The Enforcer Read Free

sensing Dylan ’s distress, Milly put her head on the leader’s lap.
    Traitor, Toby thought, though he was secretly impressed with her acting ability. He’d trained her to be a bomb-sniffing dog, not a therapy dog, but she managed to fool Dylan, who returned Milly’s steady stare as if in a trance. With a shaky breath that gave him a brief glimpse of full breasts beneath the baggy sweater, she reached for her steaming coffee and took a quick sip.     
    “ Well.” She cleared her throat, and Toby jerked his attention upward. “I’m sorry you’ve come all this way for nothing, Mr. Burke,” she said on a firmer note. “I hope you understand that there’s nothing personal about my decision, but I don’t take in soldiers with mental or emotional disorders. I just can’t afford the liability.”
    Toby ’s jaw came unhinged. For a stunned moment, he just stared at her, unable to accept her decision. Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black? he wanted to scoff, except a comment like that would reveal the fact that he’d read the FBI’s extensive case file and psychological profile on her. Other organizations, like the National Security Administration, had been keeping tabs on her phone calls for months. ATF had flown surveillance drones over her property to assess her training facilities. Pulling together agents and resources from all of those organizations, the Inter-Agency Counterterrorist Taskforce had been tasked with proving her culpability. It had never occurred to Toby that he might be turned away, especially considering the skills he brought with him. Desperate to persuade her otherwise, he considered his next move.
    The FBI ’s profile on Dylan had delved into her reverence for her ancestor, John Brown, the abolitionist whose raid on Harpers Ferry had sparked the Civil War. This morning, with that pearl of information in mind, he had donned a certain T-shirt as a last-resort measure. 
    Pulling back the edges of his jacket, he exposed the white letters emblazoned on the black cotton. Then he reached for his drink and emptied it, giving Dylan time to read the words printed across his muscular pecs. Over the rim of his glass, he watched her eyes widen as she scanned the message.
    Lowering his glass, he smothered a burp and rose to his feet. “Well, I’m sorry to have wasted your time, if that’s how you feel, ma’am.” As he pulled a worn, leather wallet from his pocket and slapped a ten-dollar bill on the table, Milly moved away from Dylan’s chair, dragging her leash behind her.
    “ Good-day, Cap’n.” He tossed off a sharp salute. “XO.” He saluted again. Then gesturing for Milly to heel, he swiveled smartly on his boots and stalked off, all the while praying he would hear Dylan call him back.
    She ’ll change her mind, he assured himself. She just needed to think about what his shirt said.
     
    Dylan watched Tobias Burke saunter past the railing with a swagger that conveyed undiminished confidence in the wake of her rejection. His crooked half-smile could not disguise the dangerous aura he exuded as a result of his military training. The U.S. Army Rangers had conditioned him to hold his head high, his shoulders back. Her trainees would follow a man like Burke to the ends of the earth.
    “ You sure you should’ve let him go?” Terrence Ashby echoed her churning thoughts on a note of disapproval.
    She drew her lower lip between her teeth. “I can’t get a read on him,” she said in defense of her decision.
    That was true enough, but that wasn ’t what had made her chase him off. It was the ease with which he’d brought back the disturbing images of severed body parts. Thank God she’d never had to match up the scattered pieces of a child.
    “ I think we could’ve used him,” Terrence persisted. “I won’t be around forever, you know.”
    His words plucked at her heartstrings even as they wrested her attention to his rigid countenance. “Don’t say that,” she