Cold fury, p.1
Cold Fury, page 1
part #1 of Cold Justice® - Most Wanted Series
Cold Fury
Cold Justice® - Most Wanted
Toni Anderson
Contents
Cold Fury
Prologue
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
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Cold Justice World Overview
Also by Toni Anderson
About the Author
Useful Acronym Definitions For Toni’s Books
Acknowledgments
For Jodie Griffin — for her brilliant ideas and unending enthusiasm.
COLD FURY
Cold Justice® – Most Wanted (Book #4)
Seven years ago, Hope Harper was a star defense attorney with a great life and a beautiful family—until she got the wrong defendant released, and he turned around and viciously slaughtered her husband and child. Since then, the only thing Hope cares about is locking bad guys behind bars where they can’t hurt anyone else. When the killer escapes from a maximum security prison during a winter storm, Hope refuses to run and hide.
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The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team is called in to protect the handful of public figures the notorious serial killer threatened. Operator Aaron Nash draws the short straw—he’ll be heading up Assistant District Attorney Hope Harper’s close protection detail.
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Much to Aaron’s frustration, the cool blonde refuses to go into protective custody. As the hours and days wear on, Aaron and Hope manage a fragile truce. He begins to understand and admire the tenacious prosecutor, and the two of them begin to work together.
* * *
As the escaped serial killer’s rampage spins on, Hope knows it’s just a matter of time until he comes for her. Except something’s changed. For the first time since losing her family, she has something to live for. But is history doomed to repeat itself?
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Cold Fury is the fourth book in the Cold Justice® – Most Wanted series, featuring agents from FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team.
* * *
All books standalone.
* * *
Sign up for Toni Anderson’s newsletter via this link to receive an exclusive bonus scene from this novel (https://dl.bookfunnel.com/zu4jnnyifn)!
* * *
And, if you enjoy this book, please consider leaving a review at your favorite vendor or networking site. Reviews help readers find books that are right for them. Thanks so much, in advance!
Prologue
Today, Hope Harper had won the biggest victory of her life in the courtroom. After weeks of fiery and often brutal testimony, her client had been released. The problem was, Hope suspected Julius Leech was truly the vicious serial killer the police and District Attorney’s office had accused him of being.
And now he was free again.
Her stomach clenched. She closed her eyes and laid her head against the warm steering wheel in the quiet parking garage attached to her firm’s downtown building.
It wasn’t her job as a defense attorney to make a judgment regarding her clients’ guilt. Only for her to vigorously defend them and focus on the government’s failure to legally prove their case.
The cops had fucked up.
Worse, they’d lied. Perjured themselves on the stand.
Last night, one detective had tragically taken his own life. His partner, a junior detective, was now under investigation.
She raised her head. Glanced at the text her husband had sent her a few hours ago.
We need to talk…
And didn’t that sound ominous.
They hadn’t spent a lot of time together recently, this case consuming every minute of her existence since Jeff Beasley had dangled a partnership in front of her like a carrot on a stick if she took on Leech as a client. She hadn’t even needed a “Not Guilty” verdict. She'd only needed to show up.
Partner before thirty?
Amazing.
With a kid?
Unheard of.
Hope liked to win. Liked to prove she was as good as any of the arrogant, self-righteous prosecutors in the DA’s office. Her goal had always been a partnership at Beasley, Waterman, Vander & Co., so she had job security and some say in what cases she handled in the future. Mainly, so she could spend more time with Danny and Paige, and they could think about adding to their little family.
Well, now she was officially one of the “Co.”
And even though her insides churned with unease, she wasn’t the one who’d screwed this up for the prosecution. The cop who’d planted the evidence was the reason Julius Leech was once again free to wander the streets. She was good, but she wasn’t good enough to beat the wave of circumstantials the Boston Police Department had produced to back up their accusations.
And she was truly sorry about Detective Pauly Monroe. She’d known him personally via her brother-in-law, who was also a BPD detective.
She blew out a massive sigh. This trial had damaged her relationships on so many levels.
She couldn’t bear to think about Leech any longer. She’d been forced to sit next to the guy for months and pretend he didn’t make her skin crawl every time they accidentally brushed against one another. She’d had to pretend the obvious admiration in his pale blue eyes wasn’t something that made her want to retch.
She was taking next week off. God knew, she’d earned it.
We need to talk…
Anxiety gnawed along her nerves. She missed her husband, and she missed her daughter. She started the car and began the drive out of the city. She contemplated calling ahead to see if they needed anything picked up from the store but dreaded the idea Danny might tell her not to come home at all.
They’d argued last night to the point where for the first time in their lives together she’d slept in the spare room and left before the sun was up.
She hated when they fought. Danny was her safe place, her rock, and usually backed her.
Not last night.
Last night, Danny had begged her to walk away. To walk away from the case and the firm.
It had been an impossible ask after she’d worked so hard and the trial was almost over. Why couldn’t he have seen that? Instead, he’d said she was a workaholic who was selling her soul.
That had cut deep.
It was okay to work tirelessly on the Innocence Project and help get wrongly convicted individuals out of jail, but it wasn’t okay to vigorously defend people the public had decided were guilty, whether the facts backed them up or not?
That was bullshit.
Criminal justice was not necessarily about right and wrong. It was a game of legalese chess, and she was damned good at it, even if her morals were a little bruised from some of the people her firm represented—but no more than the experienced detective who’d planted DNA or the rookie who’d let him.
Her jaw hurt from clenching her teeth together, but she had to let it go.
She loved Danny. Had loved him since the first day they’d collided. They’d figure it out.
Hell, she’d quit if it meant that much to him. Deal with corporate or entertainment contracts instead. Even though she loved trying cases in court, she’d quit for the man she loved.
It was after seven p.m., and the rush hour traffic had died down. Getting out of the city only took twenty minutes. She arrived at their beautiful, leafy, suburban craftsman-style house and parked in the driveway. She stared at the building that Danny had turned into a comfortable home for them all. It was deep blue and had white-painted shutters. Flowers bloomed in the containers they’d set up that spring. That was the extent of her gardening prowess, but Danny enjoyed being outside. He’d planted a flowerbed at the side of the driveway and a small vegetable garden at the back where he and Paige were growing lettuce and carrots and a pumpkin to carve for Halloween.
He’d made the choice to stay home with Paige while Hope went out to work. He was a crime fiction author and managed to squeeze out pages in-between playdates and kids’ movies. She and his brother Brendan served as technical advisors for his plots. One of his novels had been optioned for a movie, though Danny had told her not to get excited because mos
t options expired before the movie was ever made. But Hope was secretly planning what to wear at the Oscars and mentally helping Danny prepare his acceptance speech for winning best adapted screenplay.
She smiled.
She loved her husband. She believed in him. Up until yesterday, she’d thought he believed in her too.
Lawyers often didn’t like their clients. Clients were often bad people. They still deserved a solid defense.
Last night, they’d both said things in anger they shouldn’t have, but maybe the real issue was the fact she’d been absent so much lately. She didn’t want to be absent anymore.
She climbed out and met the muggy September air. The fact Paige didn’t immediately throw open the front door and run to greet her was a bad sign. Aged four and a half now, her daughter was usually allowed to stay up late if she knew her mom was going to be home in time to tuck her into bed.
Hope stretched her neck to the side, working out the kinks before walking around to grab her heavy briefcase and suit jacket off the passenger seat.
The sun had started to drop in the sky, casting long shadows from the detached garage into the yard. It was unseasonably hot. A bird sang in the tree, and a kid rode his bicycle down the sidewalk followed by a girl on a skateboard. Cars were parked along the street. The house opposite was having an addition built on the back, and Danny had been cursing the noise and distraction from his writing. The workers were gone now, the dumpster at the front of the house full of sheetrock and rubble. Construction mud covered the sidewalk.
Hope brushed her hair from her forehead and went in through the side gate to see if her family were in the back yard.
It was so quiet.
Her heartbeat sped up in sudden apprehension.
What if he’d left her?
“Danny?” She hurried up the back steps and inside. “Paige?”
She dumped her bag and jacket on the kitchen island, pulled out her phone. No messages. She texted him before slipping it back into her pocket. Danny’s car keys were hanging up beside the door, and the awful tension that had gripped her eased. No evidence of dinner being made though. Where the heck were they? Maybe they’d gone to pick something up. Or to grab an ice cream from the convenience store at the end of the street to celebrate the end of summer.
Perhaps they could all go out to that place on Field Street and eat on the patio. Celebrate her partnership and a week’s well-earned vacation.
She kicked off her heels and absently leaned down to stroke the kitten, Lucifer, who’d come running through from the family room meowing for food as usual. Then she noticed blood on the floor.
“Did you cut yourself?” She picked up Lucifer and checked his paws. There were traces of crimson on his soft pads, but he didn’t seem to be injured.
She walked through to the family room, clutching the kitty to her chest. Her heart stopped, vision tunneled. She dropped the cat. Ran toward her husband who lay on the floor in front of the muted TV.
“Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. No.”
Paige lay next to him. Still as a rock. They were holding hands and a chill stole over her.
“No, no, no.”
She searched for Danny’s pulse. Belatedly noticed the blood drenching his dark blue graphic tee that had a small hole in the center. The faint flutter of his heartbeat beneath her fingertips took her by surprise.
He was alive.
He was alive.
Thank God.
The slight rise and fall of his chest told her he was breathing. Just.
She fumbled for her phone and called 911 and put it on speaker, yelling her address and begging for help. She lifted his shirt to see the wound, used the material to wipe away the blood. The small puncture wound immediately refilled with dark crimson. She pressed her palm against the wound to staunch the bleeding, but she needed to help Paige. She grabbed a thin cushion off the sofa, arranged it over the gash before draping Danny’s heavy arm over the material to apply pressure.
She turned to her daughter and frantically felt for a pulse, internally recoiling from her daughter’s cool skin even as she checked to see if she was breathing. She wasn’t.
“Baby, come on.”
Danny’s eyes flickered as she started CPR on their child. They couldn’t lose her. Hope refused to lose her. She repeated the thirty compressions to two breaths, five times, ignoring the lack of response in Paige’s blood-speckled blue eyes.
She turned to Danny to make sure he was still alive, still with her. She placed a kiss on his forehead. “I love you, honey. I’m so sorry we argued last night. I’m so sorry. I love you. Don’t leave me.”
He tried to open his mouth, but nothing came out. His eyes flicked to their daughter, and Hope began CPR again, knowing it was almost certainly too late and their beautiful, amazing daughter was gone. But she was called Hope for a reason.
She refused to give up.
The doorbell rang. The paramedics were here. Thank God. She stumbled to her feet and crashed into the coffee table on the way out of the room, barely registering the blow. She threw open the door, and suddenly, it was as if she’d slipped into a surreal dream. It wasn’t the paramedics standing there, it was Julius Leech, and he held a bunch of flowers and a bottle of red wine and wore a big smile.
“I wanted to thank you—”
Hope ignored him. Blinked and looked around. An ambulance was racing down the street toward her, and she pushed past Leech to stand on the cool grass in her bare feet, frantically waving her arms.
The ambulance pulled to a stop.
“This way,” she urged as they jumped out of their rig and grabbed their heavy bags.
“Quickly. My husband is alive. I did CPR on my daughter, but she isn’t breathing.” She broke off on a sob as she led the way inside. She eased into a space between Danny and Paige as the paramedics began to work on her family. Stroked her daughter’s silky blonde hair. “Her name is Paige.”
“What happened?” one of the paramedics asked.
“I don’t know. I arrived home a few minutes ago and found them like this.”
The paramedic avoided her gaze, but she refused to accept what she could see on the woman’s face.
“Please keep trying.” Terror strangled Hope. “Please don’t give up. They are everything to me.”
The paramedic nodded and began inserting an IV while another medic worked on Danny.
Hope stroked his black hair. “He was breathing and had a pulse when I came home. His eyes were open and aware.” She didn’t know how coherent words were spilling out of her mouth when all she wanted to do was scream.
More medics arrived, and she was forced aside as the two teams worked side-by-side.
“Please help them. I don’t know what I’ll do without them.” She’d die. She’d cease to exist.
She glanced up and saw Julius Leech standing on the threshold of the family room. A smile flickered around the corner of his mouth as his eyes shone with what looked like glee.
Realization hit her like a shotgun blast. “You son of a bitch.”
Hope stumbled to her feet and launched herself at him. Leech looked startled. He scooted from the room and out through the wide-open front door, and she chased him, grabbing the neck of his suit jacket, jerking him off his feet. He lay there in the grass, staring up at her.
