Operation Baby Rescue

by Beth Cornelison

  Isabel sat on the floor with a brightly colored set of rings that she fumbled to stack on a plastic post. Elise smiled when Isabel dropped a ring in place then clapped her hands, pleased with herself.

  “Hey, good girl!” Jared cooed. He slid an arm around Elise’s shoulders and tugged her closer. “There’s a chicken casserole in the oven if you’re hungry.”

  Elise shook her head. “No thanks.” While sipping her cocoa, she spied Jared’s orange cat sitting on the window-sill and asked, “Where are the other cats? They’re getting along?”

  “Well, Bubba didn’t seem to mind having a visitor, but Diva is in a snit. She hissed and chased Brooke under my bed. I shut Diva in the laundry room, but Brooke has yet to come out.”

  Hearing his name, Bubba hopped down from the window and strolled over to the sofa. He sniffed Elise’s feet then rubbed against her leg.

  Isabel watched Elise bend over to scratch Bubba behind the ear. She squealed and pointed at Bubba. “Tee-tee.”

  Elise grinned. “Yeah, nice kitty.”

  “You speak baby? I’m impressed.”

  “Just one of my many talents,” she said setting her hot chocolate on the coffee table. Tucking her bare feet beneath her, she leaned against the solid and reassuring warmth of Jared’s chest.

  “How’s your head?” Jared strummed his fingers along her upper arm in hypnotizing strokes.

  “The painkiller has kicked in and the hot shower helped relax me, so…I’m actually feeling okay right now.”

  He kissed her hair. “Good, ’cause I’m guessing tomorrow your muscles are gonna ache like the devil.”

  She groaned. “Probably.”

  “Ready to look at the pictures you took? Try to figure out what the thief didn’t want you to see?”

  Elise sighed and burrowed closer to Jared’s warmth. “Not yet. I’m too comfy right now.” She curled her fingers against his chest and pressed her ear over the steady thump of his heart. “After everything that’s happened today, I just want to savor the quiet.”

  Isabel chose that moment to loose a high-pitched squeal of delight and bang the colored ring in her hand against the coffee table.

  Jared chuckled, and Elise felt his laughter as a rumble beneath her cheek. “What were you saying about the quiet?”

  “Forget it. Quiet is overrated. I have too much of it at my house.”

  She watched Isabel inch her way wobbly step by wobbly step to the end of the coffee table then drop to her diapered bottom. Her target was clear as she started crawling toward Bubba. “Tee-tee.”

  A smile tugged Elise’s lips, and she realized that the more she was around Isabel, the more she could appreciate, even cherish, the little girl’s sweet innocence without a barrage of grief and regret over losing Grace. Was that because MysteryMom had instilled a hope in her that Grace was alive or because she was beginning to care for Isabel?

  And what about her feelings for Jared? He’d been the only person she wanted beside her after her car had been run off the road into the lake. He was the one person who’d stood by her as she pursued MysteryMom’s allegations. And in his arms was the only place she wanted to be at that moment. Cuddled with him, she felt safe after a perilous day, hopeful after the bleakest year of her life, and tempted to act on the attraction that smoldered between them. She was ready to put past romantic and family betrayals behind her and trust Jared with her heart.

  “Well,” he said, lifting her chin so that he could see her face, “you’re welcome to come share the racket over here any time.” He punctuated the invitation with a soft kiss.

  Tendrils of desire unfurled deep inside her. Stretching closer to him, she deepened the kiss and sighed blissfully when he traced the seam of her lips with his tongue.

  He whispered her name and tunneled his fingers into her hair to cradle her head between his palms. His kiss tasted like the creamy hot chocolate he’d been sipping, and she indulged in the sweetness of his lips on hers. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she wound her fingers in the hair at his nape and let her tongue tango with his.

  He answered with a low growl of pleasure and eased her back on the sofa cushions. He followed her down, pinning her with his weight and the width of his shoulders. Rather than feeling trapped, she welcomed his embrace and the sense of shelter and protection his body provided.

  She clung to him as he angled his mouth, his lips drawing deeply on hers and filling her with a growing hunger. With his taut muscles and hard angles pressed against her from head to toe, all her nerve endings were tingling and sparking, her body humming with tantalizing promise.

  He smoothed a hand from her shoulder, over her breast and along her hip, his touch blazing a trail of fiery sensation. His caress held her so enraptured that she didn’t notice the new presence by her head at first.

  “Da-dee?”

  Jared seemed not to hear the soft voice, but Elise angled her gaze toward the angelic blue eyes and slobbery grin at her eye level.

  “Don’t look now, but we have company,” she said as he nuzzled her ear and covered the curve of her neck with nibbling kisses.

  He continued nipping at her chin with toe-curling finesse and murmured, “Don’t worry. She doesn’t bite.”

  Elise chuckled and pushed against his chest. “Just the same, maybe we should put this on hold until after she’s in bed.”

  He raised his head and gave Elise, then Isabel, considering looks. Arching an eyebrow, he sent his daughter a mock scowl. “Thanks for killing the mood, princess.”

  Rising to a seated position, he offered Elise a hand up, then smacked one last kiss on her lips before shoving to his feet. He scooped Isabel under the arms, tossing her a few inches into the air and catching her as she burst into fits of giggles and happy squeals. “Come on, priss, bath-time for you.”

  The father-daughter bond brought a smile to Elise’s face, and a tender ache swelled in her chest.

  Jared paused by the door to the hall. “If you’re ready to start going through your pictures, I’ll meet you at the computer as soon as I finish giving Isabel her bath.”

  Dragging herself off the couch, she crossed to the chair where she’d left her purse and dug the memory card out. “I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

  At Jared’s computer, she inserted the program disk that would load her photo software, slid the memory card in the drive and began reviewing the shots she’d taken at the hospital. She scrolled through the images from radiology and the E.R. until she found the first pictures of the nursing staff at the maternity desk. Carefully she studied each face and the miscellaneous scenes she’d captured in the background of the shots. She searched for anything that she considered suspicious or worthy of the apparent concern she’d caused with her visit. She lingered over the photos of Dillon Thompson’s birth, focusing more on what the doctor and nurse were doing than on the baby or parents. Frustration crept over her. Nothing seemed out of line. The birthing procedure followed the same regimen that she’d been through.

  Except that Dillon’s mother hadn’t been drugged and put to sleep for the next several hours. And Dillon Thompson had been surrounded by family and friends in the hours following his birth.

  The same twinge of envy that had poked her at the hospital needled her again. Would things have been different for her and Grace if she’d had a husband and parents, siblings and nephews all gathered in the hospital to welcome Grace to the world? To watch over her while Elise slept off the sedative?

  Several minutes later, she heard the click of a door closing softly down the hall, and Jared entered the office with the baby monitor in his hand. “So have you come up with anything? What do the pictures show?”

  “Nothing that stands out to me.” She waved a hand toward the screen. “You’re welcome to look, though. Maybe I’m missing something.” She scooted out of the desk chair, and as Jared slid past her to take the seat, he caught her around the waist and planted a deep kiss on her mouth.

  “Have I mentioned la
tely how glad I am that you’re all right?” He brushed her cheek with his knuckles and searched her eyes with a hot, penetrating stare. Desire danced in the dark depths of his gaze, but she saw fear, as well.

  Today, she’d revisited her nightmare by going to the hospital, the delivery room where she’d had—and lost— Grace. But Jared had also revisited the darkest day of his life when he’d heard she’d been in a car wreck. She knew his protectiveness, his insistence that she stay with him, had roots in that fear, in the memories of Kelly’s tragic death.

  “You have. And have I mentioned that I’m grateful for your help, so thankful that you were there for me today?” Elise wrapped her fingers around his hand and kissed his palm. The delicate scent that clung to his skin stirred a flurry of emotion in her chest. “Mmm, you smell good.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah. Baby shampoo is one of the best smells in the world.” She inhaled again, savoring the distinctive light scent. In the final days of her pregnancy, she’d stocked Grace’s nursery with baby shampoo and talc, lotions and washes. Following Grace’s death, Elise had sat in the nursery, surrounded by the baby-fresh scents, and cried until her throat hurt. A bittersweet pang grabbed her, and she slipped away from Jared’s arms to pace the floor.

  Jared turned his attention to the computer screen and studied the pictures. “These are great pictures, Elise. Even if they don’t show anything incriminating, your photo essay is going to be fantastic. You’ve captured such raw emotion on people’s faces. Like this one, the little boy holding his arm against his chest.”

  She glanced over to see which shot he meant. “That was in the E.R. He’d broken it and was waiting to get a cast. He said what hurt most was knowing he couldn’t play football again for a couple months.”

  “Well, you said you wanted to catalog all the stages and events of life that the hospital plays a part in. I’m sure this broken arm will stand out in that boy’s memory the rest of his life.” Jared clicked through a few more photographs and shook his head. Leaning back in the chair he linked his fingers behind his head. “Darned if I see anything worth running you off the road to steal your camera.”

  “You know, I keep going back to when the delivery-room nurse came in during my interview with Dr. Arrimand.” Elise chewed her lip as she strolled across the floor and back restlessly.

  Jared watched her from the computer chair. “You said earlier that was the turning point in his manner.”

  “He became stiff and suspicious and uncooperative, questioning me, clearly trying to get me to admit I’d been a patient. I figured it was pointless to deny the truth. He could have that information with a few keystokes anyway. Heck, that’s probably what Nurse Ratched was telling him.”

  He grinned briefly at her movie reference, then furrowed his brow in thought. “Can you recall doing or saying anything to her that would have turned her against you?”

  Elise shook her head. “On the contrary, she’s the one who drugged me with the heavy sedative right after Grace was born.”

  “So…maybe whatever’s happening over there…she’s involved.”

  “A conspiracy?”

  Jared turned a palm up. “I’d think there’d have to be a whole chain of people involved if records are going to be falsified, tracks covered, people deceived—”

  Elise gasped. “The morgue records!”

  Jared sat forward and shook his head. “What?”

  “I started to tell you sooner but…remember I said Dr. Galloway came in and gave me some copies of the morgue’s files?”

  “And Arrimand clammed up completely after that and kicked you out?”

  “Exactly. Dr. Galloway told me that only five newborn babies had been processed by the hospital morgue in the last two years.” She explained everything that she’d discussed with the coroner and how his records proved that, if Grace had in fact died, there was no record to prove it. More evidence of the hospital’s lies…or more specifically, Dr. Arrimand’s and his head nurse’s lies.

  Jared gaped at her. “Where are those copies? I’d like to take a look.”

  She took a step toward the door. “I put them—” Elise felt the blood drain from her face, and a chill sweep through her. “Oh, my God.” She pressed a shaking hand to her mouth. “I put them in my camera bag. Dr. Arrimand was right there. He saw me do it.”

  Jared shot out of his chair and closed the distance between them. He steadied her with a hand on each arm. “Which means it might not have been your camera and pictures the thief was after at all, but the copies of the coroner’s files.”

  “My proof that I was lied to about Grace, proof of a massive conspiracy.” Elise drew a tremulous breath. “Proof that my daughter is alive.”

  Jared’s grip tightened. “Dear God, Elise. If they know you’re on to the scent of their conspiracy, whatever their game is, you’re in more danger than you know.”

  Chapter 9

  What were you doing at Pine Mill Hospital today?

  Elise gaped at the message from MysteryMom that popped up in her instant-message window. No preamble, no greeting, no explanation of how she knew about Elise’s trip.

  She waved Jared over to the computer. “MysteryMom is online. Somehow she knows I was at Pine Mill today.”

  “How could she know that?” He settled beside her on a chair he’d brought in from the kitchen.

  “I don’t know,” Elise said as she typed the same question for MysteryMom.

  I just had a report from the agent who is undercover there. Your visit has really rattled some cages.

  It has?

  Yes. My agent found Dr. Arrimand and his nurse, Helen Sims, shredding documents and deleting files tonight. What were you thinking? I asked you to be patient and wait for me to report my progress to you. I asked you not to do any digging on your own that might cause suspicion.

  Elise sat back in her chair, stung by MysteryMom’s rebuke. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for several seconds before she replied: I don’t like being sidelined. I needed to do something.

  No, you didn’t. Your interference could blow a major investigation. We have several months and numerous resources invested, and before today, we were closing in on the evidence we needed to bring all the responsible parties to justice.

  Acid filled Elise’s stomach. What had she done?

  More important, we were on track to trace what happened to the babies that were stolen and put up for adoption on the black market.

  Black market. Elise froze when she read those words. The term black market conjured images of dangerous criminals and illegal weapons, espionage and dirty money. Could Grace have been a pawn in something so awful?

  She glanced at Jared, whose face had lost some color as he read the instant messages with her.

  “My baby was sold on the black market, Jared. My daughter!” She fought the hysteria that crept into her voice.

  Jared wrapped his fingers around her wrist and gave her a comforting squeeze. “You better tell her what happened to you, what you found out. She needs to know.”

  With a nod, Elise turned back to the keyboard. She explained everything to MysteryMom from the conception of her article and photo essay through finding the intruder searching her home.

  MysteryMom made no reply for several minutes, long enough to make Elise worry. Finally, MysteryMom posted:

  Do you have a friend you can stay with for a few days? I’m terribly afraid you’ve put yourself in the line of fire. Dangerous people could come after you again to silence you.

  Icy tendrils of dread spread through her, and she shot Jared a horrified look.

  He nudged her out of the way and typed, Yes, she can stay with me. I’ll make sure she’s safe.

  Who are you?

  Her boyfriend.

  Elise caught her breath and raised a puzzled gaze to his.

  “You have an objection to the term?” He tucked a wisp of her hair behind her ear.

  Pleasant shivers chased through her from his t
ouch. “I…don’t know.”

  A muscle in his jaw twitched as he studied her, his eyes moving over her like a caress. “What would you call me? I think we both know we’re more than friends.” He leaned closer, brushing his lips against hers. “I’d like to be much more.”

  Heat suffused her blood as she imagined her naked body twined with Jared’s, the feel of his hands on her skin, his mouth exploring her most sensitive places.

  “Jared…” she’d started when a new instant message popped onto the screen with a beep. She angled her head to read MysteryMom’s reply.

  Elise, you’ve been talking to other people about this?

  Only Jared and my grief-support group. But everything we say there is in the strictest confidence.

  In the delay before MysteryMom’s reply, Elise could almost hear the other woman’s groan and see her disappointed head shake.

  Don’t talk to anyone. If you want to be kept in the loop on our progress, it is essential that you follow my directions. With just one mistake, the whole operation could blow up in our face. I have people in precarious positions—dangerous positions if their cover is blown. We are so close to putting all the pieces together and dismantling the baby-selling ring.

  A chill burrowed to her core. A baby-selling ring. She had thought Grace had been taken by a few warped individuals, but the scope of the evil that she’d fallen victim to shook her. She typed, I’m sorry. I know that’s probably too little, too late, but with my daughter’s life on the line, I couldn’t just sit on my hands. I had to do something.

  I understand your restlessness. I’m a mother, too. But in my line of work, failure to follow orders can get you or one of your agents killed. It could be your life at risk if you don’t back off and let us handle this. You’ve already made yourself a target with your questions today. These people have millions of dollars at stake. They won’t take kindly to anyone disrupting their operation.