Read Fierce Defender: Book 2, Hard to Handle trilogy for Free Online Page A

about it, so she decided to remain cautious. “Congratulations?”
    Trish shrugged. “I guess. Tyler doesn’t want us to have kids yet. He says we’re not ready. We’re not even married.”
    “That’s what he said when you told him?” Eva asked her, ready to actually go kick his ass.
    “No.” Trish giggled at her friend. “He’s just always said that, so I’m really careful about my birth control. But there was one day while we were on our cruise… I got so carried away with it all, I forgot. Actually, it was three days. Anyways, here I sit, preggers.”
    Eva reached over and took her friend’s hand in hers. Then she made Trish laugh by saying, “Then it’s Zack’s fault.”
    They had all found out much later that Zack was the one who had set up and paid for Trish and Tyler to go on a cruise while he and Gray and the rest of the DEA field agents had wrapped up Hank’s mess.
    When Trish stopped laughing, she said, “Wouldn’t this town just get a kick out of it if I went around telling people that Zack Norcross was responsible for me being pregnant?”
    They both cracked up again, and then Trish added, “Thank you.”
    “For what?” Eva asked her. “I’m no help. I bet you wish you had a friend who wouldn’t be making jokes at a time like this.”
    “Just the opposite,” Trish said. “If you had gone all serious, then I would have gotten more emotional. I needed to laugh, thank you.”
    Eva couldn’t help but turn serious then. “How do you feel about it?”
    Trish lay a hand on her belly and said, “I’m kind of excited. I think I’m ready to be a mom.”
    “I think you’ll make a great mom,” Eva told her, and meant it. “I’m happy for you.”
    Trish grinned. “I am too. I just hope Tyler feels the same way.” She reached into her purse and unwrapped a plastic stick she had folded into tissue and showed it to Eva. “Look.”
    “Aw,” Eva said with a smile and nearly touched it before remembering what it was. “Ew! You peed on that, didn’t you?”
    Trish laughed again. Eva was reminded once more of how good it was to be with friends and people who loved her, and she thought about Hank. He really would be all alone under Witness Protection. That was a hard existence to live. Gray and Zack weren’t going to like it, but she was swaying towards Hank’s side of the argument. Starting over was okay, as long as you had a foundation to build on.
    ******
    Brownsville, Texas
    DEA Field Office
    Tuesday Afternoon
     
    Gomez and Lewis had arrived that morning, but the director had been delayed in the main office in Virginia. He finally made it to Texas about three o’clock that afternoon. In the meantime, all four of the agents waiting for him had pretty much speculated the situation to death. None of them wanted Samuel to be guilty of this. It was the ultimate betrayal to a law enforcement agent, to be sold out by one of their own. These guys were especially tight. They not only worked together, but since it was such a small office, a small operation, they had also become best friends, and a lot like family. It was heart-wrenching to think that someone they had risked their lives for and with would turn against them.
    Director Kemp had met all the men of the group before, except Freeman. After they were introduced, they went into a conference room. Gray wasn’t sure what to expect from the meeting. For the hundredth time that day, he had to convince himself he made the right decision.
    Kemp was the first to speak. “I know how difficult this is. The only other part of our job that can even compare emotionally would be having to report the death of an agent to his family. But regardless, it’s a job that we have to do. One that, if we fail to do, could cost us the lives of one or more of our most loyal agents. Agent Alexander, fill me in on this snitch of yours that started all of this, from the beginning.”
    Gray took a deep breath before answering, aware of the gravity of the