Holden. Delores Fossen

he didn’t, but the senator had been missing for two weeks now, and it was while looking for him that she’d stumbled on to Conceptions.

      “Yes, Senator Lee Minton,” she confirmed.

      “How are you sure of any of this?” Holden snapped.

      Oh, he was not going to like this. “I hacked into the clinic’s computer and copied some files,” she added. “Hacked into the senator’s computer, too, and then I put a listening device in Conceptions Clinic.”

      Now, Holden’s cursing got a whole lot worse. For good reason. Because she’d just rattled off enough crimes to put her in jail. But she’d had an even better reason to do this.

      To save Annie’s son.

      “That’s what the thug was talking about,” Holden snarled. “Where are the files and what’s in them?”

      Nicky decided to skip the where part and move to the what. Just in case the thug had managed to turn the tables on her and bug her car.

      “The ones I copied from Conceptions were marked ‘the Genesis Project,’” she explained. “No names were connected with them, just case numbers, and when I looked at one, I figured out from the dates that the case number was Annie and Emmett’s.”

      She’d tell him about the other info in them later. For now, Nicky focused on taking the road to the B and B.

      “I don’t know who did it, but someone stole Annie and Emmett’s embryo and implanted it into a surrogate. And last week, the surrogate gave birth to a boy.” Nicky turned off her car’s headlights as she approached the B and B, and she pulled off the road, parking behind some trees.

      Holden shook his head, stayed quiet a moment. “Could be it was a mix-up. Or maybe the embryo was donated to another couple who used a surrogate?”

      Mercy, she wanted to latch onto that and believe it. “Then, why did that man just threaten me?”

      “I don’t know. Maybe you stole more than one set of files or pissed off more than just these people. Or it could have something to do with why the FBI wants to arrest you.”

      Even if it was true, it was still too big of a risk to let them move the baby. Of course, Holden might not believe there was a baby. He soon would, though.

      “Who’s inside that place?” he asked.

      “Probably more men like the one who came to my house tonight.” Hired guns to protect very precious cargo until they could get her father to pay up. “Look, I don’t have time to explain all of this, but if they move the baby, we might never find him.”

      She didn’t voice her greatest fear, that the goons inside might try to harm him so there’d be no proof of what they’d done.

      “What if there really is a baby inside?” he went on. “How would we even know if it’s Emmett and Annie’s?”

      She motioned toward her hair. “According to what I heard from the eavesdropping device, he’s a ginger.” Not exactly rare but at least it was something like Annie and me. Besides, she thought she might recognize her own sister’s child.

      “You have backup on the way?” she asked.

      Holden nodded. “It’s Landon. I told him to do a silent approach.” He tipped his head to the house. “If the guy who was at your house had already contacted them, they could shoot us on sight.”

      “No. They want me alive so I can tell them where the files are. That’s why he didn’t kill me right away when he barged his way into my house.” Not exactly a reminder to steady her nerves. Of course, her nerves hadn’t been steady in a long, long time.

      Nicky eased open the door, but Holden stopped her.

      “I’m not letting you go in there,” he insisted.

      “They want me alive,” Nicky repeated. “They’ll want you dead. If anyone should go in there, it’s me. But I need you...well, if something goes wrong, I need you to get the baby out.”

      Holden took hold of her again, and this time he didn’t let go. “You’re not going in there. Wait here. And so help me, if you disobey that order, I’ll arrest you myself.”

      But he’d no sooner said that when someone opened the back door of the house. The place had a wraparound porch, and while the front was well lit, the back wasn’t. Probably on purpose. Because Nicky saw something she didn’t want to see.

      Two men. A woman. And the woman had something bundled in her arms.

      They didn’t linger on the porch. They hurried, practically running down the porch steps.

      Nicky’s heart went to her knees. “They’re getting away. Go after them. We have to stop them.”

      If Holden was listening to her, he didn’t respond. He just kept watching, kept his grip on her until he finally pulled back his hand so he could send a text.

      “I don’t think she’s holding a baby,” Holden said. “I think it’s a decoy.”

      Nicky tried to fight through the panic so she could see why he’d said that. Maybe because the bundle was huge. No way to miss that. And it wasn’t anywhere near cool enough for the baby to need multiple blankets. It was September, and the temps were still close to ninety.

      Plus, there was something else that was off. The woman was as tall and bulky as the two men who’d hurried her out of the house.

      Mercy.

      This was some kind of trap.

      “They probably suspect we’re here and will be expecting us to follow them,” Holden said without taking his attention off them.

      The trio got into an SUV parked behind the inn. Almost immediately, she saw the headlights of the SUV come on.

      “Landon will follow them instead, and he’ll have two other deputies do a quiet approach here,” Holden added. “Come on. Get out of the car. Stay low and move fast. I’m going to see who’s inside the house. I can’t leave you here or they might try to kidnap you.”

      Nicky tried not to let that statement rob her of what breath she’d managed to gather. Because this was a risk. And not just the possible kidnapping. Nicky had to consider that this could be a ruse of a different kind. One where the baby was actually inside that SUV and these thugs wanted to lure Holden and her to the house.

      Well, if so, it was going to work.

      Of course, it was just as possible that at this very moment someone was escaping with the baby on the other side of the house. Everything inside Nicky was screaming for her to hurry.

      “Do you have a gun?” he asked.

      She shook her head, and he gave her one of those looks. The one that made her feel like an idiot. “I don’t keep a gun in my vehicle. And besides I didn’t plan on shooting anyone tonight, especially with the baby around.”

      “Then, what was your plan, to ask them pretty please to hand over the child?” Holden snapped.

      “No. I was going to sneak in and take him. I’m pretty good at sneaking in places,” she added in a mumble.

      No way could he argue with that, but Nicky wished she’d had time to come up with a better plan. Too bad that thug had shown up at her house and thrown things into chaos.

      “Just do everything I tell you,” Holden warned her. “Everything.”

      With his gun drawn, Holden threaded them through the trees, but he stopped at the edge of the yard. There were plenty of windows, but she couldn’t get a glimpse of anyone inside. However, there was another car in the small parking area on the side of the house.

      She glanced back at the road and the SUV, but the trees were in the way, and Nicky couldn’t tell if it actually stopped. She prayed that if the baby was indeed inside the vehicle, Landon