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  Lawfully Heroic

  The Lawkeepers

  Jenna Brandt

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Locale and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events, or actual locations is purely coincidental. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email [email protected].

  Text copyright © Jenna Brandt 2019.

  Cover copyright by Jenna Brandt

  Contents

  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

  Epilogue

  A Note from the Author

  Disaster City Search and Rescue

  Also by Jenna Brandt

  Join My Mailing List and Reader’s Group

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Praise for Jenna Brandt

  I am always excited when I see a new book by Jenna Brandt.

  Lori Dykes, Amazon Customer

  Jenna Brandt is, in my estimation, the most gifted author of Christian fiction in this generation!

  Paula Rose Michelson, Fellow Author

  Ms. Brandt writes from the heart and you can feel it in every page turned.

  Sandra Sewell White, Longtime Reader

  For more information about Jenna Brandt visit her on any of her websites.

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  Lawfully Heroic

  Taking Love and Law Seriously

  Adam Reynolds has earned a solid reputation as a K9 handler for the Army. He and his partner, Valor, have become experts in searching for bombs, so when he is offered the chance to train at the elite, Disaster City Search and Rescue facility, he jumps at the chance. What he doesn’t expect is to fall for one of the female instructors.

  Clara Burnette is a decorated K9 instructor at Disaster City Search and Rescue. As a woman in a mostly male-dominated profession, she knows it’s never a good idea to get involved with a fellow cop. The problem is, she can’t seem to avoid the attraction brewing between her and new recruit, Officer Reynolds.

  Can Adam convince Clara to take a chance on him? What will happen when Adam is summoned back to his previous post? And can these two devoted K9 handlers find a way to be together despite everything that keeps getting in the way?

  The Lawkeepers is a multi-author series alternating between historical westerns and contemporary westerns featuring law enforcement heroes that span multiple agencies and generations. Join bestselling authors Jenna Brandt, Lorana Hoopes and many others as they weave captivating, sweet and inspirational stories of romance and suspense between the lawkeepers - and the women who love them.

  The Lawkeepers is a world like no other; a world where lawkeepers and heroes are honored with unforgettable stories, characters, and love.

  ** Note: Each book in The Lawkeepers series is a standalone book, in a mini-series, and you can read them in any order.

  One

  Adam Reynolds ran his hand through his brown hair with frustration. He wasn’t sure how many more days he could take of his monotonous routine. He loved working with his K9 partner, Valor, but hated the endless row of cars they inspected daily at the Clear Mountain Army base.

  “What’s wrong? Are you dreaming of searching terrorists’ strongholds for bombs again? You know you have to do years—not months—of posts like this before you ever get to do that,” said Greg Walters, the other soldier assigned to the gate. “You should get used to this.”

  Adam knew Greg was right, but it didn’t make him feel any better about the situation. The whole reason he renewed his contract was so that he could cross-train into a position as a K9 handler and go back overseas to detect IEDs. He wanted to stop the type of improvised bombs that killed his squad when he was stationed in Afghanistan. Working at the gate, he felt like he was spinning his wheels as much as the cars that continued to pass by.

  A blue Honda Civic pulled up to the gate, and Greg checked the ID of the driver and passengers. Adam moved forward with Valor beside him, leading the German shepherd around the exterior of the car. He let his partner sniff every spot the expertly trained K9 deemed important. Once Valor came back to Adam’s side signaling there was nothing to worry about, Adam waved the car through so it could enter the base. Same thing every time. Though he was glad there were no bombs coming onto the base, he wished he could be working an active hot zone.

  “Want to go out with us after our shift?” Greg inquired while they waited for the next car to arrive. “We’re heading over to The Lucky Penny to grab a couple of beers.”

  Adam averted his hazel eyes, knowing the other soldier wasn’t going to like his answer. “Sorry, I can’t; I have plans tonight.”

  “Let me guess, you have some sort of boring church thing again,” Greg said with a roll of his eyes. “You seem to be going to those all the time.”

  “How about I go out with you guys next time?” Adam suggested, purposely avoiding talking about the activity the other soldier suspected. He didn’t like the fact Greg made him feel bad about his plans. He also didn’t want to get into a debate, or be forced to defend his choice to attend a men’s hang-out started by some guys from Clear Mountain Assembly. It wasn’t as stuffy as the other man made it sound. Sometimes they watched sporting events, other times they played cards, but mostly, it was just nice to have some friends that viewed life the same way he did. In the military, he never had that. All the guys ever wanted to do was chase girls and party at bars, neither of which really appealed to Adam.

  “Sure, whatever, Adam, I’m not going to hold my breath. You always say you’ll go out with us next time, but you never do.”

  The rest of the afternoon ambled by with more cars passing by without anything out of the ordinary. By the end, Adam was glad to be done with work and ready to have some fun with his friends.

  Adam arrived at the rambling farmhouse on the outskirts of town. He parked his truck, got Valor out of the passenger seat, and made his way up the steps. He knocked on the door, and a few minutes later, it swung open to reveal Officer Aiden O’Connell on the other side, one of the best K9 handlers he’d ever met. “Good to see you, Adam. Come on in. Everyone’s waiting in the living room.”

  Adam made his way inside. The usual guys were there, including several of the Clear Mountain Police Search and Rescue team. Valor waited for Adam to give him the cue it was okay to take off and join Cooper and Harley, Aiden and Zach Turner’s K9 partners. Once Adam released him from his leash, he took off running to the edge of the kitchen. He immediately started playing with one of the extra chew toys.

  “Come take a seat. The game’s about to start,” Zach said, gesturing t
o a seat on the couch. “The pizza should be here in a few minutes.”

  Adam took the offered spot next to Liam Davis, a local business owner who ran a sleigh-ride company at Clear Mountain Resort. He was engaged to a Clear Mountain Police Detective and set to marry her in a few months.

  “How was your day? As eventful as these two who ended up using their K9 partners to track down a missing kid?” Liam asked with curiosity.

  Adam shook his head. “No, just the same old, same old, for me. Valor and I spent our time checking out cars before they passed through the base gate.”

  “Hey, don’t knock it. I would give anything to do what all of you do. I keep waiting for the Captain to add a third K9 position to the department, but he hasn’t done it,” said Ted Hendricks, another Clear Mountain Search and Rescue officer.

  “Ted, your job is just as important as ours,” Aiden corrected. “We’re a team; don’t ever forget that.”

  “I know that. I’ve just always wanted to be a K9 handler. Sometimes I think about applying to other departments, but now that I’m in a committed relationship with Deanna, I don’t think I could leave her like that.”

  “Please don’t,” Zach jokingly begged with a wink. “We don’t want our head dispatcher to end up mad because of it. She’d take it out on all of us.”

  “Okay everyone, the game’s about to start,” Connor Bishop, the head of the Clear Mountain SWAT team, said as he waved at all of them to be quiet. “I want to see the Broncos sweep the division.”

  The men settled in around the flat screen TV just as the kickoff took place. Adam enjoyed the rest of the evening with his friends, rooting for their native team and eating lots of junk food. He headed home knowing he was ready to fall fast asleep when his head hit the pillow. What he didn’t expect was to find an invitation in his mailbox. It was offering Adam and Valor a chance to join the batch of new recruits for the training program at the elite Disaster City Search and Rescue Academy in Texas.

  He’d sent in the application on a whim, never thinking that they would actually want him, let alone that his commanding officer would approve it. Despite the unlikelihood of it actually happening, he held it in his hands. It was physical proof that dreams really could come true. He knew he could finish this training at the top of his class. When he did just that, the Army would have to grant him a post of his choosing. This was the ticket he needed to get back overseas where he belonged.

  Two

  Clara Burnette was happy to have a weekend to herself before the new batch of recruits showed up at the academy for training. The last group had been filled with a lot of newbies who needed extra help, which she was happy to give, but it proved exhausting.

  “Can I get you another cucumber water, Miss Burnette?” the hostess at the spa asked as Clara let the masseuse work his magic on her sore legs and feet.

  It was rough standing on her feet for hours on end. She wasn’t as young as she once was. Approaching her mid-thirties, it was getting harder every year to keep up with the demands of the job. She loved it too much, though, to give it up. It just meant she needed to sneak away more often for her secret spa visits. They had to be secret, too, because her fellow male instructors would never let her live it down if they found out. She always had to be mindful of how they viewed her choices. They would definitely chalk this up to her being dainty, and she wasn’t about to let that happen. She’d worked too hard to establish herself as just as capable as her male counterparts.

  “No, thanks, Trina. I’m fine for now.”

  “If you need anything else, just have Henry let me know.”

  Henry was great at working out the knots in Clara’s muscles. She’d gone through several masseuses before finding him. She heard the clicking of the door, letting her know that they were alone again.

  “You know, I have this exceptional product, Tiger Balm, that would be great for you to use on any spots giving you a problem between visits.”

  “Thanks, Henry. I’ll take you up on that. Anything to help me get through my long workdays will be much appreciated.”

  “You know what else helps with that, a cocktail with a friendly face afterward. We should go out sometime.”

  Clara stiffened, not liking the sound of the invitation. Henry had been flirting heavier and heavier every time she came in for a massage. She’d managed to rebuff him each time since she didn’t have time to date. If he wasn’t such a great masseuse, she would have stopped coming a long time ago. “Thanks for the offer, Henry, but I’m really busy with work. I can barely get away to get a massage once a month, let alone get enough time to go out.”

  “You know, all work and no play makes for a very dull life. You should have some fun once in a while, Clara.”

  “Maybe when I retire,” she teased back, trying to deflect his advances. Her phone buzzed, causing her to reach over to the counter and grab it.

  “This is a cell phone-free environment. You don’t need any stress while you’re relaxing,” Henry chastised.

  “I know, but it could be work.” She brushed away her black hair that had fallen into her face. She swiped the line on her phone to unlock it, then squinted her brown eyes to read the words in the dark. Great, it was work. They were getting called out to go inspect a movie theater in Wilmont that received a bomb threat. When small towns nearby didn’t have bomb squads of their own, they turned to the Disaster City Search and Rescue Academy to send out a team. The academy didn’t have any trainees to send since they were between classes. This meant the instructors would have to go on their own instead, and on her day off, too.

  Clara let out a heavy sigh. “I have to go, Henry.”

  “Another bomb threat?”

  She sat up and nodded, as she held the sheet over her. “What can I say, no rest when a potential explosive device is involved.”

  “How about I don’t charge you for this one, and you come back when you can,” Henry offered. “And we can get a drink afterward.”

  “I’ll text you to reschedule,” Clara confirmed, but conveniently dodged the second part of his offer, as she hopped down from the massage table. She gestured towards the door with her head. “I need to change back into my clothes.”

  “What, you don’t want an audience?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Hardly; I’m way too private for that. Get out of here, Henry.”

  The masseuse did as she ordered, scurrying from the room. Once she was alone, she quickly changed back into her blue jeans and white t-shirt, pulled her hair into a bun, then grabbed her messenger bag before heading out of the spa.

  Twenty minutes later, she arrived back at the Disaster City facility. She made her way over to the staging area outside the training center. Here, her fellow bomb detection handler, Ben Miller, was gathering up equipment and getting his dog into the kennel in the back of the DCSRA truck.

  “Good, you made it back just in time,” said Sergeant Young, the middle-aged head instructor of the facility. “Captain said we need to be ready to roll out in fifteen.”

  “I’ll change quickly, grab Rebel, and be back in ten,” Clara said, rushing past her superior.

  She made a straight line for her apartment at the instructor villa where all of them lived. Clara stopped at the second set of townhomes, pulled out her keys, and unlocked the front door. She breezed inside and was greeted by the barking of her K9 partner, Rebel, from his kennel at the edge of the living room. “I’ll come get you in just a few minutes, boy.”

  Clara rushed past the living room and kitchen combo area, heading down the small hall to where her bedroom and bathroom were located. She grabbed one of her blue cargo uniforms and slipped it on. Next, she pinned on her Disaster City Search and Rescue badge opposite her last name on the other side, and quickly shoved on and laced up her black combat boots.

  As she re-entered the living room, Rebel was standing up in his kennel, his attention completely on Clara. “I know, boy, you’re ready to go. Let me grab your leash.” She picked it up from the near
by counter, opened the kennel door, and clipped it onto his collar. She patted him on the top of the head before guiding him towards the exit. “Come on, we have a new assignment. Let’s put those expert skills of yours to work.”

  They made their way over to the staging area and loaded into the truck. The team arrived at the movie theater twenty minutes later, ready to walk the exterior of the property where the suspicious packages had been found. Clara and Rebel were assigned to the west side of the theater. Officer Miller, the other bomb detection instructor, took the east side with his K9 partner, Samson. Sarge stayed behind at the truck to coordinate from there.

  Clara and Rebel made it about twenty yards before they came across the first package. From a distance, it looked like a shoe box wrapped in a bag. Clara removed Rebel’s chew toy, then gave him the cue to inspect the box by sniffing it for the trace chemicals that would identify it as a bomb. When Rebel didn’t sit down by it but returned to Clara’s side instead, she knew it was safe to go over to the package and confirm her partner’s dismissal of it as a threat. Sure enough, as she flipped the lid of the shoe box, there was just some old stuffing from shoes inside.