by Sandra Cox
“I thought you were going after a soda.” Tyler is seated on the only chair in the room, flipping channels.
Piper reads me better. “What happened?”
“I almost ran into Craven.”
“Here?” Amy’s breath catches.
“Don’t worry, I don’t think he saw me.” I fight the urge to cross my fingers.
Piper looks bewildered. Tyler asks, “Who’s Craven?”
“He worked for Ziccon. He’s in cahoots with Stranger to harvest Amy’s eggs.”
A knock sounds at the door. My gut tightens. Piper’s eyes go wide. Color drains from her face.
Amy begins to tremble.
“Here,” I mouth and toss Tyler’s cap to him. He shoves it on and I run to the small bathroom. It might work. From a distance, Tyler and I look alike. We both have ropy builds and light hair. I motion frantically for Amy, but she’s frozen with fear. Piper shoves her in the closet. I close the door and press my ear to the door.
“Hello,” Tyler says.
“Sorry to bother you, but I thought I saw a friend of mine come this way.” It’s Craven!
“He didn’t come here, man. It’s just me and my girl. And since this room is rented by the hour, you’re cutting into my time.”
“I didn’t say it was a he,” Craven says, his voice taking on a menacing quality.
“She,” Tyler emphasizes, “didn’t come this way either.”
“You mind if I have a look around?”
“You bet your ass I do.”
“Well, maybe I just will anyway.”
The sounds of a scuffle ensue. I’d love nothing better than to run out and punch Craven in the nose, but that won’t further our cause. My breath coming hard and fast, I force myself to stay put, until I hear a short, muffled scream.
I throw the door open. Craven stands in the doorway, grinning at me, Amy slumped over his shoulder. Tyler is on the floor with blood dripping from his nose and Piper is bent over him. A stranger with a gun looms over them. Craven has a Taser in one hand and behind him is another man with a gun. “I knew you were here, freak.” The Taser and the gun are pointed straight at me.
He turns to one of the men. “Shoot him.”
“No way. This doesn’t have a silencer.”
“Wuss.” Craven reaches for it, but Amy is starting to thrash and Piper forces out a small scream. The man holding the gun on her and Tyler shoves her to the floor. I lunge forward.
“Playing the little hero, freak?” Craven tases me.
I drop to the floor, twitching.
He tases me again and again. My nerves jump around. I’m being fried.
“That’s enough. Let’s get out of here.”
Tyler pushes to his feet, but the man with the gun aimed at him knocks him back down. Craven gives me one more jolt then is out the door with Amy. At the last hit, my heart jumps and begins to beat out an irregular rhythm. God, I hope it doesn’t stop. I try to catch my breath and get to my feet. I have to rescue Amy. I make it to my knees but no farther.
Tyler struggles to his feet and throws open the door. Piper wobbles to me and somehow pulls me up. My legs can’t hold me so I slide down the wall to the floor. “Give me a minute,” I manage to get out.
“What was he doing here?” Piper is literally wringing her hands.
“I don’t know. If I were to guess, I’d say he was meeting up with Stranger.”
She unclenches her fingers and wipes then against her pants.
“Can you see which way they went?” I need to get up but my heartbeat is still unsteady and my legs are about as firm as cooked spaghetti. Ignoring how wobbly they are, I walk my hands on the wall and pull myself up.
She puts her arms around me, supporting me. “Oh, Joel, I’m so sorry.” She drops her head to my shoulder. “First the baby and now Amy.”
Realization dawns. Even with the heat from her body, I go cold. If Craven calls Stranger before Mr. Dunn makes the exchange, all bets will be off.
“What if something goes wrong?” Her voice is muffled against my shoulder, her body rigid.
“Piper.”
She looks up.
“Nothing’s going to go wrong. Soon, you’ll be holding your daughter.” I force a smile through stiff lips.
Tyler is watching us, his countenance strained. I want to yell at him, now isn’t the time to be worrying about me stealing your girlfriend, but I bite back the words. I’m too close to being out of control.
I let go of Piper and manage to stand on my own. My heartbeat is even starting to feel normal, though the hole in it is firmly in place and aches like hell, for my daughter and my sister. I ask Tyler, “Would you call Holly?”
Tyler dials, listens, and then shakes his head. “There’s no answer.”
“Text her, tell her what happened. We have to get word to her.”
He looks at me and gets it. “So the whole thing doesn’t blow up in our face.”
“That pretty much sums it up.”
He starts texting. We all stare at the phone, willing a response.
None comes. Tyler takes Piper’s hands. “She’ll check the message. You know Holly. She’s incapable of ignoring a text.”
Piper tries to smile but fails miserably. “Do you think it’s safe to stay here? Do you think Craven will come back?”
“He got what he came for.” My gut clenches. “We’re safe enough for the moment. Let me get you something to eat, Pip.”
“I’m not hungry.” She turns and walks to the window, rubbing her arms as if she’s cold.
“You need to keep your strength up.”
“I don’t think I could keep anything down.”
“Would you try for me?” Tyler coaxes.
“Sure.”
“I’ll be right back. Do you want to go with me?”
“I think I’ll stay here. Just in case.”
“I understand.”
He gives her a light kiss then goes quickly through the door.
“What’s she like?” Piper asks for the thousandth time. “Please talk to me. Tell me anything, anything to keep my mind off my baby and Amy.”
And for the thousandth time I repeat the litany. “She’s beautiful and so smart and even-tempered. She has your smile and blowhole and my birthmark.
“Let me see it.”
My body jerks. “What?”
“Let me see your birthmark.”
I give a nervous laugh. “You’ve seen it a thousand times before.”
“I’ve never really paid any attention to it. I want to see it. I want to see what my daughter’s birthmark looks like.”
I pull off my shirt and turn around. She studies it closely. After a moment, she lays gentle fingers on my shoulder, tracing the outline of it. My skin jumps and quivers under her hand. I close my eyes, caught somewhere between agony and ecstasy.
The door swings open. Tyler stands in the doorway staring.
“Okay, here is where I get my ass kicked,” I murmur. I turn to explain and he decks me. The hit is probably three-fourths mad and just a good ole need to release the building tension from this ghastly situation. If I was in his position, that’s how I’d be feeling about now.
It lifts me off my feet and up against the wall where I slide down and land on my butt. There’s a reason I should be holding back, but at the moment all I can think of is returning the punch. I jump up with my fists clenched and ram him in the stomach with my head.
“Stop it. Stop it you two.” Piper’s hysteria cuts through the testosterone-laced fog.
I easily sidestep the next punch. “Nothing happened, man.”
“I wanted to see what my baby’s birthmark looked like.” By now, she’s crying.
I drop my guard and walk away. Tyler punches air. Piper’s tears have wilted any aggressive tendencies I have left.
“Stop it, you moron.” I touch Piper’s shoulder. “Don’t cry, Pip. It’s okay.”
/> “It’s not. Nothing’s okay.” Despite my intentions not to touch her, I can’t stand her tears. I take her in my arms and rock her gently back and forth. Her sobs quieten to sniffles and she slips her arms around my waist.
I meet Tyler’s gaze over her head. He can’t deal with her tears any better than I. The color drains from his face, sadness in his eyes. His fists drop to his side.
“Nothing happened. She just wanted to see my birthmark,” I repeat.
“I’m sorry, Piper.” He looks at her bent head then walks out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.
“This is such a mess.” Her breath is soft and warm against my skin.
What can I say? She’s right. So I say nothing.
“How are we going to manage without you two tearing each other to bits?”
I gently push her away and hold her at arm’s length. “I don’t intend to get into any more tangles with Tyler. He was just letting off steam and so was I. It was stupid. It won’t happen again.”
“But nothing was going on.”
“No, nothing was going on. But what Tyler saw was me with my shirt off and your hands on my shoulder.”
Color rushes up Piper’s throat and floods her face. Against my better judgment, I trace it with my finger. “And I reacted to the pain.” And the fury of Craven getting his hands on Amy.
Her head snaps up and she nearly head butts me in the chin. For the first time, she takes a good look at my face. “Oh my gosh. I’m sorry. Let me put some ice on it.”
“There isn’t any.”
“Then a damp cloth.” She rushes into the bathroom. Water gushes from the faucet then she returns with a wrung-out cloth and puts it on my jaw.
I tolerate her fussing as long as I can. “It’s better now.” I fling the washcloth through the open door of the bathroom.
“Why are you being so reasonable about Tyler?” she asks. “He hit you.”
She seems to be having a problem getting past that. “Yeah, he did.” I gingerly wiggle my jaw. Nothing’s broken. “Because he took a huge risk to get our daughter back. I owe him.”
“Joel, I—”
The door opens and Tyler walks in carrying a fast food sack and drinks. He looks at Piper. “You need to eat. Joel, I picked up a couple of burgers and fries for you too.”
“Thanks.”
I open the bag filled with burgers and fries. My stomach is too tied in knots to eat. The picture of Amy tossed over Craven’s shoulder is engraved in my brain. I have to get her back.
Piper picks at her food. We sit cross-legged on the bed, her at the head, me at the foot, with the food in between us. The smell of burgers and grease is making my stomach roll.
Tyler rocks on his heels, his hands shoved in his jean’s pockets. “Listen, I owe you both an apology.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” I say.
He turns toward Piper. “I’m sorry.”
She replies stiffly. “Thank you for what you’re doing for our daughter.”
He winces when she says our. “Piper, there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do for you.”
“In that case, don’t punch Joel anymore. You could have broken his jaw.”
A knock sounds at the door. Piper jumps up as if there are springs on her butt. Before anyone can stop her, she runs to the door and throws it open.
“Help me,” Holly wheezes.
Tyler heads for the door. “You stay here,” he tells me. “Piper, get away from the door, just in case Craven comes back.” Moments later, he and Holly are hauling in Becca—one of the attendants from the lab—between them.
I sweep the food off the bed and they lay Becca down. She snores softly.
“Let’s go,” Holly commands, then sprints back to the SUV.
We rush out after her and tumble into the back seat. I glance back at the car parked across from us. A man lowers the paper he was holding to his face. He looks straight at me and starts his car. “Floor it, Mr. Dunn.” I yell.
Chapter 18
Mr. Dunn sends the SUV careening out of the parking lot. Cars honk as he cuts them off. He goes through a red light and takes a hard right.
Piper tumbles onto me.
“Do you have the baby?” Piper gasps out, trying to right herself.
“We sure do,” Holly calls back.
“Is he still back there?” Mr. Dunn yells.
The man following us runs the red light too, and squeals around the corner after us. Mr. Dunn pulls in front of a taxi, nearly cutting him off. The man lays on his horn. The yellow light ahead turns red and Mr. Dunn runs through it. When the taxi driver stops, the man chasing us crashes into him.
“Good going, Mr. Dunn,” I whoop.
He takes several more turns but is now driving more sedately. He hits the interstate and we’re on our way home.
I lean back in the seat but keep an eye on the rearview mirror.
Piper leans forward. “Let me see her.”
The baby is wrapped in a sterile white blanket. Holly passes her back. “She’s so sweet.”
Piper’s hands tremble as she takes her. She lifts her up, leans back in the seat, and pulls back the blanket. “Oh, what a little angel.”
“Looks like she has just been named.” Warmth spreads through my chest and leaves me feeling euphoric.
“It fits her, doesn’t it?” Angel’s hand is wrapped around Piper’s finger.
When the baby hears my voice, she looks at me and coos.
“She recognizes you,” Piper exclaims.
“She’s smart.” I reach over and chuck Angel under the chin. She giggles and kicks her feet.
Piper undoes Angel’s shirt and studies the tiny blowhole and birthmark. “It’s amazing,” she breathes then proceeds to count fingers and toes.
“She’s amazing,” Holly puts in.
“Yes, she is. Aren’t you, sweetums?” Piper coos to Angel.
Holly glances over and sees the blowhole. “She has a blowhole? Oh my God. That’s awesome.”
“And hush-hush. You can’t tell anyone, Holly,” Piper cautions.
“No, I won’t. You have my word.”
I lean back in the seat as the girls continue to ooh and ah. Angel touches my arm and smiles at me. For one brief moment, I can forget about the agony of Amy being snatched and revel in my daughter’s touch.
“I know I’m repeating myself, but it amazes me that she remembers you,” Piper says.
A rush of parental pride surges through me. “Our daughter has inherited her mother’s intelligence.”
Piper smiles. It’s one of the smiles that are reserved for just me. I drink it in.
Tyler watches Piper watch me.
“You want to trade places, Tyler? I’ll keep an eye out for traffic in case anyone is following us,” I ask.
“Sure.”
Piper glances away.
The baby’s fingers tighten on my arm. It’s more like a brush from a butterfly. I kiss her chubby little hand then crawl into the back seat. Tyler crawls into the middle seat.
Piper gives him a strained smile. What does that mean? My heart notches up a beat or two before I take myself in hand. I will not make a play for her. No matter how badly I want her. Want her, my daughter and me to be a family. I want to marry her. And I can’t have her. I turn my head to the window. Outside, everything looks gray and bleak. Is it the countryside or my heart?
I’m distracted by a whipping sound overhead. Shit! I strain out the window to see. My muscles sag with relief. A news helicopter. But it’s a sharp reminder that Stranger has other means of tracking us. “Tyler.”
“Yeah?” He turns toward me.
“How would you feel about a new color for your SUV?”
He visibly jerks. “I thought we lost whoever was following us. By the way who do you think it was?”
“Had to be a pal of Craven. Stranger wouldn’t have known about us or we would have never gotten the ba
by.”
“It was close,” Holly puts in. “As soon as I got your text—thanks for that, Tyler—I hustled things along. I saw Stranger looking at his phone as we drove off. Not that it had to be a call from Craven, but—”
“The odds are good,” I put in.
“Yeah.” She nods.
“Stranger has a helicopter. I’m going on the assumption Craven’s been in touch with him. But if he’s looking for a black SUV, the California license plates would be a dead giveaway.”
“But not a white SUV with California plates.” Tyler nods.
“Exactly.”
“And Mr. Dunn”—I throw my voice so he can hear me in the front seat—“it might not be a bad idea to stay in the middle of traffic where we don’t stand out.”
“Will do,” he calls back. “It looks like we’re about twenty minutes from the next town.”
“Do you want me to drive for a while?” Mr. Dunn must be exhausted. It was a twelve-hour trip in and now we’re doing a twelve-hour trip back.
“I’ll take over, Mr. Dunn,” Tyler volunteers, “And you can play with your great grandchild.”
“I can’t refuse an offer like that. I’ll switch out when we stop for the paint.”
I spend the next twenty minutes dividing my attention between vehicles that could be following us and checking the sky for helicopters, all the while wondering how I’m going to get Amy back. My stomach clenches. I will get her back, whatever I have to do to make it happen.
When we pull in, Mr. Dunn reaches for his wallet.
“I got it, Gramps,” Piper says.
“I can get it,” I say.
“Oh for goodness sake, I’ll get it.” Holly jumps out of the car.
“I better go with her.” Tyler follows.
Gramps gets out of the vehicle and stretches then gets in the middle seat with Piper and the baby. “With the exception of her momma, she’s the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.” Angel reaches out her arms and Mr. Dunn takes her, his eyes suspiciously bright. Angel coos and Mr. Dunn talks baby talk. At this moment, Angel is the only thing keeping me sane.
