Stockyard Snatching (23 page)

She put the call on speaker.

Carter’s voice boomed into the room. “Kate, don’t do anything rash. He wants Jackson.”

A male voice she didn’t recognize urged Carter to tell the truth.

Her brother hesitated. “He says he’ll kill me if you don’t deliver Jackson to one of his men.”

The line went dead.

The automatic message system indicated that the call had come in at four o’clock that morning.

“Can you trace it?” Kate asked Tommy.

“We’ll do our best. Manuel most likely has a program to scramble his signal, though,” the lawman conceded.

“They’re somewhere local,” Dallas said. “Manuel would have brought Carter here.”

“What makes you so sure?” Tommy asked.

“This guy is desperate to find his son and he’s narrowed his search down to this area. I’m sure Morton told him about the other local adoptions,” Dallas said. “A man who goes to these lengths to find his boy would want to be right here.”

Tommy nodded. “Good point. I’ll check in with local motels.”

Dallas held his hand up. “I might already know where he’ll be.”

“Morton’s house.” Kate gasped. “Stacy.”

“Reece is with her. He’s very good at his job. She’ll be fine,” Dallas said, his thumbs moving on the keyboard of his phone. “I just asked him to call me.”

Kate immediately realized that Dallas wouldn’t want Reece’s cell tones to give him away, or he would have phoned the security agent himself.

Her heart pounded against her ribs.

Dallas pointed toward the landline. “Call your mother. Tell her to get out of the house and not come back until we say it’s safe.”

Kate did, unsure what kind of reception she’d get.

Her mother picked up on the first ring.

“Mom, it’s Kate. I need you to listen carefully. Go next door and stay there until I call.”

Her mother must have grasped the panic in Kate’s tone because she stuttered an agreement. “What is it, Kate? What’s going on?” she finally asked.

“I need you to go now. I’ll explain later.”

“All right,” she said tentatively. “I’ll wait next door until I hear from you.”

“Tell Dad to be careful, too. He should stay at the office until I give the all clear.”

“I’m worried. Are you and the baby okay?” It was the first time her mother had asked about Jackson.

“We’re good, Mom. I’ll explain everything when I can. Just go, and be careful, okay?” Tears streamed down Kate’s face. She and her mother had had their difficulties, but she couldn’t stand to think of anything awful happening to her.

“I will. I love you, Kate. And I’m sorry. If anything happens to me I need you to know that.”

“Me, too, Mom. And I love you.” Kate held in a sob, promising herself that she’d stay strong. “Call my cell when you get to the neighbor’s and leave a message. Let me know you got there safely.”

Kate’s cell was at the ranch, but she could check the message when she retrieved it or call voice mail again using Dallas’s cell.

“Okay. Take care of yourself.” Her mother paused. “And give Jackson a kiss from Grandma.”

Kate had wanted to hear those words from her mother for months. She promised she would do as asked, then ended the call.

Thankfully, her parents were safe. At least for now.

Dallas was urging her toward the exit as soon as she hung up.

“Any chance I can talk you out of walking through that door?” Tommy asked.

Dallas stopped at the jamb and turned.

“I didn’t think so,” his friend said. “Okay, fine. But we’re going in with my tactical unit.”

“I’m dropping Kate off at the ranch first,” Dallas stated.

“They might hurt her brother if they don’t see her.” Tommy looked from Dallas to Kate.

“You can’t take me back there. Not when my brother needs me,” she declared.

Dallas’s jaw clenched and every muscle in his body was obviously strung tight. “They’re going to want to see a baby.”

Tommy called down the hall and a deputy showed up a few seconds later cradling something in his arms.

The plastic baby looked real from a distance. Kate took it from the deputy. “He sees me with this and he’ll assume it’s Jackson.”

“I won’t use you as bait,” Dallas muttered.

“Neither will I, but I want her in the car nearby,” Tommy said, before she could argue.

“We brought Colin’s Jeep. I’ll let my brothers know what’s going on,” Dallas said.

“This one needs to stay quiet,” Tommy said. “There’s no one I trust more than your family, but we’re taking enough of a risk as it is.”

Tommy called in his unit. “Kate will be in the Jeep with Dallas, here.” He pointed to a spot on the Google map he’d pulled up on his computer screen. “We’ll come in from around the sides while she makes contact. Our perp will be watching the front and back doors, so we’re looking at side windows.”

Kate glanced at Dallas, not bothering to hide her panic. “We have to get there before Stacy and Reece do.”

“I know.” But the expression in Dallas’s eyes said it was probably already too late.

Very little was said between Dallas and Kate on the ride over. He had agreed to give Tommy’s men a ten-minute head start, which wasn’t much time.

Kate regretted having this go down on such a quiet suburban street. It was afternoon, but thankfully a weekend, and she hoped the cold and nearness to the holiday would keep everyone inside.

The sun peeked out from battleship-gray clouds as they approached.

“That’s Reece’s car,” Dallas said. “But this is good. If they surprised him then we’ll have someone on the inside. If I know Reece, he’s already planning an escape route, and he’ll keep Stacy safe.”

“She’s been through so much already,” Kate said under her breath, hating that so much bad could strike such a good person all at once. Stacy must be terrified.

Kate cradled the pretend baby in her arms, making sure anyone watching could see. The look of panic on her face was real.

Dallas eased down the quiet road and then parked across the street from Morton’s house, just as they’d planned.

The porch light flickered on and off a couple of times.

“They’re signaling,” Dallas said.

“What do we do now?” Kate asked.

“We wait.”

But they didn’t have to sit for long. There was a loud boom inside the house and smoke billowed out one of the windows.

“Stacy’s in there,” Kate said, her hand already on the door release.

Dallas stopped her. “We have to let Tommy do his job.”

“We can’t just sit here,” she argued.

Dallas’s door opened just then and the barrel of a gun was pressed to the back of his head.

The noise inside the house, the smoke, must have been meant to be a distraction while Manuel grabbed his son.

“I’ll take that baby,” a male voice said, and it had to be Manuel, based on the sketch Dallas had provided.

Kate pulled the plastic baby to her chest to shield its face from the man. If he got a good look, he’d shoot. “I’ll come with you.”

She made a move toward the door handle, and at the same time, Dallas jerked the guy’s arm in front of him, pinning it against the steering wheel. A shot sounded and Kate’s heart lurched.

“Run, Kate,” Dallas cried, wrestling the gun out of Manuel’s hand.

Dallas must’ve been putting a ton of pressure on the guy’s arm, based on the look on his face.

Kate bolted. She ran straight to the house, flung open the door and shouted, “He’s out front!”

Another crack of gunfire sent her stomach swirling.
Dallas.

Tommy ran out the door toward her.

By the time the two of them reached Dallas, he had Manuel facedown and was sitting on his back while twisting his right arm behind him.

The criminal was spewing curse words.

Tommy dropped his knee into Manuel’s back as he wrangled with flex-cuffs. Kate frantically searched for the gun and noticed, as Dallas turned, that he had blood on his stomach.

“Dallas,” she cried with a shocked sob.

His gaze followed hers and he pressed his hand against his abdomen.

Tommy was already calling for an ambulance as Dallas lost consciousness. He slumped over onto his side as Kate dropped to her knees, unaware that she was still clutching the plastic doll.

It took ten minutes for the EMTs to arrive. Kate was vaguely aware of Stacy and Reece comforting her.

Reece drove her to the hospital behind the ambulance in his SUV. Being told that the kidnappers had been arrested did nothing to settle Kate’s nerves, not while Dallas was in trouble.

She could see the gurney Dallas was on as it rolled into the emergency entrance. She asked Reece to stop, bolted out of the SUV and rushed forward.

One of the EMTs turned around. “Are you Kate Williams?”

Her heart clutched. “Yes.”

“Good. Will you come see this guy? He hasn’t stopped talking about you since he opened his eyes in the ambulance.”

Kate nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks as she ran toward Dallas.

She had never been so happy as when he looked at her and said, “We did it. Jackson’s safe.”

“I love you!” It was all she could manage to say before he squeezed her hand and was wheeled away.

* * *

“
T
EST
RESULTS
ARE
IN
,” Dallas said as he entered the room, his hand fisted around something that Kate couldn’t readily make out.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” she fussed. “The doctor won’t be happy when she hears about this.”

He’d been a trying patient at best since Dr. McConnell agreed to let him recuperate at home.

“Well, if you aren’t the least bit curious, then I’ll head back to our room,” he said, turning.

“Dallas O’Brien, you better stop where you are,” Kate muttered.

He did. “Good to know you have that ‘mom voice’ perfected,” he teased. “We already knew I wasn’t Jackson’s biological father,” he continued. “Manuel is.”

“Which means he’s Susan’s child,” Kate said. “What if she wants him back now that this is all over?”

“She doesn’t,” Dallas said. “Said he would remind her too much of her mistakes. All she ever wanted was for him to be brought up in Bluff by a loving family. He’s your son and Susan has no intention of trying to change that.”

Relief flooded Kate hearing those words. The child of her heart was hers to keep.

“I heard you on the phone earlier with your mother,” Dallas said.

“She’s making a real effort,” Kate said, beaming up at him. “Once you’re well, I’d like to invite her and Dad over for dinner.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” he said. “And what about Carter?”

“It’ll be tough to drag him away from his company, but I’m determined to spend more time with family.”

“About that.” Dallas kissed Kate as he struggled to bend forward. He set a small package next to her. “Christmas is a couple of months away.”

“The doctor said to take it easy,” she warned.

“And what’s my punishment if I don’t?” He winked.

“An even longer wait before we resume any more adult-only playtime,” she teased.

Dallas laughed it off and grunted as he managed to sit down next to her. He made a face at Jackson, who cooed in response, causing her heart to swell.

Kate stared at the roughly two-by-two-inch Tiffany Blue Box beside her.

She opened her mouth to speak, but was hushed by Dallas.

“I know what you’re thinking. You don’t want to rush, because you think we need to get to know each other better,” he said. “I disagree, because I know everything I need to know about you. I intend to spend the rest of our lives together bringing up this boy, our boy. I don’t need a test to prove he’s my son. He’s yours and that’s good enough for me.”

Tears welled in Kate’s eyes. More than anything, she wanted to say yes. Everything in her heart said this was right. “So before you say anything, here’s the deal. I love you, Kate. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and Jackson. And that’s all I need you to know for now. Sometime before the end of next year, I plan to ask a very important question, but the only thing I’m asking today is…will a year be enough time for you to feel like you really know me?”

“Yes.” Happy tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Then hold on to that box as a promise from me,” Dallas said. “When you finally do feel like you know me well enough, I want the three of us to be a family. I love you, Kate. And I want you to be my wife.”

All Kate could do in answer was kiss the man she loved.

* * * * *

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