Kidnapping in Kendall County (17 page)

And that his feelings weren’t the same as hers.

Soon, after she had her baby in her arms, she could work that all out. If Austin wanted to work it out, that is. It was entirely possible that once Sadie was safe and Sonny was behind bars, that Austin would leave and go back to his own life.

That didn’t help soothe her thoughts any.

Of course, there was nothing about this situation that was
soothing.
They were literally on a life-and-death run to save her baby, and if they didn’t get lucky, it was a race they might lose.

They kept moving, the air so cold that she thought maybe her breath had frozen. Austin finally stopped, lifted his hand and pointed toward a pair of oaks just ahead.

Seth nodded.

Rosalie didn’t immediately see what had captured their attention. Not until she caught a glimpse of the movement. It looked to be the sleeve of a man’s coat.

Maybe Sonny’s.

She expected Seth and Austin to move closer to try to capture him. But they didn’t. They stayed put, their gazes firing all around them.

And she soon figured out why.

The rush of movement came from their right. A blur of motion.

Sonny.

He ducked behind some shrubs but not before Rosalie saw that he wasn’t wearing a coat. That meant he’d likely planted his coat as some kind of trap to lure them out. Thank God Austin and Seth hadn’t fallen for it because her instincts had been to go after it and find Sonny.

“Get all the way down on the ground,” Austin whispered to her.

It was an effort with her tight, frozen muscles. The moment Rosalie managed to do as he’d said, Austin took off.

Sweet heaven.

She hadn’t expected that and didn’t want him running right into the path of Sonny’s gun.

There were footsteps to her left, and while her brother stayed low, Seth made his way to her. He hovered over her, waiting. Rosalie waited, too, and each second seemed to take an eternity. It sickened her to think of Austin out there, trying to finish this fight, but there was no other choice. She wondered if he knew just how thankful—and terrified—she was that he was willing to risk everything.

“What the hell?” Sonny snarled.

She lifted her head just enough to see Austin launch himself at the man. He’d obviously circled around Sonny and sneaked up on him. Now they were in the middle of another fight.

“Stay here,” Seth told her, and he raced toward Austin and Sonny.

There was no way she could stay put, but Rosalie did keep cover behind the trees as she made her way toward Seth and Austin. She certainly didn’t want to get close enough to Sonny to let him grab her and use her as a human shield again.

However, she saw something that caused the skin to crawl on the back of her neck.

Sonny had his gun aimed right at Austin.

“No!” she screamed, and she bolted toward them.

Maybe Sonny hadn’t expected her to be so close. Or for her scream to be so loud. Either way, he glanced over at her.

It was just a split second.

But it was enough of a distraction for Austin to knock the gun from Sonny’s hand. He didn’t stop there. Austin shoved him onto the ground and put his own gun right against Sonny’s throat.

“Give me a reason to pull this trigger,” Austin said, his voice dripping with the emotion of the nightmare that this monster had put them through.

Rosalie walked even closer despite Seth’s attempts to stay between her and Sonny. But she wanted to get a look at Sonny’s face.

And she did.

He was smiling.

If Seth hadn’t caught on to her, Rosalie would have gone after Sonny to punch him. Or at least she would have tried to do that. How dare this SOB smile after what he’d done to them and so many other families.

“You didn’t win,” Sonny said, staring at her.

That sent an even icier chill through her. “What do you mean?” she asked at the same time that Austin said, “Ignore him. He’ll say anything to get to you because he knows he’ll be spending the rest of his life behind bars.”

“Yeah,” Sonny readily agreed. Still smiling. “But even behind bars, I still win.”

Austin hauled Sonny to his feet and used the plastic cuffs that Seth handed him to restrain the man. “How do you figure that?” Austin asked.

“Easy. The woman who had the baby? The nanny,” Sonny clarified. “She has orders, and I know for a fact she’ll carry them out, especially after what she saw tonight. She’ll be afraid for the baby, and she would have headed to the other car that we left just up the trail.”

Rosalie put her hand on her chest because it felt as if her heart might beat out of her chest. “What do you mean?” she repeated. “Where is she?”

Sonny’s smile stretched across his face. “The nanny is leaving the country as we speak, and she’s been given the money and the resources to disappear for good.” His smile turned to a taunting laugh. “You’ll never see your daughter again.”

Chapter Twenty

Austin wanted to believe Sonny was lying about the
nanny disappearing with Rosalie’s baby. After all, Sonny hadn’t told the truth
about much else. But this was exactly the kind of stunt a man like him would
pull.

The nanny wouldn’t be around to testify against him.

And there’d be no absolute proof that he’d ever had Sadie
kidnapped. Unless there was some kind of DNA evidence in the car, that is, but
Austin was betting Sonny had made sure there wasn’t.

“Where’s the nanny?” Austin demanded.

Sonny just kept on smiling. A bad mistake. Because Austin
didn’t even try to hang on to his temper. He punched Sonny in the face. Sonny’s
head flopped back, and even with the blood spreading across his mouth and teeth,
he managed to keep that damn smile.

“Please,” Rosalie begged, and Austin could hear every bit of
the agony in her voice.

Agony that was clearly giving Sonny pleasure. Since he’d been
captured and was about to spend the rest of his life in jail, he wanted Rosalie
to have that same life sentence.

“Give me some time alone with him,” Seth said. Unlike his
sister, there was only one emotion in his voice.

Rage.

Seth would likely beat Sonny within an inch of his life. Austin
wanted to do that himself, but time was precious right now, and he didn’t want
to spend that time trying to get answers from this piece of slime.

“The airport,” Austin said. “If she’s leaving the country,
that’s where she’ll go. And Sweetwater Springs has a small airport that’s only
about ten miles away.”

That finally got the smile off Sonny’s face. Austin hoped that
meant he’d hit pay dirt. Of course, he could be doing that to taunt them, to get
their hopes up.

Seth took out his phone. “I’ll call the airport and see if
there are any flights about to leave. If so, I’ll have them stop the plane from
taking off.”

Rosalie shook her head. “But what if she goes somewhere other
than Sweetwater Springs?”

“I’ll call Colt and have him help,” Seth explained. “Cooper and
he are out here in the woods looking for the nanny and any other thugs this
idiot might have brought with him. If they both start making calls, then we
should be able to stop her from getting away.”

Good. Austin wanted all the help they could get.

“Go to the local airport,” Seth insisted. “If the nanny’s not
there, if she’s headed to San Antonio instead, we’ll stop her.”

Austin didn’t hesitate to take Seth up on his offer. Neither
did Rosalie. They started running back toward the car. It seemed to take an
eternity to get there, but the second they were inside, Austin started the
engine and got them moving.

He hadn’t thought it possible, but the roads seemed even
slicker than before. Maybe that would work for them.

“The nanny cared about the baby,” Austin reminded Rosalie. “She
wouldn’t have run if she hadn’t. And that means she’ll take care driving on
these roads.”

It could slow the woman down just enough for Austin to catch up
with her. Of course, there was another obstacle once they had the nanny and the
baby.

What if the little girl wasn’t Sadie?

Austin wasn’t sure Rosalie would be able to handle that. Wasn’t
sure he could, either. He didn’t know Sadie. Had never held her in his arms the
way Rosalie had, but it would crush him to have her disappear.

He didn’t want to think about what it would do to Rosalie.

“Seth should have called by now,” she mumbled.

She sounded on the verge of panicking, and he couldn’t blame
her. The stakes were sky-high right now, and with the road conditions, they were
still about eight minutes out from the airport.

“Back in the woods, you told me that you loved me,” he
said.

Yeah, the timing sucked for this particular conversation, but
it might stop them both from losing their minds. Or maybe it would just add to
it, he amended when he saw the flash of surprise in Rosalie’s eyes.

“You didn’t mean it,” he concluded. “I get it. Adrenaline.
Heat-of-the-moment kind of thing—”

“I meant it.”

Oh.

That gave him a jolt of emotions. All good ones. Despite the
hell they’d just been through, he found himself smiling. Judging from Rosalie’s
expression, that didn’t help settle her nerves.

“It doesn’t make things better,” Rosalie continued before he
could gather his thoughts and answer her. “Nor easier. Just the opposite—it
complicates things. And for the record, I don’t expect you to return the
feelings. In fact, I’m not sure I want you to.”

Well, that caused his smile to go south. Austin shook his head,
sure he was missing something that should be obvious.

“You don’t want me to love you?” he came right out and
asked.

She huffed.

Yep, this clearly fell into the obvious category, and he was
too thickheaded to figure it out. He was about to ask her to spell things out
for him, but his phone rang, and he saw Seth’s name on the screen when he took
it from his pocket. So that he could keep both hands on the steering wheel,
Austin put the call on speaker and gave the phone to Rosalie.

“Please tell me you’re close to the airport,” Seth snapped.

“About three or four minutes out. Why?” And judging from the
sense of urgency in Seth’s voice, Austin was afraid he wasn’t going to like the
answer.

“Because there’s a small plane about to take off, and I believe
the nanny and baby are on it.”

“Oh, God,” Rosalie mumbled. “Were you able to stop it?”

“Yeah, but there might be another problem. There’s a lone air
traffic controller running the place this time of night, and he just radioed for
the pilot to abort takeoff. That doesn’t mean the nanny won’t just get off the
plane, get back in the car and head elsewhere.”

Rosalie repeated that
Oh, God.

“I’m hurrying,” Austin assured Seth. He ended the call so he
could focus on getting them to the airport in one piece.

The sleet kept coming at them, pelting the windshield and
making it hard to see. It didn’t help that Rosalie’s breath was gusting now,
much as it’d been when she was facing down a killer like Sonny.

Of course, these stakes were even higher now.

She could lose her baby forever.

Austin took the turn to the airport. Too fast. But thankfully,
he didn’t go into a skid. He managed to keep the car on the road, heading
straight toward the small metal hangar that sat just off the runway. The moment
he pulled in front of it, he saw the plane.

Thank heaven.

It hadn’t taken off, but the engine was still running. If
necessary, he’d drive the car in front of the plane to stop it from taking
off.

“There,” Rosalie said, pointing to the side of the hangar.

Austin looked in that direction and spotted an SUV, similar to
the one that Sonny had used to get to the woods. There was white steam coming
from the exhaust pipe, which meant that engine, too, was on.

Before Austin could bring his car to a full stop, Rosalie
bolted out, making a beeline toward the SUV.

“Wait!” Austin called out to her, but just as he’d expected,
she didn’t listen. Too bad because Sonny could have a hired gun waiting in
there.

Or worse.

Maybe the nanny wasn’t even here at the airport with the baby.
Maybe this was another of Sonny’s tricks to lure them to a spot where they could
be gunned down. It wouldn’t get him off the hook with the felony charges, but
Sonny might take pleasure in their suffering.

Austin threw the car into Park, drew his gun and got out so he
could hurry after Rosalie. However, before he could get to her, she yanked open
the SUV door on the driver’s side.

And she froze.

Austin could have sworn his heart froze, too, because he was
terrified that she was looking down the barrel of a killer’s gun. He got his own
gun ready and took aim the moment that he came to a stop.

But it was no killer staring back at them.

It was the woman they’d seen in the woods. Midfifties with gray
hair and a thin build. She was alone. Well, maybe. She certainly wasn’t holding
the baby, and there was no thug in the seat next to her.

That put a knot in Austin’s gut.

Until he glanced in the back and saw the infant seat. It was
facing the rear of the SUV, and he couldn’t tell if it was empty or not, but
he’d soon remedy that. Austin threw open the rear door.

And there she was.

A beautiful sleeping baby.

She was snuggled into thick blankets, and because the car’s
heater was on high, she didn’t appear to be cold.

“Don’t hurt her,” the woman insisted, and she jumped from the
car to try to push Austin away. He held his ground, but she just kept on pushing
despite the fact he outsized her and was armed.

“He won’t hurt her,” Rosalie said. “We’re here to save
her.”

She eased onto the backseat next to the baby. With her fingers
trembling, she reached out and touched the baby’s hand. Rosalie’s breath hitched
in her throat, and the tears came. Austin wanted to go to her, to hold her, to
share what he hoped was about to be a happy reunion, but he had some business to
settle first.

“Who are you?” the woman demanded.

“Austin Duran, and this is Rosalie McKinnon. Now, who the heck
are you?” He used his FBI tone even though he wasn’t sure it was necessary. The
woman seemed to be trying to protect the baby, and her size didn’t make her much
of a threat.

“Laura Keels,” she said, and her wary gaze went from him to
Rosalie. Austin expected her to try to stop Rosalie from touching the baby, but
she didn’t. “Did you say your name was McKinnon?” she asked.

Rosalie nodded, but she didn’t take her attention off the baby.
She eased the baby from the seat and took her into her arms.

“McKinnon,” the nanny said once more, and she turned to grab
something from the car.

Austin didn’t let that happen. He caught on to her and put her
against the door the way he would any criminal suspect.

“I don’t have a gun,” she insisted. “But I do need to show you
something. It’s in my wallet in the diaper bag on the passenger’s seat.”

There was indeed a diaper bag on the seat, and while he didn’t
see a weapon, he had no intentions of letting her get to her wallet to show them
anything. Not yet, anyway.

“I need answers. Why were you working for a man like Sonny?”
Austin asked.

She frantically shook her head. “I didn’t know he was violent.
I didn’t know he’d done anything wrong. Please tell me he’s under arrest.”

“He is.”

It was hard to tell if Laura was telling the truth, so he
motioned for her to continue.

“I’m a nanny. I’ve been one for over thirty years, and when
Sonny contacted a former employer and offered me a job, I took it. He brought me
the baby eleven months ago, and I’ve had her ever since. I’ve cared for her just
as I would all the babies I’ve loved and raised over the years.”

“And you didn’t wonder if the baby had been kidnapped or
stolen?” Austin snapped.

Rosalie kept the baby cuddled in her arms, but she looked up at
Laura, obviously waiting for the answer to that.

“Of course not,” Laura insisted. “Sonny said the baby’s father
was a drug lord. A very dangerous man. And that the baby’s mother had gone into
hiding and that she’d be back to claim the child when it was safe.”

Austin huffed. “You believed that?”

“I didn’t have any reason not to.” Laura paused, her own tears
now streaming down her cheeks. “Not until tonight. Not until I saw what a
violent man Sonny really was. He said we were only going to see the baby’s
mother. I didn’t know there’d be guns and shooting.”

“Did Sonny hurt the baby?” Rosalie asked. “Did he touch
her?”

Laura’s eyes widened. “No. God, no. I would have never let that
happen. I cared for her, kept her safe until she could be reunited with her
mother.”

Rosalie swallowed hard. “I believe I am her mother.”

He braced himself for Laura to deny that. But she didn’t. She
looked at him again. “I need to get something out of my wallet. It’s something
you need to see.”

Austin kept his gun on her and finally nodded. Laura didn’t
make any fast moves, probably because he didn’t seem too friendly, and once
she’d taken the wallet from the diaper bag, Laura pulled out what appeared to be
a small strip of plastic.

Thanks to the interior lights of the car, he saw that it was
the kind of bracelet that hospitals put on newborns. It was pink and there was
something written on it.

McKinnon Baby Girl.

“Room 112,” he read from the bracelet along with the date.

Sadie’s birthday.

Rosalie’s breath shattered, and the sound she made—relief mixed
with joy—caused the baby to stir.

“It’s Sadie,” Rosalie managed to say. She pressed a flurry of
kisses on the baby’s face. “That’s the date she was born, and that’s the room I
was in at the hospital. She’s mine. She’s really mine.”

Yeah. They would need to do a DNA test, of course, but it would
only verify what they already knew. That this was Rosalie’s daughter.

Just as a mom would do with a newborn, Rosalie eased back the
blanket, checking for fingers and toes. They were all there, and Sadie looked
like a perfectly healthy child.

“I took care of her,” Laura repeated. “She’s a good baby, but I
always knew that she needed her mom and dad. You’ll take good care of her,
too.”

It wasn’t a question, but Austin nodded. No doubt about it. He
would take care of her and Rosalie.

If Rosalie let him, that is.

He clearly had some things to work out with her, especially
that part about her not wanting him to love her. Austin still wasn’t sure how to
get around that.

His phone rang. It was Seth, again. And Austin realized he
should have already called him with an update since Seth would be worried about
his sister. The reunion had obviously distracted him.