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“Gracias—” Nicole started to speak, but I put my hand on her thigh. I seemed to like touching her there.
“No names, no talking, just let him drive,” I warned. That was how these operations worked. It was much safer for them not to share anything with us, and us with them.
She let out a sigh. I knew it was engrained in her to establish contacts, but it wasn’t the time for that.
My head was on its normal swivel as we drove along the back roads to the safe house where we’d spend the night. My weapon burned at my hip, ready to fire if need be. My nerves were so much more on edge now that we had my son. I saw danger at every turn. I wondered if anyone had taken the bait that it might be Bruno who took the baby, and they searched for him somewhere else.
Nicole’s body sank heavily against my side, and I knew she was way past exhausted. Chase lay awake, and I was glad he was quiet. His tiny hand played with a piece of her hair as he sucked away on a pacifier. His cheeks were red, and his eyes looked kind of glossy as he lay there. Poor kid was probably so messed up with all that had happened, his little mind must be blown. I’d have to worry about that once we got him home.
I was incredibly thankful for Nicole. If she hadn’t hooked up with us, I wasn’t sure how the whole thing would have gone. I thought of all the times she helped us as we tracked him down and how she used her connections with the Cartel. She was a huge asset, and I needed to share that with her at some point. She deserved that much from me. Chase let out a little cry, and Nicole jerked awake.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered, and he rubbed his eyes with his fists. “You wouldn’t eat before. Are you finally hungry?” I pulled out the gooey carrots and handed them to her. She held it up and squeezed a little on his lip, but he turned away. “I’m a little worried he won’t eat,” she confessed quietly.
“Let’s try again when we get to the safehouse.” I tried to ease her concern, but I wondered the same thing. “Maybe we should try another kind?”
“Maybe.”
We pulled into a long, tree-lined driveway then followed it to a house that was set well away from the road. I hadn’t stayed at this house before, but I knew Frank’s team, Eagle Eye, had. Frank had set things up for us.
“Gracias.” I pulled out some bills and paid the man well. It was always a wise thing to overpay for services. He handed me a key without a word and left.
There wasn’t much to look at, but the fridge was stocked, it was warm, there were places to sit and sleep, and there was a fully functional bathroom with a shower. That was all we needed for the night.
“I’m going to see if I can get him to sleep.” Nicole turned from the entryway as if to walk toward the living room, but I gently pulled her back by her shoulder. “What?”
“Let me clear the place first. Stay put.”
She looked at me with concern. “Didn’t they already do that?”
“Yeah, but they’re not me.” I pulled my handgun and made my way through the kitchen, small bathroom, and two bedrooms. I checked everywhere anyone could hide. When I returned, I found Nicole in the kitchen balancing Chase in her arms. He looked sleepy and kept rubbing his eyes. “Is this your idea of staying put?”
“I needed water,” she said over her shoulder, “plus, Chase is really warm.” She picked up a clean dishcloth that was folded on the counter and wet it. When she pressed it to his forehead, he started to cry. “You’re so tired, sweetie. You really need to sleep.” She turned to look at me. “Can you please hand me my bag?” I passed it to her and watched as she dug around for something while Chase fussed in her arms. “There you are.” She held up a small bunny with long Dumbo ears. “Is this yours?” Chase immediately pulled it to his face and rubbed it over his cheeks.
“Where’d you get that?”
“I forgot about it. The sisters told me it was left with his birth certificate. Talya must have given it to them.”
I studied the little guy as he gripped the stuffed animal and felt a tug in my heart that he had something from his mother. It would help him to feel safe. At least I hoped it would bring a happy memory for him.
Nicole put a bit of another type of kid’s goo on her finger from a squeezy tube, but again he refused to eat it. He just turned his head away and rubbed his face into her shirt.
“Not even applesauce, little guy?” She twisted up her mouth. “I think I’ll just try to get him to sleep.” She went into a bedroom, and I followed and sat in the chair in the corner as she put him on the bed and lay down next to him.
For someone who didn’t have a happy life growing up, she sure was good with kids. “You seem like you’ve been around kids before,” I said softly as she rubbed his belly.
“When you’ve been skipped over time after time to be adopted, you tend to focus on the kids around you to help fill the emptiness that brings.”
I watched as she smiled down at Chase with gentleness and compassion. He was no one to her, just someone’s child. She was a pretty impressive woman.
“We should eat while we can. I’ll go round us up something.” I figured while we had a down moment, we should refuel.
“I’ll be here.” She stroked his cheek with the back of her fingers, and I could see he was slowly drifting off to sleep. “That’s right, sweet pea, give in to it. You need it.” I stood there another moment, and like magic, the little guy was out cold.
“Wow, that didn’t take long,” I whispered.
“He’s so tired, poor thing. I’m hungry, but I think I’ll have a shower first. I’ll meet you out there.”
“Sounds good.” I checked my gun again and made sure there was one in the chamber. Call me OCD, but I wasn’t taking any chances with my son or Nicole.