Kade

by Delores Fossen

  “If something goes wrong,” Kade whispered, “I want you to take the baby and get out of there. I’ll run interference.”

  She shook her head, and the agent facade waivered a bit, but she couldn’t argue. The baby had to come first.

  “We’re all coming out of there alive,” Bree whispered back. And she leaned over and kissed him.

  Kade wanted to hold on to that kiss, on to her and that promise, but there wasn’t time. “Stay behind me,” he added, “and hide your gun in the back waist of your pants.”

  After she’d done that, he stepped from his truck. He waited until Bree was indeed behind him before they walked to the double front doors. He wished they were glass so he could see inside but no such luck. They were thick wood. Kade said another prayer and tested the knob.

  The door opened.

  Like the exterior of the building and the parking lot, the entrance was pitch-black, and he could barely make out what appeared to be a desk and some chairs. This was the reception area, and if anyone was there, he couldn’t see, hear or sense them.

  “Here’s my gun,” Kade called out, and he took his weapon and one of the extra magazines and put them on the floor.

  “Now, the other weapons.” The voice boomed over an intercom. The same scrambled voice as the caller.

  “Weapon,” Kade corrected. And he motioned for Bree to surrender her gun, as well.

  Kade could feel her hesitation, but she finally did it. That only left them with the small gun in his ankle holster, and he hoped like the devil that the SOB on the intercom didn’t know about it.

  Behind them, there was a sharp click. Not someone cocking a gun. But maybe just as dangerous.

  Someone had locked the door. That someone had no doubt used a remote control because Nate wouldn’t have let anyone get close to the exterior side of the door.

  “Kick the weapons down the hall,” the voice ordered.

  Kade did it, the sound of metal scraping across the tiled floor.

  “Here,” Kade whispered to Bree, and he handed her his cell so if necessary she could make that emergency call to Nate. It would also free up his hands in case he had to go for the ankle holster.

  “Where’s the baby?” Kade asked, holding up the envelope with the backups.

  “I’ll have to verify the backups first. Walk forward, down the hall. Keep your hands in the air so I can see them at all times.”

  The dark hall. Where they could be ambushed and the backups taken from them.

  “How about you meet us halfway?” Kade asked.

  “How about you follow orders?” the person snapped.

  “Because your orders could get us killed. Either meet us halfway, or show us the baby now.”

  More silence. And with each passing second, Kade’s heartbeat revved up. Bree’s breathing, too. Since her arm was against his back, he could feel how tense she was.

  “Okay,” the person finally said. “Start walking. I’ll do the same.”

  It was a huge risk, but staying put was a risk, too.

  Kade took the first step, then waited and listened. He heard some movement at the end of that dark hall, and he took another step. Then another. Bree was right behind him and hopefully would stay there.

  If this goon sent in someone from behind, through those front doors, Nate’s men would stop them. The same if a gunman tried to shoot through one of the windows.

  So, the danger was ahead.

  “There are two rooms ahead off the hall,” Bree whispered. “One on the left. The other on the right.”

  Kade hadn’t remembered that about the clinic layout, but he was thankful that Bree had. He would need to make sure no one came out of those rooms to ambush them.

  Another step.

  The person at the end of the hall did the same.

  Now that Kade’s eyes were adjusting a little to the darkness, he could see the shadowy figure better. Well, the outline of the person, anyway. He couldn’t make out any feature and couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman. The person seemed to be wearing some kind of dark cloak.

  “When you get to the spot where the reception area meets the hall,” the voice instructed, “take the backups from the envelope and hold them up so I can see them.”

  Kade made several more steps to get to that spot, and with his attention fastened on the figure ahead of him, he took out the backups and lifted them in the air.

  Overhead on the hall ceiling, a camera whirred around, the lens angling toward Kade’s hand. Either this guy had backup inside the building or else he was using a remote control device.

  Kade was betting he had backup.

  Behind him, he heard a buzzing sound. His phone. And Kade mentally cursed. “Answer it,” he whispered to Bree, hoping that the person at the end of the hall hadn’t heard.

  She didn’t say anything, but she pressed a button and put the phone to her ear. A moment later, she froze.

  “What’s wrong?” Kade asked, still trying to keep his voice low.

  “You’re sure?” she asked.

  Kade was about to repeat his what’s wrong question, but Bree latched onto his arm.

  “It’s a trap,” she said. And Bree started to pull him to the floor.

  But it was already too late.

  The shot slammed through the air.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Bree pulled Kade to the right, out of the line of fire of the person in the hall.

  Just as the bullet slammed into the locked door.

  Kade and she slammed onto the floor. Hard. It knocked the breath right out of her, but Bree fought to regain it so she could get them out of harm’s way.

  If that was even possible now.

  Thankfully, Kade could breathe and react because he grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her onto the other side of the desk. He also drew the small Colt .38

  from his ankle holster. It wasn’t much firepower considering their situation.

  And their situation was bad.

  “Stop shooting!” Kade yelled. He shoved the backups inside his shirt. “You could hit the baby.”

  The person laughed, that cartoony voice echoing through the dark clinic. Bree knew the reason for the sickening laughter.

  “There’s no second baby?” Kade whispered to her on a rise of breath.

  “Not here. That was Mason on the phone. About ten minutes ago a woman dropped off a baby at the Silver Creek hospital. A baby who looks exactly like Leah. She’s all right. She hadn’t been harmed.”

  The sound that Kade made deep in his throat was a mixture of relief and dread. Relief because their baby was all right, away from the monster who’d fired that shot at them. But the danger for Kade and she was just starting.

  “Thank you for cooperating with my plan,” the figure called out. “And see? I’m not such a bad person, after all. The woman I hired to take the baby to the hospital did exactly as I asked. So, all is well.”

  Kade cursed. “If all is truly well as you say, then you’ll let us go.”

  “Can’t do that.”

  Another bullet blasted into the door.

  Kade’s brother Nate would likely have heard the shots. He no doubt knew about the baby being dropped off at the hospital. But there was no way Nate could come in with guns blazing. Still, if Kade and she could make it to the window, they might be able to figure out a way through those burglar bars. Then Nate might be able to provide enough cover for them to get out of there.

  Later, when this was over, she’d try to come to terms with the fact that the second baby was real. That she’d delivered twins. But right now, she had to focus on keeping Kade and her alive.

  “You can have the backups,” Bree told the shooter. She latched onto Kade and inched toward the window. “And we don’t know who you are. There’s no reason for you to kill us.”

  “Oh, there’s a reason.” And that’s all the person said for several moments. “You both know too much. Especially you, Bree. You’re too big of a risk because I have no idea w
hat you might have overheard when Kirk was holding you. You might know who I am, and I can’t risk you testifying against me.”

  Bree tried to figure out who was speaking. All of their suspects probably thought Kade and she knew too much. Especially since all their suspects were tied in some way or another to this clinic.

  “I didn’t overhear anything that would identify Kirk’s boss,” she explained, hoping the sound of her voice would cover Kade’s and her movement toward the window.

  “Can’t take that chance,” the shooter fired back.

  He also fired another shot into the door.

  “Oh, and if I were you, I wouldn’t try to get out through the window—they’re locked up tight and they have thick metal security bars. So, you might as well stop where you are. Well, unless you want his brother to die.”

  Oh, mercy.

  Kade and she froze. The shooter must have a camera in place so that they were watching their every move.

  “What the hell does my brother have to do with this?” Kade shouted.

  “A lot actually. Before your cop brother arrived to put some of his men on the roof near here, I already had a gunman in place. In the catbird seat, you might say.”

  Kade cursed. “He could be lying,” he whispered to Bree.

  But it didn’t sound like a lie. This person had had plenty of time to set all of this up.

  “My hired gun has a rifle trained on your brother right now,” the person added.

  That didn’t sound like a lie, either, and even if it was, it was too big a risk to take. Nate had come to help them, and she didn’t want him dying.

  Bree knew what she had to do. Now it was just a matter of convincing Kade to let her do it.

  “I’m the threat to your identity,” she shouted, levering herself up a little so that she could peer over the desk. “Not Kade. Let him go. So he can raise our daughters,” Bree added so that it would remind Kade of what was at stake here.

  If both of them died in this clinic, their twins would become orphans.

  “You’re not doing this,” Kade immediately said, and he pulled her back down behind the desk.

  The shooter laughed. “I’m not looking for a sacrificial lamb. I’m afraid both of you have to die.”

  Her stomach twisted, but Bree wasn’t about to give up. There had to be some kind of argument she could use to get at least Kade out of this alive.

  There was a sound. Some kind of movement at the end of the hall. And Bree tried to brace herself for the person to come closer.

  Where Kade could shoot to kill.

  “These are copies of the backups,” she tried. “Not the originals. Those are in a safe place.”

  “Liar,” the shooter answered.

  Was it her imagination or did the person sound farther away than before?

  “The backups can’t be copied,” the voice continued. “And I should know because it’s a security check that I put in place. Didn’t want anyone copying them to use them for blackmail.”

  “They’re not coming closer,” Kade whispered.

  She’d been right about the moving away part. But why would the person do that?

  Unless he or she was trying to escape?

  But that didn’t make sense, either. Kade and she had the backups.

  “I’m afraid I have to say goodbye now.” And footsteps followed that puzzling comment.

  Was the person just leaving them there?

  No, her gut told her that wouldn’t happen and that something was terribly wrong.

  Kade must have realized it, too, because he got to his feet and hurried to the door. He rammed his shoulder against it, but it didn’t budge.

  And then he cursed.

  Bree stood, trying to figure out what had caused his reaction, and she spotted the tiny blinking red light on the wall. Except it wasn’t just a light.

  The blinks were numbers.

  Ticking down.

  Seven, six, five…

  “It’s a bomb!” Kade shouted.

  He grabbed Bree and they started to run.

  * * *

  KADE HAD TO MAKE A split-second decision because a few seconds were all they had left.

  The door behind them was locked. No way out there. It was the same with the windows. He could risk pulling Bree behind the desk, but he could see the fistful of explosives attached to the timing device. The reception area and the desk were going to take the brunt of the impact.

  So, with his left hand vised around Bree’s arm, he raced down that dark hall.

  Yeah, it was a risk. The shooter could be waiting for them to do just that, but at the moment the bomb was a bigger risk, especially since the shooter had also made a run for it.

  “Hurry!” Kade shouted to Bree, though she no doubt understood the urgency.

  They raced down the hall, past the first two rooms that were nearest to the lobby, and he pulled her into the next door. He dived toward a desk, pulling her underneath it with him. Kade also put his body over hers.

  The blast tore through the building.

  The sound was deafening, and the blast sent debris slamming into the desk and a chunk of the wall slammed into Kade’s back. He’d have a heck of a bruise, but Bree was tucked safely beneath him.

  He got his gun ready, in case he had to shoot their way out of there, but the sound made him realize they had bigger things to worry about than the shooter.

  The ceiling groaned, threatening to give way.

  “Run!” Bree shouted.

  She fought to get up, just as Kade fought to get the debris off him. They finally made it to their feet and raced out of the room. What was left of it, anyway. It was the same for the hall. Walls had collapsed, and there was junk and rubble everywhere.

  Bree hurdled over some of the mess and continued down the hall. Cursing, Kade caught up with her, and shoved her behind him. Of course, that might not be any safer, what with the ceiling about to come down, but there were other rooms ahead. An exit, too. And he didn’t want that shooter jumping out from the shadows.

  After all, Kade still had the backups.

  Maybe the guy thought the blast would destroy them, along with Bree and him. Especially Bree, since the bozo clearly thought she was the biggest threat. Still, this could be all part of some warped plan to get them out and into the open so he could gun them down.

  Behind them, another chunk of the ceiling fell. It slammed into the tile floor and sent a new spray of debris their way. They kept on running until they reached the back exit. Kade hit the handle to open it.

  Hell.

  It was locked.

  He cursed, grabbed Bree again and ducked into the room to their left. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought this would lead them to the quarters where the infertile couples stayed. As Bree and he had done. There were more exits back in that area. Maybe, just maybe, not all of them would be locked.

  His phone buzzed, and since Bree was still holding it, she pressed the button to put the call on speaker.

  “Are you okay?” the person asked.

  Not the shooter. It was Nate.

  “Barely,” Kade answered. “Did you see anyone leave the building?”

  “No.”

  Kade cursed again and kept watch around them. “Bree and I are trying to make our way to an east side exit.”

  “Good. My men and I are converging on the building now.”

  Kade wanted to ask about the baby, how she was doing after being dropped off at the hospital, but it would have to wait. Right now, he had to get Bree out of there. Bree closed the phone and they started running as fast as they could.

  Her breath was gusting. His, too. They meandered their way through the maze of rooms and furniture until they came to another hall. There were more windows in this part of the building. Good thing because it allowed him to see.

  There was a door ahead.

  “Stay behind me,” Kade reminded her once again.

  He lifted his gun and made a beeline to the door.

 
; They were still a good ten feet away when the second blast ripped through the hall.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Bree didn’t have time to get down. The blast came right at them, and she felt herself flying backward. Everything seemed in slow motion but fast, too.

  Her back collided with the wall.

  Kade hit the concrete block wall beside her, and despite the bone-jarring impact, he managed to hang on to his gun. He also yanked her to her feet. Kade didn’t have to warn her that they had to get out of there.

  She knew.

  Because there had already been two explosions, and that meant there could be another.

  So far Kade and she had either gotten lucky or this was all some kind of elaborate trap.

  “This way,” Kade said, and he led her away from the part of the hall where the door had once been. It was now just a heap of rubble—a mix of concrete, wood and metal—and it was dangerous to try to get through it.

  They hurried in the other direction, back through the rooms where Kade and she had stayed nearly a year ago when they were undercover.

  Each step spiked her heartbeat and tightened the knot in her stomach. Because each step could lead them straight into another explosion. For that matter, the entire place could be rigged to go up.

  Kade and she made their way into another hall, one with windows. And it was the thin white moonlight stabbing its way through the glass that allowed Bree to see the movement just ahead of them.

  Kade pulled her into the room.

  Just as a shot zinged through the air.

  There was another jolt to her body when Kade and she landed on the floor. Another shot, too. But it slammed into the doorjamb and thankfully not them.

  Despite the hard fall, Kade got her out of the doorway, and they scrambled to the far side of the room.

  She glanced around. More windows, all with security bars, and there were two doors, feeding off in both directions. The doors were closed, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t be waiting on the other side.

  Since she no longer had a gun, Bree grabbed the first thing she could reach—a metal wire wastebasket. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but if she got close enough, she could use it to bash someone.