by Debra Webb
Before he could form the words to accurately describe the questions and emotions whirling inside him a twig snapped about ten yards behind their location.
“Don’t move,” he said under his breath.
Thankfully, she didn’t argue.
Moving soundlessly, Ryan eased in the direction of the noise that had interrupted the engulfing silence. He assumed it would be Bill and the backup he’d requested, but without communications he couldn’t be sure.
“Braxton.”
The rusty, hushed voice belonged to Bill.
Ryan eased closer. “You whisper like my grandmother. This way.” He touched Bill’s shoulder and signaled toward Mel’s location.
When they’d moved back into position, forcing away the new emotions clawing at him, Ryan asked, “What kind of team do we have?”
Bill patted Mel’s arm. A gesture of reassurance since they couldn’t make eye contact in the dark. “We’ve got a two-man unit down by the road just in case Upton shows up, but I don’t think he’s going to. I believe he’s decided to cut his losses and make a run for it or else he’s already in Dallas setting up the final trade. M.P.D.’s checking out the mass transit options. And I’ve got four men with me.”
Ryan surveyed the darkness behind them, before he could ask, Bill went on, “They’ve fanned out around the cabin.”
Mel drew in a sharp breath. “They know not to make a move, right?”
The urgency in her voice tugged at Ryan…but too many other alien and unsettling feelings kept him from reaching out to her. A pang of guilt stabbed him but he suffered just enough resentment to ignore it. They all had to stay focused.
“They won’t move without my command.” Bill patted what appeared to be a radio clipped to his shoulder. Ryan’s eyes had adjusted sufficiently to make out the familiar bulge.
“I need to go in alone,” Ryan said, getting to the point. “I’ve met this woman before. She’s not the type who’ll react well to an invasion. She needs control. I’m going to let her think I’m here alone and that she’s in charge.”
“I don’t know, Ryan,” Mel said, worry weighting her tone.
Bill grunted. “You that sure about your impression of the woman after only one brief meeting, Braxton?”
“I’m sure,” he said to Bill. He couldn’t bring himself to respond directly to Mel right now. His equilibrium was still reeling with too many unfamiliar emotions related to her confession. Katlin was his daughter. “If we barge in…the child might pay the price.”
One beat, then another, of tense silence passed.
“All right.” Bill pulled something from the belt at his waist and fingered the controls before offering what appeared to be a second radio to Ryan. “Clip this to your waist. I’ve got it on transmit. I’ll be able to hear what’s going in there.”
Ryan fixed the radio in place and tucked his weapon in his waistband at the small of his back. “I need to go in now before some fluctuation in the too-quiet ecosystem here warns her that she’s got company.”
“Something to consider,” Bill warned, waylaying him for a moment. “If she knows we’re on to them, she may react very differently from the last time you met.”
“I’m going in under the assumption that she doesn’t know.”
“It’s your call.”
When he would have moved forward, Mel stopped him with a hand on his arm. His chest constricted with a new onslaught of emotions. “Be careful.”
Part of him wanted to say something reassuring…but he still couldn’t find the right words. Time was slipping away. He had to go now. He stood. Bill quietly conveyed his intentions to the team. Then, without looking back, Ryan strode toward the deck that spanned the front of the cabin.
The child inside was his daughter. For reasons he could not fully comprehend she was all that mattered at the moment.
When Ryan reached the deck he took special care of each wooden step leading up from the ground. Just one creak could startle the woman inside, sending her into defensive mode.
Once at the door, he stood to the side in case she fired first and answered later. He took a breath and knocked firmly.
Dead silence echoed from the other side.
He knocked again.
The door suddenly swung inward. The barrel of a small handgun landed in his face.
Though her frame was backlit from the interior glow, her surprise evidenced itself clearly on her face. “What’re you doing here?” She glanced furtively beyond him.
“We need to talk.”
“I don’t know why you came all the way out here or how you found out I was even here,” she said, suspicion rising in her tone, “but I can’t imagine that we have anything to talk about.” She covertly surveyed the yard again before meeting his eyes.
She was trying to decide if he was alone.
“Can I come inside?” he asked, determined to get a foot through the door before her suspicion mounted any higher.
“Fine,” she snapped as she backed up a couple of steps. “Come on in.”
Ryan advanced the two steps she had retreated.
“Close the door,” she ordered, the weapon still trained expertly on his face.
“I wouldn’t have taken you for the type who likes to play with guns,” he said casually as he closed the door behind him.
She laughed. “I imagine there are a lot of things you don’t know about me.”
“I know a few things. Like the fact that your lover has run out on you?” he suggested pointedly.
Something resembling confusion cluttered her expression briefly. “He’s on his way here.” She glanced at the clock on the far wall. “Another twenty minutes and he’ll be here. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to protect you then. Coming here was a mistake.”
Ryan shook his head slowly from side to side. “He’s not coming, Dr. Rodale, and you know it. He’s long gone. Probably left you to take the fall.”
She cocked the weapon, the resounding click echoed deafeningly in the room. “Well, since we’re being honest, I know you have friends out there. I’m no fool. Did you think you could come in here and talk me into surrendering?” She made a disgusted sound. “No way. I know what I’d be facing. You think you can convince me that cooperating will save my ass?” She laughed long and loud. “I’m a psychologist, Mr. Braxton, I know all the head games you people play.”
Ryan moved a step in her direction. “We only want—”
“Stop right there!” She tightened her fingers around the grip of her weapon. “Take off your jacket and turn all the way around.”
Careful not to make any sudden moves he did as she said, dropping his jacket to the floor. She jerked the weapon from his waistband and tucked it into her own. The radio was next. She tossed it onto the nearest chair.
“Dr. Rodale, we know how a man like Upton can use people,” he offered quietly, hoping to get her thinking about the possibility of escaping punishment. “He used Wilcox and Letson. And Hanes. We’re certain he used you. Help us straighten this mess out and your cooperation will be rewarded.”
Another of those dry, sinister laughs. “Please. You think Lance used me?” She pressed her free hand to her chest as if the idea were simply ludicrous. “That idiot couldn’t organize his own personal life much less a complicated operation like this.”
“But Helen Peterson led us to believe that he was the man in charge,” Ryan lied, hoping to push the right button.
“That stupid bitch lied!” She rolled her eyes emphatically. “I’m—” Rodale thumped her chest “—the man in charge. Lance didn’t have the guts to do what had to be done when things started falling apart. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him how Letson and I had taken care of Hanes.”
Ryan shrugged, hoping her loud voice didn’t wake the child sleeping in the next room. He’d seen Rodale put the child in bed when he’d peeked around the edge of the blinds. Cheap, ready-made blinds rarely fit the windows exactly right, allowing for a narrow view
inside. Lucky for him, whoever decorated this place hadn’t known that or didn’t care.
“He took care of the others for you, what else did you want him to do?” he prodded nonchalantly, hoping to get a clearer picture of who had done what. Even if he didn’t make it out of here, Bill would hear everything.
Her posture stiffened, her chin lifted arrogantly. Oh yes, Dr. Rodale liked being in control…in charge. Her ego would stand for no less.
“That wimp didn’t have the guts for it,” she snarled. “I always had to see that the dirty work was done.”
Ryan pulled a sympathetic face. “I suppose you did get used, after all.”
Fury streaked across her features. “It wasn’t his idea for me to tidy up his mess! It was mine. Just like all the other brilliant plans. I’m the one who came up with the idea to sell the unwanted children those little whores at the clinic mass produce.” She shook her head in disgust. “He was the one who went on and on about how wasteful it was to put the child of a single parent into the foster-care system after tragedy struck. But I was the one who masterminded how to do something about it. Everything would have been perfect if that idiot, Wilcox, hadn’t made a mistake.”
“You were right,” Ryan said, pumping up her ego. “The plan was solid, but Katlin Jackson was a mistake.”
“Wilcox was supposed to screen the patients properly. Fool!” she roared. “He’s the one who got us into this mess.” She smirked. “But he paid dearly for that mistake.”
Ryan ran a hand through his hair. She started as if she’d feared he’d somehow hidden a weapon there. “You know, what I don’t understand is how you expected to get away with all those bungled autopsies. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out organs were missing from those dead children.”
She scoffed venomously. “That was one of his bad ideas. Lance was doing that long before we met. He wanted to capitalize on the donations research companies were happy to make if he offered certain donations of his own. He knew the risk. I had nothing to do with it.”
Ryan shrugged. “Who was going to miss them? The kids were dead, what did they need the organs for?”
She smiled. “Men. You all think alike. One should never reap a harvest without replenishing the fields as a proper reward. You see, at the clinic, those girls all got something for their trouble. Hell, we had repeat clients. You take a little something, you give a little something back. That keeps everybody happy and then you don’t run into trouble.”
“The barter system,” Ryan offered. She was slick. No doubt about that.
“Something like that. I prefer to think of it as business. Supply and demand.” She widened her stance and tightened her hold on her weapon. “Now, it’s been fun reminiscing with you, Mr. Braxton, but it’s time to get down to business. You tell your friends out there that you’re taking me out of here. Play your cards right and maybe I’ll let you go when I’m on a plane to some exotic place far from here.” She smiled flirtatiously. “Or maybe you’ll decide to go with me. I have enough money for both of us. That’s something else I was better at than Lance. But he won’t need it anyway since I’m quite certain he’s too stupid to get away without being caught. Is that what this is about? Did he tell you I was here?”
“He said you were holding the Jackson child here until time to make the transfer in Dallas tomorrow around noon.”
Shock widened her eyes. Until that moment she had still been fairly confident that her lover was off waiting for her as planned, which he probably was, but she didn’t know that for sure.
“That son of a bitch,” she hissed. “I’ll kill him.”
Ryan laughed dryly, echoing her previous hate-filled noise. “You’ll have to find him first.”
“He was supposed to wait in Dallas at the Cattlemen’s Hotel. But I know he’s not there, you have him, don’t you? That’s how you knew I was here.”
“Yes, we do,” Ryan lied. He’d know she was lying when she said Upton was on his way here. “If you’ll leave the child behind for my friends, I’ll drive you out of here just like you suggested. You can turn me loose whenever you feel safe.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How do you know I have the child with me already? I didn’t tell Lance when I was going to pick her up.”
Ryan bit back a curse. A strategic error. “You’re right, he didn’t say, but I’ve seen the kid’s photo. That’s her behind you, isn’t it?”
* * *
MEL’S HEART STALLED in her chest as the words crackled over Bill’s radio. Katlin was in the room…Rodale had a gun. Mel lunged to her feet. She had to protect her daughter.
In a flash Bill’s hand snaked out and manacled her wrist. “Sit. He knows what he’s doing.”
“Bill, I have to—”
A gun blast echoed, splintering the silence of the night.
“Move in!” The order came from Bill.
Suddenly the woods were alive with the tromping of boots. Brush and twigs crackled. Bill released her and rushed forward. Mel couldn’t move. Fear paralyzed her.
Her baby was in there.
Gunshot.
Her feet were suddenly moving. She was running toward the cabin. Tears blurred her vision but she didn’t slow down.
“Mel! Wait!”
Somehow Bill’s voice was behind her now.
She burst through the cabin’s front door and skidded to a halt, momentarily blinded by the interior light.
Blood. There was blood.
A wail rent the air. Mel knew it came from her though she didn’t remember issuing the sound.
The woman, Rodale, was on the floor. Dead or unconscious. There was blood. Ryan. He pushed to his feet. The bright, crimson red stained his shirtsleeve. Ran down the fingertips of that same hand. He was hit.
Mel’s breath rushed out of her in one long whoosh as her gaze swept the room. Where was Katlin?
“In there.” Ryan nodded toward another door.
Before Mel could order her feet into forward motion she heard the whimpering.
Her baby!
She was across the room and through the door when she heard Bill and the others swarm in. What had felt like an eternity had only been mere seconds.
The room was dark. Mel flipped on the overhead light. Katlin sat in the middle of the bed rubbing her eyes against the sudden brightness or the tears or maybe both.
A sob burst out of Mel as she ran to her child. She thanked God over and over as she hugged her baby to her chest. She lost count of the times she told Katlin she loved her. Then, when she’d calmed a bit, she inspected her for any sign of injury.
Katlin cried at the injustice of it all. She never had liked being awakened before she was ready. Mel cried with her, held her close.
“Mel.”
She looked up to find Bill in the doorway. “We need to go. Ryan’s going to need a doctor.”
The blood.
His arm.
Fear closed around her heart. She’d seen the injury but hadn’t fully absorbed the ramifications. All she’d had on her mind was her child’s safety.
She sprang to her feet, Katlin in her arms, and rushed into the other room. The moment her gaze fell upon Ryan she gasped. There was so much blood. The entire shirtsleeve appeared soaked.
“It’s no big deal,” he said. “It looks worse than it is.” And then he fell silent, those deep blue eyes settling on Katlin.
“It may be nothing, but we’re taking you to the nearest hospital. Now,” Bill barked, sending the team he’d brought with him into double time.
Rodale had been handcuffed and was currently being dragged out the door. She was still unconscious.
Ryan hadn’t taken his eyes off Katlin. Mel summoned her courage and walked over to where he stood and offered her child to him. “This is Katlin,” she said softly as he curled his good arm around the protesting child. “Your daughter.”
He didn’t have to say anything in response. The kaleidoscope of emotions on his face and in his eyes spoke for him. He
didn’t even seem to mind the baby’s fretful cries.
“Save the reunion for when he isn’t bleeding all over the place,” Bill growled, looking wholly confused by what he’d just seen and heard.
Mel relieved Ryan of a squirming Katlin. “I’ll explain it to you later,” she said to Bill.
Ryan looked from Mel to Katlin and back, but Bill ushered him out the door before he could say anything.
Mel followed. All the uncertainties of the past came rushing back. Ryan had not wanted children. That had made her sure she was doing the right thing. But now, it seemed so wrong. She’d lied to him. Kept his child from him.
What kind of future could they possibly have?
Where did Katlin fit into their damaged relationship?
* * *
SOME TIME THAT NIGHT or maybe it was the next morning, Ryan sat in Mel’s bedroom watching her and her daughter sleep.
The gunshot had only been a flesh wound, just a nasty gash through soft tissue. Lots of blood but no real damage. He’d tried to tell Bill it wasn’t so bad but the man had acted like he’d been on the verge of death. Ryan decided then and there that Bill was going soft.
But then maybe he was, too.
He’d taken a chance that if Rodale thought the child had come into the room that she’d look, and Ryan had gotten the upper hand. Rodale had been booked and the Dallas P.D. had collared Upton at the hotel Rodale told them about. Forest Lawn’s director as well as the assistant medical examiner had been taken into custody. They had learned that Walton had made a call to Upton to dash the investigation in his face, unknowingly putting Mel in grave danger. Upton had sent Letson to stop her. Finally all the loose ends had been covered.
Now there was nothing to do but wait. See where this day would really end.
Mel had waited at the hospital for him while he got patched up. Katlin had gone back to sleep after letting the world know she hadn’t appreciated being awakened in the middle of the night. Ryan could find no words to explain what he’d felt when he’d held his child. But it was seeing her with Mel even now that truly amazed him.
That was the most incredible part. The bond between mother and child. All this time Mel had known her child was alive. No matter what anyone told her, she’d known in her heart that Katlin still needed her. How extraordinary that must feel, he decided. To be that connected to another human being. He’d watched them together on the long journey back to Memphis and after they’d arrived at Mel’s house. She’d insisted that he stay…that they needed to talk. But then she’d fallen asleep while trying to get her daughter to do the same. He hadn’t had the heart to wake her.
