Finding Her Son(54)

His calculated plan made Emily shiver. She’d thought maybe she could reason with one of them. This cop had gone all the way bad.

“We’ll make it two for one, today,” Vance added. “Keep our exposure to a minimum.”

“Not a bad idea. How long ’til she pops?”

“A few hours. Maybe less. Boss doesn’t want it done here, though. The last one pushed Marie over the edge. The idiot stole my data on my guest—” he nodded toward Emily “—and went to that drunk PI. Nearly blew everything. Doc doesn’t want any more screwups. We kill them off site.”

The man said the words as if taking someone’s life was business as usual. A strange calmness came over Emily. She had the next few hours to find a way out. And, if nothing else, to come up with a way to get a message to Mitch. Despite everything, Emily recognized he would keep searching for Joshua, even if she were gone. She needed more information.

“You told me you’d tell me where my son is,” she blurted.

“I lied,” Ghost said. “We didn’t take your damn kid, but you ask too many questions. You should’ve left it alone. Snake and Heather’s baby was worth half a million bucks. Both blond-haired and blue-eyed. That’s why we paid him to get her pregnant. Then you had to go and ruin the deal.”

Emily’s head spun. They didn’t know where Joshua was. She didn’t understand. “But Perry—”

“Young?” Vance laughed. “That fool stumbled onto the operation. That’s why I had to take him out. He knew too much.”

This couldn’t be happening. She had to get away. To find Joshua and to warn Heather. Emily squirmed in her chair and wrapped her coat tighter around her, then shoved her hands in the pockets. Her fingers hit the metal of her cell phone. She clutched it, and her gaze flew to the men. If they would just leave her alone, she could call Mitch or 911. He’d find her. He’d save her.

She could count on him.

The truth filled Emily’s heart with awe. She could count on Mitch Bradford. He’d lied, but he wouldn’t let her down. She moved her fingers over the on button.

“Hey, there. What’re you doing?” Vance grabbed Emily and yanked her to her feet. “You search her?” he asked Ghost.

“She shot me. I got the gun. Exactly when—”

“Idiot.” Vance tugged her coat off and patted her down.

Emily shivered as his hands lingered over her breasts. He squeezed them and then pushed her down in the chair. Maybe he wouldn’t look in the pocket.

He grabbed the coat and snagged the cell phone. “Fool.” Vance pressed a couple of buttons. “No calls for the past half hour. You dodged a bullet, dude. The doc would’ve had me kill you, too, if she’d led the cops here.”

Vance dropped her phone on the floor and rammed the heel of his boot into it, smashing the small device, then tossed it into a sink and ran water over it. “No cavalry.”

His satisfied smile squeezed out most of Emily’s hope. She’d put herself in this position, and now Joshua would never know that his mother had loved him very much.

Ghost finished applying several butterfly strips and pulled down his bloody sweater. “That’ll do me. I’m changing, and then I gotta dump the car. Take care of her.”

He pushed up his sleeves, and Emily saw the red-and-green devil tattoo. Her head ached, her mind whirled. It wasn’t right. Something was missing.

Oh, God. Ghost wasn’t the man from that night. Perry had been right.

“She’ll be fine in here,” Vance said. “One less room to wipe down for trace evidence.”

They closed her in, and the sound of the door bolting sealed Emily’s fate. Once the poor girl’s baby was born, both of them were dead. Mitch didn’t know about Ghost or Vance. Unless Emily found a way out.




MITCH HAD SEARCHED THE entire perimeter of the building and didn’t see an opening. Odd. Usually an abandoned building like this wasn’t so heavily fortified. All the windows appeared boarded. He needed intel. No way to know how many people were inside. Emily had disappeared five minutes ago. It felt like a lifetime.

How the hell was he supposed to get in? He had to be smart, or Emily was dead.

A familiar black van pulled down an alley nearby. Yes.

Lieutenant Decker jumped out, and his SWAT teammates followed. Mitch edged in the alleyway, out of the line of sight of the apartment building.

“Give us the sit rep,” Lieutenant Decker ordered as the team surrounded Mitch.

Mitch spoke quickly and succinctly.

Decker nodded toward one of the other entry men, Reynolds. “Find us a way in.”

“You got it, Lieutenant.”

“Roof?” Mason, the sniper, asked, indicating a building across the street.

“That’s your best bet,” Decker said. “Keep a lookout for any activity.”

“Our hostage. Can she help us?” Reynolds asked.

“She thinks she’s alone in this,” Mitch said. “With good reason. She doesn’t trust the police department.”

“Great,” Decker muttered. “Does she trust you?”

“To save her life. Maybe. Otherwise, no.”

Lieutenant Decker lifted his brow. “Man, Mitch. What trouble have you gotten yourself into? I heard Tanner was trying to palm you off to summons duty this morning.”