Delores Fossen - Holden

“The men are tied up and cuffed in a ditch,” Landon added. “So even if the rest of them get away, we’ll have those two. Grayson and one of the other deputies are on the way now to get them, and they’ll bring them to the sheriff’s office for questioning.”

Nicky finally felt some relief. “Thank you. For everything.”

No one acknowledged what she’d said. Maybe because they considered this part of the job. Also maybe because they didn’t want to waste their breath speaking to her. She wasn’t exactly on friendly terms with the Rylands even though her sister, Annie, had been married to one of them. But that connection didn’t outweigh what Nicky had done.

It never would.

In their eyes, Nicky would always be the one who nearly got one of their own killed. And that was unforgivable.

“There were other men in those woods,” Holden reminded them.

Landon made a sound of agreement, and there went what relief Nicky had felt. Because those men could make it to their tied-up comrades in the ditch and free them before Grayson and the others could get to them.

“We didn’t want to get into a gunfight with those men patrolling the woods,” Gage explained. “Because we didn’t want anyone in the inn alerted. And we didn’t want to risk shots hitting any of you.”

Nicky whispered a thanks for that, too.

Holden had another look behind them, around them as well, and he must have been satisfied that the men weren’t following them because he eased off of her. In the same motion, he looked down at the baby. Not that he could see much in the dark car, but she figured Holden had a lot of thoughts going through his head right now. She certainly did.

First things first, though—she had to make sure the baby was okay. He was squirming a little so Nicky checked to make sure he hadn’t been hurt. He didn’t appear to be harmed, and his diaper was even dry. He also smelled of baby formula so maybe that meant the kidnappers had taken good care of him.

That was something at least.

But there was no telling what the little guy had been through. And that broke her heart. He’d come much too close to danger tonight. Much too close to being taken away from Nicky forever, and the threat still wasn’t even over.

“Is that really Emmett and Annie’s baby?” Landon suddenly asked.

“Yes,” Nicky said. “I have proof from some computer files and then recordings from the clinic.” Of course, that got Gage’s and Landon’s attention so she added, “You can’t use the recordings or files to make an arrest, but one of the files identifies the baby as Emmett and Annie’s son.”

Landon stared back at her, and Gage even looked at her in the rearview mirror. Since they were clearly still skeptical, she huffed and tried to make this a quick explanation. Her voice was shaky. Heck, she was shaky, and with the adrenaline pumping through her, it was hard to think.

“I stole the information, all right,” she snapped. “But if I hadn’t done that and if I hadn’t put a listening device in Conceptions Clinic, I wouldn’t have even known the baby existed, much less found out where they were holding him.”

And she wasn’t going to apologize for that—especially since the info had turned out to be true and they had the baby.

“I’ll want those files,” Holden insisted. “The recordings and anything else you have. I don’t suppose in all your snooping you also got proof of who’s behind this?”

“Behind what exactly?” Gage queried.

This was probably going to be as hard for him to hear as it had been for her. Mainly because Nicky hadn’t believed that anyone could do something like this.

“Someone connected to Conceptions Fertility Clinic—I don’t know who, yet—used Annie and Emmett’s stored embryos to make this baby. And not just him,” Nicky added. “There are others. Not necessarily Annie and Emmett’s child, though. In fact, I don’t think it is, but there are two other newborns out there somewhere.”

That got the responses she expected. A stunned look from Landon. A sound of surprise from Gage. A glare from Holden.

“Where are the other babies?” Gage asked.

“I don’t know.” That was the truth. “It was pure luck that I overheard them talking about Annie and Emmett’s baby, and there were no other names mentioned.”

“This could be connected to the missing senator, Lee Minton,” Holden added after a long pause. “Could be,” he stressed. “But it could also be connected to Nicky’s father, Oscar.”

That caused both Holden and Gage to curse again, and Nicky didn’t have to ask why. Her father wasn’t any better liked by the Rylands than she was, and worse...he was dirty. He’d never been arrested for his shady business dealings, but that was only because he hadn’t gotten caught.

Gage looked at her again in the mirror. “Oscar wanted a grandchild?”

Nicky had to nod. “Specifically, he wanted a grandson to carry on his so-called legacy.”

“A daughter wouldn’t do?” Landon snapped.

“My father and I are, well, estranged,” she admitted. “And he wasn’t exactly thrilled with Annie when she married Emmett.”

“Probably because he didn’t like the idea of having a federal agent for a son-in-law,” Holden mumbled.

She had to add another nod to that as well. It was true. Her father hated Emmett, resented Annie for marrying him, and that’s why this didn’t make sense.

“It’s true that my father wants an heir,” Nicky continued, “but this seems...extreme considering that he hated Emmett.”

“Your father does extreme things all the time,” Holden reminded her. “Plenty of them illegal. Plus, if you two really are estranged, maybe he figured this was his only chance at having an heir from his own gene pool.” Then, he shook his head. “But if he did do this, something must have gone wrong because those kidnappers said this was the million-dollar baby.”

Nicky thought about that for a second. “I need to talk to my father.”

“It can wait,” Holden insisted. “We’re almost at the sheriff’s office.”

She glanced out the window and saw that they were only a mile or so away, and maybe because they were so close, Landon and Holden started making preparations. Landon called the hospital and asked that a doctor come to the sheriff’s office. To check out the baby, no doubt. If something was indeed wrong, though, the child would have to go to the hospital. Still might have to do that since he was obviously still a newborn.

Holden made a call, too. To his cousin Josh, who was also a Silver Creek deputy. Holden asked Josh to arrange to have some baby supplies brought in. He also asked Josh to have a CSI process the car they were driving and especially check it for a tracking device.

That got Nicky’s heartbeat revving up again because she realized the kidnappers could know exactly where they’d gone. Of course, there weren’t too many other places they could have taken the baby, considering that an army of kidnappers were out there.

“Are your legs steady enough to run inside while holding the baby?” Holden asked her.

Nicky nodded, prayed that was true. She wasn’t anywhere near steady enough, but there was no way she’d drop the baby.

Her nephew.

He wasn’t just a baby. He was her own flesh and blood.

The first time she’d heard about him on those recordings from the fertility clinic, the news had hit her like a lightning bolt. The blow didn’t feel any less now that she had him in her arms.

This was Annie’s son. The baby her sister had so desperately wanted that she’d gone through months and months of fertility treatments, some of them dangerous to her health. It broke Nicky’s heart to know that her sister wasn’t here to see the baby she’d sacrificed so much to have.