The Baby’s Guardian

by Delores Fossen

  Shaw pulled back and looked at her.

  She looked up at him. Frowned. Then, cursed. “Yes, I’m aroused,” she whispered as if confessing to a murder. She glanced down at her nipples, and with the thin, snug cotton, he could see those nipples were puckered. “Sorry about that.”

  Again, he was speechless. But not numb. Hell, he was aroused, too.

  “It’s the pregnancy hormones again. Foot cramps, crying spells and the libido of a teenage boy. A libido I haven’t acted on, by the way.” She turned away from him again and groaned. “And I’m so sorry for telling you that. Don’t worry. I’m not asking you to do anything about it.”

  Too bad. His body was ready to help her out, even though his mind was pulling him back. But Shaw knew from experience that a man’s mind rarely won out in situations like this. If this had been any woman other than Sabrina, he would have tested the logistics of having sex during the last trimester of pregnancy.

  “What’s happening with the case?” she repeated.

  He just stared at her. Or rather he stared at her backside. And the air continued to stir, hot and thick, around them. And hot and thick was exactly how he felt.

  “Any news about my client, Gavin Cunningham?” Sabrina pressed, obviously determined to have a normal conversation. She took her replacement shirt from off the end of the bed and put it on over her gown.

  Shaw shook off the effects of his own suddenly raging libido so he could get his mind on anything but the thought of what it would feel like to be deep inside Sabrina.

  “We still haven’t been able to find Gavin,” Shaw finally managed to say. “Have you come up with any possible reason why he would think it was his fault that you were taken hostage?”

  She downed some water from the bottle on the nightstand. “This is a stretch, but maybe he knew the gunmen. He said nothing to me to indicate that, but I can’t come up with a connection between a Rootsfind client and what went on at the hospital.”

  Shaw thought about that a moment. “What exactly did Gavin want you to do for him?”

  She shrugged as if the answer were obvious. The shrug caused her shirt to shift, and he got another peek at her nipples.

  Shaw looked away.

  “He wanted me to find his birth father,” Sabrina explained, “and he gave me all the normal details—his place and date of birth. His mother’s name. She was a single mom and died young without revealing who his father was.”

  “You said Gavin was persistent, more obsessed than most about finding his parent. Why? Had something changed recently in his life? Like maybe he needed bone marrow or something?”

  She shook her head. “He didn’t mention that, but I suppose it’s possible. Still…” She paused. “I got the feeling this was more personal than medical. He seemed angry that his father hadn’t made himself known.”

  Interesting. It might not be connected to the case, but Shaw would dig deeper. He wanted to learn why Gavin felt responsible for Sabrina being taken hostage. That might be the key to solving all of this.

  “I’ve been getting updates throughout the night,” Shaw explained. “That nurse, Michael Frost, called at least two of the other hostages, Willa Marks and Bailey Hodges. Neither was part of the moms’ support group, but he told them their doctors had gotten back critical lab results and that they needed to come to the hospital immediately.”

  Sabrina made a sharp intake of breath. “So, it was a trick. And I fell for it.”

  Shaw didn’t want her to go back to beating herself up. Hell, he probably would have fallen for it, too. “Is it possible that Michael Frost was one of the gunmen?”

  She stayed quiet a moment. “The breath mint guy did most of the talking, and he didn’t sound like Frost. Of course, he could have disguised his voice.”

  Absolutely. Shaw was looking into that, too, but it might be a dead end since none of the messages had been recorded.

  Shaw sat in the chair across from her so they could be eye to eye. And wouldn’t be touching. “Do you know if you had anything in common with Willa Marks or Bailey Hodges, the other two women that Frost called? Maybe you met them before the hostage situation.”

  Again, she paused, and her forehead bunched up while she stayed deep in thought. “I don’t think so. I heard the gunmen calling out for someone named Bailey, of course, but this is the first I’ve heard of Willa Marks. I’m pretty sure I’ve never met either of them.”

  There might still be a connection that could come out later. For now, he needed as many solid leads and facts as possible.

  He took some paper from the briefcase that’d been delivered with the laptop, and handed it and a pen to Sabrina. “Why don’t you start writing down your statement? I’ll arrange to have us some breakfast delivered.”

  The sun had barely come up, but his body was already screaming for caffeine. And sex. It wasn’t going to get the sex, but he could do something about the coffee.

  He used his cell to call headquarters and request breakfast. The hotel had room service, but it was too big of a risk to use it. Sabrina’s face had been plastered all over the news by now, and he didn’t want a hotel employee recognizing her and blabbing to his friends. News like that could get back to the gunmen.

  Sabrina was already busy writing her statement when he finished the call so Shaw settled back into the chair to check the messages on his secure laptop. He’d barely made it through the first one when his phone buzzed.

  “It’s Officer Newell,” the caller identified himself. “We caught a break on the surveillance cameras we took from the hospital. Most had been disabled. Nothing sophisticated. The gunmen had smashed them, but they missed a newly installed one at the end of the hall near the lab.”

  Shaw wanted to cheer. Finally, some good news. “What do we have?”

  “Neither of the men took off their ski masks so we don’t have images to put through the facial recognition software, but we do have some of their movements. One of them went into the lab, just as several of the witnesses said. And he took one of the hostages with him. A computer tech named Willa Marks. He appears to have forced her to help him look for something. They were going through the files.”

  “Any fingerprints on the keyboards?”

  “Plenty. But both of the gunmen wore surgical gloves. And even though there’s a lot of trace on the computer and the surrounding area, it’ll take us a while to rule out what belongs to the staff or the hostage Willa Marks, and what might belong to the gunmen.”

  Newell was right. That type of sorting might take days or even weeks, especially when dozens of people would have to be excluded. “What’s Ms. Marks saying? Does she know why the gunman had her in there with him?”

  “She’s, uh, not able to talk. She received a head injury when the gunman shoved her down as she was trying to escape. She doesn’t remember anything.”

  Hell. The more he heard, the more his stomach clenched. And this was just the beginning. How many more sickening details were there?

  Since Willa Marks might not be able to tell them what had happened, at least for a while, Shaw needed to piece together as much as he could. “What files did the gunman search?”

  Sabrina stopped writing and stared at him, obviously waiting for an update.

  “We’re trying to sort that out now,” Officer Newell verified. “They accessed at least four dozen files, but we don’t know why. I can tell you that all the files they accessed dealt with DNA.”

  “DNA?” Shaw questioned. “What kind of DNA?”

  “Some were from the babies, some from the parents. We’re talking court-ordered DNA tests. Others were apparently done for medical reasons, like for a baby needing a transplant. A few more are for a database for umbilical storage. There were even a few samples that SAPD had outsourced to the lab for processing.”

  Shaw went still. “Were any for paternity?” he questioned.

  “Yes, sir. There were several of those. One of them court ordered, as well. Why, what are you thinking?”

/>   He was thinking the gunmen might have wanted to confirm that Sabrina’s baby was his. So the baby could be used as leverage.

  But leverage for what?

  Because if he could figure that out, he could figure out who was behind all of this.

  “Let me call you back,” Shaw told the officer. “I need to ask Sabrina a few questions. In the meantime, find out if the gunmen tampered with any of those files or if they got access to the DNA samples themselves. Specifically, look for any files that were removed or deleted. The tech should be able to do that in just a couple of minutes.”

  “I’ll tell him,” Newell assured him.

  “What about paternity?” Sabrina asked the moment Shaw ended the call.

  She already looked worried, and he didn’t want to make that worry worse, but he couldn’t shield her from this. Sabrina might very well have information they could put together with what the police knew, and then they might have the big picture.

  That big picture could lead them to make an arrest.

  “The gunmen were going through the DNA files,” Shaw told her. “Is it possible our baby’s DNA was there?”

  “Maybe.” She swallowed hard. “I had to have an amniocentesis done. That’s a test where they draw some fluid from around the baby and test it for abnormalities.”

  “Why did you have that done?” He felt stupid for not knowing.

  “Because I got really sick with pneumonia during my second month of pregnancy. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. You already had a lot on your mind what with adjusting to being a father, and I didn’t want to add to it. Anyway, my OB wanted to make sure the baby hadn’t been harmed from all the meds. She wasn’t,” she quickly added. “The doctor said everything was fine. But the amniotic fluid would contain DNA, and it’s probably on file at the hospital.”

  And if the gunmen had that file, that was likely the reason they had taken Sabrina with them when they fled the hospital. They’d wanted Sabrina and the proof that the baby she was carrying was his.

  Well, they didn’t have Sabrina. He did. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try to get her again so they could force him to do something.

  His phone buzzed again, and when he saw Newell’s name on the screen, Shaw answered it as quickly as he could.

  “You were right,” Newell said, “the tech didn’t have any trouble finding the files that’d been deleted. There were three of them. One wasn’t labeled, but you’ll recognize both names of the two we could identify. One was for Sabrina Carr.”

  Shaw silently cursed. “And the other?”

  “Her client, Gavin Cunningham.”

  “Cunningham?” Shaw repeated. He didn’t like the way the man’s name kept popping up in this investigation. “Why was his DNA at the hospital?”

  “We’re not sure. There was no code to indicate why the file was even there. It wasn’t even logged in properly through official channels. But it was his name on the file itself.”

  Another dead end, except this dead end could be reopened once they had Cunningham. “Put every agency in the state on alert. I want Cunningham found immediately.”

  He glanced at Sabrina who was looking very concerned again. Shaw knew how she felt. He had to question Cunningham.

  “Breakfast will be here soon,” he said, checking his watch. “I need to wash up before it arrives. Why don’t you go ahead and work on your statement? We can go through it after we eat.”

  She nodded but didn’t look at all convinced that she’d be able to concentrate. Again, Shaw knew exactly how she felt, but he had to clear his head before more evidence started pouring in.

  He went into the bathroom, but he’d no sooner stepped inside when he heard the noise.

  It was a crashing sound.

  The sounds of wood and metal being bashed.

  Shaw turned, ready to react, but the bathroom door slammed shut when the hotel room door smacked into it.

  Someone had broken in.

  He shoved at the door, but it was blocked. Shaw rammed his shoulder against it, hard. It still didn’t budge.

  “Sabrina?” he called out while he tried again.

  She didn’t answer, but the sound she made tore right through him.

  Sabrina screamed.

  Chapter Six

  Sabrina didn’t have any warning of the danger. Just seconds earlier, Shaw had gone into the bathroom to the right of the room entrance. Mere seconds. And then the hotel room door flew open.

  The man who came rushing through was wearing a ski mask.

  He was also armed.

  Worse, he was literally using the hotel door and his body to block Shaw from coming out of the bathroom. She could hear Shaw cursing, calling out her name, and he was bashing against the door, but the gunman wasn’t budging.

  Sabrina automatically turned, ready to run, but there was no place for her to escape. Behind her were two windows, but they were on the third floor. Even if she could get the windows open before the gunman grabbed her, she couldn’t risk jumping and hurting the baby. So, she did the only thing she could think to do.

  She screamed again.

  The man lifted his gun, something small and sleek and rigged with a silencer. “Come with me,” he ordered. “Or I’ll shoot.”

  The terror inside her went up a significant notch. Sabrina recognized that voice. It was the same peppermint-popping man who’d taken her hostage at the hospital. And he’d obviously come back for her.

  The fear had her on the verge of panic, but Sabrina forced herself to think. Shaw’s Glock was on the nightstand, and she glanced at it.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the man snarled. He calmly aimed his gun. Not at her.

  But at the bathroom door that Shaw was battering himself against.

  And he fired.

  It wasn’t a deafening blast, the silencer had muffled the sound to a swish, but it was a deadly sound for Sabrina.

  Because the bullet could have hit Shaw.

  Her heart was pounding now, and it was so loud in her ears that she couldn’t tell what was going on behind that bathroom door. Shaw was still struggling, that much she could tell, but she had no idea if he was injured.

  The gunman took aim at the door again. “Come here now, or I keep firing until he dies.”

  “Don’t shoot,” Sabrina practically shouted. Maybe if she was loud enough, someone would come to help. Her scream had certainly alerted the other guests. Maybe they’d already called nine-one-one. “I’ll come with you.”

  “To hell you will,” she heard Shaw yell.

  Shaw rammed against the door again. The gunman aimed his weapon, no doubt with plans to shoot a second bullet at Shaw, but this time he didn’t get the chance.

  With a sound that was more animal than human tearing from his throat, Shaw kicked the door with a fierce jolt. The gunman flew backward and slammed into the wall.

  Shaw came out after him.

  The gunman had managed to keep hold of his weapon, and he tried to aim, but Shaw’s fist connected with his jaw. The blow didn’t disarm him, but it prevented him from firing another shot.

  Shaw got off another punch, but the gunman fought back. He certainly wasn’t trying to run. He bashed his gun against the side of Shaw’s head.

  Sabrina grabbed Shaw’s Glock from the nightstand and pointed it. Not that she could fire. She didn’t want to risk hitting Shaw instead.

  “Captain Tolbert?” someone called out.

  A moment later, the cop she’d seen at headquarters appeared in the doorway. It was Officer Newell. And he had his weapon drawn.

  “Get down, Sabrina!” Shaw yelled.

  Somehow, she managed to drop to her knees, and then she ducked behind the bed.

  The shot blasted through the room.

  “Oh, God,” she prayed.

  But before the last syllable had left her mouth, she heard the heavy thud of someone falling hard onto the floor.

  Because it could endanger the baby, she did
n’t dare lift her head and see what had happened, though that’s what she wanted to do. She needed to make sure Shaw hadn’t been hurt.

  “Are you okay?” she asked with her voice trembling.

  No one answered for several long moments.

  “Yeah,” Shaw finally said.

  That got her to her feet, and she saw the officer with his gun still aimed. He had it pointing at the masked gunman who was now sprawled out in front of the bathroom door.

  Shaw leaned down and put his fingers against the man’s neck and then shook his head. The officer mumbled something under his breath and slowly lowered his gun.

  “He’s dead?” Sabrina asked.

  Shaw nodded.

  The relief was instant. Yes, there was a dead man only a few yards away from her, but the alternative could have been much worse.

  But then Sabrina saw the blood trickling down the side of Shaw’s head.

  She hurried to him, even though he motioned for her to stay back.

  “You’re hurt,” she let him know, and she pointed to the wound just above his left eye. No doubt where the gunman had pistol-whipped him.

  “It’s just a scratch.” Shaw reached out, took his Glock from her and then moved her away from the body.

  Behind them, Officer Newell pulled out his phone and called for assistance. And she could hear others, guests probably and maybe hotel employees, who were scurrying around in the hall. No doubt trying to get out of there and away in case there were more gunshots.

  Shaw slid his arm around her waist and moved her even farther away until they were against the wall near the windows. But not directly in front of them. He closed the tiny gap in the curtains and then angled Sabrina so she wouldn’t be facing the dead man.

  “It’s not a scratch,” she said, touching her fingertips to the bruise and cut on his forehead. God knew how many other bruises he had after the multiple attempts to bash his way through the door.

  “I’m fine. But I’m worried about you. About the baby,” he quickly added. “Did he touch you?”

  Sabrina shook her head. “It’s the gunman from the hospital,” she managed to say.

  “You’re sure?”