Two men. A woman. And the woman had something bundled in her arms.
They didn’t linger on the porch. They hurried, practically running down the porch steps.
Nicky’s heart went to her knees. “They’re getting away. Go after them. We have to stop them.”
If Holden was listening to her, he didn’t respond. He just kept watching, kept his grip on her until he finally pulled back his hand so he could send a text.
“I don’t think she’s holding a baby,” Holden said. “I think it’s a decoy.”
Nicky tried to fight through the panic so she could see why he’d said that. Maybe because the bundle was huge. No way to miss that. And it wasn’t anywhere near cool enough for the baby to need multiple blankets. It was September, and the temps were still close to ninety.
Plus, there was something else that was off. The woman was as tall and bulky as the two men who’d hurried her out of the house.
Mercy.
This was some kind of trap.
“They probably suspect we’re here and will be expecting us to follow them,” Holden said without taking his attention off them.
The trio got into an SUV parked behind the inn. Almost immediately, she saw the headlights of the SUV come on.
“Landon will follow them instead, and he’ll have two other deputies do a quiet approach here,” Holden added. “Come on. Get out of the car. Stay low and move fast. I’m going to see who’s inside the house. I can’t leave you here or they might try to kidnap you.”
Nicky tried not to let that statement rob her of what breath she’d managed to gather. Because this was a risk. And not just the possible kidnapping. Nicky had to consider that this could be a ruse of a different kind. One where the baby was actually inside that SUV and these thugs wanted to lure Holden and her to the house.
Well, if so, it was going to work.
Of course, it was just as possible that at this very moment someone was escaping with the baby on the other side of the house. Everything inside Nicky was screaming for her to hurry.
“Do you have a gun?” he asked.
She shook her head, and he gave her one of those looks. The one that made her feel like an idiot. “I don’t keep a gun in my vehicle. And besides I didn’t plan on shooting anyone tonight, especially with the baby around.”
“Then, what was your plan, to ask them pretty please to hand over the child?” Holden snapped.
“No. I was going to sneak in and take him. I’m pretty good at sneaking in places,” she added in a mumble.
No way could he argue with that, but Nicky wished she’d had time to come up with a better plan. Too bad that thug had shown up at her house and thrown things into chaos.
“Just do everything I tell you,” Holden warned her. “Everything.”
With his gun drawn, Holden threaded them through the trees, but he stopped at the edge of the yard. There were plenty of windows, but she couldn’t get a glimpse of anyone inside. However, there was another car in the small parking area on the side of the house.
She glanced back at the road and the SUV, but the trees were in the way, and Nicky couldn’t tell if it actually stopped. She prayed that if the baby was indeed inside the vehicle, Landon would be able to follow them and find out where they were taking the child.
Holden led them onto the porch, and even though the door was partly open, they didn’t go inside. Instead, he went to a window and peered around the edge. He snapped back so fast that she knew there had to be someone in the room. Someone who had caused his muscles to go iron-stiff.
“Two men,” Holden whispered. “Both armed. There’s a baby carrier on the table.”
Even though she figured Holden didn’t want her to move, Nicky had to see for herself.
Nicky took in everything in one quick glance. The two men, one bald and the other wearing a black baseball-type hat.
And the ginger-haired baby asleep in the carrier.
Mercy. She’d tried to steel herself for whatever they might face, but it sickened her to think of a baby being around hired guns.
“If you create a distraction,” she said, trying to make as little sound as possible, “I can sneak in.”
Holden gave her a look again, to let her know that wasn’t going to happen. But she didn’t want to stand around there and wait. If these goons heard the other deputies, they might start a gunfight, and the baby would be caught in the middle.
Even though the window was closed, she had no trouble hearing a phone ring inside. She also had no trouble hearing one of the men answer it. Not with a greeting, either.
He simply said, “What now?”
Too bad he hadn’t put it on speaker because Nicky would have liked to know who she was dealing with. But nothing. For several snail-crawling moments. She had no idea what the caller was telling him, but it caused the man’s forehead to bunch up.
“All right,” the man finally said. “We’ll move the kid now. See you in a few.” He ended the call and turned to the bald guy. “That reporter’s car was just up the road. She wasn’t in it, but they’re sending someone to torch it and the house just in case.”
Considering all the other things going on, that was small potatoes. Still, it sickened her to think of these snakes destroying her home. And it would all be for nothing. Because the files weren’t even there.
“You know she didn’t just leave,” the other man said. “She’s out there somewhere.”
The first one nodded and slapped off the lights. “If she really knows what’s going on, she won’t shoot around the kid, and she’ll make sure the marshal doesn’t, either.”
The thug was right about not wanting to start a gunfight, but he was wrong about her knowing what was going on. She still didn’t understand why someone would do this.
“You don’t shoot around the kid, either,” the hat-wearing guy warned his partner. “But if you get a clean shot of the marshal, take it. Do the same to any of the locals who might show up to poke around here. Nobody who sees or could see anything gets away from here to rat us out.”
Nicky’s chest was already so tight that she couldn’t breathe, and that didn’t help. She hated that she’d involved Holden in this, and she didn’t want him or anyone hurt. But the baby had to come first.
Both men started to move. Even though there wasn’t much light in the room now, she saw one of them grab the carrier seat with the baby, and the other took some keys from his pocket.
Holden got them moving, too. They were quickly off the porch and headed straight for the car. The moment they reached it, he maneuvered her to the far side, away from the house, and they ducked down.
He pulled out a knife from his pocket and jammed it into the front tire and went to the rear to do the same. That would slow them down, but it wouldn’t stop them. Those men were in a hurry to get out of there, and they’d drive on the rims if they had to.
The men raced out the door of the house, making a beeline for the car. They were just yards away when Nicky heard a sound she didn’t want to hear.
Footsteps.
Behind Holden and her.
Holden pivoted, aiming his gun, but it was already too late.
Chapter Three
The man seemed to come out of nowhere.
Before Holden could do anything to stop him, the guy grabbed Nicky by her hair, hauled her back against his chest and jammed a gun to her head.
Damn.
This was not how Holden wanted things to play out.
He hoped there would be time to curse himself later for this botched rescue attempt. He should have waited until he had better measures in place. But maybe he could still figure out a way to fix this before it was too late for Nicky, him and, especially, the baby.
Holden scrambled to the front end of the car so he could take cover. That didn’t do a darn thing to help Nicky, but he wouldn’t be able to help her at all unless he stayed alive. Of course, another thug could gun him down, but right now using the car was the only option he had.
Nicky didn’t stay put, either. Despite having a gun to her head, she rammed her elbow into the guy’s stomach. The guy called her a couple of bad names and staggered back a step, but then latched onto her even harder.
“Try that again and I’ll bash you upside the head with this gun,” the thug growled.
Even though it was a clear enough warning, Nicky must have realized that he truly didn’t intend to kill her. Holden could see her face tighten, could practically feel her gearing up for a fight.
“No,” Holden warned her. “Don’t.”
And much to his surprise, Nicky listened. She also looked at Holden as if expecting him to tell her what to do next. He would.
When he figured out what the next step was.
For now, though, he didn’t want her in a wrestling match with a goon who was twice her size. Just because the guy had no plans to shoot her, it didn’t mean the gun wouldn’t accidentally go off, and Holden couldn’t risk a misfired bullet. Not just for Nicky’s sake, but for the baby’s.
“Can I punch her?” the thug asked his comrades approaching him.
“Not yet,” the guy carrying the baby answered. “I don’t want her bleeding in the car. Too hard to clean up.”
His voice was ice-cold. As was his expression. He was the one wearing a baseball cap and was also the one who’d talked about torching Nicky’s house and car. Holden figured he was the boss.
Well, the boss of these three anyway.
They were likely working for the person who’d been on the other end of that phone conversation. If Holden could just get the guy’s phone, he might learn who that was. First, though, he had to get them out of this alive.
All three of the men were dressed in black—that was probably the reason Holden hadn’t seen the third one sneaking up on them. They were all also heavily armed and wearing masks.
“Any sign of the locals?” the boss asked.
“No. But we got somebody watching the road. If they try to get here, we’ll see ’em.”
Holden hoped not. He hadn’t made that last text sound like a life-and-death matter, but his cousin would come prepared for trouble. Which was exactly what Holden and Nicky were facing right now.
“The marshal flattened two tires,” the one holding Nicky said. “What do you want me to do about that?”
“Nothing.” The boss, again. He adjusted the baby carrier in his hand so he could read a text he got. “Someone’s already on the way to pick us up. They should be here any second now.”
Hell. More hired guns. Just what Holden didn’t need.
Holden knew he had to do something fast, but he still wasn’t sure what that would be. Maybe he’d get a chance when the other car arrived. The men would no doubt look in the direction of the vehicle when it approached, and Holden could use that distraction.
Maybe.
But Landon also had to be nearby, too, and Holden had told him to do a quiet approach. Maybe his cousin would be in place before the thugs’ backup arrived.
The one holding Nicky made eye contact with Holden before glancing at his partners. “You want me to go ahead and shoot the marshal?”
“No shots around the kid, remember,” the boss insisted. “This is our million-dollar baby, and we can’t risk it.”
Even in the darkness, Holden could see Nicky’s eyes widen slightly. A million bucks. That was a lot of money to pay for a baby. So, maybe this wasn’t just some black-market deal.
But if it wasn’t that, then what the hell was it?
Holden glanced on the other side of the car at the two men approaching, and thanks to the angle of the lights coming out of the house windows, he saw the baby then.
And he felt as if someone had slugged him.
He’d thought when he saw the kid that it would take some hard proof before he would believe the baby was Emmett and Annie’s. It hadn’t taken more than a glimpse. The kid was theirs, all right. The proof was all over the baby’s face and that hair. However, Holden pushed aside his thoughts and concentrated on the situation directly in front of him.
“You obviously have a buyer for the baby,” Nicky said. “Well, I’ll match whatever offer you have. I can have the money to you within an hour.”
That was probably a lie. Nicky came from money, but it would take more than an hour to gather up that much cash even if Holden was contributing. Which he would. No way did he want his nephew sold like property, and neither would anyone in his family.
He wasn’t sure paying a ransom to the thugs would actually get them the baby, though. No. These men would just probably take the cash and the baby while going through with the plan to kill him. They wouldn’t want to leave a marshal alive.
The boss huffed. “Save your breath, sweetheart,” he said to Nicky. “I’m not gonna listen to a thing you try to tempt me with. Making a deal like that with you would get me killed the hard way.”
Later, Holden would want to know what the guy meant by that, but for now he had to focus on the mess that was unfolding right in front of him. He heard the car engine. Saw the headlights, too.
And he knew this wasn’t his cousin because Landon would be doing a quiet approach. In fact, Landon could already be there, but he wouldn’t have let these snakes know about it.
The thugs weren’t alarmed to see the black four-door pull into the parking lot and drive straight toward them.
“She goes with us,” the boss said, tipping his head to Nicky. “She’s got to hand over those files before we finish things with her. We might be able to use her father as added pressure.”
That got Holden’s attention. Nicky’s, too. “What does my father have to do with this?” she asked.
Holden wanted to know the same thing, and he got an even worse feeling about this. Not that he needed anything else to put him on full alert.
The thug didn’t answer her question, but Holden—and apparently Nicky—had no trouble filling in the blanks.
“You’re planning to get that million dollars from my father,” she snapped.
Bingo. Her father, Oscar, was stinking rich and would indeed pay a very high price to get his own grandson back. But there was no way a monster like Oscar Hart should raise a child. Oscar was barely a step above these thugs.
Again, the boss didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to the bald guy. “As soon as we’re in the car and out of firing range, go ahead and kill the marshal and torch the place.”
So, this was it. Holden had to make his move.
He volleyed glances between the men and the car, but the thugs weren’t looking at the car as he’d hoped. They still had their attention on Holden. That meant he’d have to wait a few more seconds until they were moving Nicky and the baby inside.
“There’s no reason for you to kill the marshal,” Nicky said. “In fact, if you hurt him, I’ll never give you those files.”
All three men stared at her. “Really?” the boss challenged. “And why would you care what happens to him? You two aren’t exactly on friendly terms. Not anymore.”
It shouldn’t have surprised Holden that this goon knew about Nicky and him. The rumor mill was in full swing in Silver Creek, and there probably wasn’t a person over the age of ten who hadn’t heard about the short affair he’d had with Nicky.
Very short. As in twice.
Too bad Holden thought about those two times with her more than he did all his other relationships. Much to his disgust. He chalked up his time with her as a hard lesson learned. She was the daughter of a criminal and always would be.
“In fact,” the boss went on, looking at Nicky, “the marshal might be wondering right about now if he can even trust you. He might be thinking you knew exactly what was going on before you ever convinced him to come here.”
She shook her head, as if defending herself, and then she looked at Holden. “I’m not lying. Not this time. I didn’t know my father was involved.”
Maybe not. But she’d lied before, about her father’s involvement in another crime, and that was the reason their so-called relationship had been so short. She’d put Holden in danger. His brother Drury, too.
A lot like now, in fact.
There’d been no baby involved then, but Drury certainly had been, and her lies had nearly gotten Holden’s brother killed.
Holden had to tamp down the anger he still felt just thinking about that. But Nicky no doubt saw, or maybe even felt, that anger.
The car stopped only a few yards from the men, but when the doors didn’t open, the bald guy went closer and reached for the handle.
Reaching, however, was as far as he got.
Because the door flew open, fast, knocking right into the bald guy and sending him flying back. Landon barreled out of the car, his gun aimed right at the boss. But the boss only lifted the baby carrier in front of him like a shield.
There was a special place in hell for a coward like that.
Holden didn’t especially need another reason to want this guy dead, but that did it. He ran toward the boss, going at him low so that he could tackle the guy. It was a risk because the baby could still be hurt, but anything he did at this point was a risk he had to take.
Nicky yelled something he didn’t catch, and from the corner of his eye, Holden saw her elbow the guy in the gut again. Maybe he wouldn’t shoot her, but Holden couldn’t do anything about that now. He grabbed hold of the boss’s legs, knocking him off balance, and the two of them went to the ground.
So did the carrier.
It didn’t fall, thank God. Even now, the boss was making sure his investment didn’t get hurt, and Holden was thankful for it.
Holden didn’t show the guy any such carefulness, though. He couldn’t shoot him, not with the baby so close, but he could punch him, and that’s what he did.
Landon scooped up the carrier and put it on the backseat. “We need to get out of here now,” he warned Holden and Nicky. “We managed to steal their car, but there are at least four gunmen on the road. All of them heavily armed. They’ll be on the way here by now.”
Yeah, they would be, because they’d no doubt heard Nicky’s shout and all the commotion.
Holden punched the boss again, the guy’s head flopping back, and he raced to Nicky. He had to give it to her. For someone so outmatched, she was fighting like a wildcat, scratching and clawing the guy.
When the guy saw Holden approaching, though, he took aim at him. Holden had faced down killers before and knew without a doubt this guy would pull the trigger.
So, Holden fired first.
Nicky was about six inches shorter than her attacker, and that was just enough to give Holden a clean shot. He put a bullet in the guy’s head. Before the kidnapper even dropped to the ground, Holden grabbed Nicky and ran with her to the car.
He stuffed her into the backseat next to the carrier and followed in right behind her. Holden saw his cousin Gage behind the wheel, and Landon jumped into the passenger seat.
“Hold on,” Gage warned them a split second before he gunned the engine.
But Gage had barely gotten started when the shot crashed into the front windshield. Holden pushed Nicky lower onto the seat even though she was already headed in that direction, and she covered the baby with her own body. Holden covered both of them with his.
Gage sped away with the bullets still coming right at them.
Chapter Four
Nicky had so many emotions going through her. Especially fear. She had found the baby, and he was safe.
But things might not stay that way.
More shots slammed into the rear window of the car, but the glass was reinforced, and the bullets didn’t make it through. Thank God. Since this was supposed to be the kidnappers’ getaway car, they’d probably made sure it could withstand an attack from the cops, but Gage and Landon had turned the tables on them and had obviously managed to somehow steal the car.
“They’re dropping back,” Holden said. He lifted his head even more, no doubt so he could have a better look. “They’re turning around to leave.”
Nicky’s first instinct was to say “good!” She didn’t want these monsters anywhere near the baby, but there was a huge downside to that. If they got away, she wouldn’t get answers she needed as to why the kidnapping had happened in the first place.
And worse, they could regroup and come after the baby again.
A million dollars was a lot of incentive to try to kidnap the newborn and to eliminate anyone who got in their way. Plus, as long as those men were out there, they would want to get to her, too. To get their hands on those files.
From the front seat, Landon made a call, but because Nicky’s heartbeat was crashing in her ears, she could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation. But she did hear him give someone their location with a request that other deputies go in pursuit of the kidnappers. He also asked that someone secure the inn. Nicky doubted the kidnappers had left any kind of evidence there, but it was a start in case the deputies didn’t manage to catch the men.
“How did you get this car?” Holden asked.
“Makeshift roadblock,” Gage answered, still keeping watch around them. “We parked an unmarked car sideways in the road. I hadn’t planned on someone else coming in, though. I just wanted to stop someone from going out. But when the car approached, and Landon and I spotted two guys armed to the hilt, we waited until they got out of the vehicle, sneaked up on them and clubbed them.”
Smart thinking. If they’d shot at the men, the others would have heard it and probably wouldn’t have gotten close enough to the car for Gage and Landon to help Holden and her escape.
“The men are tied up and cuffed in a ditch,” Landon added. “So even if the rest of them get away, we’ll have those two. Grayson and one of the other deputies are on the way now to get them, and they’ll bring them to the sheriff’s office for questioning.”
Nicky finally felt some relief. “Thank you. For everything.”
No one acknowledged what she’d said. Maybe because they considered this part of the job. Also maybe because they didn’t want to waste their breath speaking to her. She wasn’t exactly on friendly terms with the Rylands even though her sister, Annie, had been married to one of them. But that connection didn’t outweigh what Nicky had done.
It never would.
In their eyes, Nicky would always be the one who nearly got one of their own killed. And that was unforgivable.
“There were other men in those woods,” Holden reminded them.
Landon made a sound of agreement, and there went what relief Nicky had felt. Because those men could make it to their tied-up comrades in the ditch and free them before Grayson and the others could get to them.
“We didn’t want to get into a gunfight with those men patrolling the woods,” Gage explained. “Because we didn’t want anyone in the inn alerted. And we didn’t want to risk shots hitting any of you.”
Nicky whispered a thanks for that, too.
Holden had another look behind them, around them as well, and he must have been satisfied that the men weren’t following them because he eased off of her. In the same motion, he looked down at the baby. Not that he could see much in the dark car, but she figured Holden had a lot of thoughts going through his head right now. She certainly did.
First things first, though—she had to make sure the baby was okay. He was squirming a little so Nicky checked to make sure he hadn’t been hurt. He didn’t appear to be harmed, and his diaper was even dry. He also smelled of baby formula so maybe that meant the kidnappers had taken good care of him.
That was something at least.
But there was no telling what the little guy had been through. And that broke her heart. He’d come much too close to danger tonight. Much too close to being taken away from Nicky forever, and the threat still wasn’t even over.
“Is that really Emmett and Annie’s baby?” Landon suddenly asked.
“Yes,” Nicky said. “I have proof from some computer files and then recordings from the clinic.” Of course, that got Gage’s and Landon’s attention so she added, “You can’t use the recordings or files to make an arrest, but one of the files identifies the baby as Emmett and Annie’s son.”