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Christmas Witness Protection
Maggie K. Black
A witness targeted…and on the runThe first Protected Identities novel When key witness Corporal Holly Asher is abducted, Detective Noah Wilder risks everything to rescue her. Now they're undercover as an engaged couple, hiding from a sinister hacker group—who plan on exposing every witness in protection on Christmas Eve. But can Noah and Holly stop a deadly conspiracy…without tipping off those who want to kill her?
A witness targeted...and on the run
The first Protected Identities novel
When key witness Corporal Holly Asher is abducted, Detective Noah Wilder risks everything to rescue her. Now they’re undercover as an engaged couple, hiding from a sinister hacker group—who plan on exposing every witness in protection on Christmas Eve. But can Noah and Holly stop a deadly conspiracy...without tipping off those who want to kill her?
MAGGIE K. BLACK is an award-winning journalist and romantic suspense author with an insatiable love of traveling the world. She has lived in the American South, Europe and the Middle East. She now makes her home in Canada with her history-teacher husband, their two beautiful girls and a small but mighty dog. Maggie enjoys connecting with her readers at maggiekblack.com (http://www.maggiekblack.com).
Also By Maggie K. Black (#u395d0252-00c1-5745-b8ad-1c5d3a10e8d1)
Protected Identities
Christmas Witness Protection
True North Heroes
Undercover Holiday Fiancée
The Littlest Target
Rescuing His Secret Child
Cold Case Secrets
Amish Witness Protection
Amish Hideout
Military K-9 Unit
Standing Fast
True North Bodyguards
Kidnapped at Christmas
Rescue at Cedar Lake
Protective Measures
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
Christmas Witness Protection
Maggie K. Black
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-09758-1
CHRISTMAS WITNESS PROTECTION
© 2019 Mags Storey
Published in Great Britain 2019
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Note to Readers (#u395d0252-00c1-5745-b8ad-1c5d3a10e8d1)
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Text to speech
“I’m guessing you don’t like this plan...”
“I don’t want anyone risking their life for me,” Holly said, her voice quiet.
Noah pulled back just enough that he could see her face, and something caught in his chest to see the worry and pain there. She’d radiated pure defiance and strength when he first laid eyes on her. Now something else hovered within the green depths of her eyes: vulnerability.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said. “They’re amazing cops, and it’s a team effort. We’ll get you working with a sketch artist and going over mug shots. The two most important things right now are keeping you safe to testify against General Bertie and stopping the Imposters, and both of those involve my keeping you alive.”
But still her head was shaking, and he could feel the softness of her pixie cut brushing against his fingertips.
“Look, I get it,” he said. “I really do.”
“No, you really don’t,” she said. “I don’t think I can identify the Imposters. I can’t remember what their faces look like...”
Dear Reader (#u395d0252-00c1-5745-b8ad-1c5d3a10e8d1),
Welcome to the first book of my new Stolen Identities series. I hope you enjoy it! The best part of writing the True North Heroes and True North Protectors series was getting to know the characters better as I watched their lives crisscross each other’s stories. Now I’m excited to do it again in this new witness protection series, while bringing back both Liam Bearsmith and Seth Miles for more adventures.
I wrote this book while recovering from a concussion. During the slow recovery, I realized my usual way of sitting down and writing a book wasn’t working, and so I had to come up with new strategies. I owe a huge debt of thanks to my editor, Emily Rodmell, and agent, Melissa Jeglinski, for their patience and help in getting my writing back on track.
I hope that whatever you’re going through, you are surrounded by people who support and love you. And that when needed, God will help you find those people and bring them into your life.
Thank you again, as always, for sharing this journey with me.
Maggie
The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
—Isaiah 9:10
To Zachary. Thanks for the left hook.
Contents
Cover (#u07b66b25-374c-5239-bdff-e10d59e8754b)
Back Cover Text (#u7de6d89e-e0c2-5d51-9e52-6e1f2ef01c75)
About the Author (#u15cb8848-da1b-5fab-a507-f7ed6f7eb7d4)
Booklist (#ub31d4d85-81e4-5944-98d0-3876a4c16e7c)
Title Page (#u43d1b86b-e22c-508c-b70a-8598ce7cd7a0)
Copyright (#u13bb5b10-0925-5c9b-a90d-dbde8ad45e89)
Note to Readers
Introduction (#u5fde289f-b05d-58e1-b486-fa12bda259d2)
Dear Reader (#u6477d901-42fe-5ad4-85f2-d99b10ed13ef)
Bible Verse (#u0891d787-9472-5512-b5e2-98951028d7a5)
Dedication (#u99d51ee0-21ff-5768-83c2-1120792b433d)
ONE (#u7d0d6e9f-6882-5035-ac31-1a3653620ae0)
TWO (#ua20997bd-b999-5c96-b682-221bde2a62a3)
THREE (#u6777c5b1-9dd6-5113-9cf1-1283f85c474e)
FOUR (#u79ea6418-77bb-5cf8-aa76-552de3382786)
FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
ONE (#u395d0252-00c1-5745-b8ad-1c5d3a10e8d1)
It was a week until Christmas, and the early morning sky was every bit as cold and gray as the icy waters of Lake Ontario and the concrete loading docks that surrounded the car now transporting Corporal Holly Asher to her new life in witness protection. Her eyes flickered to the passenger-side mirror as another car came into view on the empty road behind them.
A tremor of warning brushed her spine.
“That looks like the same car I saw parked outside the safe house this morning,” Holly said. “I think we’re being followed.”
Officer Elias Crane, the gray-haired witness protection officer in the driver’s seat beside her, cut a glance to the rearview mirror. He frowned. “It’s fine.”
No, it really wasn’t. Her gut told her something was wrong—very wrong—and after surviving two tours of duty overseas on a combination of faith and intuition, she wasn’t about to start ignoring either now. Something about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police detective had had Holly on edge ever since Elias had woken her up at the safe house before dawn and given her exactly five minutes to get into the car. She’d done it in four, including an external sweep of the vehicle, which he’d told her wasn’t necessary considering it was unlikely “anyone would go to too much trouble to stop someone from testifying in some government inquiry about a handful of misplaced weapons.”
That was the moment she’d first felt her jaw set. It had been far more than just a handful of weapons and they hadn’t been misplaced so much as illegally bartered, sold and given to warring factions by one of the most respected generals in the Canadian military. It was an international scandal, one that had the potential to ruin General Alberto “Bertie” Frey’s career. Holly had grown up in a military family and dedicated her life to serving her country. After a decade of exemplary service, she’d agreed to come forward, testify in the upcoming inquiry against her former mentor and explain the best she could exactly how a man as beloved as General Bertie had somehow allowed dozens of Canadian military firearms to end up in the hands of warring desert families in a remote area of the world where the Canadian military was deployed. For that, she’d been treated like a pariah by some of the people she’d served alongside and had her reputation dragged through the mud online. Then had come the final breaking point—three thugs had jumped her one night in downtown Ottawa and tried to intimidate her, later claiming to police that some stranger had paid them to show her just how bad her life could get if she didn’t keep her mouth shut. But they’d clearly underestimated the strength and power of the woman they were trying to scare out of testifying.
Even then she wouldn’t have delayed deployment on a third tour of duty or gone into witness protection if the RCMP hadn’t insisted and the inquiry hadn’t wanted to risk losing their star witness.
“I’m telling you it’s the same car.” She opened the sun visor mirror and took a better look, glancing past her own short-cropped black hair and the dark shadows that framed her green eyes. She couldn’t see the driver’s face in the darkness, but something about the sense of alert tension that seemed to radiate through his muscular arms and broad shoulders was anything but forgettable. “Could be a potential hostile.”
“This is Canada, not Afghanistan.” A chuckle slipped from Elias’s lips, and Holly felt her spine stiffen. He gestured to the rearview mirror. “And that’s just Detective Wilder. He’s got a bit of a burr stuck in his fur about our drive.”
“Why is he concerned?” she asked. “Has he been assigned to me, as well? Is there something wrong with my new temporary identity?”
The irritation that flashed in Elias’s eyes told her the answer to the third question at least was no.
“Look, Corporal, it’s fine,” he said. “Can I call you Hildy?”
