Kidnapping in Kendall County (3 page)

Chapter Three

Rosalie and the nanny barreled up the stairs toward the nursery, but the sound of the blast stopped Rosalie in her tracks.

Oh, mercy.

Had the guards killed Austin?

It didn’t matter that he was essentially her enemy. She didn’t want him shot, especially since he’d been trying to cover for her.

Rosalie hurried into the nursery, running past Janice to get to the window. She braced herself to see a dead Austin lying on the ground, but the only person she saw was Walter. He was crawling back toward the porch. No sign of Austin or the two other guards.

“What’s happened?” the nanny asked, and she scooped one of the sleeping newborns into her arms.

Rosalie shook her head just as she heard another shot. It was so loud that it seemed to shake the entire room.

She managed to get a glimpse of Austin. He was still armed, but he was pinned down near some shrubs on the side of the house. The guards had taken up cover behind what was left of the tractor and hay baler.

“We need to get out of here,” Janice reminded her.

Yes, they did. But Rosalie watched as Austin had to scramble away from yet another shot. He was doing this to give them a chance to escape, but it could turn into a suicide mission for him.

“Let’s go,” Janice pressed. She put both of the tiny babies in a single carrier seat and looped the handle over her left arm.

“Is there another gun in the house?” Rosalie asked.

Janice’s head jerked up. “There’s one on the top of fridge. It’s in the way back, so it’s hard to see and reach. But you can’t be thinking of helping him.”

Yes, that’s exactly what she was thinking. Rosalie wasn’t sure she wanted to trust this woman with the truth about what she was really doing there, but the bottom line was that Austin might be her best bet in finding her daughter. Because it was personal for him, too, since he was on a mission to find his nephew.

Plus, there was the part about his owing her for Eli’s death.

It wasn’t exactly fair to play the guilt card, but she was many steps past being desperate. She’d do
anything
to find Sadie.

“Here,” Rosalie said and pressed the truck keys into the nanny’s right hand. Too bad she didn’t have a phone to give her, as well, but the guards had taken those from them. “The truck’s out front, away from the gunfire. Get the babies out of here.”

“But what about you? The boss said we should leave,” Janice reminded her.

Rosalie ignored that and got Janice moving. Thankfully, the sound of more shots caused the woman to hurry, and they made their way down the stairs and to the front of the house.

“Drive toward the interstate,” Rosalie instructed. “And stop at the first police or fire station you see.”

Janice gave a shaky nod and one last look before she raced out the door and to the truck. Rosalie didn’t wait to watch her leave. She figured the moment the guards heard the roar of the engine that they’d try to stop the nanny from fleeing with the babies.

That couldn’t happen.

Rosalie hadn’t been able to protect her own child from being taken, but she could do something about these two. She went to the kitchen, slapped off the lights and stood on her tiptoes so she could search the top of the fridge.

She found the gun.

It didn’t take long, just a few seconds, before she heard the truck start. The guards heard it, too, and one of them lifted his head, ready to bolt toward the vehicle.

Austin stopped him.

He fired a shot, sending the man back behind the tractor. But he didn’t stay put. The guard and his partner started firing. Nonstop.

All the bullets were aimed at Austin.

Walter kept crawling, coming closer to the house, and Rosalie saw him lift his rifle toward Austin. She wasn’t sure Austin would be able even to see the man, and it was a risk she couldn’t take.

Rosalie didn’t think beyond giving the babies the best possible chance at escape. She opened the kitchen door, and the fridge, as well, so she could use it for cover once she fired.

Walter spotted her right away and pointed the gun at her. However, she pointed her gun right back at him.

And she got off the first shot.

She hadn’t aimed for any particular part of him, but the bullet slammed into either his chest or his shoulder, causing him to drop back to the ground.

God, had she just killed a man?

As horrible as that thought was, it would be worse if Walter had managed to shoot Austin, Janice or the babies.

The other guards cursed at her, and both fired into the house. Even over the sound of those shots and her own heartbeat crashing in her ears, she heard Austin.

“Get down!” he yelled.

Rosalie didn’t do that. She fired another shot at the guards. Austin did the same, and it kept the men pinned down long enough that they weren’t able to stop Janice from escaping. Rosalie caught just a glimpse of the truck taillights as the nanny sped away.

The relief flooded through her.

And the fear.

What if the guards had already managed to call someone to get them out there to the road? And what if they managed to stop the truck? She doubted they would hurt the babies. There was too much money to be made from them.

But they’d kill Janice.

“You’re both gonna die!” one of the guards shouted.

The threat had no sooner left his mouth when Austin fired again. Two shots. One for each guard. And both men dropped to the ground.

Everything seemed to freeze. The cold rain. The echo of those shots. The lifeless guards. Everything except Austin. With his gun still pointed at the guards, he jumped onto the porch and went straight toward her.

“Whoever’s on the other end of the cameras will send someone after us,” Austin warned her. “We have to move fast.”

Rosalie knew he was right, but like the rain and the guards, she felt frozen. Austin helped with that, too. He took her by the arm and ran out of the house with her. Not toward the driveway, where Janice had just driven away. But rather toward another barn that looked ready to collapse under the weight of an old, sagging roof.

“Firing at those guards was stupid,” Austin snarled. “You could have been killed.”

She wanted to argue, wanted to remind him that he could have been killed, as well, but Austin kept her moving. Running. And when he threw open the barn door, she saw the other truck.

“Where’s the nanny?” he asked, shoving her inside the vehicle.

“I told her to drive to a police or fire station.”

If he approved of that, he didn’t say. Instead, he hotwired the truck, fast, the engine roaring to life, and he slammed on the accelerator. The back tires skidded on the wet, slippery ground, but Austin quickly gained control.

“I’ll need to drop you off somewhere.” He spared her a glance before those lawman’s eyes kept watch around them again. No doubt for anyone following them. “I have something I need to do.”

“Something involving this baby farm?”

He didn’t answer her right away. “Yeah.”

There was a lot of emotion in that one-word response. Rosalie didn’t know Austin that well, but she’d been engaged to an FBI agent. Was the sister of one. She knew the personal risks they were willing to take.

“Your cover’s been blown,” she reminded him.

Well, it had been if any of those guards had survived or if the people behind those cameras had been able to figure out what was going on. Heaven knew who was already on the way out to intercept them.

Austin just shook his head. “I have something important to do. Keep watch,” he added, his voice clipped now.

She did. Rosalie kept her gun ready, but that didn’t stop the feeling that Austin was withholding something she needed to know.

“There’s a safe house about ten miles from here,” he explained. “I’ll drop you off there and call someone to come and get you. Seth can put you in protective custody.”

Because she would now be a target. Rosalie didn’t welcome that, but she’d known it was a risk before she’d ever started this.

“Where are you going?” she pressed.

Austin mumbled something she didn’t catch. Cursed. Then, he shook his head. “There’s a second place. Not too far away. Once I have you safe, I can go there.”

It took a moment for that to sink in. “You mean another baby farm?”

“Yeah. It’s a lot bigger than this one. Maybe even the command center for the entire operation.”

Mercy. This was exactly what she’d been looking for. Despite the ordeal of the shooting and the breakneck speed that Austin was driving, Rosalie could feel a glimmer of hope.

“I haven’t been able to get onto the grounds of this second house to access the records,” he continued, “but I know there are babies being held for processing. If the guards heard about what just happened here, they’ll shut down that place and move the babies.”

Austin’s gaze slashed to hers for just a second. “My nephew could be there.”

“And my daughter. Or at least the records to show me where she was taken. I have—”

“I can’t take you with me. It’s too dangerous.”

Rosalie heard the words, and she knew they were true. But that didn’t matter. “I’m going with you. You can’t stop me.”

That brought on some more profanity. “It’s dangerous,” he repeated.

“Do you really think I care about that now or that I want you to care about it?” Despite the high speed, she scooted closer to him, so he could hopefully see the determination in her eyes. “Put yourself in my place.”

Her voice broke. And the blasted tears came. Tears that wouldn’t do Sadie any good, so Rosalie tried to choke them back.

“I have to find my daughter,” she managed to say. “And you’d just be wasting time taking me to the safe house. The guards could be moving the babies and records right now. If that happens, we might never find them.”

Again, no immediate answer. He just volleyed glances among the road, their surroundings and her, but Rosalie saw the exact moment that he realized she was right.

“You’ll stay in the truck,” he snapped. “And don’t make me regret this.”

Rosalie didn’t say anything. Didn’t want to utter a word that would make him change his mind. She only wanted to get to the house and see if her daughter was there.

Or any babies for that matter.

Yes, Sadie was her priority, but she couldn’t bear the thought of any child or parent going through this.

Austin took the next turn off the road. Then, another. Thankfully, he seemed to know exactly where he was going. That would save time, but would it get them there fast enough?

Rosalie remembered the communicator that one of the guards had been wearing when they’d stormed into the cottage and found Austin and her in bed. If the guard had been wearing that during the attack, then someone would have already been alerted to a problem. The people behind this would soon link that problem back to Austin and her.

And Janice.

Rosalie added a quick prayer that the nanny had already made it to safety with the babies. Too bad she didn’t have a way to contact Janice, but maybe they could do that soon.

“Thank you,” she whispered to Austin.

“Don’t,” he snapped like a warning. “Because I’m not doing either of us any favors here.” He paused and, even in the dim light from the dash, she saw his jaw muscles stir. “They’ve killed people, Rosalie. And they’ll kill again.”

That reminder caused her heartbeat to kick up a significant notch, and she thought there was even more that Austin had to say. But he didn’t say it.

He just kept driving.

The rain was coming down harder now, the wipers slashing at the fat drops, but it was still hard to see. It got even harder when Austin turned off his headlights and slowed down. Using just the parking lights to guide them, he turned onto another road, drove about a quarter of a mile and then brought the truck to a stop.

He cursed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, but Rosalie was afraid to hear the answer.

“There should be vehicles.” Austin got his gun ready, opened the door a fraction and looked around them. He killed the parking lights. Inched closer.

Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the silhouette of what appeared to be a large metal barn. Austin was right—no vehicles. No lights, either. The place looked deserted.

He reached over, his hand brushing her leg, and he grabbed a flashlight from the glove compartment. He flicked it on and turned it toward the ground.

That set off another round of profanity.

“There are plenty of tire tracks that have dug into the muddy road,” he relayed. “We must have just missed them.”

No!
It felt as if someone had just clamped a fist around her heart, and Rosalie tried to choke back a sob.

“Maybe they left records.” She hoped so, anyway.

Austin inched the truck closer to the building while he kept the flashlight aimed at the ground. He turned it off only when they reached the front of the barn.

The double sliding metal doors were wide-open, and it was pitch-dark inside. If anyone was lurking in there ready to attack, Rosalie couldn’t see them.

“Get down,” Austin ordered.

She did. Rosalie got onto the floor as Austin drove right into the building.

“Empty,” he mumbled.

But then he hit the brakes.

Rosalie lifted her head to try to see what had captured his attention. It appeared to be a white piece of paper nailed to one of the walls.

Austin turned on the flashlight, pointed it toward the paper, and she saw the words scrawled there.

You’re a dead man, John Mercer.

“John Mercer,” Austin repeated. “That’s the name I’ve been using at the baby farm.”

That hardly had time to register in her head when she heard the slight hissing sound.

“Hold on!” Austin shouted. He threw the truck into reverse and slammed his foot on the accelerator.

Just as the wall of fire shot up in front of them.

Chapter Four

Austin held his breath and prayed that he’d get Rosalie away from the building in time.

The truck bolted through the doors, and the moment they were outside, Austin spun the steering wheel to get them on the road. He hit the gas again and got them moving.

Not a second too soon.

Behind them, the building burst into a fireball.

Obviously, someone had put a hefty amount of accelerant inside, and it’d worked. It wouldn’t take long for anything left inside to be destroyed.

Hell.

These goons were trying to cover their tracks, and in doing so they might have erased the very information that he needed to find his nephew.

“Call 911,” he told Rosalie, tossing her his phone. Austin kept watch around them to make sure they weren’t about to be ambushed. The narrow road was lined with trees on both sides, and that meant plenty of places for the shooters to hide. “Tell them we need the fire department and the locals out here. I want this entire area sealed off.”

Austin wasn’t sure how she managed it because her hands were shaking so hard, but Rosalie made the call. Maybe, just maybe, there might be something left to recover.

“I have to find out if Janice made it to someplace safe,” Rosalie said the moment she finished the 911 call. “Oh, God,” she added in a mumble. “What if the local county cops are in on this?”

“Don’t borrow trouble,” Austin reminded her.

He took his phone, scrolled through the numbers, located the number of his partner at the FBI, and gave the cell back to Rosalie. “Text him. Tell him to BOLO Janice Aiken and that she’s driving a black truck registered to my undercover alias, John Mercer.” Austin rattled off the license plate. “I want him to call me the minute he finds her.”

“BOLO,” she repeated while she wrote the text. “Be on the lookout.”

She’d obviously picked up some cop jargon from Eli or maybe her stepbrother Seth. Austin figured Seth wasn’t going to like Rosalie’s rogue investigation, and Rosalie wasn’t going to like it when Austin called her stepbrother so that Seth could force her to back off. Since she wouldn’t listen to him, he had no choice about doing that.

“These baby thieves know you’ve betrayed them,” Rosalie said after she finished the text.

Yeah, they did. The note proved that.

You’re a dead man, John Mercer.

And while the idiots behind the baby farms probably didn’t know his real identity, it wouldn’t be long before they figured out he was FBI. After all, they had countless images of him from those surveillance cameras.

Of Rosalie, too.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he insisted. Obviously, he was repeating himself, but Austin hoped she realized just how much danger she was in.

“You came,” she pointed out.

Austin tossed her a scowl. The only thing he knew about Rosalie was what Eli had told him. That she was the quiet, shy type who was downright squeamish about his job as a federal agent.

Well, she’d clearly changed
a lot.

This was no quiet, shy woman next to him. Or maybe Rosalie had just managed to put her squeamishness aside so she could find her daughter. Still, that wouldn’t happen if she got herself killed.

“What do we do now?” she asked. “What if there’s no evidence to recover from that building or the baby farm?”

Austin slowed as he approached the junction that would take him back to a main road. “I continue the investigation, and you go home.”

She huffed and would have no doubt argued with him about that if the movement hadn’t grabbed their attention.

Austin was almost at a full stop at the intersection when someone darted out in front of the truck. He automatically pushed Rosalie down onto the seat, and in the same motion, he took aim at the man.

“Don’t shoot!” the man yelled. He had his hands in the air but almost immediately dropped one to his arm. Thanks to the headlights, Austin could see blood on the sleeve of his jacket. “They tried to kill me.”

Austin had a fast debate with himself. He could just drive off and call for someone to come and get the guy. After all, despite that injury, this man could be part of this baby farm operation.

And that’s why Austin lost that mental debate.

Because if he was indeed part of the operation, then that meant he had answers, and Austin wouldn’t get those answers if he allowed him to disappear. Or die.

“Stay down,” Austin warned Rosalie.

Did she listen?

No, of course not.

She lifted her head, and Austin nudged her right back down before he lowered his window.

“I need help,” the man insisted, walking toward the truck.

“Don’t come any closer,” Austin warned him, and he took aim at him. “Who are you?”

“Sonny Buckland. I’m a P.I. from Austin.”

“Send another text to Sawyer Ryland, my partner at the FBI,” Austin told Rosalie. “Have him run this guy’s name and ask him to hurry.” While she did that, Austin pinned his attention to the man. “Open the sides of your jacket so I can see if you’re armed.”

“I’m not,” he insisted, and he winced when he pulled back the side with the blood. “They took my gun when they found me snooping around the place.”

“They?”

“Three armed guards. Big guys. The only reason I managed to escape is because they got a call from someone who told them to get out fast. I ran. That’s when one of them shot me.”

That meshed with what Austin figured had happened. The person monitoring the cameras at the baby farm had likely made the call to let the guards at this place know there’d been a breach in security.

“How do you know I don’t work for those guards?” Austin came right out and asked.

“If you did, you would have already killed me.”

True. But that didn’t mean Austin would blindly trust this guy. The guards could have left him behind with orders to finish off anyone who got near the place.

Sonny clamped his hand over his injured arm and fired nervy glances all around them. “Stating the obvious here, but it’s not safe to hang around. We need to get out of here.”

Austin nodded. “You’re not going anywhere with us until you convince me you’re not working for the baby snatchers.”

“I’m not working for them!” Sonny practically yelled. Then, he groaned, a mixture of pain and frustration. “A client hired me to find his missing pregnant friend. I followed some leads that I got from a criminal informant, and it led me to this place.”

Rosalie made a soft sound of agreement, and even though Sonny’s story meshed with hers about getting the info from a CI, Austin shot them both scowls for inserting themselves into a dangerous investigation. Yeah, he’d done the same thing. And not with authorization, either. But he was a trained agent. Neither of them was.

Of course, Sonny could still be a threat.

“Did you learn who was behind this operation?” Rosalie asked the man. “Did you find any records or anything that could help us locate some missing babies?”

Sonny huffed and made more of those uneasy glances around. He looked on the verge of trying again to press Austin to get him out of there, but maybe he realized the fastest way for that to happen was to give them any info he had.

“I did learn something,” Sonny said. Then, paused. “I think a piece of scum named Trevor Yancy is responsible for at least some of the baby kidnappings.”

Rosalie sucked in her breath, and her hand went to her mouth. Austin tried to rein in any response, but just like that, his thoughts jerked him back to a bad place, a bad time.

Eli’s murder.

Rosalie was no doubt doing the same thing. Because the man Eli and he had been investigating for gunrunning and a whole host of crimes was none other than Trevor Yancy.

“You know Yancy,” Sonny said. Not a question, either.

Obviously Austin hadn’t done a good job of hiding his reaction. No surprise there. Austin was responsible for the way that investigation had turned out, and it had turned out in the worst possible way.

With Eli shot dead by an unknown assailant.

And Yancy a free man.

If Yancy was indeed involved with the baby farms, then the question was why? Was it just another illegal venture on his part, or was there something even more sinister going on here? Something to do with Rosalie and him?

“What makes you think Yancy’s connected to this?” Austin demanded.

Sonny shook his head. “I’ll tell you once we’re out of here. These men will kill us all if they come back.”

Austin couldn’t dispute that, and despite his need for the truth, he could no longer keep Rosalie at the center of this possible danger. He was already responsible for Eli’s death. Best not to add hers to the nightmares that he stood no chance of ever forgetting.

With a firm grip on his gun, Austin opened his truck door, but before he could get out, Rosalie caught his arm. “You’re not going out there.”

For a split second Austin was taken aback by her concern. Her touch, too. But just as quickly as she’d touched him, she pulled away her hand. He realized then that her concern wasn’t aimed at him but rather their situation. If he got shot, her chances of getting out of there and finding her daughter would decrease big-time.

“I’m only going to frisk him,” Austin told her.

He stepped from the truck and did just that. Sonny cooperated, lifting his hands away from his body and wincing in the process.

“No gun, like I said,” Sonny explained. “But I’ve lost some blood.”

Yes, he had, and that meant Austin’s first stop had to be a hospital, and the nearest one was back in the ranching town of Silver Creek. He could leave Rosalie there, as well, since he knew the sheriff and deputies. He doubted Rosalie would like that, but Austin didn’t intend to give her a choice.

“You can ride in the back of the truck.” Austin motioned for Sonny to hop in, and the man did. It was freezing cold and wouldn’t be a pleasant ride, especially considering his injury, but Austin couldn’t risk allowing him in the cab of the truck with Rosalie and him.

“Keep an eye on him,” Austin said to her when he got back in.

He checked the road to make sure no one was out there waiting for them, and when Austin didn’t see anyone, he got them out of there fast.

“Trevor Yancy,” Rosalie mumbled. She turned in the seat so she could nail her attention to Sonny. “Has his name come up in your investigation of the baby farms?”

“No.” Austin didn’t have to think about that, either. A lot of names had popped up. Potential suspects and kidnap victims. But if he’d seen anything about Yancy related to this, he would have definitely remembered.

“Is it possible...?” Rosalie’s breath hitched, and even though they weren’t touching, Austin could practically feel her muscles tensing. “Would Yancy have kidnapped my daughter and your nephew because Eli and you had been investigating him?”

Anything was possible when it came to a snake like Yancy.

Anything.

And since that wasn’t likely to make Rosalie’s breath stop hitching, Austin didn’t spell it out for her. Still, this could be the lead that Austin had been searching for. He reached for his phone to have someone bring in Yancy for questioning, but it dinged before he could do that.

“It’s a text from FBI Agent Ryland,” Rosalie relayed. She still had hold of his phone and stared down at the screen. “He said there’s a Sonny Buckland who’s a P.I., and he’s attached a photo of him.” She held it out for Austin to glance at.

The photo was definitely of the same man who was now riding in the bed of the truck. At least Sonny hadn’t lied about his identity, but that didn’t mean Austin was anywhere close to trusting him.

“Sonny has no criminal record,” Rosalie continued to read. She paused though and cleared her throat. “And your partner wants to know what the heck is going on, except he used a lot more profanity than I just did. He also wants you to call him
now.
”

She showed him that part of the text, too, though Austin didn’t have to see it to know that Sawyer had likely figured out that Austin wasn’t on vacation as he’d claimed. Nope. He was on an unauthorized undercover investigation that had just gone to hell in a handbasket.

“I’ll call him as soon as I’ve dropped off both Sonny and you,” Austin said more to himself. Rosalie obviously heard it, though.

“I want to go with you to question Yancy or anyone else connected to this,” she insisted.

“Yeah, I bet you do, but it’s not going to happen. No way will I put you in danger like that.”

“I’m already in danger!” she practically shouted, but the fit of temper disappeared as quickly as it’d come. “I need to find my daughter. Eli’s daughter,” she added, probably because she figured it would touch every raw nerve in his body and soften him up.

He couldn’t let it work on him.

His phone vibrated, indicating he had an incoming call, and he saw Sawyer’s name on the screen. His partner had obviously meant that part about Austin calling him back now.

Bracing himself for questions he wasn’t ready to answer, Austin took his phone, issued another “Keep watch” to Rosalie and answered the call. He didn’t put it on speaker, and that was probably the reason Rosalie scooted across the seat—so she could hear.

“Well?” Sawyer said the moment Austin answered.

“I was looking for my missing nephew,” Austin settled for saying.

“Yes, and our boss already figured that out. He’s not happy, Austin, and he wants you back from your
vacation.
”

“I’ll be back soon.” He hoped. “For now, I just need your help. I’m en route to the Silver Creek hospital to drop off an injured P.I. who’s either a witness or a person of interest in some assorted felonies. I’ll be there in about five minutes. Can you make some calls and arrange for him to be guarded?”

Sawyer didn’t answer for several snail-crawling moments. “Sure.”

“I also need you to have someone secure two crime scenes on the farm road that runs directly east of the town of Silver Creek,” Austin added. “Both were baby farms and are owned by a dummy corporation, Real Estate Investments. There’s not much left of them, and there are possible explosives planted around the grounds.”