Holden Read online

Chapter Two

  Nicky knew that Holden had plenty of questions, but she couldn’t wait any longer. That gunman who’d broken into her house was no doubt on the way to the person who hired him.

  And that person might move the baby before she could get to him.

  “We have to get out of here fast,” she reminded him.

  Even though Nicky was still coughing, she threw the car into Reverse and gunned the engine despite the fact that Holden still had his hand gripped around hers.

  Nicky didn’t look at him. Partly because she was trying to maneuver her car out of the garage. Hard to do that, though, with him holding on. He finally let go.

  “Start talking,” Holden insisted. He, too, was still coughing and rubbing his eyes. “I want answers, and I want them now.”

  Easier said than done. There were a lot of pieces to this puzzle, some that could get her arrested, but the only one that mattered right now was the baby. Nicky had failed her sister in so many ways, but she couldn’t fail this time.

  “Who was that man?” Holden added when she didn’t say anything.

  “A hired thug. I don’t know his name, but I’m sure he’s already told his boss what happened.”

  And what had happened was that things had just fallen apart. Nicky had thought she had more time, hours at least, to come up with a plan. But time had just run out.

  She couldn’t help herself. The tears came, and she tried to fight them back. The tears wouldn’t save Annie’s baby. Right now, she had to focus and get to the hotel as soon as possible.

  “Where are we going?” Holden demanded, and he took out his phone and texted someone.

  Probably one of his cousins or brothers. They were all lawmen, and under different circumstances, they might be able to help. But in this case, they could make things much, much worse.

  “The Victorian bed-and-breakfast about ten miles from here.”

  “The place out in the middle of nowhere?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I’m pretty sure that’s where they’re holding the baby.”

  Holden cursed and sent another text. “There’d better be a damn good explanation as to why you’re pretty sure about that. And there’d also better be an equally good explanation as to why you told me Emmett and Annie had a baby.”

  It was hard to think with everything racing through her mind, with her heart racing, too, but she tried. Sometime in the next five minutes she needed to convince Holden that he had to help her.

  “This all started when I was investigating the missing senator, Lee Minton,” she said. “I found out he and his wife had gone to Conceptions Fertility Clinic around the same time as Emmett and Annie. So, I went to Conceptions, too, not expecting to find much, but they stonewalled me. That made me push even harder to find out what they were hiding.”

  He mumbled, “Right.” Probably a dig at the fact that she usually pushed too hard. Sometimes, with deadly consequences.

  “And what they were hiding was a baby? Emmett and Annie’s baby?” There was a boatload of skepticism in his voice.

  Once, she’d been plenty skeptical, too. If she hadn’t been, if she’d jumped on this earlier, they might not be racing to save a child.

  “Yes, their baby,” Nicky affirmed. “And don’t ask why they did all of this because I don’t know. Not yet anyway. But I think it might somehow be connected to the senator’s disappearance.” But she could be a long way from figuring how exactly.

  “Senator Minton?” he asked, though he probably wasn’t asking for clarification but was rather puzzled as to how Minton would play into this. The answer was maybe he didn’t, but the senator had been missing for two weeks now, and it was while looking for him that she’d stumbled on to Conceptions.

  “Yes, Senator Lee Minton,” she confirmed.

  “How are you sure of any of this?” Holden snapped.

  Oh, he was not going to like this. “I hacked into the clinic’s computer and copied some files,” she added. “Hacked into the senator’s computer, too, and then I put a listening device in Conceptions Clinic.”

  Now, Holden’s cursing got a whole lot worse. For good reason. Because she’d just rattled off enough crimes to put her in jail. But she’d had an even better reason to do this.

  To save Annie’s son.

  “That’s what the thug was talking about,” Holden snarled. “Where are the files and what’s in them?”

  Nicky decided to skip the where part and move to the what. Just in case the thug had managed to turn the tables on her and bug her car.

  “The ones I copied from Conceptions were marked ‘the Genesis Project,’” she explained. “No names were connected with them, just case numbers, and when I looked at one, I figured out from the dates that the case number was Annie and Emmett’s.”

  She’d tell him about the other info in them later. For now, Nicky focused on taking the road to the B and B.

  “I don’t know who did it, but someone stole Annie and Emmett’s embryo and implanted it into a surrogate. And last week, the surrogate gave birth to a boy.” Nicky turned off her car’s headlights as she approached the B and B, and she pulled off the road, parking behind some trees.

  Holden shook his head, stayed quiet a moment. “Could be it was a mix-up. Or maybe the embryo was donated to another couple who used a surrogate?”

  Mercy, she wanted to latch onto that and believe it. “Then, why did that man just threaten me?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe you stole more than one set of files or pissed off more than just these people. Or it could have something to do with why the FBI wants to arrest you.”

  Even if it was true, it was still too big of a risk to let them move the baby. Of course, Holden might not believe there was a baby. He soon would, though.

  “Who’s inside that place?” he asked.

  “Probably more men like the one who came to my house tonight.” Hired guns to protect very precious cargo until they could get her father to pay up. “Look, I don’t have time to explain all of this, but if they move the baby, we might never find him.”

  She didn’t voice her greatest fear, that the goons inside might try to harm him so there’d be no proof of what they’d done.

  “What if there really is a baby inside?” he went on. “How would we even know if it’s Emmett and Annie’s?”

  She motioned toward her hair. “According to what I heard from the eavesdropping device, he’s a ginger.” Not exactly rare but at least it was something like Annie and me. Besides, she thought she might recognize her own sister’s child.

  “You have backup on the way?” she asked.

  Holden nodded. “It’s Landon. I told him to do a silent approach.” He tipped his head to the house. “If the guy who was at your house had already contacted them, they could shoot us on sight.”

  “No. They want me alive so I can tell them where the files are. That’s why he didn’t kill me right away when he barged his way into my house.” Not exactly a reminder to steady her nerves. Of course, her nerves hadn’t been steady in a long, long time.

  Nicky eased open the door, but Holden stopped her.

  “I’m not letting you go in there,” he insisted.

  “They want me alive,” Nicky repeated. “They’ll want you dead. If anyone should go in there, it’s me. But I need you...well, if something goes wrong, I need you to get the baby out.”

  Holden took hold of her again, and this time he didn’t let go. “You’re not going in there. Wait here. And so help me, if you disobey that order, I’ll arrest you myself.”

  But he’d no sooner said that when someone opened the back door of the house. The place had a wraparound porch, and while the front was well lit, the back wasn’t. Probably on purpose. Because Nicky saw something she didn’t want to see.

  Two men. A wo
man. And the woman had something bundled in her arms.

  They didn’t linger on the porch. They hurried, practically running down the porch steps.

  Nicky’s heart went to her knees. “They’re getting away. Go after them. We have to stop them.”

  If Holden was listening to her, he didn’t respond. He just kept watching, kept his grip on her until he finally pulled back his hand so he could send a text.

  “I don’t think she’s holding a baby,” Holden said. “I think it’s a decoy.”

  Nicky tried to fight through the panic so she could see why he’d said that. Maybe because the bundle was huge. No way to miss that. And it wasn’t anywhere near cool enough for the baby to need multiple blankets. It was September, and the temps were still close to ninety.

  Plus, there was something else that was off. The woman was as tall and bulky as the two men who’d hurried her out of the house.

  Mercy.

  This was some kind of trap.

  “They probably suspect we’re here and will be expecting us to follow them,” Holden said without taking his attention off them.

  The trio got into an SUV parked behind the inn. Almost immediately, she saw the headlights of the SUV come on.

  “Landon will follow them instead, and he’ll have two other deputies do a quiet approach here,” Holden added. “Come on. Get out of the car. Stay low and move fast. I’m going to see who’s inside the house. I can’t leave you here or they might try to kidnap you.”

  Nicky tried not to let that statement rob her of what breath she’d managed to gather. Because this was a risk. And not just the possible kidnapping. Nicky had to consider that this could be a ruse of a different kind. One where the baby was actually inside that SUV and these thugs wanted to lure Holden and her to the house.

  Well, if so, it was going to work.

  Of course, it was just as possible that at this very moment someone was escaping with the baby on the other side of the house. Everything inside Nicky was screaming for her to hurry.

  “Do you have a gun?” he asked.

  She shook her head, and he gave her one of those looks. The one that made her feel like an idiot. “I don’t keep a gun in my vehicle. And besides I didn’t plan on shooting anyone tonight, especially with the baby around.”

  “Then, what was your plan, to ask them pretty please to hand over the child?” Holden snapped.

  “No. I was going to sneak in and take him. I’m pretty good at sneaking in places,” she added in a mumble.

  No way could he argue with that, but Nicky wished she’d had time to come up with a better plan. Too bad that thug had shown up at her house and thrown things into chaos.

  “Just do everything I tell you,” Holden warned her. “Everything.”

  With his gun drawn, Holden threaded them through the trees, but he stopped at the edge of the yard. There were plenty of windows, but she couldn’t get a glimpse of anyone inside. However, there was another car in the small parking area on the side of the house.

  She glanced back at the road and the SUV, but the trees were in the way, and Nicky couldn’t tell if it actually stopped. She prayed that if the baby was indeed inside the vehicle, Landon would be able to follow them and find out where they were taking the child.

  Holden led them onto the porch, and even though the door was partly open, they didn’t go inside. Instead, he went to a window and peered around the edge. He snapped back so fast that she knew there had to be someone in the room. Someone who had caused his muscles to go iron-stiff.

  “Two men,” Holden whispered. “Both armed. There’s a baby carrier on the table.”

  Even though she figured Holden didn’t want her to move, Nicky had to see for herself.

  Nicky took in everything in one quick glance. The two men, one bald and the other wearing a black baseball-type hat.

  And the ginger-haired baby asleep in the carrier.

  Mercy. She’d tried to steel herself for whatever they might face, but it sickened her to think of a baby being around hired guns.

  “If you create a distraction,” she said, trying to make as little sound as possible, “I can sneak in.”

  Holden gave her a look again, to let her know that wasn’t going to happen. But she didn’t want to stand around there and wait. If these goons heard the other deputies, they might start a gunfight, and the baby would be caught in the middle.

  Even though the window was closed, she had no trouble hearing a phone ring inside. She also had no trouble hearing one of the men answer it. Not with a greeting, either.

  He simply said, “What now?”

  Too bad he hadn’t put it on speaker because Nicky would have liked to know who she was dealing with. But nothing. For several snail-crawling moments. She had no idea what the caller was telling him, but it caused the man’s forehead to bunch up.

  “All right,” the man finally said. “We’ll move the kid now. See you in a few.” He ended the call and turned to the bald guy. “That reporter’s car was just up the road. She wasn’t in it, but they’re sending someone to torch it and the house just in case.”

  Considering all the other things going on, that was small potatoes. Still, it sickened her to think of these snakes destroying her home. And it would all be for nothing. Because the files weren’t even there.

  “You know she didn’t just leave,” the other man said. “She’s out there somewhere.”

  The first one nodded and slapped off the lights. “If she really knows what’s going on, she won’t shoot around the kid, and she’ll make sure the marshal doesn’t, either.”

  The thug was right about not wanting to start a gunfight, but he was wrong about her knowing what was going on. She still didn’t understand why someone would do this.

  “You don’t shoot around the kid, either,” the hat-wearing guy warned his partner. “But if you get a clean shot of the marshal, take it. Do the same to any of the locals who might show up to poke around here. Nobody who sees or could see anything gets away from here to rat us out.”

  Nicky’s chest was already so tight that she couldn’t breathe, and that didn’t help. She hated that she’d involved Holden in this, and she didn’t want him or anyone hurt. But the baby had to come first.

  Both men started to move. Even though there wasn’t much light in the room now, she saw one of them grab the carrier seat with the baby, and the other took some keys from his pocket.

  Holden got them moving, too. They were quickly off the porch and headed straight for the car. The moment they reached it, he maneuvered her to the far side, away from the house, and they ducked down.

  He pulled out a knife from his pocket and jammed it into the front tire and went to the rear to do the same. That would slow them down, but it wouldn’t stop them. Those men were in a hurry to get out of there, and they’d drive on the rims if they had to.

  The men raced out the door of the house, making a beeline for the car. They were just yards away when Nicky heard a sound she didn’t want to hear.

  Footsteps.

  Behind Holden and her.

  Holden pivoted, aiming his gun, but it was already too late.

  Chapter Three

  The man seemed to come out of nowhere.

  Before Holden could do anything to stop him, the guy grabbed Nicky by her hair, hauled her back against his chest and jammed a gun to her head.

  Damn.

  This was not how Holden wanted things to play out.

  He hoped there would be time to curse himself later for this botched rescue attempt. He should have waited until he had better measures in place. But maybe he could still figure out a way to fix this before it was too late for Nicky, him and, especially, the baby.

  Holden scrambled to the front end of the car so he could take cover. That didn’t do a d
arn thing to help Nicky, but he wouldn’t be able to help her at all unless he stayed alive. Of course, another thug could gun him down, but right now using the car was the only option he had.

  Nicky didn’t stay put, either. Despite having a gun to her head, she rammed her elbow into the guy’s stomach. The guy called her a couple of bad names and staggered back a step, but then latched onto her even harder.

  “Try that again and I’ll bash you upside the head with this gun,” the thug growled.

  Even though it was a clear enough warning, Nicky must have realized that he truly didn’t intend to kill her. Holden could see her face tighten, could practically feel her gearing up for a fight.

  “No,” Holden warned her. “Don’t.”

  And much to his surprise, Nicky listened. She also looked at Holden as if expecting him to tell her what to do next. He would.

  When he figured out what the next step was.

  For now, though, he didn’t want her in a wrestling match with a goon who was twice her size. Just because the guy had no plans to shoot her, it didn’t mean the gun wouldn’t accidentally go off, and Holden couldn’t risk a misfired bullet. Not just for Nicky’s sake, but for the baby’s.

  “Can I punch her?” the thug asked his comrades approaching him.

  “Not yet,” the guy carrying the baby answered. “I don’t want her bleeding in the car. Too hard to clean up.”

  His voice was ice-cold. As was his expression. He was the one wearing a baseball cap and was also the one who’d talked about torching Nicky’s house and car. Holden figured he was the boss.

  Well, the boss of these three anyway.

  They were likely working for the person who’d been on the other end of that phone conversation. If Holden could just get the guy’s phone, he might learn who that was. First, though, he had to get them out of this alive.

  All three of the men were dressed in black—that was probably the reason Holden hadn’t seen the third one sneaking up on them. They were all also heavily armed and wearing masks.

  “Any sign of the locals?” the boss asked.

  “No. But we got somebody watching the road. If they try to get here, we’ll see ’em.”