Mallory Kane - His Best Friend's Baby

Deke didn’t respond.

“What about you?” Matt asked him. “Are you on a case right now?” he asked.

“Nope. No case. Just hanging. I’d love to be out kicking butt somewhere, but I feel like I need to be here. You know?”

“Irina looks pretty good. How’s she holding up?”

Deke shook his head. “It took a lot out of her to make the decision to stop looking for Rook. All this time she’s lived with the image of him being shot, then disappearing into the Mediterranean. It was awful—” Deke’s voice cracked. “I mean, it had to have been.”

Matt didn’t have to imagine. He had his own night-mares. His dreams were haunted by the sight of Bill Vick spinning helplessly as he plummeted to earth, trailed by the parachute that failed to open.

“What about Aimee?” Deke continued.

“Not good. And I’m afraid I made it worse, showing up like that.” Matt stared at his clasped hands. “With her about to break, and the kidnapper’s demands, I’ve got a real situation brewing. Can you be on alert for the ransom drop?”

“Yeah, sure. When is it? Soon, I hope. There’s a doozie of a winter storm heading this way, and my bird’s not fond of snow.”

“I know. I’ve been tracking the front. I think it’s going to blow in earlier than they’re predicting.”

“You should know. I still say you should hire yourself out to the local TV station as a weatherman.” It was an old joke.

“Hair gel and a blue screen? I’ll do that the day you become a rodeo sharpshooter.” Matt couldn’t help but smile. Then he got back to business. “The ransom drop is scheduled for 1500 hours tomorrow. Here are the coordinates the kidnapper gave us.” Matt handed Deke a scrap of paper.

Deke snagged it and stepped over to an area map hanging on the wall. He tapped the point with his finger. “It’s pretty high up, and isolated.”

“Yeah. I’m going to take one of our Hummers. There’s a maintenance road up the south side. It’ll take at least two hours to get up there.”

“I see it. But if you’re right about the storm…Why don’t I fly you up in the bird? It’d be a lot quicker.”

“Because there’s a complication. The kidnapper demanded that Aimee make the drop herself.”

“The Hummer holds two passengers and it’s heated. Coming back, we may have a baby.”

Deke’s brows shot up. “May? You don’t think your kidnapper is going to turn over the kid?”

“That location gives me a bad feeling. How’s he going to handle a seven-month-old, and make sure nobody gets the drop on him?”

“He’d have to have an accomplice.”

“Right. That plus the storm—I don’t like the odds. That’s why I need you to be available. I want primary and secondary rendezvous points in case something happens and we can’t use the Hummer to get out. Maybe even a tertiary.” Matt paused and rubbed his neck. “The location he’s picked is going to receive the brunt of that storm. He’s got to know that. I have a feeling he’s banking on it to cover his tracks.”

“I’ll have the bird ready to go.”

“If you don’t hear from me, head for the first rendezvous point. Be there by 0800. Here are the times and places I’ve got mapped out.”

“Friday 0800 hours? That’s sixteen hours. You’re planning to ride out the storm up there? You could be blown right off that mountain.”

“Thanks for that image. No. I plan to be back down the mountain in the Hummer with Aimee and the baby, safe and sound. The 0800 rendezvous is if we get caught by the storm or something goes wrong. If everything goes as planned, I’ll call you. It’ll probably be after dark.”

“Just make sure you’ve got plenty of flares.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll have flares. Do these times work for you?”

“Times are fine. And I see you’re planning to move up toward the peak, rather than down.”

“Right. I figure if we can’t ride back down in the Hummer, we need to be heading to higher ground. The storm’s coming in from the west. I’d like to try to stay either ahead of it or above it. Plus, your bird’s not going to like dodging trees, so the fewer the better.”

Deke nodded.

They quickly agreed on two alternate times and places, the second twenty-four hours after the first. Plus a third, twenty-four hours after that, in case the storm stalled.

“One last thing,” Matt said. “Take these coordinates. This is a last-resort location. It’s an hour’s walk south from the Vicks’ cabin.”

“The hunting cabin. I forgot about that place. You think you might end up there?”

Matt shrugged. “It’s good shelter. We might need it, if we have to travel that far.”

Deke stuck the piece of paper in his pocket. “No problem. I’ll hang on to these.”

“Thanks, man. I knew I could count on you.” Matt stood.

“You know there’s another way to handle this.”

“Not really.”

“Sure there is. Leave Aimee out of it. You and I go up in the Hummer, get the drop on the kidnapper and get the baby back safe and sound.”

Matt sighed. “That would work—if one of us could pass for a medium-height, slender female. But there’s another consideration. The baby. If everything goes well, which one of us is prepared to bring back a seven-month-old who needs his mother?”

He opened the door. “Have you ever been between a mother and her child? I’m not telling Aimee she has to stay behind.”

NOW CUNNINGHAM was involved.

He knew them all so well. Of course Cunningham would drop everything to help Parker. They were “brothers,” after all.

It tended to get annoying, listening to the stories of their childhood friendship, and their oath to save innocents just as that broken-down Vietnam veteran had saved theirs.

He hadn’t had time to sabotage Parker’s equipment or vehicle. He’d had to trust Kinnard to handle that part of the plan.

His job was to make sure that when Parker needed help, it wasn’t available. There were two ways he could handle that, but only one was a sure thing.

All he needed were some tools and a little private time.

FRIDAY 1430 HOURS

AIMEE BURIED HER NOSE more deeply into the high collar of her down parka. She’d rolled her balaclava up like a watch cap, ready to pull down over her face if she needed it. The vehicle was heated, but she was still cold.

The chill didn’t come from the dropping temperatures outside, though. It came from her heart. As often as she told herself that William was safe, that the kidnapper couldn’t afford to hurt him if he wanted his money, her heart remained unconvinced.

Matt’s grim expression didn’t help. He looked worried as he maneuvered the Hummer’s steel snow tracks over the rough terrain. He glanced at her. “You okay?”

“Okay?” she croaked, then pressed her lips together. Control, she reminded herself. It’s all about control. She had to hold herself together, for her baby’s sake.

“If you’re cold, there’s a blanket under your seat.”

She gave a harsh little laugh. “You think I’m worried about being cold? ”

“Aimee, I know you’re afraid something’s going to happen to William. But I don’t want you to neglect your own health. You’re highly stressed and exhausted. You could become hypothermic without even realizing it. I need to make sure you’re warm and comfortable.”

“Well, don’t. I don’t need to be comfortable—I don’t want to be. I just want to get up there, get my baby back and get home.”

“That’s what I want, too,” Matt said.

She closed her burning eyes. Control. Control. She repeated it like a mantra.

“Dammit!”

She jumped and her eyes flew open.