Text copyright ©2019 Lani Lynn Vale
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 permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
A whole lot of years ago, these books were just a dream to me. All these hot, alpha-male SWAT officers were in my head, dying to be let loose. And now they’re in my very first box set. Enjoy!
Acknowledgments
Golden Czermak- Photographer
My Brother’s Editor
Cover Me Darling- Cover Artist
My mom- Thank you for reading this book eight million two hundred times.
Kendra, Laura, Kathy, Mindy, Lisa, Barbara & Amanda—I don’t know what I would do without y’all. Thank you, my lovely betas, for loving my books as much as I do.
Table of Contents
Center Mass
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
Epilogue
Double Tap
Prologue
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
Epilogue
Bang Switch
Prologue
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
Epilogue
Execution Style
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
Epilogue
Charlie Foxtrot
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
Epilogue
Kill Shot
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
Epilogue
Coup De Grace
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
Epilogue
A SWAT Call Before Christmas
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
What’s Next?
Other titles by Lani Lynn Vale:
The Freebirds
Boomtown
Highway Don’t Care
Another One Bites the Dust
Last Day of My Life
Texas Tornado
I Don’t Dance
The Heroes of The Dixie Wardens MC
Lights To My Siren
Halligan To My Axe
Kevlar To My Vest
Keys To My Cuffs
Life To My Flight
Charge To My Line
Counter To My Intelligence
Right To My Wrong
Code 11- KPD SWAT
Center Mass
Double Tap
Bang Switch
Execution Style
Charlie Foxtrot
Kill Shot
Coup De Grace
The Uncertain Saints
Whiskey Neat
Jack & Coke
Vodka On The Rocks
Bad Apple
Dirty Mother
Rusty Nail
The Kilgore Fire Series
Shock Advised
Flash Point
Oxygen Deprived
Controlled Burn
Put Out
I Like Big Dragons Series
I Like Big Dragons and I Cannot Lie
Dragons Need Love, Too
Oh, My Dragon
The Dixie Warden Rejects
Beard Mode
Fear the Beard
Son of a Beard
I’m Only Here for the Beard
The Beard Made Me Do It
Beard Up
For the Love of Beard
Law & Beard
There’s No Crying in Baseball
Pitch Please
Quit Your Pitchin’
Listen, Pitch
The Hail Raisers
Hail No
Go to Hail
Burn in Hail
What the Hail
The Hail You Say
Hail Mary
The Simple Man Series
Kinda Don’t Care
Maybe Don’t Wanna
Get You Some
Ain’t Doin’ It
Too Bad So Sad
Bear Bottom Guardians MC
Mess Me Up
Talkin’ Trash
How About No
My Bad
One Chance, Fancy
It Happens
Keep It Classy
Snitches Get Stitches
F-Bomb
The Southern Gentleman Series
Hissy Fit
Lord Have Mercy
KPD Motorcycle Patrol
Hide Your Crazy
It Wasn’t Me
I’d Rather Not
Make Me
Sinners are Winners
If You Say So
SWAT 2.0
Just Kidding
Fries Before Guys
Maybe Swearing Will Help (3-10-20)
Ask Me If I Care (4-14-20)
May Contain Wine (5-12-20)
Jokes on You (6-9-20)
Join the Club (7-14-20)
Any Day Now (8-11-20)
Say it Ain’t So (9-8-20)
Officially Over It (10-13-20)
Nobody Knows (11-3-20)
Depends Who’s Asking (12-8-20)
Valentine Boys
Herd That
Crazy Heifer
Chute Yeah
Get Bucked
Center Mass
Chapter 1
Tall, blonde, tatted, sexy, and a devoted father. I think I’ll need some new panties now.
-Reese’s secret thoughts
Reese
“Ms. Doherty, you have Katerina Roberts on her way to see you from the playground. The teacher says she’s having a hard time breathing,” Mrs. Shoe, from the front office, called through my intercom.
I looked toward the speaker, even though she couldn’t see me, and nodded my head as I said, “Thank you, Mrs. Shoe. I’ll meet her.”
I was the school nurse for Kilgore Elementary School.
In the three weeks I’d been here, I found that there were three main things that children came to the nurse for. One was a scrape or cut of some sort. Two was a stomach bug, and three was kids having trouble breathing.
The trouble breathing thing was the scariest.
I’d found that quite a few children at the school had asthma, which was a shocker for me.
So I knew quite a few of the regular children due to them coming before recess, or after, to get a puff on their inhaler.
Katerina Roberts was a new one for me.
“Mrs. Dane, would you mind pulling up Katerina Robert’s record for me to see if she has any allergies or medications she can get if needed?” I asked Laura.
Laura Dane was a CNA, or a certified nursing assistant. She’d been a lifeline since I’d started here two months ago. Mrs. Redden, the school nurse I was replacing, was currently at lunch, although she was expected back any minute for me to take my own.
Later, when I took over fully, I’d be taking my school lunch during my spare time, because the school couldn’t be without a nurse. But for now, until I finished interning with Mrs. Redden, I’d be able to leave if she was here.
Standing, I walked out of my office, through the room that held the exam tables, and into the hallway.
I was always surprised at the bright red walls with the black tiled floor.
Kilgore took their school colors very seriously.
Along the walls on the two furthest tiles, were painted red feet that showed the students where they were to walk as they went through the hallways.
It was always fun to see them walking single file, especially the ones who were rebels and made their own path.
I wasn’t one to follow the path myself, and I always sympathized with those students.
My daughter, Rowen, was the same way.
I used to drive my parents crazy during my school age years, which was always fun to remember now. Back then, it hadn’t been so funny.
I waved to Mrs. Shoe, who was making her way slowly down the hallway. She nodded before disappearing into the school’s office.
Just before I turned the corner that would lead down the hallway that held the entrance to the playground, I heard the labored breathing of a small child.
I sped up, running, especially concerned now.
Surely they wouldn’t have just let her walk alone, right? A child with respiratory distress?
But as I rounded the corner, I saw the girl on her knees, alone, with her hands planted on the tile in front of her.
Typical tripod position for a person in breathing distress.
“Honey,” I said rushing forward. “Sweetheart, look at me. Katerina?”
The little girl looked up.
Her beautiful blue eyes the color of the sky, were scared.
Her lips were slightly blue, and I knew she was in shock.
“Kat, can I call you Kat?” At her nod, I bent down and picked her up.
She was a small little thing, much smaller than most of the children in this school. My guess was that she was a first grader, but most likely on the younger side of the grade rather than the older side.
“Can you tell me what’s going on? Did something happen on the playground?” I asked as I started running toward the office.
“B-b-b-ee.” She gasped for air.
My heart froze.
Anaphylactic shock.
“Honey, are you allergic to bees?” I asked.
I felt her nod against my cheek where her head rested. “Y-y-esss.”
The ‘S’ came out in a wheeze as I rounded the entrance to the nurse’s office.
Then the coughing started, as I laid her down on the exam table.
Laura rushed forward, holding out the small cubby that held each individual child’s medications and said, “She’s allergic to bees, peanuts, and shellfish.”
I’d already decided that what she had was related to the bee sting, but having it confirmed made me comfortable in using the EpiPen Junior I saw in her plastic cubby.
Reaching into the container, I removed the EpiPen and read the prescription label confirming it was for the same child. Checked the dose, comparing it to Katerina’s chart. The expiration date. Removing it from its container, I took the safety cap off, and then promptly injected it into her thigh.
The click was deafening as the needle penetrated the skin.
I counted slowly to ten and watched as, instantly, Katerina started to breathe.
Her lips, which I hadn’t noticed had gone completely blue, started to return to their normal color, and Katerina’s eyes opened.
Tears started to run down her cheeks, and she launched herself into my arms.
I caught her effortlessly, and curled her into my chest as I held the girl’s shaking, sobbing body.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay,” I whispered softly.
“Medics are less than three minutes out, but I’m sure her father will beat them here,” Mrs. Redden said, startling me.
I hadn’t reali
zed she was here.
“Why would her father beat the medics?” I asked.
I knew that the parents would be called, but not before the medics, which were a little over a mile down the road.
“Her father’s on the police force for Kilgore. Luke Roberts,” Laura said wistfully.
Should I know him or something?
“I want my daddy,” Katerina whimpered softly against my neck.
“I know, sweetie. He’s on his way,” I said softly. Then, turning to Laura, I said, “Go wait for the medics so they’re not freakin’ out trying to get in here.”
The school was new, and with the brand new building came new security features.
For instance, the front office was the first thing that the public had to pass through to get into the school.
It had a wall of glass windows that were bullet proof, and each individual had to be buzzed in by the office attendant.
The doors could be opened from the inside, but it kept the general public from waltzing in anytime they felt like it.
Which definitely gave us some piece of mind when it came to protecting our children.
It was especially nice as a parent of my own kindergartener, too.
I felt comfortable sending her to school, knowing that every possible thing was being done to keep her safe.
A loud banging from the area of the office had me poking my head out of my room to find a large, blonde man in a KPD SWAT shirt with a large gun on his hip hammering on the glass doors, while Laura hurried to open it for him.
“Make sure it’s him before you let him in,” Mrs. Redden chastised Laura gently.
I agreed. The man was big. We wouldn’t stand a chance against him if he got through and he wasn’t the child’s father.
“Can I see your ID or badge?” Laura asked through the glass.
He glared at her, but showed his badge, which seemed to appease Laura.
Pushing on the bar that opened the door, she stepped back quickly and moved. Good thing, too, or she’d have been run over.
He charged to us quickly, his eyes on the now sleeping little girl in my arms.
“Is she okay?” he asked in his deep, rumbly, growl.
I nodded. “We had to use her EpiPen. She’s good, though. Her heart rate’s a tad fast, but her breathing’s normal. Her lips are no longer blue. She was stung by a bee on the playground.”
I saw the large man visibly wilt as he finally made it to my side.
His large, scarred, tattooed arm lifted, resting his enormous hand on the small girl’s head, sifting his fingers through her long dirty blonde hair.
It was really sweet, and I could tell instantly that he was a wonderful father.
His eyes lifted as he caught me watching them, and something hard and unyielding snapped down, veiling his emotions from me.
I blinked in surprise. That took skill right there.
Must by a cop thing.