“What the hell do you want, Yancy?” Sonny snarled.
“Figured that’d be kinda obvious. I’m here because you’re trying to set me up. Not gonna happen. I didn’t have anything to do with those kidnapped brats.”
Rosalie didn’t know where to aim her anger, but she was actually glad that Yancy had eliminated the man going after the nanny. One hired gun down, but she had no idea how many others there were.
Plus, now they had to contend with Yancy. Even though he appeared to be there to stop Sonny, she didn’t trust him. He could try a reversal of Sonny’s plan and kill them all, setting it up so that Sonny looked guilty.
“This isn’t your fight,” Sonny yelled back to Yancy. “Leave now, and you won’t get hurt.”
“Well, you see, I’m thinking this is my fight.” Yancy sounded like his usual cocky self. “Now, I don’t care a rat’s butt if Rosalie and Austin get killed in the process, but, Sonny-boy, you’re about to meet your unholy maker.”
That was the only warning they got before Yancy started shooting.
* * *
AUSTIN LAUNCHED HIMSELF at Rosalie to pull her to the ground so he could get her out of the path of Yancy’s shots.
But Sonny beat him to her.
Sonny scrambled behind one of the trees and dragged Rosalie with him. Why, Austin didn’t know. Sonny had plans to kill Rosalie and him, anyway, but maybe he didn’t want his enemy to get that privilege.
Yancy’s shots slammed into the tree that Sonny and Hutchins were using for cover with Rosalie. However, Yancy also sent a few Austin’s way. Since Yancy had already killed the hired gun who’d gone after the nanny, or so he’d claimed, then it was clear he didn’t intend to leave any witnesses behind.
Austin stayed low and looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Seth, Cooper or Colt. If they were out there—and he was pretty sure they were since someone had broken the other thug’s neck—then they were keeping well hidden. Austin hoped they were close enough in case he needed backup for what he was about to do.
And what he was about to do was get Rosalie the heck out of there.
That was the first step, and then they had to go after the nanny. Unless there was another vehicle nearby, then it meant the woman was out in the freezing-cold woods with a baby. Plus, there was the likelihood that Sonny had other hired guns out there. Ones who’d worked the baby farm for him.
In other words, goons who would do anything, including murder.
Another of Yancy’s bullets slammed into the tree just above Austin’s head. Since the man wasn’t taking time to reload, he’d obviously come with multiple weapons. Still, he’d eventually run out of ammo unless he, too, had brought significant backup with him.
A strong possibility.
Sonny and his man were doing their own share of returning fire, and while they were occupied with Yancy’s attack, Austin inched his way toward Rosalie. She had her head down, thank God, but she was also looking in his direction. Obviously waiting for him to put his plan of escape into motion.
Except the plan was a thin one.
Basically, Austin intended to grab Rosalie, head to the bullet-resistant car and, once he had backup in place, the search for the nanny and the baby could begin.
“Move back,” Austin mouthed to her, hoping that Rosalie could understand what he was saying.
Hutchins understood it all right. The hired gun pivoted, turning his weapon on Austin.
The shots came fast.
So fast that it took Austin a moment to realize that Hutchins hadn’t been the one to pull the trigger.
The shot had come from Yancy.
And the bullet hit Hutchins squarely in the chest. Obviously a kill shot because Hutchins crumpled to the ground without making a sound.
“You’re gonna pay for that!” Sonny shouted. He came out from the tree, his gun already aimed at Yancy, and started firing.
Nonstop.
Austin took advantage of the moment and hurried to Rosalie. He hooked his arm around her waist to get her moving just as he heard a too-familiar sound. One of the bullets slamming into someone. He made a quick glance over his shoulder.
That someone was Yancy.
The man made a guttural sound of raw pain, falling. His gun dropped right along with him.
Sonny didn’t waste a moment savoring his victory of killing an old foe. He whirled around, turning his gun on Austin and Rosalie. They scrambled behind a boulder in the nick of time.
Another shot came their way. Then another. Sonny took cover behind the tree again, protecting himself and keeping them pinned down at the same time.
Since his heartbeat was already crashing in his ears, it took Austin a moment to hear something else. And this time it was a welcome sound.
Sirens.
Lots of them.
Rosalie’s brothers had come through with plenty of backup. But would the cops arrive in time? Sonny’s shots were coming way too close.
Since Austin was covering Rosalie’s body with his, he could feel her knotted muscles. Could hear her ragged breathing. She’d come way too close to dying—again—and there was still time for Sonny to try to get off one more deadly shot.
That’s what Austin had to prevent.
“I love you,” she said.
At least that’s what Austin thought she said. But he had to be wrong about that.
Didn’t he?
Like the earlier kiss, maybe this was her way of saying goodbye, but he sure as hell wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her.
“Rosalie? Austin?” someone called out.
Seth.
He sounded close enough to help Austin put an end to this.
“Over here,” Austin shouted back just as he levered himself up a little and fired a shot at Sonny.
Sonny jumped back behind cover and sent another shot Austin’s way. Austin braced himself for another hail of bullets. Sonny’s last-ditch attempt to take them out before he turned his killing efforts on Seth.
But that didn’t happen.
“This isn’t over,” Sonny said, adding some vicious profanity.
And he took off running.
* * *
SINCE ROSALIE WAS flat on the ground, at first she didn’t understand why Austin practically jumped off her. And then she lifted her head and saw what was happening.
No!
Sonny was getting away, and worse, he was running in the same direction as the woman with the baby. If Sonny caught up with them, he might carry through on his death order, and the baby could be hurt in the process.
“We have to stop him,” Rosalie insisted.
Even though Austin tried to take her by the arm and stop her, she threw off his grip and instead got him moving after Sonny.
“There might be other gunmen out there,” Austin reminded her.
The thought of it spiked her heart even more, but she couldn’t let Sonny take this fight to Sadie. Thankfully, Austin must have understood that because he finally gave up struggling with her and moved ahead of her so he could quicken the pace.
“We’re here!” Austin shouted over his shoulder.
Rosalie glanced back and saw Seth running after them.
Good.
They might need an extra gun or two before this was over. Also the sirens were close now, probably right on the road where Austin had left the car. If there were any of Sonny’s goons on that side of the clearing, Cooper and Colt could take care of them.
Austin didn’t wait for Seth to catch up. He kept her moving until they reached a thick clump of trees, and he pulled her behind them with him.
“Sonny could be waiting somewhere to ambush us,” Austin whispered.
That put her heart right back in her throat. It was exactly the sort of thing that s
cum like Sonny would do. Still, they couldn’t just stand there and wait because if his plans weren’t to ambush them, then he was escaping.
That couldn’t happen.
If he got away, the danger would just continue, and worse, she might never get Sadie back. If Sonny managed to get his hands on Sadie again, he would no doubt make sure Rosalie never found her.
Austin and she waited, the wind and the sleet swiping at them. Mercy, it was so cold, and her baby was out there in this with a killer on her trail.
“Any sign of Sonny?” Seth asked when he hurried into the trees with them.
Austin had to shake his head. All of them were breathing through their mouths now. All of them on edge and primed for a fight.
“We can’t wait any longer,” she insisted, figuring she would get an argument from at least one of them.
She didn’t.
Austin motioned for Seth to go to the left, and he motioned for her to follow him to the right. They fanned out, looking and listening for any sign of Sonny or another of his hired guns.
Both Austin and Seth turned on their phones and used the light to have a look at the ground. Rosalie didn’t see anything, but Austin must have because he gestured at Seth again, and they took off, heading deeper into the woods.
Rosalie tried to pick through all the sounds. The bitter wind, their footsteps crunching onto the icy ground and her own heartbeat. She hoped to hear something that would help them find Sadie.
But there was nothing.
They just continued to work their way through the clutter of trees and shrubs while Austin followed some kind of tracks that she couldn’t even see.
“It’ll be okay,” Austin whispered to her.
It took her a moment to realize the reason he said that was because she had a death grip on his shoulder. Rosalie eased back her fingers a little, but there was nothing she could do to ease the tension in her body.
Or forget what she’d said to Austin earlier.
I love you.
Judging from the look he’d given her, he’d been just as surprised by it as she had been.
But it was true.
It had taken their near deaths for her to come to that realization, and the timing couldn’t have been worse. When this was over and Sadie and everyone else was safe, Rosalie needed to make sure that her saying “I love you” didn’t mean anything.
Well, nothing except that she meant it and would probably get her heart broken.
Austin hadn’t given her even a hint that he was ready for a relationship. Yes, they’d had sex, but again, that’d happened after yet another nightmare attack. She didn’t want that to have been the reason he’d landed in bed with her, but she had to accept that it had played a big part in it.
And that his feelings weren’t the same as hers.
Soon, after she had her baby in her arms, she could work that all out. If Austin wanted to work it out, that is. It was entirely possible that once Sadie was safe and Sonny was behind bars, that Austin would leave and go back to his own life.
That didn’t help soothe her thoughts any.
Of course, there was nothing about this situation that was soothing. They were literally on a life-and-death run to save her baby, and if they didn’t get lucky, it was a race they might lose.
They kept moving, the air so cold that she thought maybe her breath had frozen. Austin finally stopped, lifted his hand and pointed toward a pair of oaks just ahead.
Seth nodded.
Rosalie didn’t immediately see what had captured their attention. Not until she caught a glimpse of the movement. It looked to be the sleeve of a man’s coat.
Maybe Sonny’s.
She expected Seth and Austin to move closer to try to capture him. But they didn’t. They stayed put, their gazes firing all around them.
And she soon figured out why.
The rush of movement came from their right. A blur of motion.
Sonny.
He ducked behind some shrubs but not before Rosalie saw that he wasn’t wearing a coat. That meant he’d likely planted his coat as some kind of trap to lure them out. Thank God Austin and Seth hadn’t fallen for it because her instincts had been to go after it and find Sonny.
“Get all the way down on the ground,” Austin whispered to her.
It was an effort with her tight, frozen muscles. The moment Rosalie managed to do as he’d said, Austin took off.
Sweet heaven.
She hadn’t expected that and didn’t want him running right into the path of Sonny’s gun.
There were footsteps to her left, and while her brother stayed low, Seth made his way to her. He hovered over her, waiting. Rosalie waited, too, and each second seemed to take an eternity. It sickened her to think of Austin out there, trying to finish this fight, but there was no other choice. She wondered if he knew just how thankful—and terrified—she was that he was willing to risk everything.
“What the hell?” Sonny snarled.
She lifted her head just enough to see Austin launch himself at the man. He’d obviously circled around Sonny and sneaked up on him. Now they were in the middle of another fight.
“Stay here,” Seth told her, and he raced toward Austin and Sonny.
There was no way she could stay put, but Rosalie did keep cover behind the trees as she made her way toward Seth and Austin. She certainly didn’t want to get close enough to Sonny to let him grab her and use her as a human shield again.
However, she saw something that caused the skin to crawl on the back of her neck.
Sonny had his gun aimed right at Austin.
“No!” she screamed, and she bolted toward them.
Maybe Sonny hadn’t expected her to be so close. Or for her scream to be so loud. Either way, he glanced over at her.
It was just a split second.
But it was enough of a distraction for Austin to knock the gun from Sonny’s hand. He didn’t stop there. Austin shoved him onto the ground and put his own gun right against Sonny’s throat.
“Give me a reason to pull this trigger,” Austin said, his voice dripping with the emotion of the nightmare that this monster had put them through.
Rosalie walked even closer despite Seth’s attempts to stay between her and Sonny. But she wanted to get a look at Sonny’s face.
And she did.
He was smiling.
If Seth hadn’t caught on to her, Rosalie would have gone after Sonny to punch him. Or at least she would have tried to do that. How dare this SOB smile after what he’d done to them and so many other families.
“You didn’t win,” Sonny said, staring at her.
That sent an even icier chill through her. “What do you mean?” she asked at the same time that Austin said, “Ignore him. He’ll say anything to get to you because he knows he’ll be spending the rest of his life behind bars.”
“Yeah,” Sonny readily agreed. Still smiling. “But even behind bars, I still win.”
Austin hauled Sonny to his feet and used the plastic cuffs that Seth handed him to restrain the man. “How do you figure that?” Austin asked.
“Easy. The woman who had the baby? The nanny,” Sonny clarified. “She has orders, and I know for a fact she’ll carry them out, especially after what she saw tonight. She’ll be afraid for the baby, and she would have headed to the other car that we left just up the trail.”
Rosalie put her hand on her chest because it felt as if her heart might beat out of her chest. “What do you mean?” she repeated. “Where is she?”
Sonny’s smile stretched across his face. “The nanny is leaving the country as we speak, and she’s been given the money and the resources to disappear for good.” His smile turned to a taunting laugh. “You’ll never see your daughter again.”
Chapter Twenty
Austin wanted to believe Sonny was lying about the nanny disappearing with Rosalie’s baby. After all, Sonny hadn’t told the truth about much else. But this was exactly the kind of stunt a man like him would pull.
The nanny wouldn’t be around to testify against him.
And there’d be no absolute proof that he’d ever had Sadie kidnapped. Unless there was some kind of DNA evidence in the car, that is, but Austin was betting Sonny had made sure there wasn’t.
“Where’s the nanny?” Austin demanded.
Sonny just kept on smiling. A bad mistake. Because Austin didn’t even try to hang on to his temper. He punched Sonny in the face. Sonny’s head flopped back, and even with the blood spreading across his mouth and teeth, he managed to keep that damn smile.
“Please,” Rosalie begged, and Austin could hear every bit of the agony in her voice.
Agony that was clearly giving Sonny pleasure. Since he’d been captured and was about to spend the rest of his life in jail, he wanted Rosalie to have that same life sentence.
“Give me some time alone with him,” Seth said. Unlike his sister, there was only one emotion in his voice.
Rage.
Seth would likely beat Sonny within an inch of his life. Austin wanted to do that himself, but time was precious right now, and he didn’t want to spend that time trying to get answers from this piece of slime.
“The airport,” Austin said. “If she’s leaving the country, that’s where she’ll go. And Sweetwater Springs has a small airport that’s only about ten miles away.”
That finally got the smile off Sonny’s face. Austin hoped that meant he’d hit pay dirt. Of course, he could be doing that to taunt them, to get their hopes up.
Seth took out his phone. “I’ll call the airport and see if there are any flights about to leave. If so, I’ll have them stop the plane from taking off.”
Rosalie shook her head. “But what if she goes somewhere other than Sweetwater Springs?”
“I’ll call Colt and have him help,” Seth explained. “Cooper and he are out here in the woods looking for the nanny and any other thugs this idiot might have brought with him. If they both start making calls, then we should be able to stop her from getting away.”
Kidnapping in Kendall County Page 17
