Page 4 of Guarded from Sabotage

“Yes,” I reply through a narrowing throat. “I’m Sarah.”

The shorter of the two steps into my office. He crosses halfway to my desk before saying, “Miss Pearce. We need you to come with us.”

“What?” I feel like a parrot at this point. “Why? Is it one of my clients? Did something happen? Are they in the hospital?”

“This has nothing to do with them.” Tall cop narrows his eyes as he looks at me. “We need to speak with you.”

“About what? I don’t understand.”

The two men exchange a quick glance, and then the shorter one says, “There’s been a crime, Miss Pearce. We’d prefer you come to the station willingly, but if you choose not to, we’ll have to put you under arrest.”

Behind the police officers, a small crowd is gathered in the hallway—the social worker who has the office next to me, two admin workers, and a custodian—all watching like it’s a show on TV and not my life.

“I don’t understand.” Now my voice is wobbling, and tears burn behind my eyes. “Under arrest for what? Does this have to do with the collection agency? I don’t owe anything. I?—”

“This has nothing to do with collection agencies,” the taller man replies, then huffs like I’m purposefully being obtuse. “You’re a person of interest in a grand theft case. You’re not under arrest yet, but once we get to the station, you’re welcome to contact your attorney.”

If I weren’t sitting, I’d collapse to the floor. “Theft?” My voice pitches up. “You think Istolesomething? What? I didn’t. I don’t understand.”

The taller cop comes right up to my desk and puts his hands on the wooden surface, so he’s looming over me. “Someonetook a car out for a test drive, usingyouridentification,yourlicense, and stole it. A fifty-thousand dollar car. That’s a serious charge. So. Are you coming willingly, or do we need to arrest you?”

The walls feel like they’re closing in on me.

What am I supposed to do?

Sniffing back tears, I finally whisper, “I’ll come with you.”

CHAPTER TWO

2 Weeks Later

DANTE

It’s been eight months since I separated from the Army, and not once have I regretted my decision.

As I was preparing to leave the only life I’d known for almost two decades, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have doubts. Would I feel the same sense of fulfillment working for a private security company as I did after completing a successful mission? Would I be happy living in Texas; far from my family in White Plains, New York? Could I build the same connection with my new team as I’d had with the one I left?

The answers to all those questions ended up being the same. Yes.

Though the Blade and Arrow Bravo team has only been officially open for four months, we’ve already helped with a custody case, a woman being blackmailed by her ex-husband,andwe protected our fellow teammate’s girlfriend from traffickers. So I feel pretty good about that.

While San Antonio isn’t exactly close to White Plains, my new schedule gives me the flexibility to visit my family more often, and I never have to miss my weekly call home.

And my new team is filled with familiar faces. Matthew and Erik, who were on my old Green Beret split team, decided to come on this new venture with me. And Niall, Rhiannon, and Xavier were stationed at Fort Campbell with me, serving on a different Green Beret team. The six of us spent years training and working together, and I’d trust any of them with my life.

That’s the thing about serving with people in such treacherous conditions. As part of the Operational Detachment A Team, or A-Team, we were sent into some of the most dangerous situations in the Middle East. And we had to trust each other implicitly to accomplish our missions and get out alive.

These people I served with aren’t just friends or teammates. They’re family.

But even family can’t stay together forever. As years went on, more and more of my teammates moved on. Through injury or separation or retirement, they left the Army, while I was still hanging on. As I closed in on forty—only two years away, which is hard to believe—I was coming to the point where I’d have to take a training job instead of being sent out on missions, and I wasn’t feeling great about that.

So when my old teammate Cole called back in March and asked me to lead the new branch of his company, Blade and Arrow Security, it seemed like fate stepping in at the right moment. I could still protect people, still make a difference, just in a new capacity.

Three months later, I was in Texas, helping to turn a rundown ranch thirty miles northwest of San Antonio into the new Blade and Arrow Bravo Team headquarters. And from that first week in our new workplace and home—we all have apartments here, too—I’ve never been happier about my decision.

A rewarding job working with people I like and respect, an apartment that’s literally a two-minute walk from the office,andI still get to help people? How could I possibly complain?

Something else I can’t complain about is the view from my living room window—a broad expanse of grass spotted with oak and acacia trees, the sky a brilliant blue with a few wispy clouds, and our newly refinished barn rising to meet it. A little path meanders around the yard, and I spot Niall and his fiancée, Jade, holding hands as they walk together along it.

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