Thanksgiving Protector. Sharon Dunn
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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