WITNESS PROTECTION 02: The Baby Rescue

by Margaret Daley

  Okay, it’s now or never.

  Her gazed zeroed in on the closed door. One. Two. Three. She launched herself from the couch, ignoring the light-headedness from whatever drug she’d been given, and charged across the room. Grasping the knob with her tied hands, she managed to turn it. With a glance over her shoulder, Lisette plunged into the darkness as Hannah pulled the trigger, the sound of the shot exploding in the air.

  * * *

  A shot blasted from somewhere in the cavernous warehouse. No! Please, Lord, not Lisette or the baby.

  The thought it could be one of them hurt or dead ignited both anger and pain inside Colton. He squashed what emotions he could in order to function, but he couldn’t quite succeed as he had in the past. Penned down, he was trapped while Lisette might be in trouble. Colton heard the movement outside the room. His breath bottled in his lungs, he readied his body to spring at the first person coming through the door. Josh would take care of the second one.

  An arm holding a gun came into view first, quickly followed by the rest of Saunders. Colton leaped toward the man, knocking Saunders’s weapon from his hand and tackling him to the floor. The revolver skidded across the room.

  Saunders latched on to Colton’s arm that held his Wilson Combat, trying to grasp it. Colton rolled with Saunders, wrestling for control of his gun. To Colton’s side, noises of bodies clashing filled the air, but he concentrated on his opponent, intent on disarming him. Thoughts of Lisette and Baby C spurred an extra burst of adrenaline to rush through him.

  Colton ended up on top of Saunders, his gun wavering between them. He poured his strength into his hand, his fingers digging into the man’s flesh like a claw. Saunders groaned and tried to break the viselike grip Colton had on him. He pressed his body into Saunders, squeezing the air from his lungs. Slowly the kidnapper’s grasp weakened. Colton went in to finish him off. Jerking his arm with the gun away, he balled his hand and smashed his fist into Saunders’s jaw. Once. Twice. The man sagged. Colton hit him again, then quickly rotated him over and clapped handcuffs on him. After removing his night-vision goggles, he clicked on his flashlight, checking to see if Josh needed help. He didn’t. He finished securing Wilson while Colton found the light switch and flipped it on.

  Now to find Lisette and Baby C.

  Fury consuming him, Colton grabbed Saunders and hauled him to his feet. “Show me where Lisette and the child are. And for your sake they better be unharmed.”

  Saunders threw him a glare. “Sure.”

  “And I know about Hannah. I hope she cares about you.” Colton pressed the muzzle of his gun against the man’s temple enough that it left a mark on his forehead.

  “You wouldn’t.” He gave a shaky cackle.

  “Don’t test me. If anything has happened to Lisette or the baby, I...” He couldn’t vocalize the feelings rampaging through him.

  Josh dragged Wilson to his feet and trailed Colton from the room. The sound of a baby crying reverberated through the warehouse.

  “You better hope Hannah didn’t do anything foolish.” Colton almost growled the words in Saunders’s ears.

  The sound of the child’s wails ricocheted off the walls, surrounding them in the noise.

  “See, she’s alive. She’s always crying. That’s why I’m holed up in an abandoned warehouse.”

  Which meant that Lisette may not be. Colton’s heart ripped in two pieces at that thought.

  “We don’t know she’s dead,” Josh said behind him.

  The words reminded Colton he had a job to do, a child to save—and, he hoped, an FBI agent.

  Following the bawling, Colton didn’t even need Saunders to show him the way. When they reached an interior office, the door was wide-open and light streamed out into the blackness. The frown on Saunders’s face deepened. The expression heightened Colton’s concern.

  He gave Saunders to Josh, then he flattened himself against the wall of the office, took two fortifying breaths and swung into the entrance. The room was empty except the baby in a drawer on the floor in the corner, her arms flailing, her face red.

  No Hannah.

  No Lisette.

  * * *

  The bullet had torn through Lisette’s arm, intense pain piercing her as if a branding iron had seared her. But she kept going into the black void, zigzagging to throw Hannah off. Blood flowed from the wound, running down her arm.

  Her wounded arm bumped into a pole. She swallowed a cry, but the throbbing intensity threatened to engulf her. With her good hand, she used it to feel her surroundings. She couldn’t afford to knock herself out. She increased her pace as much as she could, hoping she wasn’t going deeper into the warehouse.

  Her fingertips encountered a rough wooden surface. A wall? To a room or the outside? She charged down its length, praying for a door. Suddenly something in her path threw her off balance, and she tumbled to the concrete floor. Her injured arm cushioned her fall.

  She sucked in a scream, but a gasp escaped.

  Then through the thundering of her heartbeat in her head she heard them. Footsteps coming toward her.

  * * *

  While Josh guarded Saunders and Wilson, Colton donned his night-vision goggles and headed into the dark depths of the warehouse in the opposite direction they had arrived at the office. He had quickly spotted a trail of blood and began following it.

  He tried not to think of Lisette being wounded, but he couldn’t stop himself. Emotions he didn’t want to feel swamped him. He cared for her. No, it was worse than that. Did he love her? Whenever he had cared and loved someone in the past, they died or left him. He didn’t want to go through that again.

  He tried to harden his heart as he searched the dark shadows. But all he found was hurt.

  The drops of blood increased. Someone was bleeding more and more. His heart thudded against his rib cage, making breathing difficult.

  Please, Lord, don’t let me be too late.

  * * *

  Frantically Lisette felt what she had fallen over—a tarp covering some crates. She raised the edge of it and buried herself beneath it, putting some of the wooden boxes between her and whoever was coming after her.

  The click of Hannah’s shoes—she remembered hearing them in the hallway at the fertility clinic—came closer.

  Then stopped.

  Holding her breath, she prayed to God, putting her life in His hands.

  “I know you’re in there. Come out and I won’t shoot randomly into the tarp.”

  Hannah’s words froze Lisette. Part of her knew the wisdom in what she said, but the other wanted to continue to hold out. She was more valuable to them alive than dead—at least until they left Denver. And she hoped that whoever had come into the warehouse could rescue her in time.

  A gunshot went off, close by, striking the tarp and crate where she’d been a few minutes before. Her teeth dug into her lower lip.

  “That one didn’t hit you but the next or the one after will.”

  Lisette put her hand on the cold floor to push herself up.

  “Drop your gun or I’ll shoot,” came Colton’s voice.

  The most beautiful sound Lisette had heard. She sagged onto the freezing concrete, all energy draining from her body. Her eyelids fluttered closed.

  * * *

  “Lisette. Lisette, don’t you dare die on me.”

  Colton’s words penetrated her pain-laced mind. She wanted to surrender to the blackness, but she couldn’t. She eased her eyes open and light flooded her vision. She blinked rapidly and closed them again.

  “Shut some of those lights off,” Colton shouted. “Okay, it’s darker now.”

  “Where’s Hannah?” she asked when she looked into his dear face. If one of her arms hadn’t been throbbing as though on fire, she’d throw both of them around him and hug him for as long as he allowed it.

  He gave her a lopsided grin, but she saw the worry in his eyes. “She’s being taken in right now along with Saunders and Wilson. The paramedics just arrived on the sce
ne. They’ll get you to the hospital, and you’ll be good as new in no time.”

  “Who are you trying to convince?” Lisette licked her dry lips, wanting to stay conscious and hear all the details, but the edges of darkness again crept closer and finally swallowed her.

  * * *

  A week later Lisette paced her living room, her left arm in a sling from the gunshot wound, dressed for her interview with a television reporter in—she checked her watch—an hour. Having been in the hospital, then at home most of the past week, she was itching to get back to work, even if it was desk duty until her arm healed totally. She was right-handed so it hadn’t affected her ability to use a gun.

  She was waiting for Colton to brief her on the case before she talked with the reporter. She was to do the interview because of his ongoing work with the Witness Protection Program. She’d seen Colton when she’d come out of surgery on her arm and then several times since then, but always when people were around. They hadn’t been alone to talk since the night at the warehouse.

  But if nothing else, she realized she loved him. She needed to see him. He’d saved her life, and she hadn’t even been able to thank him.

  There was a part of her that wondered if he was avoiding being alone with her. The night in the warehouse had been intense, but in the end successful. Baby C was safe. The reason Lisette had agreed to do this interview was to get word out about her. Her parents had to be out there somewhere. She refused to think they had sold the child.

  When a rap sounded at her door, she hurried and answered it. Again, she couldn’t throw both of her arms around Colton, but she did with the one that wasn’t in a sling.

  “It’s good to see you,” she murmured, his warmth pressed against her being exactly what she needed.

  He pulled away before she wanted him to. “It’s good to see you out of the hospital and on the road to recovery.”

  “Frankly, I’m getting tired of looking at these four walls.”

  “Whereas I haven’t been at my place much this past week.”

  “Tying up this case?”

  “Yes. We don’t know who is behind the ring, but we did find out Saunders was the middleman he called Jackson. We’ll be working on him to get him to turn on his bosses. He refuses, but maybe some time behind bars will convince him.”

  “What about Wilson and Hannah? Do they know the people behind this baby-smuggling network?” Lisette moved to her couch and sat at one end, hoping Colton would join her on the sofa.

  He didn’t. He sat in a chair across from her. “No. Each one said Saunders does but that he never told them.”

  “You believe them?”

  He shrugged. “They answered questions while hooked up to a lie detector.”

  “Did Saunders kill Buddy Smith?”

  “According to Hannah, although she didn’t see him. We’re building a case based on motive, opportunity and evidence. We won’t need her testimony, and we have plenty on her to put her away for a long time. She and Saunders are responsible for Benjamin Mason’s death. Although he didn’t die from the head wound, he had a heart attack in the middle of the diversion Saunders had created to occupy us while they got away. That’s another death he is responsible for and will be tried for.”

  Across the short space between them an invisible barrier was being erected by Colton. He’d look at her for a few seconds, then his gaze would slide away as though the sight of her made him uncomfortable. She needed to break down that wall.

  “What has the courier told you about Baby C?”

  “Not a lot. She picked the baby up at a Houston motel with little security. The person who rented the room for the night paid cash. The clerk couldn’t tell the Houston police much about the man. The courier described her contact as wearing sunglasses, a few inches taller than her, which makes the man five ten, and he had dark short hair. They are pursuing the lead but don’t have a lot to go on.”

  At least they had a city to start looking for the child’s parents. “Was Hannah acting alone at the clinic? She said so in the car with Wilson but I’ve learned not to trust everything people say.”

  “Yes. We’ve delved into the finances of the people at her work, and there isn’t any indication she had help, but your agency will be keeping an eye on the fertility clinic just to make sure. Hannah insisted no one else was involved. She found the clients for Saunders, and he supplied the babies.”

  She shivered at the thought of what that man had done. “At least he’ll get what he deserves, but a lot of people suffered at his hands in a short period of time. Thankfully Baby C is safe. That’s what is important.”

  Colton slapped his hands on the tops of his thighs and pushed up. “And I have to be going. I have a plane to catch.”

  Her heart cracked. “Dallas?”

  “Yes. My interview is early tomorrow morning.”

  “Why are you leaving Denver? You’re responsible for bringing down an arm of the smuggling network. Baby C hopefully will be reunited with her parents soon.” Lisette swallowed several times and added, “I’m falling in love with you, and I think you care about me. Stick around and let’s see where it takes us. It’s okay to stay more than two years in a city.” She’d debated all day whether to tell him how she felt, but she would regret it if she didn’t.

  “The Dallas office has waited to interview me until the case was finished. I owe it to them to go.”

  And leave me. Hurt at his words swelled her throat, making it difficult to say anything.

  “I won’t deny I have feelings for you, but maybe it’s for the best if I move to Dallas. If we’re meant to be, we’ll get together long-distance.” Pain laced his voice. He looked away, swallowing hard over and over.

  “You believe that,” came out in a bare whisper. Rising, she averted her head so he wouldn’t see the tears gathering in her eyes.

  “I don’t know what to believe. I almost lost you at the warehouse. I can’t lose...”

  She slanted a look at him. “So you would rather be alone rather than be with someone because you might lose them sometime in the future? Loss is part of life, but so is love.”

  He frowned and strode toward the front door. “I’m going to be late for my flight.”

  Before he left, she clasped his arm and stopped him. “Are you going to be back tomorrow night?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then let’s have dinner together at Maxie’s at seven. At least one last time. I don’t want to say goodbye like this.”

  He didn’t reply. The doorbell rang, and he opened it to find a reporter with her cameraman standing in the hallway. “I’ll talk to you later. I’m glad you’re better.”

  She tried to smile, but it lasted a second and then fell. “Safe trip.”

  When he walked away, she opened the door wider and invited the reporter and cameraman into her apartment.

  “Thank you for agreeing to do this interview,” the reporter said, directing her cameraman to set up for the taped interview that would air later that night on the local news.

  “Excuse me for a moment.” Lisette didn’t wait for them to say anything but escaped into her bedroom.

  She sat on her bed for a moment, composing herself. Her emotions felt as if they were on the edge of a cliff, any wrong word sending them over the ledge into the abyss. She would be at Maxie’s tomorrow night, but from the closed look Colton gave her when he left, she didn’t think he would be.

  When she reentered her living room, she watched as the cameraman and the reporter set up the lighting and a place where the interview would occur. If she wasn’t so anxious to do her part to reunite Baby C with her parents, she would have declined the request. But this was important to her.

  Seated across from the reporter, Lisette answered her questions about how Baby C came into the custody of the state.

  “Any last words for the audience?”

  Lisette looked directly at the camera. “I’m asking the public to help the FBI find Baby C’s parents.” She held up a p
hoto of the child. “She is about three or four months old. Adorable. And she needs her family. The flight taken by the woman who bought Baby C. to Denver originated in Houston, where she boarded with the child. If you have any information, please contact the number at the end of this interview. Help us to reunite the child with her parents and put a stop to baby-smuggling rings.” Lisette didn’t go into detail that the courier couldn’t tell the authorities much about Baby C.

  Somehow Lisette made it through the interview and saying goodbye to the reporter and cameraman without shedding any tears, but now that she was alone they ran down her face and she let them. She needed to cry with all that had happened in the past few weeks. They had caught part of the baby-smuggling ring and had done some good work. This would look good on her record, and she didn’t care. Her career wasn’t who she was. She used to think it defined her. Not anymore. She needed more to make her happy.

  A vision of Colton on a plane for Dallas filled her mind. He’d opened her to love again. She would always be indebted to him for that, but why couldn’t he see they belonged together? She’d shared things with him she never had with another. Because of him, she and her mother might have a relationship again.

  When the phone rang, she considered not answering, but it might be her boss wanting to know how the interview went. When she saw the caller ID, she snatched up the receiver. “Hello.”

  “This is Marshal Benson. Colton is getting on the plane and can’t call you, but I wanted to tell you before you heard elsewhere that Saunders escaped the transport taking him to prison.”

  For a moment the sound of the words registered on her mind but not the meaning. “He’s gone?”

  “Yes, we’re helping the police with the manhunt. The fact that someone knew he was being transported at that time and route, though, leads us to believe he had someone with clout helping him.”

  “The people who run the smuggling ring?” Her first thought was she might be in danger, but she really didn’t think so. Saunders had no reason to come after her and every reason to escape the area, possibly the country. But in case she was wrong, she would keep her gun on her.