The Cradle Files

by Delores Fossen

  That didn't do much to make him breathe easier.

  Keeping his gun aimed at the door, he hurried to the nightstand and grabbed his communicator. He pressed the two-digit code for the officer out front. The man should have answered immediately.

  He didn't.

  Nor did he answer when Garrett tried again.

  Hell.

  It meant the officer was likely incapacitated or worse, and Lexie and Garrett were trapped inside with the intruders and no backup. He didn't even try the phone line, figuring it'd been cut. Instead, he used his cell phone to call for help.

  He made brief eye contact with Lexie to try and reassure her that they'd be okay, but she knew what was happening. And the fear was all over her face. Not fear for them, but for their child. Even if Kent was after revenge and not the baby, that didn't mean their daughter couldn't be hurt in a shoot-out.

  "O'Malley?" someone called from the other side of the door. Not Kent, though. Probably one of his hired guns. "Your guard isn't available to help you, and your cop buddies won't be here for at least fifteen to twenty minutes."

  Garrett knew that was, unfortunately, true. Fifteen to twenty minutes was a lifetime. But somehow, some way, he had to keep Lexie and the baby safe until then. "What do you want?"

  "Your cooperation. If you cooperate, your baby won't be hurt."

  He heard Lexie suck in her breath. Thankfully, the infant didn't make a sound. Garrett prayed she'd stay asleep so she wouldn't witness any of this.

  "What's your definition of cooperation?" he demanded.

  There were whispers. Profanity. "I'm going to kick in the door. If you shoot, we'll shoot back, and we won't be careful with our aim."

  So, in this case cooperation meant their attackers wanted him to stand there while they killed them.

  That wasn't going to happen.

  "I have a better idea," Garrett countered. But before he could continue, there was a loud crashing sound. Two of them, in fact. The door flew open and he came face-to-face with a pair of armed gunmen. Both carried semiautomatics rigged with silencers.

  "Drop your weapons," the larger man suggested. "And remember that part about bullets flying. You wouldn't want your little girl to get hurt."

  Though that comment chilled his blood, Garrett pushed it aside so he could do some bargaining. "Let Lexie and the baby go. Then we'll work out whatever needs to be worked out between us."

  "I'm afraid we can't do that. The baby will go to her new parents. My boss doesn't want to lose all that money. You and the birth mom—that's a different story."

  Not really. It was a story Garrett had already anticipated. "You're going to try to kill us?"

  "Bingo. Except I'm going to do more than try. I'm going to succeed."

  With that, the man turned his gun toward Lexie and slid his index finger over the trigger.

  Garrett didn't have time to think; he dived across the room. He heard the swoosh of sound from the silenced shot, like someone blowing out a candle. He returned fire, but it wasn't fast enough to stop what the other man had already put into motion.

  And Garrett felt the hot bullet slice through him.

  * * *

  FOR LEXIE EVERYTHING seemed to move in slow motion. Yet it was fast, too. Like rapid images from her worst nightmare.

  First there was the bullet fired through the silencer, and a split second later, Garrett's own shot. Not silenced. Deafening. The baby immediately started to cry, and Lexie sent her a quick glance to make sure she was okay. She was, but the sound had obviously frightened her.

  It had terrified Lexie.

  Garrett fell at her feet, and she saw the blood on his arm. She felt fear claw through her. And anger. Especially the anger. These goons had not only hurt Garrett, they'd put the baby in danger.

  They could have killed Garrett.

  And maybe they had.

  Maybe he would die not knowing that she loved him. And she did love him. She knew that now. She only hoped it wasn't too late to tell him.

  Lexie didn't think. Going on pure instinct and adrenaline, she dived away from the bassinet to draw fire away from the baby. In the same motion, she squeezed the trigger of her gun. Her shot missed, slamming into the wooden door frame. But it was successful in one way. Both men took cover, ducking back into the hall.

  Garrett didn't let them get far. Still on his side, still bleeding, he fired.

  He didn't miss.

  His bullet smacked into the larger gunman's right shoulder. The second shot succeeded as well, striking the man's hand and sending his weapon flying through the air.

  Garrett didn't stop there. With their baby crying and Lexie yelling for him to be careful, he scrambled across the room, putting himself in the direct line of fire. Lexie couldn't believe what he was doing. He was going to get himself killed. He was going to die.

  Unless she did something.

  Lexie fired. So did Garrett. She wasn't sure whose bullet succeeded, but one of the shots took out the second gunman. No flesh wound this time; it was a direct hit to the head. The guy crumpled in a heap, his gun dropping on the floor.

  "Don't move," Lexie told the injured man when he started to reach for the weapon.

  He didn't listen, but instead of grabbing the gun, he dived at her. Tackling her. His momentum slammed Lexie into the wall. He might be injured, but he had the advantage because of his sheer size.

  Amid the frantic cries of their baby, she heard Garrett scramble across the room to help her. She needed it. Lexie tried to bring up her fist to punch the guy, but he elbowed her hand aside.

  And went after her gun.

  She held on and managed to bite him. She sank her teeth into his knuckles, but he didn't give up. Using his weight to hold her down, he tried to wrench the gun from her.

  Then just like that, he stopped.

  "Move and you die," she heard Garrett say.

  Hardly able to breathe under the heavy body weight, Lexie clawed her way out from the beneath the hulking man and saw that Garrett had his gun pressed to the back of his head.

  "Please give me an excuse to fire," Garrett said, his voice laced with rage. "Any excuse. Because I really, really want to hurt you."

  Lexie didn't doubt that. Neither did the man. In an act of surrender, he dropped to his stomach and flattened his arms and hands on the floor. Garrett stood over him with his Glock, ready to take him out if necessary.

  Lexie stayed put, mainly because her feet seemed glued in place, but she checked Garrett's wound. His left arm was bleeding and he obviously needed medical attention. She turned to grab the cell phone so she could make sure an ambulance was on the way, but detected movement out of the corner of her eye.

  Movement near the bassinet.

  There was someone standing over the baby, and the person had a gun.

  "I trust you won't do anything stupid," the woman said. She stepped from the shadows. "The stakes are so high. And they just got a lot higher."

  * * *

  IT WAS CHAOS.

  The baby was crying. The goon on the floor was wounded, but with the arrival of his boss, he was chuckling and trying to get to his feet. Garrett's head was pounding, and though he didn't think his wound was serious, it was throbbing and bleeding like crazy. Unfortunately, he couldn't deal with any of those things.

  Because of Dr. Linnay Blake.

  She was by the bassinet, and her gun was way too close to the baby.

  Worse, Garrett heard something. Some movement in the hall. "Did you bring Irving Kent with you?" he asked the doctor, and tried to brace himself for a second wave of attack.

  "No. I found you all on my own," Linnay happily informed him. "With the tracking device I planted on your car when you went to meet Dr. Darnell at the mission. I'm so glad he called me to come to that meeting. If he hadn't, I might have never found you."

  "Lucky us," Garrett mumbled. He volleyed glances between Linnay and the doorway.

  "Lucky me," Linnay countered. "But I did have to wait a while b
efore making this visit. I had to tie up some other loose ends. It just wasn't a good idea to have evidence lying around for others to find. But now that I've taken care of that, you're priority on my list of things to do."

  Garrett didn't have to wait long to see what he was up against. Yet another gunman stepped into view. The woman had certainly come prepared.

  But prepared for what?

  "I can't let you take the baby," Garrett informed her. He made a quick check to ensure that Lexie was okay. She was, for the most part. She hadn't been visibly injured, but he knew she was terrified for their child.

  "I don't think you're in any shape to bargain. You've got about a pint of blood dripping down your arm, and you have no leverage whatsoever. Why? Because if you want your baby to live, then the two of you have to die. I can't leave any witnesses."

  "There's Irving Kent, the nanny and the two guards being held at headquarters," Lexie pointed out. "That's a lot of witnesses."

  "None of them can trace anything back to me, and when I'm done here, everything will be pinned on Irving Kent." She checked her watch and glanced at the gunman who'd just gotten off the floor. "Finish this mess," she ordered. "I'm leaving for the airport."

  Dr. Blake scooped up the crying baby and headed for the door. Garrett nearly launched himself at her, but he quickly realized he had to do something or Lexie would be killed. The third gunman had already aimed his Sig-Sauer at her. Worse, Lexie had her attention focused on the baby and didn't seem to realize the danger.

  "Get down," Garrett yelled.

  He couldn't wait to see if she complied; he had to keep his attention on the gunmen. He also had to wait until Dr. Blake was out of the way, for he couldn't risk hurting the baby. Apparently the thugs felt the same, because both held off until the doctor disappeared into the hall.

  The reprieve didn't last long. The gunman in the doorway fired at him. Garrett dropped to the floor, and the bullet whizzed past his head. The next shot, however, hit his gun, which flew from his hand.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Garrett saw Lexie deliver one of those martial arts kicks to the wounded gunman. Garrett only prayed she could hold her own and stay out of the path of the bullets. Because the gunman fired again.

  And again.

  It was pure luck and some fancy moves that kept Garrett from being hit. But he wasn't worried about himself. He was worried about Lexie and the baby. Lexie and he had to take care of these two goons so they could stop Linnay Blake from getting to the airport. If she managed to get on that jet, they might never see their daughter again.

  Acting fast, Garrett dived at the man, and they both went sprawling. Garrett managed to grab the guy's wrist, and pounded it hard against the floor. Over and over again until the gun dropped.

  He could hear the sounds of Lexie fighting for her life. He could still hear the faint sounds of his baby crying. Garrett used both to give him a second slam of adrenaline. He aimed his fist at the guy's jaw and punched. And punched. And punched.

  He didn't stop there. He retrieved the gunman's Sig-Sauer and went after the thug who had Lexie in a chokehold. She kneed the guy in the groin at the exact second that Garrett bashed the butt of his gun against the back of their attacker's head.

  It didn't kill him, but it knocked him out cold.

  "Let's go," Lexie said, without even pausing for breath. She retrieved her gun, and Garrett was one step ahead of her when they raced out of the room.

  "Which way?" she asked. "The garage or the front?"

  "The front," Garrett immediately answered. Probably the driveway. And he prayed he was right.

  Because it was a high probability that they had one chance—just one—to rescue their child.

  * * *

  JUST AHEAD OF HER, Garrett jerked open the front door, and they sprinted outside. The muggy night breeze was smothering, and it didn't help that she couldn't seem to catch her breath.

  Lexie quickly tried to get her bearings. She could hear police sirens in the distance. Not nearly close enough.

  It was dark, and someone had obviously shot out the streetlights. But the hunter's moon allowed Lexie to spot the dark-colored car in the driveway.

  The headlights were off.

  There were heavily tinted windows.

  And the engine was running.

  The sound she heard next turned her mouth to dust. The driver hit the accelerator, gunning the engine. It was almost certainly Linnay Blake, since she'd seemingly run out of hired thugs. Still, the doctor wouldn't need a hired gun if she managed to get to the airport. She'd be home free, able to fly out of the country.

  Lexie didn't intend for that to happen.

  She couldn't lose their baby. Not again. And she couldn't lose Garrett, who needed to get to a hospital. That meant they had to end this here and now.

  Neither Garrett nor she said anything. They simply started to run toward the car. Both of them. Fast. As if their lives depended on it.

  Because they did.

  The vehicle shot out of the driveway, and the driver floored the accelerator. That didn't stop Garrett or her. They launched themselves onto the hood of the car. Lexie could see her baby strapped into an infant carrier in the back seat. And she could see the driver.

  It was definitely Linnay Blake.

  With one hand on the wheel, the doctor used her other hand to aim her weapon—just as Garrett started smashing his gun on the windshield. The doctor jerked the steering wheel to the left—probably an attempt to throw them off. It almost worked. Lexie grabbed a windshield wiper and held on, using her own gun to help Garrett bash through the glass.

  Cursing and shouting, Linnay tried to take aim again. But with one final slam of his gun, Garrett made an opening in the glass. Lightning fast, he shoved his fist toward her, knocking her gun away. Once that was done, he clamped his hand around her throat.

  Struggling, the woman slammed on the brakes and took her hands from the steering wheel to claw at his arm.

  Though the car was still moving, Lexie slid off the hood and grabbed the handle of the passenger door.

  It was locked.

  She could hear her baby crying and the struggle going on between Linnay and Garrett as she grabbed the handle of the back door. It opened. She leaped in and scrambled across the seat to the strapped-in carrier, shielding her baby's body with her own.

  And not a second too soon.

  Linnay gunned the engine again. The car lurched forward, but only went a few yards before it slammed into a streetlight. The airbag inflated. Glass flew; Lexie could feel it pelting her back. Once it stopped, she reeled around in the seat, terrified of what she might see.

  Garrett had to be all right.

  Lexie began to bargain with the powers that be to save him.

  She saw Linnay first. Unconscious, she was slumped against the airbag. But Lexie couldn't see Garrett. She couldn't hear him. She could only hear the baby's cries and the police sirens.

  With her hands shaking, Lexie picked up her daughter and tried to soothe her with murmurs and whispers that were more frantic than comforting. Still, the baby responded. She grew quiet almost immediately. Not Lexie, though. She started to call out for Garrett.

  She jumped from the car, holding the baby against her. Praying. Mercy, she was praying. And she saw him. Not on the car. But on the ground. Lying there.

  Not moving.

  Somehow, she got to him, though the fear created a crushing pain in her chest.

  "Garrett!"

  He still didn't move. Frantically, she called out his name again, and she could feel hot tears spill down her cheeks.

  Lexie dropped to her knees, just as the police cruisers rounded the corner. Their headlights allowed her to see the nicks and cuts on his face. She also saw the blood from the gunshot wound on his arm.

  "Don't you dare die," she said, her voice hoarse and raw. "You can't die. Because I love you."

  Chapter Twenty

  "Watch your step," Lexie reminded him.

 
; Garrett did, mainly because he didn't want to fall walking up the stairs to his own house. He also didn't want to add more injuries to his present ones, especially since it'd taken two days to convince the doctors to discharge him from the hospital. He had no plans to go back there anytime soon.

  "Just lean on me," Lexie added.

  Oh, he did. He really didn't need her to support his weight, but there was something comforting about having her arms wrapped around him.

  "Is it my imagination or are you enjoying this TLC?" Brayden asked. He was behind them, carrying the baby. Garrett didn't have to see his brother to know he was smirking.

  Garrett glanced over his shoulder and flashed him a grin. Which hurt a little, because his jaw was still bruised. He wasn't sure how it'd gotten that way. Maybe the fistfight with the gunman. Or maybe from the car crash. However, it was a small price to pay to have Lexie and their baby safe. Ditto for the hole the bullet had left in his arm. A clear pass through. Soon, the only reminder would be a scar.

  "I had your garage fixed," Brayden pointed out.

  And someone had cleaned the place, Garrett noted when they went inside. Maybe Lexie, though she'd spent most of her time at the hospital with him.

  Once she had him seated on the sofa, she took the baby from Brayden. "I have to change her diaper. I won't be long." She gave Garrett a quick kiss on the cheek.

  Brayden lifted an eyebrow.

  Garrett lifted his.

  They shared a smile.

  However, the smile was short-lived, because Garrett knew they had some things to discuss. Important things he didn't want to talk about in front of Lexie. Though she no doubt already knew. Garrett just didn't want her to have to relive any of what'd happened.

  "You're sure Linnay Blake doesn't have any more hired guns lurking out there who might want to pay us a visit?" he asked Brayden.

  "No way. I personally went through her records, and we got all of her employees. Most had minor roles. Like Irving Kent. And the hired gun who dressed up like a cop. I don't believe even Dr. Darnell had the entire picture. Linnay Blake was the one in charge, and she made millions off the illegal adoptions. Fortunately, all of her former employees are willing to testify to the bits of info they do have. Those bits all add up to a lot of evidence we can use to put her away for life without the possibility of parole."