Zoe looked around the room. “Bud? Harmony? You can’t allow this. You must know this is wrong!”
Bud smiled. “Zoe there’s a balance to this world. Harmony and I work to keep that balance. We counsel couples. We provide therapeutic medicinal experiences. We find good homes for innocent babies.”
Zoe shook her head. “No, you con couples, you sell drugs, and you steal infants from their mothers and put them up on the black market to the highest bidder—not to mention the fraud and abuse going on at the detention facility.”
Bud crossed his arms. “You’ve got it all wrong. Look at the situation as it stands, Zoe. The universe is acknowledging our work and rewarding us for it. You, on the other hand, are not so lucky.”
She turned to Jack. “You believe all this?”
He hardened his gaze. “I believe in whatever keeps making me money.”
Harmony joined them. “Zoe, it’s such a shame that your story has to end like this. I thought we made such progress during the retreat.”
“End like what?” Zoe asked.
Harmony held up another syringe. “I can’t have you disrupting Jack and Cheryl’s time with their new son.”
“New son?” Cheryl barked. “What makes you think I want one of these babies?” The woman’s face tightened into a scowl. She glared at Jack. “You told them?”
He raised his hands. “I thought they could help us! We couldn’t risk going through the normal adoption channels.”
Cheryl lifted her chin. She glanced at Zoe. “Take care of that.” She gestured to the baby. “And deal with that. I never want to see either of them again. I’m leaving. I’m taking the car, and I’m driving back to the airport. You can find your own way home, Jack.”
Cheryl stormed out, the door slamming behind her.
A vein pulsed on Jack’s forehead. He parted his lips, but before he could speak, Tessa released a heart-stopping shriek. Her body convulsed violently. Harmony ran over to the hospital bed. Blood soaked the sheets as droplets fell to the ground like bloody rain.
Harmony pulled on a pair of disposable gloves. “She’s hemorrhaging! Bud, I need you to hold her. Jack, go get more towels from the linen closet.”
Zoe froze as Tessa turned toward her. “Save him,” she gasped, eyes wild and terrified.
Save him.
The baby.
Zoe glanced around the room. She only had seconds. There were premade bottles of baby formula on the counter. She swiped one. Then she ran to the table and looked down at the baby, sleeping sweetly, unaware of the chaos erupting around him.
“Hold her, Bud!” Harmony called.
This was her chance. Zoe unzipped her fleece, picked up the baby, and held him between her body and the warm fabric. She glanced over at Tessa and met her glassy gaze. The ghost of a smile touched her lips before her body went limp.
A shot of adrenaline coursed through Zoe’s veins, action and determination driving every movement. She grabbed the taser off the table and ran toward the back door.
“Bud! Zoe’s taken the baby!” Harmony called from behind.
Zoe turned the knob and opened the door. A startled Baumgartner stood in front of her.
“I get a cut of every kid they sell. I’m not letting you take off with that baby.”
Zoe raised the taser. “Not today, you baby-selling, child abusing cock biscuit!” She deployed the taser, and a stunned Baumgartner toppled to the ground.
Then she ran.
Holding the baby close and moving as quickly as one can carrying a newborn, she jogged down the path toward the fields.
The sunflower field!
She could hide there. Clouds had rolled in, and barely a slice of moon lit the night sky. Quickly, she headed toward the darkened field as the wilting crop spread out before her, eerie and silent.
“I hate sunflowers, Tommy,” she whispered to the baby. But this graveyard of decaying plants was her best chance at evading capture.
She weaved her way through the tall flowers, pushing aside the drooping heads. Then she stopped.
Crack, crack, crack.
Someone was there. She started up again, bobbing and weaving best she could through the field.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Shit! They were getting closer.
Zoe turned down another row when a dark form emerged, and a hand grabbed her shoulder.
“Gotcha!”
23
Sam steadied his wife. “It’s me, Zoe! It’s just me!”
She stared up at him. “Sam! Thank God you’re safe!”
He pulled her in close then felt a bump. He looked down. “Is that—”
“It’s Tessa’s baby.”
“Where’s Tessa?”
Zoe shook her head and tightened her hold on the infant. “She died, Sam. She died right in the middle of Harmony and Bud’s living room after giving birth. They force the pregnant girls to deliver at the farmhouse. Then they sell the babies.”
“Jesus! And what happens to the girls?”
“Harmony drugs them during their labor. I’m not sure what killed Tessa—if it was the drugs or something pregnancy related. She was bleeding heavily. She looked at me, Sam. She begged me to save her baby. We’re not letting those people hurt him.”
He clenched his jaw and reined in his anger. “No, they’re not getting this baby. I can promise you that. I’d sooner die than let these people harm another human being.”
She cupped his cheek. “How did you get away from Conrad?”
“I didn’t.”
“He’s not in on all this?”
“No, Z. He’s back at my truck parked near the gate waiting for help. I showed him your email with the evidence. He forwarded it to a guy he knows in the FBI. We just have to hope they get here soon and can get in. Harmony and Bud have this place sealed up like Fort Knox. I had to climb over a fence to get onto the property. But I had a good idea that whoever had you would take you here.”
“It was the detention center guards,” she said on a tight breath. “They had a camera in the director’s office. They knew I’d broken in. They have my phone. Thank God that email with all the evidence made it through to you.”
A rumble of thunder stopped their conversation as a cold November drizzle began to fall.
“Come on,” he said, wrapping his arm around her. “Two men ran out after you. They won’t be far. We need to find some shelter to wait this out before help gets here.”
“Are you sure help’s coming?” she asked.
“We’ve got to trust that Conrad can make the case to the FBI, and I spoke to Em. I told her to let Michael, Nick, Gabe, and your brother know that I needed them here.”
She nodded. “Where do we go? Where should we hide?”
He looked around. “The greenhouse isn’t far.”
They weaved through the sunflowers, their feet growing heavy with mud. Zoe held the baby close, pulling her fleece over him to keep out the rain. The greenhouse came into sight, and he led her down the path.
She turned the handle. “Locked.”
“Move aside,” he said.
Zoe stepped away. He reared back and pounded into the door. It swung open, the lock no match for two hundred and fifty pounds of solid muscle.
“Remind me to never tease you about being a ginger giant again.”
He followed her, and the hot, musky smell of dirt and fertilizer filled the air. They hadn’t gone inside the greenhouse during their time at the retreat, and with the windows covered over in brown paper, he didn’t have a clue about what they were growing.
There was a reason for that.
Grow lights bathed the space in a pinkish haze as row upon row of marijuana plants and tubs teeming with mushrooms filled the room.
Bud and Harmony had quite an operation going on here.
“Harmony calls herself an herbalist and a psychedelic medical practitioner.”
Sam whistled. “She’s got a shitload of herb and more shrooms than I’ve ever seen i
n one place. I’ll give her that.”
The baby cooed and shifted in Zoe’s arms. She pulled the bottle from her pocket, shook it, and angled the nipple toward his mouth. “He hasn’t had anything to eat yet. I was only able to grab one bottle.”
Déjà vu washed over him. “I’ve seen you do this before, Z.”
She smiled up at him with a weary grin. “Of course, you have. Between Em and Lindsey’s babies, I’m a bottle-toting rockstar.”
“No, Z. That first night at the retreat when we did that gaze into each other’s eyes thing. I saw you holding a baby. You were bathed in pink light just like this.”
She gasped. “I saw a baby’s face when I looked into your eyes. It was his face, Sam. It was Tommy’s face.”
“How do you know his name is Tommy?”
“Remember how I found the bracelet on the ground with Laney written on it?”
He nodded.
“Tessa had one. It fell off and onto the floor. I picked it up and untwisted the paper.” A tear ran down Zoe’s cheek. “She’d named him. She named him, and she’ll never get to hold him.”
“No one is going to hurt this baby, Z. We’re going to get out of here. The three of us are going to be fine.”
Christ! He hoped that was true.
“And the girls at the detention center?” she asked.
“Conrad’s working on that, too.”
She glanced around. “Is there anywhere to hide in here?”
He scanned the vast space. “Look! I see some barrels in the back corner. Let’s go there.”
As they headed down the narrow row, flashlights entered the greenhouse.
“I see them!”
Dammit! Help had to be on the way. He had to trust that Conrad and his friends would come through.
“Zoe, hide behind the barrels and stay low!”
A table had been set up in the corner of the greenhouse. Cases of cold medication were stacked in neat rows with propane tanks lined up below. He read the labels on the other canisters arranged on top of coolers. Acetone. Anhydrous ammonia. Red phosphorus.
Zoe shifted the baby in her arms and glanced around. “Why are there bags of cat litter?”
“Don’t touch anything, Z. Most of this is flammable.” He saw a hot plate and his hunch was confirmed. “They’ve got a little meth lab going on back here.”
“Meth?” Zoe gasped and edged away from the tanks.
“There they are! In the corner!”
Bud and a young man who looked vaguely familiar sprinted down the aisle, knocking plants over as they grew closer. They stopped a few feet away, and the young man raised a gun.
“You don’t want to fire that thing,” Sam said.
“Why not?” he barked back.
“You know what red phosphorus is?”
The man tightened his grip on the weapon but remained silent.
“It’s in flares and matches. It’s highly flammable. So is the acetone and propane. One stray shot, one tiny spark, and you’re taking everybody in this place out.”
Bud chuckled. “You must have paid attention in chemistry class.”
“And you must have been absent the day when they taught you that this shit ruins people’s lives. It wrecks communities.”
“It’s an end to a means. It’s the yin and the—”
“Spare me the yin yang bullshit, Bud. You’re about to be in a world of hurt.”
Harmony ran into the greenhouse. “Where’s the baby?”
“You’re not getting your hands on this child,” Zoe bit out, coming to his side. “This is the end. The authorities know what’s going on here.” She turned her gaze to the young man. “That knob jockey is Baumgartner. He’s one of the guards who kidnapped me. He’s also the guard we saw use a taser on that poor girl.”
Sam nodded. Yep, he’d seen that dead-eyed bastard before.
Harmony’s Zen-vibe was gone. Looking like a deranged, wet rat, she turned to Bud, pinched face, hands balled into tight fists. “I’m not going back to that life in Tampa. I’m not going back to the trailer park. I won’t do it.”
“Relax, Dwanda,” Bud said.
Dwanda? They should have known that poser-yogi wasn’t really named Harmony.
Bud pressed a hand to his wife’s back. “My brother’s gone to the detention center. He’s sending over every available guard.” He gestured toward them. “Zoe and Sam are cornered. There’s nowhere for them to go. Our people will get here, and this will be over.”
Harmony, Dwanda, whatever her real name was, paced like a caged animal. “And the dead girl bleeding all over my new rug?”
“Tobin’s taking care of all that,” Bud answered coolly.
Zoe lifted her chin. “You’re not getting away with this, Dwanda! You’re in too deep. You kill us. You hurt this baby. You’re only digging your grave another foot deeper.”
Harmony stopped pacing. “Is she telling the truth?”
Baumgartner shook his head. “She’s got nothing. I deleted every picture on her phone.”
Sam glanced down at Zoe. She met his gaze. A quick, knowing exchange passed between them. They had no idea that the evidence had been emailed and sat safely in multiple inboxes.
Bud touched his wife’s cheek. “The police can’t touch us, Harmony. This is private property. The rehabilitation center is also privately run. They have no just cause to come here.”
Harmony wrapped her arms around herself. “I can’t go back to that life.”
Zoe took a step forward. “You’re going to be begging for Tampa, Dwanda! All those pictures your guard deleted have already made it to the authorities.”
“Is that true?” Harmony shrieked.
The smirk vanished from Baumgartner’s face, and before he could answer, the hum of an engine buzzed over the greenhouse. Bright beams of light from the sky penetrated the brown paper covering the glass.
Harmony looked up. “Was that an airplane?”
“Is that Nick?” Zoe asked.
Sam nodded and held Bud’s gaze. “You can literally land a plane anywhere in Kansas. There are like zero aviation rules in this state.”
“Who’s Nick?” Harmony yelled, pulling at her hair.
“You’re calling in your Calvary. I’ve called in mine,” Sam answered.
“Give me the gun!” Harmony screamed. She grabbed the guard’s wrist. He twisted away.
“Harmony! No!” Bud called, trying to pull his wife off the man.
“You know what was on her phone, Bud! You promised me no one would ever know about what was going on. You said it was foolproof!”
Sam looked around. Harmony had lost it, and they needed to get the hell out of there. He spotted a large tub of sand.
“Z, I’m going to throw that container through the glass. I need you to run through the opening and get as far away from here as you can.”
He glanced at the trio. Bud grasped at his wife’s waist, but Harmony swung her arm and scratched Baumgartner’s face. He reared back and dropped the gun.
Sam picked up the tub.
Zoe’s bottom lip trembled. “I’m not leaving without you, Sam!”
“Z, I love you, and I need you to do this. You need to run. You run for Tessa. You run for the baby.”
“I can’t lose you.”
He forced a smile. “I’ll be right behind you.”
He glanced over. Harmony rose to her feet, the gun in her hands.
“I promise, Z.”
She held his gaze. “I’ll kill you myself if you’re not!”
With every ounce of strength, he lifted the heavy tub and threw it at the side of the greenhouse. The sound of glass breaking cascaded, sharp and biting, as shards rained onto the plants. He turned to check Harmony. The sound had momentarily stunned her.
“Go, Z! Go!”
Zoe wrapped the baby inside her jacket and took off through the opening.
“I’m not going back to that life!” Harmony screamed.
Sam met her gaze. “No, you�
�re going straight to hell, lady!”
“You ungrateful—” she began, but the grind of helicopter blades muted her rant.
She took a step forward and fired the gun.
He dove for the opening. Jagged glass cut into his arms as sharp splinters fell free from the gaping hole. He scrambled to his feet and looked up to see Zoe running toward a small brick cottage.
Pop!
Harmony fired another shot, and then she let loose.
Rounds echoed behind him as he hit his stride and closed the distance between himself and Zoe.
“No, Dwanda! Not the propane tank!” Bud called.
In the space of a breath, Sam caught up to Zoe as the roaring sound of an explosion sent a flash of bright light and burst of heat. He grabbed her shoulders, careful not to hurt the baby, and pulled her behind the structure.
Another crashing explosion cut through the night air. He wrapped himself around his wife and the baby as burst after burst rocked the farm.
“I was afraid you weren’t going to make it out,” Zoe said, leaning into him.
He cupped her face in his hands. He ran his thumb over tiny cuts in her cheeks. “There was no way in hell I was going to let our story end here. You’re stuck with this giant ginger for life.”
Sirens screamed in the distance as a helicopter took another pass over the farm, and the baby began to cry.
“It’s okay, little one.” Zoe pressed her knuckle to his lips, and he closed his eyes, contently sucking on her finger. She released a weary breath. “Sam, it’s…”
“It’s over, Z. You did it. You’re going to help a lot of girls. They’re going to be okay—and so are we.”
Lights flashed, and sirens blared as emergency vehicles drove through the field, trampling the dead sunflowers. Sam pulled Zoe and the baby in close and tightened his grip around the only girl he’d ever loved and the child he knew he’d soon call his son.
“He’s such a sweet baby, Z. How long do they want him to stay in the hospital?” Em asked, stroking Tommy’s tiny fist.
Zoe sat rocking Tommy, a steady, gentle movement that had lulled the baby to sleep. The last few hours had blurred by in a flurry of activity. After the explosion, the FBI and emergency services swarmed the farm, and she, Sam and the baby had been taken by ambulance to the Garrett Community Hospital.
The Complete Langley Park Series (Books 1-5) Page 131
