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  She wanted to kiss him. Let him make the terror go away.

  He brushed his fingers along her cheek. Murmured her name. He wanted it, too. All she had to do was tilt her head, close her eyes, relinquish control.

  But bitter words about her being imperfect echoed in her head. She couldn’t lose control again. Control was all she had. The only way to protect herself. The only way she’d survive.

  She couldn’t risk getting hurt once more.

  And this man had the power to do it, because he made her feel again. Made her want things that she’d learned long ago were impossible.

  RITA HERRON

  FORCE OF THE FALCON

  For my grandmother, who taught me to love stories…

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Award-winning author Rita Herron wrote her first book when she was twelve, but didn’t think real people grew up to be writers. Now she writes so she doesn’t have to get a real job. A former kindergarten teacher and workshop leader, she traded her storytelling for romance, and writes romantic comedies and romantic suspense. She lives in Georgia with her own romance hero and three kids. She loves to hear from readers, so please write her at P.O. Box 921225, Norcross, GA 30092-1225, or visit her Web site at www.ritaherron.com.

  Books by Rita Herron

  HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

  710—THE CRADLE MISSION*

  741—A WARRIOR’S MISSION

  755—UNDERCOVER AVENGER*

  790—MIDNIGHT DISCLOSURES*

  810—THE MAN FROM FALCON RIDGE

  861—MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES*

  892—VOWS OF VENGEANCE*

  918—RETURN TO FALCON RIDGE

  939—LOOK-ALIKE

  957—FORCE OF THE FALCON

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Brack Falcon—His only love was his falcons—until he met Sonya Silverstein and her little girl. Now he must protect them or die trying….

  Sonya Silverstein—When a twisted psycho tries to kill her, she must put her life in the hands of Brack Falcon. But can she trust him with her heart?

  Katie Silverstein—She may be physically handicapped, but will her sixth sense help her survive a killer?

  Stan Silverstein—Sonya’s ex blames her for their daughter’s physical handicap. But what is he hiding?

  Sheriff Cohen—He railroaded Brack’s father into jail twenty years ago for a crime he didn’t commit. Is he going to do the same thing to Brack?

  The Talon Terror—This villain kills women and animals with his birdlike talons. Is he animal, man or both?

  Jameson Viago—The artist who draws the cartoon character The Talon Terror. Is he imitating the character in real life to boost his comic-book sales?

  Emerson Godfrey—An expert from the government who is researching diseased animals. Is he going to destroy Brack’s beloved falcons?

  Darrien Tripp—A reporter for an occult magazine called The Tween Zone. Has he really seen supernatural creatures?

  Dr. Aaron Waverman—He wants Sonya for himself. How far will he go to win her?

  Dr. Phil Priestly—The local veterinarian tends to birds of prey and has been attacked himself. Has his work with animals turned him into one?

  Jerry Elmsworth—Katie doesn’t like Jerry, the veterinarian’s assistant. Is she right when she senses that he is untrustworthy?

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  “Mommy, save me!” The childlike cry whispered through the eaves of the old farmhouse and echoed off the walls, terrifying and insistent.

  Sonya Silverstein jerked awake and sat up, a shiver rippling through her as if the icy fingers of a ghost had touched her neck.

  Had Katie cried out for help?

  She clutched the sheets and listened for her daughter’s voice, for the sound of her small crutches clacking on the wooden floor, but an eerie silence seeped through the cold, dark room instead, and fear gripped her.

  Something was wrong. Sonya felt it deep in her bones.

  Her heart pounding, she slid from the bed, pushed open the bedroom door and searched the murky gray den for her little girl.

  The dying embers of the fire they’d had going earlier glowed. A wild animal howled in the distance. A tree limb scraped the ice-crusted glass, and the shutter flapped against the weathered boards encasing the window.

  Wind, vicious and blustery, tore through the dark room, hurling dead leaves across the plank flooring through the open door. Her breath caught.

  She had locked the door when she’d gone to bed.

  Had an intruder broken in while she’d been sleeping?

  Panic seized her. Dear God, Katie had to be there. She had to be all right. Katie was everything to her. She was all that mattered.

  She’d moved here to Tin City to raise Katie, to give her a safe life. To take solace in the small mountain town and heal from the pain her ex-husband had caused them.

  But the house she’d rented was practically in the wilderness. What if Katie had gone outside hunting for the kitty? Or what if a madman had broken in and kidnapped her?

  The door to her little girl’s room was cracked open, and she pushed it, praying she’d find Katie snuggled in bed with Mr. Buttons, her favorite teddy, and their kitten, Snowball. But Mr. Buttons lay on the floor, and she didn’t see the baby cat. The covers were tousled, and the bed was empty.

  “Katie!” She searched beneath the bed, then yanked open the closet. But Katie wasn’t inside. Frantic, she screamed her name again and checked the bathroom. Katie’s Hello Kitty cup. Her damp toothbrush. Her fluffy bedroom slippers.

  But no Katie!

  Sonya whirled around, scanning the room for Katie’s small crutches.

  They were gone.

  Terror streaked through Sonya as she ran back into the den and grabbed her coat, her hat and a flashlight, then jammed on her snow boots and darted outside.

  The bitterly cold Colorado wind clawed at her face as she searched the porch, then the snowpacked ground below, for her daughter or her footprints.

  Snow whirled in a blinding haze, covering any tracks that might have lingered. A sob welled in Sonya’s throat as she scanned the thick, snowcapped woods surrounding the farmhouse. The rigid cliffs and peaks climbed toward the heavens like stone boulders. While she’d thought they’d offer a perfect place for her to hide, a sanctuary, now they looked ominous, threatening.

  Katie was out there somewhere all alone. No telling what dangers lay waiting in the dense patches of firs and aspens. Katie was so small. She’d never survive the elements or be able to fight off an attacker.

  “Katie!” A scream tore from deep in her throat, but got lost in the howling wind.

  “Save me, Mommy!”

  The whisper of her daughter’s plea reverberated through the chilling tension. Whether Katie had cried out for real or not, Sonya didn’t know. But she heard her daughter’s silent plea for help anyway.

  She ran into the woods, blindly searching. She had to find her. She couldn’t lose Kate. Not now.

  Not ever.

  FRESH BLOOD dotted the powdery white snow, the scent of death floating in the whistling wind of the forest surro
unding Falcon Ridge. Brack Falcon knotted his hands around the flashlight as rage rippled through him. A loud screeching sound had awakened him and brought him outside. And now, out here, he’d heard it again and found fresh blood. He hadn’t yet found the source of the blood this time, but he instinctively recognized the pattern.

  Another one of the precious creatures of the forest had been attacked. He had discovered several dead birds of prey already this week. Most had been viciously slaughtered and mauled, their talons ripped off, their blood drained as if some creature had virtually sucked the life from them.

  What kind of animal would do such a thing? Or could it be a man?

  Stories of the ghosts and legends that thrived in Tin City haunted him. The dead that lingered. Miners trapped below the town, screeching in terror, haunting the very place where they’d died—the underground tunnels and caves that had been built as escape routes back in the 1800s.

  And now a revival of the tales of wild animals that attacked without provocation. Stories of hybrid and mutant creatures, half human, half animal. With the bizarre attacks on the falcons this week, the fables had risen from the depths of the past, creating panic and hysteria.

  All the more reason for the citizens to once again look at the Falcon men with suspicion.

  Brack followed the blood-dotted snow, trekking farther into the bowels of the towering aspens and fir trees. The bitterness he’d lived with since he was six years old and his father had been falsely accused of murder ate at his insides. Granted, he and his two brothers, Rex and Deke, had finally helped exonerate his father, and his parents were now reunited, but twenty years of hating the people in the town who’d shunned the boys and their mother had stolen a part of Brack’s soul.

  A part that was lost forever.

  And now his brothers were back at Falcon Ridge, and had decided to settle in Tin City and relocate their private detective agency to Colorado, back at the old homestead. They’d built offices in the basement and had installed high-tech security and state of the art computer systems. Deke and his new wife, Elsie, had bought one of the historical houses in town and were renovating it, while Rex and his wife, Hailey, had built a beautiful Victorian on her parents’ property.

  Brack had moved in to Falcon Ridge. Alone.

  But the cries, anger and pain from his childhood still echoed in the stone structure as if twenty years had never passed, as if he were that little boy again watching his father being dragged away to jail.

  He’d listened to his mother’s sobs at night, had seen the anger and helplessness in his brothers, and he’d virtually shut down. Had learned to suppress any emotion.

  Never get close to anyone and you’ll never hurt like that again.

  And he hadn’t.

  Instead, he’d pulled away from people and befriended the birds. And over the years, he’d honed his natural instincts with the falcons, instincts he’d inherited from his father and his grandfather before that, until he had such a deep connection with the animals of the forest that they communicated in their own silent language.

  The crackle of twigs being severed in the wind jarred him from his reverie. A branch snapped off, and layers of snow and ice pelted him. Above, he heard the flapping of a falcon’s wingspan stirring the frigid air, then the faint, heartwrenching cry of a bird in pain.

  He picked up his pace, knowing it was too late to save the creature, but hating for it to die alone. Seconds later, fury welled inside him as he studied the mauled remains. Its body had been ripped apart as if killed by one of its own kind. Blood streaked the muddy white ground. Feathers were scattered across crimson patches of ice, and the eagle’s head lay against a stone.

  Dammit. The head had been severed.

  Rage shot through him, primal and raw, all-consuming.

  When he found what or who was doing this, he’d kill it.

  Then another cry of terror floated from the distance. It was so faint he had to strain to hear it.

  This cry was human.

  A chill shot through him, and he took off running.

  AN ODD SCREECH rippled through the air, sending a chill through Sonya. What kind of animal made a sound like that? Nothing she’d ever heard before.

  The wind was so strong she had to fight to keep from being knocked against the trees. The snow was almost ankle-deep on her—what would it be like for Katie?

  Each footstep she took intensified her fears. Katie must be freezing. Terrified. What if she’d fallen and gotten hurt? What if she slipped off one of the ridges? What if a man had her, and he hadn’t brought her into the forest?

  No, Katie had to be out here. Sonya hadn’t heard a car engine. She grabbed a vine and pulled herself along, shining the flashlight across the snowpacked ground, pushing through bramble and broken limbs. The white haze of swirling snow blurred her vision, and she swiped at her eyes, willing them to focus.

  Up above, she saw a faint flash. The color red.

  Katie’s red pajamas?

  Her pulse raced. “Katie!” She began to run, slogging through the thick weight of the downfall. Cold bit at her cheeks and nose, and her limbs felt heavy. Wet sludge squished beneath her boots, and twigs and dead leaves crackled.

  She spotted the red again, just a quick flash, then the outline of a small form. An animal? A deer, maybe?

  No, her daughter hobbling on her crutches, her frail body swaying as she struggled against the elements.

  Sonya screamed Katie’s name again and launched into a jog. A limb shattered, then crashed to the ground. Ice and snow rained down on her. Sonya jumped over the limb and pushed forward. Another splintered and slammed into her arm. She threw it aside and tore through some fallen branches, desperate to get to her little girl.

  Suddenly Katie went down. Her small body disappeared, lost in the blizzard. Panic ripped through Sonya. Where was Katie? The heavy snow could bury her alive within minutes.

  Swiping at tears, she sprinted faster, searching, praying, turning to scan the area where she’d seen Katie a moment earlier. Finally she spotted one crutch sticking up from the ground. Her heart throbbed as she closed the distance.

  Katie was lying in the thick snow and ice, trying to battle her way up against the ferocious wind, but it pulled her down as if it were quicksand.

  Oh God, her poor baby.

  Sonya’s paramedic training kicked in. She had to hurry and get Katie warm before hypothermia set in.

  Her breath puffed out in clouds of white as she jogged to her. Katie looked up, her eyes full of terror. “Mommy!”

  “Shh, Mommy’s got you.” Sonya leaned forward to scoop Katie into her arms, but a loud, horrifying animal-like cry splintered the air. Katie screamed, and Sonya’s lungs tightened as something slammed into her back. She pitched forward, clawed at the air, anything to break her fall, but ice and snow pelted her face and stung her hands as she collapsed.

  “Mommy!”

  Something sharp clawed at her back through her coat. Sonya sent Katie a panicked look, but waved to her daughter. “Run, Katie! Run! Find shelter!”

  Katie’s cheeks ballooned with exertion as she grabbed the crutch from the ground and dragged herself up to stand.

  The animal tore at Sonya again, viciously assaulting her, shredding her jacket and ripping through her flannel gown.

  Sonya grabbed a broken limb and swung it backward, trying to fend off her attacker long enough for Katie to escape.

  “Mommy!” Katie cried.

  “Get out of here, Katie! Run now!”

  Katie’s chin wobbled and tears streaked her cheeks, but she began to hobble through the woods, pushing her crutches through the snow.

  Pain shot through Sonya as the animal’s talons bit into her skin. She tried to roll over and fight, clawing at the ice and snow, but the screech echoed off the mountain, and her head swam as the animal ripped into her flesh.

  The stench of death assaulted her. Then she tasted blood, and terror seized her. She was going to die tonight at the hands of this
creature.

  Then who would take care of Katie?

  AN ANIMAL’S vicious attack cry split the air, and Brack froze, listening, focusing on his senses to lead him. The sound was vile, primitive, inhuman. Had it come from the same creature who had mauled the eagle?

  Was it attacking again?

  He shined the flashlight on the ground and headed in the direction of the noise, the snow swirling in a thick fog in front of him.

  The sickening screech erupted again, and he pivoted, zeroing in on the rustle of the trees and movement to his right. He still smelled the blood of the eagle, but the scent of fear and death teased his nostrils, too.

  A human’s fear.

  Anger sizzled through his veins. His beloved birds weren’t assaulting humans, were they? No, there had to be another explanation.

  He glanced up and oddly, through the haze, saw a falcon circling above. Following the falcon was not a question, but his only option. He trusted the bird implicitly. Wind whistled through the bowing branches as he pushed his way through a thicket of pines and hiked toward the caves buried in the mountain. The falcon moved ahead another seventy-five feet, then stopped and flapped his wings, diving downward as if to warn Brack of impending danger.

  Brack darted through the fir trees, branches tearing at his jacket sleeve, his heart racing. Seconds later, he spotted blood dotting the milky-white snow. A woman lay on the snow-carpeted ground facedown, the back of her coat and gown ripped to shreds, blood streaking her pale skin. Her hands were outstretched as if she were reaching for something, the delicate skin red and bloody from defense wounds.

  His heart lurched to a stop. She was lying so still…

  Was he too late? Was she already dead?