RENEGADE GUARDIAN

by Delores Fossen

  She waited but he didn’t add anything. “There seems to be an or at the end of that.”

  Slade lifted his shoulder. “He could just be crazy. Or maybe he wants to torment us as much as he can.”

  Maya had to groan. Neither of those were ors she wanted to consider. “How safe is this safe house where you’re taking us?”

  “As safe as my brother could make it.”

  For him, that probably meant it was safe, but again, she would decide once they were there. “How much longer before we get there, because I’ll have to feed and change Evan soon?” Besides, it was getting dark, and she didn’t want to be on the roads if she couldn’t see if someone was following them.

  Slade checked his GPS. “We’re only about two miles away.”

  Good. But there was a downside to that—it wasn’t nearly enough time to press him on the part of the conversation that she’d overheard with his brother Harlan.

  “My brother learned more about the Colliers,” Slade continued before she could say anything. “First of all, the ransom demand didn’t pan out. They claim the kidnapper told them that he’d be calling them back, and it hasn’t happened.”

  Maybe the kidnapper would call, though. And soon. “Did your brother learn anything else about the Colliers?”

  “Some. Nothing good, though. According to an acquaintance, their marriage has been rocky for a while, and it was Chase who pressed for the adoption because he thought it would make things better.”

  She thought about that, shook her head. “How could any agency let them adopt under those circumstances?”

  “It was a private adoption, and a lot of money changed hands. This acquaintance also said that Nadine wasn’t happy about any aspect of the adoption, that she didn’t want to be a parent and resented Chase for dumping the baby on her.”

  Maya actually shivered and silently cursed the fact that money had put that innocent baby in what seemed to be a toxic home. When the children were found—and she had to hold out hope that they would be—maybe someone would rescind the petition for adoption.

  Slade took a turn off the rural road, and she spotted the one-story house just ahead. Other than a barn, there was nothing nearby, and the pastures stretched out on both sides.

  “The town is a good ten miles away,” Slade explained, “and the locals believe the owner is a city businessman who lends the place out to clients.”

  That would provide good cover as to why people would be coming and going, but it looked like an ordinary Craftsman-style house, not a fortress.

  Slade didn’t stop in front of the house. He drove to the back, parked directly next to the porch and began to unhook the car seat at the same time Maya reached for it. Their hands touched.

  Gazes met, too.

  She hated the warmth that pooled in her body. Obviously, her past hadn’t taught her anything, and she pulled back her hand so she could touch one of the scars on her stomach. Her clothes concealed them, but she could always see them in her mind. And it was the reminder of the scars that gave her the attitude adjustment she needed.

  “Once we’re inside, I’ll want an explanation about the DNA,” she said.

  He didn’t dodge her gaze. In fact, Slade didn’t have any reaction other than the barely audible sigh that left his mouth. He lifted the car seat, Maya grabbed her diaper bag and the plastic bag with diapers and formula that the sheriff had given them, and they hurried out of the truck. Slade also didn’t waste any time using the electronic keypad to open the door.

  The moment they stepped into the house, the security system started to beep.

  “Is that you, Slade?” someone asked.

  The sound of the man’s voice caused Maya to gasp, and it took her one breath-stopping moment to realize the person wasn’t inside the house but rather had spoken through the speaker mounted on the wall next to the keypad.

  “It’s me,” Slade verified.

  The buzzing stopped, and she saw the keypad lights go from red to green. “The security system is armed,” the man said. “If you need anything, just hit the panic button. There’s one on the wall in every room next to the light switches.”

  “Will do. What other measures have been taken?”

  “There’s perimeter security. If someone turns onto the road that leads to the house, it’ll trigger the sensor and that’ll give you at least ten minutes’ notice that someone’s coming.”

  “What if someone tries to reach this place on foot?” Slade asked.

  “No sensors for that. We tried it, but the deer kept tripping it. But the windows are bullet resistant. And in case you have to get out in a hurry, the road curves around, so you could leave out back if you had to.”

  Maya prayed it wouldn’t come to that.

  “Call if you need anything,” the man added.

  Slade assured him that he would, and he pressed another button on the keypad before he walked across the hardwood floor and set the baby on the coffee table in the modestly furnished living room.

  Modest described what she could see of the rest of the place, too. There was a dining room directly across from them and the kitchen behind them. She figured the three doors on the right led to the bedrooms. Well, hopefully there were at least two because she had no intentions of sharing a bed with Slade.

  Without asking her permission, Slade undid the safety belts and took Evan into his arms. Her son didn’t fuss. In fact, he stared at the stranger holding him. And Evan smiled.

  Yes, smiled!

  Maya figured it had to be gas. From all the books she’d read, Evan was still too young for a real smile, but she felt the tightening in her chest. Not jealousy that someone other than her had been on the receiving end of a smile. No. This was something much stronger than jealousy.

  It was fear.

  “I want answers,” Maya managed to say, though she wasn’t sure how. In addition to the tightening in her chest, every part of her seemed frozen in place.

  He didn’t jump to say anything. In fact, he took his time, and he kept his attention pinned to Evan. No smile for Slade, just the raw intensity that had stirred the muscles in his jaw.

  “Remember when I told you about my ex-girlfriend?” he finally asked.

  Maya nodded. “The one who was pregnant and disappeared.”

  “Yeah.” And that was all he said for several moments. “Well, it wasn’t a relationship, more like a one-night stand, but months afterward she called to tell me she was pregnant with my baby. She said she was within days of her due date, and she wanted me to meet her. She was scared and said someone was trying to kill her.”

  Evan cooed, the sweet sound drifting through the room, and despite the pained look in his eyes, the corner of Slade’s mouth lifted. Not exactly a smile, but she thought maybe that was the nearest he came to that particular expression.

  “I wasn’t sure it was a real threat,” Slade continued, “but I drove to her place in Austin only to find it ransacked. And she was missing.”

  Oh, mercy. Maya didn’t like the sound of this at all. “What happened?”

  Slade lifted his shoulder, but there was nothing casual about the reaction. There was a storm raging just beneath the surface. “Deidre’s body was found a few hours later.”

  Maya put her hand on her chest to steady her heart. It was racing now, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to her next question. Still, she had to know. “And the baby?”

  “Missing. He wasn’t with her body.”

  Her heart pounded even harder. “He? She had a son?”

  Slade nodded. “I managed to learn that from the doctor who delivered the baby. Deidre had paid him to keep the delivery secret.”

  “From you?”

  “Maybe.” Another pause. “But she was in trouble, had gotten involved with the wrong man—
a guy named Damien Waters—who was jealous that she was carrying another man’s child.” He mumbled something that she didn’t catch. “Deidre had this thing for bad boys.”

  Something Maya could understand. She, too, had once been there, done that. And yes, she had the scars to prove it.

  “From what I’ve been able to piece together, Waters was verbally abusive. Maybe physically, too,” Slade added like profanity. “He’s dead now, so I can’t get answers from him.”

  Maya wanted to ask if Slade had been the one to kill this abusive man, but again, it wasn’t an answer she wanted to hear.

  She waited, breath held, but she had the sickening feeling that she knew where this was going. “This happened a long time ago?”

  Now Slade’s gaze came to hers. “September 16 of this year.”

  Evan’s birthday.

  And the birthdays of the missing babies.

  Her heart slammed against her chest. Her breath stalled, only to start gusting in and out. And because she had no choice, she sank down onto the sofa. Everything hit her at once. The realization. The tornado of emotions.

  And, yes, the fear.

  “You think Evan is your son.” Maya didn’t wait for him to confirm it. She would have grabbed Evan right out of his hands, but Slade moved, turning his body so she couldn’t do that.

  “No need for that.” Slade’s voice sounded like a warning, and she thought for a moment he might use physical force to take Evan.

  But he didn’t.

  He calmly shifted Evan back toward her and eased him into her arms.

  “Oh, God,” she mumbled, and she just kept repeating it. Maya was aware that she sounded crazy, but considering the circumstances, she had a right to snap. “I thought that happened a long time ago.”

  “No.” His gaze came back to hers. “Put yourself in my place. The doctor who delivered my son confirmed that he was born on September 16, and three baby boys born that same day were put up for adoption. If Evan’s not mine, then it means my child is likely one of the other two, and he’s already been taken.”

  Or worse.

  Slade didn’t say the words aloud, but she heard it in his voice. Saw it in his face.

  She swallowed hard so she could speak. “Evan’s birth mother wasn’t named Deidre. It was Crystal Hanson.”

  “Deidre gave the doctor a fake name, too. Besides, if Waters killed her, took the baby and put him up for adoption, he wouldn’t have used her real name.”

  Maya jumped right on that. “But there was a birth certificate for Evan, and the mother was barely twenty. Deidre was older than that, right?”

  “Yeah. But Waters could have faked the name, the age, everything. He was into all sorts of illegal things, including a few forgeries. If he didn’t do the paperwork himself, I’m sure he knew where to find someone to do it for him.”

  She wasn’t giving up. Maya wasn’t ready to buy any of this, because if she did, that changed everything. “How can you be sure Deidre was even carrying your child? From the sound of it, she wasn’t a very reliable woman.”

  “She wasn’t,” he readily admitted. “But the timing is right for her to have conceived my baby. And she wouldn’t have voluntarily given him up for adoption. Deidre could be flighty, but the one thing she wanted most was to have a baby.” His jaw muscles stirred again. “In fact, she could have gotten pregnant on purpose.”

  “And not told you?” she snapped.

  He gave her a flat look. “Deidre and I had sex. Nothing more on her part or mine. We weren’t in love, not by a long shot. I figure the only reason she called me to tell me about the pregnancy was because she knew she was in danger and that I’d protect her.”

  Maya wanted to scream for him to stop. She didn’t want all these pieces lining up like this. Especially when the pieces kept pointing to a conclusion that couldn’t be reached.

  “I’m sorry. But you can’t have Evan. He’s my son.” And she hugged him close to her.

  Slade didn’t challenge that. In fact, for several snail-crawling moments he just sat there. “There’ll be toiletries in the bathroom. Extra clothes in the bedroom closets. Oh, and the fridge will be stocked. You should eat, feed Evan, change him and then try to get some rest. You need any help?”

  She shook her head so fast that her neck popped. Maya didn’t want him touching Evan. And as for eating, that wouldn’t happen. Her stomach was churning, but thankfully she had enough formula for Evan. Also, thankfully, her baby seemed to be totally unaware of the nightmare going on around him.

  Slade got up and first opened the doors off the living room. She’d been right about them being bedrooms. Well, two were. The center one was a bathroom.

  “I’ll take the bedroom at the front of the house,” Slade said, and walked into the kitchen.

  Maya tried to level her breathing. Tried to think. But most of all she forced herself not to run. Slade had the truck keys—she’d seen him slip them into his jeans pocket—so she literally had no way out of here except on foot.

  But she did have a phone.

  She hurried to the diaper bag to get it but then froze when she looked at the phone screen. Who could she call?

  Sheriff Monroe, maybe.

  Then she remembered Slade saying something about the kidnapper perhaps having a friend in the sheriff’s office. She didn’t want to do anything to lead the kidnapper right to Evan.

  Frantically, she scrolled through the numbers she had stored. Her parents had been killed in a car accident when she was in high school. She had no family except for distant cousins who she rarely saw, but she had friends and coworkers.

  And one by one she excluded them.

  Anyone she called would automatically be put in danger. And besides, she didn’t personally know anyone with the physical skills to help protect Evan.

  Sweet heaven, what was she going to do?

  Maya caught the movement from the corner of her eye and whirled around. Slade was in the doorway of the kitchen, his shoulder propped against the jamb, and he was eating a sandwich. He was also watching her. Or rather watching her hold Evan while she panicked. But Slade wasn’t panicking. He looked much as he had when she’d first seen him lounging against her car.

  Well, the same except for his eyes.

  Those deep blue eyes were still intense. As was the rest of him. But there was something else there, too. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  Wait, she could.

  It was the kind of look a father might give a child he loved with all his heart. And that broke Maya’s own heart. Because his love might be warranted if Evan was his son.

  Slade pushed himself away from the jamb and walked closer. “Keep away from the windows,” he said. Not one of his growled warnings that she’d become accustomed to. There was a gentleness in his voice.

  He reached in the back waist of his jeans and took out a gun. For one terrifying moment she thought he might aim it at her and demand that she hand over Evan.

  But he put it on the coffee table.

  “There’s no safety on this weapon,” he said, “and if you call anyone, don’t use your cell. It can be traced. Besides, service out here sucks anyway. Use the landline in the kitchen instead.”

  Maya shook her head. Was he giving her permission to call someone else for help?

  He took out the truck keys from his pocket. They jangled when he dropped them on the table next to the gun. “I’m asking you to trust me, but I won’t force you to stay under my protection against your will. Just be smart about it and make sure anyone you involve in this will put Evan’s safety first.”

  It was an out. A surprising one. “You care whether I trust you or not?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” He didn’t sound very happy about that. “Let me know what you decide to do.”

 
And with that, Slade walked away from her and disappeared into the bedroom.

  Chapter Eight

  Slade sat on the bed and watched the line of light seep through the edges of the blinds. It was both a welcome sight and not so much of one.

  Yeah, they’d survived the night without someone coming after them, but that sun was rising on what no doubt would be a hell of a day.

  There’d been a steady flow of emails and text messages throughout the night. Some were updates on the case. Others were details for the security arrangements for the interrogation of their suspects—Andrea and Chase and Nadine Collier. Slade hadn’t considered Chase an actual suspect, but then Declan had added a strange note to the arrangements: “Wait until you get a load of this guy.”

  Clearly, his brother had seen a red flag or two in the man’s demeanor, and that was good enough for Chase to land on Slade’s suspect list. But that list, and the interrogations, were just the tip of the iceberg.

  Morgan Gambill, the guy who’d escaped during the bomb scare, was still missing. Definitely not good. Because his escape alone was enough to prove guilt of something.

  But what?

  Slade needed to find out.

  Then there was the added annoyance of Randall Martin, the owner of that green SUV, who still hadn’t been brought in for questioning. Randall had stonewalled pretty much every agency involved and, fed up, Slade had ordered the man arrested. And it would happen, as soon as he was located. Yeah, Randall had indeed filed a stolen-vehicle report hours before the kidnapping attempt, but Slade was tired of having no answers. Because no answers meant Evan was in danger.

  That thought snaked through his head just as he heard the movement. He’d been expecting it but didn’t reach for the gun he had on the nightstand beside him. The footsteps belonged to Maya. He’d gotten very familiar with their sound because he’d listened for them during the entire night.

  And there’d been a lot of them to hear.

  When she’d taken Evan in the bathroom so she could bathe him and then take a shower herself. When she had gotten something to eat from the fridge. And when she had fixed Evan a bottle in the middle of the night and then another just a half hour earlier.