Protecting Holly

“These guys play rough, and they play for keeps,” the district attorney said.

“You think I don’t know that?” Jake knew he was beginning to sound aggravated. “I’ve been involved in this for months. I’ve seen what they can do.” His brother Adam was still recovering from being shot months ago.

“I have, too.” Rose sounded grim. “I just don’t want to see any more of this close to home. Don’t forget you’ve got one of my favorite cousins working for you, mister. I want to keep her in one piece.”

“No need to worry on that score. I wouldn’t let anybody touch Holly. If I lost her, the office would fall apart.”

FAITH ON THE LINE:

Two powerful families wage war on evil…and find love.

ADAM’S PROMISE—

Gail Gaymer Martin

FINDING AMY—

Carol Steward

GABRIEL’S DISCOVERY—

Felicia Mason

REDEEMING TRAVIS—

Kate Welsh

PETER’S RETURN—

Cynthia Cooke

PROTECTING HOLLY—

Lynn Bulock

LYNN BULOCK

has been writing since fourth grade and published in various fields for over twenty years. Her first romantic novel came out in 1989. Her Steeple Hill Café mystery LOVE THE SINNER is a May 2005 release. She lives near Los Angeles, California, with her husband and sons.

Protecting Holly

Lynn Bulock

MILLS & BOON

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To Joe, always

Keep me, O LORD, from the hands

of the wicked; protect me from men

of violence who plan to trip my feet.

—Psalms 140:4

Cast of Characters

Jake Montgomery—Someone was out to make sure the FBI agent never finished decoding Alistair Barclay’s secret files.

Holly Vance—She’d loved her boss in silence for years, but would the traumatic past she’d buried keep them apart?

Alistair Barclay—The former hotel tycoon was going down for numerous crimes. Would Jake be able to connect him with Baltasar Escalante and the Diablo crime syndicate?

Maxwell Vance—The former CIA agent has a vested interest in the case: keeping his three sons out of the line of fire.

Peter Vance—He was one of the last ones to see Escalante alive…and one of the many on hand to testify against Barclay.

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed Holly and Jake’s story. It was quite an experience to work with so many fine authors in this series of books about the Vance and Montgomery families and how they used their faith to fight evil. I suppose we all do that in a lesser way each day, without considering it much. So many days in the past six months have started out with knowing that my “sisters” in this project were encouraging me, or holding me up in a prayer. I’d like to thank all of them, Gail, Carol, Felicia, Kate and Cynthia, for all that they’ve brought into my life.

In addition, a book like this with multiple areas of research can’t be completed without a great deal of help from folks in a variety of professions. I’d especially like to thank Nathan Lee and Karen Nicastro for their excellent help in guiding me through the legal system. Anything I got right was due to their expertise, and the errors are all mine.

I love hearing from my readers. You can contact me at: P.O. Box 1167, Thousand Oaks, CA 91358 or find me at www.lynnbulock.com.

Blessings,

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter One

“You are so lucky.” Sara Phelps straightened a stack of papers fresh from the copier. “You know that everybody else in the Colorado Springs office wants your job, don’t you?”

Holly Vance waved a hand in her friend’s direction. She couldn’t imagine what Sara said being true. “That has to be an exaggeration, Sara. For one thing, ‘everybody’ in this office would only mean about three other people. And why would they want my job, anyway? I do the same things the rest of the assistants here do.”

When Holly told friends she worked for the FBI, they all thought her job must be terribly fascinating. She had to burst their bubble fairly frequently on that little fantasy. For the most part, working for the resident agency of the FBI in Colorado Springs was a lot like working for any other government office. The idea of the work might sound interesting to an outsider, but the day-to-day routine was just that most of the time…routine.

Holly knew that she went to work in a regular office building like most of the population. She spent hours on the computer and a lot of time just like this, queuing up for one of the printers or copiers in the suite of offices, processing a document for her boss, Jake Montgomery. The khakis and sweater she wore on her slender frame weren’t any different from the work outfits of any of her friends. Television, she decided, had overplayed the image of working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Of course there was the fact that Jake could easily have played one of those TV FBI agents. His dark-blond good looks would make him a casting director’s dream. But Holly knew that personally, she’d never make the cut on a television casting call, and neither would most of the people working in the Colorado Springs office.

Sara leaned on the side of the copier and sighed. Holly thought she looked much younger than twenty-five some days, with her spiky hair and clothing choices that always skated to the limit of what the bureau would allow its support personnel to wear. Today her slacks were gray pinstripe, but tailored in such a way that one wrong move would have exposed the tattoo that Holly knew covered the small of her friend’s back. Watching Sara made her feel even older than the twenty-nine she was, and like a much more seasoned veteran of the bureau.

“Maybe you do the same things,” Sara said, waggling deep burgundy polished nails. “But consider how you do them, and who you get to do them for. If either of the special agents I worked with were half as cool as Jake Montgomery, I’d be so happy.”

Holly picked her own documents out of the print tray. She hardly knew what to say to Sara. Jake probably did seem like the coolest guy in the Colorado Springs office. With his specialization in computers, he didn’t have some of the same restrictions or duties as the other special agents, so he was a little more fascinating than the rest of the professionals on staff. On top of that, he was a Colorado Springs native with plenty of history behind him. Most of the other agents were transplants from somewhere else, some still serving their first assignment probationary period with the bureau.

Still, it was hard to believe that working for Jake could be perceived as that big a plum. Colorado Springs wasn’t even that big an FBI office to begin with. There were only eleven people in the FBI offices in the brick building tucked away on a downtown side street, and six of those people were support staff like her, or other non-agent personnel.

“So you think working for Mr. Montgomery would be a cool thing, huh?” He might look handsome and glamorous, but Holly wondered how Sara would handle Jake’s constant flights into programming language. Most of it didn’t begin to resemble English when he started discussing the complex computer work that he did. Of course, most of it made sense to her, because she’d been assisting him for two years now. And the lingo wasn’t even the most challenging part of working with Jake.

Sara wrinkled her nose. “Well, usually. Not right now, though. I have a life already.”

Holly didn’t even have to ask what that reference was about. “I know. And thanks so much for reminding me that I don’t have one.”

Sara’s cheeks colored. “Hey, Holly, I didn’t say that.”

Holly smiled. “It probably wasn’t even what you meant. But if Jake really has to find all that information on the computers they took in the drug raid, and find it before the trial starts later this month, neither of us is going to have a life until it’s finished. And we all know that’s going to be harder on my boss than it is on me.”

Any casual reader of the Colorado Springs Sentinel’s society pages could tell you that normally, Jake Montgomery had a life. He had, in fact, one of the most glamorous and best documented lives in Colorado Springs. As the mayor’s son and one of the most eligible bachelors in the city, there always seemed to be pictures of Jake’s handsome face in the paper, getting out of his bright-red Viper for a charity event, or partying in a well-tailored tuxedo somewhere.

Holly wondered how much of that would go by the wayside between now and Alistair Barclay’s trial. The shady hotel tycoon was accused of everything from racketeering to running the biggest drug ring the city had seen in over a decade.

The FBI had given Jake the job of going over the computer files taken from Baltasar Escalante, head of the Venezuelan crime family Barclay had been accused of working for, in order to nail down Barclay’s prosecution. From what little her boss had told her, they were going to be working some unbelievable hours until all the information was deciphered. That didn’t really go along with Jake’s usual round of holiday parties and charity events right before Christmas.

It was hard for Holly to feel sorry for him on that score. If anyone had asked her—which no one was going to—she would have said that Jake Montgomery spent too much time flitting from one party to the next with a bevy of escorts. Surely at almost thirty-five he was getting ready to settle down.

“Hey, you still in there?” Sara teased, waving a hand near Holly’s face.

Okay, so maybe thinking about her good-looking boss led to a little daydreaming once in a while. Holly gave a wry grin. “Sure am. Just thinking about all the stuff I’m going to be doing around here in the next month. Of course, I might be talked into trading jobs with someone who only had to organize the office party and the gift exchange on top of a normal schedule.”

Sara shook her head emphatically. “No way. Like I said, Holly, most of the time I envy you because you work for Jake Montgomery. Now isn’t most of the time.”

“That’s true.” Holly knew what Sara’s answer would be even before she gave it. And in truth, that was the only reason that Holly offered to switch jobs with her friend, even in fun. Because when it came down to it, Holly Vance knew that her time every day with Jake was what kept her going. Prayer and her faith held her together through the dark nights, and working with Jake kept her going through the long days.

No matter how many hours of challenging work she put in, she wouldn’t trade for another job. There were cushier jobs out there, and there were better paying jobs out there, but none of them had the fringe benefit of working side by side with Jake eight to ten hours a day. There wasn’t a benefits package out there anyplace that could take the place of watching her handsome boss do what he was best at.

Holly finished her last bit of copying. “Tell you what. I’ll ask you again when this trial is over some time in January. Once you’ve watched Mr. Montgomery pace around snarling for a couple weeks trying to decipher all those files, we’ll see if you still want to trade jobs.” It was an easy offer to make. Jake might be charming to look at, but he growled like a tawny tiger when things didn’t go his way.

Sara’s smile was a little faded. “Sure.” She picked up her papers and headed toward her office down the hall. “But for now I better get back to planning the party.”

For a moment Holly wished that Christmas parties were all she was planning. But she already had an idea how much this prosecution meant to Jake, and to so many other people she knew. This might not be the most festive Christmas she ever had, but if the government won its case against Alistair Barclay, there would be plenty to celebrate later.

“You want this guy as badly as I do.” There was a note of surprise in Rose D’Arcy’s voice. The petite assistant district attorney seemed to be taking a fresh look at Jake. It always amused Jake that one of the toughest legal pit bulls in the county came packaged in this tiny redheaded person.

“Why do you look so surprised? Thanks to him and his crew I could have lost my brother. I know it’s not like Barclay pulled the trigger, but the man who shot Adam was working for him as much as he was anybody.”

Rose shrugged. “Him and Baltasar Escalante. But we can’t put Escalante on trial yet.”

“Not until somebody finds him. And I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.” Escalante, the drug lord who made the activities of some of the sleaziest crooks in Colorado Springs possible, had managed to escape during the raids on his Venezuelan compound. “But at least Peter Vance got the goods on him.”

“Yeah, he did. With the two of you involved, this has been a great pretrial. He’s a friend of yours, isn’t he?”

“My best friend, from way back. Adam wasn’t the only one who’d risked his life taking on the La Mano Oscura drug ring. Peter built this case for years before you and I got hold of it.”

Jake tapped a stack of computer disks with a slim finger. “Now if I can just tie all this back to Barclay and find the corresponding info on his computer, at least we can put him away for a few decades. And maybe that will give us the time to find Escalante and put him away, too.”

“Yeah, well that’s possible. But I’m not here to congratulate you on helping us to convict Barclay, even though I’ll be cheering you every step of the way. I’m here to remind you to be even more careful than usual while you do it.”

“That will be hard to do.” Jake tried to sound more cool and calm than he felt. “I’m always careful to a fault.” For a change the work-issue sidearm in his shoulder holster felt like a comfort instead of an annoyance.

“Says the man who has paid so many moving violation tickets he’s paid for his own Colorado Springs patrol car.” Rose’s grin was wolfish.

“It can’t be that high. Maybe a scooter by now. Or part of the winter feed for one of the horses. But not a whole patrol car yet. It’s the car, anyway. A red Viper just screams ‘ticket me,’” Jake grumbled. “And the Escalade isn’t any more cop friendly. When I switch over to that when winter starts, it’s just as bad.”

“You could drive something more sedate.” Rose’s expression told Jake she knew that wasn’t going to happen. “Parking tickets aside, I know you’re a pretty safe guy for being FBI. But I don’t trust any of these guys that are still out on the street. Escalante may have vanished, but a lot of money vanished with him. And it would be in his best interests if Barclay walked. Or even better, if he died quickly and quietly and the evidence never materialized.”

Jake waved a hand in dismissal. “Not possible. You and your boss already have plenty of evidence to convict Barclay and put him away for longer than his natural life expectancy. And I know everybody’s watching him like a hawk after what happened to that doctor.” They might be months further along in this process if Escalante hadn’t gotten to his plant within Doctors Without Borders so quickly. After that jail-house murder, nobody was leaving Barclay alone for a moment.

“It’s still not enough to tie him to Escalante, which is just the way everyone would like it. I mean it, Jake. These guys play rough, and they play for keeps.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Jake knew he was beginning to sound aggravated. “I’ve been involved in this for months. I’ve seen what they can do.” Adam was still recovering from being shot months ago during a drug robbery at the Venezuelan clinic he’d been working in for Doctors Without Borders.

“I have, too.” Rose sounded grim. “I just don’t want to see any more of it this close to home. Don’t forget you’ve got one of my favorite cousins working for you, mister. I want her kept in one piece.”

Jake had to think about that one a minute. This tiny terror was related to Holly? Of course. When she wagged her finger in his face as she was doing now, she looked just like her aunt, Holly’s mother. Marilyn D’Arcy Vance had terrorized a couple generations of Colorado Springs high schoolers before moving on to another job.

“Holly? No need to worry on that score. I wouldn’t let anybody touch Holly. If I lost her, the office would fall apart.”

Rose grimaced, wrinkling her pug nose. “Glad to know you’re so fond of her on such a personal basis, Jake.”

Jake shrugged. “Dates are easy to get. But a good assistant…I couldn’t replace her if I tried.”

“See that you don’t have to. I’m holding you personally responsible for her safety, as well as your own. The task force is already spread pretty thin cleaning up the loose ends of Diablo.”

Jake knew there were still branches of the crime syndicate active in and around Colorado Springs. The task force didn’t need to worry about him as well. “We’ll be okay. Go get some rest. Go home and have dinner with your feet up.”

Rose made a most unladylike noise in dismissal of that comment. “Right, like that’s going to happen anytime the rest of this year. Maybe after the trial.”

The two said their goodbyes and Jake went back to his desk. There was still plenty to do in order to nail Alistair Barclay. It was a good thing he didn’t have one particular woman in his life right now, because if he had, she would be plenty peeved at him. Rose was right. Cracking this case was going to take every waking hour for the next few weeks.

On Wednesday Holly got to work at seven-thirty in the morning, sure that she would have a clean desk for a change. There was plenty of space in the parking garage this early for her Jeep, and the roads were clear of the light snow that had fallen the previous day.

She’d stayed until seven the night before, leaving only when Jake promised that he was right behind her on the way out. One look at her work station told her that was a promise he hadn’t kept. There were three files with notes jotted in his awful handwriting all over the margins, and at least half a dozen sticky notes on the papers and her computer screen.

Sighing, she hung her coat on the rack, put down her coffee and started deciphering the notes. The most interesting said “Book us a working lunch at the Stagecoach.”

Jake hardly ever took her out to lunch unless he needed something special from her. Given the nature of the case he was working on, she could only imagine what kind of favors he was going to ask this time. She hoped it wasn’t canceling all his dates to the various charity balls and benefit parties this holiday season. Or ordering flowers as an apology for all his stood-up partners for those functions. She could handle a lot working for Jake, but some things were beyond her comfort level.

Still, she wouldn’t turn down going to the Stagecoach Café for lunch and sampling some of her aunt Lidia’s marvelous cooking. It was just cold enough this morning to hope that Lidia had made minestrone soup and chili to counteract the chill in the air.

By the time Jake came in at eight, Holly had dealt with all the sticky notes except one, and checked her e-mail for bureau updates and other business. Coffee was steaming in a thermal carafe and Jake’s blinds were open precisely enough to let the morning sun in without any glare on his computer screen, just the way he liked it.

Of course he would never notice any of that. Whistling, her handsome boss hung his wool topcoat on the coat rack and went straight for the coffee, where his favorite Colorado State Rams mug sat next to the carafe, upside down and spotless.

“Good morning, Holly.” Her heart leaped at the sight of him, as it did most mornings. By now Holly knew she was practiced enough at keeping her outside appearance calm that Jake never knew how he affected her. His charcoal suit fit like no off-the-rack garment ever could, and his dark-blond hair was cut just perfectly. She was glad to see that, because it was hard to guess when he might get time for a haircut during this case.

“Morning, Jake.” She waved the stack of sticky notes she’d piled up. “What happened to leaving here early enough to go by the Toys for Tots drive at your dad’s office?” Mayor Montgomery had kicked off the local drive with a well-publicized cookies and cocoa party, complete with Santa Claus in attendance. Holly had seen it on the local news last night, but Jake had been conspicuous in his absence.

Jake grimaced, making the laugh lines around his blue eyes crinkle. “So I didn’t quite get there on time. I managed to duck in before Santa left, though. And I brought lots of cool toys, too.”

“I’ll just bet. All of them had wheels, didn’t they?” After two years of being in this office, Holly knew that her boss’s weaknesses were few. He was a hardworking guy who may have gone to a lot of parties, but was seldom, if ever, photographed holding anything stronger than a cola. Cars, however, were another matter.

Jake grinned. “They might have had. Are we on for lunch?”

“We are. Twelve-thirty at your favorite table.” Jake was at the Stagecoach Café so often he had his own spot near the fireplace in the winter, and a prime corner on the patio in the summer. Of course it wasn’t usually Holly who was there with him, even though she often made the reservations.

No, Jake’s lunch companions at the Stagecoach Café were normally beautiful young women from the high society of Colorado Springs, and hardly ever the same one twice. Holly often wondered if it aggravated Jake’s mother as much as it aggravated her that the man flitted from one woman to the next at a speed faster than the processors in his computer.

No matter who else it bothered, his activity didn’t seem to bother Jake. He looked over the messages Holly had already started collecting in the half hour she’d been in and gave a low growl. “Okay, well, I probably won’t be out here much before lunch. Fend off all calls and visitors unless they’re family. And I mean yours, not mine.”

“What?” Jake didn’t often confuse her, but he was doing so now.

Jake’s smile made the laugh lines around his eyes crinkle a little more, making Holly’s heart race a little faster. “You haven’t gotten through all your e-mail, I see. My new ‘calls allowed’ list includes nobody besides Rose D’Arcy and the Vance family, specifically Maxwell, Travis, Peter and Sam.” Holly understood why her cousin Rose topped the list, as assistant district attorney. But it was odd to have Uncle Max and all three of her male cousins make up the rest of that list.

“Well, at least my family will know where I am and what I’m doing.” Holly laughed. “Nobody can grouse when they don’t get a Christmas card from me this year.”

She wasn’t about to tell Jake that nobody ever got a Christmas card from her except a few of the people she volunteered with at the Galilee Women’s Shelter. By the time she was done sending out all the business-oriented ones from the office most years, she was tired of looking at them. And this year nobody was going to get those, either.