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When a baby goes missing, a Texas marshal and a woman from his past discover there’s a whole lot more behind this kidnapping…
Holden Ryland certainly didn’t become a marshal just to end up busting his ex, Nicky Hart, for taking files from Conceptions Fertility Clinic. But only Nicky knows just what was really stolen: a newborn being held for ransom. A newborn who is kin to both her and Holden. The missing boy is only the start of a mystery that snakes through Texas, winding its way through their families. Bad blood may linger between them, but Holden can protect his nephew back at the Silver Creek Ranch. If they can lay their past to rest to rescue this child, is it possible for them to have a future together?
The baby had to come first.
Both men started to move. 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. Fast. Off the porch, and he 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.
Holden
Delores Fossen
DELORES FOSSEN, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over fifty novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received a Booksellers’ Best Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA® Award. Contact her at www.deloresfossen.com.
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Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
Introduction
Title Page
About the Author
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
Extract
Extract
Copyright
Chapter One
Something wasn’t right.
US Marshal Holden Ryland didn’t have to rely on his lawman’s instincts to know that. The Craftsman-style house was pitch-dark except for a single dim light in the front room. The home owner, Nicky Hart, hated the dark, and whenever she was home, every light was usually blazing.
So, either she’d skipped out on their little chat, or... Holden decided to go with the skipping-out theory because at the moment it was the lesser of two evils. After all, there was a reason why they needed to talk.
A bad one.
Holden slid his hand over the gun in his holster and got out of his truck. He’d barely made it a few steps when her white cat came darting out from beneath the porch. It headed right toward him, coiling around his leg and meowing.
Another sign that something was wrong.
Nicky didn’t let the cat outside—ever.
So, was Nicky inside? And if so, had something happened to her? Holden cursed himself for not having done a silent approach. That way, he could have parked up the street, slipped around to the side of the house and looked in the windows. It might have alerted her neighbors, but that was better than dealing with some of the bad scenarios going through his head. Still, he hadn’t taken that precaution because he hadn’t figured he would run in to any kind of immediate trouble.
Well, no trouble other than an argument with Nicky.
When he’d called Nicky an hour earlier and told her that he was on his way to their hometown of Silver Creek to talk to her, she hadn’t said a word about anything being wrong. In fact, she sounded as if she’d been expecting his call. But then, she’d sent a text just a few minutes later, saying she wouldn’t be available after all.
Right.
Holden wasn’t about to believe that lie. She was dodging him. And not doing a very good job of it, either, because her garage door was up, and he could see her car. That meant she was probably inside and that there was a good explanation for no lights on and the cat being outside. He hoped there was a good explanation anyway.
He kept watch around him, kept watch of the house, too, and made his way to the porch. However, before Holden could even ring the bell, the front door flew open, and he braced himself for what he might see.
But it was only Nicky.
He looked at her, from head to toe. She was wearing jeans and an old concert T-shirt, and had her auburn hair pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. No visible injuries or signs of distress. She was scowling at him, but over the past year or so, that was the norm whenever she laid eyes on him.
“Didn’t you get my text?” she asked.
“Got it. Ignored it. Because we need to talk.” Holden moved to go around her and inside, but she stepped in front of him, blocking his path.
“It’s not a good time.” She paused. “I’m expecting someone.”
All right. That gave him a new theory. Maybe Nicky had a hot date who was on the way over. That might explain the lack of lights if she was aiming for something romantic.
A thought that bothered him a lot more than it should have.
Nicky was an attractive woman. Bullheaded and reckless, too. And she was married to her job as an investigative reporter. That said, she was still human and she probably did have a man in her life.
It still didn’t mean Holden was going to skip that talk with her. He wouldn’t.
Because he needed her to know that she was on the verge of being arrested.
He owed her that much. Barely. After the stunt she’d pulled last year, though, some members of his family might believe he owed her nothing. Still, here he was. He didn’t play Mr. Nice Guy very often, and he hoped he didn’t regret it this time.
“Tomorrow, you’ll get a visit from an FBI agent,” he told her.
Nicky didn’t even blink. “I don’t have time for this.” And she would have shut the door in his face, if Holden hadn’t blocked it with his foot. The edge of the door smacked against his cowboy boot.
“Make time,” he snarled.
She blew out a quick breath. “Look, I know you’re still in love with me,” she said, “but you have to leave.”
Holden tightened the grip on his gun. Yeah, something was definitely wrong. Because there was no way in hell he was in love with Nicky, and she knew it, too.
She shook her head, just a little, and glanced at the hold that he had on his gun. Was she telling him not to draw? Or was that head shake about something else?
Holden intended to find out.
But it was best not to confront this head-on. Because the living room behind her was dark, he couldn’t tell if there was someone waiting in the shadows. Someone armed and ready to kill her. Or maybe she’d discovered her house was bugged and she didn’t want to say anything incriminating.
Holden hoped it was the second option.
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Holden lied. “And we will talk then.”
Leaving was a risk—anything he did at this point could be. But Holden hoped if there was someone inside that it was a good sign that the person had let Nicky answer the door. The person didn’t want her dead.
Not yet anyway.
In her quest to get info on a story she was working on, she could have gotten herself mixed up with some very dangerous people, and that involvement might be coming back to bite her. To bite him, too, since Holden had to see what was going on. This was well past being a nice guy.
This had just become the job.
He drove his truck up a block, parked and fired off a quick text to his cousin Landon, who was now a deputy in Silver Creek. Holden didn’t request backup but told Landon that if he didn’t hear from him in fifteen minutes, to send some help—fast.
With that done, Holden hurried to Nicky’s house. Not going through the front yard but rather through the back. The houses in the small neighborhood didn’t have fences, but there were plenty of mature trees that he ducked behind and used for cover. The darkness helped, too, and for once he was glad Nicky didn’t have all the lights blazing.
Holden knew the layout of her house. He’d even spent the night there a couple of times, and he knew the best way to approach this wasn’t through the back porch. Instead, he drew his gun and went to the French doors off her bedroom.
Unlocked.
He silently cursed. Since Nicky was afraid of the dark, you’d think she would be equally concerned with locking up, but Holden knew she could be lax about that.
He eased open the door, slipped into her bedroom and stood there. Listening. He didn’t hear anything at first, only someone moving around in the living room where he’d last seen Nicky.
“You’d better be sure he doesn’t come back,” someone said. A man. And Holden didn’t recognize his voice.
In case this was a lover she was meeting, Holden waited for more. He didn’t have to wait very long.
“If that marshal does come back, I’ll kill him,” the man growled.
Hell. So, probably not a lover unless it was some jealous nut-job. Holden sent a second text to Landon requesting that backup, and he made his way to the bedroom door and then into the hall.
The house was old and had creaky floors in spots. He prayed he didn’t step on one of those because he wanted to get the drop on whoever it was that had just threatened to kill him.
“The marshal won’t be back,” Nicky assured the man. “Not until tomorrow anyway.”
“He said the FBI was coming. Your doing?” her visitor demanded.
“Hardly. The FBI will be looking for the same thing you want. Something I don’t have.”
Holden didn’t know specifically what she was talking about, but it might have something to do with her latest project. A state senator who’d been missing over two weeks. Nicky had been investigating his disappearance and had cut some corners. Ones that could land her in jail.
Of course, at the moment that seemed to be the least of her worries.
“You have those files all right,” the man argued. “Now, where are they? And don’t try to hold any of them back. I want every file you stole from Conceptions Clinic.”
Everything inside Holden went still.
Conceptions Clinic?
It was the name of the fertility clinic that Holden knew well, and just hearing it brought back some painful memories. Of his brother Emmett and his brother’s wife, Annie. Annie had been Nicky’s sister, and now both Emmett and Annie were dead. Annie had died in a car accident, but that hadn’t been the cause of Emmett’s death.
No. He’d been murdered only months after Annie’s death. His killer was dead, but that didn’t soften the blow for Holden. Emmett wasn’t coming back from the grave just because the Rylands had managed to get justice for him.
Before their deaths, Emmett and Annie made multiple trips to Conceptions Fertility Clinic in San Antonio with the hopes of finally getting the baby they so desperately wanted. But that hadn’t happened. Because they’d both died before the process could be completed.
So, why would Nicky steal files from the place now?
“You’re either going to give those files to me now, or I’ll start putting bullets in you,” the man warned her. “I won’t kill you, yet, but I’ll make you wish you were dead.”
Every word of that threat put Holden on higher and higher alert, and he had to move fast.
Still trying to keep quiet, Holden hurried to the end of the hall and peered into the living room. Nicky was still by the front door, and there was a man between Holden and her. And yeah, the guy had a gun pointed right at her.
Nicky didn’t say a word, but her eyes widened just a fraction when she saw Holden, and the man must have noticed even her slight reaction. He pivoted, taking aim at Holden.
The thug fired.
Not a loud blast. He was using a silencer on his gun.
Holden jumped out of the way just in time, and the bullet tore through a chunk of the wall.
“Get down,” Holden shouted to Nicky, but she was already doing just that.
She scrambled behind the sofa. It wouldn’t give her much cover, but Holden was counting on this moron shooting at him instead of her.
And that’s just what he did.
The gunman ducked down beside a chair and fired another shot at Holden. Then, another. The shots wouldn’t be loud enough to get the attention of the neighbors, which was a good thing. Holden didn’t want bystanders hurrying over to Nicky’s house to check on this.
Whatever this was.
“You want him to die?” the man barked. “Because that’s what’ll happen if you don’t tell him to get the hell out of here.”
Holden wasn’t going anywhere. He dropped lower to the ground, leaned out and fired a shot at the guy. However, before Holden could even tell if he’d hit him, all hell broke loose.
There was the sound of something metal clanking onto the floor, and a few seconds later, tear gas began to spew through the room. The effects were instant. Holden’s gray eyes burned like fire, and he started to cough. He could hear Nicky having a coughing fit, too.
But not the man.
Maybe he’d brought a gas mask or something because Holden heard him take off running, and saw him bolt out the back door.
Even though he was coughing too hard to catch his breath, Holden hurried after the guy, but he’d only made it a few steps when Nicky called out to him.
“Let him go. We have to leave now.” Covering her mouth with her hand, she staggered her way to him, caught him by the wrist and led him toward the side entrance to the garage.
“Landon will be here soon,” he choked out.
“We don’t have time to wait around for him. Please, we need to go.”
Holden didn’t fight her as they’d gone into the garage because he welcomed the fresh air. Also welcomed getting into her car since he didn’t want to be standing out in the open with that gunman still out there. But he did clamp his hand over hers when she tried to drive away.
“What the hell’s going on?” he demanded. “Who was that man and what files did you steal?”
Nicky shook her head, fighting to get his grip off her, but Holden held on.
“The people at Conceptions Clinic did some very bad things. There are babies in danger,” Nicky said, her breath shivering. “And one of them is our nephew.”
Chapter Two
Nicky knew that Holden had plenty of questions, but she couldn’t wait any longer. That gunman who’d broken into her house was no doubt on the way to the person who hired him.
And that person might move the baby before she could get to him.
“We have to get out of here fast,” she reminded him.
Even though Nicky was still coughing, she threw the car into Reverse and gunned the engine despite the fact that Holden still had his hand gripped around hers.
Nicky didn’t look at him. Partly because she was trying to maneuver her car out of the garage. Hard to do that, though, with him holding on. He finally let go.
“Start talking,” Holden insisted. He, too, was still coughing and rubbing his eyes. “I want answers, and I want them now.”
Easier said than done. There were a lot of pieces to this puzzle, some that could get her arrested, but the only one that mattered right now was the baby. Nicky had failed her sister in so many ways, but she couldn’t fail this time.
“Who was that man?” Holden added when she didn’t say anything.
“A hired thug. I don’t know his name, but I’m sure he’s already told his boss what happened.”
And what had happened was that things had just fallen apart. Nicky had thought she had more time, hours at least, to come up with a plan. But time had just run out.
She couldn’t help herself. The tears came, and she tried to fight them back. The tears wouldn’t save Annie’s baby. Right now, she had to focus and get to the hotel as soon as possible.
“Where are we going?” Holden demanded, and he took out his phone and texted someone.
Probably one of his cousins or brothers. They were all lawmen, and under different circumstances, they might be able to help. But in this case, they could make things much, much worse.
“The Victorian bed-and-breakfast about ten miles from here.”
“The place out in the middle of nowhere?” he asked.
She nodded. “I’m pretty sure that’s where they’re holding the baby.”
Holden cursed and sent another text. “There’d better be a damn good explanation as to why you’re pretty sure about that. And there’d also better be an equally good explanation as to why you told me Emmett and Annie had a baby.”
It was hard to think with everything racing through her mind, with her heart racing, too, but she tried. Sometime in the next five minutes she needed to convince Holden that he had to help her.
“This all started when I was investigating the missing senator, Lee Minton,” she said. “I found out he and his wife had gone to Conceptions Fertility Clinic around the same time as Emmett and Annie. So, I went to Conceptions, too, not expecting to find much, but they stonewalled me. That made me push even harder to find out what they were hiding.”
He mumbled, “Right.” Probably a dig at the fact that she usually pushed too hard. Sometimes, with deadly consequences.
“And what they were hiding was a baby? Emmett and Annie’s baby?” There was a boatload of skepticism in his voice.
Once, she’d been plenty skeptical, too. If she hadn’t been, if she’d jumped on this earlier, they might not be racing to save a child.
“Yes, their baby,” Nicky affirmed. “And don’t ask why they did all of this because I don’t know. Not yet anyway. But I think it might somehow be connected to the senator’s disappearance.” But she could be a long way from figuring how exactly.
“Senator Minton?” he asked, though he probably wasn’t asking for clarification but was rather puzzled as to how Minton would play into this. The answer was maybe he didn’t, but the senator had been missing for two weeks now, and it was while looking for him that she’d stumbled on to Conceptions.
“Yes, Senator Lee Minton,” she confirmed.
“How are you sure of any of this?” Holden snapped.
Oh, he was not going to like this. “I hacked into the clinic’s computer and copied some files,” she added. “Hacked into the senator’s computer, too, and then I put a listening device in Conceptions Clinic.”
Now, Holden’s cursing got a whole lot worse. For good reason. Because she’d just rattled off enough crimes to put her in jail. But she’d had an even better reason to do this.
To save Annie’s son.
“That’s what the thug was talking about,” Holden snarled. “Where are the files and what’s in them?”
Nicky decided to skip the where part and move to the what. Just in case the thug had managed to turn the tables on her and bug her car.
“The ones I copied from Conceptions were marked ‘the Genesis Project,’” she explained. “No names were connected with them, just case numbers, and when I looked at one, I figured out from the dates that the case number was Annie and Emmett’s.”
She’d tell him about the other info in them later. For now, Nicky focused on taking the road to the B and B.
“I don’t know who did it, but someone stole Annie and Emmett’s embryo and implanted it into a surrogate. And last week, the surrogate gave birth to a boy.” Nicky turned off her car’s headlights as she approached the B and B, and she pulled off the road, parking behind some trees.
Holden shook his head, stayed quiet a moment. “Could be it was a mix-up. Or maybe the embryo was donated to another couple who used a surrogate?”
Mercy, she wanted to latch onto that and believe it. “Then, why did that man just threaten me?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you stole more than one set of files or pissed off more than just these people. Or it could have something to do with why the FBI wants to arrest you.”
Even if it was true, it was still too big of a risk to let them move the baby. Of course, Holden might not believe there was a baby. He soon would, though.
“Who’s inside that place?” he asked.
“Probably more men like the one who came to my house tonight.” Hired guns to protect very precious cargo until they could get her father to pay up. “Look, I don’t have time to explain all of this, but if they move the baby, we might never find him.”
She didn’t voice her greatest fear, that the goons inside might try to harm him so there’d be no proof of what they’d done.
“What if there really is a baby inside?” he went on. “How would we even know if it’s Emmett and Annie’s?”
She motioned toward her hair. “According to what I heard from the eavesdropping device, he’s a ginger.” Not exactly rare but at least it was something like Annie and me. Besides, she thought she might recognize her own sister’s child.
“You have backup on the way?” she asked.
Holden nodded. “It’s Landon. I told him to do a silent approach.” He tipped his head to the house. “If the guy who was at your house had already contacted them, they could shoot us on sight.”
“No. They want me alive so I can tell them where the files are. That’s why he didn’t kill me right away when he barged his way into my house.” Not exactly a reminder to steady her nerves. Of course, her nerves hadn’t been steady in a long, long time.
Nicky eased open the door, but Holden stopped her.
“I’m not letting you go in there,” he insisted.
“They want me alive,” Nicky repeated. “They’ll want you dead. If anyone should go in there, it’s me. But I need you...well, if something goes wrong, I need you to get the baby out.”
Holden took hold of her again, and this time he didn’t let go. “You’re not going in there. Wait here. And so help me, if you disobey that order, I’ll arrest you myself.”
But he’d no sooner said that when someone opened the back door of the house. The place had a wraparound porch, and while the front was well lit, the back wasn’t. Probably on purpose. Because Nicky saw something she didn’t want to see.
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.
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