Saxon's Savior (Protect and Serve #3) - Pandora Pine Page 0,2

shouting my address and the situation to the dispatcher. She did her best to calm me down and assure me help was on the way. I might have only been twelve years old, but I knew my mother was beyond help. Her skin was cold, and her body was stiff. There would be no miracle rescue like there was in one of Mom’s Hallmark movies.

Within minutes, the Mockingbird was swarmed with cops, EMTs and members of the Danvers Fire Department. I stood in the doorway to her bedroom and watched while those men and women gave my mother their all. They were heroes, each and every one of them, even though she hadn’t given a shit about herself or me.

When it was all over, a white sheet covered her body. One of the medics, Tim Miller, explained someone from social services was on their way to help me. I knew what that meant: foster care. He stayed with me, helping me pack my meager belongings into a garbage bag and telling me everything would be all right. Before it was time to go, he gave me his phone number and told me to call anytime I needed to talk.

His one act of kindness was nearly my undoing. I’d been stoic from the moment I discovered my mother until Tim handed me a lifeline. Tears scalded down my cheeks. He held me, patting my back until I was cried out. Afterwards, he helped me into the SUV of the woman from social services.

I watched out the back window as the Mockingbird Motel faded into the distance and was gone. Mrs. Joshua, the social worker, droned on and on about finding my father and how foster care would only be temporary. I’d be reunited with my Dad before I knew it.

I knew no one was going to find him. My father had been gone without a trace for two years. My guess was, he’d made sure we could never find him. He’d probably gotten remarried and had a new family to grill steaks for.

Turning away from the Mockingbird, I faced forward. My old life in Danvers was over. All I could do now was find the courage to face my new future.

1

Dallas

October, Present Day…

“Dallas! Call for you on line one!” My brother, Fire Captain Ozzie Graves, shouted from his office. “Give your boy toys your direct line. I am not your fucking secretary!”

“Are you sure?” I yelled back. “You’ve got the legs for it.” He did. Ozzy had won first place in a charity drag show a few years back.

“Asshole!” Ozzie shouted back good-naturedly.

“Dallas Haynes,” I answered formally. Not recognizing the number on the caller ID, I didn’t want to make a fool of myself by sounding too casual.

“Dallas! You son of a gun. Toby Whitmer here. How’s it hanging, man?”

“Hey, Toby.” Christ, I hadn’t spoken to Toby in nearly six months. The two of us met at a medic convention in Boston back in April. We’d gotten close during those five days, but not as close as I thought, obviously, since this was the first time I’d heard from him since that last night.

“Listen, man, I gotta warn you about something.” The upbeat tone in his voice was gone, replaced by a weightier attitude.

Oh, shit! Had he tested positive for something penicillin wouldn’t cure? Raw fear curdled the coffee in my gut. “I’m all ears.” I was. I hoped I’d managed to keep the anxiety out of my voice.

“It’s nothing like that. What the fuck do you take me for?” Toby snorted. “It’s more serious than sex. We’ve got a bad seed heading your way.”

My scrambling mind took a few extra seconds to comprehend what the hell Toby was saying to me. He wasn’t handing me a potential death sentence as I’d feared. “Bad seed? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Holy shit! You haven’t heard about Saxon James, have you?” Toby whistled. The sound went right through my body, rattling my brain against my skull.

“Saxon James? Who the hell is he?” I scanned my mind for any mention of this man. With a name as odd as Saxon, I knew I would’ve remembered if his name had been mentioned before.

“Damn, man, I’m sorry to be the one to break this to you. Captain Kitchener got an email granting his request to transfer Saxon out of our firehouse here in Newburyport. Surprise, surprise, he’s heading your way as a replacement for Hal Rossi.” Toby clicked his tongue against the roof of