But Zeke knew he was probably long gone by now. “There were two of them. Stanford had someone with him. He was younger, taller with blond hair.”
“He must have gone ahead with the baby while Stanford went after Kelly.”
“But how did they know where we were?” Kellyanne asked. “How did they find us?”
Josh shook his head. “That’s a good question. Maybe they had people staking us out or followed the radio signal.”
Colby rubbed his face. “Or they followed me there. I had to have led them right to you. I’m sorry, Kelly. I had no idea I was being followed.”
She hugged her brother to let him know she didn’t blame him. She was devastated but hadn’t turned to blaming anyone. Zeke was glad about that, sure he would be on the top of that list. He should never have allowed his anger at her to distract him.
“If they followed you, they were definitely watching either us or Zeke’s place, otherwise they wouldn’t have known to follow you. I doubt that fella with Stanford was the only one he was working with. My guess is Davenport has put out a team of people looking for Kelly and Brady.”
“And now they have Brady,” she whispered.
Zeke stood and pulled her to him, and she went willingly into his arms. Nothing else mattered now except finding Brady and bringing him home safely, and Zeke was determined to do just that.
* * *
Kellyanne sat on the bench outside the bullpen at the sheriff’s office. She leaned forward and put her hands over her face.
Brady was gone. Her baby was gone.
Tears pressed against her eyes, but she refused to cry. This was her fault. Brady was in danger because of her.
God, why are You punishing him for my mistakes?
Zeke approached her and slid onto the bench beside her. She couldn’t deal with him either. He had to blame her. He had to blame her for yet another mess she’d made. Yet when he reached for her hand and held it, she didn’t feel any condemnation.
She dared a look into his eyes and saw sympathy and understanding there instead of accusations.
“He’s going to be okay,” he assured her. “We’re going to find him.”
Yes, they knew who had taken him, who had arranged for it to happen. Senator Davenport. A force of nature in the political world. He wouldn’t have gotten his hands dirty. He had someone else do his deeds.
“He’s Brady’s father. He could easily have a judge in his pocket who will say we have no right to have him, and that he just took Brady because he belongs to him.”
Zeke held her hand. “He’d have to claim him to do that, and that’s the last thing he wants to do. He wants to keep Brady a secret, remember?”
“There’s no telling what he’ll do with him.” All the terrible things that could happen to a small child rushed through her mind and made her stomach turn. What were they planning to do to a four-month-old who couldn’t even protect himself? What kind of a monster would hurt a child?
“Kelly, we still have what he wants, remember? The flash drive.”
Suddenly, she realized what he was implying. “You think he’ll use Brady to try to get it?”
“I think it’s probable he’ll try to trade Brady for it. After all, as long as we have that flash drive, we control him.”
She shook her head. It didn’t feel like they were in control of anything. “What do we do now?”
“There’s not much we can do except wait. We’re going to meet with your brothers in a few minutes. We’re going to try to figure out a strategy. Don’t worry. Getting Brady back is our primary concern.”
“Zeke, let him have the flash drive. I don’t care. Let him get away with it. All I care about is getting Brady back. All I care about is bringing him back home.”
He nodded, leaned over and kissed her cheek before heading toward the glassed-in conference room.
She froze, panic creeping up her neck. She couldn’t sit and listen to them brainstorm options for finding her child without falling apart. She just couldn’t do it.
Zeke turned back to her. “Aren’t you coming?”
She stared at her brothers, already in the conference room. She was grateful to have them on her side. What a fool she’d been before for taking them for granted.
She looked up at him as tears pressed against her eyes. “I don’t think I can.”
His expression softened and she knew he understood. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I trust you...all of you.”
He gave her hand a squeeze then walked into the conference room to join her brothers.
Zeke’s anger seemed to have dissipated. Was he finally on his way to forgiving her? But did it even matter now? She would never survive losing two children. He’d come to love Brady as much as she did, and she’d even started to think about being a family with them. That would never happen.
All she cared about now was bringing Brady home.
Her phone beeped, and she reached for it. Her eyes widened, and her heart stopped at the image on the text message. It was a photo of Brady along with a newspaper dated today and the words Bring the flash drive if you want to see him again. Will tell you where to go once you’re on the way.
She gasped and stood. Zeke needed to see this. Maybe they could trace the message back to the caller. She hurried toward the conference room but stopped before reaching for the door as her phone dinged another message.
Come alone. No cops or the kid dies.
Her heart sank into her stomach. There was no telling what they would do to Brady if she didn’t follow their instructions exactly. Zeke would be busy with her brothers long enough for her to retrieve the flash drive and leave.
She walked to Josh’s office quickly and closed the door behind her. She knew he’d placed the flash drive in his safe in his office, but she also knew from past experience that the combination was his late wife’s birth date. She’d noticed previously how he hitched each time he used it and figured it out by watching him.
She took a breath, hoping he hadn’t changed it in the last year. She spun the dial to the combination and held her breath until she pulled on the knob and the safe opened. She reached in and retrieved the flash drive. A sinking feeling filled her. Her instincts were competing. Part of her wanted to march back into the conference room and tell Zeke and her brothers about the mystery text and demand. The other part of her wanted to do everything she could to make certain Brady was safe, and that meant doing whatever the kidnappers demanded.
She slipped the flash drive into her pocket, closed the safe, then dug the spare key from Zeke’s desk where she knew he kept it. She walked out and got into Zeke’s truck and was two miles down the road before she breathed a sigh of relief that she’d actually gotten away with the flash drive.
She pulled over and took out her phone. She responded to the text.
I’ve got the flash drive. Where can we meet?
Where are you?
Two miles from the sheriff’s station. Hwy 17. Keep driving. Someone will find you.
She placed the phone on the seat beside her. This was it. This was her decision. There was still time to turn back, and she did want to. There was a good chance the kidnappers would double-cross her and take the flash drive and still kill them both. She could phone Zeke right now and tell him what she’d done, and he would come to rescue her, but that would mean Brady would be in more danger. No, she’d made her decision. There was no turning back now.
She put the truck into gear and drove. Several minutes later, a car approached her from behind. She gripped the steering wheel as fear rustled through her. The car sped up and passed her but pulled over in front of her, indicating she should do the same. She did so and cut the engine.
Two men exited the vehicle and approached her with guns drawn. “Where is it?” one of them demanded.
She could hand
it over to them, but she had no assurance that Brady would be returned if she did. She had to play this smart. “Where’s Brady?”
“Give us the flash drive if you want to see him.”
“No. First, take me to him. Then you get the flash drive.”
One of them grabbed her arm and yanked her from the truck. She dropped the keys in her hand and heard something crack as she was yanked out. She turned and saw her cell phone had fallen out and the screen was damaged.
The man who’d pulled her out patted her down, hitting on the drive in her pocket. He retrieved it and held it to his partner. “Got it.”
“You have what you wanted. Now, where is Brady? What has Davenport done to him?”
Her worst fear was that now that they had the flash drive, they would leave, and she would never get Brady back. But that didn’t happen. One of them grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the car, but instead of taking her to the back seat, they popped open the trunk.
She stopped and dragged her feet. She wasn’t going in there. “No, wait, we had a deal.”
The other man tore off a length of duct tape, taped up her hands and mouth, then shoved her inside the trunk of the car and slammed the lid. Darkness enveloped her, and fear spread through her. What had she done? She’d only put herself and Brady in even more danger with no way out of this situation.
Tears pressed against her eyes. She still didn’t even know where Brady was or where they were taking her.
I’ve messed up again.
Her heart shattered. She’d betrayed Zeke and her brothers. She’d walked into a trap, and she was no closer to finding Brady and bringing him home. Her choices might prove fatal for both her and Brady.
* * *
Zeke glanced up from his conversation with Kellyanne’s brothers and looked to the bench where he’d left her earlier. She wasn’t there and that gave him a bad feeling. She’d been on the edge of breaking down before. She didn’t need to be alone.
He excused himself and walked out to find her, scanning the bullpen. He checked the breakroom and the offices and didn’t see her. His gut clenched and that bad feeling grew.
He pulled out his phone, doubled-checked that he hadn’t missed a call or text from her explaining where she was, then hit the button to call her. It rang several times before going to voice mail. He ended the call and shot her a text, then waited as long as he could stand—probably only a few minutes—before texting her again. When there was still no response, he slid into panic mode. Where was she and why wasn’t she answering her phone?
He walked to the front desk clerk. “Have you seen Kelly?”
“She left earlier in your truck.”
Shock punched him in the gut. “She did what?”
He hurried to the door and pulled it open. His truck was gone. He went to his desk and opened his drawer. His spare set of keys was gone. Hopefully she was only headed home, but he had to know for certain. He pulled up the GPS on his truck. It was sitting still on Highway 17.
He called Kellyanne’s cell phone again, and when she still didn’t answer, he grabbed his jacket. “Go tell Josh his sister left. I’m going after her,” he called to the desk clerk. He headed out the door and slid into one of the patrol cruisers.
His gut was telling him something was wrong. Why had Kellyanne left and why was she sitting in his truck on the side of the road and not answering her calls? He tried not to panic, but his mind was already going through all the things that could have gone wrong, including that Davenport’s men had grabbed her.
He saw his truck and pulled to the side of the road, parking behind it. The driver’s door was standing open, and as he approached the truck, he noticed the engine wasn’t running. He knelt and spotted her cell phone and the keys on the ground by the driver’s door. That couldn’t be good. He scanned the area, hoping to see her out in the field or walking down the shoulder, but there was no sign of her.
He walked the shoulder and noted tire tracks in front of where the truck was parked. Another car had been here and picked her up. The question was did she go willingly or was she taken?
His heart sank, and he wanted to rail against the men who’d done this, but his focus had to be on finding Kelly and Brady. He pulled out his cell phone and called Josh. “I found my truck,” he told Josh when he answered. “Kellyanne’s gone.”
NINE
He couldn’t lose her. Not now when he’d finally come to terms with everything that had happened with them. When he’d finally found himself hopeful he could make a life with her and Brady.
He knew she’d never intended to hurt him. Why had she shut him out again now? No, he couldn’t allow his thoughts to go there. She must have her reasons. She wouldn’t have ditched the truck. She’d been taken, but why? They already had Brady to use as leverage to get the flash drive returned to them.
Her brothers watched him as he paced. He felt their eyes watching him, judging him. He’d promised to keep her safe, and he’d failed to do so.
“This is not just on you,” Colby told him.
“I should have kept a better eye on her. Should’ve had someone with her.”
Josh stood and grabbed his shoulder. “We all know that whenever Kelly gets it in her head to do something, there’s little anyone can do to stop it. Trust us. We’ve all tried.”
Josh shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense. We haven’t received any demands since they abducted Brady. Why not at least make the demand first before taking her.”
Zeke recalled the feeling that something was wrong earlier, and a terrible thought occurred to him. She would do anything to make sure Brady was safe. Was it possible she’d gotten a demand? “Unless...” He glanced at the safe where they’d stored the flash drive. He didn’t want to believe she’d do something like that without telling anyone but...
Josh followed his gaze. His face hardened, and he walked to the safe, put in the combination and opened the door. His shoulders sagged. “It’s gone. The flash drive isn’t here.”
“How can it be gone?” Colby demanded.
“Kelly took it.” Zeke didn’t even have to wonder. “She must have gotten a demand from the kidnappers. She wouldn’t have risked Brady’s life.”
“You mean she didn’t trust us enough to rescue him.” Colby’s tone was angry. Zeke didn’t blame him, because he was right. Once again, she hadn’t trusted anyone, including him. She’d gone off on her own and made a mess of everything. Now, instead of one person to rescue, they had two.
“They had to know we could have easily made a copy of the flash drive.” Miles glanced at them. “We did make a copy, didn’t we?”
“I had my techs try, but it was encrypted, and I thought that copy was safe.”
Zeke’s emotions ranged from feeling sick to his stomach, to fighting the urge to punch something. Why would Kellyanne act so rashly? Why hadn’t she come to him for help? Once again, she hadn’t trusted him.
“Don’t take it so personally,” Josh insisted, pulling up his chair and taking a seat. “She’s known us a lot longer and didn’t trust us either.”
He looked and saw them all staring at him.
Colby grinned. “You love her.” It wasn’t a question but a statement, but Zeke felt the need to respond.
“For a long time.” He glanced at each of her brothers. “She wanted to keep it a secret because...”
“Because of us,” Colby finished. “Apparently, we’re overbearing and can’t be trusted not to run off any guy who looks at her.” He shrugged. “Hey, isn’t that what older brothers are for?”
Zeke looked at each one of them. “You’re not upset.”
“Why would we be?” Josh shot him a stern look. “You’re a good man, Zeke. You’ve proven that time and again, both with your exemplary work as a deputy and with how you’ve stayed by Kellyanne’s side throughout all of this.”
&
nbsp; “I thought you all might not approve given my background and what happened to my parents.”
“We all have skeletons,” Josh said. “I wouldn’t have let you become part of my team if I thought you weren’t a good man.”
“What happened to you happened when you were a child. Why would anyone hold that against you?” Lawson asked him.
“I don’t know. It just seems like all my life I’ve been the kid whose father killed his mother. It’s defined me.”
“It doesn’t have to,” Colby told him. “You don’t have to let it.”
“You could have let it define you even more,” Josh continued. “You chose to be a good man, Zeke. You chose to make the right choices. You can’t blame yourself for what your folks did. None of us can. At some point, everyone has to make their own choices, and you’ve chosen well.”
He took a deep breath. “Good. I’m glad to hear you all say that, because once we get Kelly and Brady back, I want you all to know that I’m not letting them out of my sight again. I want to marry her and give Brady more brothers and sisters. And I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen, even if it means we have to leave Courtland.”
Josh nodded, stood and reached out his hand to Zeke. “I believe you will. And if my baby sister ends up leaving Courtland again, I’ll be glad to know she’s got you looking out for her.”
The others added their agreement, and Zeke was glad to have their support. He shook Josh’s hand. He didn’t want to leave Courtland, but he would do anything and go anywhere to be with her. Nothing else was more important to him than getting her back safely and making her his wife.
“We have to find her and bring her home,” Colby stated, echoing his thoughts. “And we still have no idea who Davenport has working for him.”
This was all about Davenport. He was the mastermind behind all of this. He’d committed murder and had now abducted Kelly and Brady, all to protect his false political reputation as a man of family values. “I suggest we not worry about the people he’s hired. We know who’s behind all of this. I say it’s time we confront the man himself.”
Texas Baby Cover-Up Page 15