JOSH (10 page)

“If Jaycee isn’t with you,” Miranda finally said, “you won’t even see me. Because if she’s there, I know it won’t be some kind of trap.”

Josh muttered some profanity. “Then tell me who’s behind the baby farms.” Yeah, he wanted to rescue Miranda—if she truly needed rescuing, that is—but he didn’t want to do that at Jaycee and the baby’s expense.

“The only way I’ll tell you that is when I’m face-to-face with you and Jaycee. If you want to know the truth, then I’ll see you both in two hours.”

And with that, Miranda hung up.

“You’re not going,” Josh said to Jaycee before she could launch into that argument he could still see brewing.

“Hey, get away from there,” Gage called out.

Josh threw open the door to see what had caused Gage to say that, but Bryson and Valerie were no longer in the hall. They were right outside the office door.

And judging from their thunderstruck expressions, they’d heard every word about the meeting with Miranda.

Chapter Eleven

“The call wasn’t about Sierra,” Josh snarled at Bryson and Valerie. “And it’s time for both of you to leave.”

Jaycee agreed. Josh and she needed to make plans for that meeting with Miranda, and she didn’t want to do that with Bryson and Valerie lurking around.

But neither moved despite the fact that Gage was charging right at them.

“You found another hostage,” Bryson mumbled. “And this woman knows who took her and the others.” He latched on to Josh’s arm. “I have to go with you to that meeting. I have to find out who’s responsible, because these people might have taken Sierra again.”

“No,” Gage argued. “What you have to do is leave now. And if you don’t, I’ll arrest you on the spot.”

“You can’t do that,” Valerie fired back. “This woman might be able to tell us about Sierra.”

Gage didn’t say another word. He just took out his handcuffs and put Bryson against the wall. Bryson didn’t go willingly, and he started to curse. When the man struggled to get away, Gage used his forearm to slam him harder against the wall.

“Stop this!” Valerie yelled.

But Gage didn’t stop. Neither did Josh. He also grabbed some cuffs from the shelf in Grayson’s office and went after Valerie.

“Okay, we’re leaving,” she snapped, holding up her hands in a back-off gesture. “But this isn’t over.”

Gage didn’t stop cuffing Bryson until Josh gave the nod, and when Bryson whirled around to face Josh and her, there was pure venom in his eyes.

“Like Valerie said, this isn’t over,” Bryson repeated through clenched teeth. “And if you think it is, you’re dead wrong.”

A chill went through Jaycee. “As far as I’m concerned, your business is finished here,” Gage fired back.

The staring match lasted just a few long moments, but Valerie and Bryson finally got moving toward the front door—while they tossed out some profanity. However, Bryson gave them one last glare from over his shoulder. Gage glared back, and he shut and locked the door behind them.

“I’m betting they’ll try to follow us to the meeting,” Jaycee said.

“Us?”
Josh challenged.

Jaycee groaned. Josh was going to give her a hassle about going.

“You heard what Miranda said. She’ll only talk to both of us.” And because it was important, Jaycee stepped in front of Josh and forced him to look at her so he could hopefully see the determination on her face.

But he only dropped his gaze to her stomach. Josh didn’t have to say a word. That little glance was her reminder that going to the meeting could put the baby in danger.

“I’m not stupid. I know it’s risky, but together we could minimize the risks and still find Miranda.” Hopefully, she’d be safe and ready to spill everything about who was behind the baby farms.

Josh shook his head. “Minimizing the risks still means there’ll be risks.”

“Heck, it’s a risk with me just being here. Or anywhere. The sooner we get answers, the sooner the risks will disappear.”

She hoped.

But Jaycee had to admit that an operation like this might have many heads.

Nevertheless, it would feel good to get one of those heads off the street and in jail. And besides, one arrest could lead them to another. Then all of them could come toppling down until they got to the idiot who had orchestrated this operation.

Josh drew in a weary breath and sat down on the edge of the desk. Jaycee thought he was beginning to bend just a little, and she was about to propose a plan, but before she could utter a word of it, Josh’s phone rang.

“It’s Kade,” he said, glancing at the screen.

Kade, his cousin in the FBI. Jaycee really hoped this wasn’t bad news and that it’d be a short and sweet conversation, because Josh and she had a lot of details to work out. That included her convincing him that she had to be part of that meeting.

“I’ve found some interesting stuff on Bryson Hillard,” Kade said when Josh answered. “Thought you’d like to know right away.”

“I do,” Josh assured him, and he checked the time. “Just make it fast. Jaycee and I have a lot on our plate right now.” It was still an hour and forty-five minutes until the meeting with Miranda, which didn’t give them much time to get ready.

Or for her to convince Josh why she should go.

“We ran the financials on Bryson,” Kade started. “No red flags, but we got one from a criminal informant. A reliable one, too. He says Bryson has some gambling debts and he owes money to the wrong people. And that those wrong people are sucking huge weekly payments from him to cover the loan.”

Jaycee had to mentally repeat that. “But Bryson’s rich,” she pointed out.

“Yeah,” Kade agreed. “But his wife controls most of the money. It’s hers, not his, and she’s not keen on shelling out cash for her husband’s gambling debts. She gave him his annual allowance at the first of the year. A quarter of a million. But it appears he’s already gone through the bulk of that.”

Wow, that certainly hadn’t come up in any of their conversations, and it got the wheels turning in her head. Especially after she remembered his steely glare and the threat he’d issued just minutes earlier.

“If he’s not getting the money from his wife to pay off the gambling debts,” Josh asked, “then where’s it coming from?”

“Not sure,” Kade quickly answered. “He’s not pulling it from any of his private accounts. Not enough money in them for that. Of course, he could have some account that he’s managed to keep hidden.”

That was possible, of course. If he was illegally gambling, then he could have some other illegal way to earn some income.

“What if Bryson is the one who set up the baby farms? He could have used what was left of his yearly allowance to hire the guards and such.” Jaycee was thinking out loud now, and she wasn’t sure all the facts would add up when she was done.

But sadly, it did make some sense.

Desperate people did desperate things, and he could have gotten the idea for the operation after Sierra told him she was pregnant. By kidnapping her, he could contain Sierra and eventually get the child he needed as an heir, all the while kidnapping other pregnant women.

“He could be paying off the debts with the money he gets from selling the babies,” Jaycee added. Which could amount to tens of thousands of dollars.

Both Kade and Josh stayed quiet for several moments, and then Josh nodded. “That would explain why Sierra was taken captive. She was trying to force him to pay for his own baby. This way, he could maybe milk the money from Valerie or even his wife with the promise he’ll pay her back when he collects the rest of his inheritance.”

And if that was true, then it made Bryson a criminal of the worst sort. He was endangering babies and birth mothers—including his own child—for personal gain.

“There’s more,” Kade said, bringing their attention back to him. “I found a red flag on Valerie’s accounts, too. Her sister was right about all those withdrawals. When the dust settles over there, you’ll probably want to bring her in and ask her about them.”

She really didn’t want to have another encounter with Valerie, but now that Kade had verified what Sierra had said, Valerie needed to be interrogated. Jaycee would indeed want to hear what the woman had to say about her finances.

“Were the withdrawals enough to pay for the setup of the baby farms?” Josh asked.

“Could have been. Hard to say just how much an operation like that would need. The rent was very low on the ranch where Jaycee was held. Of course, the name of the lease turned out to be bogus.”

Of course. “Is there anything in the lease agreement that could give us the person’s real identity? Like a signature maybe, or an address?”

“Nothing. The agreement was done over the phone and the documents then faxed to the owner. The renter’s name is Harold Wesson, and there was a fake credit check set up for him prior to the rental agreement. That’s disappeared now.”

Someone had covered their tracks. Still, the person in charge had hired a lot of people. Guards, nannies and even doctors. All of that couldn’t be cheap. And the pay had to have been high enough to keep all these employees quiet. There’s no way these people could have worked on a baby farm and not realized they were doing something illegal.

“The guards where I was held were thugs,” Jaycee told him. “I’m betting they all had criminal records. There was nothing in the rubble to link back to one of them?”

“Nothing,” Kade verified. “The explosion took care of that.”

And that was no doubt the reason the explosive devices had been set. Heaven knows how long they’d been in place. Probably the entire time she’d been held captive. The guards had always threatened that things were rigged to explode, but she’d never seen any proof of it.

“What about the vehicles that were at the baby farm?” Josh asked. “I know they were destroyed in the blast, but were you able to get any of the vehicle identification numbers?”

“Just two, and the first led us back to this alias, Harold Wesson. The truck was a cash purchase, and the seller wasn’t able to give us much of a description. The second one was a vehicle that’d been reported stolen six months ago.”

Jaycee wanted to scream, but she was too tired to waste that kind of energy. It was just so frustrating that this snake hadn’t left more evidence behind.

“What kind of gut feeling do you have about Bryson and Valerie?” Kade asked. “Any chance they could have funded this together?”

“Yes,” Josh and she said in unison.

“They’re too chummy if you ask me,” Josh continued. “And I don’t trust them. Sierra included.”

“Glad you agree, because I need search warrants on both Bryson and Valerie to do any further digging.”

And that reminded Jaycee of something else that was on their to-do list. “What about the search warrant for Sierra’s place?”

“We finally got a signature on it, and agents are on the way over there now to execute it. By the way, any sign of her?”

“None so far, but Grayson and a couple of others are out looking,” Josh answered.

If Sierra was truly innocent in all of this, Jaycee hoped Grayson found her before those guards did.

“Gotta go,” Josh told his cousin. “Let me know if anything turns up in the search at Sierra’s place.” He paused. “And I’ll let you know if anything comes of the meeting I’m about to have with someone claiming to be an escapee from one of the baby farms.”

Now it was Kade’s turn to pause. “You need some backup?”

Jaycee released the breath she’d been holding. Kade could have just threatened to nix the meeting, claiming that this was a federal matter now. Technically, it was. But his offer was the opposite of nixing it.

“I wouldn’t say no to backup,” Josh answered.

“When and where’s the meeting?” Kade asked.

Josh rattled off the details, his gaze coming back to her again. “This woman says if Jaycee doesn’t show up, then neither will she.”

Kade cursed. “I’m guessing you’re more than a little hesitant about that, and Jaycee wants to do it?”

Boy, did he hit the nail on the head.

“Yeah,” Josh finally said.

“Okay,” Kade continued. “There’s an agent in the area taking one last look at the baby farm that was blown up. I’ll get him over to the cemetery right now to secure the perimeter, and I’ll meet him there. If we see anything suspicious, you can get Jaycee out of there fast.”

“Thanks.” Josh ended the call and snapped toward her. “The way I see it, I’ve got three choices. With Grayson and the others tied up with finding Sierra, I could leave you here with Gage and Bree. Take you back to the ranch. Or Gage and Bree can come with us and guard you during the meeting.”

“You know which option I want. And it’s the only one that’s going to get us answers from Miranda.”

He stood there, jaw muscles stirring and his forehead bunched up. “I don’t want to regret this,” he said under his breath.

“Neither do I.” She touched his arm, rubbed gently, hoping it would soothe him. “But I also don’t want any other women held captive if I can do anything to stop it.”

The muscles kept stirring, and she wondered if he was thinking about another rogue investigation. The one that’d nearly gotten him killed before she’d been taken captive.

She wanted to tell him that it wouldn’t happen again, but any reassurance she could give him would only be wishful thinking on her part. Jaycee only knew this was something she had to do.

Without saying anything, Josh went to the front of the building. She couldn’t hear what he told Gage, but it prompted Gage to make a call. Then Gage went back to talk to Bree.

“They’re coming with us,” Josh informed her. “Another deputy will be here soon to cover the office.” He took her by the shoulders and met her eye to eye. “I only want Miranda to get a glimpse of you. You won’t get out of the vehicle. And you won’t take any unnecessary chances. Agreed?”

She nodded.

Josh still didn’t jump to say she could go, but he surprised her when he leaned in, popped a kiss on her cheek.

“Take one of the guns,” he instructed.

Jaycee did. A Glock and some extra ammo. She prayed they wouldn’t need it, but they might not just run into Miranda at the cemetery. The guards could be there, too.

It didn’t take long for another deputy to arrive, and Josh, Bree, Gage and she got into an SUV parked behind the sheriff’s office. By her estimations, they weren’t supposed to meet Miranda for at least another hour, but maybe the woman would arrive early so they could learn the truth, put Miranda in protective custody and get the heck out of there.

With Josh behind the wheel, they drove out of town. And all of them kept watch. She didn’t see any signs of Valerie and Bryson. Nor the guards. She hoped it stayed that way.

The sun was blinding. Already too hot considering it was still spring, and despite the AC running, Jaycee felt the beads of sweat pop out on her forehead. Nerves, maybe. She wasn’t having second thoughts about doing this, but she was afraid. Not just for her baby, but for everyone involved in this tangled mess.

Josh’s phone rang, and without taking his eyes off the road, he pressed the answer button. A moment later, she heard Kade’s voice.

“We’re in place,” Kade said. “I’m on the east side of the cemetery. Agent Seth Calder’s on the west. I can see the road, and he’s got a good view of the woods that aren’t that far away.”