Calculated Risk (Triumph Over Adversity #1) - Lynn Shannon Page 0,2

fitness exam now. Still, Jason had fared better than any of the other Marines that day. All the rest had died.

Connor whined. Jason groaned again and sat up. “Okay, boy. Do you need to go out?”

He reached for his shoes. Connor beelined for the sliding doors leading to the porch. His body was rigid, his attention on the yard beyond the glass. A scar ran down the length of his left side, cutting through the fur. Connor had earned his own war wounds as a military-trained bomb-detection dog. Like Jason, he was retired.

The dog whined and shifted at the door. The hair on the back of Jason's neck prickled. The hearing in his left ear was questionable. Had Connor heard something outside? The dog acted as if something was wrong.

Jason shot to his feet, crossed the room, and opened the sliding door. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky, followed by a boom of thunder. Jason gave the heel command to Connor before stepping onto the patio. Woods leading to a state park bordered the edge of his property. It wasn’t uncommon for wild animals to wander close to the house while foraging for food. Jason didn’t want the dog going after a skunk or some other woodland creature.

Frigid wind rustled the trees, a prelude to the approaching storm. Jason barely felt the cold seeping through his thin T-shirt. He scanned the yard. Motion-detection lights clicked on, illuminating the surrounding area. Nothing stirred. Still, Connor whined next to him.

Jason glanced at the dog. Connor’s ears were tilted forward and tension coiled his body. Something was clearly bothering him. “What is it, buddy?”

A scream ripped through the night.

Jason’s heart stopped. That’d come from his neighbor’s house.

He bolted across the grass, Connor at his side. The properties in their old neighborhood were large. Each house sat on at least an acre. It gave privacy and space, something Jason normally loved. Now it frustrated him. He couldn’t get to the other house fast enough.

Jason put more fuel in his legs. His thigh, held together with a rod and pins, protested. Another memento from the IED that’d nearly killed him three years ago. His left side had taken the brunt of the explosion, leaving him with a map of scars etched on his skin and damaged hearing in his ear.

He ignored the bite of pain from his leg, his sole focus on the lights shimmering inside the house. Addison’s house. The door leading to the back yard rattled in the wind. Patio furniture was in disarray, chairs knocked over and scattered. Addison was nowhere to be seen.

Where had the scream come from?

Connor growled again, the hair on the back of his neck rising. A bolt of lightning arced across the sky, illuminating the yard and the woods beyond. A man, wearing dark clothes and a ski mask, straddled something.

Not something. Someone.

Addison.

“Hey!” Jason raced for them. He gave the release command to Connor, and the dog snarled before barking. The German shepherd burst forward to protect his friend. Connor and Addison adored each other.

The attacker straddling Addison bolted upright. He sprinted for the woods, disappearing into the thick trees bordering the edge of the property. A dirt road was a short distance away. It was rarely used and maintained by the park, a perfect escape path for someone with nefarious purposes. Jason wanted to give chase, but his first priority had to be Addison.

Connor reached the woman on the ground first. His barking turned to howling. It was a low mourning sound that sent Jason’s heart skittering, even as his feet kept moving.

No, Lord, please don’t let me be too late.

He slid to a stop next to the prone figure and dropped to his knees. Addison sat up, clutching her throat, her eyes wide with panic, and backed away from him. The terror in her expression cut Jason’s heart into pieces.

He lifted his hands in a surrender gesture to avoid frightening her more. “It’s me. Jason.”

She blinked and seemed to register his presence. “I’m…” Her gaze shifted to Connor. She swallowed, her voice raspy. “He broke into my house.”

In the span of a heartbeat, Jason put the pieces together. Addison had tried to escape out her patio door, but the intruder had followed. “Where are you injured?”

“I’m…okay.”

It was too dark to see if that was true. Jason glanced at the woods. If the man was willing to attack a woman escaping her home, what else would he do? Would he come back? Jason had