Paternity Unknown

by Barrett, Jean

  Without another word, her captor retreated from the chamber, closing the door behind him. She and Molly were alone, buried underground in what felt like a prison cell.

  Ignoring Lauren, the blonde busied herself at a camp stove. She’s preparing the formula for Sara’s feeding, Lauren realized, watching her anxiously. When the bottle had been warmed to Molly’s satisfaction, she went to the table and leaned over the basket, making cooing noises to its occupant.

  Then she carefully lifted the baby out of the basket, settled herself on a stool, and just as carefully began to feed Sara with the bottle. There was a tender smile on Molly’s face, a little girl playing mother as she looked down at her charge cradled in her lap.

  Lauren gazed at the scene in frustration, unable to satisfy herself with even an adequate view of her daughter’s face.

  That should be me. I should be holding her, feeding her, not some woman who has no right to cuddle her.

  As if suddenly aware of Lauren and sensing her need, Molly looked up from her task.

  “I’d let you hold her,” she said, her tone both sympathetic and friendly, “but if Anthony came in and caught us, he’d be awfully mad about it. But, hey, don’t worry. I’ve been taking real good care of her. Anthony didn’t want to, but I made him take me to get those extra diapers back in Elkton. She sure goes through them, doesn’t she?”

  Lauren stared at her. That’s when she realized two things about Molly Janek. She was either mentally challenged or incredibly naive. Like a simple child, she seemed unable to understand how seriously wrong all of this was.

  She was also completely under Anthony Johnson’s control. Although Molly was at ease now, even cheerful, Lauren remembered how nervous she had been in Anthony’s presence, how anxious to please him. That being true, it wasn’t likely that Lauren could convince the young woman to help her. But Molly did seem to possess both an innocence and a basic decency, so maybe…

  “Listen to me, Molly,” she pleaded earnestly. “I want you to get that handcuff key away from Anthony. You can manage it somehow.”

  The young woman looked at her, not understanding. “Why would I do that?”

  “So you can unlock me. Then I’ll stand a chance of helping not just myself and Sara but you, too. It will be in your favor when they catch you. Because both of you will be caught. But if you free me, I promise I’ll do everything to see to it that they go easy on you.”

  “No,” Molly said solemnly, shaking her head, “I could never do anything like that.”

  “Are you so frightened of him?”

  “Anthony can be sweet, you know. He can be awfully sweet.”

  “But sometimes he’s mean, isn’t he? Mean enough to kill.”

  “It was his grandfather’s fault. He wouldn’t listen to Anthony and wanted to throw him out of the house.”

  “And what about his aunt? She was trying to help him, and yet he killed her, too, didn’t he?”

  “No, that wasn’t very nice,” Molly admitted. “But waiting in that farmhouse until everything could be settled about the baby broker got on his nerves real bad.”

  “Was that a reason to kill his aunt?”

  “Well, Hilary was being difficult. She wanted to go straight back to her house in town so she wouldn’t be suspected. But Anthony said no, that she had to stay because she was in on it with him. Then she got scared and wanted him to forget the whole thing and give Sara back.”

  “And he wouldn’t.”

  “He said it was too late for that.”

  “So he killed her.”

  “Only after Hilary sneaked his gun away from him and hid it. I guess she was afraid he might use it. She wouldn’t tell him where it was. They had a terrible fight about that, and he knocked her down. She had only herself to blame, because he never meant to kill her.”

  “Molly, you have to get away from him before he ends up hurting you.”

  “Anthony would never do that. He loves me.”

  “You can’t trust him. He’s sick.”

  But Molly had stopped listening to her. There was a dreamy look now on her pale, pinched features as she bent her head with its wispy blond hair over Sara again.

  The young woman was immune to all reason. There was nothing more that Lauren could do. Her thoughts turned to Ethan and how desperately she missed him. What if it all ended here and she never saw him again? That very strong possibility, along with forever losing her precious daughter, gripped her with pangs of anger and despair.

  No! Either she or Ethan, or perhaps both of them together, had to find a way to defeat Anthony Johnson. But how, when Ethan didn’t know where she was? Or even that she was gone?

  IT WAS ONLY AFTER a long search on the lake that Ethan and his partner, Fred Griggs, found the missing boat tucked behind a tiny island not far from shore.

  They approached the craft with caution, but it was apparent before they reached it that it was empty and adrift. Boarding it, they inspected it and learned there was still plenty of gas in its tank and that nothing was wrong with its engine.

  “He must have waded to the beach after leaving it,” the security man surmised. “It’s shallow enough here to wade all the way back to shore. But what was the point of taking it out and then just abandoning it?”

  Ethan had a fearful certainty of exactly why the boat had been stolen and then hidden behind the island. A decoy. And it had to have been Anthony Johnson who was responsible for it. Something to keep them busy, to lure them away from the true rendezvous with the broker. But if that meeting wasn’t to occur somewhere out here on the lake, then where—

  Fred Griggs had a call on his two-way. Ethan waited impatiently, knowing from the security man’s responses and the expression on his round face that something was wrong.

  “What is it?” he demanded when Griggs ended the call.

  “It was Dick Frazier. He said Ms. McCrea is missing. Seems she left her partner and went up to the village to look around. There was some kind of mixup, so they didn’t learn until a long time later that she hadn’t turned up back at the hotel.”

  Ethan tried to suppress his alarm and failed. “And they waited until now to tell us about it?”

  “Well, they’ve been up there looking for her, but they couldn’t find her or anyone who knew where she could be.”

  Ethan grabbed his cell phone clipped to his belt, extended its antenna, and punched in the digits for the number to Lauren’s cell phone. He waited anxiously, hoping she would pick up, but she never answered.

  His heart had been in his throat from the second Griggs informed him that Lauren had been reported missing. Now it dropped like a stone down to his stomach. “Let’s get back to the hotel.”

  “What about the abandoned boat?”

  “Leave it. It can be picked up later.”

  With the throttle wide open, their small craft roared across the lake in the direction of Windrush.

  Standing rigidly in the bow with legs apart to brace himself, Ethan expressed his growing fear by swearing under his breath. He was angry with himself for permitting her to go off with another partner. And he was angry with Lauren for leaving that partner to search on her own.

  Whatever his mood when they’d parted in the lounge and he’d gone off to pore over a map of the hotel, whatever his disappointment in her after that emotional scene in front of the television set, he should have kept her with him. Because if anything happened to her, if Anthony Johnson had somehow gotten hold of her—

  And that was when it struck him with the force of a blow. He was in love with Lauren! He couldn’t lose her! How could he live without her, or his daughter, either? They were both of them as vital to him as the blood that coursed through his veins.

  As swiftly as the boat traveled over the blue waters, it wasn’t fast enough to suit Ethan. He was frantic by the time they reached the landing. Leaving Fred Griggs to moor the craft, he swarmed up the ladder onto the dock.

  How could he find them? Where could he possibly search
that hadn’t already been covered by the teams? And how much time was left to him?

  Looking up, he checked the position of the sun. It was already in the west, the shadows of the mountains beginning to spread across the lake. Late afternoon was approaching, and if they didn’t soon locate and prevent that rendezvous…

  Sick at the thought of what the outcome might be, he started to lower his gaze. That’s when he saw them high on a wooded ridge over to the left of the hotel.

  He had only a brief glimpse through a gap in the evergreens before the trees swallowed them again. But it was enough for him to know there had been three figures. A man and two women. At this distance he’d been able to distinguish little else. Except one of the women had auburn hair and the other was a blonde. A blonde bearing something in her arms that could be a baby.

  His daughter! Ethan was convinced of it.

  “That ridge,” he called down to Fred Griggs, who was still busy fastening the lines. “What’s up there?”

  The security man gazed in the direction he indicated. “There’s a trail along there.”

  “Where does it go to?”

  “The station for the cable car that runs up to the scenic overlooks on Mt. Evans. But there’s no one there. It’s been shut down for the season and the trail closed. Too cold on the mountain this late in the year.”

  “How do I reach that trail?”

  “Over to the left on the far edge of the lawns. Path is marked, but what—”

  “I don’t have time to explain. Contact Dick Frazier for me and tell him where I’ve gone and to get up there with help as fast as he can, because I think Johnson is headed for that cable car.”

  Not waiting for a response to his request, Ethan raced up the length of the dock and across the lawns. He found the marked path and tore along it at top speed, his brain burning with his fear for the safety of both the woman he loved and his daughter.

  Anthony had managed somehow to capture Lauren, and if he hurt either her or Sara—

  Don’t think about that. Just concentrate on reaching them.

  It seemed clear to him now what Anthony intended. The cable car was going to carry him and his captives to the rendezvous with the broker at the top of the mountain.

  They had all overlooked this possibility. Learning that the broker was to fly in, they had assumed he would arrive by floatplane. None of them had considered a helicopter. And what better place for an illicit exchange than a remote mountaintop, which meant there had to be some safe, level spot up there for the chopper to land.

  Never mind that the cable car was shut down. As mechanical as he was, Anthony would know how to activate and operate it.

  Ethan was sure this had to be the scenario, but could he get there in time to stop it? His long legs and the rigorous, special forces training that had conditioned his body were in his favor. The path, when it turned and began to climb steeply toward the ridge, was not.

  Ethan met the challenge by exerting his energies to their full force. He was winded when the path joined the main trail on the crown of the ridge. But he didn’t let that slow him. Pausing only long enough to catch a quick breath, he pounded along the trail, his heart pumping a litany.

  Hang on, Lauren. I’m coming…coming…

  The route was level now and that made the going easier. But it seemed to take forever before he trotted around a bend and saw a clearing ahead of him. Using the trees as a cover, he approached the opening with caution.

  There it was, the small cable-car station. But there was no sign of the three adults, one of them carrying a baby, who must have reached the place some minutes before him. Risking exposure, Ethan moved out into the clearing.

  It wasn’t until he neared the building that he heard the throb of an engine inside. There was only one door, a heavy one. When he carefully, silently tried it, he found it locked from the inside.

  They were in there, he knew, but there was no way to reach them. No windows to break through, only the open end at the back from which the cable car had yet to emerge. When he crept around to the side, he could see that the structure was perched on the sharp edge of an abyss. Its back end hung precariously over the chasm. It would be impossible for him to reach that opening.

  Frustrated, Ethan eyed the stout pine tree that grew against the side of the building. Its branches were as good as the rungs of a ladder. All right, if not the walls, then maybe the roof.

  Without hesitation, he scaled the pine, not knowing yet what he was going to do, only that he was determined not to let that car inside get away from him.

  It was a shed roof, its higher end above the opening. The roof’s relative flatness made it easier to navigate once he was on it. He had no idea whether they realized he was up here. Maybe not. He’d been as quiet as possible, and the hum of the machinery down there should muffle any sounds on the outside.

  He’d reached the upper edge of the roof, and was wondering as he crouched there whether he could swing himself down and through the opening, when he heard below him the sound of what must have been the drivewheel turning. It was followed by the rumble of the rolling cable drum, then the clang of a bell announcing the imminent departure of the car.

  They had to be inside the gondola. In another second, the brake would be released. They would be on their way if he didn’t act. Forget Dick Frazier. He and whatever help the Mountie might be bringing with him were obviously delayed.

  Ethan didn’t think when the car suddenly swung out from the opening. It was instinct born of need that enabled him to launch himself under the cable lines and down onto the roof of the gondola as it passed beneath him. Whatever generated his action, the special ops officer who had trained him would be proud of his feat.

  Maybe less proud, Ethan realized, if he failed to survive his situation. It was a perilous one, with the rapidly moving gondola suspended over a chasm whose depth he didn’t want to think about. All he could do until they reached the upper station was to flatten himself and hug the roof with spread arms and legs. Any other effort would be suicidal.

  The ascent was marked by a series of cable towers located at intervals along the tops of ridges. Every time the car bumped through one of these towers, it threatened to spill Ethan into space. The wind that tore at him out here in the open didn’t help, either.

  Clinging to the roof, he came to the conclusion that his ordeal atop the train long hours ago had been a stroll in a meadow compared to this.

  Ethan was able to measure the halfway point when the empty gondola from the upper station, that counterbalanced the whole operation on parallel cables, passed them on its descent. Hopefully, Dick Frazier would be waiting at the lower station to board it and follow them. But Ethan couldn’t count on that.

  The next few minutes tested not just his strength but his endurance against blasts of air that grew more frigid as they climbed above the treeline. His entire body was numb with the cold by the time they arrived on the summit.

  The car, slowing on its last steep ascent, crawled into the station and came to a rocking halt inside its stall. Ethan eased himself up from the roof into a crouching position on its edge. With the blood already circulating again through his limbs, he was ready to spring on Johnson the instant he emerged from the car.

  Would surprise be in his favor? It was still his hope, but it proved to be a wasted one. The occupants of the car were aware of his presence on the roof. That was evident when the gondola door slid open just wide enough for a harsh voice to call out to him. “Whoever’s up there, and I’m thinking it’s probably you, Cousin Ethan, then you’d better stay just where you are. Because if you don’t, then your girlfriend and what she’s carrying are gonna end up being on your conscience the rest of your days. Do we understand each other?”

  Ethan had no choice. “We understand each other.”

  “Keep your distance, then. We’re coming out.”

  The car’s side door rolled back all the way. Anthony appeared first, followed closely by Lauren. He was lea
ding her like a dog on a leash. One of the bracelets on a pair of handcuffs encircled her wrist. The other bracelet was in Johnson’s fist. Lauren’s free arm bore Sara wrapped snugly in a blanket. The blonde, Molly Janek, who at some point must have transferred the baby to Lauren, emerged last. She was trembling like a frightened child.

  Lauren, too, was frightened. She looked up, her gaze seeking Ethan’s. “Please,” she appealed to him, “do what he says. If you don’t, Sara will die.”

  Johnson laughed. “I’ve got insurance here, Cousin. Show him,” he ordered Lauren. When she hesitated, he growled an insistent, “Turn around and show him.”

  Her captor swung her around by the handcuffs, exposing her back to Ethan’s view. She had some kind of pack harnessed to her. What in—

  “Wanna know what’s in the pack?” Anthony chortled. “Plastic explosives with a magnesium charge. And this—” he held up a small, black remote clenched in his free hand “—this is the little baby that signals the charge. All I have to do is back away out of harm’s way and press this button here, and boom. Cool, huh?”

  The sick bastard had rigged up a bomb and strapped it to Lauren’s back!

  Ethan felt himself shaking with both rage and his inability to make use of his hands, rolled into fists down at his sides. But he could, and did, deliver a savage warning to the man smirking up at him.

  “If you hurt either her or my kid, then I promise whatever it takes I’ll find you. And when I do, I’m going to send you to hell.”

  “She won’t suffer, or the baby, as long as you both do what I tell you.” He rapidly issued his instructions. “This is how it’s going to work. You’re going to stay right here inside the station, Cousin. You and Molly together, while your girlfriend and I go out to meet that chopper.”

  “You’re not going to leave me, hon!” Molly wailed.

  “You can’t come. The chopper was told to expect one man and one woman with the baby. If they spot a third adult, or anything suspicious, they won’t land.”