change, including me. I grew up, married and moved away, but those golden times stayed with me. Twenty years later when my daughter moved to the Central Valley, I returned. I found the warm summer nights, the corner fruit stands, the orchards and the vineyards just as I had left them. For a short while, I felt sixteen again, and I knew some day I’d write about the valley.
I added a few terrorists and killers, but I hope reading this book gives you the same sweet escape!
Tanya
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you...thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an unexpected end.
—Jeremiah 29:11
For my grandson Kaden, for reasons he will understand.
Contents
Note to Readers
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
Sassa Nilsson stopped in her tracks as her mentor, supervisor and close friend, Dr. Sam Kruger, slowed his pace. All she wanted was to grab their car from the San Francisco airport parking lot and head home to her baby. Instead, Sam halted...again. He pushed his glasses on top of his gray head and stared off into the distance—a nervous habit Sassa knew quite well.
She dragged her suitcase around him then stopped and looked back. “For someone anxious to get home, you are stalling.”
He nodded as if jarred from a serious thought. “Stalling...yes. Yes, I am.” He pulled his glasses down, straightened his spine and headed toward the elevators.
This “trip of a lifetime” had turned into a nightmare. Sassa had been Sam’s assistant for almost five years but she’d never attended even a local meeting with him. Life always seemed to get in the way. The international conference in China with the world’s leading plant biologists and agriculture experts was supposed to be a dream come true. But soon after they’d arrived, Sam received a phone call. His wife, June, was ill...so ill that his incredible focus was shot to pieces. Sassa had not seen him this disturbed since he’d received word last year that his son, Christopher, had been killed in Afghanistan. That loss had almost destroyed Sam. He might not have recovered if Sassa hadn’t had her baby.
Keri’s birth six months ago had put joy and meaning back into Sam’s life...as well as Sassa’s. This trip was her first away from the baby for any length of time and it was supposed to be a crowning achievement...for both of them since she helped put together Sam’s presentation. Instead she’d watched in horror as Sam bumbled through his lecture on plant viruses and bio-terrorism—meant to be the highlight of the conference. He’d managed to pull it together and make his point of how easily a plant virus could wipe out the world’s crops and food sources, but he hadn’t come across as the expert he was. He was brilliant, even gifted, which was why, as a professor at the relatively midsize California State University at Fresno, he’d still been awarded a massive grant to study plant pathogens.
Sassa knew Sam too well. Either June was gravely ill or something else was seriously wrong.
The elevator doors opened to an almost empty luggage area. With dawn just peeking over the horizon, crowds were light. Sassa and the professor were among the first of the flight passengers to arrive at the luggage carousel. Sam’s nervous gaze bounced around the empty baggage area as if searching for something. At last the machine clicked on and the carousel began to spin around.
“Sassa.” Sam took her arm. “My dear, I might not be driving home with you.”
“What?” Sassa spun. “You’ve been desperate to get home and see June. What do you mean?”
“A young man is coming to meet me. His name is Jared De Luca. He’s a friend. It’s just...he’ll probably be in uniform. A border patrol uniform.”
Sassa stared at him. “Sam, what is going on? What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “It’s best you know nothing. I want to protect you and precious Keri.”
“Protect
