Echo: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone Read online

  Copyright © 2019 by Janie Crouch

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locals is entirely coincidental.

  Cover by Deranged Doctor Design.

  A Calamittie Jane Publishing Book

  ECHO: LINEAR TACTICAL

  This book is dedicated to Anu-Riikka.

  You might recognize this story from the first time around.

  I am here today as an author because of your encouragement.

  Thank you, my friend.

  Contents

  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

  Ghost - Sneak Peek

  Cyclone - Sneak Peek

  Shamrock - Sneak Peek

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Janie Crouch

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Five Young & Naive Years Ago

  The three women in the gas station started screaming.

  Peyton Ward would’ve been more concerned about the commotion if the screeching hadn’t been followed by jumping up and down, clapping, and hugging.

  And if the same sort of behavior hadn’t been happening for the past week—ever since Cade Conner’s song first got airplay on the radio.

  It was playing again now.

  “It’s Cade! It’s Cade! It’s Cade!"

  Brittney and Melinda Sumter’s excitement pretty much mirrored the entire population—slim as it was—of western Wyoming . Cade had graduated from nearby Oak Creek High three years ago. The Sumter twins had barely known him since they’d gone to Sublette County, Oak Creek’s rival.

  But that didn’t stop them from folding their hands over their hearts, and letting out almost comical sighs as Cade’s baritone poured through the speaker.

  “I love Cade. I’ve always loved him,” Melinda gushed.

  Apparently, not knowing someone didn’t make a difference in true love, especially when that someone had a hit song on the radio.

  Time to live by my own rules. Separate the strong from the pack of fools.

  The girls sang along with the upbeat country lyrics. The fact that Mrs. Sumter was dancing around the gas station with her daughters, obviously equally as enthralled with the thought of Cade as her teenagers, was a little weirder.

  Peyton rolled her eyes. Cougar much?

  Melinda and Brittney were both Peyton’s age—eighteen—so that made Mrs. Sumter at least in her super-late thirties. Cade was twenty-one. Peyton rolled her eyes again.

  Brittney caught her eye roll but misunderstood it. “Oh, come on, Peyton, you have to remember Cade O’Conner. I know you were too artistic,” she air quoted the word as she continued to dance around, “to ever deign to come to football games, but you had to have at least heard of him.”

  “He was a senior when we were freshmen,” Melinda chimed in. “But he was super-hot.”

  Brittney gave her sister a little push. “Still is. Even hotter now.”

  Peyton studied the register in front of her rather than make eye contact. “I guess I must have missed him.”

  She hadn’t missed him.

  She knew Cade O’Conner better than the Sumter women ever would. He could’ve completely destroyed her future but instead had kept her secret.

  And because of that, her entire life was about to change. She was about to get out of this town. Out from under…everything. From this job at the gas station that regularly left her warding off unwelcome advances and wondering if she was going to need to grab the shotgun hidden under the counter, to her situation at home.

  Which was much worse.

  But not for long.

  Time to get out. Not look back. One step at a time.

  Mrs. Sumter handed Peyton the cash to pay for their gas as the lyrics continued around them.

  “He’s in town, you know,” Melinda said. “Maybe we can meet him. Or at least catch a glimpse of him if we drive into Oak Creek.”

  Peyton thrust Mrs. Sumter’s change back at her. “Cade’s in town for his father’s funeral. He’s probably not interested in signing autographs right now.”

  Damn it. She shouldn’t have let out that she was aware of that. She’d just claimed not to know Cade at all.

  Fortunately, the Sumter women were too busy singing to catch Peyton in her lie. They grabbed their sundries and headed out to their car.

  And Peyton had to admit, she was still humming Cade’s song under her breath as she got off from her shift a couple hours later.

  Of course, she had heard it before it ever made it onto the radio.

  She dashed to her car through the rain, the setting sun nowhere to be seen in the Wyoming sky. The Gas and Go wasn’t a particularly convenient location for her to work at any more since she’d graduated from high school three weeks ago. It was too far from her house in Pinedale. Was actually in Teton County, rather than Sublette.

  That had been a godsend Peyton’s freshman year. Had changed the course of her life.

  Thanks to the Gas and Go’s Teton County address, and a lot of hard work over the past four years, she was getting out of here. Getting away from Pinedale. Getting away Dennis’s fists.

  She was going to London, baby! Three months and counting.

  She pulled out of the station carefully in the deluge and began driving toward her house. Once she left Pinedale, she was never, ever coming back. If she had to work four jobs waiting tables in Los Angeles until she got her break in the film industry, she would do it.

  But attending the prestigious London Film Centre, on a full scholarship no less, would surely help open doors.

  If not, she’d knock until they opened.

  She had a gift, a true talent for visual storytelling. She knew it. Her teachers had seen it, and the dream of London had begun.

  Peyton’s smile was huge with the thought right up to the point where her car began to sputter as she drove along the back roads toward Pinedale. She gave it more gas, but that didn’t seem to do anything at all.

  “Come on, girl. I only need you to last three more months.” She wouldn’t be taking her car to school with her.

  But her old Buick wasn’t interested in lasting even three more minutes. Peyton pulled over to the side of the road as the engine gave a deep rattle—death throes—before quitting completely.

  Damn it, why hadn’t she taken the highway? At least she would’ve been able to flag someone dow
n. The four minutes the back roads would save her definitely didn’t seem worth it now. And her cheap cell phone wasn’t going to get coverage out here.

  Although who would she call? Definitely not Dennis. And her mom may or may not be sober at this point in the evening.

  She turned the key again, but the engine didn’t turn over. Cade’s baritone came crooning over the radio once again, barely winning the battle of volume against the rain pummeling her rooftop.

  I want to be. I want to know. I can’t wait for life to find me.

  She banged her head back against the seat. “Your sexy voice isn’t going to do me any good here, Cade.”

  But she sang along with it anyway. She might have played it off with Melinda and Brittney like she wasn’t a fan, but the truth was, she might possibly be Cade’s biggest fan.

  And had been before he’d ever left Oak Creek for Nashville.

  And for way more than just being the hot senior quarterback from her freshman year.

  He’d noticed her. He’d been the only one who had.

  I’m done waiting. Time to live by my own rules…

  She’d kept a low profile at Oak Creek High School. The special visual and musical arts academy had only been available for qualifying students. It required a talent and a passion for the arts and a Teton County address.

  Her abilities had given her the first, the Gas and Go address had given her the second. Peyton had forged her mother’s signature and since she could pick up mail any time she needed at the gas station…a new Teton County student had been formed.

  She’d kept her head down, trying to stay invisible at Oak Creek as much as possible. Teton and Sublette counties weren’t very populous—she didn’t want anyone putting two and two together. So, no friends.

  Not that her home situation would’ve allowed it anyway.

  Her plan had worked fabulously almost her entire freshman year. Except for a certain popular quarterback senior who’d discovered her in the film editing suite one day and hadn’t left her alone for the entire remaining two months of school.

  Cade had been friendly and compassionate to the girl who jumped at her own shadow and worked every spare second toward a filmmaking dream that had seemed way beyond her reach at that time.

  He’d been part of the music division. Maybe the entire reason the arts program existed at all since it was based on equipment donated by the O’Conner family.

  When he found out she lived in Sublette County not Teton, he could’ve turned her in.

  Instead, he’d kept her secret. And for the last two months of her freshman year and his senior one, they’d become friends. As unlikely as that seemed.

  And for her…more than friends. Not that she’d ever let him know the way she felt.

  They’d been a pair of artists. She’d encouraged him in his music, and he’d sat by her in the editing suite. She’d like to think maybe she had a little bit to do with him deciding to go to Nashville, and now his song was playing on the radio.

  “Getting Cade to Nashville is not going to get you home,” she said out loud as the song ended.

  Not that she really thought Cade remembered or ever thought of her anyway. And it didn’t matter now.

  She hopped out and opened the hood, searching under it for anything that seemed wrong. Immediately, she realized what a terrible plan that was. She didn’t know what she was looking for, and now she was soaked. She gave up after a couple minutes and got back inside the car.

  Damn it. She was miles from anywhere and this storm was supposed to last all of tonight and most of tomorrow. There was nothing around but a few lake cabins, and she had no idea where any of them were.

  Wait. Peyton jerked her head up, straining to see out into the gathering darkness. She’d just passed the Emerson Creek bridge when her car trouble started. So she knew where at least one cabin was.

  One that happened to belong to the O’Conner family.

  “Thanks, Cade,” she whispered, tapping the front face of her radio. She pulled her keys from the ignition. She’d make a dash for the cabin. Most of these vacation houses didn’t have a land-line phone, but at least it would be warm and dry.

  Mom and Dennis probably wouldn’t notice if she didn’t come home anyway. The current bruise across her cheekbone from Dennis’s backhand, hidden by makeup, meant that he was probably back to the ignoring-Peyton stage. It would be another couple of weeks before he was itching to use his fists again.

  Three more months. All she had to do was keep her head down, make as much money as she could, and survive for three more months. Then she’d be gone.

  Any dry part of her body was drenched fifteen seconds after she’d made a break for it. She dashed back along the road and over the bridge, then took the footpath that provided a shorter route to the cabin—glad she didn’t have to explain to anyone why she happened to know about this shortcut.

  It had absolutely nothing to do with occasionally looking in from a distance when Cade had thrown a few small parties at the cabin.

  He’d invited her to one, but of course, she hadn’t gone.

  But watching from a distance had been sort of nice. Like she’d been included even if she hadn’t really been part of it.

  She was shivering by the time she made it to the front porch but forced herself to sit on the swing as she wrung out her clothes. She’d always loved the thought of porch swings—the serenity of them. Plus, if she was going to break into a house, she wanted to be a considerate criminal and not drip all over the floor.

  Not that this place was so fancy that it would be immediately noticeable. The O’Conners may be multi-millionaires, but nothing about this place—nothing about Cade—had ever been pretentious.

  The O’Conner family would make wonderful subjects for a film documentary. She’d love to be the one to tell their story. That’s what she wanted to do more than anything: tell people’s stories through film.

  Of course, being half in love with the subject probably wouldn’t make her an impartial storyteller.

  Once she was at least not dripping wet any more, she moved to the front door, not surprised when she found it unlocked. Theft wasn’t a big problem around here, and unless someone was going to steal kitchen utensils or a bed, there wasn’t much inside to entice a burglar.

  And at least this way, she’d only be arrested for the entering part of breaking and entering if she got caught.

  The cabin wasn’t big—a couple of bedrooms, bath, kitchen, and open living room. She dashed into the bathroom, thankful to find a towel and dried herself off the rest of the way.

  She slipped off her shoes and grabbed a paper towel to wipe up where she’d dripped on the floor. The storm was still beating against the side of the cabin. She’d go outside and sit on the porch swing and listen to it for awhile.

  A lot of eighteen-year-olds wouldn’t be interested in spending a Saturday evening doing nothing more than listening to rain on a porch roof. Peyton wished she had her camera with her. It never hurt to have some stock footage of a storm tucked away to overlay with something else at a later date.

  She wrapped the towel around her head and opened the door to step outside—

  —letting out a shriek when she saw someone sitting on the swing.

  Cade.

  Chapter 2

  Five Young & Naive Years Ago

  She could barely make him out in the darkness, just sitting there swinging calmly —long legs stretched out in front of him—like he’d been expecting her to walk out of the house.

  Oh crap.

  “Cade. Uh, hi. Wow. You probably wonder what I’m doing here.” She quickly took the towel off her head and held it awkwardly in her arms. “I mean, you may not even remember me. I’m Pey—”

  “Peyton, c’mon. Of course, I remember you, Peaches.”

  Peaches. She closed her eyes. When they’d first started hanging out her freshman year, she’d been working on a mock documentary assignment on peaches. It had become his pet name for her.
>
  And was not at all the reason why she’d found some peach-scented shampoo and still used it even now when she hadn’t seen Cade in nearly three years.

  She never dreamed he’d remember the nickname.

  “I wasn’t breaking in. I uh…actually knew this was your house and was hoping it was okay to hang out here for a couple hours. My car conked out.”

  “I know.”

  She didn’t move from the doorway. “Know I was aware that your family owned this house or that my car broke down?”

  He studied her with those ridiculously blue eyes of his. “Both, actually. You used to sit out in the woods and watch the parties I had here.”

  Oh God. What was she supposed to say to that? He had to think she was some sort of a stalker.

  “I—” The urge to flee into those woods now to end this conversation was almost overwhelming. Could this be any more cringey? She cleared her throat. “How did you know I was there?”

  Now Cade looked away like he was the one who had something to be embarrassed about. “You left a Cheerwine soda cap, and I found it. You’re the only one I know who has even heard of that drink, much less buys it. After that, I spotted you a couple of times.”

  He’d spotted her a couple times? This kept getting worse and worse. “Cade, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t stalking you when I was out here. I just…”

  Desperately wanted to be a part?

  Felt included even though she’d been outside and not actually involved in what was happening?

  Got to watch Cade, see him laugh, and feel like she was part of his inner circle?