Nate

by Delores Fossen

Grayson pulled in a long breath and looked at Nate. “We should wait here for another call from the kidnappers. It’s clear they want something, and eventually they’ll have to say what so we can negotiate release of the hostages.”

  It was standard procedure. The most logical option. And Grayson had spelled it out like the true cop he was.

  “Wait?” Darcy challenged. Nate kept her anchored to the ground by grabbing her arm.

  Grayson nodded. “I’ve already alerted the bank in case we need a large sum of cash, and every road leading away from the area is being watched.”

  “But our babies are in there,” Darcy sobbed. She was close to hysterical now, and Nate knew he had to do something to keep both her and himself calm.

  “I vote for having a closer look,” Mason said. With just those few words, he had everyone’s attention.

  “We don’t need a warrant because we’ve seen proof that the children are inside with armed kidnappers. That makes it an immediate-threat situation.”

  Nate couldn’t argue with that.

  “I brought a tranquilizer gun rigged with a silencer, and I can get on the roof and take out the guard there. That would give us some breathing room. Plus, I’m wearing all black, just like them, so I can blend in.”

  Nate took that all in and saw an immediate problem. “The guy on the road—”

  “Would have to be taken out, too,” Kade supplied, finishing what Nate had started to say. “I can do that hand-to-hand. I can sneak up on him using those trees to the right. I’ll knock him unconscious before he can take a shot and neutralize the threat.” He looked back at Mason. “And how the devil do you plan on getting up on the roof?”

  “Black van,” Mason growled. “It’s parked right by the side of the house.”

  It was, and if Mason could make it that far undetected, he might be able to crawl on top of the van and tranquilize the guard on the roof. The key to this kind of approach was to go in as quietly as possible.

  “And then what?” Grayson pressed, staring at Mason.

  Mason shrugged. “I’ll see if I can quietly take out some of the others with the tranquilizer gun.”

  Grayson stayed silent a moment and then tapped the infrared screen. “Someone would have to be positioned to go in through the back to get to Marlene and the children while someone else is occupying the two in the front of the house—especially the one on the porch.”

  “I’ll take the front,” Dade volunteered. “Once Kade’s finished playing hand-to-hand with the guy on the road, he’ll be close enough to move in so he can help me out if I need it.”

  “That leaves the back of the house for me,” Grayson spelled out.

  “Or me,” Nate piped up.

  “Bad idea,” Grayson let him know.

  Kade echoed the same, and it was Kade who continued. “If you’re down there and the kidnappers call, then you could get us all killed just trying to answer your phone.”

  “Best if Darcy and you wait here,” Grayson finished.

  Darcy looked at Nate and shook her head. “I have to do something to help.”

  Oh, this was going to be hard. Nate understood Darcy’s need because it was his need, too, but Grayson was right. A call from the kidnappers could be deadly if Darcy and he were near the ranch house.

  “We have to stay here,” Nate told her. And like before, he got at face level with her so he could force eye contact. He kept his voice as calm and gentle as he could manage. “We’ll be able to help. We can keep watch and alert them if anything changes or goes wrong.”

  There was no debate in her eyes. Just the inevitable surrender. “I’ll watch the infrared,” she finally said. Darcy took the device and focused on it.

  Nate looked up at Grayson. “You’ll need backup.”

  “Yeah. I’ll have Mel positioned with a rifle somewhere down there.” Grayson pointed to a heavily treed area that was still on high ground but much closer to the ranch than they were now.

  “And then there’s you,” Grayson added. He handed Nate another rifle, which he’d taken from the equipment bag that Mel had with her.

  His brother didn’t mention that if Nate had to fire, it would be dire circumstances. But it would be.

  “Kade, call your agents and tell them the plan. I want them positioned and ready as backup.” Grayson paused a moment. “And if anything goes wrong, then we all pull out. No shots are to be fired into the house.” He glanced at each of them. “Questions?”

  No one said a thing. Grayson gave Nate one last glance, and his brothers and Mel started to move. They were already out of sight before Nate admitted to himself that the plan could be a really bad idea. But staying put could, too. Without a working crystal ball, he had no idea what approach was best, but he did know he had to do everything to get the babies out of there.

  The sooner, the better.

  “It’ll be okay, right?” Darcy asked without taking her attention from the infrared.

  “It will be.” Nate tried to sound as convinced as he wanted to be, and he put his handgun in his holster so he could get the rifle into position.

  “I think they’re sleeping,” she added, staring at the screen. “And it looks as if Marlene is rocking them.”

  It did. The babies certainly weren’t squirming around, but that made him wonder—had they been drugged?

  That tore right at Nate, and he had to take a deep breath just to loosen the knot that put in his throat.

  “Noah will want his dinner soon,” Darcy whispered.

  Nate knew where she was going with this, and he figured it had to stop. They would drive themselves mad considering all the things that could go wrong. He glanced at her. But stopped when he heard a sound.

  A snap, as if someone had stepped on a twig.

  Not to the side, where the others had walked. This sound came from behind them.

  Nate turned, trying to get the rifle into position. But it was already too late.

  The man stepped through the wall of thick shrubs, and aimed the gun right at Nate.

  Chapter Six

  From the corner of her eye, Darcy saw the alarm register on Nate’s face.

  She whirled around, praying it was one of Nate’s siblings but no such luck. Dressed head to toe in black, the man also had black-and-dark-green camouflage paint smeared on his face. He had on some kind of headset with a marble-size transmitter positioned in front of his mouth.

  But it was the gun that grabbed her attention.

  It was big and equipped with a silencer similar to Mason’s weapon.

  Oh, mercy.

  This was not part of the plan.

  “Don’t,” the man warned when Nate tried to shift his rifle toward him. “If you want to live long enough to see your kids, then put the gun down. Slowly. No sudden moves.”

  Darcy hung on every word. She didn’t want to do anything to cause him to fire. But she also studied what she could see of his face.

  Did she know him?

  It certainly wasn’t Wesley Dent or anyone associated with his case. In fact, she was reasonably sure she’d never seen this man before.

  “Boss,” the gunman said into the transmitter of his headset, “we got visitors. The kids’ parents are up here in the woods. They got guns and infrared. They’re looking at you right now.”

  Darcy glanced at the infrared screen and saw one of the men move from the front of the house to the back, where Marlene and the children were.

  “Will do,” the man said to his boss. He kept his cold, hard stare and his gun on Nate. “Stand up,” he demanded. “We’re going for a little walk.”

  That nearly took the rest of Darcy’s breath away, but then it occurred to her, if he’d wanted them dead, he could have just shot them while he was in the bushes.

  Nate started to move, but the man growled, “Wait!” in a rough whisper. His eyes narrowed, and he adjusted the transmitter portion of his headset. “Boss, there’s a uniform with a rifle at your eight o’clock. About three hundred yards from whe
re I’m standing. She’s in firing range of the house.”

  Oh, no. He’d spotted Mel, and the deputy wasn’t looking back at them. Mel had no idea she’d been detected.

  Darcy couldn’t hear what the person on the other end of the line was saying, but she figured it wasn’t good.

  “How many are here with you?” the gunman demanded, his attention still fixed on Nate.

  “Just the three of us,” Nate lied.

  The gunman didn’t respond to that, but his eyes narrowed. “Boss, I’ll take out the uniform and then bring these two down for a chat.”

  Darcy watched in horror as the gunman took aim at Mel. She reacted completely out of instinct. She drew back her foot and rammed the thin heel of her right shoe into his shin. Nate reacted, too. He dived at the man, slamming right into him, and they both went to the ground. So did the man’s headset.

  “Run!” Nate told her.

  Darcy turned to do just that, but she stopped. Nate was literally in a life-and-death struggle with a much larger, hulking man, and she had to do something to help.

  But what?

  She glanced over her shoulder to see if Mel had noticed what was going on. The deputy hadn’t. Darcy started to yell out a warning to her, but again she stopped. If she yelled, heaven knew how many gunmen she’d alert, and the men inside the house might try to get away with the children.

  Or they might do something worse.

  Besides, Mason and the others were probably close to approaching the house now, and if she sounded the alarm, it could get one of them killed.

  Darcy looked around and spotted the rifle. She couldn’t risk firing a shot, but maybe she could use it. She grabbed the barrel and tried to use the rifle butt to hit the gunman.

  She failed.

  Nate and the man were rolling around, their bodies locked in the struggle, and if she were to hit Nate accidentally, then it could cost them the fight. And this was a fight they couldn’t lose.

  “What’s going on?” she heard someone ask over the headset.

  Her heart dropped again. It wouldn’t take long before the person on the other end of that transmitter realized something was wrong, and that might cause the boss to take some drastic measures.

  Nate must have realized that, as well, because she heard him curse, and he revved up his attempt to control the man’s gun. Both had fierce grips on the weapon, and the gunman was trying to aim it at Nate.

  Darcy kicked the guy again when she could reach his leg. And again. While Nate head-butted the man.

  The sound somehow tore through the noise of the struggle.

  It was a loud swish. As if someone had blown out a candle. But Darcy instinctively knew what it was. The gun had been fired, the sound of the bullet muffled through the silencer.

  “Nate!” she managed to say.

  Oh, mercy. Had he been hit?

  She dropped to her knees and latched on to Nate’s shoulder, to pull him away. There was blood. Lots of it. And a hoarse sob tore from her throat.

  “I’m okay,” Nate assured her. But he didn’t say it aloud. He mouthed it so that no one on the other end of that transmitter could hear him.

  But Darcy shook her head. He couldn’t be okay, not with that much blood on the front of his shirt.

  He repeated, “I’m okay.” Again, it was mouthed, not spoken. And he scrambled off the gunman, who was now lying limp and lifeless on the ground.

  Nate wrenched the gun from the man’s hands and put his mouth right against Darcy’s ear. “He pulled the trigger,” he let her know. “And missed me. He hit himself instead.”

  Her sob was replaced by relief, and she threw her arms around him. Nate was alive and unharmed. She couldn’t say a prayer of thanks fast enough.

  “We can’t stay here,” Nate insisted, his mouth still against her ear. He glanced at the headset next to the dead man.

  Darcy nodded. He was right. They couldn’t stay there because it wouldn’t be long before someone came to check on him. Nate and she had to be long gone by then.

  Nate kept the gun with the silencer in his right hand, and caught her arm with his left. He started to run, hauling her right along with him, and he headed in the direction that his brothers had taken.

  Darcy’s heart was already pounding from the fight, and her heels didn’t make it easy to race over the uneven terrain. But she couldn’t stop or give up. Not with her baby’s life at stake.

  She wanted to know where Nate was taking her, but she didn’t dare ask. The woods were thick, without much sunlight here, and she didn’t know if there were other armed guards hiding in the shadows, waiting to strike.

  They ran, zigzagging their way through the trees and underbrush. No sign of his brother or Mel, even though Darcy thought they were heading in the deputy’s direction.

  Nate glanced down at his hip, and for one horrifying moment, she thought maybe he’d been hurt, after all. But she realized his phone was vibrating. He mumbled some profanity and ducked behind a tree.

  “It’s Grayson,” he whispered. Nate didn’t answer it. Instead, he fired off a text: Position compromised. Am on the run.

  Nate shoved his phone back in his pocket and took her by the arm again. He jerked her forward as if ready to run but then stopped.

  “Hell,” he mumbled. His grip melted off her arm.

  Nate lifted his hands in the air. Darcy did, too, though it took her a moment to realize what was going on. She finally saw the gun. Not a handgun, either, but some kind of assault rifle.

  And, just like earlier, it was aimed right at them.

  “DROP YOUR GUN,” the man ordered Nate. “Take the other one from your holster and drop it, too.”

  Nate couldn’t believe this. He still had blood on his hands from the last attack, and here he was looking down another gun barrel.

  “Now!” the man snarled.

  Nate glanced at Darcy, to let her know he regretted what he had to do, and he dropped the guns. First, the one he’d taken from the dead guard and then his own Glock.

  “Start walking,” the gunman demanded the moment the weapons were on the ground. He used the assault rifle to point the way.

  This guy was even bigger than the other, and he kept several yards between them so it would be next to impossible for Nate to attack him.

  “What do we do?” Darcy whispered. She stumbled, and Nate caught her arm to stop her from falling.

  “We look for an opportunity to escape,” he whispered back. But he knew that wouldn’t be easy.

  The guard was leading them straight to the ranch.

  Darcy’s suddenly rapid breathing let him know that she realized that, as well.

  Nate kept walking and glanced around, hoping he’d see one of his brothers or Mel. But he saw no one, other than the guard who was patrolling the road. Once Darcy and he were out of the trees and into the open, the guard on the porch would spot them, as well.

  But where were Mason and Kade?

  They should have made it to this point now. Nate prayed nothing had gone wrong.

  And then there was Mel to consider.

  If she was still perched on the side of that hill, she might try to take out one or two of the guards when she saw that Darcy and he had been taken captive. That would mean bullets being fired much too close to the house. Nate knew Mel was a good cop with good aim, but he was uneasy enough with Mason’s plan. Nate didn’t want bullets added to this already dangerous mix.

  Darcy stumbled again right as they reached the dirt road that separated the woods from the ranch. Again, Nate caught her.

  “Should I pretend to faint or something?” she whispered.

  “Keep moving!” the guard demanded, and this time he didn’t whisper.

  “Do as he says,” Nate instructed. It appeared the guy had plans to take them inside the house.

  When they stepped out onto the road, the guard moved closer to them. Probably to protect himself. Did he know Grayson and the others were out there? Maybe. Or maybe he was just being c
autious.

  The guard by the cattle gate came closer, as well, and he kept his rifle aimed at Darcy and Nate. The man fired glances all around, and his message was clear—if anyone took a shot at him, he would shoot back, and at this range, he wasn’t likely to miss.

  “They’re taking us to the children,” Darcy mumbled. She quickened her pace, hurrying across the yard and to the porch.

  The door swung open, and the two guards forced them inside, following right behind them. They shut the door and immediately started watching out the gaps in the newspapers that covered the two front windows.

  Other than a tattered sofa and some boxes, the room was empty, and Nate couldn’t hear the babies or Marlene.

  “Welcome,” a bulky man said from the doorway of the kitchen. Like the others, he was dressed all in black and had camo paint on his face. And he was armed.

  “Are you the boss?” Nate asked.

  “Yeah,” he readily admitted.

  Nate tried to commit every detail of this man’s appearance and demeanor because when this was over, the boss was going down.

  “Where are the children?” Darcy demanded. Her voice was shaking. So was she. But she managed to sound as if she was ready to tear them limb from limb.

  “I’ll let you see for yourself.” The boss stepped to the side and motioned for them to go toward the back of the house.

  Was this some kind of trick?

  Maybe.

  Nate certainly didn’t trust them, but several of the guards had had more than ample opportunity to kill them.

  “This way,” the boss instructed. He led them through a dining room and then to a hall.

  That’s when Nate saw the open door. And the room.

  “Noah!” Darcy practically shoved the boss aside and hurried toward Marlene and the babies. They’d been right about the rocking chair. Marlene was seated in it with Kimmie in the crook of one arm and Noah in the other.

  Marlene’s eyes widened, but that was her only reaction. Maybe because she was in shock. No telling what these goons had put her through.

  “Noah,” Darcy repeated.

  She scooped up her sleeping son into her arms. Nate did the same to Kimmie, but neither baby stayed asleep for long. Noah immediately started to fuss, and Kimmie slowly opened her eyes.