Soldier's Pregnancy Protocol

Her knees trembled, but she fought not to let them buckle. Not with the thug’s knife squeezing her jugular.

Focus. Don’t let fear win, she heard Bradley saying as clearly as if he were still around, goading her into doing another daring stunt. She remembered steeling her nerves to launch her hang glider on her first trip with Bradley, calming her jitters in order to think clearly the first time she parachuted solo. She had to muster the same clearheaded thinking now, despite her fear.

“Where’s LeCroix’s letter?” the man growled.

Her stomach churned as she recalled Alec’s warning. He’d known she would be in danger, yet he’d given her nothing but a warning to deny seeing his letter. Damn him!

“Wh-what letter?”

Her captor shook her, and the blade nicked her neck. His grip around her waist tightened.

Erin gasped and slid a protective hand to her lower abdomen.

A second man appeared from behind her and began ransacking her kitchen drawers.

“Come on, sweetheart. I know you called Kincaid. Now where’s Daniel LeCroix’s letter?”

“I don’t know anything about a letter. Please let me go!”

“Lady, either you talk now, or I’ll cut you until you tell us what we want. Where is the letter that was delivered here this afternoon?”

Erin whimpered as the knife pressed harder against her neck. She was out of her league here, as well as outnumbered. Her captor knew she was lying, had clearly tapped her phone, probably had been watching her house. Alec had suspected as much, ergo the disguise and the drawn blinds.

Whatever Alec was involved in, she wanted nothing to do with it or the seedy men who were after him. Despite Alec’s warning, she refused to anger these men by lying. She wouldn’t risk her life for something she knew nothing about.

“I don’t have the letter. Not anymore.”

Even as Alec adjusted the tiny listening device in his ear, he heard the growling threats against Erin, heard her give him up.

Damn. They’d been closer behind him than he’d thought.

“I swear. The letter isn’t here anymore,” Erin said, the fear in her voice coming clearly through the microphone hidden in the poinsettia. Alec thought of the shadows that had clouded Erin’s wide dark eyes as he’d left. The doubts. The vulnerability.

He cursed the twist of fate that had put Erin in the line of fire.

“Where is it?” the male voice growled.

“Alec has it. He just left. In a florist’s van.”

So much for denials. Alec finished stripping off the bulky Santa suit and fled the delivery van Erin had just identified. Checking the chamber of his SIG-Sauer pistol, Alec crept from behind the van to the cover of a large holly bush.

Don’t jeopardize the mission. If things go south, it’s every man for himself.

The principle wasn’t complicated. Easy enough to understand. Just not so easy to follow through on. Not when the man involved is your partner, your best friend.

Or an innocent woman with wounded, puppy-dog brown eyes.

Alec bit out an expletive. He couldn’t abandon Erin to the thugs who had her. Not when he was the one they wanted. Him—and Daniel’s letter. Though he knew civilian casualties were sometimes unavoidable in counterterrorism, he wasn’t ready to write Erin Bauer off as a cost of war just yet.

Having parked the van out of sight a few blocks from Erin’s house, he now ran through his former neighbors’ backyards, listening closely to the exchange playing from his earphone as he circled back to Erin’s house.

“How long ago did Kincaid leave?”

“Just a few minutes.”

With a running leap, Alec hurtled the picket fence at 217 Hurley Street, dodged the garbage cans at 215 and raced through the lines of drying laundry behind 213.

“Did he read the letter before he left?”

“No.”

“Who delivered it? What did it say?”

Jumping the hedge between 211 and 209, he sprinted to the backyard of Erin’s next-door neighbor. From behind a giant shrub, he surveyed the scene at his old house.

“I don’t know. I s-swear. I d-don’t know anything.”

“We’ll see about that.”

He heard Erin yelp. In pain or fear? Adrenaline kicked in his chest. Needing to get a better fix on the situation, he calculated his best approach.

“Come on, sweetheart. You’re coming with us.”

What?

“What?” Erin’s terrified voice echoed Alec’s reaction. He pressed a hand to his ear, holding the tiny receiver closer.

“Kincaid couldn’t have gotten far. We’ll take you with us as a bargaining chip, offer you as trade. His girlfriend for the letter.”

Girlfriend? Alec cursed again under his breath. If they thought Erin meant something to him, her life was in even more danger.

“But I’m not—”

“Shut up, lady. Move it.”

“No, wait! I—”

Alec heard an oof, a grunt. The scuffle of feet. A crash.

From his hiding place at the side of the house, he heard the back door open. Muffled voices. He peered around the corner and saw them drag Erin at knifepoint toward a white SUV. The hair at Alec’s nape bristled. If they harmed so much as a hair on Erin’s head …

Guilt wrenched inside him. This was his fault. She was at risk because of him. Obviously, the thugs planned to use her as bait to draw him out. Therefore, freeing her, protecting her was his duty, his obligation.

Another man had joined the knife-wielding cretin and climbed behind the steering wheel. Alec didn’t recognize either of the men, but he memorized their faces now. As the guy manhandling Erin shoved her in the back seat, he snarled some kind of warning. Despite her obvious fear, Erin lifted her chin defiantly.

Alec’s lips twitched at her show of moxie. He’d found no shortage of things to admire about Erin Bauer. He couldn’t blame her for giving up the information about the letter so easily. She had no way to know what was at stake, no reason to do as he’d directed. Even he didn’t know what was at play or why. But now Erin was a part of it … which left him rescuing her. The old-fashioned way. The hard way.

He gritted his teeth, irritated by the diversion from his plans. He’d finally picked up Daniel’s trail. He needed to be studying the message his partner had sent, going underground, lying low until he lost the tail he’d picked up. But he wouldn’t, couldn’t abandon Erin to these men.

Like you abandoned Daniel.

The white SUV turned down Hurley Street, and Alec retraced his path, running through the neighbors’ yards, keeping the vehicle in sight. He kept pace with the SUV until it turned onto the main street leading to the interstate.

Time for wheels.

A pickup truck stopped at the intersection, and Alec snatched open the door. “Police! Follow that white SUV. Don’t lose them!”

The college-aged driver scowled his doubt. “Let’s see some I.D., bud.”

Alec pulled his SIG-Sauer from his shoulder holster. “Move it!”

The young man paled and raised his palms. “Easy, bro. I’m going!”

Alec pointed. “There! They just got on the interstate. Hurry!”

His driver punched the gas, wove through traffic like an expert, and merged onto the interstate doing close to eighty.

Alec spotted the SUV several cars ahead and calculated his best attack. He didn’t want Erin’s captors to see him and risk a car chase that put innocent lives at risk. An eighteen-wheeler occupied the next lane, and Alec sized up his options. Doable.

“Pull as close to the back of that truck as you can and hold it steady. Got it?”

The college kid looked at him and nodded. “Check.”

While his chauffeur aligned his pickup with the larger truck, Alec rolled down the passenger window and secured his SIG-Sauer in his holster.

“Thanks for the lift,” Alec said as he wedged his body through the window and hoisted himself out. While they rocketed down the interstate, Alec climbed into the pickup’s bed. Braced against the air current. Focused on his task, his mission.

The pickup moved beside the rear of the eighteen-wheeler, and Alec eyed the bar ladder on the back end of the truck. He prepared. Calculated. Jumped.

His foot slipped as the truck bounced over a pothole. Adrenaline spiking, he groped for a rung of the bar-ladder. The jolt as he caught himself tugged viciously on his shoulder. Pain slithered down his arm, but he held on, found a foothold.

Over the whoosh of air and rumble of engines, he heard the pickup’s driver whoop. He nodded to the young man as the pickup eased back into the correct lane.

“Kids, don’t try this at home.” Alec scaled the rungs on the back of the eighteen-wheeler and levered himself to the roof. The truck rocked and shimmied as it barreled down the road. The slipstream pushed and pulled at him as Alec found his footing. Like surfing in a hurricane.

Keeping his center of balance low, he edged along the roof of the truck’s trailer. Scanning the road in front of him, he spotted the SUV. The luggage rack on its roof. Target located.

The eighteen-wheeler changed lanes, easing forward. That’s it. A little further.

A passing car honked, and a passenger gestured wildly at the driver of the eighteen-wheeler.

Alec gritted his teeth. Damn it, he didn’t want attention drawn to him! But, realistically, he had to accept that his highway gymnastics would cause spectator concern. The sooner he acted, the better.

Alec edged into position. The SUV was still almost a car length away, but he couldn’t wait much longer, couldn’t risk Erin’s captors seeing him. He braced himself and judged the distance to the roof of the SUV.

A challenge. But doable.

What could she do? Erin squeezed the door handle and weighed her options. Jumping out of the car at highway speed would be suicide. But when they left the interstate, if they stopped for a traffic light …

She rubbed her palm on the leg of her jeans, over her belly. She had to be careful. Couldn’t take unnecessary risks.

But she refused to let these men harm her, kidnap her without even a token resistance. She wouldn’t go down without a fight.

She thought of Alec Kincaid, the selfish bastard, walking out on her, leaving her to fend for her life. Alone. She was in this mess because of his stupid letter! She worked up a good mad and funneled the energy toward planning her escape. They had to get off the interstate sometime. And when they did …

A car behind them honked, and she absently turned her attention to the passenger-side mirror. An idea niggled. Maybe she could signal someone in another car….

She glanced sideways to the knife-wielding maniac who rode beside her and nixed that thought. She couldn’t tip her hand. When she acted, she had to catch the men totally off guard.

She returned her gaze to the side mirror with a wistful glance. If only—

Erin sat straighter in the seat and narrowed her gazed in disbelief. A man was on top of the eighteen-wheeler behind them!

What kind of idiot—?

Her breath caught, and she blinked to make sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her.

No trick. It was Alec.

Her heart, responding to Alec’s daring with a drumroll, rose to her throat. She stifled the gasp that threatened, determined not to give Alec’s presence away to Mr. Knife and his buddy. Her gaze riveted to the SUV’s side mirror. Her fingernails cut into her palms.

Horrified, she watched Alec inch along the roof of the truck’s trailer. He crouched low, adjusted his arms for balance.

Dear God! What was he planning?

An image of Bradley’s broken body flashed in Erin’s mind, and her stomach rolled. Alec was coming to help her. Like Bradley had been. Putting himself in danger. Risking his life. Taking foolish chances. For her.

The bitter taste of fear filled her mouth, and Erin swallowed a moan. Not again.

“You say something, sweetheart?”

Erin jerked her head around to face Knife. “N-no.”

“Take it easy, darlin’,” Knife said with a sadistic leer. “Soon as we get that letter back from Kincaid, you’ll be free to go.”

The man driving grunted. “For a swim with the fishies maybe.”

Knife laughed and gave Erin a salacious wink. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll take care of ya.”

A shudder raced down her spine. She worked to form enough spit to swallow the knot in her throat as she swung her gaze back to the mirror. The truck was closer. Alec perched on the edge of the trailer, crouching. Springing.

Erin gasped, but the sound was lost as Alec landed with a thump on the roof of the SUV.

“What the hell was that?” the driver barked.

Trembling all over, Erin held her breath.

Knife angled his head, looking up. “Something hit the roof.”

Suddenly the window beside Knife shattered. Erin jolted as glass shards blasted across the seat.

“What the—!” The SUV swerved as the startled driver twisted toward the smashed window.

“It’s Kincaid!” Knife brushed broken glass off his shirt and surged forward to shout to his cohort. “He’s on the roof! Shake him!”

Erin gripped the edge of the seat as their driver snatched the steering wheel hard to the left then right again. Alec’s legs slid off the passenger side of the roof, scrambling to find purchase.

Panic roiled inside her. “No!”

The driver yanked the steering wheel again. Alec slipped farther down the side of the SUV. He needed help. Her help.

Snatching off her seat belt, Erin lunged for the front seat, the driver, the steering wheel.

“Hey, get back here!” Knife grabbed the back of her shirt. She fought like a wildcat to grab the wheel, steady the SUV.

Erin heard a thump, a smack. When Knife’s hold on her suddenly fell away, she darted a glance over her shoulder.

Alec hung over the other side of the car now. He reached in through the broken window to land a punch in Knife’s jaw.

Knife’s eyes rolled back. Before the man could even slump all the way to the seat, Alec slid, feet first, through the broken window.

“Manny?” the driver called as he checked the rearview mirror.

“Manny’s taking a nap,” her rescuer said.

“Alec!” Relief swamped her so hard and fast she nearly choked on the tears.

But her relief came too soon. The driver raised an arm, turned, and leveled a gun at her.

She saw the flash from the muzzle in the same instant the ear-shattering blast rang in her ears. She screamed and curled forward to protect her abdomen.

More glass rained on her as the passenger-side window shattered.

“Get up!” Alec shouted.

She glanced up and realized the command was directed to her. He struggled to restrain the driver, keep the thug from shooting again and steer the SUV at the same time. She met Alec’s blazing blue gaze, and instant admiration stole her breath.

He hitched his head toward the front seat. “Hurry! Grab the wheel!”

Erin scrambled to suit orders to action. Somehow Alec managed to hold the SUV in one lane. But as the thug struggled with Alec, the man’s foot moved on and off the accelerator making the SUV jerk, lunge and stall. They drifted toward the next lane and swapped paint with a school bus. Alec cursed.

Heart thundering, Erin clambered into the front seat, wedged her left foot over to the accelerator pedal and wrapped her hands around the steering wheel.

Freed of needing to steady the vehicle, Alec squeezed the driver’s throat, held him immobile until the man went limp.

Erin gawked and leaned out of the way as Alec dragged the man’s body into the back seat. “Is he dead?”

“No. I want these jokers alive to answer questions.”

Erin slid into the driver’s seat and brought the SUV under control.

“You okay?” Alec asked.

“Depends. Define okay.” She met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “If I were shaking any harder, my t-teeth would rattle, and I feel like I m-might throw up, but … I’m not hurt. Does that count?”

“Can you drive for a while?” His face was hard, his gaze razor sharp.

She nodded.

“Good enough for me.” He situated the thugs on the back seat, tying their hands with the seat belt. “Take the next exit, but don’t stop. Drive until you find a place that has some privacy.”

“O-okay.” Erin flipped on her turn signal and changed lanes, heading for the exit he indicated.

Alec climbed into the front seat beside her and raised his shirt to pull out the envelope tucked in the waist of his jeans. He heaved a relieved-sounding sigh and closed his eyes.

Crisis averted. Thanks to Alec’s heroics. Erin exhaled her own relieved sigh, but her hands still trembled. She cast a sideways glance at Alec, and for a moment, she simply savored the sight of his black, windblown hair, the stark bone structure of his brow and jaw, the full cut of his mouth.

When they’d been hauling boxes last week, she’d been transfixed by his taut, muscular frame, by his intensely blue eyes. But it seemed this man’s face was perhaps the most striking, the most interesting of his features. Without being classically handsome, he had a rugged sort of appeal. A muscle in his jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth and opened his eyes. She followed his lowered gaze to the envelope in his lap.

She scowled. “That dumb letter must be awfully important.”

He cut her a sideways glance. “It is to me.”

Harsh lines bracketed his mouth, his eyes, and spoke of hard living. A thin, pale scar on his cheek evidenced a past injury. Alec Kincaid was clearly no stranger to a dangerous lifestyle.

Her annoyance cooled when she realized the lengths to which he’d gone to rescue her. He was either the craziest man on the planet or the bravest. She’d wager on the latter.

“Thank you,” she murmured. “For helping me. Saving me.”

He didn’t answer. Instead he turned to stare out the side window, his face an emotionless mask. Finally he slanted a hooded look at her and grunted. “Your gratitude may be premature.”

Chapter 2

Following Alec’s directions, Erin pulled the SUV behind a self-storage building and cut the engine. She cast him a wary gaze across the front seat. “Now what?”

Alec scanned the area with predatory eyes. “I’m going to have a little talk with these cretins. I need to find out who they are and who sent them.”

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Still shivering from cold and fear, Erin chafed her arms. The action drew Alec’s attention and a dark frown.

“No police.”

“What?” Erin blinked her shock. “They broke into my house, held me at knifepoint, kidnapped me, threatened to kill me…. You better believe I’m calling the cops!”

His expression grew flinty. “No. I’ll handle this.”

“Why? Are you FBI or something?”

“Or something.” Alec climbed out of the SUV and opened the back door. He checked the two unconscious men, then used the knife the first man had held at her throat to slice through the seat belt. With amazing ease and his impressive muscles taut, Alec hoisted the unconscious driver over his shoulder and carried him to the side of the self-storage building.

A funny catch lodged in Erin’s chest as she watched Alec pat the thug down, ostensibly checking for other weapons, then return to the SUV. He’d saved her life. For that, she figured she owed him the benefit of the doubt, even if the notion of not reporting this terrifying incident to the police galled her. She glanced at the letter sitting on the console between the front seats. What was so darned important about that letter that men were willing to kill for it?

Alec ducked his head in the back seat again and sawed on the strap securing the second man.

“So what am I supposed to do?” she asked. “Just go back home and pretend nothing happened?”

Alec’s hands stilled, and he glanced up at her, his mouth set in a grim line.

Erin wondered if Alec ever smiled, wondered about the life he led that kept his expression so hard and humorless. Wondered how a smile would transform his stony features.

“Once I get this guy out, I want you to dump this vehicle somewhere, then walk about a mile before you call a cab. Don’t go back to your house. They know you live there, and you’d be an easy mark.”

Erin pressed a hand to her stomach as anxiety fueled the wave of nausea that swamped her. “And why would they come back for me? I thought it was you and this Daniel LeCroix person’s letter that they were after.”

He sighed, and the muscles in his jaw jumped. “Because I made a mistake.”

“A mistake?”

He grunted and continued his work. “I came back for you. Rescued you from them.”

She scoffed. “You see that as a mistake?”

“Now they believe I care whether you live or die. They’ll see you as a way to get to me.”

Dread settled in her chest like a rock.

“Do you have a friend or relative you can stay with for a while?”

A hollow ache plucked at her. Loneliness. Grief. And guilt, her constant companion of late. “No. My parents are dead, and I just moved into town last week.”

He scowled. “Then go to a hotel. And be careful. Keep your door locked and don’t talk to anyone.”

“But—” Before she had a chance to voice her complaint, the scuffle of feet drew Alec’s attention to the side of the storage building. The SUV driver had regained consciousness. Hands still bound by the seat belt, the groggy man stumbled to his feet. And ran.

“Damn!” Alec snatched his gun from his waistband and foisted it toward her. “Watch this guy. If he so much as blinks, shoot him!”

Spinning away, Alec sprinted after the fleeing driver. Erin gaped at Alec’s retreating back then down at the weapon he’d shoved in her hands. Shoot Mr. Knife? Even if her own life were at stake, she wasn’t sure she could ever pull the trigger, kill another human being.

Her stomach swirled, and she wished she had some crackers to settle the queasiness. She’d moved to Colorado hoping to build a new life, to escape the turmoil and tragedy that had plagued her the past two years. To heal, to make a fresh start, and to nurture Bradley’s last gift to her. But she’d only been in her new home a week, and already bad luck and danger had found her again. She had to be jinxed.

Hands shaking, she set the gun on the passenger’s seat, terrified her trembling hands would make the gun fire accidentally.

Her gaze darted to the letter—the root of this whole fiasco, the source of the danger she was in. She lifted the missive and held it to the sunlight, trying to see what was inside. Useless. The envelope paper was too thick.

It occurred to her that, like the driver, Knife could rouse, could surprise her, could overpower her. Could steal the letter and escape.

Then all of Alec’s efforts to hold on to the letter and rescue her would have been in vain. Mind spinning, Erin turned the letter over in her hand. Maybe she couldn’t bring herself to shoot Knife if needed, but she could do something to protect Daniel’s letter.

Grumbling to himself in disgust, Alec balled his hands as he stormed back to the storage units where he’d left Erin. He’d lost his prey in the maze of alleys, small homes and parked cars. Worse than that, he’d taken off after the cretin so fast, he’d left Daniel’s letter sitting on the front console of the SUV. While mapping out a plan to keep Erin safe, he’d allowed her fearful eyes, her rebellious pout to distract him. For a man who prided himself on perfection, today’s accumulating list of mistakes chafed.

He sidled up to the back wall of the storage building and peered around the corner to survey the scene at the SUV. If Erin had lost control of the situation, he didn’t want to walk into a confrontation unaware.

Erin paced back and forth behind the rear bumper. Her attention remained glued down the driveway, in the direction he’d pursued the driver. As she marched back and forth, she gnawed a thumbnail, then frowned at the chewed finger. A bulge at the small of her back told him where she’d stashed his SIG-Sauer.