RENEGADE GUARDIAN

by Delores Fossen

  “What else would it be about? And yeah, it’s risky. A pain, too, to get three daddies to cough up cash at the same time. But hey, this is enough cash to make it worth all the risks.” Slade shook his head as if trying to clear it. “I don’t want Maya in on this,” he repeated.

  “Tough. You’ve got your orders—now follow them. Oh, and I gotta say, this kid looks just like you.”

  And he hung up.

  Slade groaned, scrubbed his hand over his face and looked again at the photo the kidnapper had sent him. It was hard to see the baby’s features, and since he was wearing a hat, Maya couldn’t tell his hair color.

  She touched Slade’s arm and rubbed gently. “I don’t want to be out there, either, but we don’t have a choice.”

  “I’ll find a choice.” He cursed and moved away from her. Back to the window.

  “What do you want me to do?” Declan asked.

  Slade didn’t answer. He stood there staring out, with no doubt an avalanche of emotions crushing him.

  “We can do this like before,” Maya offered. “We’ll wear those bulletproof vests—”

  “No,” Slade mumbled.

  Maya huffed, laid a sleeping Evan on the bed and went back to Slade. “I won’t let you trade me for your son.”

  “We don’t even know if it is my son. I don’t intend to trust a kidnapper.”

  “He has a baby, Slade. We saw his photo. If it’s not your son, it’s Will Collier. Either way, we have to do this.”

  “Maya’s right,” Declan said, earning a glare from Slade.

  But his glare faded, and his groan turned to profanity. He didn’t want to do this, but he would. Because it didn’t matter whose child was out there; Slade would need to save him. It only made her care for him more.

  If that was possible.

  “We can’t rule out the possibility that this is a trap to get us out of the house,” Slade finally said to his brother. “So you, Wyatt, Maya and I will ride out with the money when it arrives. Wyatt and you will hang back, and we’ll position some of the ranch hands with rifles on the barns.”

  “Sheriff Geary’s here,” Declan reminded him.

  “I want him, Dallas and Harlan to stay inside with Evan just in case something goes wrong.”

  Maya appreciated the protection for Evan and the others even though she wasn’t sure the kidnapper still wanted to get to her son. The plan seemed to have changed with Caleb’s release. Maybe this was solely about money now, which could point the finger at Nadine. Of course, it didn’t eliminate Chase or Randall. Chase could still be trying to set up Nadine, and Randall could be doing this to locate his ex.

  In other words, they weren’t any closer to learning who was behind this.

  However, if they recovered this last missing baby, that was a start. Maya’s stomach clenched, though. Without learning the identity of the person behind this, she would always be looking over her shoulder. Always worrying if someone might try to take Evan from her. It seemed too much considering that Slade might have a claim on him, as well.

  The phone calls and the planning began. Slade used the house phone next to the bed, and Declan called the ranch hand Cutter so he could alert the other hands as to what was going on. Maya went back to the bed and held her son. Even though he was asleep and had no idea of the danger, it soothed her raw nerves just to have him in her arms.

  Time seemed to crawl by, and with each passing second, the fear and doubts came. That wouldn’t change anything, and it certainly wouldn’t stop her. Slade had put his life on the line several times for her son, and she’d do the same for this baby. Even if it turned out not to be his.

  But what if it was?

  Slade would have no hold on Evan. And that meant he had no hold on her.

  Well, not a legal one anyway.

  Her heart had already taken the leap in his direction, but she had no idea if Slade felt the same about her. If he didn’t, if this was a walk-away situation between them, then this baby could mean that she’d never see him again.

  A truly heartbreaking thought.

  She heard footsteps again, and while there’d been no indication that anyone had broken into the house, both Declan and Slade drew their guns. That didn’t help the knot in her stomach, but the person who appeared in the doorway was Dallas. He had an equipment bag that he placed on the floor, but not before he glanced at the rumpled covers on the bed and then looked at Slade and her.

  Dallas had no doubt figured out what had gone on here, but thankfully he didn’t mention it. Neither did Declan when Dallas and he looked at each other.

  There were more footsteps, and Stella came into the room. “I can take Evan to the family room so you can get ready. The Rands are down there. Caitlyn and Joelle, too. We’ll take good care of him.”

  That went without saying, but Maya appreciated it anyway. She handed Evan over to Stella and was surprised and warmed when the woman kissed her on the cheek.

  “It’ll be okay,” Stella whispered. “Kirby’s boys know what they’re doing.”

  They did, but Maya knew things could go wrong. Maya gave her son a kiss and felt that fist around her heart when Stella walked out with him. Dallas and Declan left, no doubt to get started on the plan they’d come up with to keep everyone safe. Maya busied herself by putting on the Kevlar vest and barely had it on when Slade’s phone rang again.

  “Company’s almost there.” The kidnapper’s voice poured through the room as soon as Slade put the call on speaker. “I got somebody watching the road, and both the Colliers and Randall will pull up in front of your house in the next couple of minutes. But there’s been a change of plans.”

  Slade cursed. “The only change better be that Maya can stay here.”

  “Sorry, no can do. But you’ll have a little company on the ride out to the pasture. I want you to bring Randall and the Colliers with you.”

  Mercy. She didn’t want those people near her. Or the baby.

  “Why the hell would you want those vipers to come?” Slade asked.

  “More insurance. You saw what happened the last time when bullets started flying. A woman was killed. Well, I got the same guns rigged, and I figure the more targets, the less likely you or your brothers will take aim at me.”

  The same setup as last time. Maya could only pray the results would be different. She only wanted the baby and didn’t want anyone else dying.

  “By the way, did you run any tests on that bullet that killed the nanny?” the kidnapper tossed out there.

  “It’s in the works, but why don’t you tell me what those results will be?” Slade demanded.

  The man made a sound of smug amusement. “From my angle, it sure looked like Nadine pulled the trigger.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “Oh, come on, Marshal. You didn’t see the way Chase was drooling all over Andrea? It’s my guess they were playing beneath the sheets, and Nadine took the opportunity to do away with her competition.”

  That might be a solid theory if Nadine loved her husband. She clearly didn’t. But that didn’t mean Nadine would tolerate having another woman in the picture. Nadine didn’t seem to be the sharing type.

  “When you do the tests on the bullet, compare them to the gun that Nadine wrestled away from me.”

  “You mean the gun you let her wrestle away,” Slade countered.

  “That’s good, Marshal.” More of that gloating taunt. “That could have happened. Or not. I’ll tell you what. When this is over and you have the kid and I’m on my way out of the country, why don’t you ask her all about that?”

  “Trust me, I will.”

  “Randall and the Colliers are here,” Declan relayed from the window.

  “Showtime,” the kidnapper announced. “You’ve got fifteen minutes to get everyone and the
money out here, or I’m leaving with the baby.”

  The man made another of those gleeful sounds that sickened Maya. “Didn’t I tell you that I have another party interested in buying this kid? Take the call off speaker, Marshal, and I’ll tell you all about it. Wouldn’t want the details to upset Maya. Women get funny about this kind of thing.”

  Slade stared at the phone, and for a second Maya thought he wouldn’t do it, but he finally clicked the button to end the speaker function, and he brought the phone to his ear.

  Maya moved closer, but she couldn’t hear what the kidnapper was saying. However, she did see the effect it had on Slade. He cursed and pounded his fist against the wall.

  “Don’t do that,” Slade warned the man, and it was a warning with a dark, dangerous edge to it.

  That danger was still in every bit of his expression when he shoved the phone into his pocket and caught onto her. “Come on. We have to leave now.”

  * * *

  SLADE REMINDED HIMSELF that the kidnapper’s threat could be a bluff. An out-and-out lie. But it didn’t feel like a lie to his gut. There was an acid pit churning in his stomach, and he wanted to rip this man limb from limb.

  And he just might.

  After he rescued the baby that this bastard was using like a chess pawn.

  “What’d he say to you?” Maya asked. They hurried downstairs and through the house to the back door.

  Slade hated to repeat it. Hated that Maya even had to consider a possibility that was almost certainly a lie anyway. But if he didn’t tell her, then her worst fears would run wild.

  “He said he put out the word that he had a marshal’s baby to sell on the black market, and that an old enemy, someone that I’d arrested, said he’d pay top dollar.”

  Maya sucked in her breath. “Is that possible? Do you have an old enemy who’d do that?”

  “I’ve arrested a lot of scum, and yeah, they’re enemies.” It hurt to say that and cut him to the core that it might be true. But there was another side to this. “If we’re dealing with Gambill, he’d have the contacts to get out the word about the baby, but I don’t think he’s had enough time for someone from my past to come back with an offer.”

  Slade opened the door, looked out and saw the beehive of activity. Dallas was there giving out Kevlar vests to Randall, Nadine and Chase. Ironic that one of those vests might protect the very person who’d set up these crimes. Of course, maybe the kidnapper was operating alone. If it was Gambill, he was certainly capable of something like this.

  “I’m so sorry.” Maya gave him a gentle kiss, and that helped more than Slade had ever expected a kiss to help.

  “Let’s finish this.” He threw open the door and stepped into the middle of the chaos.

  Nadine and Chase were bickering, but when the woman saw them, she stopped and lifted the canvas bag in the air. “I came with the money.”

  “And she thinks she deserves a medal for it,” Chase snarled. “It’s my money, and all she had to do was pick it up from the bank. When this is over, one way or another, I’m getting you out of my house and my life.”

  “You won’t, not without paying me half of everything.”

  “Can we just get on with this?” Randall snapped. He, too, had a bag, and the moment Cutter led two horses out of the barn, Randall went to one and climbed into the saddle.

  Chase did the same, and as if it were a chore, he pulled Nadine into the saddle behind him. Slade hadn’t even thought to ask any of them if they could ride, but it didn’t seem to be an issue.

  Slade got on his black gelding, Wolf, which one of the other ranch hands led out. He helped Maya on and then looked down at Dallas.

  “Everything’s in place,” Dallas assured him. He handed Maya a gun and gave Slade another one that he tucked in the back waist of his jeans. “Wyatt and Declan are in the pasture, keeping a safe distance but ready if you need them.” He pointed to the trio of barns and stables. “There are at least two men on each, including one of the deputies. We have the house covered, too.”

  “What about Clayton? Any word about Lenora?” Maya asked.

  It surprised Slade that she could think of his brother and sister-in-law at a time like this. They’d been in the back of Slade’s mind, too.

  Dallas shook his head. “After you’re back and this guy’s behind bars, we can go to the hospital and wait for the baby to come.”

  An arrest was being optimistic, but Slade knew that’s exactly what had to happen. No way would he let this dirt wad get away with what he’d been doing, and that threat to the baby was the last straw. This moron was going down, and he’d be the one to do it.

  It was dark already, but thankfully there were enough security lights on the barns and outbuilding. A decent moon, too, so he should be able to navigate the pasture. It also helped that he knew every nook and cranny, but he also knew there were plenty of places for someone to hide and ambush them.

  Chase maneuvered his horse closer to Slade’s. “When the kidnapper called me, he said the baby might be your biological child. Is he?”

  Maya had her arms around his waist, and her grip tightened. She was probably trying to comfort him, but they were well past that point. “Maybe.”

  “Yours?” Randall snapped. “How the hell did you get involved in this?”

  “Long story,” Slade mumbled. And it was one he didn’t care to discuss with Randall.

  Randall cursed and said something under his breath that Slade didn’t catch. “Well, if the kid is mine, I want him.”

  “Why?” Chase immediately challenged. “Because Gina will come back to you if you have the baby?”

  Randall didn’t deny, nor did he agree. He eased the mare away from them and looked around as if he expected someone to jump out at them any moment now. That could happen, and that’s why Slade kept watch, too.

  “The only reason you want the baby is to irritate me,” Nadine tossed out there.

  “I want a child. An heir,” Chase argued.

  And that said it all. Again, there was no mention of love or fatherhood. Chase wanted someone to run his business after he was gone, and if he could use the child to get rid of Nadine, even better.

  The two started to argue again, making it impossible for Slade to hear what was going on around them.

  “Shut up, both of you,” he warned them, and he didn’t leave room for argument.

  Good thing, too, because the moment they hushed Slade could have sworn he heard something. Not the wind, nor the cattle moving around. But something. Maybe his brothers. They were out there somewhere. So maybe he was sensing their movement. Slade hoped that was all there was to it anyway.

  The cleared pasture gave way to an area with trees. Oaks and hackberries. The fence was beyond that, which meant the kidnapper had to be close.

  Well, unless this was a trap.

  So why hadn’t the SOB called? And where was the baby? Because Slade certainly wasn’t hearing any cries.

  Slade reined in and motioned for the others to do the same. He cut off Nadine with a sharp glare when she started to say something. Finally, other than his heartbeat crashing in his ears, he got the quiet he needed.

  Still no sounds of the kidnapper.

  “What now?” Randall asked.

  “We wait until he contacts us.” But Slade had no sooner said that when he finally heard something he could identify.

  A footstep.

  Soft and to his right.

  He turned in that direction, looked around but saw nothing. But he didn’t miss the sound. No way to miss that.

  The bullet went blasting past him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Slade moved so fast that Maya didn’t even see it coming. He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her off the horse and to the ground. The gelding re
ared, the sound of the shot spooking it.

  “Stay low,” Slade warned her, and gripped her wrist to pull her away from the gelding with one hand and drew his gun with the other. Good thing, too, or she would have been trampled.

  She managed to hang on to the gun that Dallas had given her, and Slade started running with her in tow. He didn’t stop until they were behind one of the trees. Only then was Maya able to see that Randall and Chase were doing the same—but on the other side of the horses. However, Chase had left Nadine behind, and she was still trying to dismount a horse that was prancing around and ready to buck.

  “Hell,” Slade grumbled. “I’ll have to go out there and help her.”

  Since that meant him going back in the open, Maya shook off his grip so that she could hold him back. She was about to launch into an argument about why that wouldn’t be a good idea, but thankfully Nadine resolved it for them. She practically toppled off the horse, and while still hanging on to the money bag, she ran behind one of the trees.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Slade shouted.

  “False alarm,” the kidnapper shouted.

  He was close by, but Maya couldn’t see him. It was a lot darker here than in the open pasture, and the tree limbs blocked a lot of the moonlight.

  “My buddy got a little trigger happy, but everything’s okay now,” the man added.

  That gave Maya no reassurance whatsoever. Neither did the next sound she heard. A baby crying. And not just crying, either. The child started to sob. It broke her heart to think of an innocent baby in the middle of all of this, but maybe they could put a quick, safe end to it.

  “You got the money?” the man shouted over the baby’s cries. It was hard to pinpoint, but the sounds seemed to be coming from straight ahead, maybe even on the other side of the fence.

  Not good.

  Because that could mean the kidnapper would have an easier time escaping. Judging from the rock-hard muscles in Slade’s body, he was going to do everything to make sure that didn’t happen.

  “We got the money,” Slade answered. “And Maya won’t be the one delivering it this time.”