The Firefighter's Secret Baby. Anna DeStefano
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she was pregnant and fighting for her life at an accident scene that was at the moment beyond Randy’s control.
The storm raged on around them. Rain was showing no sign of letting up. The hydraulic drive of the Jaws of Life made a deafening sound as it did its dirty work. The cutters had already sliced through the crumpled roof and the car’s dash. The guys were readying the spreader and ram, techniques for opening and lifting the interior of a vehicle enough to clear space for EMTs to get in. That was, if they didn’t bring the whole mess down on top of the woman who’d said she was carrying Randy’s baby.
The equipment started up again and the entire car shook. Randy felt the next crash in his bones.
“Careful!” he snarled.
“Easy, man,” Donaldson said beside him. He wiped his sleeve over his eyes to clear the rain splattering under the bridge of his helmet. “They got it under control.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Randy’s guys rocked. Each team member trusting the other was the key to saving a victim. Any delay he caused by distracting the other men could be the extra time the medical professionals needed to preserve life.
Except this was Sam.
Randy had to get to her. He had to talk to her. Ask her a million questions, especially about the baby.
She’s yours, too. Don’t tell anyone that you know. Don’t trust anyone…Protect her. Promise me.
What the hell had she meant, Don’t let him destroy our baby, too?
An Atlanta police officer trudged through the storm and toward the impending temper tantrum Randy was going to have if Sam wasn’t free in the next five minutes.
“Do we have an ID yet?” the officer asked.
APD’s first priority was to secure the scene and reroute traffic. Only then did they worry about who was involved in the accident itself.
“No,” Randy yelled over his team’s work. Had Sam really meant not to trust anyone? Even the police? “I didn’t get to anything personal while I triaged her. She’s delirious. Not making much sense. I’d recommend investigating the possibility she was run off the road. Sounds like there was another car involved.”
Delirious or not, Sam had said someone was trying to kill her.
“Yeah.” The officer motioned behind him with his thumb. “That federal marshal over there suggested the same thing. But we don’t have enough details from witnesses yet to classify it a hit-and-run. Did she say—”
“She’s out of her mind in pain, and prematurely delivering her baby!” Randy caught Donaldson’s narrowed glance at his outburst. He sighed and gave the officer his full attention. “You’re going to have to wait until…Wait. What federal marshal?”
A tall man had followed the officer. His dark business suit was unwrinkled and spotless, despite the water the storm was dumping on him. Everyone else at the scene looked like drowned rats.
“I need whatever information you can give me about what happened here,” he said. “Tell me what the victim in that car has said to the first responders.”
“You need to step back, sir.” Randy indicated to a spot well away from the scene. His raised eyebrow asked the APD officer what was going on.
“Yeah.” APD crossed his arms. “That’s what I was trying to tell him. But—”
“I’m a deputy federal marshal.” The man pulled a wallet from his coat and flashed a badge. “The name’s Max Dean.”
“Dean?” Seriously? It sounded like something out of a western. “Well, Marshal Dean. Your information is currently trapped inside a few tons of scrap metal. You’re going to have to step back and—”
“I assure you I have the authority to conduct whatever investigation is necessary,” the man said.
And Randy was going to keep everyone the hell away from Sam, until she was safe and could explain what was going on.
“Your federal authority is real impressive and all.” Randy produced his slowest southern-boy smile. “But the security of this scene and everyone here is my call until EMT has my victim stabilized. You’re going to wait, sir. For your own safety, of course.”
“We’re in!” Gibson shouted from the wreck.
Randy’s crew was already disengaging their tools. They’d have the EMT team in place in under sixty seconds.
“I need to get in there.” Dean tried to shoulder his way closer.
Randy braced a forearm against the marshal’s chest.
“Let my team work.” Randy curbed his own impulse to rush to Sam. “All it takes is one slip of our equipment. One miscalculated move. The victim was unconscious when I climbed down. Before that, she was talking nonsense. There’s nothing for you to do here, unless you’re trying to put her life in even more danger.”
Randy studied the marshal’s reaction. There was nothing to see but the man’s growing irritation. Whatever Dean was doing there, he didn’t give a shit about Sam.
A female EMT eased into the wreck. Her partner hunkered down and began feeding her equipment and supplies.
“You spoke with the driver?” Dean wanted to know.
Randy didn’t answer. He didn’t breathe. He narrowed his attention to what was happening in the car.
“What exactly did you two discuss?” the marshal pressed. “I need to be made aware of everything that’s happened. Your victim is a principal in one of my operations.”
Randy grabbed the man by his suit’s rain-soaked lapels, losing patience with every out-of-control thing swirling around him.
“All you need to be aware of, is that your principal is most likely about to lose her baby, if not her own life!”
CHAPTER THREE
SAM SURFACED from the nightmare. She could hear Max’s voice. He was nearby. Separate from the fuzziness of her thoughts. What was Max doing in her bedroom? Why couldn’t she get her eyes to open?
Other voices were clamoring around her. Above her. Someone reported on her condition. Very official. Something pinched her arm, then her hand. There was talk about IVs and leads. Beyond it all, Sam could still hear her federal marshal.
Max sounded furious. But whatever was wrong, he would take care of it. And something was wrong. That was the one thing she was sure of. What had she done this time?
Max was shouting at someone….
Randy?
Why was she dreaming about the federal marshal in charge of her protection arguing with a long-ago voice she refused to let herself think about anymore?
Unless…
Sam’s belly cramped. Rain flooded over her. A storm raged around her, beyond her, beating against her face.
She hurt.
Everywhere.
“Ah!” she gasped, reality racing back.
The vehicle chasing her…The accident! Randy being there when he shouldn’t have been, his deep voice and the concern in his eyes and his warm touch. It was real. It was all real.
She’d told him to protect the baby. Their baby. She’d told him too much. She hadn’t told him enough. Now Max was there, and the two of them were arguing. What had she done?
She tried to fight the pain and the weight pressing down on her body.
Move!
Warn Randy!
“The APD is under my authority at this scene,” Max shouted. “You can’t keep me from