Vanished In The Night. Lynette Eason
them locked safely behind closed doors.
He gave a silent snort. Now he sounded like a crazy stalker. Only, his intentions were good.
When the elevator opened, they stepped into the lobby. A large welcome area dominated the space with a desk and security guard leaned against it talking to two women.
“Wait here inside and I’ll bring the truck around.”
She nodded and he set the baby next to her. He hated to leave her alone, but the security guard was right there. She should be fine for the few minutes it would take him to pull the SUV around to the circle—and it was better than having her walk out in the open to the parking garage.
He jogged to the garage and took the elevator to the third floor. When he stepped off, he caught sight of the back of a man who came from the stairs. A woman to his right was pulling a child from the back seat of her minivan. Other than that, the place was quiet. Empty.
Chills skittered up his arms, raising the hair there. You’ll regret interfering. I’ll be back. Kalyee’s attacker’s words rang in his ears. Was that man her stalker? No, not possible. Patrick Talbot was in jail.
So, who was the guy who’d tried to snatch her in the middle of the road? Joshua shook his head and picked up the pace. He’d said he’d be back. Would he be watching the hospital? Surely, he knew this was where they would be. If he wanted to find her, it wouldn’t be hard—as the box of black roses testified.
Joshua’s SUV was parked on the end in the second row. He glanced around and noted the security cameras. Nah. No one would try anything that could be caught on video, right?
Then again, some people didn’t care. The attacker who’d tried to nab a pregnant woman in broad daylight hadn’t worried about being seen or stopped. And he’d been ready to kill if it suited him. Joshua wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling the guy hadn’t pulled the trigger because of the man who’d stopped to ask if they’d needed help. Whatever had made him decide to run instead of shoot, Joshua didn’t know and didn’t really care. He was just glad it had ended the way it had. Then again, he had a feeling it wasn’t over, either. And the guy had said he’d be back.
Joshua climbed into the SUV and cranked the engine. The low purr never failed to bring him satisfaction. His phone buzzed and he pulled it from the clip on his belt. Clay. “Yeah?”
“Patrick Talbot is out.”
“Out? How?”
“He had a fancy lawyer who managed to find a loophole in the arrest. He was released a week ago.”
“And no one called to tell Kaylee?”
“The detective said he tried, but apparently she changed her number and never gave him the new one. He said he’d just gotten her messages and was getting ready to call her when I rang.”
“Great. That’s just great,” Joshua muttered.
“I know.”
“All right. I’m getting ready to take her and the baby to her father’s house. Want to meet us there?”
“I’d feel better if you had an escort. Stay there and let me see if I can get someone to follow you to Wrangler’s Corner.”
“I’ll let her know.”
He disconnected and drove around to the front entrance to the hospital. Pulling up to the door, he could see Kaylee standing at the glass window waiting for him. His heart did that funny little dance it seemed to want to do whenever he was in her presence.
Telling himself to get over it—that she was as off-limits to him as his mother was to her father—he parked and climbed out of the SUV. He had to ignore the little voice reminding him that his mother was engaged to that off-limits man. He grunted. Being attracted to Kaylee was one thing, acting on it was another. Right now she needed a protector, not a Romeo.
Kaylee opened the hospital door, her bag slung over her shoulder and the baby carrier gripped in her other hand. She walked toward the SUV.
Joshua hurried to her. “I’ve got him.” He took the carrier from her. For a little bitty thing, lugging him around in his seat required some muscles. Joshua rounded the front of the vehicle and opened the back door where he’d placed the base of the baby’s safety seat.
Sunlight glinted off something in the parking garage across the street. A sharp flicker of light that made him squint. He took a closer look and saw the protruding piece of metal. The sight produced a distinctly bad feeling in his gut.
I’ll be back.
“Kaylee, go back inside.”
“What? Why?”
A crack sounded and the concrete spit shards up around the bottom of his calves.
Joshua simply moved, keeping Duncan’s carrier in front of him and out of sight of the shooter. He rounded the front of the vehicle and had almost reached Kaylee when the glass door behind her shattered.
Silence reigned for a split second before screams echoed around him. With a tight grip on the handle of the carrier, Joshua grabbed Kaylee and shoved her through the door that no longer existed.
They made it inside just as the second bullet took out the glass of the other door.
Kaylee huddled over her baby, tucking his carrier against her midsection while Joshua wrapped his arms around her. His chest pressed into her back and all she could think was that he was going to die because of her.
Another shot pinged off the tile floor and she flinched. Hospital security burst onto the scene. The security guard and one other officer who must have already been in the building raced into the lobby, weapons drawn.
“Everyone stay down!”
Really? They thought they had to say that? A hysterical giggle threatened to slip out and Kaylee swallowed hard. She had to keep it together. Her baby needed her. Sirens screamed in the distance.
“Is he still there?” she whispered. Joshua hadn’t moved. How long had the shooter been there anyway? Hours? Minutes? Seconds? Time had no meaning anymore.
“I don’t know.” He shifted and she looked up to see him peering out the shattered door. “The shooting’s stopped,” he said. “Cops are in the garage where the bullets came from.”
Her pulse still in overdrive, she straightened and checked Duncan, who’d slept though the chaos. The lobby now swarmed with law enforcement. Kaylee’s hands shook and she had to set the baby carrier on the floor.
It finally registered that Joshua was speaking with a police officer. The officer glanced her way then back at Joshua. Finally, the two finished and Joshua returned to her. “I think we can leave. I gave him Clay’s contact information, as well as mine and yours. If he needs anything else from us, he knows where to find us.”
“Good. I’m ready to go home.”
“Then let’s go.” He picked up the baby carrier in one hand and grasped her elbow with his other. It felt weird and oh-so-right all at the same time. Her husband had only showed her this kind of courtesy when he’d wanted something from her—or he’d wanted to impress people. For Joshua, it just seemed to come natural. She liked that and took comfort from it.
His SUV was still parked in the circle and in short order, she and the baby were safely strapped inside.
When Joshua settled into the driver’s seat beside her, she held out her hands, noting the fine tremor still running through them. “Do you think I’ll ever stop shaking?” She knew it was shock and that it would pass. The day of her attempted kidnapping, while she’d definitely been scared, she’d also been in so much pain, it had pretty much overridden her fear. Not so today.
He