Kade (20 page)

Bree pulled in a hard breath when Kade came to a stop in the clinic’s parking lot. It was empty. Not another vehicle in sight. No lights, either. Even the ones in the parking lot were out—maybe because the caller had disabled them.

There was also a problem with the windows. Each one facing the parking lot had burglar bars. Thick metal rods jutting down the entire length of the glass. It would be impossible to use those to escape.

The moment Kade turned off the engine, his phone buzzed. The caller’s info had been blocked, just like before.

“Agent Ryland,” the scrambled voice greeted him when Kade answered. “So glad you made it. Do you have the backups?”

“I do,” Kade hesitantly answered.

“Excellent. Both of you enter the clinic through the front door. I’ve already unlocked it. You’re to put all your weapons and the backups on the floor—”

“I’ll give you the backups when you give us the baby,” Kade interrupted.

There was silence for several heart-stopping moments. “All right,” the caller finally said. “Then, let’s get this show on the road.”

The person ended the call, and Kade looked at Bree to make sure she was up to doing this. She was. Yes, she’d cried earlier, but there weren’t tears now. Just the determined face of a well-trained federal agent who would do anything to get her baby out of harm’s way.

“If something goes wrong,” Kade whispered, “I want you to take the baby and get out of there. I’ll run interference.”

She shook her head, and the agent facade waivered a bit, but she couldn’t argue. The baby had to come first.

“We’re all coming out of there alive,” Bree whispered back. And she leaned over and kissed him.

Kade wanted to hold on to that kiss, on to her and that promise, but there wasn’t time. “Stay behind me,” he added, “and hide your gun in the back waist of your pants.”

After she’d done that, he stepped from his truck. He waited until Bree was indeed behind him before they walked to the double front doors. He wished they were glass so he could see inside but no such luck. They were thick wood. Kade said another prayer and tested the knob.

The door opened.

Like the exterior of the building and the parking lot, the entrance was pitch-black, and he could barely make out what appeared to be a desk and some chairs. This was the reception area, and if anyone was there, he couldn’t see, hear or sense them.

“Here’s my gun,” Kade called out, and he took his weapon and one of the extra magazines and put them on the floor.

“Now, the other weapons.” The voice boomed over an intercom. The same scrambled voice as the caller.

“Weapon,”
Kade corrected. And he motioned for Bree to surrender her gun, as well.

Kade could feel her hesitation, but she finally did it. That only left them with the small gun in his ankle holster, and he hoped like the devil that the SOB on the intercom didn’t know about it.

Behind them, there was a sharp click. Not someone cocking a gun. But maybe just as dangerous.

Someone had locked the door. That someone had no doubt used a remote control because Nate wouldn’t have let anyone get close to the exterior side of the door.

“Kick the weapons down the hall,” the voice ordered.

Kade did it, the sound of metal scraping across the tiled floor.

“Here,” Kade whispered to Bree, and he handed her his cell so if necessary she could make that emergency call to Nate. It would also free up his hands in case he had to go for the ankle holster.

“Where’s the baby?” Kade asked, holding up the envelope with the backups.

“I’ll have to verify the backups first. Walk forward, down the hall. Keep your hands in the air so I can see them at all times.”

The
dark
hall. Where they could be ambushed and the backups taken from them.

“How about you meet us halfway?” Kade asked.

“How about you follow orders?” the person snapped.

“Because your orders could get us killed. Either meet us halfway, or show us the baby now.”

More silence. And with each passing second, Kade’s heartbeat revved up. Bree’s breathing, too. Since her arm was against his back, he could feel how tense she was.

“Okay,” the person finally said. “Start walking. I’ll do the same.”

It was a huge risk, but staying put was a risk, too.

Kade took the first step, then waited and listened. He heard some movement at the end of that dark hall, and he took another step. Then another. Bree was right behind him and hopefully would stay there.

If this goon sent in someone from behind, through those front doors, Nate’s men would stop them. The same if a gunman tried to shoot through one of the windows.

So, the danger was ahead.

“There are two rooms ahead off the hall,” Bree whispered. “One on the left. The other on the right.”

Kade hadn’t remembered that about the clinic layout, but he was thankful that Bree had. He would need to make sure no one came out of those rooms to ambush them.

Another step.

The person at the end of the hall did the same.

Now that Kade’s eyes were adjusting a little to the darkness, he could see the shadowy figure better. Well, the outline of the person, anyway. He couldn’t make out any feature and couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman. The person seemed to be wearing some kind of dark cloak.

“When you get to the spot where the reception area meets the hall,” the voice instructed, “take the backups from the envelope and hold them up so I can see them.”

Kade made several more steps to get to that spot, and with his attention fastened on the figure ahead of him, he took out the backups and lifted them in the air.

Overhead on the hall ceiling, a camera whirred around, the lens angling toward Kade’s hand. Either this guy had backup inside the building or else he was using a remote control device.

Kade was betting he had backup.

Behind him, he heard a buzzing sound. His phone. And Kade mentally cursed. “Answer it,” he whispered to Bree, hoping that the person at the end of the hall hadn’t heard.

She didn’t say anything, but she pressed a button and put the phone to her ear. A moment later, she froze.

“What’s wrong?” Kade asked, still trying to keep his voice low.

“You’re sure?” she asked.

Kade was about to repeat his
what’s wrong
question, but Bree latched onto his arm.

“It’s a trap,” she said. And Bree started to pull him to the floor.

But it was already too late.

The shot slammed through the air.

Chapter Sixteen

Bree pulled Kade to the right, out of the line of fire of the person in the hall.

Just as the bullet slammed into the locked door.

Kade and she slammed onto the floor. Hard. It knocked the breath right out of her, but Bree fought to regain it so she could get them out of harm’s way.

If that was even possible now.

Thankfully, Kade could breathe and react because he grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her onto the other side of the desk. He also drew the small Colt .38
from his ankle holster. It wasn’t much firepower considering their situation.

And their situation was
bad.

“Stop shooting!” Kade yelled. He shoved the backups inside his shirt. “You could hit the baby.”

The person laughed, that cartoony voice echoing through the dark clinic. Bree knew the reason for the sickening laughter.

“There’s no second baby?” Kade whispered to her on a rise of breath.

“Not here. That was Mason on the phone. About ten minutes ago a woman dropped off a baby at the Silver Creek hospital. A baby who looks exactly like Leah. She’s all right. She hadn’t been harmed.”

The sound that Kade made deep in his throat was a mixture of relief and dread. Relief because their baby was all right, away from the monster who’d fired that shot at them. But the danger for Kade and she was just starting.

“Thank you for cooperating with my plan,” the figure called out. “And see? I’m not such a bad person, after all. The woman I hired to take the baby to the hospital did exactly as I asked. So, all is well.”

Kade cursed. “If all is truly well as you say, then you’ll let us go.”

“Can’t do that.”

Another bullet blasted into the door.

Kade’s brother Nate would likely have heard the shots. He no doubt knew about the baby being dropped off at the hospital. But there was no way Nate could come in with guns blazing. Still, if Kade and she could make it to the window, they might be able to figure out a way through those burglar bars. Then Nate might be able to provide enough cover for them to get out of there.

Later, when this was over, she’d try to come to terms with the fact that the second baby was real. That she’d delivered twins. But right now, she had to focus on keeping Kade and her alive.

“You can have the backups,” Bree told the shooter. She latched onto Kade and inched toward the window. “And we don’t know who you are. There’s no reason for you to kill us.”

“Oh, there’s a reason.” And that’s all the person said for several moments. “You both know too much. Especially you, Bree. You’re too big of a risk because I have no idea what you might have overheard when Kirk was holding you. You might know who I am, and I can’t risk you testifying against me.”

Bree tried to figure out who was speaking. All of their suspects probably thought Kade and she knew
too much.
Especially since all their suspects were tied in some way or another to this clinic.

“I didn’t overhear anything that would identify Kirk’s boss,” she explained, hoping the sound of her voice would cover Kade’s and her movement toward the window.

“Can’t take that chance,” the shooter fired back.

He also fired another shot into the door.

“Oh, and if I were you, I wouldn’t try to get out through the window—they’re locked up tight and they have thick metal security bars. So, you might as well stop where you are. Well, unless you want his brother to die.”

Oh, mercy.

Kade and she froze. The shooter must have a camera in place so that they were watching their every move.

“What the hell does my brother have to do with this?” Kade shouted.

“A lot actually. Before your cop brother arrived to put some of his men on the roof near here, I already had a gunman in place. In the catbird seat, you might say.”

Kade cursed. “He could be lying,” he whispered to Bree.

But it didn’t sound like a lie. This person had had plenty of time to set all of this up.

“My hired gun has a rifle trained on your brother right now,” the person added.

That didn’t sound like a lie, either, and even if it was, it was too big a risk to take. Nate had come to help them, and she didn’t want him dying.

Bree knew what she had to do. Now it was just a matter of convincing Kade to let her do it.

“I’m the threat to your identity,” she shouted, levering herself up a little so that she could peer over the desk. “Not Kade. Let him go. So he can raise our daughters,” Bree added so that it would remind Kade of what was at stake here.

If both of them died in this clinic, their twins would become orphans.

“You’re not doing this,” Kade immediately said, and he pulled her back down behind the desk.

The shooter laughed. “I’m not looking for a sacrificial lamb. I’m afraid both of you have to die.”

Her stomach twisted, but Bree wasn’t about to give up. There had to be some kind of argument she could use to get at least Kade out of this alive.

There was a sound. Some kind of movement at the end of the hall. And Bree tried to brace herself for the person to come closer.

Where Kade could shoot to kill.

“These are copies of the backups,” she tried. “Not the originals. Those are in a safe place.”

“Liar,” the shooter answered.

Was it her imagination or did the person sound farther away than before?

“The backups can’t be copied,” the voice continued. “And I should know because it’s a security check that I put in place. Didn’t want anyone copying them to use them for blackmail.”

“They’re not coming closer,” Kade whispered.

She’d been right about the moving away part. But why would the person do that?

Unless he or she was trying to escape?

But that didn’t make sense, either. Kade and she had the backups.

“I’m afraid I have to say goodbye now.” And footsteps followed that puzzling comment.

Was the person just leaving them there?

No, her gut told her that wouldn’t happen and that something was terribly wrong.

Kade must have realized it, too, because he got to his feet and hurried to the door. He rammed his shoulder against it, but it didn’t budge.

And then he cursed.

Bree stood, trying to figure out what had caused his reaction, and she spotted the tiny blinking red light on the wall. Except it wasn’t just a light.

The blinks were numbers.

Ticking down.

Seven, six, five…

“It’s a bomb!” Kade shouted.

He grabbed Bree and they started to run.

* * *

K
ADE HAD TO MAKE A
split-second decision because a few seconds were all they had left.

The door behind them was locked. No way out there. It was the same with the windows. He could risk pulling Bree behind the desk, but he could see the fistful of explosives attached to the timing device. The reception area and the desk were going to take the brunt of the impact.

So, with his left hand vised around Bree’s arm, he raced down that dark hall.

Yeah, it was a risk. The shooter could be waiting for them to do just that, but at the moment the bomb was a bigger risk, especially since the shooter had also made a run for it.

“Hurry!” Kade shouted to Bree, though she no doubt understood the urgency.

They raced down the hall, past the first two rooms that were nearest to the lobby, and he pulled her into the next door. He dived toward a desk, pulling her underneath it with him. Kade also put his body over hers.

The blast tore through the building.

The sound was deafening, and the blast sent debris slamming into the desk and a chunk of the wall slammed into Kade’s back. He’d have a heck of a bruise, but Bree was tucked safely beneath him.