Page 56 of The Sheriff's Baby

Joelle’s heart was pounding in her chest. Her breath was gusting. And the fear was right there, clawing away at her.

So much fear for her precious baby.

But she wasn’t fighting as the two thugs manhandled her out of the house, down the porch and into the backyard. Not fighting. She had to get away from them, but she couldn’t do that now.

Not with one of them holding a stun gun directly against her stomach.

She had no idea what a stun gun would do to the baby, but it couldn’t be good. No. She had to wait for a safer way to try to escape, and she had to pray that opportunity would happen soon. Especially since they had gotten her out of Duncan’s house and were taking her heavens knew where.

At least they hadn’t killed her on sight, and she didn’t think they’d killed Carmen or Luca, either. While one of the goons had used her as a human shield—after he’d knocked away her gun—he had held her at bay with the stunner. The other one had used a stun gun on Luca, and Joelle had seen him drop to the floor. Hard. Maybe hard enough to crack his skull.

Carmen had come at the hulking attacker, and she’d had her gun drawn, but she hadn’t got off a shot before the thug hit her with a billy club. Carmen went down, too, and then the men had dragged Joelle toward the back of the house.

Now she had to pray they didn’t shoot the ranch hands.

Since the hands were at the front of the house, they didn’t have the best angle to see what was going on, but if they did, hopefully they’d take cover and call—

She mentally stopped right there.

Someone would call Duncan. If not the hands, eventually Carmen or Luca would do that when they were able. And Duncan would come for her.

Which was possibly what these thugs wanted.

The chance to have her while also forcing Duncan to put his own life in danger to save her and the baby. Was that the thugs’ intention? Or would they try to get as far away from Duncan and the other cops as possible? She just didn’t know, but she had to be ready for either of those things to happen.

“Was that really my mother who called me?” she asked. Not that she especially wanted to know the answer, not at the moment anyway, but if one of them spoke, she might recognize the voice and then she could know who was doing this.

Not Kate.

She was the only one of their suspects who couldn’t be dragging her past Duncan’s barn. Of course, Kate could have hired the pair, but it was possible one of the men was either Hamlin or Brad. The smaller goon was the right size to be one of them. But neither of them spoke. They just kept moving.

Joelle tried to tamp down the panic that was threatening to consume her. Hard to do, though, when everything was at risk. Her breathing didn’t help. Way too fast. Way too shallow, and it didn’t help that the air felt so heavy, like wet wool.

Soon, those heavy clouds would unleash a bad storm, and she figured that wouldn’t help matters. It’d mean Duncan would be driving through that to get to her.

The manhandling continued toward the back of the barn, and Joelle heard someone shout. Carmen. The deputy was calling out to the ranch hands for help. That caused both alarm and relief for Joelle. Carmen was alive, but Joelle also didn’t want the ranch hands gunned down if they charged at them. Hopefully, the hands would use caution if they figured out where she was.

Once her attackers were behind the barn, they kept moving. Kept dragging her, and just ahead she spotted an old ranch trail. They were commonplace in the area, and this one had a spattering of trees flanking it. A car was there, tucked in between the shadows of those trees. Definitely not visible from the house.

“Where are you taking me?” Joelle asked, trying to make that sound like a demand.

Of course, they didn’t answer, which meant they either had orders not to speak to her or there was the real possibility that she would be able to ID one of them from his voice. The men just kept moving until they reached the car, and they shoved her into the back seat.

Since the maneuver caused the stun gun to shift away from her stomach, Joelle tried to pivot so she could do something to escape. But the bulkier man pointed at her with the billy club. The threat was clear. He’d hit her if she tried anything.

She stayed put.

The big guy got in the back seat with her, and the other man jumped behind the wheel. He drove out of there fast. Not heading toward the house, of course, but rather using the trail. She had no idea where it led. They obviously did, though, since they had driven it to get to Duncan’s.

She glanced around for anything she could use as a weapon. And she froze. Not because there was something that could help her defend herself but because of the photos.

Dozens of them scattered on the floor of the car.

The pictures of her father. Bleeding. Dying. The same ones that’d been left on the side of the ranch house.

Her gaze fired to the big thug, and while she could see his eyes, there was nothing. No concern that he had just kidnapped a pregnant cop. No worry that she’d just seen photos that could link him to her previous attack.

And to her father’s murder.

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