaven face as his eyes narrowed. “I’ve seen this before with witnesses we were trying to protect. The intent is to break you psychologically. You don’t want something bad to happen to your kid, so you back off from finding this woman.”

      “I can’t even identify the woman yet for sure. We haven’t been able to put together a sketch or a police lineup.” She turned back to her computer and clicked out of her email program. “I just know that if I saw this woman that we think is the Serpent again, I would recognize her.”

      Trevor sat back in his chair. “The murderer doesn’t know that, though. She probably thinks it’s just a matter of time before the Sagebrush police track her down. These people are ruthless. They’ll do everything they can to shake your resolve.”

      “I wish there was protection for Bethany when I’m not with her.” Talking with Trevor had eased some of her fear, but every time she looked at Bethany’s picture, she felt a jab to her heart. If anything happened to that little girl....

      “Maybe the department can provide some protection,” Trevor suggested.

      “I can ask, and I’ll let the captain know about