Bodyguard's Baby Surprise (4 page)

“I want a full report about what happened and descriptions of the men,” Agent Rus told her.

She would have bristled at his bossiness. But she understood why he was. He'd been running the police department since coming to River City to clean up the corruption. Apparently he thought she worked for him. But his demand wasn't unreasonable. She intended to do more than fill out a report. She intended to track down the men herself. They wouldn't get away from her again.

“I also want you to come down to the station and look through mug shots,” he said, “if you think you would recognize the men if you saw them again.”

She nodded in agreement. “Sure. I would.”

“I could look at the mug shots, too,” Annalise offered.

Nick shook his head. “You have a concussion. You need to rest. Once the doctor brings your release papers, I'm taking you home.”

Annalise glanced at her again—with that imploring gaze. And Nikki's stomach knotted. She hated to disappoint Annalise, but she didn't want to endanger her, either. “I'd better get going,” she said as she hurried out.

In case her brothers were still in the waiting room, she bypassed it and took the elevator to the underground parking garage. She didn't want to see her family again. She'd already spoken to them once—to assure them that Annalise was all right. They'd been so concerned about her that they hadn't questioned Nikki. And she hadn't looked at them. She didn't want to look at them now. She didn't want to see the
I told you so
on Logan's face, didn't want to see the doubt on Cooper's. She didn't want him second-guessing hiring her.

Tears stung her eyes, blurring the elevator doors. But then they slid open, and she stepped into the parking structure. She had been in such a rush to follow the ambulance to the hospital that she couldn't remember where she'd parked. Which floor had it been?

She walked through the structure, looking for her black coupe. Logan hadn't given her a black SUV like he had everyone else who worked for him—probably because he hadn't wanted bad guys blowing her up when they meant to blow up one of her brothers instead.

She uttered a regretful sigh as she remembered the men who'd lost their lives when one of their SUVs had exploded. Someone had been trying to kill Parker and had nearly succeeded. Tears stung her eyes again, and she blinked furiously. When her vision cleared, she realized what she'd found. Not her coupe but
them
.

Nikki had known she would recognize the men if she saw them again. Unfortunately they glanced up, furtively—from the black SUV they were trying to jimmy open—and saw her.

They clearly recognized her, as well. She reached for her weapon—realizing too late that she'd locked it in the glove box because she'd known she wouldn't make it past hospital security with it.

So she was unarmed and outnumbered.

Chapter 3

N
ick cursed himself for not just leaving his SUV parked illegally outside the emergency room entrance. He should have exercised his authority, so that security wouldn't have dared to have his vehicle towed away. But he hadn't been thinking after Logan's call. He'd been so anxious to get to her—so anxious to see Annalise for himself. He'd pulled into the first available spot in the garage and run up the stairs to the ER. Now he struggled to remember where he'd parked.

He didn't want to leave Annalise alone long—waiting in a wheelchair in the lobby. She'd looked so pale sitting there, so fragile. Even pregnant, she was still slight because of her small frame, narrow shoulders, thin arms and long, slender legs. Dark circles rimmed her green eyes, as if she hadn't been sleeping well because she'd been afraid. Logan had noticed her fear. Nick saw it now, the fear and the vulnerability. Nikki had told him Annalise was tougher than she looked—that she'd saved herself. Of course, she was a Huxton. Gage wouldn't have survived being missing in action for months if he wasn't tough, too.

At least Annalise wasn't alone in the lobby. Or just with hospital security, either. Logan and Cooper stood over her chair, offering more protection than Nick had thought she'd get from some nervous hospital security guard. She was safe.

He wasn't as certain about Logan and Cooper. Annalise was furious. She didn't want to go home with him. And she hadn't wanted to ride in the wheelchair, let alone having to wait in it until he pulled his vehicle up to the lobby doors. His half brothers probably had a fight on their hands to keep her in the chair and make her wait for him.

She might see this as her opportunity to call a cab to take her home to Chicago. Her home was in Chicago; his wasn't. He had never felt as if that house or anyplace else he'd lived was home. The only time he'd ever felt as if he was home was when he'd been with Annalise. When he'd given in to his desire to kiss her, he'd worried that it might have been awkward. They'd known each other so long.

But it hadn't felt awkward. It had felt right and passionate and thrilling. And he hadn't been able to stop. But he'd felt most at home buried deep inside her body.

Had they made a child that night? Twenty-four weeks ago. The doctor had said that was how far along her pregnancy was. However, Annalise had never confirmed her baby was his.

But he knew...

Annalise carried his child. And she hadn't called him. She hadn't told him about the pregnancy. Or that she was in danger.

She probably wouldn't be waiting for him to come back with his vehicle. She had no intention of staying with him. So he quickened his step, running toward his SUV just as he'd run toward the ER earlier.

That was when he heard it—the scream. It wasn't just a shrill cry. It was his name, full of terror and warning. “Nick!”

Someone was in trouble—someone he knew.

* * *

“You're in trouble,” Logan Payne said.

Annalise laid her palms over her belly. “That sounds like something my grandmother would say.”

His face, so similar to Nick's, reddened. “I wasn't talking about your pregnancy.”

“Then how do you mean I'm in trouble?”

Did he know how deeply she loved Nick? And how unlikely it was that Nick would ever return her feelings? She had to get over him. If she was going to mend her broken heart, she could never trust him with it. He would only hurt her again.

“Those guys weren't stealing your car,” he said.

“Really?” she asked. And his brother Cooper, who also stood beside her chair, furrowed his brow, mirroring her confusion. “Then why is my car gone?”

If she had it, she would have driven herself back to Chicago—doctor's orders be damned. Or better yet, she would have driven herself to Alaska. She had thought she'd needed Gage. But maybe she needed her mom and dad more.

She would have gone to them before, but she didn't want to put them in danger. Gage could handle it. He could protect her. He had survived being missing in action when everyone else had given him up for dead. She hadn't. She knew her brother was tough. Trying to be like Nick had made him tough.

“You know what I'm talking about,” Logan said.

Unable to hold his gaze, she glanced down at the terrazzo floor of the sun-filled glass lobby. “Have you called Gage?” she asked.

“No,” Cooper answered for Logan.

“Why not?” she asked. She needed her brother—more than she ever had.

Cooper wouldn't meet her eyes.

And she realized why. Concern filled her. She had been so happy—so relieved—he had come back alive that she hadn't considered what condition he might be in. “He's not all right, is he?”

“Physically he's fine,” Cooper assured her.

“And...?”

“Mentally and emotionally, he has some recovering to do yet,” Cooper said. “He'll get there. It just takes time—more time for guys who've been through what he has.”

“Thank you,” she said.

Cooper shrugged off her gratitude. “I haven't gotten him to talk about it. I don't really know what he's been through. The only one who might know is Nick.”

Gage had always gone to Nick—had always told him everything. If Nick knew, why hadn't he told her? Why hadn't he called her? Had he been so determined to avoid her after they'd made love that he hadn't even wanted to call to talk about Gage?

“Thank you for not calling him,” she clarified. “I wouldn't want to add to whatever he's going through.” She couldn't imagine the horrors her brother had endured while he'd been missing. Gage was tough, but everyone had a limit.

“Then you'd better be honest with us about what's been going on with you,” Logan said. “Your getting hurt might be more than your brother could handle.”

He was right. It wasn't that she didn't want to share her troubles with someone. But she wasn't certain whom she could trust.

These were Nick's brothers. She couldn't trust Nick—not after the way he'd treated her. So how could she trust any of them?

“My sister told me what you said when you saw those men jacking your car,” Logan said. “This isn't the first time that's happened.”

“No,” she admitted.

“And it's not the only thing that's happened to you.”

Her head began to pound as other memories rushed in, and she squeezed her eyes shut to block them out.

“Annalise?” Logan prodded her.

They hadn't been raised together, but he reminded her of Nick. Even before he'd become an FBI agent, Nick had always been good at asking questions and finding out information. Perhaps Logan should have been an FBI agent, too. He was a natural interrogator, as well.

And she had never been good at keeping secrets. She parted her lips to speak, but someone shouted. She opened her eyes to see a security guard running up to Nick's brothers.

“You guys are with Payne Protection, right?” he asked.

Both men nodded. “What's wrong?” Logan asked. Because it was clear that something was. The young man was flushed and breathing hard.

“There's a shoot-out in the parking garage! I called 911, but I don't think the police will get here in time. So I need to go down there.” His throat moved as he swallowed hard, obviously afraid. “I need backup.”

Annalise's heart hammered against her ribs. “Nick's in the parking garage.” He'd gone down to get his vehicle to pick her up. Just like her car getting stolen again, it couldn't be a coincidence. Nick had to be involved in that shoot-out.

“I think Nikki's down there, too,” Cooper said.

Logan's face paled, and his hand shook slightly as he reached beneath his jacket—probably for his weapon. But his holster hung empty from his arm. He glanced at her. “I told Nick...”

That he would protect her. She had heard him, and she'd thought it was ridiculous that they thought she needed protection inside the hospital. Obviously they'd been right.

“Go,” she urged him.

He shook his head and turned to Cooper. “You go.”

Cooper was already grabbing the arm of the security guard and pulling him across the lobby.

“Be careful!” Logan called after him. “And make sure they're okay!”

Cooper glanced back and nodded. But he could only do his best—if he arrived in time. Annalise worried that he and the security guard would be too late to help.

Nick couldn't be gone.

She pressed her hands over her belly again. And the baby shifted within her womb. Her child couldn't lose his father before she was even born.

* * *

As Cooper Payne shouldered open the door to the parking garage stairwell, shots reverberated inside the concrete structure. He kept the security guard behind him, shielding him as he would have a Payne Protection Agency client or a fellow serviceman. Fortunately he'd the foresight to leave his weapon with security, so he'd retrieved it before they'd left. He clasped the Glock in both hands, swinging the barrel in each direction he looked.

Where the hell were they? The noise faded to a faint echo as the shots stopped.

His heart stopped, too—for just a second. From his years in combat, he knew why the firing ceased. Because everyone was dead...

His blood chilled, and the hair lifted on his nape. He still kept his hair short, as he had when he'd been enlisted. His brothers wore theirs longer—except for Nick, who had also been a Marine. Nick looked the most like him, and they were nearly the same age.

His half brother was too young to die. Cooper bit the inside of his cheek, resisting the urge to call out to him. To Nikki...

Had she gone down to the parking garage? She hadn't said goodbye. She had simply disappeared from the hospital. Nikki always did that when Nick was around, though. She couldn't handle being near the evidence of their father's betrayal—couldn't stop blaming Nick for what their father had done.

He hoped she had left before Nick had come down for his SUV, and she was safe.

Cooper slowly moved forward, keeping low so he could duck for cover if the firing started again. Because he was staying down, he saw the blood—the droplets of it sprayed across the concrete. Someone had been hit.

How badly? And who?

Then he saw the SUV. Like the Payne Protection company vehicles, it was black, but this one had all the windows shot out, the glass scattered across the concrete like the blood. The government plate on the back confirmed his fears. It was Nick's.

But where the hell was Nick?

He lowered one knee to the ground as he leaned down farther, looking for bodies on the other side of the vehicle. He found more blood—small pools of it. Maybe more than one person had been hit since there was blood on both sides of the SUV.

As he looked around, he noticed a Payne Protection vehicle parked nearby—not one of the black SUVs but Nikki's small coupe. He recognized it from the furry pink dice hanging from the rearview mirror.

The former cops—Logan and Parker—gave her so much crap about those dice. They had warned she might get a ticket for obstructed vision. Nikki probably didn't even like them, but she was too stubborn to remove them now. She was too stubborn to give in.

Even if she'd had the chance to drive off, she would have stood her ground. She would have fought to prove herself. That was why Cooper had hired her for his team. He wanted to convince her to believe in herself.

“What the hell happened here?” the security guard wondered aloud, his voice unsteady with fear.

Cooper shook his head. He hadn't holstered his weapon. He gripped it tightly as he moved around the coupe to the passenger side. The door hung open, and so did the glove box. A box of ammo lay on the concrete next to some spent shells. And some more broken glass. The rear window was broken, and bullets had dented the trunk.

He looked again at the ground—looked for the blood he'd found around the SUV. The search must have distracted him, because he heard a gun cock—a gun too close to him. How the hell had someone gotten the jump on him?

He swung around, pointing his gun barrel behind him—into the pale face of his little sister. His breath shuddered out. “Are you all right?”

She nodded. But she was trembling. So badly that she nearly dropped her gun when she lowered it. “I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you.”

He didn't care that she'd pointed the gun at him. “Were you hit?” he asked.

Her curly hair was usually messy, but it nearly stood on end now—almost as if someone had pulled it. There was a red mark on her cheek that would undoubtedly become a bruise, and her sleeve had nearly been torn free of her jacket. She'd been in a hell of a fight.

Concern and anger both gripped him. He wanted to make sure she was okay even while he wanted to rip someone apart—whoever had hurt her.

“We need to get you to the ER.” He holstered his weapon now and reached for her. He would carry her there—like he'd carried other soldiers from combat. Nikki looked like she'd been to war.

She stepped back and shook her head. “I'm okay,” she said. But her voice cracked on the claim, and her brown eyes glistened as tears pooled. “Thanks to Nick.”

Cooper tensed. That might have been the first time she'd referred to their half brother by his first name.

“Where's Nick?” he asked, and his voice cracked now as he remembered all the blood he'd found. Had that been Nick's blood?

Nikki shook her head. “I don't know...but I think he got hit.”

The blood had been Nick's—at least some of it.

A tear slipped between her furiously blinking lashes and trailed down the red mark on her cheek. “We need to find him.”

Depending on where he had been hit, they might not have much time to find him and get him help before it was too late.

Before Nick couldn't be saved...