“We can help,” Jaycee repeated.
Mason shook his head, turned and delivered the rest from over his shoulder. “One of the gunmen escaped out back. He could be headed your way.”
There wasn’t much color in Jaycee’s face, but those words rid her of what little she had. She hurried, dragging the woman toward the truck.
“Go with them now, Josh!” Mason insisted.
That and the pregnant woman’s sounds of pain spurred Josh to move. Jaycee maneuvered her into the truck, and the others helped pull her onto the seat.
“I can ride in the back,” Jaycee said.
“You’ll do no such thing,” Josh argued. “Get inside and stay down.”
She did. Well, she got in anyway. But she didn’t stay down. Jaycee aimed the Colt at the bend of the road where Mason had darted out of sight. It was probably the route a gunman would take if he was coming after them.
Josh started the engine, threw the truck into Reverse and had just put his foot on the accelerator when he heard the sound. Not a shot from a rifle. Not this.
No.
It was much louder, and it literally shook the ground beneath them.
Something had exploded.
Chapter Four
Jaycee felt the vibration of the blast and saw the fear and concern jolt through Josh. It went through her, too, and she wanted to go back and try to save the others.
But that could be dangerous for the women Josh and the others had already managed to rescue.
Plus, the woman stretched out across Marita, Blanca and Jaycee’s laps was clearly in labor. She was moaning and clutching her stomach. Jaycee had never been around anyone in labor, but she figured the woman was close to delivering.
Josh glanced at the woman, then at Jaycee. The worry and questions were still etched on his face, and she had to wonder what this was doing to him. Agents suffering from posttraumatic stress didn’t usually have an easy time in a gunfight.
Or the shock of something totally unexpected—like fatherhood.
But Josh had gotten a double dose of both today. Hopefully, he’d be able to keep it together. She hoped the same for herself, too. She didn’t have the nerves of steel that Josh had once accused her of having.
He’d accused her of a lot of things.
And sadly, most were accurate.
“Hang on,” Jaycee told the woman in labor when she made another of those loud moans. “You’re safe, and we’ll be at the hospital soon.”
Jaycee hoped that was true on both counts. Josh was certainly driving as fast as he could, and both of them were keeping watch for those guards. So far, no one was following them.
Including any of Josh’s cousins.
She prayed they hadn’t been hurt, or worse, in the explosion.
“What’s your name?” Jaycee asked the woman in labor. She’d need to give it to the doctor, but talking might also distract her from the pain. If that was possible.
“Grace Levitt,” she answered through a sharp breath.
“All right, Grace, just hang in there a few minutes longer.” Jaycee tried to sound calm. Failed miserably. But after everything she’d been through, she wondered if she would ever be calm again. Normal seemed way too far out of reach.
Jaycee put her hand on Grace’s stomach so she could feel the contractions and time them. Yet something else the doctors would want to know. And Jaycee felt a contraction almost immediately.
Grace clamped her hand on Jaycee’s shoulder. Her bruising grip was paired with more moans. Louder this time. And she lifted her hips. Jaycee didn’t have to tell Josh to hurry. He no doubt knew they might have to deliver this baby in the cramped space.
The contraction finally subsided. Jaycee didn’t have a watch, so she had to use the clock on the truck’s dashboard to keep time. Barely two minutes had passed before Grace had another contraction.
Josh’s phone buzzed, the sound shooting through the truck, and he managed to fish it from his pocket despite the fact that Marita was squished against him.
“Grayson,” Josh answered, sandwiching the phone against his ear and shoulder. There was still no relief in Josh’s expression, but thankfully at least one of his cousins was alive.
Jaycee couldn’t hear what Grayson was saying. Couldn’t tell if the news was good or bad. She could only wait and keep watch. They were getting close to the town of Silver Creek now, but that didn’t mean the guards couldn’t catch up with them and start shooting.
Josh finished talking with his cousin, but instead of telling her what was going on, he made another call.
“I’m calling the hospital,” he said to her, and he told whoever was on the other end of the line that he was en route with four pregnant women who needed medical attention.
Jaycee opened her mouth to say that she was fine, but she didn’t know that for sure. She’d been held captive for months, and even though she’d gotten plenty of checkups during that time, she couldn’t trust any doctor working for black-market baby brokers.
Josh finally finished the call with the hospital, put his phone away and took the turn toward town. Just as Grace had another contraction.
“The house blew up,” Josh relayed to her. “My cousins are okay. They weren’t hurt in the explosion.”
“But?” Jaycee asked because there was definitely a bad-news tone in his voice.
Josh didn’t jump to answer, but his jaw muscles were stirring like crazy. “The guards escaped with the other three women.”
Jaycee groaned. It was better than hearing they’d been killed, but it was still a major setback. “All the women who were staying in the house are close to delivering. Once they have their babies, the guards will probably kill the women.”
For once she was glad Blanca and Marita didn’t understand a lot of English, though both women had no doubt figured out what was going on. They’d all seen the guards leave with babies, but never once had they seen one of the new mothers walk out of the ranch house.
Jaycee suspected they were being carted out in body bags at night.
“Grayson and the others are looking for them,” Josh added.
Though it was the only thing they could do, it didn’t seem nearly enough. The women were very pregnant and were no doubt being forced to run and do other things that their bodies and babies might not be able to handle. The guards wouldn’t care a flying fig if the escape led to the women’s deaths. They only cared about getting their hands on the babies so they could be sold like cattle.
“After we get Grace to the hospital,” Jaycee murmured, “I want to help find them.”
Josh made a sound. Definitely one of disapproval. “Going off half-cocked hasn’t worked well for you or others in the past, has it?”
That stung. Because it was true.
Jaycee choked back her own moan. Barely. And just like that, the memories came.
All bad.
The old mixed with the new from her captivity. Five months ago, she’d been conducting her own investigation into some money laundering and hadn’t been aware the operation already involved several undercover agents. Jaycee had only wanted to catch the piece-of-slime launderer who’d killed two women who happened to stumble upon his operation.
Instead, Jaycee had endangered the agents.
Josh