Her Secret Christmas Agent

“I’ve already completed my credits to graduate but since we moved here before the end of the year the district wants me to attend class until graduation. We moved from Iowa.”

She was good, really good. With no makeup and flawless skin, her face easily passed for a teenager’s. Her clothes were adolescent typical, too, from her form-hugging polo shirt to her low-slung skinny jeans and Sherpa-lined suede boots. But those biceps and the overall athletic build that accentuated her feminine curves, her most definitely adult woman curves, confirmed his suspicion. As a civilian teacher, he wasn’t supposed to know about it; Claudia had informed him as a Trail Hiker. He had to play dumb, but he also had to be prepared in case the True Believers started to pull their crap again. Principal Essis had been notified, too, and he knew that many of the faculty would expect nothing less with such serious threats.

Claudia wouldn’t have had to tell him this gal was undercover, though. The new “student’s” appearance, along with his gut instinct, which was rarely wrong, clued him in. He had to give the undercover operative kudos—the kids wouldn’t think twice of her except as a new classmate.

He hoped like hell his instinct wasn’t letting him down now, because this woman was hotter than hell and he hadn’t ever glanced at one of his students and felt a physical attraction before.

“Mr. Everlock, Nika’s going to come to our Rainbows meeting this afternoon.” Rachel’s voice brought Mitch back to the classroom.

“Glad to have you, Nika.”

“Sure thing.”

Rachel checked her phone. “I’ve got to go or I’m going to be late for French. Madame Kramer is doing a big finals review today. I’ll see you later, Nika.”

“See you.” Nika wiggled her fingers just as Rachel had done, looking every bit the new, slightly awkward student who wanted to fit in.

Once they were alone in the classroom, he waited for her to speak. He had to. To make sure.

“I think you know who I am, Mr. Everlock.”

“Do I?”

She looked carefully around the classroom before she held out her hand. “Nika Pasczenko, SVPD.”

* * *

Mitch Everlock was going to get his due. It was only a matter of time. They were still holding the Rainbows meetings.

As he watched the students head to their next classes from his spot in the school parking lot, some leaving early, some skipping, his blood boiled. He’d been warned that it might not be so easy to sway Mitch Everlock. What the stupid teacher didn’t realize was that the messages telling him to end the Rainbows weren’t a joke. This was about the truth, what was best and right and true for everyone in Silver Valley. Whether they wanted to believe it or not.

No officals had been out to the farms to test the blood, not yet. He knew they were slow, but it was taking them a long time. He fully understood, though, that the SVPD would eventually show up asking for samples of their most recent slaughter.

He was already ahead of them. The blood he’d used was from last year. He’d frozen it after he’d met Mr. Wise at the New Thought meetings, just in case he’d be able to use it for a future escapade. And he had.

“Do you have time to talk to the folks from Agriculture today?” His assistant’s voice came over the car’s hands-free speaker. He hated distractions but had to pay his bills for the time being.

“Of course. Anytime. Let me know what works for them.”

“Will do.”

The government oversight was constant. The state and federal governments didn’t trust him to run his own damn farms any longer. Before long, it wouldn’t matter.

When he’d found out about the Rainbows at his very own dinner table he knew that his support of the New Thought planned community hadn’t been in vain. All of the meetings he had attended were going to pay off. He missed the meetings but trusted Leonard Wise. It was better for him to study at home now, while he helped Mr. Wise prepare Silver Valley for what was coming.

Leonard Wise was always right. He was a brilliant man who had come to save Silver Valley. It all made sense. Silver Valley High School was a nest of lies, the way the innocent children of their community were being indoctrinated into society’s evil ways. The Rainbows club’s existence only cemented it.

He’d done what he had to: sent adequate warning that the likes of their sick morals wouldn’t be tolerated. That stupid chemistry teacher thought he was so smart, so savvy, helping the kids get into faraway colleges where their sinful lives could be lived out without their parents watching over them. And there was another problem. Most of the parents in Silver Valley were just as stupid and blind as their children.

But he saw what was happening. Leonard Wise and his brave teachings had enlightened him, given him a reason, a purpose. He was going to bring down the Rainbows and all the students in the group. Mr. Wise would be so pleased, because it would help bring more members to their effort. Once the Rainbows were gone, and the school wasn’t able to function, the parents would be forced to see that their children were running wild. That they needed discipline. That their girls needed to be dedicated to New Thought and to bring new members into the fold in the best, most pure way. Through perfect births.

But first he had to take out the man at the center of the Rainbows. The idiot teacher who was poisoning the children with the same sick lies that were plastered across all the newspapers and internet.

Mr. Mitch Everlock.

Chapter 2

“Isn’t it risky to talk here?” Mitch Everlock placed a hand on the dark counter at the front of the classroom. “And you didn’t have to tell me who you are, Nika. I knew the minute you walked in.”

Nika wondered if he’d felt the same zing of attraction she had. His eyes were a deep holly green, sparkling like her favorite emerald earrings. Nika had left them on her dresser this morning as she’d prepared to come into Silver Valley High undercover. Her relief at Rachel’s acceptance of her as a student was derailed by the disapproving expression on Mitch Everlock’s face.

“You saw me check out the classroom for any students. I’m not here to play games, Mr. Everlock. As far as anyone is concerned, we’re just a student and teacher, right?” She shrugged, hoping the move she’d practiced looked like a typical adolescent gesture. He wasn’t what she’d expected and he made her nervous. The dowdy chemistry teacher she’d imagined was instead a hot stud. The kind of man she’d normally love to have a night or two with. Before she let him go. Because she always let them go.

“How old are you, Nika?”

“Let’s just say I graduated college while most of my ‘classmates’ were still in middle school. These kids were being born when I went through this same school at their age.” She made air quotation marks.

“Huh.” He stood back from the counter and stretched, affording her a nice view of his broad chest and lean hips. He started arranging beakers and scales on the laboratory surface, ignoring her. He didn’t fool her—his movements were meant to distract her, throw her off her game. “Why weren’t you at the station when I filed my report three days ago? I would have remembered you.” His voice was like a sexy caress and she hated herself for the clichéd comparison, damn it.

“Three days ago? I was on a domestic call. I didn’t know I’d be working the Rainbow Hater case with you until last night.” She hadn’t asked to be assigned to babysit a teacher who couldn’t keep control of enough of his classroom and students to already have cornered whoever had left the threats. But no one had asked for her opinion.

“Whoa, Nika. We’re not ‘working’ on anything together, not officially. I’m a Marine vet, no longer working any kind of cases or missions. I’m simply a chemistry teacher. If you have orders to be here, okay, but I’m fine on my own. I can handle whoever this idiot is. You called him the Rainbow Hater?”

“Yes.”

He was not going to make this any easier and Nika was tired of working with egos. She’d survived the ugliest breakup of her life last year and, in retrospect, saw that her ex had been egocentric. Sometimes she wished she could break up with people she worked with. Like this Everlock dude. For once couldn’t someone she had to deal with be reasonable, the yin to her yang? His tone made her want to scream. Instead she remained silent, waiting for him to speak.

“That’s fitting, because whoever it is has a lot of hate issues for the Rainbows. And while I appreciate you’ve been sent here to do your job, you have to understand that I’m the one who knows these kids. I’ll figure out who it is.”

“Are you really fine on your own? The messages have gotten more personal, aimed at you. If the kook who left the most recent message decides to come in here with a weapon, you think you can handle it? Keep all your students safe?”

“You bet your...bottom dollar I can, Nika. I don’t believe it’ll come to that, though. Do you, really?” As he asked she saw him check her out again. His gaze lingered on her breasts before he made an assessing sweep, pausing as he looked at her lower legs. Did he think she had a weapon holstered to her calf? She gripped her designer bag, courtesy of the local thrift shop frequented by teens, tightly over her shoulder, ready to retrieve her pistol if need be.

“I try to never underestimate a criminal, Mr. Everlock.”

“Stop thinking I’m your enemy. As long as I’m in the classroom, my students are safe.” His confidence didn’t come across as boastful but matter-of-fact.

She forced her fingers to relax from the leather bag’s handle, rested her hip on a student desk. Her face was hot and she damned her pale skin, which she knew had to be obviously red. “I don’t think that at all. You were right. We should save our talk for later, either after hours or at the station.”

“So Nika is your real name?” His eyes were closer to jade than emerald, she decided.

“Of course. It’s much easier to keep up the ruse with my real first name. ‘Collins’ is not my surname, though. Fortunately most of the students I’ve met haven’t asked for my last name.”

“They’re too busy studying for semester finals, dreaming about the holiday break and figuring out who to take to the Silver Bells Ball in a few weeks. At least, this crowd is. My other classes are mostly doing well, but the last class of the day, the General Science group, is struggling. I’m lucky if I get half the class to even attend.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Just so you know, I’ll be coming in and out of your different classes if that’s okay.”

“How are you going to explain that to the students? Won’t they expect you to attend a variety of subjects, just like they do?”

She shook her head. “I’m telling them what you heard here. I’m a transfer who only needs to clock classroom time for the state of Pennsylvania so that I can get my degree by May. Which class I do it in doesn’t matter. And since I’ve received several scholarship offers, and want to major in chemistry, it makes perfect sense that I want to spend my time here.”

“I don’t suppose you ever took chemistry?”

“In high school, and one semester in college. I wasn’t a big fan of it, though. I do know my way around a meth lab, unfortunately.” If her chemistry teacher had looked as good as Mitch Everlock she might have considered becoming a pharmacist. Not that she’d tell him that.

“Is there anything we need to go over? Do you have any questions about what I’ve been dealing with?”

“That’s best left for outside class hours, don’t you think? Is there any way you can meet me at SVPD headquarters after school today?”

“I was going to head over there now to file my final report about this last threat, but I suppose I can kill two birds with one visit later. What time?”

His dark hair and brows were the perfect contrast to his eyes and she was intrigued by the lines that fanned out across his forehead, his deep smile lines, the sexy cleft in his chin.

“Um, five okay with you?”

She’d never been the kind of student who was hot for her teachers, but Mitch Everlock might be her first illicit crush. Not that she’d do anything about it. Not yet, anyway.

“Is there something on my face, Nika?” His voice was stern but there was a glint of humor in his eyes.

“No, of course not. I was admiring your tie.” She nodded at the pattern of dancing laboratory Santas holding beakers and test tubes.

He grinned and opened his mouth to reply but the words she leaned in to hear were cut off by a loud crash and then a thump on the classroom floor.

“Down!” he shouted. She went to grab him but his reflexes were quicker and she found herself facedown on the linoleum floor, the weight of an extremely fit man on top of her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a large rock with a piece of paper wrapped around it. The silence was broken only by two distinct plinks of broken glass as they dislodged from the window frame and fell to the floor. The student desk she’d been leaning on had toppled over, covering her legs.

Mitch lifted himself slightly, giving her room to breathe while still protecting her. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Was it only the rock? No explosive?”

“Yeah. Stay down while I investigate.”

As soon as he was up and on his feet she jumped to hers. He gave her a scowl but didn’t stop her from running to the broken window, scanning the parking lot below.

“No one. The son of a bitch is fast, and has a very good throwing arm.” Mitch looked poised to jump through his second-story classroom window.

She looked at the rock. “Do you have latex gloves in here?”

He turned to reply. “On the back counter, in the purple boxes.” She met his eyes and gave him one quick nod. Not in response to his directions but as an acknowledgment from one LEA to another. Because there was no way Mitch Everlock was only a chemistry teacher. His reflexes, his calm demeanor in the face of danger, weren’t natural. He’d been trained, and had kept up his training—this couldn’t all be leftover Marine Corps skills.

“Maybe it’s my turn to ask you who you are, Mr. Everlock.”

“Save it for after school, Nika.”

“Fair enough.” With the gloves on, she unwrapped the rock. She could feel Mitch’s body heat as he leaned in to read the message with her.

Ragged red letters spelled out “End the Rainbows or Die with Regret.”

“They’re focused, I’ll grant them that.” She turned the paper over and saw that the ink had soaked through the ubiquitous copy paper. She brought it to her nose and sniffed. And immediately bit back a gag. “This doesn’t smell like paint.”

“We’re waiting on analysis of the ink that was on my whiteboard. But my bet’s on pig’s blood. There are plenty of pork farms in the area that it could be from.”

“Who’s doing the analysis? Who’s ‘we’?” She hadn’t read about the lab orders when she’d been briefed by Bryce about coming in undercover.

Mitch looked momentarily stymied. If she hadn’t been staring at him she would have missed it. Within a heartbeat his expression was back to neutral.

“SVPD, of course. They told me they were going to send out the samples they took.”

“Did they? I’m not always copied on lab request emails.” She took photos of the paper with her phone and quickly put her cell back into her purse. Since she couldn’t be seen at the school before going undercover she hadn’t been part of the initial SVPD response this past week. “If this had hit you in the head, you wouldn’t be standing right now.”

“No, and I usually stand over there when I’m lecturing.” He pointed to the spot the rock had arced over. “He missed me by an hour.” Mitch grinned. “Not the smartest bad guy. But he’s got a decent throwing arm, I’ll give him that.”

* * *

He’d missed him when he’d thrown the rock. When Everlock’s face appeared at the broken window, looking for the thrower, the disappointment had been keen. His belly, full from lunch, had threatened to spew.

It wasn’t nerves. It was his disgust that the sinful teacher hadn’t been hit by the rock. He’d tried to time it better but work had kept him from getting there earlier. More government inspections. His assistant was upset, so worried that they could lose the entire business, every single farm, all of their income. The government suits wanted to know where his profits had gone. Today, they were from the IRS. Tomorrow, it would be another agency that had figured out he’d embezzled from the agricultural corporation he’d been hired to protect.

Yeah, his assistant was concerned. Frantic. She knew her job wasn’t secure. She didn’t understand that he’d been giving his money to the only cause that mattered. The only thing that was going to give them all the security mankind needed. The True Believers and their new mission, New Thought.

His wife was on board but the children didn’t know the riches they were about to enjoy when they moved into the New Thought community. He wished he’d been able to join the group years ago, when they’d been known as the True Believers. The government had shot Leonard Wise down then. But, Wise, the group, the purpose, was greater than any court of this world’s law. The True Law was with New Thought and Mr. Wise.

His biggest challenge would be getting his family to move without a fuss. The younger ones weren’t a problem but he had to make sure his eldest stayed on the straight and narrow. When he’d heard there was a new student in the school, in the chemistry classroom, he knew it was divine timing at its best. A new student was the perfect target to send home the message that things were going to change in this town. The native Silver Valley families wouldn’t get hurt, not if they heeded the message. It would be worth whatever it took to hurt the new student, as a warning.

God had come to Silver Valley and chosen him to help Leonard Wise fulfill what he’d started a long time ago in Upstate New York. He was glad Wise had picked Silver Valley because, really, it meant that they were all chosen. If they wanted to be.

Chapter 3

“How goes it as a high schooler, Nika?” Bryce Campbell didn’t look up from his computer as he entered case notes. Nika took his query as a cue to enter his office.

“You were wrong, Detective.” She dropped into the chair next to his desk. “The chemistry teacher is definitely not gay.”

This caused the ever-busy Bryce to look at her. “I never said he was gay.”

“No, but you implied that he probably was, being the teacher in charge of the LGBT club.”

“No, I said he was a teacher who had his own reasons to be supportive of the Rainbows. What difference does it make? You have a job to do.” Bryce went back to entering his handwritten notes into the SVPD case database.

“He’s a little difficult, is all. His ego is a mile wide.”

At this Bryce took his hands off his keyboard and gave her his full attention. “SVPD is full of male egos—you’ve not been fazed by them before. Why, Officer Pasczenko, you’re not hot for teacher, are you?”

“Give me a break. It’s a case.” Oh, God, please don’t let him see how close he is.

Bryce grinned. “You know, I told myself I didn’t have feelings for someone I had to work with, and look where it got me.” His smile might melt his fiancée’s heart but it only annoyed Nika.

“It’s not like that, Bryce. I’ve never gotten personally involved in a case. I’m not starting now. And you knew Zora from before. You had a history. I don’t know Mitch Everlock from Adam. How is Zora doing? How goes the wedding plans?”

Bryce scratched the back of his neck and to her relief he accepted the change of topic. “Zora has turned into the redheaded bridezilla of Silver Valley. She wants everything to be perfect, and if it wasn’t for her best friend, Kayla, being a florist and also heavily invested in the event, I’d have eloped with Zora to Atlantic City by now.”

“Atlantic City? Surely you’d have the class to at least take her to Vegas?”

“Yeah, well, you know what I mean. It’s hard to believe New Year’s Eve is only a few weeks away. How goes your date search?” He might be up to his ass with police work, since he was in charge of SVPD’s overall operation against the True Believers, but Nika could see Bryce was just as invested in his future wife’s wedding dreams. She wondered, not for the first time, if she’d ever meet a man who’d be willing to cater to her needs, her career. Not that she was looking, or even wanted to have more than a very short-term relationship with any man. Her heart was still too sore from her breakup with Ron.

“Stop asking. I told you I don’t need a date. If you insist, to make the dinner tables even, I’ll bring my mother.” Except then her mother would start the “when are you going to stop being a policewoman and marry a nice man?” routine.

“I know several young police studs I can fix you up with if you need me to, Nika. And none of them are Pennsylvania state troopers.” Compassion shone in his eyes and she wanted to spit.

“Now you’re just being gross, Campbell. And I’m over that jackass. I already told you that months ago.” Nika leaned over her seat and put her elbows on Bryce’s desk.

“I’ll believe you’re over him when you let your guard down enough to admit you could use some love in your life. We all need it.”

It’d be a long time before she’d be willing to do that, but she kept her thoughts to herself. “If we can drop the silliness, I have something to report. We had an incident while I was at the school today. Right before I left.”

“I saw the initial call come in.” Bryce whistled. “What happened?”

“A rock crashed through the class window, aimed at the exact point where Mitch Everlock usually stands when he’s lecturing.” She detailed the event, giving Bryce time to type it up into his computer.

“Don’t think for one minute I’m your secretary, Nika.” He grinned. “But I’ll send a copy of this to you when we’re done.”

“Thanks.”

“So, Everlock saw the rock coming before you did?”

“Neither of us saw it. The sound of it hitting the window alerted us.”

“I would have loved to see your face when Everlock shoved you to the floor.” Bryce teased her as well as her brothers did at family gatherings.

“There wasn’t anything to see since I was eating the floor.” She wasn’t about to admit that she’d been too aware of Mitch’s hard shape on top of hers.

There was a quick rap on the door frame.

“There she is, our brightest high school student. Tell me, Nika, have you tried out for the cheerleading squad yet?” Rio Ortego, another SVPD detective, leaned his head into Bryce’s tiny office.

“Screw you, Ortego.”

Rio laughed at her quick response.

“Is there a problem, officers?”

Rio straightened, as did Nika and Bryce. Chief of Police Colt Todd entered the space, his fit body and youthful good looks belying the twenty or more years he had on all of them.

“No, sir.” They spoke in unison, which made Chief Todd grin. His brows rose as he took in Nika’s civilian, teenaged appearance. “How goes it?”

“Fine, sir.”

“Officer Pasczenko was just telling me how hard she’s crushing on her new chemistry teacher, sir.”

Nika wanted to reach over the desk and give Bryce a quick sharp jab to the ribs. She loved her brothers-and sisters-in-arms but, just like a biological family, they had their days.

“Campbell, is that all you have to worry about, Nika’s love life? I guess that means you’ve figured out how we’ll take down the True Believers?” Colt Todd had a stern expression on his face and Nika almost felt sorry for Bryce. Almost.

“Actually, sir, Nika’s our best bet to find out who the families are that are most involved with the cult to date. Forensics yielded that the blood was indeed pig’s, and we’re taking samples from a couple of local butchers. We might get it down to the actual farm by the end of the week.”

“That’s great,” Nika said. “There are several kids in my classes who are involved in 4-H, and more that live on farms. It might all come together.”