Again, he took his time, looking down at her as if trying to figure out what was going on. Rosalie was doing the same thing to him.
“What criminal informant did you use?” he asked, obviously dodging the questions.
Of all the things that were up in the air here, that didn’t seem very important. “A guy from San Antonio. Lefty Markham.”
He groaned, cursed and rolled off her and to his side. But he immediately pulled her against him. Face-to-face. Like a couple having some pillow talk after a round of sex.
“He’s your stepbrother’s CI,” he whispered. “Why the hell didn’t you bring Seth in on this?”
Seth Calder, not just her stepbrother but also an FBI agent. So, not only did this man know who she was, but he also knew details about her life that he shouldn’t know.
“Because Seth’s checking out another lead over in El Paso. The CI said the baby-holding area here at the ranch wouldn’t be here much longer.”
“It won’t be. The plan is to move tomorrow.”
Oh, mercy. So soon. “I need to see those records. Please help me. Please.”
Yes, she was begging but she would resort to a lot more than that to learn where her baby had been taken.
“I’m Austin Duran,” he said.
His voice was so soft, barely audible, but it slammed through her as if he’d yelled it.
“Oh, God,” she said a lot louder than a whisper.
“Yeah.” He moved away from her so they were no longer touching.
The name was as familiar to her as her own. But not in a good way. It was a name she’d cursed. A bogeyman who’d robbed her of her hopes and dreams.
The man who’d killed Eli.
Not in the eyes of the law, though, and it certainly hadn’t been labeled murder. But Rosalie knew that Austin Duran was the FBI agent who had botched the investigation that’d led to Eli’s murder.
“Yeah,” he repeated. There was a lot of emotion hanging on that one word. The pain. The memories.
Everything Rosalie was feeling.
“You thought I’d come here to kill you,” she mumbled. “You thought I was avenging Eli’s death.”
He didn’t confirm that. Didn’t need to.
“I didn’t get a good look at your face.” And that’s why she hadn’t instantly recognized him. Strange that she hadn’t sensed that he had been so close, because she’d spent all these months hating him.
And Rosalie would use that hate.
In fact, it could be better than a gun.
“You’re here undercover?” she asked.
He nodded. “I’m looking for...someone.”
She didn’t care about that. Didn’t care about anything right now but her daughter. That included choking back her hatred for this man and making this work for Sadie and the other babies who were being held inside so they could be sold like cattle.
“You owe me,” she insisted. “For Eli’s death. And you’re going to help me find his missing baby.”
Austin didn’t jump to do just that. He lay there, silent as death, and Rosalie was about to repeat her demand when she heard the sound.
Something she definitely didn’t want to hear.
Footsteps.
Those steps were the only warning they got before there was another sound. The door flew open, and Austin scrambled in front of her.
But it was too late.
Two armed guards hurried into the cottage, and both pointed assault rifles at them.
Chapter Two
Austin had already spent the past twenty minutes or so cursing fate. And cursing Rosalie’s untimely arrival in the cottage. It wouldn’t do any good, but now he cursed the guards and those rifles trained on him.
“What the hell do you two want?” Austin growled, and he made a show of zipping up his jeans.
Austin didn’t know the guys’ names. Over the past week since he’d been undercover at the ranch, the flow of guards had stayed steady, none of them remaining in place for more than forty-eight hours. But it didn’t matter what they called themselves. Austin just needed to get them out of there.
“Well?” Austin added in his worst snarl. He made sure he sounded like the person in charge.
He wasn’t.
Heck, he didn’t even know who had that particular title of being in charge or who exactly was watching him on the camera. However, it was pretty clear that someone had gotten suspicious of Rosalie’s visit. The mock sex hadn’t fooled them, and if Austin didn’t do something fast to diffuse the situation, it could go from bad to worse.
The pair of guards exchanged glances as if trying to figure out what to do, but the guy on the right had a communicator in his ear, so he was no doubt receiving instructions.
“Why is she here?” The goon on the right tipped his head to Rosalie.
Austin gave him as cocky and flat of a look as he could manage. “Why do you think?”
“She’s supposed to be inside,” he snapped.
“The babies are asleep,” Rosalie volunteered as if that explained everything.
It didn’t, of course.
There were two newborns inside, along with a nanny and the guard. Since Rosalie had no doubt been hired as a nurse, she should have been inside and nowhere near Austin’s quarters.
“I’ll be going,” Rosalie mumbled. She fished around on the floor for her scrub pants and pulled them on. She also pushed her long blond hair from her face.
Austin noticed that both her voice and hands were shaking, but hopefully the guards would think that was a reaction from being caught in the act of a lover’s tryst. And nothing else.
Soon, if they got out of this, he’d need to convince Rosalie to leave so he could get on with his investigation.
This was a bad place for her to be.
She started for the door, but the men blocked her path. And they didn’t lower those rifles. “You two know each other?” one of them asked.
“We do now.” Austin shot her a sly smile. “But I’m ready for her to leave. Gotta get some sleep.”
And he waited.
The guards still didn’t move, though he could hear some chatter on the one guard’s earpiece. Austin wished he could snap his fingers and make the real boss appear so they could settle this man-to-man, but so far he didn’t have even a description of the person responsible for so much pain.
“Walk her back to the house,” one of the guards finally said to Austin. “Make sure she stays put.”
Austin tried not to look or sound too relieved, but he was. Rosalie and he had just dodged a bullet or two.
For now, anyway.
The real boss obviously didn’t trust him, or the goons wouldn’t have been sent in to see what was going on. Maybe that meant Rosalie and he would be placed under a more careful watch. However, she wouldn’t be reined in like that.
Nope.
There’d be no deterring Rosalie from looking for her stolen baby. Austin knew how she felt, but he also knew that her persistence would get her killed the hard way. He couldn’t let that happen.
She was right about one thing. He did owe her.
But that was a debt he could never repay.
Still, maybe he could do something to bring his late partner’s baby back to her mother’s arms.
The guards stepped back. Finally. And as soon as they were out of the doorway, Austin grabbed his shoulder holster and coat from the peg near the door. He still had his backup weapon in the holster in the back waistband of his jeans, but if this little walk to the house went wrong, he wanted all the firepower he could get.
“Come on,” Austin told Rosalie and got her moving.
He picked up her Beretta, as well. Or rather, the guard’s Beretta. Austin wasn’t sure he wanted to know how Rosalie had got
ten it from the man.
She glanced back at the guards, who were now making their way to the barn. Not an ordinary one, either. It had become a modified command post and living quarters to house the guards and all sorts of people who’d been coming and going. Austin had sneaked some photos and jotted down license plate numbers, but he was a long way from piecing this together.
“Why didn’t my brother know the FBI had undercover agents working the black market adoptions here?” Rosalie whispered.
“Because the FBI doesn’t know I’m here.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she looked ready to accuse him of something, but she must have remembered that she’d sneaked in here, too. Of course, he had the training to carry out undercover work.
Rosalie didn’t.
But she obviously had some kind of contacts to get her in this place. Austin sure had. Well, one contact, anyway. A former FBI agent who’d helped him create the bogus background and references so Austin would look “legit” to someone running a criminal operation. It had worked, and he’d been hired as head of security at this particular site.
Austin purposely kept their steps slow to give them time to talk, and he looped his arm around her waist so they’d look like the lovers they were pretending to be.
“Who hired you for this job?” he asked.
Rosalie shook her head. “I made all the arrangements through the criminal informant. He said word on the street was the operation was looking for nannies and nurses. I’m an RN. So I had a fake ID made. Created fake work and a computer bio, too.”
Austin tried not to groan. Lefty Markham was a piece of slime who’d sell his mother for a quarter.
“The job interview, if you can call it that, was done over the phone,” she added. “Along with transportation arrangements. This morning, a truck arrived at an abandoned gas station just off the interstate to pick me up, and the driver made me put on a hood so I couldn’t see where he was taking me.”
That was standard practice for this operation. So, the fake bio and ID must have fooled the person in charge of hiring her. Still, that didn’t mean anyone trusted her.
Nor him.
The camera proved that, and Austin was well aware that he was constantly being watched. Even now.
“You said your daughter was taken eleven months ago?” Austin whispered. He kept them walking at a slow pace toward the house.
Rosalie nodded. “Why? Do you know something about her?”
She sounded hopeful, but Austin would have to crush those hopes right off. “No. I’m here looking for my nephew. He’s a newborn, and someone kidnapped him.”
Rosalie pulled in a hard breath, and even though it was dark, he thought he might have seen some sympathy in her eyes. “So we can find them both.”
“No.” He stopped, turned her so she could see that this wasn’t up for negotiation. “I’ll find them, and you’re getting the heck out of here. I don’t care how. Pretend you’re sick or something. I just want you off the grounds tonight.”
She was shaking her head before he even finished. “I can’t leave. I have to find my baby.” Her voice broke, and he saw the tears shine in her eyes.
Austin huffed. “Look, I know you have no reason to trust me, but you won’t be doing your baby any good by getting yourself killed. These men are dangerous, Rosalie, and they’ll do whatever it takes to keep this operation secret and profitable.”
He could tell by the little sound she made that he hadn’t convinced her, so Austin would have to do more than talk. “Then I’ll make the arrangements,” he added. “But one way or another, you’re leaving tonight.”
Before she could respond, or argue, the back door to the house creaked open, and the guard staggered onto the porch. Unlike the other two, Austin knew this one. Walter Ludwig. Not very bright but trigger happy.
A bad combination.
Walter had a rifle in his right hand and aimed his left index finger at Rosalie. “She drugged me and stole my gun.” And even though he was still staggering, the man pointed the rifle at her.
Austin stepped between them, held up his hands in a calm-down gesture. “Everything’s okay,” he lied. “It was all just a misunderstanding.”
Not the best excuse, but Austin didn’t want to say too much. Every word now could be risky.
“She drugged me,” the guard repeated, and he came down the steps, closer to where they stood. “And now she’s gonna pay for that. Get out of the way, boss.”
“Not happening. Just put down the rifle, Walter, and we’ll talk about this.”
“Don’t wanna talk.” His words were slurred, and he had to lean against the porch post to steady himself. “I just want her dead real quick.”
Austin cursed under his breath. He had to figure out a way to diffuse this now, or else the other two guards would hear the raised voices and come running. They were already suspicious of Rosalie and him. Which meant the pair just might encourage Walter to commit murder.
“Move away from her!” Walter growled, and despite his unsteady footing, he came off the porch. Charging right toward them.
Austin pushed Rosalie to the side so he could latch on to the rifle and turn it away from her. Walter’s finger was on the trigger. Poised and ready to fire.
“If you shoot, a bullet could ricochet and hurt one of the babies,” Austin tried again.
His attempt at logic didn’t work. Walter was in a rage. Every muscle in his body primed to fight, and it was obvious he wasn’t going to listen to reason.
“I’m gonna kill her!” Walter snarled, and when he tried to bring up the rifle to do just that, Austin knew he had no choice.
He bashed the Beretta against the side of Walter’s head. It wasn’t a hard enough hit to kill the man, but it caused him to drop like a bag of rocks to the ground.
“What’s going on?” someone asked, and a moment later, the nanny, Janice Aiken, looked out from the kitchen door. She gasped, pressing her fingers to her mouth.
But that wasn’t the only voice that Austin heard.
The barn door opened, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before both guards came out to see what was wrong. This had plenty of potential to end in the worst possible way.
“What should we do?” Janice asked. “I’ll help.”
“She’s on our side,” Austin explained to Rosalie.
Well, maybe.
He didn’t have time for details and especially didn’t have time to make sure that he trusted Janice. So far, it appeared the nanny was ready to put an end to the black market baby operation, but he wasn’t a hundred percent sure of that. He definitely hadn’t counted on trusting her this soon. But one thing he did know: the babies were worth a lot of money, so even if Janice was in on the scheme, she would indeed protect them.
For now, that had to be enough.
Austin turned to Rosalie, took out one of the keys and handed it to her. “It’s for the truck. Use it in case something goes wrong. For now, go inside and help Janice get the babies ready to move.”
Rosalie gave a shaky nod and hurried into the house with the nanny. They’d barely gotten the back door closed when Austin reeled around and faced the pair of guards who were storming toward them.
“What the hell happened?” one of them demanded.
“Personal dispute. Walter here wanted to sample my lady friend, and I didn’t want to share.”
Walter moaned, twisting on the soggy ground. “She drugged me.”
And despite the moans, that accusation came through crystal clear.
Austin smirked at the man. “I think Walter just had a little too much to drink.”
Yeah, it wasn’t much of an explanation, but Austin didn’t think he could say or do anything at this point that would convince the guards that this was nothing that concerned them.
> The guard on the right glanced at Walter. Then, Austin. And finally at the house. “Get the woman out here now so we can talk to her.”
That put a hard knot in Austin’s stomach. “And then what? You kill her and leave us without a nurse? What happens if one of the babies gets sick, huh?”
The man lifted his shoulder, took aim at Austin. “Nurses are replaceable. And so are you. Drop your weapons.”
Oh, man. He really hadn’t wanted it to come down to this because the guards likely knew some critical information that would help him find his nephew. And Rosalie’s baby. That wouldn’t happen if he had to kill all three of them.
Or if they managed to kill him first.
Austin adjusted the grip on his gun so he’d be ready in case the bullets started. He’d have to shoot the one on the right first, dive to the side and hope he got lucky enough to take out the second before the guy got off a shot.
Risky at best.
But his only option now.
Austin brought up his hand, ready to fire, but it was already too late.
The guard pulled the trigger.
Chapter Three
Rosalie and the nanny barreled up the stairs toward the nursery, but the sound of the blast stopped Rosalie in her tracks.
Oh, mercy.
Had the guards killed Austin?
It didn’t matter that he was essentially her enemy. She didn’t want him shot, especially since he’d been trying to cover for her.
Rosalie hurried into the nursery, running past Janice to get to the window. She braced herself to see a dead Austin lying on the ground, but the only person she saw was Walter. He was crawling back toward the porch. No sign of Austin or the two other guards.
“What’s happened?” the nanny asked, and she scooped one of the sleeping newborns into her arms.
Rosalie shook her head just as she heard another shot. It was so loud that it seemed to shake the entire room.
She managed to get a glimpse of Austin. He was still armed, but he was pinned down near some shrubs on the side of the house. The guards had taken up cover behind what was left of the tractor and hay baler.
Kidnapping in Kendall County Page 2
