Against Me (Cedar Tree Book 3)
Read Against Me (Cedar Tree Book 3) Online
Authors: Freya Barker
Against Me (Cedar Tree Series, #3)
Extract from DECLAN (Wounded Heroes #1) - Prologue
Copyright © 2015 Margreet Asselbergs as Freya Barker
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or by other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in used critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses as permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, mentioning in the subject line:
"Reproduction Request” at the address below:
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, any event, occurrence, or incident is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created and thought up from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ISBN: 978-0-9938883-3-5
Cover Design:
Cover Model:
Photographer:
Christopher Correia of CJC Photography
DEDICATION
F
or
Dana Hook
– A woman who really needs no introduction, since she is a universe all by herself.
Irreverent, loyal, loud and loving – You have a heart the size of South America and continuously try to fit everyone in it. If you had the power, you’d turn everyone into a bestselling author – hell, you try hard enough. Not only my partner in Rebel, but my bitch-buddy and task master; pimp queen and editor extraordinaire; you are so elemental and entwined with my books, I swear I’d be lost without you. Not to mention I’d miss my daily dose of hilarity either by your hand or at your expense!
Love you hard and always.
In Memory of:
Blue
A
bunch of big thank you’s!
To my family.... ALL of them.
My hubs who has been more patient than any other person I know; staring at the back-end of a computer while I work and am being a-social; keeping the fridge full and the household running while I have my head buried deep in my fictional characters – and all with silent acceptance.
My amazing kids who are equal parts proud and mortified with what I do... From their relentless ‘porn’-teasing over dinner to their frequent interest in my radically changed life.
To my parents who are awesome; my mom who at almost ninety has read each book and my dad who is just happy when I’m happy.
To my big sister, who would be cheering me on if I’d decided to make a career of pole-dancing. She’s that amazing.
My brothers; big burly men – all four of them, and I know they have watched, they have supported and yes... they’ve even read.
Three wonderful sisters in law who are so much more than their title implies, and a great bunch of amazing nieces and nephews; all of them ‘adults’ now, who are absolutely wonderful!
I am so blessed with my big crazy family.
I also want to thank a group of women, most of whom I have not had the pleasure of meeting face to face yet, but who are tireless in their support of me and relentless in their promotion of my books: Catherine Scott, Nancy Huddleston, Deb Blake, Pam Buchanan, Kerry-Ann Bell, Linda Funk, Aimee Shannon, Tracy Meighan, Lena Gaitanou, Bonnie Trujillo, Nicole Mccurdy, and last but certainly not least, my brand spanking new PA, Leanne Hawkes, who is working her buns off to keep me organized. I love you B&B’s!
A special mention to Pam Buchanan and Deb Blake, who have taken over my former blog Ripe For Reader, and are doing a phenomenal job. I am so proud of you girls!
In this industry you don’t get anywhere by yourself. I am so incredibly fortunate to have a group of amazing author friends who motivate, encourage, correct, and support me. You all make me so grateful!
Ava Manello is one of those authors and her friendship, intelligence, industry knowledge and insight have helped me out more often than I can recall. Love you big time, honey!
And finally all you amazing readers – you wonderful people who have taken, or are taking a chance on me. The stories I write are ones that I would like to read myself. I write them for me – so the thought that these books that are meaningful to me, might mean something to you too still boggles my mind.
Thank you from the bottom of my humble heart.
T
he first thing I notice when she walks into the room are her pale, green eyes. It almost looks like they’re lit from within.
"Hey Katie, meet Caleb. He'll be working with us on a contract basis, same as you."
I hold out my hand as she slips her smaller one into it. Soft―the feeling of her skin against mine causes an involuntary shiver up my spine. I even hear her sharp intake of breath. I try to get a read on her, but her eyes lower under my scrutiny.
Hmmm...Interesting
. The top of her head reaches my chin, and to my large frame, her entire body seems much smaller than my first impression of her.
“Good to meet you." Her voice has a smoky sound to it, a deeper pitch. It’s a quality you wouldn't expect coming from the woman with a pixie face, flowing dark hair and large, expressive eyes. Despite her athletic build, she almost appears fragile to me.
"Same here."
Her eyes flick up to mine, then move to Gus, owner of Gus Flemming Investigations―the man whose reputation finally convinced me to give in to his tenacious pursuit of my services.
I’m a loner. I don't generally work with partners or under a boss. I like my independence and the freedom it provides me, but I haven't been able to resist the lure of working with the investigator who has one of the highest success rates in the state. It helps that the case he called me in on hits close to home: Literally. A child gone missing from the reservation I grew up on, and I feel this one deep. I left the reservation under less than friendly circumstances. My fifteen-year-old sister had died after a brutally short stint with cancer, leaving my family destroyed. My parents were never the same and both my brother and I carried the scars of our fucked up family life on our souls after she passed away.
Only seventeen at the time, almost eighteen, I was marked by the experience and pissed off at the world. I'm sure they were happy to see the back of me when I enlisted.
"I want you to work together on the disappearance of this twelve-year-old. Put your heads together and see what you can come up with. She's been gone for seventy-two hours and her family is frantic. Details are in the file."
Gus hands each of us a folder and his eyes linger on my hand, the one that still holds Katie's much smaller one. Reluctantly, I let her go to grab the file Gus is holding out.
Great. My first partner and it has to be this woman. When I look at her, my displeasure must show on my face because her eyes are shooting fire. I can hear Gus chuckle, "Don't underestimate that tidy little package you see there, my friend. Katie has proven herself to be a great asset to my team when called upon."
"What the fuck, Gus? Tidy little package? Sexist much?" She punches him in the shoulder.
"Ah babe, you know I couldn't do without ya..." Gus throws his arm around her shoulder and smiles down.
The interaction between the two should’ve been a warning.
"Get behind me," I hiss at Katie as she tries to get ahead of me into the small shed.
We managed to get a lead on the girl from one of her friends in Shiprock. Or rather, Katie managed to. She was amazing at pulling the information from the twelve-year old friend. The missing girl had been talking to a guy online who had filled her head with promises and lies, finally convincing her to meet him in town. Her poor parents were drowning in self-recrimination for not keeping a closer eye on her internet activities. But we had a place to start and with the help of a young computer whiz kid Gus has working at the office, we managed to identify the guy. A local kid, only eighteen himself, had been talking to her online for the past two months. When we visit his home address, he's not there, but his mother is. She directs us to the small building at the back of this abandoned business that belongs to his dad.
"Don't fucking tell me what to do, Caleb." Katie hisses back, pushing ahead despite my caution. Following close behind her, I see some movement from the corner of my eye, just as we step inside. I instinctively throw myself on Katie, taking her down with force. The bullet that explodes from the shaking gun that had been pointed at her finds its way, unobstructed, into the wall on our other side. I roll off Katie and come up with my own weapon ready in my hand, aiming it at the figure in the corner. The acrid smell of urine hits my nose as the kid who’s holed up there throws down the gun and wets his pants.
"Don't h-hurt me," he stutters, his hands stretched toward me with his palms out.
"Jesus," I run my free hand through my hair, scanning the small space while keeping my gun trained on the kid. "You okay, Katie?"
"Fine." Comes her terse reply.
"Can you check on her?" I nod my head in the direction of a pile of bedding, hiding what appears to be a very scared young girl. I get up and make sure the gun is far away from the kid's reach before pushing him face-down on the ground and securing his hands with a zip tie. "Is she ok?" I ask as I listen to Katie's soothing murmurs as she checks over the terrified little girl.
"You hurting anywhere, honey?"
"N-no, he didn't hurt me," a shaky little voice answers Katie's question. "He loves me."
Katie looks over at me with her eyebrows raised, feeling the same shock and frustration she obviously does. Fucking internet romance gone bad, and I almost killed the kid. Christ, I need a drink.
By the time we get most of their story, the sound of emergency vehicles begin filling the yard, so I grab my charge by the arm and pull him up.