The Deputy's Baby

by Tyler Anne Snell

  Henry propped the flashlight on the coffee table so the woman was in the spotlight and made quick work of cuffing her to a wooden leg of the entertainment cabinet. He left her wounded arm alone and free. Not that it would do much good. If she wanted to escape she’d have to flip the cabinet and the TV. Cassie doubted she could manage it at the awkward angle she was sitting on the floor.

  But if she did, at least they’d hear it and have a heads-up.

  The woman stayed quiet during the deed and didn’t try to resist. It somehow made Cassie even more nervous than if she had tried. The woman was too confident, which made everything she’d said to Henry in the last few minutes even more terrifying.

  Calvin, and who knew who else, was coming.

  Could she shoot him, too?

  Cassie’s stomach twisted. She’d never shot someone before. She was a dispatcher, for heaven’s sake. The most action she’d seen was when she had gotten shot.

  Suddenly the rest of the hotel suite started to come into focus around the beam of light. The shadows of two bodies were in front of her. One unconscious, one dead. The scent of copper filled the air. Cassie felt light-headed.

  Not copper.

  Blood.

  “I—I need to leave.” Even to her own ears she heard her voice break. The silence before and after made the fragility of it even more noticeable. She wasn’t the same woman who had just shot someone in the arm.

  Both Henry and the woman turned to look at her. Only one was smirking.

  “I think she just realized she’s standing in Kevin’s blood and guts,” the woman said. “Might want to make sure if she passes out to do it backward and not forward.”

  Cassie wanted to reply with something witty but the woman was right. She was about to pass out. Her vision started to tunnel. Without the flashlight’s beam she might not have noticed the difference. A cold sweat broke out all over her body.

  Henry was at her side in a flash, picking up the flashlight in the process. Its bouncing beam did little to help her attempt to calm down.

  “Why don’t you go back into the bathroom?” he urged. “I’ll call in to the department and come and get you when someone gets here.”

  He tried to gently nudge her back into the closet-size bathroom. It caused an almost overwhelming sense of anxiety within her.

  “I don’t want to be trapped in there again,” she whispered. “It’s too small. It feels like being backed into a corner.” She reached out and took his forearm. Warmth spread between them. It helped anchor her thoughts. “And I already tried to get hold of someone while I was in there. No one answered.” She squeezed his arm as dread began to pool in her stomach. “No one.”

  The woman laughed.

  “You’re all cut off now, honey,” she said. “Now all we have is the fun.”

  Henry stiffened. The unmistakable sounds of voices shouting somewhere in the building floated through the open door.

  “Don’t look so surprised. I might not be a top dog, but one of them sure does like me.”

  “Oh, God, they’re coming for her,” Cassie related. That was why the woman wasn’t afraid. Which meant she thought Henry and Cassie were no match. Cassie thought about her unborn child. “What do we do?”

  Henry took less time to contemplate. He moved the beam over the woman’s face one more time. When he spoke, his voice was low and thick with anger. “Tell Calvin only children play games.”

  Then he took Cassie by the hand and pulled her along with him into the hallway. He barely took a beat before cutting to the right and running. The flashlight beam did little to quell the fear of the dark around them. Whoever had been shouting in the lobby was now pounding up the stairwell behind them.

  Luckily, they weren’t going to be seen.

  Henry opened the door to the second set of stairs and ushered her inside. This time he stopped for a moment, listening. Cassie tried to mimic him, but her heart was hammering against her rib cage so hard she wasn’t sure if that was what she was hearing or thunder in the distance.

  “The Eagle,” he whispered when he was satisfied with what he did or didn’t hear. “Would Hawk have guns there?”

  Cassie was surprised he knew the bar owner’s nickname, but she answered. “Yes, and he’d be ready to shoot them.”

  Henry readjusted the flashlight and started down the stairs, careful not to pull her too much. Which was good; she was starting to get really winded. Since she’d found out she was pregnant, she’d been doing prenatal yoga and other exercises to keep her in shape the best she could, but running for her life hadn’t been on the recommended list of daily activities.

  Another roar of thunder shook the building. This time the rain wasn’t far behind. Henry swore under his breath but kept on. When they got to the door leading out, however, he turned to face her full-on for the first time. As he aimed the flashlight down between them, Cassie could barely make out the blue of his eyes as shadows danced across his face.

  “Do you trust me?”

  It was such an odd question. Simple yet in no way simple. One yes or no answer that fundamentally changed how their relationship would work.

  Did Cassie trust Henry Ward?

  The man who had stolen her heart with no obvious plan to return it.

  The man who had said nothing of the child they shared in her stomach.

  The man who she’d known less than a handful of days and yet felt a connection with unlike any other she’d felt before.

  Cassie already knew the answer. “I do.”

  “Good. Because I have a plan. One that you might not like.”

  * * *

  THE SIDE DOOR led out to a covered walkway that looped around the back of the hotel. Since the front of the building began a foot from the sidewalk, anyone checking in used the drive there instead. Which meant as soon as they cleared the awning they were currently under, they’d be pummeled by the rain.

  And lose most of their already limited visibility.

  “Are you okay to run again?” Henry asked. There was no point trying to whisper when Mother Nature was all-out yelling around them. Thunder and lightning sparred in the sky. Too close for comfort. Just like Calvin’s lackeys inside.

  Caught between a rock and a hard place?

  More like forced between a hard place and a hard place.

  In the dark.

  “Yeah, but I don’t think I can go that fast.” Cassie held her belly in one hand and her gun in the other. It was a sight that unsettled him yet made him feel a twinge of pride. Not only had she probably saved his life, she’d done it seven months’ pregnant to boot.

  “I’m going to let you go first just in case they decide to pop up behind us, okay?”

  Cassie nodded. Another boom of thunder drew her frown in on itself. She reached out and took the flashlight from him. The storm was heavy but not nasty. Not yet, anyway. Without the streetlamps, the only light they had to pull from was the sky itself, and that was dim at best. If Henry hadn’t been comfortable with the Eagle, he might not have attempted the trip. He reached out and took Cassie’s shoulder. Together they moved out and through the rain.

  Cassie went faster than he expected but did her due diligence before crossing each street lane. The Eagle didn’t get popular until around seven and the hotel was in one of its slower months. Not to mention, as far as he could tell, Carpenter had gone lights out. If anyone was in the hotel, he hoped they were sticking to their rooms after hearing the gunshots. He also hoped that Mike the manager was still alive. Henry had a feeling the man wouldn’t have let the woman and her goons upstairs without a fight.

  Now the question was if Hawk the bar owner was in his bar and would willingly help.

  They made it to the front double doors without any people or cars coming at them. The bar was dark, like the rest of the block save for the small light in Cassie’s hand. She wa
ved it across the glass. Henry stopped her before she opened the door.

  “If anything goes sideways, I want you to run and hide,” he said, angling down so his mouth was next to her ear. The rain had only intensified the smell of her shampoo. Citrus and spice. An intoxicating mixture against the wet skin of a beautiful woman. “Okay, Cassie?”

  She nodded against the rain, hair darkening as it grew more wet, and let Henry pull her behind him. She kept the flashlight over his shoulder as they moved inside. Henry kept his gun low but wasn’t for a second going to let them be ambushed.

  Again.

  Like the hotel suite, the inside of the Eagle was so quiet it was nearly deafening. The air was still cool from the AC but felt stiff in the open, dark space. Cassie swept her light ahead and across the bar. No one was behind it or at any of the tables or booths. The main room was empty.

  “The door was unlocked,” Cassie said, this time at his ear. Without the rain beating down on them, she went back to a worried whisper. “Hawk has to be in the back.”

  Henry turned and put his finger to his lips. Cassie fell silent, eyes widening. He would bet Hawk was in the back. It was just his condition Henry was concerned about. What if the woman and her goons had looked for him at the Eagle first?

  He walked Cassie to the corner, out of view from the windows if the lights did come back on, and pressed his fingers to his lips one more time to push his point home again. If he could, Henry wanted to keep Cassie a secret like he had done in the hotel room. There were too many unknown variables. He couldn’t guarantee her safety if all hell hit the fan. It was that thought alone that had made up his mind to run across the street in the first place.

  Cassie handed the flashlight to him. He put the small light in his mouth and pulled out his gun. He moved as quietly as his wet boots would allow across the hardwood until he was behind the bar at a door that led into the kitchen.

  No one jumped out or said anything. The silence from the main room stretched all the way past the grill and cooler out into another door that led to a small hallway. Henry tilted to look toward the front of the building. The hallway ran to the front, passing two small bathrooms. He moved his chin around to face the other end. The beam lit up two doors. One led, he assumed, to the back alley. If he had to guess, the other led to the office. The door was open.

  The sound of rain pelting the one-story building intensified. Henry moved down the hall, muscles coiling in anticipation. His brother’s voice echoed through his head.

  You are good at a lot of things, Henry, but stealth isn’t your strong suit.

  Hopefully he’d gotten better since Garrett had made the comment. Though the moment he swung around the open doorway, gun and flashlight high, he realized that maybe his brother was still right.

  “Don’t move or I’ll blast a hole through your chest,” the man said, eyes narrowing in the light.

  For what felt like the umpteenth time in the last two days, someone had a gun pointing at Henry.

  And, boy, was it getting old fast!

  Chapter Sixteen

  Henry lowered his gun slowly. With his free hand he took the flashlight from his mouth, also slowly. The man nicknamed Hawk had been waiting in the dark for him. He surely wasn’t going to loosen his stance any time soon. Better not to spook him.

  “My name’s Henry Ward,” he started, keeping the flashlight pointed ahead. “I’m the new deputy at the sheriff’s department. I was in here several months ago and—”

  “And helped get Gary to his cab in exchange for a drink,” he interrupted gruffly. “I’m bald, not dumb. Why are you here in my business, lurking around with your gun out?”

  Henry motioned toward the hallway. He needed to be honest. If the sheriff and the department seemed to trust the bartender, then he would, too. Especially considering his own track record with apparently misplacing trust. “I’ve been staying across the road. A few minutes ago we were ambushed by three perps before the lights went out. One’s dead and the other two were incapacitated, but more came into the building. I didn’t want to take any chances of a shoot-out, since my friend’s pregnant. I thought she’d stand a better chance being here until things got sorted out.”

  Hawk’s demeanor barely shifted. He didn’t lower his gun but his eyes went over Henry’s shoulder. “Who’s your friend?”

  “Cassie Gates.”

  It was like her name was the magic word. The hardened man across from Henry lowered his gun and took up a look of such great concern that he felt a shot of adrenaline go through him.

  “Is Cassie okay?” Hawk asked, bending to pick up something.

  Henry was relieved to see it was a camping lantern. A soft fluorescent light flooded the room. It was small but powerful. “She could probably use a place to rest, but I think she’s okay.”

  Henry stepped into the hallway and they started back to the front.

  “You know, I thought I heard a few shots, but with the weather, I chalked it up to thunder,” Hawk said, trailing behind him. “Then my cell phone lost service and the lights went out. Knew it was trouble.”

  “It was intentional.” Henry gritted out the words. Anger flared hot in his stomach. Calvin had done it. Or gotten someone to do it for him. Either way, this was him.

  And he would pay.

  “I figured as much. I don’t think the storm is the only thing that’s come into town angry.”

  Henry walked into the main room as a shock of lightning lit up the space. Cassie stood from the corner booth he’d set her next to.

  “I found Hawk,” he was quick to say. “He’s okay, and you were right, he is ready to do some shooting if needed.”

  Hank held up the lantern long enough for Cassie to cross the room. Henry watched the front windows and door.

  “I locked the front door,” she said, getting a quick hug from the bartender. “I hope that’s okay, Hawk.”

  “Sounds good to me. It might be better if we pretend we’re not home right now, anyways.”

  Henry nodded.

  He didn’t want Cassie as exposed as he felt they were just standing around. The rain was still falling in heavy sheets, but if there was a chance Hawk’s lantern could still be seen from the street, he wanted to make sure they were at least in a different room.

  “Actually, do you have some water I could have? I know I’m drenched, but I also haven’t run around like that in a while.”

  “Sure thing. I have some bottles in the kitchen. Then I think I have some hand towels in the storage room. Might not do the trick, but they’ll help.”

  Henry wanted to be the one who got her water and dried her off. He wanted to be the one who sat next to her and asked if she really was okay. But if Calvin was gunning for him, then they weren’t safe.

  She wasn’t safe.

  Their son wasn’t safe.

  “I’m going to stay here,” he declared, eyes never leaving the darkness outside the door and windows.

  Henry felt Cassie hesitate even if he couldn’t see her.

  “You think they know we came over here?” Cassie asked.

  “There’s a plan everyone seems to be following. One that I don’t fully understand yet. I can’t guess at their moves because I don’t know their full motives.”

  “The big guy wanted to hurt Matt, not you,” Cassie offered. “But the woman wanted to keep you in that room. She wanted to keep you safe.”

  Henry nodded. He didn’t know if either could see it outside their circle of light.

  “Two different agendas, a town-wide blackout and somewhere out there Calvin is up to no good.” Henry felt his nostrils flare, anger burning through him again. “It’s hard to guess at what happens next when you’re still hung up on what’s happening now.”

  Hawk grunted in, what Henry guessed, was agreement. Cassie didn’t say a word. The two walked back to the kitchen. He
nry turned off his flashlight and set it on the bar in front of him. Complete darkness washed over the room.

  Henry didn’t want to admit it, but Calvin being hot on his heels was bad, bad news. The man wasn’t just smart, he was clever. But what was worse came from the fact that he had always been a man able to adapt. He thought as quickly on his feet as Henry did. It had been one of the reasons they had been paired up and sent undercover in the first place. If Calvin really was pulling the strings, he might pull his puppets right on over to the Eagle.

  Because that was where Calvin would have gone if he had a pregnant woman he was protecting. At least, the old Calvin would have.

  Was he the same person now?

  Had Henry just been blind?

  He balled his fists on the bar top. The same one he’d been sitting at when he’d first heard the honeyed voice that was Cassie Gates.

  If he’d only known what he knew now...

  ...He still would have walked over to her sister and pretended he was her date.

  Another surprising revelation.

  One that was short-lived.

  Lighting flashed outside. Then it flashed again.

  Henry stiffened.

  It wasn’t lightning.

  Two beams of light strobed in front of the building, getting closer.

  Had the goons already figured out where they’d gone?

  Henry ducked low and hurried through the door to the kitchen.

  “Hawk, lights out,” he hissed, rushing to Cassie’s side. He took her hand as the bar owner followed instruction without question.

  “This is getting old,” Cassie muttered.

  Hawk beat them to the office and picked up his gun. He turned the lantern back on, low, and put it in the corner. Henry directed Cassie to a chair next to it.

  “If that woman is with them, she made it pretty clear that Calvin wanted you alive,” she said. “That’s good, right?”

  “No, it’s not.”

  In the low light Cassie’s brow turned in on itself.

  He didn’t like the explanation he gave. “She didn’t say anything about keeping you alive.”