Fatal Jealousy (Black Widow Book 1) (18 page)

He rushed to the case room to check again. Empty, “Audrey!”

“Yeah?” she said, walking into the case room.

He turned to look at her, “Where are they?”

“Ellsa had to go see her accountant about the money and Ellie went to see Daniel at the hospital.”

Carson could feel the panic creep up his spine, “Alone? Call Richard and ask him if she is already there.”

“Dada!” Stacey-Ann’s singing voice filled the room.

Startled, Audrey and Carson turned to the direction it came from. She was hiding behind a tree pot, smiling and giggling. Her big sparkling brown eyes lighting up her face.

Carson sunk to his knees, his voice caught in his throat. She looked so beautiful... and taller! Her hair was longer and she had more teeth in her mouth.

She was walking!

She ducked back behind the tree pot then peaked out again, “Hi!” She yelled, waving at him.

Carson cried, stretching his hands out to her. She ran, jumping into them. He held her tight thanking God for bringing her back. But he didn’t understand how?

“Carson, Ellie never got to the hospital! Gwen has gone out to look for her. And Ellsa isn’t answering her phone,” Audrey announced, in a panic.

Carson stood up, his daughter securely in his arms as he rushed behind Audrey to her office. He felt like he would never put Stacey-Ann down, ever, “Track her cell phone.”

“It’s off.”

“What about Gwen’s?”

“That’s off too.”

Carson felt like he was about to blow up, in frustration. “Do you still have permission to tap into the security cameras?”

She turned in her chair to face her five computers. Her office was like a lair, where everything on the web, secured or not, was at her disposal. Her fingers ran wildly over the keyboard, bringing up several different on each screen. If they didn’t have to cut through so many red tapes, they probably would have ended Carson’s nightmare days ago.

Audrey stopped when the video got to Ellie walking alone towards a dark van. A redhead jumped out, carrying Stacey-Ann and then Ellie got in calmly, touching her daughter for only a second before she was taken away. Then the redhead came back, without Stacey-Ann and they drove off.

“It really was Gwen. But where is Ellsa?” Audrey gasped out.

“I hope for Ellie’s sake she’s okay. Can you track the car?” Audrey went back to typing, “It’s like you don’t know me.”

Chapter Nineteen

Carson came to an abrupt stop in front of a huge building. This wasn’t where he expected to end up, “Audrey are you sure this is the place?” he spoke into his Bluetooth.

“That’s where the car GPS says it is.”

Unsure, “Audrey, it’s a hospital?” getting out of the car and running inside.

She checked the address again, “The same hospital Daniel is in. He is on the fifth floor.”

Carson got into the elevator, impatiently tapping his foot as it crawled up the floors. Once the doors opened, he jumped out. He didn’t have to run far before he bumped into Richard.

“What are you doing here Carson?”

“Where is Gwen and why is her phone off?”

Richard raised his brow at him, “What’s the problem?”

“Someone took Ellie and dropped off Stacey-Ann. It was an exchange and Gwen was there!” With every word he uttered, Carson’s anger rose like an active volcano ready to blow.

Richard shook his head shocked, “That’s impossible!”

“Why because she’s an FBI agent?”

“No. Because she’s been here searching the hospital for Ellie like you asked. She hasn’t left the building since we got here.”

Carson shook his head in denial. He couldn’t have hit a dead end, “The GPS tracker says Ellie is here!”

“Carson, I found the car. Fourth-parking level, C2, second-row and the third spot!” Audrey’s urgent voice sailed into his ear.

He ran for the stairway with Richard behind him, barking orders into his phone. Carson pulled out his gun once he got to the door exiting to the fourth-parking level. He held it to his side as he ran out. When he got to C2 he held his gun up and he could hear his heart beating loudly in his ear, all the other noises muted.

“Carson, take cover. There is someone in the car.”

Against Richard’s loud orders, Carson headed straight for the car, his gun aimed at the driver. When the driver turned to look at him, his eyes grew wide in shock, Carson yanked open the door and pulled him out by his neck.

“Where is my wife?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about?” The man stuttered his eyes glued on the nine-millimetre gun.

He placed the mouth of the gun on the man’s shoulder, making him whimper, “I’m going to ask you one more time before I start putting holes in you! Where. Is. My. Wife?”

“Carson, that’s enough!” Richard yelled.

The man’s face creased up as he cried, fear written in his eyes, “I swear, it was a onetime thing! I’ll never touch her again.”

Carson felt his heart leap, “So where is she?”

A woman’s scream rang out. Carson turned to look. She had her shaking hands over her mouth, as her bulging eyes stared at him.

The man cried pointing at her, “There she is! I swear never again!”

Richard pulled Carson off him, “I’m sorry sir. You are not the one we are looking for.”

Once he was released, he ran, leaving the woman behind and passing a smiling Gwen.

Carson yanked his arm out of Richard’s hold and barked into his receiver, “Audrey this isn’t the car!”

“I figured as much when that guy started crying.”

Carson felt his heart drop. He couldn’t have failed again, “Audrey!”

Audrey flinched at the fury, as he spoke her name. She went back to her keyboard more frantic, “The GPS of the kidnappers is still intact they just hid behind that guy’s signal.” She cheered when the real signal popped up, “I have an address for you babe!”

Carson ran for the stairway, “It better be the right one!”

****

Ellie walked into the warehouse wishing there was some way she could have let Dale know where she was, “What do you want?”

The woman pulled the red wig off, “I want nothing from you.”

“Then why did you bring me here?”

The bodyguard emerged, pushing a table. He stopped in front of her and gave her a smile, “Hello Mrs. Carson.”

“Joe, my sister is getting you the money.”

He chuckled, “Of course, she is. Help me Jane.”

“With what?” Ellie demanded, panic rising fast inside her. She watched as they spread a sheet of clear plastic over the steel table and then they laid out a blue sheet over it. She felt her chest tighten, “What are you doing?”

Jane had glanced at her before she opened the bag, “Preparing.”

“For what?”

She pulled out a scalpel, “For your C-section.”

Ellie backed away from the table, her breath getting shorter with each step, “What do you mean my C-section? I’m not having a C-section!”

Jane stalked to her, taunting her with a scalpel, “According to your last ultrasound, the baby hasn’t turned yet. I really want your baby to be born alive so, cutting you open is the only choice we have.”

“Is this a joke?” She whispered, tears trickling down her face.

“Now why would I joke about something like this?”

Joe moved to her, grabbing her arms from the back and pushing her forward, “We have a schedule to keep Jane. We don’t have time for chatter.”

Ellie tried to wiggle out of his hold, “No, please wait! He is not ready yet! He’ll die if you take him out now, please!”

Jane moved to a white tarp and pulled it off, exposing an incubator, “We came prepared.”

Joe lifted her and pinned her on the table. He held her down as Jane strapped the plastic restraints on her wrists and ankles, “Relax, it won’t be long now.”

Ellie struggled to pull off the restraints as she lay on the cold table. There had to be a way out of here. She couldn’t let them kill her son.

“Stop that, it won’t work,” Jane laughed as she pulled her gloves on.

“Why are you doing this?”

“It’s all about the money sweetheart.”

“I’ll pay you double, I promise, just let me go!”

They looked at her, intrigued by the offer, “Can you double two million dollars?”

Ellie gasped at the revelation. Someone was paying them so much to steal her baby? “Who is paying you?”

“I guess that means no,” He pulled up her top, “Jane let’s get started.”

Ellie cried wiggling around, “No, no, no!”

“Shut her up and hold her down Joe! One wrong slip and we won’t get paid!”

“I’ve got something better,” Joe moved to the table and pulled out a syringe. “It will knock her out and she won’t feel a thing.”

“Don’t give her too much of it. The instructions were to keep her awake and alive so that she can watch us walk out of here, with her bundle of joy.”

“Please no!”

Joe stabbed her with a needle, “Well, next time be careful with who you piss off.”

Within a few seconds, Ellie began to feel drowsy. She felt numb all over, even her lips, but she wasn’t going to let it stop her from screaming for help.

Jane laughed as she made the first incision, “You sound like a cat!”

Ellie whimpered when she felt the dull pain of the knife slicing through her, “No please,” she begged one more time, her head dropping on the table, too heavy to hold up anymore.

“Hold her open Joe,”

Ellie cried when she felt the push and pull pressure. They were stealing her baby from her and there was nothing she could do.

“Here he is!” Jane announced, holding the baby up for Ellie to see. He was so tiny and his skin was ashy pink. He didn’t move nor did he seem like he was breathing.

“You killed him!” Ellie cried, turning away from her lifeless child.

Jane took him to another table, “I’m a nurse, and I know what I’m doing.” After a few minutes of prompting, a sharp baby’s cry filled the empty warehouse, bouncing off the walls.

Ellie turned to him. Jane was blocking him, but she could see his little feet move around. She cried out of happiness and immense sadness. Her baby was alive, but she was never going to have the joy of being his mother.

“Hurry up with that brat before she bleeds out!”

“Hold your horses.” Jane swaddled him up and placed him in the incubator, “You are a very pretty baby and very strong too!” She cooed at him before she moved to Ellie, “You and that husband of yours have really good genes, a gorgeous daughter and a stunning son. He is going to be a heartbreaker when he’s grown, too bad you won’t see it.”

“Please let me see him,” Ellie begged, “Just let me hold him once.”

“No. Now close her up,” Joe ordered.

“Sorry, but we need to leave,” Jane said. Before she could even touch Ellie, loud sirens echoed in the warehouse, “What the hell, Joe?”

Joe yanked off of his bloody surgical gear, “Shit! I knew that the witch couldn’t be trusted. Let’s go!”

Jane pulled her overalls off, “What about her and the baby? And our money?”

“Leave them and she’s not going to pay us, especially if we are in jail!”

Ellie gave a tired laugh, “You won’t get to jail. Dale is going to kill you the moment you step outside.”

“Who’s Dale?” she asked.

“Her FBI husband.”

“You’ve been standing here for two minutes already, one more minute and you’ll both be dead. No questions asked, just a bullet right through your head,” Ellie slurred out.

“Is she serious?”

“I’m sure, and I’m not sticking around to prove her right!” Joe took off running, Jane hot on his heels.

Ellie struggled to release her hand. It hurt as she tore her skin out of the plastic cuffs, but she didn’t care. Once she was free, she reached above her head and held on to the incubator. She pulled it and it rolled in view of her.

Ellie smiled when she saw him. He had a small oxygen mask a few inches from his face. His eyes were closed, but his little red lips moved like a tiny fish’s. She placed her hand up against it. The incubator felt warm. He was safe in there, but she knew something was bound to go wrong if he didn’t get to the hospital.

She pulled the incubator closer and opened the little door. She stuck her hand inside and stroked his tiny head. He stirred and whined for a moment before he settled again.

“My beautiful little baby boy,” she whispered, too weak to talk aloud, “You are going to be fine. Your daddy is going to save you.”

“Ellie! Oh my God!” Paloma exclaimed when she saw all the blood dripping from the table and join a huge pool on the floor, “We need the paramedics in here!” She whispered urgently, into her radio.

“Paloma,” Ellie whispered through her dry throat, “Where is Dale?”

“He is...” Four-gun shots finished her sentence. She didn’t need to be told for confirmation, “He’s on his way.”

“In case he doesn’t get here in time...”

She grabbed the tarp and wrapped it around Ellie’s open belly. It didn’t stop the bleeding, but it slowed it down, “Ellie, you’ll be fine.”

“Tell him I love him very much and that I’m sorry.”

Paloma nodded, unable to hold back the tears, “I’m sure he knows, and you can tell him yourself.”

“And tell him to tell Stacey-Ann that her mommy loves her so very, very much. He has to tell them both that every day.”

Paloma yelled into her radio, “Where the hell are the paramedics?”

“Oh God,” Kevin uttered.

“You have a medical degree, do something!”

Kevin nodded. He pooled the tarp off and grabbed the surgical tape on the table, “This can be controlled. I can fix this,” He said, more to himself than anyone else.

Ellie however knew better. She wasn’t going to survive it, she could feel it. She turned to her son and looked at him one last time. She stroked his tiny ear. It felt as soft as a petal against her touch. She would miss this. Just like she’d miss Stacey-Ann’s first date, graduation and college. She would miss it all and her heart broke over it.

“His name is James Dale Carson. Make sure to tell Dale that,” she closed her eyes and sunk into the dark abyss.

“Ellie!” Carson yelled as he run to them.