The Baby Assignment. Christy Barritt
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Addie’s chubby fingers reached for Macy’s hair, her fingers tangling with the dark brown locks.
Tanner knew that Macy hadn’t intended on touching him or letting him hold her. He could still read her like a book, even after all these years. The way she averted her gaze, looked away, rolled her shoulders back.
He had to admit that it had felt good to have her in his arms again. Her hair, as she’d nestled under his chin, had felt soft, and she still fit so perfectly into his embrace.
But it was all over now. There was no need to yearn for the past—not when it could never be re-created.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly, keeping a hand on her arm to steady her.
She nodded, bouncing Addie on her hip, but her trembling limbs belied the action.
“I’m fine.” She blanched when she saw his arm.
He looked down. Blood gushed from his biceps. It was only a surface wound, one that looked worse than it actually was. His adrenaline had been pumping so hard that he hadn’t noticed the injury.
“You’re hurt.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been through worse.”
“What happened?”
“Bullet.”
Macy squeezed her eyes shut, as if she couldn’t stomach the thought of it. When she pulled her eyes open again, her gaze drifted downward to the man on the floor. “Is he...dead?”
Tanner squatted and felt for a pulse on the man’s beefy neck. “Not yet, but almost.”
She paled even more. “Who were they?”
“I don’t know. There’s a lot we don’t know and a lot that doesn’t make sense.” He reached down and pulled the man’s mask off, anxious to see the concealed face.
A Caucasian man, late twenties, short blond hair and a scar across his cheek stared back at him. Tanner had never seen the man before.
“You know him?” Tanner asked.
Macy shook her head and then looked away.
Tanner felt in the man’s pocket. There was no ID. He hadn’t expected to find any, but he had to at least try. Maybe they’d get a match off his fingerprints.
The man moaned on the ground, beginning to stir slightly. Tanner knew that trying to talk to him would be useless. If the man came out of this alive, they’d interrogate him until he gave up all the information they needed. But right now he was useless.
“Come on. Let’s get you out of this room.” He took Macy’s arm, knowing the emotional effects caused by seeing a wounded man. He didn’t want to put either Macy or Addie through it.
They stepped into the waiting room, but it also looked like a war zone. Windows were broken. Furniture was overturned. Pieces of drywall littered the floor. Water trickled from the broken edges of the aquarium.
There was also that trail of blood, left by at least one of the men Tanner had shot. They were long gone now. Law enforcement would search for them, but most likely they’d had a getaway vehicle waiting outside.
The way those men had fired showed they were professionals. Maybe former military. Either way, they were skilled. No doubt that they’d thought through their escape plan in case things went wrong.
And things had gone wrong for them—thankfully.
Macy pulled Addie closer, hugging the innocent baby to her.
“Backup should be here any time now,” Tanner said, glass crunching beneath his feet.
As the last word left his mouth, a siren sounded outside. He pulled Macy into the corner, desperate to ensure her safety. A moment later, EMTs rushed inside, along with his backup team.
Rick Saul, his boss, hurried toward him. “Tanner, you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. How about Frank? We saw him go down.”
“EMTs are evaluating him. It doesn’t look good, though.” Saul’s gaze flickered toward Macy and Addie, and he nodded at them.
Saul was like a rock: emotionless, immovable and strong. He was nearly bald, but had a salt-and-pepper beard, and icy blue eyes. He was a good man, and he’d never let Tanner down before.
“There were at least two gunmen who got away,” Tanner said. “They went through the back door, and I can only assume a car was waiting for them there.”
“The police are on the lookout for any suspicious-looking vehicles now,” Saul said. “There was a camera outside, and we’re hoping to find some video footage. There are tire marks by the back door that we can assume belong to the gunmen. We’ll do everything we can to locate them.”
Tanner wasn’t sure why, but he felt certain these guys wouldn’t be found. And that would be a shame. At this point, the only way of knowing who sent them was to bring those guys in or get the guy in the other room talking. Because it was obvious these were hired guns someone had sent.
“That baby is the key in all of this,” Saul said. “We need to figure out why before anyone else is hurt.”
“I agree.”
The EMT wheeled the gunman away, two FBI agents flanking either side of him.
Tanner turned to Macy. “We need to get you out of here and to a more secure location.”
“But—” she started.
He squeezed her arm again, desperate to get through to her. “It’s becoming obvious that nowhere is really safe. The sooner you’re tucked away out of sight, the better.”
“Me? Why me? I’m not a part of this.”
“You are now.”
Her walls came down a moment, and he could see the fear on her face. But when she blinked, she’d plastered on that self-assured image again, the one that made it seem like she was in total control.
The realization squeezed his gut. When he’d known her before, she’d reserved that façade for strangers. But never him. She’d let him see the rawest parts of herself.
This was just another reminder of how things had changed.
Tanner led her toward the door.
“You’re coming too, right?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes, I am.”
“But you’re bleeding.”
“I can have an agent stitch me up once we’re somewhere safe.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s just a surface wound. I’ll be fine.”
Before they reached the door, Tanner looked at the ground and frowned.
A picture of Macy that had once been hanging on the wall now lay on the ground. The glass was shattered, and two bullet casings rested atop it.
He swallowed hard. That wasn’t a sign of things to come.
He would make sure of that.
Everything happened in a whirlwind. One minute, Macy was waiting for a client, the next moment, she was whisked inside an FBI sedan, secure and snug in the back seat with Addie screaming beside her in a car seat.
If only she could cradle the child. Give her a warm bottle. Change her diaper.
She could do none of that right now.
Macy hadn’t had time to ask questions or process anything. Not really. Too much was happening all at once, with little time to breathe even.
Just