“Keep moving!” the guard demanded, and this time he didn’t whisper.
“Do as he says,” Nate instructed. It appeared the guy had plans to take them inside the house.
When they stepped out onto the road, the guard moved closer to them. Probably to protect himself. Did he know Grayson and the others were out there? Maybe. Or maybe he was just being cautious.
The guard by the cattle gate came closer, as well, and he kept his rifle aimed at Darcy and Nate. The man fired glances all around, and his message was clear—if anyone took a shot at him, he would shoot back, and at this range, he wasn’t likely to miss.
“They’re taking us to the children,” Darcy mumbled. She quickened her pace, hurrying across the yard and to the porch.
The door swung open, and the two guards forced them inside, following right behind them. They shut the door and immediately started watching out the gaps in the newspapers that covered the two front windows.
Other than a tattered sofa and some boxes, the room was empty, and Nate couldn’t hear the babies or Marlene.
“Welcome,” a bulky man said from the doorway of the kitchen. Like the others, he was dressed all in black and had camo paint on his face. And he was armed.
“Are you the boss?” Nate asked.
“Yeah,” he readily admitted.
Nate tried to commit every detail of this man’s appearance and demeanor because when this was over, the boss was going down.
“Where are the children?” Darcy demanded. Her voice was shaking. So was she. But she managed to sound as if she was ready to tear them limb from limb.
“I’ll let you see for yourself.” The boss stepped to the side and motioned for them to go toward the back of the house.
Was this some kind of trick?
Maybe.
Nate certainly didn’t trust them, but several of the guards had had more than ample opportunity to kill them.
“This way,” the boss instructed. He led them through a dining room and then to a hall.
That’s when Nate saw the open door. And the room.
“Noah!” Darcy practically shoved the boss aside and hurried toward Marlene and the babies. They’d been right about the rocking chair. Marlene was seated in it with Kimmie in the crook of one arm and Noah in the other.
Marlene’s eyes widened, but that was her only reaction. Maybe because she was in shock. No telling what these goons had put her through.
“Noah,” Darcy repeated.
She scooped up her sleeping son into her arms. Nate did the same to Kimmie, but neither baby stayed asleep for long. Noah immediately started to fuss, and Kimmie slowly opened her eyes.
Nate felt the rush of panic as he tried to check his daughter to make sure she hadn’t been hurt. She was still wearing her pink overalls, and there were no signs of bruises or trauma.
“Da Da,” Kimmie babbled, and she smiled at him.
That nearly broke his heart and filled it in the same beat. His baby had been through so much—too much—and yet here she managed a smile. Nate didn’t even attempt one. He just pulled Kimmie deep into his arms and held her as close as he could while he kept an eye on the goon standing behind them.
Beside him, Darcy was doing the same to Noah, and there were tears streaming down her face.
“I tried to stop them,” Marlene said, shaking her head. She backed away from them as if she might try to bolt through the window.
“She did,” the boss verified. “And she might have a few bruises because of it.”
Nate had to stop his hands from clenching into fists. He wanted to break this guy’s neck for hurting Marlene and putting them through this nightmare. But he had to hold on to his composure. He would do battle with him, but it wouldn’t happen now. First, he had to figure out how to get Kimmie, Noah, Marlene and Darcy out of there.
“Why did you do this?” Nate demanded. He tried to keep the rage out of his voice for Kimmie’s sake.
The boss met Nate’s glare. “I’ve been instructed to offer you and Ms. Burkhart a deal.”
“What kind of deal?” Darcy snapped. Noah was still fussing so she began patting his back.
Nate waited for what seemed an eternity for the boss to respond, and the dangerous thoughts kept going through his head. All the things that could go wrong. His brothers might not know Darcy and he were inside, and if they didn’t, they could be about to put their plan in motion.
A plan that might cause these SOBs to fire shots.
Nate brushed a kiss on Kimmie’s forehead and prayed nothing would go wrong.
“It’s a simple request.” The boss didn’t continue until he leaned against the doorjamb. What he didn’t do was lower his gun. “You’re to transfer two million into an offshore account.”
This was about money?
Of course, Nate had considered it, but then why had they taken Noah? Darcy was doing okay financially, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t rich.
“Two million?” Nate verified. He could transfer that amount with a phone call.
“Yeah,” the boss said. “For starters. Part two of the deal is slightly more…complicated. You’re to make sure Wesley Dent is not only arrested for his wife’s murder. He’s also to be convicted.”
Nate heard Darcy pull in her breath. He had a similar reaction, including disgust. Yeah, he thought that Dent might be guilty, but he wasn’t a dirty cop, and he didn’t fix investigations.
So, why did this bozo want him to fix this one?
His first guess was that these gunmen worked for either Sandra Dent’s son, Adam, or her ex-husband, Edwin. Both had motives for wanting Dent behind bars.
Which meant Dent might be innocent, after all.
“Wesley Dent is my client,” Darcy clarified. “I’m supposed to defend him to the best of my abilities.”
“Admirable,” the man snarled. “But being admirable won’t get your son back.”
“What do you mean by that?” Nate demanded.
“I mean we’re holding your children until we have the results we want for Dent. If you want to speed things up, I suggest you get Dent to confess. Or create a confession for him.”
“That can’t happen.” Nate turned, adjusting his position so that Kimmie wouldn’t see the anger on his face. “And you can’t keep our children for what could turn out to be months.”
Another shrug. “Well, we can’t keep them here, of course. We have to move them as soon as you leave.” He checked his watch. “And your time is up. You have to go now.”
“No!” Darcy tightened her grip on Noah.
“This could all be over by tomorrow,” the boss calmly explained. “Talk Dent into confessing and then arrange for his suicide because he feels so guilty for killing his wife.”
“No,” Darcy repeated, and she looked at Nate and shook her head. “I can’t leave Noah here.”
Nate was about to assure her that they weren’t leaving, but the sound stopped him cold. Not a shot.
But a thud.
The boss’s expression changed immediately. He was no longer calm. “See what’s wrong,” he barked to the young gunman behind him. The boss reached out, latched on to Marlene’s hair and pulled her in front of him.
And he put the gun to her head.
Hell.
They didn’t need that. Nate had figured he could give Kimmie to Marlene so his hands would be free, but that option was out now. Instead, he handed her to Darcy, and he was thankful that his baby seemed to enjoy being in the arms of this stranger, who cuddled her as protectively as she was cuddling her own son.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” the boss warned Nate.
There was another sound. Not a thud. But the noise of a tranquilizer gun.
Mason.
His brother was out there. The Ryland plan was in motion.
Nate moved closer to Darcy and the babies, positioning himself between them and the gunman. It wasn’t much, but it was the best he could do for now. He braced himself in case he had to lunge for the guy. What he didn’t brace himself for was the crash that came through the window behind him.
Darcy tried to move away from the breaking glass. And the boss let go of Marlene. The man took aim at the window and probably would have fired, but Nate dived at him, knocking both the man and his weapon to the floor. His body was still stinging from the fight with the last guard, but he had adrenaline and need on his side. His baby’s life was at stake.
“Mason?” Darcy called out. There was relief in her voice, which hopefully meant his brother hadn’t been hurt.
Nate continued the struggle, trying to pin the boss to the ground. But the guy just wasn’t giving up, and he was fighting hard.
“Stay back,” he heard Mason say, and a moment later, his brother was there. The tranquilizer gun was in the waist of his pants, and he’d drawn his sidearm.
Mason reached into the scuffle, and he grabbed the boss by the throat. He dragged him away from Nate and put his gun directly under the man’s chin.
“Move and I’ll kill you now,” Mason warned. “Less paperwork for me to do.”
Nate thought that was a bluff. But then, maybe not.
“Get Darcy and the babies out of here,” Mason told Nate. He hauled the boss to his feet and muscled him toward the front. “Marlene, too. And hurry.”
Nate took Kimmie from Darcy. “Is the outside secured?” Because he didn’t want to bring the children out of the house if the gunmen were still out there.
“Kade’s people found some explosives,” Mason informed him. “They disarmed the ones they found, but they might not have gotten them all.”
“Explosives?” Darcy asked. There was no relief in her voice now.
“Yeah,” Mason verified. “We must have tripped a master wire or something because they’re all set to detonate in about five minutes. Get out of here
now.
”
Chapter Seven
Run!
The word kept racing through Darcy’s head as she, Nate and Marlene rushed out of the house with the babies cradled in their arms.
Mason was behind them, dragging the boss along, but Darcy concentrated only on her own steps. Running in high heels put her at a huge disadvantage, but she couldn’t fall. Couldn’t stop. Even though her lungs were already burning.
She had to get her baby away from a possible explosion.
“This way!” someone shouted.
It was Dade, and he was motioning for them to follow him onto the road. Beside him, on the ground, was one of the gunmen, and he was either unconscious or dead because he wasn’t moving. There was no sign of Grayson or Kade.
Nate dropped behind her and used his free hand to latch on to her arm. Good thing, too. Because she stumbled, and if it hadn’t been for Nate she would have fallen.
“I’m taking genius, here, this way,” Mason let them know.
And he started in another direction through the woods where Darcy had last seen Mel. Maybe because Mason didn’t want the boss anywhere near the children. Darcy was thankful for that, but she also hoped the gunmen wouldn’t attack again and help their boss escape.
The sound that came from behind them was deafening, a thick blast. Darcy just held her son closer and didn’t look back, but it was clear that something had blown up. She prayed Nate’s brothers, Mel and the FBI agent hadn’t been hurt or killed.
Both Noah and Kimmie were crying now, and their sobs tore at her heart the way nothing else could.
Mercy, what they’d been put through.
And for what?
To rig the investigation so that her client would be arrested and convicted of his wife’s murder. Once they were safely away from this place, Darcy wanted answers about who had orchestrated everything. No one was going to get away with endangering these children.
Dade led them back toward the start of the path, where they’d left the vehicles. It seemed to take forever, and each step was a challenge.
“Get in the SUV,” Nate ordered, and he jerked open the door and shoved Darcy into the backseat. He pushed Kimmie into her arms and looked behind him.
“Where’s Marlene?” Nate asked.
Dade, who was breathing hard, looked behind them, as well. He only shook his head and cursed.
Marlene was nowhere in sight. God, no. Had she fallen? Darcy certainly hadn’t heard her, but then she hadn’t been able to hear much over the roaring in her ears.
“Go ahead,” Dade insisted. “Get them away from here. I’ll look for her.”
Nate didn’t argue. He ripped the keys from his pocket, jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine. He gave Dade one last glance before he hit the accelerator and sped away.
Darcy held a crying baby in each arm, and she pulled them to her and tried to soothe them. “Shhh,” she whispered, brushing kisses on each of their heads. “It’s okay. Mommy and Daddy are here.”
Kimmie looked up at her, the tears spilling down her cheeks, and she glanced at Nate, whose attention was fastened to the road. For a moment Darcy thought the little girl might sob again, but Kimmie rubbed her eyes, smearing the tears on her little hands, and she settled her head against Darcy’s shoulder.
All right.
That required a deep breath. Darcy hadn’t expected to feel this, well, attachment to Nate’s daughter. But Kimmie felt as right in her arms as Noah did. Strange. It had to be a reaction to the fear.