Josh

Josh finally finished the call with the hospital, put his phone away and took the turn toward town. Just as Grace had another contraction.

“The house blew up,” Josh relayed to her. “My cousins are okay. They weren’t hurt in the explosion.”

“But?” Jaycee asked because there was definitely a bad-news tone in his voice.

Josh didn’t jump to answer, but his jaw muscles were stirring like crazy. “The guards escaped with the other three women.”

Jaycee groaned. It was better than hearing they’d been killed, but it was still a major setback. “All the women who were staying in the house are close to delivering. Once they have their babies, the guards will probably kill the women.”

For once she was glad Blanca and Marita didn’t understand a lot of English, though both women had no doubt figured out what was going on. They’d all seen the guards leave with babies, but never once had they seen one of the new mothers walk out of the ranch house.

Jaycee suspected they were being carted out in body bags at night.

“Grayson and the others are looking for them,” Josh added.

Though it was the only thing they could do, it didn’t seem nearly enough. The women were very pregnant and were no doubt being forced to run and do other things that their bodies and babies might not be able to handle. The guards wouldn’t care a flying fig if the escape led to the women’s deaths. They only cared about getting their hands on the babies so they could be sold like cattle.

“After we get Grace to the hospital,” Jaycee murmured, “I want to help find them.”

Josh made a sound. Definitely one of disapproval. “Going off half-cocked hasn’t worked well for you or others in the past, has it?”

That stung. Because it was true.

Jaycee choked back her own moan. Barely. And just like that, the memories came.

All bad.

The old mixed with the new from her captivity. Five months ago, she’d been conducting her own investigation into some money laundering and hadn’t been aware the operation already involved several undercover agents. Jaycee had only wanted to catch the piece-of-slime launderer who’d killed two women who happened to stumble upon his operation.

Instead, Jaycee had endangered the agents.

Josh had been shot and had nearly died during surgery. There’d been no nearly for his partner, Agent Ben Sayers. He’d been killed.

Someday she might learn how to live with that.

Might.

But for now it was just more bad memories added to the new ones from being held captive. She hadn’t been beaten, but only because it could have caused her to miscarry. However, she’d certainly been slapped a few times and threatened daily. And yet the slaps and the threats hadn’t been the worst of it. The worst thing had been not knowing what the abuse would do to her baby.

Grace moaned again, causing Jaycee’s attention to snap back to the woman. Another contraction, and this one seemed even harder and longer than the others.

“We’re almost there,” Jaycee told her.

No lie this time. The town of Silver Creek was just ahead, and next to the sign for the city limits was one for the hospital. Josh went in that direction, and it was less than a minute before he pulled into the E.R. parking lot where there was a team of medics waiting for them.

The moment Josh stopped the truck, Jaycee hurried out. Blanca and Marita, too, so the medics could get to Grace.

“There’s less than a minute between her contractions,” Jaycee told them, and they got Grace on a gurney and whisked her away.

Jaycee was about to follow them when she found herself being placed on a gurney, too. The medics did the same to Blanca and Marita and wheeled them through the hospital doors. Josh was right there, hurrying along behind them.

“The doctor will be with you soon,” a nurse said, and she put Jaycee into one of the E.R. cubicles. The nurse paused and looked at Josh. “Stay with her until I can get someone in here.”

Josh nodded, though Jaycee was sure that staying with her was the last thing on earth he wanted to do. He no doubt wanted to check on his cousins or go after those escaped guards and missing women.

Anything that didn’t involve having close contact with her.

She heard Grace’s moans fading. Not because the woman had gotten quiet. But probably because she was being taken to Labor and Delivery and out of earshot. Jaycee hoped that she’d deliver a healthy baby and that she could soon put this nightmare behind her. Jaycee wished that for all the captives. Especially for those three who hadn’t been rescued.

Soon, very soon, the quiet closed in around them, and because the room was small, Josh had no choice but to look at her.

Correction: he looked at her pregnant belly.

She saw the questions in his eyes. The doubts. Not about the baby’s paternity. He was right about that—she wasn’t a liar. Even though she had considered it. Briefly. After all, she was the last woman on earth who Josh would want carrying his child, and for a fleeting moment she’d wondered if he might want her to lie.

“I really did intend to tell you about the baby,” she repeated, trying to answer some of those questions in his eyes. “I was worried that it’d cause you to blow a gasket or two, but I would have told you.”

He nodded.

That was his only reaction. He certainly didn’t deny that he would have been seriously upset to hear the news months ago. But then, Josh wasn’t a liar, either.

“When’s the baby due?” he finally asked.

“In four months.”

Nine months after their weekend together in San Antonio. Their only weekend together. Yes, it’d been good.

Darn good.

But their last morning together, she’d seen that look in Josh’s eyes and known he hadn’t been looking for anything other than a short-term hookup. Old baggage, no doubt, since Josh had a love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation. So Jaycee hadn’t given him an out and walked away.

Six hours later, he’d been shot.

And they’d learned about her rogue investigation that had collided with Josh’s authorized one. If she had thought for one second that other agents were involved, she would have backed off. Of course, she hadn’t asked a lot of questions when she’d gone after those money launderers and killers. Jaycee had only been thinking about justice.

Josh kept staring at her. Kept those questions in his eyes. She wasn’t sure what he expected from her. Wasn’t sure he’d tell her if he knew. But after all these months of being held captive, Jaycee had had time to figure out what she would say to him if she ever got the chance.

Well, now here was her chance.

“Look, I don’t expect anything from you,” Jaycee firmly stated. Giving him another out that he looked like he desperately needed. “I just wanted you to know because, well, because.”

No reason to get into her old baggage. Or tell him that her own mother hadn’t told her birth father that she was pregnant with Jaycee. Not until it’d been too late anyway. Jaycee had never had the chance to know her dad, and even though he was a less-than-stellar person, she’d sworn she would never do that to her child.

Even if the pregnancy was unplanned, like this one.

Josh’s mouth tightened. His nostrils flared a bit. “It’s my baby. Expect something.”

That didn’t sound like an offer of child support or shared custody.

It sounded like a threat.

And maybe it was.

Josh hated her. But she couldn’t go back and undo this baby, and even if she could, she wouldn’t. Though Josh might not believe her if she told him, she loved this baby with all her heart and would do anything to protect it.

“Expect something?” she repeated.

“Yeah,” he snapped. And that was all he said for several moments. “Don’t expect me just to walk away. I slept with you knowing there could be consequences, and I’m man enough to accept it.”

She lifted her shoulder, ran her hand over her stomach. “But you probably didn’t expect this consequence. We did use protection.”

And clearly something had gone wrong. Jaycee had had a lot of time to think about every detail of that weekend, and while becoming pregnant had been the last thing on her mind, Josh was right. Sex, even safe sex, could make babies. And in this case, it had.

She waited to see if he intended to say more about consequences and expectations, but he didn’t. He just kept staring at her and looking far better than he should have. His good looks weren’t something he worked at. They were just there. And even now, she felt that little tug that she always felt when she looked at Josh.

Even when he was glaring at her.

“How are you?” she risked asking. Normally it was a polite, rote question, but this time, she truly wanted to know. And she figured he wouldn’t want her to know.

“Fine,” he snapped.

Translation: he was not going to talk about this. But she had five months of catching up to do.

She glanced at the badge clipped to his rawhide belt. “You left the FBI?”

“For a while.” His jaw muscles went crazy again. “I’m on a leave of absence.”

“Because you’re recovering from the gunshot wounds,” she finished for him.

He made a sound, a rumble deep in his throat. No doubt a back-off warning. But Jaycee didn’t listen to that warning. “You’re a deputy sheriff?”

He nodded.

Getting information from him was like pulling teeth. “Well, the job seems to suit you.”

The clothes, too. She’d known about his cowboy roots but had usually seen him in a suit or his undercover outfits. Now he wore jeans, a black T-shirt and boots. He had his Stetson in his left hand as if he’d always carried it there.

“Something wrong?” he asked. Definitely not a friendly question. “You’re looking at my clothes.”

Actually, she’d been looking at the man in the clothes, but it was best to keep that to herself. “I want to thank you again. If you hadn’t discovered where the baby farm was—”

“I didn’t discover it.” His words were clipped. Almost angry. But Jaycee got the feeling that this particular anger was aimed at himself and not at her. “I got lucky, that’s all. But I didn’t get lucky enough to save those other women that the guards took.”

No. But maybe that’d be remedied soon if the sheriff could find something at the now-destroyed ranch. Yes, it was a long shot, but it was the only shot they had unless the woman in labor could give them some much-needed answers.

Before Jaycee had a chance to rile Josh further with more questions, a nurse came back in. According to her nametag, she was Lillian Renfrew. She took Jaycee’s blood pressure and temperature—both were normal. That was a good start, and Jaycee hoped everything else proved to be normal.

“The doctor wants you to have an ultrasound,” the nurse said, and she started to wheel Jaycee out of the cubicle. However, she stopped when Josh followed them. “You can wait outside.”

“He’s the baby’s father,” Jaycee volunteered when Josh didn’t budge or say anything. “If he wants to come, I don’t mind.”

It was another risk, saying that out loud, but Josh kept the same expression that he’d had since they arrived at the hospital.

He was one angry, confused man.

“I want to see the ultrasound,” he insisted, not like an argument but more a declaration of war.

Nurse Renfrew nodded and took them to a room in another hall. There was a tech waiting for them, a middle-aged woman with brunette hair, and she didn’t waste any time hiking up Jaycee’s scrub top all the way to her breasts. The scrub pants came down too, all the way to her panty line.

Even though Josh had seen her stark-naked, this seemed way more intimate.

“You don’t expect anything from me?” Josh mumbled under his breath. And he repeated it, using that same “declaration of war” tone.

Oh, so that was what was still eating away at him. Jaycee tried to make eye contact with him, but the tech moved between them and squirted some cold goop all over Jaycee’s stomach.

“I’ve heard you say plenty of times that you weren’t looking for marriage or a family,” Jaycee reminded him.

The tech finally went back to the other side of the gurney. Josh’s and Jaycee’s gazes met.

Collided, actually.

“I wasn’t looking to be a father,” he stated, enunciating each word as if she were mentally deficient, “but I’m not running from it, either. That’s my baby, and he or she should expect everything from me. Because he or she will get just that—everything.”

He stopped, muttered some profanity. Rubbed his forehead. And got his teeth unclenched. “I’m glad you made it out of there.” His voice was a lot softer than before.

“Yes. Thank you for saving me.”

He nodded, and she hoped that meant they’d reached a tentative truce. No time to linger on it, though, because the tech started moving the wand over Jaycee’s stomach. She immediately saw something.

Maybe the heart beating.

The images weren’t very clear so Jaycee didn’t know exactly what she was looking at, but it was her baby. And she hadn’t expected that seeing all those blurry images would pack such a wallop.

“Is the baby okay?” Josh asked.

Jaycee was glad he had said that because her mouth was suddenly bone-dry, and her heart was pounding. She was terrified that this ordeal had been too much for her precious child.

“Everything appears to be okay. Good, solid heartbeat. Good movement.” The tech stopped, volleyed glances at both of them, her attention finally stopping on Jaycee. “How much did your doctor tell you about the pregnancy?”

Oh, God. Just like that the fear returned. “Is something wrong? I had other ultrasounds, but they kept the screen hidden from me. Did they do that because something’s wrong with the baby?”

The woman shook her head. “I don’t think anything’s wrong.” She glanced at the screen again. “But the doctor will need to see the images and talk to you.” She paused, cleared her throat. “Some people just don’t want to know the sex of the baby, and sometimes we can’t tell. This time, we can.”

The relief came as fast as the fear. Nothing was wrong.

“Do you want to know the sex of the baby?” the woman asked.

“No,” Jaycee said at the same moment that Josh said, “Yes.”

“I’ve just had too many surprises today,” Jaycee added. “I’d like to hear it at a time when I’m not about ready to jump out of my skin. But you can tell him,” she said to the tech. “I’ll just cover my ears.”

Jaycee did. Closed her eyes, too. And when she opened them, she couldn’t detect a darn thing from Josh’s expression.

“I’ll show the ultrasound to the doctor,” the tech said, turning off the machine. “Someone will be in shortly to take you back to the E.R.”

The tech had hardly made it out the door when Josh’s phone buzzed. Just like that Jaycee was reminded of the three missing women and the nightmare that wouldn’t end until they were all safe.

Josh looked at the phone screen. “It’s Grayson,” he told her. And he clicked the speaker function.

“How are the women?” Grayson asked.

“One’s in labor. The other three are being checked out now.”

“Good. Stay there with them, and if they’re feeling up to it, get statements from them. I’m trying to get a CSI team out here ASAP.”

Josh shook his head. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure.” Grayson paused a heartbeat. “But we found something.”

Chapter Five

Something.

Yeah, it was that all right. Josh looked at the items that had been collected from the rubble of the house that had exploded.

A laptop.

Or rather, what was left of it.

Josh wasn’t sure they could recover anything from it, but there was a tech from the crime lab already working on it.

There were also bits and pieces of paper. Several coffee mugs that would be processed for prints. Some shoes.

And a badge in its black leather case.

It was pretty beat up, as if someone had used it for a mini punching bag, but Josh had no trouble recognizing it as one issued to FBI agents.

Beside him, Jaycee pulled in her breath when she saw it. “Is the badge mine?”

Grayson nodded. “There’s enough of the identification card for us to confirm it’s yours.”

“Oh, God,” she murmured and sank down into the chair next to the desk. “I didn’t have it on me when they took me. That means they got it from my apartment.”

And more than that, it meant they knew who she was.

She looked up at Josh as if she expected him to have some answers, but he didn’t. The only thing that he was certain of was they would have indeed killed Jaycee once the baby was born. No way would they let an agent go free.

“But why steal my badge?” she asked, volleying glances at both Grayson and him.

“We’re not sure.” Grayson motioned to the laptop. “But we’re hoping the info’s recoverable. Plus, we’ve contacted your supervisor, Philip McCoy, to let him know what’s going on, since he thought you were on a leave of absence this whole time.”

“I did let him know I was taking some time off,” Jaycee said. “I was trying to deal with what happened so I told him I wasn’t sure when I’d be back to work—if ever,” she added in a mumble.

“That’s why he didn’t push to find you,” Grayson continued. “Now that he knows what happened, he’ll check to make sure no one used your badge to get into the FBI building.”

Where the person would have had access to all sorts of files and people. Of course, the San Antonio office where Jaycee was assigned wasn’t that large, so someone would have noticed a stranger trying to use Jaycee’s badge to gain entrance. If that had happened, it would have been a red flag for McCoy that something was wrong.

Grayson opened his mouth to add more, but his phone rang. It was the third call that had come through since Josh arrived with Jaycee ten minutes earlier.

Josh looked down at her. At her exhausted face. Her shoulders were slumped. There were dark circles under her eyes. She was biting her bottom lip. Every part of her body language told him she was tired and worried. Heaven knew what all this stress was also doing to the baby.

“I’ll get you out of here soon,” he let her know.

But that was another problem.

He’d learned on the drive over that Jaycee no longer had an apartment. Since she hadn’t paid her rent, her things had been moved to storage and the place had been rented out to someone else. She had no family to speak of. And he wasn’t sure how she would feel about going to a hotel with the armed guards still at large, especially since those guards knew her identity.

Heck, Josh wasn’t sure how he felt about it. After all, if Jaycee was in danger, so was the baby.

His baby.

Those two words kept running through his head. It’d been just words until he saw the ultrasound, and then it had felt like an avalanche. For a few seconds. And then he’d felt a whole lot more. The love for a baby he hadn’t even known he wanted until today.

The wound on his chest started to throb. A bad reminder of his past with Jaycee. He was a long way from forgiving her, but he wouldn’t let the past stand in the way of giving their baby the best protection he could.

Grayson finished his call, and for the first time in hours, he looked a little relieved. “That was the hospital. The woman in labor just gave birth to a healthy baby girl. The other two women are fine, too. We’re working on getting them all back with their families.”

“Good,” Jaycee said under her breath, and she repeated it. “But what about the three women and the guards? Any sign of them?”

“Nothing.” The frustration returned to Grayson’s expression. “But I need you to think. Did you see or hear anything that would give us a clue as to where they would have taken the women?”

“No.” And she didn’t hesitate, either. “Any time I would go in the house for a checkup, I’d try to look around. Try to figure out who these men were. I don’t remember hearing or seeing anything. I’m so sorry,” Jaycee added, and her voice cracked.

There was no telling how many nightmarish memories she had of her time as a captive. It sickened Josh to think of all those women and babies being in constant danger for months on end.

Grayson glanced at Jaycee’s pregnant belly. Then at Josh. “I gather that you two were once...involved?”

Josh nodded. “The baby’s mine.”

“You think maybe that’s why Jaycee was taken? Maybe so someone would have leverage over you? The baby of two FBI agents is plenty of leverage.”

Yeah. It was.

Jaycee made a sound of agreement, too. “But if I was their initial target, they covered it well. I was kidnapped with another woman, and it certainly seemed as if they wanted just her. They only took me because I tried to fight back.”

That didn’t help the throbbing pain in Josh’s chest, either. Of course, he couldn’t have expected Jaycee to stand there and do nothing. He wouldn’t have.

Grayson released a long, weary breath. “I can get Jaycee’s statement tomorrow. Why don’t you go ahead and take her to the ranch so she can get some rest?”

Jaycee’s eyes widened. “The ranch? With your family?” She shook her head. “That’s probably not a good idea.”

“I have five brothers,” Grayson explained to her. “All in law enforcement. The ranch is safe, or at least it is for now. My dad’s a widower, and he’s getting married this weekend. There’ll be a lot of people in and out for the arrangements and for the ceremony itself. We’ll need to add some security when that starts happening.”

Grayson didn’t mention those armed guards coming back for her, but they all knew it was a strong possibility. Jaycee was a dangerous loose end, and whoever was running the black-market operation wouldn’t want her around to give the cops any details about her captivity.

“Come on,” Josh insisted, and he was thankful she didn’t argue.

He did a thorough check of the parking lot and the street before he led her outside and to his truck. Josh didn’t see anything suspicious, but he hurried anyway and got them on the road toward the ranch.

“I need to remember something,” Jaycee murmured. “Anything that’ll help us find those women.”

Since she’d been held for nearly four months, there were a lot of memories and details to sort through. “Did you ever see the laptop that was recovered from the rubble?”

She stayed quiet a few moments. “Yes, on the kitchen table about two weeks ago. I can’t be sure it was the same one, but I remember seeing one there.”

Maybe that meant the laptop had been at the house long enough for it to contain something to blow this case wide open.

“What about the checkups you had?” he asked. “Did the same person do them each time?”

“Yes. Caucasian male, about six feet tall, 170 pounds, light brown hair. He always wore a surgical mask, but if he hasn’t altered his hair, I think I could pick him out of a photo lineup.”

It’d be a bear to sort through all the doctors in the state, but Josh made a mental note to ask the analysts at Quantico to work on it. They might get lucky.

“You know if the baby’s a boy or girl,” she said.

The out-of-the-blue comment threw him for a moment. But Josh just nodded. “Why? You want to know?”

She shook her head. Groaned softly. “This seems crazy, huh? Me pregnant with your baby.”

Yeah, it did. Of course, when they’d made the baby, it was before the shooting, when they were still on good terms. They weren’t on good terms now, but like the flashbacks he’d been having, Josh was going to have to put that aside, too.

“I’m scared of you,” Jaycee went on. “Scared you’ll try to fight me for custody or something.”

Again, the comment threw him, and he wasn’t sure it was a good thing to have that possibility out in the open like this. Especially since he had plenty of other things to work out in his head.

“I want to be part of the baby’s life,” he settled for saying. It was a safe response. And an honest one. He might want more than just a part, and while he didn’t say that aloud, it seemed as if Jaycee picked up on it.