The Marshal's Justice. Delores Fossen

Чтение книги онлайн.

       Chapter Three

      Chase batted aside some low-hanging tree branches and ran as fast as he could.

      His thoughts and heart were racing, too. He wasn’t sure what had put the alarm in Jax’s voice or why his brother had hung up without an explanation, but with everything else that’d gone on the past hour, Chase figured it could be bad.

      And it could involve his baby.

      He hadn’t had even a moment to come to terms with the fact that he was already a father. Of course, he’d known April’s delivery date was approaching, but Chase had thought he had a little more time to deal with it.

      Or rather more time to deal with his feelings for April.

      His feelings for the baby were solid—he loved her, sight unseen, and would lay down his life to protect her.

      April was a different matter.

      Chase did indeed regret sleeping with her nine months ago. It’d been a mistake, one that had caused his family pain on top of pain.

      Him, too.

      However, he didn’t regret the baby. Not for one second. His only regret when it came to Bailey was that he hadn’t been there when she needed him to protect her.

      He could partly blame April for that.

      If April had just told him about Bailey, then maybe he could have put some more security measures in place.

      Somehow, April kept up with his breakneck pace, and it occurred to him that he should at least ask her if it was okay for her to be doing this. After all, she’d had a baby two months ago. Maybe this was too much activity, too soon for her body. But since he figured he didn’t stand a chance of talking her into slowing down, Chase just kept running.

      Even though it was only a couple of minutes, it seemed to take a lifetime or two for them to reach the road. The bridge was just to their left, but Chase went right since that was the direction where Jax should be. He prayed his brother was okay and hadn’t been hurt by yet another hired gun.

      Maybe that wasn’t the reason Jax had put such an abrupt end to the call. But something had certainly caused him to do that. Since Jax had just as much experience as Chase in law enforcement, it must have been something damn important.

      “I don’t see him,” April said.

      She sounded frantic. Looked it, too. Her eyes were wild. Her breath racing, and yet she didn’t even pause. She kept running up the road until Chase pulled her back to the side.

      “This could be an ambush of some kind,” he reminded her.

      Something he didn’t want to consider, but his lawman’s experience put it—and plenty of other bad possibilities—in the forefront of his mind. It could have been the reason Jax ended the call. Because Jax could have walked into a dangerous situation.

      Chase didn’t want April and him doing the same thing.

      He made sure his gun was ready. Made sure April was behind him, too, and using the trees and brush for cover, Chase made his way east. About a quarter of a mile, Jax had said, and from Chase’s calculations, that meant his brother and God knew who or what else were just around the curve ahead.

      “This way,” Chase told her, and he led April just a few yards off the road and back into the woods so they could thread their way to Jax without being out in the open.

      Finally, he spotted his brother. Jax was literally in the middle of the road, his gun aimed at the car.

      Oh, man.

      Nothing could have held April back at that point. She raced out onto the road while Chase tried to keep himself between her and whatever had put Jax on full alert. Chase soon saw the cause.

      A woman.

      Tall, blonde and wearing a white maternity dress. She was mega pregnant with her back against the car.

      And a .38 aimed at Jax.

      His brother hadn’t been harmed. For now. That was something at least, but this was definitely a volatile situation.

      Was this the nanny? The car description certainly fit. But the baby was nowhere in sight.

      “Don’t come any closer,” the pregnant woman warned them. Her hands were shaking. Not a good sign since she had her index finger on the trigger, and the way she was holding the gun told Chase that she didn’t have a lot of experience with firearms. “I’ve already told the deputy here that if he shoots me, he won’t find the baby.”

      April was trembling as well, and she lowered her gun to her side. “Where is she? Where’s Bailey?” The worry and fear practically drenched her voice.

      “Safe, for now. Keep it that way and don’t come closer.”

      Chase didn’t move, but unlike April he didn’t lower his gun. He couldn’t shoot a pregnant woman, but she might not be so anxious to shoot Jax if she had two guns trained on her.

      He craned his neck to try to get a look at the interior of the car, but with the tinted windows, he couldn’t see much of anything. The engine was running, the windows all up, and since the woman was between them and the car, Chase figured he wasn’t going to get a better look inside until he dealt with the situation right in front of him.

      “What do you want from us?” Chase asked her.

      “Money, a getaway vehicle,” Jax provided. “And any information about Quentin’s whereabouts.”

      “The last one is especially important,” the woman said, tears springing to her eyes. “I have to find him.” She slid her left hand over her belly. “He has to know he’s about to be a father.”

      Good grief. So, she was connected to Quentin? And clearly this woman wasn’t just any ordinary nanny.

      “I’m Quentin’s sister,” April said, taking a step toward her. “He wouldn’t want you to hurt his niece. He wouldn’t want any of this to be happening.”

      That was probably true. Quentin could be scum, but to the best of Chase’s knowledge, the man had never endangered a baby.

      “Quentin would want me protected. He wants to be with me and our baby, but he can’t СКАЧАТЬ