JOSH (7 page)

Jaycee and Josh exchanged glances. “Any proof of that?” Josh pressed.

“Only her past behavior. I figure Sierra was plenty angry when she didn’t get the blackmail money from Bryson. That’s about the time she drained the rest of her trust fund, and I think she did it to set up this operation.”

Josh looked at Bryson to see what he thought of this, but the man certainly didn’t deny it.

“Find Sierra and the baby,” Bryson said, standing. “If she’s guilty, put her in jail, but the child is mine.”

Grayson stepped in front of the man before he could leave. “If you get another ransom demand, I want to know about it.”

Bryson stared at him, the muscles stirring in his jaw, and he finally nodded. “Just don’t do anything to endanger that baby.”

Bryson left both the photo and the ransom demand on the table and walked out. Valerie started after him, but then stopped right in front of Jaycee.

“If Sierra contacts you for any reason, don’t believe a word she says.” And with that not-so-sisterly warning, Valerie left, too.

“I’ll bag the ransom letter,” Grayson said the moment she was gone. “Doubt we’ll get anything from it, though, since it was in Bryson’s pocket.”

Josh agreed, but it was still something that should be done. Grayson left to get the evidence bag, but Jaycee and he stayed put, staring at the photo.

“This baby seems awfully important to Bryson,” she commented.

Yeah, and Bryson hadn’t talked about his love for the child, so maybe something else was going on. Josh fired off a text to his cousin, FBI agent Kade Ryland, and asked him to do some digging into Bryson’s background and marriage.

“So Bryson could be a suspect,” Jaycee concluded. “What exactly was there about him in the laptop recovered from the baby farm?”

“No mention of a ransom demand or a connection to a possible captive, that’s for sure. It appeared to be some kind of payment to Bryson.”

“Payment
to
him?” she questioned.

“Or it could be a falsified payment to make him look guilty. Grayson didn’t want to bring it up yet until we know exactly what it is. We didn’t want to give Bryson time to come up with some kind of explanation before we spring it on him. If he lies, then we’ll have cause to arrest him.”

She made a sound to indicate she was giving that some thought. “Any way to match it to money deposited into his account?”

“Accounts,”
Josh corrected. “The man has dozens of them. We got the court order to look at them, but it’s going to take a while to go through all of them.”

And that was time that Josh didn’t want to spend with Jaycee standing around the sheriff’s office. Yes, they had three lawmen in the place, but he preferred her at the ranch where someone couldn’t just come walking in the door.

Like those three guards who’d escaped.

Josh motioned for her to follow him down the hall and toward the back exit where he’d parked. “I need to apologize,” he said, keeping his voice low so they wouldn’t be overheard.

She didn’t ask the reason for the latest apology, which meant she knew he was talking about that near kiss. Jaycee only nodded. “Our bodies are having a hard time remembering we’re enemies.”

Not good. One of them should be sane about this. And besides, they weren’t enemies. He was just having a hard time forgiving her.

The baby was helping with that.

Hard to be angry at the woman carrying his child.

“Call me if you find out anything,” Josh told Grayson, and Jaycee and he headed out.

As he’d done on the trip in, Josh checked the parking lot and Main Street to see if there was anyone or anything suspicious, but it looked like a normal weekday in Silver Creek. Still, he hurried to get Jaycee into the truck, and then drove away. However, he’d gone less than a half mile when his phone rang.

It was Grayson. And that meant something big had probably come up for him to call so soon. Even though it could be something neither of them wanted to hear, he decided to put the call on speaker.

“I just talked to Nate,” Grayson said the moment Josh answered.

“That’s Grayson’s brother,” Josh explained to Jaycee. “Nate’s a lieutenant with the San Antonio P.D.”

“Yeah. And he had some info on Bryson,” Grayson continued. “Get this—talk around town is that Bryson needs an heir to collect the rest of his family fortune, and his wife is infertile.”

“Well, that explains why Bryson wanted the baby.” Josh shook his head. “But it doesn’t explain his relationship with Sierra. Certainly, someone with his bank accounts could have found someone more reliable to give birth to his child.”

“You’d think,” Grayson agreed. “Nate’s checking into the possibility that Bryson hired Sierra as a surrogate. Maybe one connected to the black-market baby operation.”

“And that’s why Bryson’s name would have been in the laptop,” Jaycee concluded. “However, it doesn’t explain why someone at the baby farm would be paying Bryson.”

Josh was about to agree, but something caught his attention. A dark blue van. He’d noticed it and four other vehicles trickling by on Main Street when he’d pulled out of the parking lot.

Now it was two cars behind him.

“Is something wrong?” Jaycee said, obviously noticing his glances in the rearview mirror. She turned in the seat to look, too.

“It’s probably nothing.” Josh took the turn toward the ranch. The car immediately behind him went straight, but the van turned.

So maybe it was really something.

“I need you to run a license plate.” And Josh relayed the numbers to Grayson.

Waited.

He tried to give Jaycee a reassuring look, but was certain he failed. After everything she’d been through, he doubted a mere look was going to reassure her of anything anyway. Her breathing had already kicked up, and the pulse was jumping on her throat.

“Where are you?” Grayson said several moments later.

“Just outside of town, about ten miles from the ranch. Why?”

“I’m sending someone your way now, and I’ll alert everyone at the ranch.” Grayson’s words were rushed together. “Because the license plate is fake.”

Chapter Eight

“Fake,” Jaycee repeated under her breath.

Not just switched plates, but ones that someone had created with bogus numbers so the cops couldn’t identify who owned the vehicle. She doubted it was a coincidence that a van with fake plates would just happen to be heading toward the Ryland ranch at the same time as Josh and her.

“Slide down lower in the seat,” Josh instructed.

She did, but Jaycee also opened the glove compartment and took out the Colt revolver. Beside her, Josh drew his weapon, too. That didn’t help steady her nerves, but Jaycee knew it was necessary.

“I can’t turn around,” he told her. “The road’s too narrow.”

Yes, and he’d have to slow down to even attempt it. Right now, the van was keeping a safe distance behind them, and maybe it’d stay like that all the way to the ranch.

Jaycee lifted her head just enough to look in the side mirror so she could try to see who was in the van. The windows were heavily tinted, but she waited until the sunlight speared through some clouds. She could only see shadows, but that was enough.

“There are two people in the front seat,” she said. Of course, there could be others in the back.

Sweet heaven.

Were these the guards who’d escaped?

If so, they’d likely come either to kidnap her and take her back to a baby farm or kill her because they didn’t want her using any info she might have learned about them. Either way, she’d put Josh right in the middle of this.

And he might not be ready for it.

Josh was suffering from PTSD. She was sure of that. But Jaycee had no idea how that would affect them if they came under a full attack with someone actually shooting at them at close range. Heck, she had no idea how it would affect
her.
She wasn’t the agent she used to be, and the baby had to come first. She had to protect her child, and that meant protecting herself.

“The turn’s just ahead,” Josh pointed out. “We’re about five miles from the ranch now.”

Five miles might as well be a million if the people in that van were out to attack them. Still, with each passing second, they got closer to the ranch where there would be backup. Plus, Grayson had someone on the way coming from the opposite direction. Both measures might be needed.

Without warning, the van sped up, the tires squealing on the asphalt. And it would have crashed right into them if Josh hadn’t sped up, too. Josh cursed and corrected the steering wheel to keep them in their lane.

The van sped up again.

Josh couldn’t go any farther to the right because there was a deep ditch filled with water from the spring rains. The tires would just bog up and make them sitting ducks. The only option they had was to continue ahead and hope they made it to the ranch before things went from bad to worse.

“Stay down,” Josh reminded her.

Just as the van moved into the oncoming lane.

Jaycee dropped down even farther, but she shifted the gun into position so she could shoot if necessary.

Her heart slammed against her ribs when the van was dead even with them. The side window had a dark tint. Too dark for her to see inside. She braced herself for the passenger to lower the window so he could shoot into the truck.

But he didn’t.

The van sped ahead of them, as if it was just passing them, and then it moved back into the right lane.

Jaycee blew out the breath that she’d been holding and glanced at Josh. He had a fierce grip on both the steering wheel and his gun, and his attention was still pinned to the van.

“Call Grayson,” Josh instructed, giving her his phone.

“Are you two all right?” Grayson asked the moment he answered.

“So far.” She put the call on speaker.

The van remained at a steady speed ahead of them, and even though it was menacing because of those bogus plates, this could turn out to be nothing. Maybe someone with criminal intentions that didn’t involve them or just some kind of mix-up with the plates at the DMV.

And Jaycee desperately wanted to believe that.

“Mason’s on the way from town,” Grayson continued. “Dade’s on the way from the ranch. Both should be there soon.”

She didn’t know who Dade was, but she figured it was another Ryland brother, since there were six of them and they were all lawmen. Jaycee ended the call with Grayson and felt the minutes and the miles click off in her head.

Nothing happened.

But that didn’t last long.

Just ahead, she saw the flash of brake lights on the van. It slowed, and Josh followed suit, slowing, too. And then the driver of the van slammed on his brakes, turning the vehicle until it was sideways on the road.

Directly in front of them.

Josh cursed, hit his brakes as well and gave the steering wheel a hard turn to the right. They went into a skid.

It felt as if everything was moving in slow motion. But it was fast, too. It all happened in the blink of an eye. Josh’s truck kept moving closer and closer, and Jaycee braced herself for the collision that would crush Josh against the side of the van.

But somehow, Josh managed to stop the truck just inches from the other vehicle.

Jaycee didn’t have time to feel any relief.

The new position put them window to window with the van. It would be the perfect time for anyone inside to start shooting. Josh couldn’t drive to the left, right or straight ahead. But he threw his truck into Reverse and slammed his foot on the accelerator, speeding away from the vehicle.

Now the van window came down, and she caught a glimpse of the armed man inside, who was wearing a mask. He lifted his gun. Aimed.

Not at her.

But at Josh.

However, Josh ducked to the side just as the bullet slammed into the windshield. The blast tore a gaping hole in the glass. But even over the roar of the blast, she heard a welcome sound.

Sirens.

They were coming from the direction of town, which meant Mason was nearly there. She prayed he got there in time to stop this attack.

The driver of the van no doubt heard the sirens, too. He turned the vehicle and came right at them. No shots. But while Josh continued to drive in Reverse, he took aim through the hole in his windshield, and he fired. Not once but three times. The noise was deafening, and when Jaycee felt the baby kicking, she put her hands over her stomach to try to muffle the sounds.

Jaycee heard the squeal of brakes and glanced over the dash to see the van come to a stop. There were holes in their windshield, too, so maybe Josh had managed to hit the driver.

But she rethought that.

This part of the road was wider, and the van turned around right in the middle, clipping the ditch. The left tires barely missed going into the boggy water. And the moment the driver had the vehicle facing away from the truck, he put the pedal to the metal.

No!

They were getting away.

* * *

I
T
TOOK
EVERYTHING
inside Josh not to go after those men in the van. They’d clearly tried to kill him, and in doing so, they had endangered Jaycee and the baby. He wanted to beat both of them to a pulp for doing that and then arrest them so he could force the answers out of them about the location of those missing women and the baby farms.

But going after them would put Jaycee at further risk.

Josh had no choice but to stop his truck and ease onto the narrow shoulder. The first thing he did was look at Jaycee to make sure she was okay. She was pale and shaking, her hands still covering her stomach, but she was unharmed.

Well, physically anyway.

This would be another set of images to add to the nightmares she was already having.

Josh looked in his rearview mirror and saw Mason approaching in the cruiser. The blue lights were whirling, and the noise got louder until he came to a stop beside the truck.

“There are at least two of them,” Josh relayed. He tipped his head to the windshield. “They’re obviously armed.”

“Grayson’s right behind me. Get Jaycee back to the ranch,” Mason said, and he took off after the van.

Josh figured if anyone could catch those men, it’d be Mason, and since he couldn’t help his cousin, he threw his truck into gear and started driving.

“You think that man who fired at us was one of the escaped guards?” Josh asked.

Jaycee nodded, brushed some of the pellets of safety glass off her lap and sat up. “Hard to tell, but I’m betting it was.”

Yeah, he would bet that, too. Except maybe if this operation was as big as the laptop files led them to believe, then there was no telling how many guards there were.

And how many more attacks there would be.

“These guys seem hell-bent on getting you back. But why?” Josh pressed, though he didn’t expect Jaycee to have the answer.

“It can’t be something as simple as they don’t want me spilling anything about their operation. If it was just that, why aim at you? Why not just kill me?”

The thought of that turned his stomach. But it was a valid question. The guards had likely wanted him out of the picture so they could take Jaycee alive, force her to be a captive again and then steal the baby once she’d delivered.

Josh was trying to deal with that thought when he saw Dade just ahead. His cousin was in his own truck, but it had a portable siren attached, and he slowed as Josh’s truck approached him.

“Mason’s in pursuit, going west of the farm road,” Josh explained to Dade.

“I’m headed there now.” And that was the only thing Dade took the time to say before his truck went racing after his brother.

Jaycee gently rubbed her hands over her stomach. It was a soothing motion, but it didn’t seem to be working. She looked ready to lose it.

“Maybe the person running the baby farms has a buyer for my baby. Maybe that’s why they want me alive.” Her voice quivered over the last words.

And Josh’s stomach turned again.

He hated the thought of someone using his baby to make money—especially money from a buyer who had heaven knows what in mind when it came to adopting a child. That was why he had to stop these guys, and maybe his Ryland cousins would be able to do that.

Before he even got to the cattle gate at the ranch, he saw the armed hands guarding the road. They waved him through and then closed the gate. Of course, someone could still cut through the miles and miles of pasture, but the ranch hands were out there, too. And more were surrounding the main house.

No kids on the playground today. Thank God they were all tucked safely inside.

Josh drove straight to his barn apartment where there was another armed ranch hand nearby, and got Jaycee up the steps as fast as he could.

And the waiting began.

Neither of them sat down. Too many nerves for that. Jaycee started to pace, and Josh just leaned his back against the door and tried not to lose hope. His cousins had to find these men so the threats would stop.

Her pacing continued for several minutes, but then she jerked to a stop, and her gaze flew across the room toward him. “I didn’t even think to ask. But did all of this cause you to have flashbacks?”

It had. Some bad ones, too. But Jaycee had enough demons to battle without adding to the mix.

“I’m okay,” he settled for saying. Not quite a lie. Not quite the truth, either. Josh tipped his head to her hands that were still on her belly. “What about you? You need to see a doctor?”

“No,” she answered the second he finished the question. “But I think the noise from the shots bothered the baby. It’s kicking a lot.”

That sent a jolt of concern through him. Josh hadn’t even considered something like that. He took out his phone. “I’ll call the doctor.”

“No,” Jaycee repeated, and she made it across the room to him before he could press the numbers. “It’s all right, really. The baby’s already settling down.” And she took his hand and put it on her stomach.

Josh felt a jolt of a different kind. Soft thumps against his hand. For such a small thing, it sure packed an emotional punch. That was his baby in there, moving around and maybe scared from the gunshots.

As he’d seen Jaycee do, he rubbed his hand over the movements. Then he realized what he was doing. It wasn’t just his baby he was feeling.

But also Jaycee.

He lifted his head. Met her gaze. There was no fear in her eyes this time, but there was some kind of connection between them because of the baby.

Or maybe it was something else.

After studying her, he was leaning toward
the something else.

Jaycee’s mouth parted; her breath was slow and warm. Like the look she suddenly got in her eyes. And he caught her scent. Not the sweat and fear from the attack. But something feminine and fiery hot.

Okay, that last one was probably his imagination.

Or wishful thinking.

Because he was suddenly having some fiery-hot thoughts about her.

He could blame it on the adrenaline, but Josh was suddenly in the mood to make another huge mistake. And he dived right in. He slid his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her to him. In the same motion, he put his mouth to hers for a kiss that shouldn’t be happening.

He expected Jaycee to push him away. To remind him they shouldn’t be doing this.

She didn’t.

Jaycee made a sound. A soft moan of pleasure, and she slipped her arms around his neck. Worse, she kissed him right back.

Part of this had to be the shot of fear they’d just had from the attack and all that touching he’d done on her stomach. But he was pretty sure the bulk of the kiss was just about the fire that’d always been between them. Josh made that fire a whole lot worse by deepening the kiss.

Jaycee did her own share of deepening, and she eased her body against him. Because of her pregnant belly, it wasn’t possible for them to get as close as he wanted. But, man, did they try. And what had started out as a stupid, really good kiss ended with a bad ache inside him.

She pulled back. Their eyes met again. And he saw the urgent need there for just a split second before they went at each other again. This kiss was deeper and hotter than the first. As if they were starved for each other.