“And she’s not happy.” He pressed his shoulder against hers. “We need to take advantage of this.”
Light flooded the front of the house, and a trim, dark-haired man with a distinct widow’s peak charged after the woman. “Ming, don’t be ridiculous. This opportunity fell into my lap, and I’m going to use it. I don’t know anything else about that baby except his father is a Border Patrol agent who thinks he has something on me.”
“Thinks?” Ming yanked open the door of the Jag. “I told you to steer clear of Las Moscas. There are easier ways to steal money.”
“We have to get in there while they’re occupied.” Emily shifted away from him and went into a low crouch. “I’m going around the back so I can see who’s inside.”
“Be careful.” Nash placed a hand on her back. “Don’t do anything until Ming leaves. You’ll hear her car. If Lanier goes after her, we might have a shot.”
“We have to take it.” Emily blended in with the night as she crept away.
Ming screamed an obscenity at her husband and slammed the car door after her. The Jag peeled away from the house in a cloud of dust.
Nash murmured, “One down. Go after her. C’mon, Lanier. Go after her.”
Instead, Lanier turned to the guard and bummed a cigarette from him.
Nash’s gaze tracked to the open doorway. Did Emily know Lanier hadn’t followed his wife?
Nash dropped to the ground and leveled his weapon in the area of the two men smoking in front of the house. Before Lanier had turned the lights on, Nash couldn’t take aim at the guard. Now he raised his weapon as high as he could get it from his position in the dirt. He could probably hit a thigh from here, but then what? He could just make out the bulge in the man’s jacket that indicated he had a gun within reach.
And Lanier? A man like that probably never left the house unarmed.
Nash could hit either one, but the other would return gunfire...or worse. Nash didn’t know what was going on in the house.
Then Emily decided for him.
A pop sounded from the house and both Lanier and the guard jerked their heads toward the open doorway, the guard reaching for his weapon.
Nash had to go with the man who could do more damage at this point. He jumped to a crouch and pulled the trigger. The report echoed through the night, and the guard fell to his knees, wailing as he clutched his leg, his gun forgotten on the ground beside him.
Nash immediately swung his gun to the left and squeezed off another shot. He missed. Lanier had dived to the ground and was clawing his way back toward the front door.
Could it be Lanier didn’t have a gun? Had he even expected to be here?
The guard scrabbled for the weapon he’d dropped in the dirt, and Nash marched forward, leading with his weapon, aiming it at Lanier. On his way, he kicked the gun out of the guard’s reach. Then he kicked the guard. Where the hell had Emily gone?
And then like some avenging goddess, Emily appeared in the doorway, both hands clutching a gun, the baby crying in the background.
“Take care of the guard.” She aimed her .22 at Lanier, still on his belly. “Stop, or by God I’ll shoot you in the dirt.”
Nash lunged forward. “Who’s behind you in the house, Emily?”
“One dead nanny.”
“And Wyatt?”
“Scared but unharmed.”
Lanier groaned. “What the hell are you doing here? How’d you know about this place?”
Emily stepped on Lanier’s hand. “Does he have a weapon, Nash?”
“If he did, he didn’t pull it out. Don’t let him out of your sight. I’ll take care of this guy.”
Nash pocketed the guard’s gun and then cuffed him, leaving him on his stomach. Then he rolled Lanier over and winced at the dust covering the man’s custom-made suit. That had to hurt. He patted him down.
“He’s clean. Can’t believe you’d come out to a kidnapping unarmed, Lanier.”
“I had no intention of coming out here.” He growled. “Someone tipped off my wife.”
Nash and Emily exchanged a look, and Emily said, “Not a bad idea, but we didn’t think of it.”
Not until Nash zip-tied Lanier’s hands behind his back did he pull out his phone and dial 911. Once he placed the call, he finally took a breath. “These two aren’t going anywhere. Let’s see to our boy.”
Emily spun around and rushed into the house with Nash hot on her heels.
A woman, the same one from the video chat, was sprawled on the floor, her hand inches from a weapon, blood pooling around her head.
Wyatt, gripping the side of a playpen, his face bright red, screamed when he saw them.
Emily shoved her gun in the waistband of her pants and whipped off her hat and dark wig. “It’s all right, Wyatt. It’s me. Everything’s going to be okay now. You’re coming home.”
As Emily flashed her red hair, Wyatt blinked and sniffled. His wailing stopped, and he hiccupped once. Then he reached out his arms and babbled, “Mamamamama.”
Epilogue
Emily watched as Nash signed the last form with a flourish.
He shook the pen at her. “Don’t get too excited. We still have to wait for the family court date.”
She threw herself against his chest anyway. “You’re going to be the best father ever.”
Nash’s fellow agent Clay Archer popped a bottle of champagne while his wife, April, held out the first glass.
April squealed as the bubbly frothed over the side of the glass. “I can’t believe our carefree bachelor is going to be a father.”
“I wouldn’t be able to do it without my live-in nanny.”
Clay rescued the glass from his wife and handed it to Emily. “She’s not going to be a live-in nanny forever. I talked to my buddy at Tucson PD, and while Emily’s previous firing will be a blip on her application, it won’t necessarily keep her off the force.”
Nash accepted a champagne flute from April. “Are you
