After the Sunrise

By KAT MARTIN

Kat Martin, New York Times bestselling author brings you: AFTER the SUNRISE, a short story, with an excerpt from her new novel THE CONSPIRACY.
They Called Him the Hero of St. Andrews
When an active shooter in full body armor strides down the center aisle of St. Andrew’s church, Kurt Layton knows he’s the congregation’s only hope of survival.
As petite, auburn-haired Erin McCallum looks into the barrel of an assault rife wielded by a ruthless gunman, she knows she is going to die.
But sometimes, in the instant between life and death, a connection is forged between two strangers--as strong as steel and as timeless as eternity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: KAT MARTIN
• Release date: Nov 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463377390

KAT MARTIN

For New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin, a career in real estate led her down the road to romance. Through real estate, Kat found her own perfect match — her husband, Western author Larry Jay Martin. "We were on opposing sides of a transaction — I represented the seller and he represented the buyer," Kat recalls. A short time after the two became acquainted, Larry asked her to read an unpublished manuscript of an historical western he'd written. Kat fell in love with both the book and the author! "It was quite a romantic story," she admits. "I'd still like to see it get published." Then, after doing some editing for her future husband, she thought she'd try her own hand at writing. Kat moved on to become the bestselling author of over thirty historical and contemporary romance novels. To date, 10 million copies of her books are in print, and she's been published around the globe, including Germany, Norway, Sweden, China, Korea, Bulgaria, Russia, England, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Argentina and Greece. When she's not writing, Kat also enjoys skiing and traveling, particularly to Europe. Currently, she's busy writing her next book. Kat loves to hear from readers via her email: [e-mail]

Book preview

AFTER THE SUNRISE

By

Kat Martin

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2018 by Kat Martin

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

Wolfpack Productions

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ISBN: 978-0-463377-3-9-0

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Author’s Note

Excerpt: The Conspiracy

Purchase Link

Chapter One

Three gunshots and an eruption of screams. After five years in Afghanistan, Kurt Layton recognized the sounds. Sitting in an empty pew at the back of St. Andrew’s church, he dropped to the floor out of sight and crawled toward the far end of the pew, then along the outside aisle toward the shooter, who strode down the center aisle pulling off rounds.

Every second meant death. People crying and shouting raced for the exit while Kurt ran toward the gunman, his Beretta solidly in hand. He caught a glimpse of the shooter, full camo, armored vest, assault rifle, ducked and kept moving.

The gunman pulled off a round and Kurt heard the sound of a body hitting the floor. He was as close as he was going to get. He popped up forty feet away, saw the shooter’s weapon pointed at a young woman with auburn hair crouched at the end of a pew, read death in the gunman’s face as he pointed his weapon at the woman.

One chance to save her. No room for error. With the guy in body armor, Kurt took the only shot he had, aimed at the shooter’s head, and fired. A single bullet and the man went down hard, his head a mass of blood and brains, the woman in the aisle screaming, folded in on herself as if she tried to disappear.

She was covered in blood, streaks of crimson in her shoulder-length auburn hair. She was shaking head to foot, but she was safe. Kurt checked the area in all directions, looking for a single shooter, but had seen no sign of one. Rounding the gunman’s body, he caught the woman’s wrist and drew her gently to her feet.

You’re safe. It’s over. He’s dead. He can’t hurt you now.

She looked up at him with big blue, terrified eyes and seemed to pull herself together. Okay.

Kurt gave her a quick nod and turned to help the victims. Four down, three of them near the aisle, one at the far end of a pew three rows back. The good news was, three of them were conscious and moving. He headed for the fourth victim, a young man in his early twenties.

Kurt knelt next to him and checked for a pulse, felt a heartbeat softly throbbing beneath his fingers. Thank the good Lord, the kid was breathing, but he’d taken a round in the upper left chest. Kurt grabbed a hymnal out of the back of the pew and pressed it over the hole to slow the bleeding.

In the distance, he could hear the blare of sirens, figured it was time to lose his semi-auto before one of the responding officers shot him, thinking he was the perp.

The sirens grew louder, then abruptly fell silent. More sirens wailed on their way to the scene.

Shooter’s dead! Kurt shouted to