and pulled her into the adjacent open doorway. It was her old bedroom, still decorated as it’d been when she was in high school.
“The bullets could hit Emily,” she said, fighting to get away from him. But she didn’t go toward the nursery. She hurried to her nightstand and took out a gun. That definitely hadn’t been there when she was in high school.
“Reed?” someone yelled. It was Colt, and it sounded as if he was already inside the house.
“Upstairs.” Even though the men had fired guns rigged with silencers, Reed figured Colt had heard the shots and knew that this situation had gone from bad to worse.
However, worse took yet another bad turn.
No more shots, but it was a sound that got Addison moving fast.
Soft cries.
Definitely the baby, especially since the cries were coming from the nursery. Reed had to put Addison in a body lock to keep her from racing out into the hall where those men could kill her with an easy shot.
“Let’s get the hell out of here now,” he heard one of the men growl.
Reed didn’t want them to escape, but he also didn’t want any more shots fired in the vicinity of the baby. He pulled Addison to the side of the bed so he’d be in a better position to protect them both, and he braced himself for the men to come running past them. If that happened, he could stop them before they got to the nursery.
Maybe.
“Watch out, Colt!” Reed shouted down. Because he figured these guys might eventually head Colt’s way if they didn’t go to the nursery. If they did indeed run for the stairs, then Reed could let go of Addison and race after them.
But no one came out of the makeshift office.
Reed still heard the scrambling around. Still heard voices. However, the men didn’t come his way or toward the stairs.
The seconds crawled by. With his heartbeat crashing in his ears. His hand tight and hard on his gun. Addison struggling to get loose. The baby’s cries.
“They’re getting away,” Colt called out.
Reed had no choice but to let go of Addison, and he hurried to the doorway so he could glance into her office.
No men.
But the window was wide-open. He hadn’t spotted a ladder when he drove up, but they’d obviously gotten out somehow.
“They’re on foot,” Colt added, “and I’m in pursuit.”
Reed raced to the office window and looked down. Not the best idea he’d ever had. The two men were there on the ground. A ladder, too. Not the standard metal one but the portable rope kind that could be carried in an equipment bag.
One of them turned and fired a shot directly at Reed. The bullet tore through the window and sent a spray of glass over the room. He felt the sting of a cut near his eyes, ignored it and took aim.
Reed fired.
His shot slammed into the nearest man’s shoulder, and even though the guy stumbled, his partner took hold of him, and they ran toward the barn. Reed got a glimpse of the black SUV parked inside, and both men barreled into the vehicle. The SUV was out of his firing range, but if the driver came back toward the road, he might get another shot at stopping them.
But then Reed saw something else.
A second rope ladder.
This one was three windows over, and it took him a moment to realize it was outside the nursery. That had barely registered when he heard the scream.
Addison.
Reed bolted out of the office, directly toward her scream, and he found her in the nursery. She was at the open window, climbing out on the rope ladder.
The crib was empty.
“They have her,” Addison sobbed. “They took Emily.”
Reed pulled her back so he could get a better look at the SUV as it sped out from the barn. The windows were heavily tinted, too dark for him to see inside. But he did spot Colt.
“Aim for the tires,” Reed shouted down to his fellow deputy.
If the baby was indeed inside the vehicle, he didn’t want to risk a stray bullet going her way.
Colt took aim. Fired. But the shot smacked off the bumper.
“Go after them!” Addison begged.
He did. He barreled down the stairs and toward the door. But he was already too late.
Reed barely managed to ready his gun before the SUV sped away.
Everything inside Addison was spinning out of control. She wanted to keep screaming, to force those men to bring back Emily, but more than that, she just wanted to stop the SUV and put an end to this nightmare.
“Give me back my baby!” Addison yelled, but she had no idea if they could even hear her.
She was still dizzy, her head was pounding, but she took hold of the railing as she ran down the steps. Reed was right there at the bottom to catch her again, but she didn’t want him to hold her back. Addison darted onto the porch, looking for any sign of Emily or those men.
And her heart dropped to her knees.
There was the wall of dust that the tires had kicked up as the SUV sped out of her driveway.
They’d gotten away.
God, no.
This couldn’t be happening.
“No license plates,” Colt shouted out to them, “but I’m calling in a description of the vehicle.”
Maybe that meant every cop in the area would respond so they could stop the kidnappers, but Addison couldn’t just stand by and wait for it to happen. She had to do something. Anything. Even if it meant risking her life.
Even if it meant risking Reed’s and Colt’s.
The only thing that mattered now was saving Emily.
“We have to go after them,” she told Reed. She was willing to beg if necessary. One way or another, she was leaving to follow the SUV.
Reed glanced at her, as if trying to decide what to do, and then ran toward his truck by the mailbox that the SUV had skirted around. He jumped inside.
“You need to stay here with Colt,” he grumbled to her.
But again, he didn’t stop her when she threw open the passenger door and dropped down onto the seat beside him. Addison still had her gun, and even though she wasn’t sure she could see straight enough to aim, she’d do whatever it took to get her baby back.
The memory of Emily’s cries echoed through her head, but she tried to shut them out. Tried to hold herself together. Hard to do with everything crashing down on her.
“I can’t lose her,” she heard herself say.
She also heard the hoarse sob that followed. And worse, felt the tears burn her eyes. Addison couldn’t stop them, but tears and sobs wouldn’t help now. Her little girl needed her to stay strong.
“You won’t lose her,” Reed promised.
Of course, it was a promise he couldn’t really give her, but Addison didn’t care. She would take anything she could get right now. She only wanted them to catch up with the SUV so she could have Emily back in her arms where she belonged. Too bad she didn’t know how to do that, but she was certain if she could just see Emily, she’d figure out a way.
“Put on your seat belt,” Reed reminded her as he sped away from her