Justice for Hildie Read online

  Justice for Hildie (Police and Fire: Operation Alpha)

  San Antonio First Responders Book 4

  Reina Torres

  Contents

  Foreword

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Epilogue

  Books by Reina Torres

  About the Author

  More Special Forces: Operation Alpha World Books

  Books by Susan Stoker

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  © 2020 ACES PRESS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.

  Dear Readers,

  Welcome to the Police and Fire: Operation Alpha Fan-Fiction world!

  If you are new to this amazing world, in a nutshell the author wrote a story using one or more of my characters in it. Sometimes that character has a major role in the story, and other times they are only mentioned briefly. This is perfectly legal and allowable because they are going through Aces Press to publish the story.

  This book is entirely the work of the author who wrote it. While I might have assisted with brainstorming and other ideas about which of my characters to use, I didn’t have any part in the process or writing or editing the story.

  I’m proud and excited that so many authors loved my characters enough that they wanted to write them into their own story. Thank you for supporting them, and me!

  READ ON!

  Xoxo

  Susan Stoker

  About the book

  Hildie Faraday thought her life was full. Coordinating care for the clients at the Helping Hearts shelters and community center is a job and a half, but when a client asked her to come to support her at a hearing, she’s right there to help. They teach women to be prepared for anything, but Hildie is shocked when she ends up in the cross hairs of a client’s abusive husband.

  Texas Ranger Jake McGowan thanked his lucky stars that he was in the right place at the worst time. Working in Law Enforcement in San Antonio, he knew all about Hildie and the help she provides for women in need. Seeing her put herself between a woman and her gun-wielding husband brought his own feelings into the foreground.

  Once he had Hildie in his life, he wasn’t going to let her slip away from him. Jake’s doing everything he can to show her how much she means to him, and Hildie’s giving it right back. It doesn’t take long for life to throw a bunch of obstacles in their way, and Hildie into the trunk of a car.

  Jake will pull together local law enforcement officers to help him rescue Hildie and get her back into his loving arms. Will they get there in time?

  Chapter 1

  Starting down the steps of the courthouse, Texas Ranger Jake McGowan stopped halfway down and stared at the vision pacing on the sidewalk. He knew without fail that if he was standing at her side, the top of her head would be about an inch higher than his shoulder, even with her designer shoes on. No, he’d never actually stood that close to her, but they had enough mutual friends and colleagues for him to guess.

  What he wouldn’t give to be close enough…

  Looking up and down the street he couldn’t help but realize that there was nothing stopping him. Not now.

  This was his chance.

  Taking a deep breath in through his nose, he squared his shoulders and started down the stairs. Hearing the familiar clip of his well-worn boots on the concrete gave him a sense of calm and courage. Strange that he would feel this kind of apprehension about talking to anyone.

  But the woman by the curb wasn’t just anyone.

  Her name was Hildie Faraday.

  Heart-stoppingly gorgeous and a firecracker.

  Heaven help him, he wanted to get close enough to burn.

  “Miss Faraday.”

  He saw her start and stop pacing, turning her head to look up at him.

  He smiled and let the left side of his coat open with his downward descent. “I’m a Texas Ranger, Miss Faraday. Jake McGowan. I’m a friend of-”

  “Nearly everyone I know,” she smiled slightly. “How are you?”

  It was a common question. A general request of anyone, friend or stranger, but it meant something that she asked it.

  “I’m good, thank you. You?”

  Her smiled broadened and his heart pulsed a little harder in his chest. “Hopeful. If that’s not too cheesy to say.” She tilted her head slightly to the side and he noticed that the length of hair that she’d dyed blue was now pink. It took everything he had to keep from reaching out and touching it.

  “Not at all, Miss Faraday.” The corner of her mouth quirked up in a smile and he took it as an opportunity to continue talking. “Are you waiting for something?”

  She looked surprised for a moment and then answered him with a nod. “I’m waiting for one of our clients.”

  Clients. Hildie worked with her college friend, Sloane King… rather, Sloane Bravo, as the heads of Helping Hearts, a charity that helped women and families in need. If Hildie was here at the courthouse, it was something important.

  “Is something wrong?” Every instinct told him to put himself between her and trouble. If there was something wrong, he wanted the opportunity to help fix it.

  “No.” She looked down the street before turning back to him with an expression that said her ‘no’ was more ‘yeah.’ He hadn’t had much of a chance to spend alone time with Hildie, but what he knew from their interactions and what his coworkers and friends had told him, she may look like a fashion plate almost all the time, she wasn’t someone who leaned on others.

  Hildie Faraday was a woman who stood on her own two feet… and her fancy shoes.

  “Is there something I can help with?”

  He hated the fact that he wanted her to say yes.

  She paused, and her head turned so she could look down the other side of the street. “Have you ever had a feeling…” she swept her tongue over her bottom lip and damn it all if it didn’t make the blood in his veins course a little faster, “that something bad was about to happen, but there’s nothing you can do except-”

  Her words stopped as a car pulled up to the curb beside them and Hildie stepped down off the curb and took hold of the handle. A quick tug opened it up and a woman stepped out of the car.

  She took a moment to look around before she stepped up onto the curb beside Hildie, giving Jake a chance to look at her.

  She came up to Hildie’s chin, but with Hildie’s heels that meant she was really only a few inches shorter. Her hair was clean and freshly combed but limp, laying heavily against her shoulders.

  At one time she’d likely had a warm and healthy complexion, but the years hadn’t been kind to the woman who looked as though she might fall over if the wind blew hard enough to r
attle the branches of the nearby trees.

  While Jake wasn’t trying to listen in on their conversation, his ears never failed to pick up the sound of Hildie’s voice if she was anywhere near.

  “I’m going to be with you every step of the way. All you have to do is go in and tell the judge the truth, and then she’ll make her ruling. After that we’ll take you back to the shelter and go from there, okay?”

  While he was standing a few feet away it was easy to see the woman’s expression; hope shining through. He knew that kind of exhaustion. He’d seen it over and over whenever domestic violence was in the mix of a case. That kind of pain and fear aged a person beyond their years.

  And even though Hildie was as gentle and encouraging as anyone could be, he saw the hesitation in the woman’s body.

  She was on the verge of sinking back into the car and running away.

  Jake couldn’t even begin to imagine what she had suffered through, but it was clear to him that Hildie was there to walk her client through a protective order hearing.

  “I won’t leave your side, Anne. We’ll do it together.” Hildie’s voice cut straight to his heart.

  “Miss?”

  Anne turned her head toward him with a twitch that said she probably hadn’t noticed him until that moment. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him.

  “Maybe I can help?” He pulled his coat back and displayed his badge. “I’m a Texas Ranger.”

  Anne looked up at Hildie, a question in her eyes.

  Hildie’s smile eased Anne’s worry some, but it was her words that seemed to seal the deal. “He’s a good man, Anne. You can trust him.”

  Heaven help him, but he couldn’t help puffing out his chest the littlest bit. You can trust him.

  “Ca-can we go inside?” Anne’s voice quavered a little, and Hildie took her hand.

  “Absolutely. We can go inside.”

  They started to move, and he followed at their side, ready to step in front of them or behind should the need arise.

  With his badge, he moved them quickly through security and into the rotunda. By the time they were there, walking into the courtroom, Hildie had filled him in. Anne was there to get an order of protection from her husband. That was all he needed to know, and it was that knowledge coupled with Hildie’s bad feeling that made him all the more determined to stay.

  There was a woman behind a desk, looking through folders and another woman standing at the table in the middle of the open floor, in front of the bar. She looked up as they entered and greeted Anne by name. Hildie gave Anne a gentle hug and opened the gate at the center of the bar to let her through. When Anne was seated beside her attorney, Hildie tried to close the gate and found that it was stuck.

  Jake walked up beside her to help, but sadly even with his strength it wouldn’t close.

  The woman behind the desk looked up. “Don’t worry about it, the hinge gets stuck. I’ll call maintenance again. They were supposed to fix it after closing last night.”

  She turned away and picked up a phone, dialing as Jake turned to look at Hildie. “Looks like I won’t get to impress you. I couldn’t even close a gate.”

  “Hinges get stuck sometimes,” she reached out and almost touched him on the arm, but stopped herself before she did, lowering her arm to her side. “The important thing is that you’re here. I don’t think Anne would have come in. I think she was just about to change her mind and leave.”

  “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit,” he told her. “You’re the one she depends on. You’re the one she trusts. I just added my badge to sweeten the deal.”

  The look she gave him felt like a mule kick to his chest, leaving him breathless.

  “Why do I have the feeling you do this a lot, Ranger McGowan?”

  Her words confused him a little, stunning him. “Do what a lot?” He gestured to one of the long benches and managed to take in a deep breath as she passed by to smell her hair. It wasn’t a floral scent like he would’ve guessed, but something clean and fresh.

  Hildie set her purse down and sat beside it, crossing one leg over the other, giving him a glimpse of her thigh as she did it. He was going to need a cold drink of some kind when this was over.

  “You slipped into the hero role with practiced ease, Ranger McGowan. What else am I supposed to think?”

  “I don’t know what you’re supposed to think, Miss Faraday.” He adjusted his suit coat and sat down beside her, hoping that he left enough room between them to be polite, but close enough that he could try to identify the scent of her hair. “I saw a need and I filled it. It comes with the badge.”

  Her eyes darted down at his badge and he swallowed hard knowing that his badge was just inches away from the hard ridge in his jeans. He wasn’t a guy that got random hard-ons, but this was Hildie and he was close enough to touch her and that alone was playing havoc with his blood flow. “Well,” she smiled at him and turned slightly on the bench so she could look at him straight on, “then I’m mighty glad you wear that badge. It seems you came in handy today. For that, I thank you.”

  He could get used to the look of admiration in her eyes.

  “You don’t need to thank me.” Helping her and having these moments was more than enough payment. “It’s the job. Anyone with the badge would be happy to help.”

  Her smile dimmed just the littlest bit. “Oh, okay.” Before he could ask what she meant, she turned to the front of the room.

  He recognized a door slamming shut, and he knew it was something he’d said, but there wasn’t time to unpack it all. The courtroom door opened, and the woman behind the desk looked up with a nod. She gestured toward the gate. “That was supposed to be fixed last night. We have a full docket this afternoon.”

  Jake heard a mumbled voice behind him, and he didn’t have to hear the words to know the man wasn’t happy.

  Dragging a small cart of tools behind him, he crouched down to look at the hinges on the gate.

  Hoping to fill the time, Jake looked at Hildie. “What time is the hearing?”

  Instead of retrieving her phone she reached out and turned his watch on his wrist, her fingers came tantalizingly close to touching his skin. She read the time on the analog dial and nodded. “Ten minutes.”

  He settled back on the bench to wait.

  Hildie was struggling to keep herself together. Jake McGowan.

  Texas Ranger, Jake McGowan was sitting beside her.

  Breathe.

  Just Breathe.

  If Sloane was there, she would have said something witty and charming after he’d all but told her she wasn’t special, that he would have done the same for anyone.

  Ow, if that didn’t hurt, she didn’t know what else would have.

  But still, she could have said something to keep the conversation going.

  Something. Instead, she’d sat there like a lump while he asked her when the hearing was set to start.

  She could have said that to begin with, but she hadn’t. It had given her a chance to reach out. And touch his watch, like a little girl. She could have flirted, but that would have been awkward at Anne’s hearing.

  Who was she kidding? She was awkward. Always had been.

  If it hadn’t been for Sloane taking her in hand in college, she would probably still be a complete mess. At least now she was a fashionable dork.

  Oh, heaven help her. If she managed to make it through the hearing without tripping over her feet in front of Jake, she was going to buy a couple of pints of Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey and take them over to Sloane’s house. She might even let Sloane have one. No, really, she would share with her friend just so she could wallow in her lack of feminine wiles with her friend who had managed to have her Happy Ever After with her husband Vicente, a local FBI Agent.

  Blowing out a breath, she straightened her posture and prayed that her clothes weren’t wrinkled too. She had to do something right.

  Right?

  The maintenance man lifted his drill, set
it against a screw and squeezed. It let out a wailing screech that made her cringe.

  The maintenance man tried again, and the woman behind the desk stood straight up. “Stop. Please, stop.”

  He stopped and sat back on his haunches, gesturing at the gate.

  Beside her, Jake shifted on the bench. “You’re going to strip the screw if you let it grind like that.

  The man turned his head to look at Jake over his shoulder, and the look in his eyes spoke volumes. Jake was not going to be his friend in this lifetime.

  The phone at the desk rang and was picked up quickly. “Judge Altman? Mmmhmm. Okay. I’ll be right there.” Standing up as she set the phone back into its cradle, the woman behind the desk looked over at the attorney in the room. “The judge needs to see me for a moment. I’ll be right back.” She walked up behind the judge’s desk and stepped down behind it. Opening the door to the judge’s chamber she disappeared inside and closed it behind her.

  Hildie looked up at Jake, a little worried. “I hope there isn’t going to be a delay. If that happens, I don’t think Anne will see it through if we have to wait much longer.”

  “Hey,” Jake had a curious look on his face, “what did you say Anne’s last name was?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t think I did. I know she doesn’t like to hear it. Bad memories. As soon as she can get a divorce, she’s going to change it back to her maiden name.”

  He nodded. “I can see why. She’d probably want to forget he ever existed.”

  Hildie blew out a breath. “That’s for sure. His name is Joe,” she kept her voice low so that it wouldn’t reach Anne at the table, “Joe Merrel.”