Читать книгу Thanksgiving Protector - Sharon Dunn - Страница 13

THREE

Kylie crouched down below the dashboard. Driving the border patrol vehicle only made them a bigger target in this neighborhood. Her hand brushed over her gun as her pulse thudded in her eardrums. If they were faced with gang activity, they would not have the firepower to get out alive.

Austin kept his head low, as well. The music swelled to full volume. The whole street seemed to be pounding. The vibrations shook their car. Through the open window, she heard the dissonant harmony of men verbally jousting with each other in Spanish. A single gunshot echoed along the street.

Austin rolled the window up. The windows had wire mesh on them to protect them when people threw rocks at them, which happened a lot. But that wouldn’t prevent them from being dragged out into the street and shot.

Kylie flinched at the gunshot but maintained her composure.

Austin peered above the dashboard. “Just shooting in the air.” His voice never lost that calming tone. “Showing off their machismo.”

They waited for what seemed like forever until the music and the drunken conversation died away altogether. The men must have gone inside one of the buildings.

Austin sat back up and drove the car forward toward the building where little Mercedes was being kept safe...she hoped.

He shifted into Park. “Let’s make this fast.” They got out of the car. They were so close to the border, Kylie could hear the traffic rushing by on the Cesar Chavez Highway.

“She’s on the second floor. Apartment twenty-seven.” Valentina had an arrangement with an older woman named Doris to watch the baby while she was at classes. Hopefully, that was who was with the baby now.

They hurried into the building past the debris of old newspapers, heaping plastic bags, broken toys. Kylie’s heart raced as she took the stairs two at a time. Austin came up behind her. She stood in front of apartment twenty-seven. She knocked twice. No answer.

She turned the knob and called inside as fear gripped her heart. She dared not cry out, just in case someone with ill intent waited inside. What if they were too late? What if the same people who killed Valentina had already gone after her baby?

She stepped across the threshold. Austin had already drawn his weapon. The kitchen was run-down but neat. Clean dishes were stacked in the cupboards with no doors. The worn linoleum floor was mopped. There was something poignant about the Thanksgiving centerpiece in the middle of the table. Sorrow washed over Kylie. Valentina had really tried to make a nice home for her baby.

Kylie drew her attention to a pattern of holes on the wall, a spray of bullets. Her throat went tight.

Austin cupped her shoulder. “Those bullet holes could have been there for years.”

How was he able to pick up on her distress like that?

She turned a slow half circle, looking for hiding places.

Please, God, let that little girl be here and safe.

The apartment was small. She saw a closed door off to the right that must be a bedroom. She pulled her gun as she made her way toward it. Austin stayed close.

She eased the door open. The room consisted of a mat and blankets on the floor next to a stack of textbooks. There was no sign of a crib or basket for a baby.

“We have to find that little girl. I’m not going to break my promise to Valentina.”

“Sometimes in dangerous neighborhoods, people have hiding places.” Austin paced the perimeter of the room, stopping to stare at the closet. He tapped on the walls until the sound changed inside the closet. He leaned in, pulling a thin panel out of place.

Kylie saw what was probably a hot water heater. She pulled her flashlight from her belt just as a baby’s cry erupted in the darkness. Her heart surged with joy at the sound. She shone the light on a gray-haired woman holding a bundle wrapped in a pink blanket.

Kylie spoke in Spanish. “Doris, right? Valentina told me about you. I’m Kylie.”

The woman still looked frightened. She replied, speaking so rapidly in Spanish her words seemed to be stacked on top of each other. She said something about men banging on the door looking for Valentina.

Kylie leaned in and held out her arms. “It’s okay now.”

Doris rose to her feet, still holding the baby. “Valentina?”

Kylie shook her head. “She didn’t make it.” The pain of the loss hit Kylie all over again. Her stomach tied into knots.

Though clearly upset, Doris placed the bundle in Kylie’s arms. Kylie stared down at deep brown eyes and rosebud lips. She felt as though warm honey were dripping over her. Those eyes. So filled with trust. Would she be able to take care of someone so helpless?

The baby brushed her fingers under Kylie’s chin. Mercedes knew Kylie. Valentina had brought her to their meetings when she couldn’t get a sitter, and Kylie watched her in early service when she had nursery duty.

Not taking her eyes off of Mercedes, Kylie stepped back so Doris could get out.

The woman continued to talk, waving her hands, telling more about how the men had frightened her. She gathered a bag up off the floor and placed it in Austin’s hands saying a single word. “Papa?”

Kylie felt her cheeks flush. For some reason, Doris had thought she and Austin were a couple. “No, he’s just a friend.” She locked Austin in her gaze. He looked equally embarrassed. Just a very good friend.

Austin examined the contents of the bag. “It looks like baby clothes and paperwork giving you legal custody of the baby. A judge probably has to sign off on it.”

Kylie held Mercedes close to her chest. The child’s silky smooth cheek rubbed against her own as Kylie felt the warmth of the little body. She breathed in a prayer that she would be able to take care of Mercedes.

Doris pointed at a baby bag with ducks carrying umbrellas on it. Austin picked the second bag up, carrying both bags in one hand. Doris, who was probably not more than four feet tall, hurried over to Kylie.

She stood on tiptoe to kiss Mercedes’s forehead. “Mi dulce bebé. God will take care of you.”

Through the open window, another car playing loud music trolled the neighborhood. Doris’s features grew tight with fear as she hurried toward the door and out into the hallway.

“I’m with her. Let’s get out of here. This place makes me nervous,” said Austin, drawing his gun.

They ran toward the door, down the stairs and out into the night. A gunshot resounded, knocking plaster off the fence wall in front of them. Austin stepped close to Kylie. His gun was at the ready as he searched the roofs of the apartment buildings.

“I want to believe that was random. But if men came looking for Valentina, we can’t take any chances. Maybe they want to hurt her kid too.”

Clutching a crying Mercedes, Kylie raced to the car. Even before they got to the curb, Kylie could see that the car’s tires had been flattened.

Holding Mercedes even tighter, she pushed past her fear. She had a baby to think about. “What are we going to do?”

Austin paced three strides in one direction and three strides in the other. “Let’s just keep walking. Standing around makes us look too vulnerable. I’ll call one of the other rangers to meet us as soon as he can.”

Kylie tried to ignore the rising panic that made it hard to breath. Heart pounding, fear raging, she started walking. No matter what threat of violence was out there, she had to get this baby to a safe place.

* * *

Adrenaline flooded through Austin, making him alert and ready to act. Just as he was putting the bags down to reach for his phone another shot whizzed past them and embedded in the metal of the car. Austin edged closer to Kylie and the baby, directing them toward the shelter of a building with an overhang.

Austin glanced all around. Where were those shots coming from, anyway? “I don’t think that shot was random.”

“You think they are targeting us?”

He stared at Kylie holding the bundled baby. Maybe it was because they were law enforcement or maybe it all connected back to Kylie’s informant. Either way, they were in danger.

They didn’t have a lot of options. “Yes. Let’s keep moving.” Austin felt like he couldn’t get a deep breath. What had they gotten themselves into? “I’m going to phone in what has happened, make arrangements for this car to be brought back before it’s stripped for parts and see if I can get someone to meet us.”

Resting the bag handles in his elbow, Austin maintained pace with her while calling his supervisor, Major Thomas Vance. As he explained their situation, he felt a heaviness he didn’t understand. He was responsible for Kylie and the little life she held in her arms. He could handle a firefight no problem, but a woman and a baby depending on him made him weak in the knees.

They hurried past abandoned buildings and others painted with colorful murals depicting scenes from the Bible and famous Mexicans.

A man jumped out in front of them, his eyes wide and round.

Austin stepped between the man and Kylie, squaring his shoulders and offering his move-it-along look, furled eyebrows, chest out, hand hovering over his weapon.

The man hung his head and stumbled away into the darkness.

More people appeared in doorways as they drew near to a paved street. Because they were law enforcement, they were viewed with suspicion in a neighborhood so close to the border. It made them vulnerable to attack. Them...and the precious cargo in Kylie’s arms.

Guilt gripped his chest. He didn’t like the idea of putting the baby in so much danger. They would have been okay if they could’ve jumped in the car and left the neighborhood quickly.

The dirt road turned into pavement again. The orange glow of lights increased as did the traffic whizzing by on the streets.

Kylie’s gaze darted everywhere looking for threats as she held the baby close to her chest.

Austin put his phone away. “Brent, one of the other rangers, will meet us on South Mesa Street,” Austin said. “We only have to walk a few more blocks.”

“Right now that feels like a million miles.” Though she spoke in an even tone, Austin picked up on the terror threaded through her words.

He put his hand on her elbow. “Just keep moving.”

He appreciated that Kylie seemed to have nerves of steel even if she might be afraid on the inside. He felt it too. It was unsettling thinking about the bad things that might happen to the baby and to them.

“It’s not that much farther,” he said, hoping to sound reassuring.

A car squealed its brakes. Both of them instinctively jumped a little closer to the brick building—not that it would provide any protection. There was no safe zone here. People could come at them from the street. Men could bring a car up to the curb and snatch them. Someone could shoot them from a distant building.

The shots back at the apartment building bothered him most of all. He was sure they’d been targeted deliberately, but why? Was it just because they were law enforcement?

Under normal circumstances, this would have been exciting, but not with the baby to think about. Why had Kylie agreed to such a crazy thing? Raising a kid by herself. He had to admire the size of her heart, but still. She was a border patrol agent, which meant long crazy hours. Had she really thought this thing through?

He could see the lights of a busy thoroughfare up ahead. “Brent should be waiting there for us. Just up ahead.”

He hoped his words helped calm Kylie. If she was tense, Mercedes might pick up on it and get upset. Or were babies not that perceptive? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t know anything about babies or families.

Austin had never known his biological father, and his childhood hadn’t offered many decent examples. He’d been four when his older sister died in a car accident. His mother, overwhelmed with guilt because she’d been driving, developed a drinking problem that caused them to move often. Unless he counted the string of violent boyfriends his mother attached herself to—the best of which ignored him, and the worst of which were actively cruel to him—he had no frame of reference for what it meant to be a dad or a husband.

Gunshots sounded behind them. More squealing tires. More racing cars. He heard a car with a loud motor zoom up behind them. The owner revved the engine.

Austin wrapped an arm around Kylie and the baby and pulled them toward the shadows of the building.

Men got out of the car and paced the street. Some were shirtless, revealing gang tattoos and the guns shoved into their waistbands. Austin didn’t bother looking around to see if there was anyone he could appeal to for help.

If any violence erupted in this neighborhood, the people around here would just look the other way.

Mercedes cried. Kylie shushed her and bounced a little.

One of the men stepped toward Kylie and Austin, fixating on the baby.

“Ah, gringo, you have a niña bonita with you.” He tilted his head as his voice filled with menace. “Out here in the cold night.”

“We don’t want any trouble.” But despite his words, Austin was looking for an opening to land a good punch. So much of fighting was about psychology—especially with a group like this. If Austin seemed weak, they’d fall on him like vultures. But if he seemed strong, he and Kylie might be all right. Sizing up his opponent, Austin decided he could handle this guy.

The man looked down his nose at them and narrowed his eyes in a threatening way.

Austin landed a single blow to the man’s stomach that doubled him over. The other men took several steps back, raising their hands in a surrender motion as Austin directed Kylie and the baby back toward the edge of the sidewalk.

“Well, that takes care of that.” A note of amusement danced through Kylie’s words as they hurried along.

“Sometimes quick and clean is best. We don’t have time to play diplomat with thugs. We need to get this kid to a safe place.”

Kylie stopped and looked Austin directly in the eyes. “Yes, we do.”

Maybe it was just the light, but he thought he saw admiration, maybe even affection, in her eyes. He kept walking. Yeah, it was probably just the way the light was hitting her face. Someone like Kylie wouldn’t be interested in someone like him. She probably had Thanksgiving with twenty relatives around and lots of laughter. He spent his holidays at the retirement home with the former cop who had been his saving grace. Robert Wilson had been his parole officer when he was fourteen and in trouble. Old Bob had seen a potential in Austin that he hadn’t seen in himself. Since his mother’s death, Old Bob was the closest thing to family Austin had.

He shook his head. Why was he even entertaining thoughts about Kylie?

Kylie looked up at him. “Why are you shaking your head?”

“No reason.” His cheeks flushed with heat.

“Talking to yourself because it’s the only time you can have an intelligent conversation?”

He laughed. “Yes, that must be it.”

He had no idea she had such a great sense of humor. Chalk it up to the tense situation. Just one of those things you learn by helping someone rescue a baby out of a bad neighborhood.

Kylie bounced the baby. She pressed her lips together as she looked up ahead. “Where is he? Where is Brent?”

Austin scanned the street. “He’ll get here as fast as he can.”

Another car with music pounding eased past them. The back window rolled down and one of the gang members sneered at them, forming his finger into a gun and pointing it at him. The car sped up as the gang member rolled up the tinted window.

Austin’s chest squeezed tight as though it were in a vise. They could not stand around waiting for long.

Up ahead he saw one of the ranger vehicles park along the curb. Brent McCord got out and leaned against it, offering them a quick nod of recognition. They were safe.

Austin glanced over beside him to the auburn-haired woman and her blanketed bundle. Tension knotted at the back of his neck. Maybe the shots at the apartment building had not been personal and had been aimed at them only because of their uniforms. He hoped that was the case. The other possibility was far too worrying.

Garcia’s contacts were abundant on both the American and Mexican side of the border. If Garcia wanted them dead, he would see to it they were taken out.