Just a Memory Read Online Free PDF Page B

an inner city war zone.
    Despite his father's untimely death and the change in the neighborhood, Mac still clung to the optimism his dad had instilled in him with his motto, 'One person can make a difference.' Mac wanted to make the world a better place and consciously decided to follow in his father's footsteps–to pick up where he'd left off.
    With two college degrees before graduating from the police academy, Mac moved up in rank farther and faster than his father had ever dreamed possible. Mac proved to be both smart and street-smart–a valuable combination in police work.
    However, the sacrifices necessary to get where Mac was–or rather where he had been before he got shot–had been great. His job in the special task force unit meant Mac had to be a loner. His love life was practically nonexistent. He hadn't led a completely celibate life, but when he sought female companionship it couldn't be the same woman too often. Nowadays that was a tough position to be in, since any kind of real relationship could, and often did, threaten her safety as well. His job as a sometime undercover agent made domestic life impossible.
    That wasn't the only reason he was a loner. He'd seen what his dad's violent death had done to his mom. She never recovered; within a year, she too was dead. Mac could never marry a woman and put her through that. Never.
    So if he ever got close enough to a woman to think of marriage, he'd remember what happened to his mom and walk away. So far his plan had worked without any great regret. One thought kept taunting him lately: what if his shot-up shoulder kept him from rejoining the special unit? What then?
    The beep of Sandi's car horn brought him out of his reverie. After assuring him the next house would be perfect for him, she smiled brightly and pulled out of the driveway ahead of him. Mac sighed and followed her to the next house on her list.
    The white-capped water was visible from the road through the leafless trees. He stretched over the wheel to see down a ravine and his breath caught when a sharp pain sizzled across his shoulder. He damned the bullets that had ripped into his flesh and changed his life so completely. What angered him more was that he couldn't even have the satisfaction of fingering who'd shot him because of his partial amnesia. If only he could remember what he saw that night...
    Mac knew if–no, when –his memory returned, he would be a marked man. The cop killer would try to kill him because Mac could identify him and testify in court. In fact, Mac couldn't figure out why there hadn't already been an attempt on his life since then. Moving away from the city couldn't be the answer, because anyone who could run the kind of huge operation Mac and his associates had broken up would be able to find him eventually. So unless they just hadn't found him yet because they weren't looking in a small backwater town like Lakehaven, there had to be another reason Mac was still breathing.
    Meanwhile, with orders just to keep the peace in town, Mac had time on his hands. He certainly wasn't under the same stress or in the same danger he'd been in with former assignments. He could relax and live an almost normal life here.
    The road curved and Mac saw a rocky point jutting out into the lake. Tall straight pines stood throughout the wooded lot like sentinels. Huge boulders protected the beach below a modern-looking house. The gray cedar shingle siding blended in with the woods. Mac was struck by the rugged natural beauty.
    With a pessimistic sigh, he hoped the next house on the realtor's list showed as much promise, but he doubted it would. He decided then to tell Ms. Houseman he would rather stop looking for a place to buy than to settle for less.
     
    Ellie was on the phone when Hines stepped into the file room, the space he'd appropriated as his private dressing room. She always felt nervous with him changing in there as he had earlier when he'd returned rain-soaked. She remembered