Missy bit back a whimper. She couldn’t imagine leaving her baby. She was too tiny, still breastfeeding. She needed her mama. But if Franco took them to Mexico, Evie could die. Missy’s eyes filled. No matter what happened, her mom would take care of Evie. And Beau would make sure she had everything she needed. He was protective of Evie. Protective of both of them. She had to put her baby’s safety first.
She pretended to smile but her lips trembled. “Okay, I’ll go with you. I’ve got to get dressed. Then I’ll just put Evie in her crib and get my things.”
“Make it snappy. We don’t have much time.”
Missy started shaking. She fought not to cry as she left the room, but tears streamed down her cheeks. She swallowed against the thick lump clogging her throat and tried not to think she might never see her tiny baby daughter again.
* * *
“Try to stall him,” Chief Warren said. “We aren’t ready. We need to wait for SWAT, get men in position, be ready for this guy when he comes out.”
“I don’t think you’re going to have time for that,” Beau said. “I’m going in there and talk to him.”
Warren clamped a hand on Beau’s shoulder, stoppinghim before he could move. “You’re a civilian, Beau. I can’t let you do that.”
Beau shook off the chief’s hand. “Let me help you, dammit. This is my fault. They wouldn’t be in trouble if I hadn’t been digging around, trying to find my father’s killer.”
“Sorry, that’s not the way it works. We wait, hold our positions. We’ve already replaced your pilot with one of our men, in case gunfire breaks out. Once SWAT arrives, we can put a sniper in place, take him out if we have to.”
At least his pilot was safe. One worry less. Beau’s cell started ringing. He brought up his phone and held it so the chief could hear. “I’m listening.”
“You’ve got five minutes to get the cops to back off. If I see even one of them when I open the door, I shoot the girl.” The line went dead and Beau cursed. He thought of the young woman and her baby trapped in the house with a killer, and his mouth went dry.
He looked at Warren. “You heard what he said. You need to pull your men back. Get them far enough away that he can’t see them.” Movement off to the left caught his attention. A tall, broad-shouldered man materialized out of the darkness, moving toward him with long, confident strides. A rifle case hung from one of his big hands.
Joshua Cain. Linc’s brother. Ex-military, former Marine special ops sniper. Beau had never been so glad to see anyone in his life.
“Linc thought you might need some backup,” Josh said.
“How did he—”
“Guy named Marino called him, explained what was going on. Linc’s in New Mexico or he’d be here with me.”
Beau flicked a glance at Frank Marino, who shrugged but didn’t apologize. At the moment it was impossible to be mad at the guy for overstepping his bounds.
“You’re Cain,” Chief Warren said to Josh. “Everybody in town knows what you did to protect our soldiers.” Joshwas a war hero. He was currently living at Blackland Ranch, trying to get his life back together after a brush with death that had ended his military career.
According to Linc, Josh wanted to leave his soldiering days behind and start over. Beau felt another stab of guilt for dragging Linc’s brother into this.
“Your timing couldn’t be better,” Chief Warren said. “We’ve got a woman and baby held hostage in that house. The subject’s just about to come out and head for the helo. SWAT isn’t here yet and we’re out of time. We could really use your help.”
Something flickered in Josh’s deep blue eyes. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Good. Joshua Cain, you’re hereby deputized as an officer of the Pleasant Hill police force.”
Josh just nodded. He turned to study the house, looked at the position of the helicopter sitting on the grass in the park, rotors spinning. He appeared to be drawing a mental line from the front door to the aircraft.
Without a word, he walked off toward the trees, moving as soundlessly as a ghost in the night. Beau blinked and Josh was gone.
“Where is he?” Warren asked.
“He’s out there,” Beau said. “Wherever he’s supposed to be.”
Chief Warren didn’t argue. They had less than sixty seconds until the five-minute deadline was up. Warren checked to be sure his men, weapons drawn, were out of sight. The last police officer had just disappeared when Beau’s phone rang.
“We’re coming out,” Franco said. “I better not see any police.”
“No police,” Beau said. “The chopper’s ready to go just the way you wanted.” He doubted the police officer at thecontrols was actually going anywhere. This would be resolved one way or another before the helo left the ground.
