Книга - Confiscated Conception

Confiscated Conception
Delores Fossen


Shock didn't describe Rachel Dillard's feelings when her estranged husband told her the news: her precious embryo had been stolen!A child - their child - had been born and had become a pawn in a killer's deadly game. Finding their baby was her priority now, but the familiar heat of Jared's arms was proving a dangerous distraction….One touch of Rachel's lips and Lieutenant Jared Dillard knew he'd do anything to have her back in his bed. Bringing their baby home was the first step. Stopping a murderer was the second. And if risking his life was the only way, he would prove the power of a father's love….









A baby she’d never carried inside her…


Never held in her arms. Never even seen. And yet he was already there in her heart. A son. Rachel slowly let that sink in.

She had a child, and Esterman’s people might hurt him before they could find him.

“I’d given up hope of ever having a baby,” she admitted. She ran her fingers over the child’s picture. “Especially when you refused to let me use the embryos after we separated.”

“Yes.”

That was it. The sum total of Jared’s response. But Rachel didn’t hold it against him. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to respond, either. Most couples had nine months to build up to a moment like this. Nine months of hope, planning and dreams. Their dream was one big nightmare.

“We have to find him….”




Confiscated Conception

Delores Fossen















www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)




ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Imagine a family tree that includes Texas cowboys, Choctaw and Cherokee Indians, a Louisiana pirate and a Scottish rebel who battled side by side with William Wallace. With ancestors like that, it’s easy to understand why Texas author and former air force captain Delores Fossen feels as if she was genetically predisposed to writing romances. Along the way to fulfilling her DNA destiny, Delores married an air force Top Gun who just happens to be of Viking descent. With all those romantic bases covered, she doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration.










CAST OF CHARACTERS


Lieutenant Jared Dillard—Even though he still cares for his soon-to-be ex-wife, Rachel, he believes she’s out of his life for good—until he receives word that someone stole the fertilized embryo they stored years ago. Now there’s a child—their child—and the baby will die if Jared and Rachel don’t work together to find him.

Rachel Dillard—She’s been in protective custody for over a year, and just hours before she’s supposed to testify against her dirty dealing boss, she learns that she has a newborn son. If she doesn’t testify, a killer will go free, but if she takes the stand, her child will die.

Clarence Esterman—Rachel’s former boss would do anything to stop her from testifying against him.

Sergeant Colby Meredith—Is he a cop on the take with orders from Esterman to assassinate Jared?

Lyle Brewer—Clarence Esterman’s lawyer. He’s possibly Esterman’s silent partner and the one who has Rachel and Jared’s baby.

Donald Livingston—Is this prison warden the mastermind behind Esterman’s plan to stop Rachel from testifying, or is he simply a pawn in a dangerous game?


To my brother, Mike, and his wife, Ann Marie




Contents


Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty




Chapter One


Jared heard the footsteps a split second before the man aimed a semiautomatic at his head.

“Don’t move,” the officer ordered. He stepped around the side of the ranch house and approached Jared as if he were a cobra ready to strike. In a way, he was.

With the thick envelope still clutched in his hand, Jared lifted his arms in a show of surrender. “I’m Lieutenant Dillard, San Antonio PD. I believe you’re expecting me?”

“It’s all right, Smitty,” a woman called out from inside the house. “He’s Rachel’s husband. I recognize him.” The door opened, and Detective Miller, the dark-haired officer on the other side, motioned for Jared to enter.

“Lieutenant Dillard,” she greeted. “I wish you were here under different circumstances.”

The officer glanced at the envelope, and from the somber expression on her thin face it was clear that she thought it contained the divorce papers that Jared had mentioned on the phone.

It didn’t.

But it would have been far better if it had.

Jared stepped inside and made a mental note of the weapons that were neatly arranged in a rack next to the door. Side arms and rifles for backup. Extra magazines of ammunition. Ditto for the two Texas Rangers posted at the checkpoint at the end of the road. They were armed to the hilt.

Maybe the four peace officers wouldn’t try to use those weapons against him before this visit was over.

He glanced around the sparsely furnished place and spotted Rachel right away. She was in the adjoining room that had been converted to a gym of sorts. She was barefoot. Her shoulder-length dark blond hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail. She wore a pair of loose gray boxers and a red sleeveless T-shirt.

Oh, man.

She looked good. It’d been months since Jared had last seen her and well over a year since he’d had her in his bed. But even after all that time and after everything that had gone on between them, the thought of making love to Rachel still set his blood on fire.

He had too-vivid memories of her naked body slick with perspiration. The feel of her firm breasts beneath his hands. The scent of her arousal mixed with his. The heat of her mouth. The eagerness of her touch.

Which obviously wouldn’t be so eager now.

Jared watched as she pounded her fists and then her forearms into the punching bag. The blows weren’t random but part of a workout routine. Shaolin boxing. And from the looks of things, she wasn’t a beginner.

“Hello, Jared. You’re early. I didn’t expect you for another hour.” Rachel spared him a cool glance with those intense jungle-green eyes before she peeled off her scarred boxing gloves. She picked up a bottle of water from a weight bench, took her time drinking it and then strolled to the window.

Ah, the ice princess act. Her favorite. He recognized it immediately. It probably fooled her bodyguards, but it sure as hell didn’t fool him. She was riled by his visit.

Interesting.

“When did you take up Shaolin boxing?” he asked, walking toward her.

Rachel wiped the perspiration from her forehead with the back of her hand. “About a year ago.”

Of course. It made sense. After all, there was a reason she was in protective custody. This was probably her way of dealing with the constant fear and stress from Clarence Esterman’s death threats.

“You’re good at it.”

She shrugged. “Well, if I’m ever accosted by a punching bag in a dark alley, I’ll be able to hold my own.” The comment might have been lighthearted, but that lightheartedness didn’t quite make it to her voice. She flexed her eyebrows, a mild indication that the chitchat was over. “Let me get a pen so I can sign those papers.”

So much for breaking the ice. This obviously wasn’t an ice-breaking sort of moment. Unfortunately, he had to proceed anyway.

Jared went to her, slipped his arm around her waist. Before she could protest their bodily contact—or use one of those Shaolin boxing moves on him—he upped the ante. He crushed his mouth to hers.

The kiss was, well, interesting, too. Even though it was supposed to be all for show, it sent a jolt of pure heat through him. Too bad he couldn’t say the same for Rachel. If she felt any heat, it was likely from temper and not passion. She shoved her forearm against his abs and jerked away. Jared didn’t let her get too far.

“Play along,” he whispered against her ear. He slipped the thick envelope into the inside pocket of his jacket. “It’s important.”

No cool dismissive glance from her this time. Rachel’s scalpel-sharp gaze sliced him, her eyes asking a lot of tough questions. Questions he couldn’t begin to answer in front of the other officers.

Jared touched her arm with his fingers and rubbed softly. More of the pretense. It was a gesture meant to comfort and reassure.

It didn’t work.

He felt her muscles tighten even more.

“Could you give us some time alone?” Jared asked the detectives. He didn’t look back at Miller and Smith, nor did he take his attention off the obviously irritated woman in front of him. “Rachel’s going in the Witness Protection Program after she testifies against Clarence Esterman this afternoon, so this is my last chance to be with her.”

Detective Miller practically marched across the room and joined them. “Sorry, but I’m not allowed to let Rachel out of my sight. Especially not today.”

Jared gave her his best wise-guy glare. “Then, you’d better brace yourself for one helluva peep show, Detective, because I intend to take my wife in the bedroom and do my best to talk her out of this divorce.”

Rachel opened her mouth and then closed it just as quickly. She pulled her eyebrows together. Jared gave her arm a gentle squeeze, hoping it would buy him a little more cooperation. It bought him a scowl.

“I have orders from the captain—”

“I’m a cop,” Jared reminded Miller. “Head of Special Investigations and your superior officer. The captain’s order is that Rachel be guarded at all times. She will be—by me—and it’ll happen in the bedroom.”

Jared didn’t wait to see if Rachel or Miller would call his bluff. He latched onto Rachel and got her moving toward the back of the house.

“What’s this all about?” Rachel demanded in an angry whisper.

Jared didn’t answer. Not with the detectives right behind them in the hallway. He’d studied the floor plan of the house so he knew where her living quarters were. He maneuvered Rachel into the makeshift suite and slammed the door before Miller could invite herself in.

“I don’t have time to explain everything,” Jared informed her. “I have to get you out of here—now.”

Surprise and then outrage raced through her eyes. It was an understandable reaction. He was feeling plenty of outrage himself.

Jared clamped his hand over her mouth before she could voice her emotions. “Just listen.”

But she didn’t. Rachel shoved his hand away. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but I want no part of it, understand? Just give me the divorce papers, damn it, and I’ll sign them.”

“There are no divorce papers.”

Other than a somewhat shocked look, Rachel didn’t have time to react to that news flash.

“Rachel?” Detective Miller called out. “Are you sure you’re all right in there?”

Jared moved quickly when he heard the door open, and he cursed himself for not locking it. It was time to beef up the charade, since Miller obviously wasn’t backing off.

He snapped Rachel to him and kissed her as if they hadn’t been separated for the past fourteen months. In the same motion, he slid his hand beneath her T-shirt. With everything else going on, he sure as hell shouldn’t have noticed that she was wearing only a tiny, silky swatch of a bra.

Lace, at that.

Miller cleared her throat. “If you need me, Rachel, just yell. I’ll be right outside.”

The moment Miller shut the door, Rachel pushed Jared away from her. “What the heck is wrong with you?”

“Plenty.” Jared hurried to the door and locked it. “It’s been a really bad night, and the morning hasn’t gotten any better.”

Not wasting any time, he went to the closet. It was in perfect order. As he’d known it would be. Rachel arranged and organized things when she was nervous. And when she was really nervous, she paced. He figured she’d be pacing and organizing a lot before this was over.

Jared grabbed a pair of running shoes and jeans from the closet and thrust them into her hands. “I don’t have time to soothe your doubts or convince you that I’m doing the right thing. I have to get you out of here.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Rachel dropped the shoes on the floor, but with incensed tugs and jerks, she did put on the jeans over her workout shorts. “In a little less than three hours, I’m leaving to testify against Clarence Esterman, and the officers outside will be the ones driving me. Not you.”

“You can’t testify,” Jared said. “Not today, anyway.”

“Judas Priest!” Rachel propped her hands on her hips and stared at him. “Are you saying there’s been another trial delay? Because if there has been—”

She stopped, and just like that, the color drained from her face. She slowly sank onto the edge of the bed. “My God, did Esterman get to you? Did he send you here to try to talk me out of testifying?”

Jared cursed. Hell. She obviously thought he was lower than slime to have suggested something like that. It meant there was nothing he could say that would make her change her mind about leaving with him.

Instead, he’d have to show her.

Jared finished putting on her shoes, tied the laces with far more force than required and then reached inside his jacket. He yanked out the envelope.

“I told you earlier on the phone that I’d sign the divorce papers,” she continued, her voice getting more indignant with each word. “There’s no reason for us to go through this—whatever the heck this is. You can have the town house. The car. Everything. I’ll need to start fresh anyway, once they give me a new identity.”

Jared ignored her, opened the envelope and extracted the photo of the newborn baby. When she refused to take it, he dropped it on the bed next to her.

Rachel glanced at it and shrugged. “So? What does that have to do with our divorce or with me testifying against my former boss?”

He had to unclench his jaw so he could speak. “I’ve been told that the baby in that photo is my son.”

Her head whipped up, her eyes narrowed and accusing. He could almost see her process that bit of startling information. She didn’t process it well. With reason. Before they’d gone their separate ways, Rachel and he had spent two long years trying to conceive a child.

They’d failed.

And so had their marriage.

Rachel swallowed hard. “You have a son?”

Jared wasn’t immune to the hurt he saw on her face. But that hurt was nothing compared to what he’d no doubt see when he told her the rest.

“It seems that way. He’s six days old.” Jared hadn’t meant his explanation to grind to a halt, but then, he hadn’t counted on his mouth turning to dust either. Hell. He hated the people who’d set all of this in motion.

Rachel shook a head, a nervous shudder. Obviously she didn’t understand. But how could she possibly understand this? He’d had hours to try to absorb it and still didn’t understand.

She reached for the picture, but instead her fingers curled into a tight fist. “My God, you didn’t waste any time. So, who’s the baby’s mother? Is she someone I know?”

Jared caught her shoulders. Their gazes locked. “You’re the mother, Rachel. According to the DNA report, he’s our son. Ours.”



THE ONLY THING that saved Rachel from losing it then and there was that Jared was obviously lying. He had to be. But what she couldn’t figure out was why he was doing something so intentionally cruel.

“Why are you telling me this?” She got up from the bed, snatched up the photograph and shoved it back into the pocket of his black leather jacket. She didn’t want even another glimpse of that image of the newborn. “You want to upset me? To get back at me for all the things that went on between us? Then, fine. You’ve upset me. Now, get out of here.”

He caught her hand when she started to pace. “It’s the truth, Rachel.”

That stopped her in her tracks. There wasn’t any hesitation in his voice. Not even a hint. And it was that sheer conviction that had Rachel studying him. What she saw in the depths of those whiskey-colored eyes sent her stomach plummeting to her knees.

“You’re not lying?” she mumbled.

But how could that be? She hadn’t been with Jared or any other man in over a year. And she darn sure hadn’t given birth. That she definitely would have remembered.

Jared released the grip he had on her and scrubbed his hands over his face. He groaned softly. “I don’t have time to sugarcoat this, so here goes. According to the letter I received late last night, someone claims they stole a frozen fertilized embryo that we’d stored when you were trying to get pregnant. This person says they took it so they could use it to impregnate a surrogate.”

It took her several tries just to gather enough breath to speak. “And?”

“And according to them, they succeeded.”

Oh God.

Success in this case could mean only one thing. What was left of her composure went south in a hurry. Rachel had no choice but to sit back down on the bed, because her legs gave way.

“There’s really a baby? Our baby?”

“According to the letter, yes. Of course, we’d stored several unfertilized eggs as well, so I’m guessing they could have gotten one of those, instead. I just don’t know at this point. I’ve got the people at the fertility clinic checking to verify what’s missing, but it doesn’t look good. Apparently, frozen embryos aren’t a high-theft item so security was pretty lax.”

The information was coming at her way too fast. Rachel pressed her hands against her head and tried to concentrate, but it was impossible to absorb something that didn’t make sense. “Do you believe it?”

Jared lifted a shoulder, but there was nothing casual about that gesture. And there wasn’t a relaxed muscle in his body. “Whoever’s behind this included a saliva swab so we could do an independent DNA test. I sent it to the lab before I drove out here, but it’ll be a couple of days before we can get the results.”

Days. She’d have to wait days to learn the truth. And even then, the test results might not be definitive. After all, someone sinister enough to come up with a plan like this wouldn’t hesitate to doctor DNA results.

Still, it wasn’t the possibility of doctored DNA results that’d put that strained look in Jared’s eyes.

“You must think the child is ours, or you wouldn’t be here,” Rachel insisted.

He hitched his thumb to his chest. “I’m here because they gave me no choice. All I know at this point is there’s a child, and Esterman’s people have him.”

“Yes.” It sickened her to know that a man like Esterman held the fate of a baby in his hands. The man was a killer. “But why would he do something like this?”

The moment the question left her mouth, Rachel knew why. God. She knew. “It’s because of my testimony, isn’t it?”

Jared nodded. “They want you to lie this afternoon when you take the stand, to exonerate Esterman. If you don’t, they say they’ll kill the baby.”

The adrenaline and the emotions slammed into her like a fist. She fought to keep her breath level. But lost that battle. Rachel tried to remind herself that it might not even be true. The photo and the DNA report could be fakes. It was possible this was all just a ploy to stop her from putting a killer away for the rest of his life.

But it didn’t feel like a ploy.

It felt as if her child was in horrible danger.

“Now that you know, it’s decision time, Rachel. I could force you to go with me, but in the end I’ll need your cooperation.”

Cooperation? She wasn’t sure she could even move. A dozen emotions assaulted her. None good. So many doubts. So much confusion.

A baby. God, a baby.

“Rachel, are you sure you’re all right?” Detective Miller called out.

“Don’t open the door,” Jared whispered.

He extracted a small tool kit from his pocket, went to the window and proceeded to disarm the security system. That explained why he was wearing a jacket on a muggy spring day. He had to conceal heaven-knows-what to help them escape.

But the real question was—did she want to escape?

“Convince her to give us some time alone,” Jared instructed. “Lots of time. We’ll need it if you’re leaving with me.”

Rachel nodded, somehow. And somehow she managed to get off the bed. She made it to the door, praying her voice wouldn’t break.

“I’m okay,” she lied. “Jared will be staying until we leave for the courthouse.”

The silence on the other side of the door didn’t do much to settle Rachel’s raw, tangled nerves. It was obvious Jared didn’t want either of the other officers involved in this, and Rachel would go along with him on that.

For now.

But there were still too many questions that needed answers before she’d leave with him.

“Maybe I should call Captain Thornton?” Miller suggested. “I mean, just so she’ll know Lieutenant Dillard is here visiting you.”

Rachel understood the implications of that. And they weren’t good implications. Miller wasn’t a fool and she no doubt suspected something was wrong.

She looked over her shoulder at Jared. He merely shook his head and continued to work on the window.

“No need to call anyone.” Rachel pulled in a long breath so she could finish. “I just want to, um, talk things out with Jared.”

Another pause. Rachel pressed her forehead against the door and waited. She really didn’t want to speculate what would happen if Detective Miller decided to make that call.

“Okay. Whatever you say, Rachel. But I’ll stay put right out here in the hall. Just yell if you need me.”

Oh, she would do that. Too bad it might become necessary. Because she didn’t know if she could even trust Jared. Their last months together hadn’t exactly fostered a trusting relationship. There’d been too many incidents where they’d frozen each other out. Along with that had come the bitter feelings and the accusations. He definitely wasn’t the same person she’d vowed to love, honor and cherish five years ago.

But then, neither was she.

During their separation, they’d grown as far apart as two people could get. Heck, they hadn’t even contacted each other the entire time she’d been at the ranch house. Yet here he was, right back in her life.

Jared put his tool kit away and eased open the window. The morning breeze stirred the curtains when he shoved out the screen. No alarms went off, which meant he’d successfully deactivated the system.

“If you’re doing this, we have to leave now,” Jared insisted.

But Rachel held her ground. “And then what?”

Obviously not pleased with her lack of cooperation, he mumbled some profanity under his breath. “I need to take you someplace safe so you won’t have to testify. The courts will almost certainly ask for another trial delay while they try to locate you. In the meantime, we find this child and get him out of danger.”

It was a simple plan. Also a vague one. And it had holes in it the size of the Alamo.

“You didn’t turn this over to the police,” Rachel pointed out. “Why?”

This was one of those times she wished she didn’t know Jared so well. His mouth tightened. A muscle stirred in his firm jaw. And a sickening feeling crawled down her spine before he even answered.

“The person who wrote that letter said the baby would die if we told the cops, and I’m pretty sure there’s a leak in the department. A big one from a person who can do lots of damage if he puts his mind to it. I’ll give you the details once we’re out of here.”

Great. Just great. Her life had just been turned upside down and inside out. Somewhere out there, a child—maybe their child—was possibly in grave danger, and they couldn’t even go to the police.

Rachel debated and wished like the devil that she had more time to figure out what to do. This could easily be construed as the point of no return. Once she went out that window, she would essentially be on the run. A fugitive. But if she stayed and told the truth to convict a killer, then a child might die.

Jared helped her decision along. “Every minute we waste here, we could be using to find the baby.”

He was right, of course—about that particular argument, anyway. She couldn’t be sure about anything else.

However, when Jared gripped her arm, Rachel didn’t argue. Didn’t take a step back. She climbed out into the yard with him. Then she prayed, hoping this wasn’t the biggest mistake of her life.

Jared didn’t give her time to dwell on her doubts. He kept low, his gaze darting all around. He led her to the side of the house, toward the detached garage.

“We’re taking one of the detective’s cars?” Rachel whispered.

“No. But I need a distraction.”

Looping his arm around her waist, he ducked behind some thick shrubs. He paused a moment and checked out the yard before he continued to the side door of the garage. From the corner of her eye, Rachel saw him try to turn the knob.

It was locked.

Other than one single harsh word of profanity, he said nothing. Instead, he rammed his shoulder into it, but when that didn’t budge it, he snatched the tiny tool kit from his pocket and got to work picking the lock.

Rachel’s gaze whipped back to the open window where they’d escaped. No sign of the officers. Yet. But they’d come. After all, it was their job to get her to the courthouse. Once they realized she wasn’t in the bedroom, the search would be on.

For months, she’d prepared herself for that testimony, and for its aftermath. A divorce. A new life. A new identity. Out with the old and in with the new. But instead of putting the undercover investigation and her past behind her, she was apparently about to leap headfirst back into it.

God.

Was she doing the right thing? Maybe there was some other way to save the child. Some way that didn’t involve them going on the run.

Rachel heard the sound at the exact moment that Jared apparently did. Footsteps. Some movement along the driveway on the side of the house. He reacted quickly. Jared shoved her behind him and pressed her against the wall of the garage.

She waited. And listened. Even over the thuds of her own heartbeat, Rachel clearly heard the footsteps on the cement. They were hardly more than whispers, but it wasn’t difficult to tell where they were headed.

Right toward them.

It was probably Detective Smith doing a routine check of the grounds, but if he saw them, there’d be nothing routine about his reaction.

Jared turned, facing her, and he went back to picking the lock. She saw the intense focus in his eyes. Felt his breath brush against her cheek. Felt the heat of his body.

But she also felt his shoulder holster, and his weapon.

That didn’t do much to steady her heart. Thank God he hadn’t drawn it, but he probably would if that was the only way they could get out of there.

The footsteps suddenly stopped. She’d seen Smith do a check of grounds dozens of times and knew he was thorough. He’d no doubt be coming around the side of the garage very soon. Too soon. She and Jared needed to get inside, or Smith would certainly see them.

The lock finally gave way, and Jared pushed her inside and quickly followed. There were two cars parked in the dark, cramped space. He opened the door on the one nearest them and retrieved the remote for the garage.

“Come on,” Jared whispered. But he didn’t use the remote. He opened the side door again and peered out.

“Rachel?” she heard Detective Miller call out, the sound coming through the open window of her bedroom. But it wasn’t the only sound. The officer soon began to pound on the door. “Open up. I want to make sure you’re all right in there.”

Jared glanced over his shoulder at her and put his finger to his mouth in a stay-quiet gesture. He led her out of the garage, staying behind the shrubs, and they made it to the side of the house. Only then did he lean back around the corner and press the button on the remote opener.

The noise started almost immediately as the metal door began to lift. Jared didn’t waste any time. He tossed down the remote, latched onto her and got her moving toward the front of the house where he’d parked.

Smith shouted something to Miller, and a second later, Rachel heard the back door slam. The diversion had worked.

Well, maybe.

Once the officers verified that both of their vehicles were in the garage, they’d start looking elsewhere.

Jared opened the door on the driver side of his car and pushed her through to the passenger seat. He peeled off his jacket, tossing it on the seat. Probably so he’d have better access to his shoulder holster.

Not a comforting thought.

The key was already in the ignition, and he wasted no time starting it.

Rachel caught a glimpse of Miller and Smith as they raced around the side of the house toward them. Both had their weapons drawn and ready. That didn’t deter Jared.

“Get down, Rachel,” he ordered.

He gunned the engine and headed for the road.




Chapter Two


Jared shot past Miller and Smith and sped along the gravel road in front of the house. His best chance was to make it to the highway and try to outrun the two cops. And maybe, just maybe, those Texas Rangers at the checkpoint wouldn’t shoot first and ask questions later.

Of course, escape from the safe house was just the first hurdle. He didn’t want to speculate how many hurdles they had ahead of them after that.

Or what those hurdles might be.

Even some serious detective work and a fair amount luck might not be enough to help them find the child—and stay ahead of danger.

“Are they following us?” Rachel asked.

Jared glanced in the side and rearview mirrors. “Not yet.”

But he quickly had to amend that. The moment the words left his mouth, he saw the dark gray car barrel out of the garage, coming right after them.

“They’re behind us,” he said. “Stay down. The tires are bullet resistant, but they might try to shoot them out anyway.”

“Oh God.” She mumbled another curse under her breath. “What have we gotten ourselves into?”

He was asking himself the same thing. Jared tried not to think beyond saving this child that might be theirs. But even if they managed to get the baby out of harm’s way and put Esterman behind bars, there would be consequences.

Huge ones.

After all, he was essentially kidnapping his soon-to-be ex-wife so he could obstruct justice. The department certainly wasn’t going to see that in a favorable light, no matter how good his intentions. When this was over, he’d have some serious explaining to do.

Jared kept his eyes on the zigzagging road and spotted the Rangers’ checkpoint station just ahead. Both men were there. Waiting. The detectives must have alerted them, because the Rangers had angled their car to create a roadblock.

Without slowing down, Jared veered around them, using every inch of the grassy shoulder, and raced past the checkpoint. As he’d figured they would do, the Rangers jumped into their vehicle and followed in pursuit. They wouldn’t just give up and let him leave the area with Rachel.

“What now?” she asked.

She lifted her head and looked out the side mirror. Jared pushed her right back down. If the officers tried to shoot out the tires and missed, he didn’t want Rachel to become the victim of “friendly” fire.

Rachel didn’t exactly cooperate. The minute his hand was off her shoulder, she slipped right back up in the seat and pinned her gaze to the mirror, and their pursuers. From her soft gasp, she obviously knew things weren’t going well.

He took the next curve, and the other cars made the turn along with him. And worse. Jared saw the detectives drop back so the Rangers could overtake them. One of the Rangers leaned out of the window and aimed his weapon at the tires.

Hell.

Jared pushed Rachel down in the seat again. He definitely didn’t want her to get a good look at that rifle. With her fear of firearms, she might have a panic attack. There wasn’t time for that.

He didn’t slow down. Jared kept the pressure on the accelerator and snaked over both lanes so the tires wouldn’t be such easy targets. Unfortunately, that didn’t protect them from a quick jab of Murphy’s Law.

“Hang on,” Jared warned.

At seemingly a snail’s pace, an old beat-up truck hauling a flatbed of hay pulled out from a side road and directly into their path. He managed to swerve around it. Barely. The car jerked to the right when he clipped the ditch. Jared corrected and then corrected again so he wouldn’t broadside a tree.

He heard the sound of metal scraping and buckling and saw the cause of that noise in his rearview mirror. The Rangers and detectives hadn’t been so lucky in avoiding an accident.

They’d sideswiped each other to avoid the truck, and the impact had sent both cars careering into a waist-high ditch. Everyone looked unharmed, but their vehicles were temporarily out of commission. It’d probably take a tow truck to get them back on the road.

Jared didn’t waste any time. He stomped on the accelerator and got them out of there.

“We can’t follow the highway,” he said.

He sped toward the farm road that he’d already checked out. By his estimation, it would take five minutes to get there and another five minutes to start working their way through the maze of back roads that would eventually lead them to the cabin.

“They’ll set up blocks to find us.”

When she didn’t respond, Jared glanced at her. Rachel was no longer sitting low in the seat. Nor did she have her attention focused on the accident behind them. Rather, she was looking at the envelope and the photograph that had fallen out of his jacket pocket.

“Who is she?” Rachel asked.

The picture lay between them. The gruesome image that he hadn’t wanted Rachel to see.

Jared checked the mirror again to make sure they weren’t being followed. They weren’t, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long. He hadn’t intended to get into an explanation like this until they were someplace safe. Of course, he didn’t have a clue when that would be.

He tried to put the picture of the dead woman back into the envelope, but Rachel pushed his hand away.

“Esterman’s people sent this to you, didn’t they.” Rachel’s voice was ragged, laced with nerves and adrenaline, but there was fire there as well.

Jared knew exactly how she felt. He’d had the same reaction the first time he saw it. It wasn’t any easier the second time around. “Yeah. It was in the envelope with the letter and the photo of the baby.”

He debated how much more he should tell her, but the debate didn’t last long. This was a critical piece of information that he couldn’t keep from Rachel. She’d risked as much as he had by leaving the safe house. Besides, he needed her cooperation, and this unfortunately might do it.

“I computer-matched that photo to the one in her police record,” Jared explained. “Her name is Sasha Young. She did time for forgery, and she’s—”

“The surrogate mother,” Rachel finished. “The woman who supposedly gave birth to our child.” She paused and moistened her lips. “They murdered her?”

Oh, man. This wasn’t an easy thing to discuss with Rachel. If the people behind this would kill a young woman, they probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill again. But then, Rachel must have come to that same conclusion. If she hadn’t truly thought a child was in danger, she wouldn’t have climbed out that window with him.

“It appears they murdered her,” Jared admitted.

She narrowed her eyes. “Appears? That’s twice you’ve used that word today, and it’s starting to annoy me. Cut the doublespeak, Jared. Is she dead, or is this a doctored photo to scare us into doing what Esterman wants?”

If he hadn’t been so concerned over what they were about to face, he might have smiled. Might have. Here, he’d expected the news to send Rachel into a near panic. And it no doubt had. But even so, she was holding herself together—for now, anyway. However, they weren’t even close to finishing this.

“I don’t know if she’s really dead,” he admitted. “I checked the morgue, and there’s no Jane Doe fitting her description, but that doesn’t mean anything. They could have taken that picture and then disposed of the body so that it wouldn’t be found—ever.”

“Yes.” Rachel took a deep breath, and another, and rested her head against the seat.

“I know this isn’t easy, and I’m sorry.” That picture probably reminded her of her own murdered parents. It was the main reason Jared hadn’t been eager to show it to her.

Her head whipped up. “My God, your mother and your sister. Esterman might go after them—”

“I’ve already taken care of it. I sent Karen and Mom on a little trip out of state this morning. With bodyguards. They’ll be fine.”

At least, Jared hoped they would be. He was thankful that his family had gone willingly into hiding. Of course, he hadn’t given them much of a choice. Jared was sure the only reason Esterman hadn’t thought to use them sooner was that Rachel and he had been separated. If Esterman had believed for one minute that he could get to Rachel through them, they would have become his first choice of targets.

“They must be terrified,” Rachel concluded.

Yep. But Jared wasn’t about to confirm it. It would only push their feelings of panic up a notch. “They know I’ll defuse this situation with Esterman as fast as I can.”

She glanced at him. Not exactly a vote of confidence. Rachel shook her head. “After the cops asked me to spy on Esterman, I learned the horrible things that he’s capable of doing. Well, at least I thought I had. But this…God, this. I didn’t know anyone could come up with something so sinister. And to think I used to work for this man. Heck, I used to believe we were friends.”

Friends. Oh yeah. Jared had caught wind of some of that. When things had been at the worst in their marriage, Rachel had mentioned something about having a few long talks with her boss.

That still didn’t set well with him.

Not just for the obvious personal reasons, either. It likely meant that Esterman knew some of the details of Rachel’s and his breakup. If the man knew that, then he was also aware of how much Rachel desperately wanted a child. Esterman must have used that information when he put this plan together.

And he’d come after her with a vengeance.

“I don’t regret spying on him,” she continued several moments later. “And I don’t regret turning over the information to police. Money laundering. Murder for hire. All under the guise of a respectable accounting firm.” Rachel placed the photo in the envelope and neatly tucked it back into his jacket pocket. “But I do regret that the investigation brought things to this point.”

So did he. And even after hours of thinking of little else, he just hadn’t come up with a way to fight Esterman. But then, Esterman had had a year to come up with his plan to stop Rachel from testifying. Jared had had just hours, and precious few of those.

Jared turned onto the little-used farm road and checked his mirror again. Still no sign of any Rangers or cops, but they had almost certainly called for backup. By now, peace officers all over the area would be responding. His captain would have been alerted—and maybe even the city officials. It put a hard knot in his stomach to know that for the first time in his life he was on the other side of the law.

“How long do you think we have before they find us?” she asked.

Probably not long enough. But he kept that to himself. Best to dwell on the things they did have some control over.

“I don’t know, but we start by getting out of sight,” he explained. “Then, we find the baby so you can testify. Before I came to get you, I called the prison where Sasha Young was an inmate. The warden’s administrative assistant told me that she had a frequent visitor, a man named Aaron Merkens. I’ve already located him and arranged a meeting for tonight.”

“Tonight,” she repeated on a heavy sigh.

Jared understood that sigh all too well. Tonight was still hours away, and a lot could happen between now and then. The two bodyguards were after them. The Rangers. Maybe even his own fellow officers. Added to that, there was a storm brewing. The thick sludge-colored cloud looked ready to burst wide open, and that would certainly put a damper on his driving like a bat out of hell.

But those things were only part of their problem. He and Rachel couldn’t go far since they needed to be in San Antonio for that meeting with Aaron Merkens. As meetings went, that one was critical. Merkens might be able to tell them the location of the baby. The flip side was that he might lead them straight into a trap.

It was definitely a rock and a hard place kind of situation.

Yet, there was nothing Jared could do about it. He had to meet with the man. He had to figure out where to start looking. But first and foremost, he had to make sure that he and Rachel weren’t captured.

As much as he hated to admit it even to himself, they and they alone were the baby’s only chance for survival.



CLARENCE ESTERMAN CALMLY leaned back in the stiff prison-gray chair and stared through the thick, dingy glass at his employee. Gerald Anderson was on a roll, his words fluid. His voice strong and steady. But Clarence looked past that news-at-five veneer and saw a man who was scared spitless of being the messenger for this particular communiqué.

“I’m listening,” Clarence assured him when Gerald paused and gulped down some water.

But there was no reason for Clarence to listen too carefully. The oily beads of sweat over Gerald’s ample upper lip said it all. Someone had screwed up badly enough that it had warranted a visit from his personal assistant and security specialist.

That did not please him.

There were only two things he hated more than receiving bad news: the stench of the jail and the woman responsible for putting him there. Make that three—he could add yet another thing to his hate list. Lieutenant Jared Dillard.

“Our friend was supposed to have been observed 24/7. No exceptions.” Even though he whispered that little reminder, Clarence enunciated each word into the offensive-smelling phone that he was forced to use. He’d already bribed the guards to make sure the conversation wasn’t being monitored, but he still chose his words carefully. “Please tell me why that didn’t happen.”

Gerald made a vague who-knows motion with his hand. “He managed to, uh, shake the observer. I guess he’s better at that than we thought he’d be.”

“He’s very good at what he does,” Clarence said calmly. “Lots of citations and plaques for his I-love-me wall. But everyone knew that before we ever made him our messenger boy. So, if I take that ‘he’s very good’ information to the most obvious conclusion, then everyone, including you and the observer, should have anticipated that he’d try to stop us from keeping tabs on him.”

No more news-at-five demeanor. The transformation he saw in Gerald was something immediate and akin to a deer crashing straight into the headlights of a fully loaded semi with its pedal to the metal.

“We’ll find him” was Gerald’s comeback after he’d guzzled down more water.

“Oh, I have no doubt of that, not with what I pay you. And when you do locate him, you’ll remind him of the little package we have. That should help him get his priorities back on track. You’ll also inform him that he’s deeply pissed me off with this little evasion tactic.”

Gerald nodded, as Clarence had known he would do. “Absolutely.”

But that wasn’t enough. Not when his freedom and his life were at stake.

“Shake things up a little,” Clarence continued. He ignored the guard’s impatient request for him to hurry his visit. “I want our mutual friend to realize how important it is that we have his cooperation.”

Gerald leaned forward until his nose was practically against the glass. “You’re not saying what I think you’re saying…”

Clarence leaned forward as well, but unlike Gerald, he was absolutely certain there wasn’t a trace of fear or concern in his baby blues.

“I merely want him…surprised,” Clarence explained. He wasn’t totally opposed to killing a cop, but he wasn’t giving up on getting Dillard’s help in bringing in Rachel. “Have I mentioned that someone very close to him has a fear of guns? A childhood trauma. Something about witnessing her parents’ murders. Use that.”

Gerald shook his head. “How?”

Clarence slowly brought his teeth together, and it took a moment to unclench them. It was hard to maintain composure when dealing with a certifiable moron. Too bad he needed this particular moron.

For a little while longer, anyway.

“Educate her the hard way, Gerald. Send her running from her estranged husband, and she will run right where we want her.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

Clarence didn’t bother answering that. He had no doubt whatsoever that Rachel would cooperate once the truth sank in about the baby. Simply put, the child was what mattered most to her. Not her super-cop estranged husband that she hadn’t bothered to contact in over a year. Not her warped sense of devotion to be a do-gooder for the sake of society.

The baby was Rachel Dillard’s Achilles’ heel.

And he would use it to break her.

Clarence placed the phone back on the wall, knowing that Gerald would do what he had been told. Hopefully, this time he’d manage it without the mistakes. Of course, Clarence did have a margin for error.

All seven pounds and three ounces of him.

It would be interesting to watch Rachel beg for the child’s life.




Chapter Three


Rachel looked out through the rain-streaked windshield and spotted the picturesque log cabin. It was nestled in a thick grove of moss-strewn oaks, making it difficult to see from the road.

Difficult, but certainly not impossible.

And that explained why Jared parked the car at the back of the cabin where it would be out of sight.

“This place belongs to a friend,” Jared explained as they made a dash for the back porch. “We can use it as long as necessary.”

Rachel wondered if the friend was a man or a woman, but she quickly pushed that question aside. His relationships, personal or otherwise, were no longer any of her business. After all, she and Jared had called it quits months ago. He was a healthy, red-blooded, thirty-two-year-old male, and it was likely—very likely—that he’d been seeing other women.

While the rain pelted them and the lightning slashed across the sky, Jared fished a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. The place was musky but dry, and a lot larger than it looked from the outside.

Well, sort of.

The combined living and kitchen area was large enough to accommodate two people, but what Rachel didn’t see was a separate bedroom. The double bed tucked away in the corner seemed to be the sum total of the sleeping quarters. Hopefully, they wouldn’t have to spend the night.

“We’ll be safe here until it’s time to meet Aaron Merkens?” she asked.

“We should be.” After Jared entered the code on the wall pad to disarm the security system, he grabbed a towel from the closet near the door and tossed it to her. “I figure you’re the safest woman in America right now. Esterman will do just about anything to keep you alive. You’re his get-out-jail-free card. Or so he thinks.”

Yes. But her supposed safety came at a huge price. Esterman would only want her alive as long as she could be of service to him.

All bets were off after that.

“I asked if we would be safe,” Rachel clarified. She watched as he lifted a laptop from the top shelf of the closet and set it on the pine table. “That plural pronoun included you.”

With an almost amused look on his face, he brushed past her so he could plug the modem line into the phone jack on the wall. She caught his scent. The wet leather of his jacket. Faint traces of soap.

He still used the same shampoo.

It had always reminded her of the sea. And sex. But then a lot of things about Jared still reminded her of sex.

He was so unlike the other guys she’d dated in college. No comparison really. He was basically a grown-up bad boy who’d won his share of fights, some with his fists. The tiny scar on his chin and the other on the edge of his right eyebrow were evidence of that.

Like the rest of him, his hair was a bit untamed, a little too long—with a natural style that fit his personality to a tee. No glossy polish. No pretenses. Just a man who had a unique way of reminding her that she was very glad indeed to be a woman.

Even now, with all the uncertainty of the moment, she still had the same reaction to Jared that she usually did. Much to her disgust, he pretty much stole her breath. God knows how many times that had happened, so she couldn’t blame it on the adrenaline. All he had to do was walk into a room and she melted into a puddle of…something.

Something that Rachel quickly pushed aside.

Those days of lust and great sex were over. They were on the brink of a divorce and their lives were in turmoil. This wasn’t the time for the-way-we-were musings.

“I appreciate the plural pronoun, and the concern for my safety,” Jared commented. “But I seriously doubt Esterman wants to tangle with me.”

Rachel wasn’t so sure. Tangling seemed to be something that didn’t intimidate Clarence Esterman, and that was only one of the reasons why the thought of his going free chilled her to the bone.

She checked the time. It was nearly twelve-thirty. In a half an hour she was supposed to be on the stand to testify about all the incriminating documents and memos she’d observed her boss shredding. Since there were no other witnesses, she was essentially the prosecution’s case. Yet, here she was, in a remote cabin at least thirty miles from the courthouse. The district attorney’s office and dozens of other people were probably in an uproar by now.

“I can build a fire if you want to dry off,” Jared offered.

“No thanks.” Despite the rain, the room was muggy and warm, which wasn’t unusual for a Texas spring afternoon. However, that combined with the spent adrenaline was making her feel woozy. She definitely needed a clear head for the things they were about to face. “I’d rather try to figure out how we’re going to find the baby.”

The sooner that happened, the sooner she could take the stand. And the sooner she’d know if the baby was actually their baby. Rachel didn’t want to think beyond that. One step at a time was all she could handle right now.

He draped his jacket over the back of a chair, the drops of rain sliding off it and spattering onto the hardwood floor. “Like I told you in the car, I’m hoping Aaron Merkens can give us a starting point.”

Yes. That would prevent them from having to take the needle-in-a-haystack approach, but it still wasn’t very reassuring. After all, Sasha Young had been in prison, and Merkens was her friend.

“You think you can trust him?”

“No way in hell.”

She almost wished Jared had hesitated. The fact that he hadn’t meant the meeting that was supposed to take place in seven hours might just be a trap.

Maybe Esterman had known they’d find Merkens and try to get information from him. And if Esterman had known that, then he also could have arranged for the cops to be there to take her back into protective custody.

Talk about the ultimate irony. When it came to her testimony, Esterman and the cops were now on the same side. Both would do just about anything to get her to take the stand. One, however, wanted her to lie.

With his back to her, Jared peeled off his wet shirt and hung it over one of the other chairs to dry. “Remember Mason Tanner, the P.I. I’ve used for some of my cases?”

“Sure.” When she and Jared were still together, Turner came to the house a couple of times. “What about him?”

“He’s helping us out. A lot. I’m having him check out the park where we’re meeting Merkens, and he’ll try to make sure it’s safe. I can’t leave you here by yourself. You’ll have to come with me.”

Rachel hadn’t considered staying behind to be an option, anyway. As difficult as it was to be around Jared, it would have been impossible to do this solo.

“What about this leak in the department you mentioned earlier?” she asked, trying not to look directly at him. It seemed a little too intimate to be so close to him while he was half naked. Instead, she straightened the stack of old magazines in the center of the table.

It didn’t help.

Her body still knew he was half naked.

“A couple of weeks ago someone put a tap on my phone at work.” He extracted the envelope from his jacket and tossed it next to the magazines. “Then I caught this officer over in homicide, Sergeant Colby Meredith, trying to access some security files. Files that would have told him the location of the safe house where you were staying.”

“Sweet heaven.” Rachel had never heard Esterman mention this particular person, but he had a lot of people on his payroll. “You confronted Meredith?”

“Sure did. He only recently transferred in from Austin, so he covered for himself by saying he wasn’t familiar with the files and accidentally typed in the wrong code. I didn’t believe him for a minute, so I’ve been watching him. But I figure Esterman put Meredith in place to find you so he could have one of his hired goons personally deliver the news about the baby. When Meredith wasn’t successful, Esterman had no choice but to use me as a middleman.”

Of course. They probably hadn’t wanted to involve Jared since he was a cop, but he was one of the few people who could get to her. That one little detail had embroiled him in all of this.

He turned to type something on the keyboard, and Rachel saw the scar. An angry slice across his chest, just below his heart. She actually took a step back, to put some distance between her and that brutal reminder of what had happened nearly eighteen months earlier.

“Pretty disgusting, huh?” she heard him say.

Only then did Rachel realize she’d been staring at his chest.

Unable to answer him, she merely shook her head. Disgusting wasn’t the right word. More like distressing. The injury had nearly killed him. In fact, the doctors told her that his heart had stopped beating while he was in surgery.

Jared shrugged and went to the closet. He grabbed two T-shirts off hangers, slipped on one and handed the other one to her. “They tell me it’ll fade with time.”

The scar would, yes. The memory of it wouldn’t. Nor would the rift it had caused between them.

In the end, the event that had caused that scar had also cost them their marriage. For Rachel, it had been easier to fall out of love with Jared than to risk another nightmare like that. She’d had enough nightmares to last a lifetime.

Rachel changed her shirt in the tiny bathroom and hung the other up to dry. She turned to leave, but first made the mistake of glancing in the mirror. No makeup. Her hair was soaking wet. She was much too pale. She looked even worse than she felt—something she hadn’t thought possible.

“We’re connected to the Internet,” Jared called out. “Think you can try to find out some information about Sasha Young’s last known address?”

“I’ll try.” Glad that she could do something to get her mind off their situation, Rachel went back into the room and took the seat in front of the computer.

Jared moved the envelope closer to her, and she noticed the address written on the outside. “I got that from Aaron Merkens,” he explained. “It’s supposedly a rental house on the south side of town, but it could be bogus. There was no phone listing for it. While you’re doing that, I need to call Tanner.”

Jared took out his cell phone and walked into the kitchen to make his call. Rachel didn’t waste any time. She used some of her CPA knowledge and located the real estate tax records for the county. With any luck, the actual owner of the property would be listed.

While she waited for the file to load, she glanced at the envelope. She already knew it contained the photos of the dead woman and the baby, but she was almost afraid to find out what other surprises it held—especially since they were dealing with Esterman here.

Trying to ignore the envelope, Rachel quickly scanned the tax information on the screen, but it wasn’t good news. The owner of the rental property was a corporation. Probably a dummy company at that. If Esterman owned the house, he was too smart not to bury that information under layers of paperwork.

She fed in the next search to try to find out more information about the corporation, while toying with the flap on the envelope. Rachel tried to talk herself out of opening it, but even knowing that the contents could break her heart, she couldn’t stop herself. The first thing she saw when she glanced inside was the photo of the baby.

It took her a moment just to find her breath and longer to steady it. As if it were fragile and might shatter in her hand, she lifted it out and placed it neatly on the table next to the computer. She hadn’t really looked at the image when Jared tried to hand it to her in the bedroom at the safe house, but she studied it now.

The tiny round face was perfect. Beautiful. A delicate mouth. A spattering of bronze-colored hair on his head. The color of Jared’s hair. Of course, that meant nothing. Lots of babies had brown hair.

He could be anyone’s child. Anyone’s. And Esterman could be using him the same way he’d used dozens of other people over the three years she’d worked for him. Still, Rachel couldn’t seem to take her gaze off that precious little face.

His eyes were closed in what appeared to be a peaceful sleep. She prayed that it was indeed peaceful, and that he had no comprehension whatsoever of the danger he was in.

God.

He was in danger because Esterman had chosen to use him as a pawn in a very sick game.

But was this her baby?

Was this the child she’d desperately wanted but had given up hope of ever having?

The memories of her infertility blended together with the tormenting thoughts of the baby. Looking back on it, Jared had never seemed as committed to having a child as she had. He hadn’t objected. Not really. But then, he hadn’t poured his whole heart into it, either. He’d proven that when he refused to let her use the fertilized embryos immediately after they separated. He hadn’t wanted to bring a child into a broken relationship.

Or so he said.

At the time, his steadfast refusal had felt like the ultimate slap in the face. It still did. If she hadn’t gotten involved with the undercover investigation into Esterman’s wrongdoings, she almost certainly would have pursued the issue in court. That was the only reason the embryos still had been in storage. So, in a way it was her fault that Esterman had been able to carry things through to this point.

She touched the photograph again, running her fingertips over the baby’s mouth. His lips were pursed slightly as if he’d just had a bottle. That brought on another wave of fear and panic. Were they feeding him? Was there anyone to hold him when he cried?

Rachel wasn’t even aware that she was crying until she felt a tear slide down her cheek. More followed, and though she tried to choke it back, the sound of her sob cut through the room.

Jared was suddenly there, next to her. He didn’t reach out for her. Thank God—she didn’t think she could handle that right now.

“I’m sorry,” Rachel whispered, shaking her head. “I tried to hold it together.”

“No apology necessary.” He slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans and rocked back on his heels. “I know this isn’t easy for you.”

“Still, the tears won’t help. They never do.” She swiped the rest of them away. “You’re the only man who’s ever seen me cry. You know that?”

“Women tell me that all the time.” Jared smiled. “I’m not sure it’s a compliment.”

It was the right thing to say. A lighthearted and typical Jared comeback to diffuse an otherwise tense moment. Rachel wanted to give in to it, to sit there and let him comfort her. But she couldn’t. If she took that kind of comfort from him, it would be too easy to fall back into the same old patterns.

Jared was still a cop. A cop who put duty above anything else, including his own life.

And that would always be there between them.

Rachel stifled the rest of her tears and returned to the computer. But Jared didn’t move. He stood there staring down at her. When she lifted her gaze to his, she saw that his immobility wasn’t just because of her tearful reaction to the photo.

“Did you get through to Tanner?” she asked.

Jared nodded. “We couldn’t talk long. He had to make another call.”

“What’s wrong?” Rachel held her breath and waited for an explanation.

“Tanner just told me that the cops found Sasha Young’s body a couple of hours ago.”

“Oh.” It hit Rachel a lot harder than she would have thought it would, and the breath swooshed out of her. Moments earlier, Sasha Young had been simply a possibility. A potential piece of a puzzle.

“She was murdered,” Jared continued. “Strangled. Her body was dumped in the Guadalupe River, but some fisherman spotted it and called the cops.”

As horrible as that was, Rachel knew he wasn’t finished. There was more. “And?”

“Tanner knows the medical examiner, so he got the guy to give him a preliminary report. Miss Young recently had a C-section.” Jared looked her straight in the eye. “He estimates the surgery was done about a week ago.”

A week. The timing was perfect. The pieces were starting to come together—with one horrible, inevitable conclusion. Esterman’s plan was real. Not some hoax meant to scare her into cooperating.

There was indeed a child.

Somewhere.

And he was in terrible danger.




Chapter Four


He listened while Mason Tanner fleshed out the news he’d just delivered, but Jared seriously doubted the fleshing out would make it any more palatable.

Basically, it sucked.

“Your captain wasn’t pleased when I told her I didn’t know where you were,” Tanner continued. “I guess she figured we’d be in touch, and that I’d try to talk some sense into you. Well, consider yourself talked to, because I’m on your side all the way. I don’t think you have a choice about what you’re doing right now.”

“Thanks,” Jared mumbled. But he didn’t need anyone, including his friend, to reiterate the fact that his options were slim and none. He was painfully aware of it.

“So Captain Thornton basically thinks I’ve kidnapped Rachel?” Jared asked Tanner.

That garnered Rachel’s attention. Jared saw her fingers still on the keyboard, and she looked up from the screen. Her left eyebrow arched questioningly. She probably wanted to know how he felt about that.

In other words, a rhetorical question.

Jared decided it was a good time to stare out the window and finish his conversation.

“Have they made it official?” Jared asked, lowering his voice. “Is there an APB or anything else I should be aware of?”

“No. Not as of an hour ago, anyway—but the cops are quietly looking for you. The chief of police apparently isn’t too eager to put out an APB on one of the department’s most decorated officers. Face it, Jared, you’re the Dudley Do-Right poster child for SAPD.”

Jared shook his head and silently cursed Tanner’s sarcasm. “And they think their poster child has gone skydiving off the deep end but that I’ll soon come to my senses?”

“Something like that. A temporary insanity kind of thing brought on by the upcoming divorce and the ordeal that Rachel’s been through.”

The affirmation had his throat tightening. Hell. He’d known all along that it could come to this. His reputation would basically be trashed. Perhaps along with his career. A career he’d spent twelve long years building.

Esterman couldn’t have planned it any better. In one swoop, the man had hit both him and Rachel where it hurt the most.

The baby and the badge.

Jared didn’t even want to guess what else Esterman had in store for them. Round one sure wasn’t going that well.

“What about the meeting with Merkens?” Jared asked, forcing his attention back to the matter at hand. He couldn’t dwell on things he couldn’t fix, and at the moment his reputation at headquarters was well out of the repairable mode. He had to solve this case before he could even start damage control. “Is that a go?”

“Sure, but you know there’s no way I can guarantee that either the location or Merkens will be safe. Too many variables and too much open space.”

“I know. I didn’t pick the location, and I wasn’t asking for miracles. I just don’t want to be ambushed by Esterman’s men before I step out of the car.”

“I’ll do my best. My advice—watch your back. And your front.”

Oh, he would do that. But Jared wasn’t certain that’d be enough.

Jared ended the call and slipped his phone back into his jacket pocket. “Good news,” he told Rachel. Best to try to sound optimistic even if there wasn’t squat to be optimistic about. “They delayed the trial to give the prosecution a chance to find you.”

She didn’t say anything for several moments. “The cops are after you?”

It really wasn’t a good time for her to ask that. And maybe it was his imagination, or else the massive amount of baggage between them, but Jared heard the old disapproval in her tone. Not that he needed more, but it fueled his frustration and put him on the defensive.

“I still have my badge,” he said quickly. “I’m still a cop.”

She made a sound that could have meant anything, or nothing. Unfortunately, it felt like something.

“Look, I know you don’t approve of what I do, Rachel, but if you don’t mind, I’d rather skip the cold shoulder and lecture this afternoon. I’ve already got enough to deal with here without rehashing the past.”

She issued a dismissive glance and calmly turned her attention back to the computer screen. “Thanks for that reminder, Jared.” He couldn’t help but notice that she pressed the keys a little harder than required. “I was starting to have a few lustful thoughts about you, but I’m sure that’ll fix the problem.”

Jared had already geared up to move on to the next subject—the meeting with Merkens—but then her comment sank in.

“Lustful thoughts?” he repeated.

Rachel nodded. “You know, as in those thoughts dealing with lust?”

Nope. He hadn’t misunderstood her. It was a very succinct and sarcastic answer. Now, the question was—how should he respond? Should he respond?

Rachel helped him along with his decision. Well, in a roundabout sort of way. She didn’t even blink. But she did hike up her chin and pull the ice-princess act that he pretty much hated. And she knew it, too. He could tell by the almost smug glint in her eye.

“Believe me, that wasn’t the clarification I was looking for,” he insisted. “What I meant was…” Jared stopped and rethought the question that had been about to fly out of his mouth. There was a fine line between a request for information and an idiotic remark. Best to go for the direct approach. “What the hell are you saying, anyway?”

She shrugged. “I don’t have Alzheimer’s, Jared. I know how good we once were in bed.”

So did he. And for some reason those memories had gotten a lot more vivid since he’d seen her at the safe house.





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