Kidnapping in Kendall County. Delores Fossen

a nurse, she should have been inside and nowhere near Austin’s quarters.

      “I’ll be going,” Rosalie mumbled. She fished around on the floor for her scrub pants and pulled them on. She also pushed her long blond hair from her face.

      Austin noticed that both her voice and hands were shaking, but hopefully the guards would think that was a reaction from being caught in the act of a lover’s tryst. And nothing else.

      Soon, if they got out of this, he’d need to convince Rosalie to leave so he could get on with his investigation.

      This was a bad place for her to be.

      She started for the door, but the men blocked her path. And they didn’t lower those rifles. “You two know each other?” one of them asked.

      “We do now.” Austin shot her a sly smile. “But I’m ready for her to leave. Gotta get some sleep.”

      And he waited.

      The guards still didn’t move, though he could hear some chatter on the one guard’s earpiece. Austin wished he could snap his fingers and make the real boss appear so they could settle this man-to-man, but so far he didn’t have even a description of the person responsible for so much pain.

      “Walk her back to the house,” one of the guards finally said to Austin. “Make sure she stays put.”

      Austin tried not to look or sound too relieved, but he was. Rosalie and he had just dodged a bullet or two.

      For now, anyway.

      The real boss obviously didn’t trust him, or the goons wouldn’t have been sent in to see what was going on. Maybe that meant Rosalie and he would be placed under a more careful watch. However, she wouldn’t be reined in like that.

      Nope.

      There’d be no deterring Rosalie from looking for her stolen baby. Austin knew how she felt, but he also knew that her persistence would get her killed the hard way. He couldn’t let that happen.

      She was right about one thing. He did owe her.

      But that was a debt he could never repay.

      Still, maybe he could do something to bring his late partner’s baby back to her mother’s arms.

      The guards stepped back. Finally. And as soon as they were out of the doorway, Austin grabbed his shoulder holster and coat from the peg near the door. He still had his backup weapon in the holster in the back waistband of his jeans, but if this little walk to the house went wrong, he wanted all the firepower he could get.

      “Come on,” Austin told Rosalie and got her moving.

      He picked up her Beretta, as well. Or rather, the guard’s Beretta. Austin wasn’t sure he wanted to know how Rosalie had gotten it from the man.

      She glanced back at the guards, who were now making their way to the barn. Not an ordinary one, either. It had become a modified command post and living quarters to house the guards and all sorts of people who’d been coming and going. Austin had sneaked some photos and jotted down license plate numbers, but he was a long way from piecing this together.

      “Why didn’t my brother know the FBI had undercover agents working the black market adoptions here?” Rosalie whispered.

      “Because the FBI doesn’t know I’m here.”

      Her mouth dropped open, and she looked ready to accuse him of something, but she must have remembered that she’d sneaked in here, too. Of course, he had the training to carry out undercover work.

      Rosalie didn’t.

      But she obviously had some kind of contacts to get her in this place. Austin sure had. Well, one contact, anyway. A former FBI agent who’d helped him create the bogus background and references so Austin would look “legit” to someone running a criminal operation. It had worked, and he’d been hired as head of security at this particular site.

      Austin purposely kept their steps slow to give them time to talk, and he looped his arm around her waist so they’d look like the lovers they were pretending to be.

      “Who hired you for this job?” he asked.

      Rosalie shook her head. “I made all the arrangements through the criminal informant. He said word on the street was the operation was looking for nannies and nurses. I’m an RN. So I had a fake ID made. Created fake work and a computer bio, too.”

      Austin tried not to groan. Lefty Markham was a piece of slime who’d sell his mother for a quarter.

      “The job interview, if you can call it that, was done over the phone,” she added. “Along with transportation arrangements. This morning, a truck arrived at an abandoned gas station just off the interstate to pick me up, and the driver made me put on a hood so I couldn’t see where he was taking me.”

      That was standard practice for this operation. So, the fake bio and ID must have fooled the person in charge of hiring her. Still, that didn’t mean anyone trusted her.

      Nor him.

      The camera proved that, and Austin was well aware that he was constantly being watched. Even now.

      “You said your daughter was taken eleven months ago?” Austin whispered. He kept them walking at a slow pace toward the house.

      Rosalie nodded. “Why? Do you know something about her?”

      She sounded hopeful, but Austin would have to crush those hopes right off. “No. I’m here looking for my nephew. He’s a newborn, and someone kidnapped him.”

      Rosalie pulled in a hard breath, and even though it was dark, he thought he might have seen some sympathy in her eyes. “So we can find them both.”

      “No.” He stopped, turned her so she could see that this wasn’t up for negotiation. “I’ll find them, and you’re getting the heck out of here. I don’t care how. Pretend you’re sick or something. I just want you off the grounds tonight.”

      She was shaking her head before he even finished. “I can’t leave. I have to find my baby.” Her voice broke, and he saw the tears shine in her eyes.

      Austin huffed. “Look, I know you have no reason to trust me, but you won’t be doing your baby any good by getting yourself killed. These men are dangerous, Rosalie, and they’ll do whatever it takes to keep this operation secret and profitable.”

      He could tell by the little sound she made that he hadn’t convinced her, so Austin would have to do more than talk. “Then I’ll make the arrangements,” he added. “But one way or another, you’re leaving tonight.”

      Before she could respond, or argue, the back door to the house creaked open, and the guard staggered onto the porch. Unlike the other two, Austin knew this one. Walter Ludwig. Not very bright but trigger happy.

      A bad combination.

      Walter had a rifle in his right hand and aimed his left index finger at Rosalie. “She drugged me and stole my gun.” And even though he was still staggering, the man pointed the rifle at her.

      Austin stepped between them, held up his hands in a calm-down gesture. “Everything’s okay,” he lied. “It was all just a misunderstanding.”

      Not the best excuse, but Austin didn’t want to say too much. Every word now could be risky.

      “She drugged me,” the guard repeated, and he came down the steps, closer to where they stood. “And now she’s gonna pay for that. Get out of the way, boss.”

      “Not happening. Just put down the rifle, Walter, and we’ll talk about this.”

      “Don’t wanna talk.” His words were slurred, and he had to lean against the porch post to steady himself. “I just want her dead real quick.”

      Austin cursed under his breath. He had to figure out a way to diffuse this now, or else the other two guards would hear the raised voices