The Cradle Mission

Chapter Four

The brisk January wind tossed brown leaves across the graveyard, the whistle of winter a bitter reminder of the emptiness that had settled inside Cain’s chest. Head bent, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his faded leather jacket, he stared at the ground where his brother’s remains lay, the steel gray of the casket the same drab color as the clouds hovering above.

The gatherers were sparse. It was a sad testament to Eric that he had so few friends. Yet he had helped so many nameless, faceless strangers who had drifted through his life for a day or week until he could help them move on. They might mourn him if they were still around. Or if they dared come out of hiding. But they didn’t.

A few of Cain’s friends from the police force had turned out for the memorial service, more out of respect for him than his brother, since half the force had had run-ins with Eric over the past two years.

They hadn’t seen Eric’s good side like he had. They hadn’t known that the man who pretended not to care about anyone or anything, the hardened renegade who crossed the line and had little regard for the law, was really a tender heart inside, risking his life and reputation to give hope to abused women.

Cain’s throat ached from grief, and his cheeks stung from the wind sifting through the limbs of the nearby trees.

The minister offered a few words of prayer, the same mindless mutterings that should offer hope to those left behind, but Cain felt too numb and angry to be comforted.

“You doing okay?” Captain Bobby Flack laid a broad hand on Cain’s shoulder.

Cain shrugged. What could he say? Hell no, I watched my brother get blown up, and couldn’t do anything to stop it. Cain was the oldest; he should have protected him…

“You need some time off, Caldwell. Take it.”

Cain shot him a dark look. He didn’t want time off. He wanted to be on the case and Flack damn well knew it.

The scrape of dirt being hoisted into shovels and thrown onto his brother’s casket jerked his attention back to the grave. His co-workers shuffled by, one by one, heads bowed, voices low as they offered their condolences. Cain nodded and grunted, knowing the men didn’t expect any more. Not that the officers didn’t face their own mortality every day; probably why it made them all so damn uncomfortable to attend a funeral.

“We’ll get the person who did this,” Wade said as he moved past.

“Hang in there, man,” Pirkle added.

Cain’s throat closed as the mound of dirt grew higher. From his pocket he pulled the gold cross that had belonged to Eric, and ran his thumb over the worn, cool gold, remembering the day his mother had given it to his brother. Eric’s thirteenth birthday.

Eric had already started to develop an attitude. He’d gotten into several scrapes and brawls at school, had beaten up some bully who’d been picking on a younger girl. They’d come home from school that day and found their mother bruised and battered again, lying on the sofa with an ice pack on her face. Their father had left, Eric’s birthday not even a speck of dust in his memory.

Furious over his mother’s black eye, Eric had wanted to tear out of the low-rent flat where they’d been living and charge after his dad, but his mother had told him he couldn’t leave, not on his birthday. Then she’d shown him the homemade cake she’d baked and given him the cross. Cain could still see the tears in her eyes as she’d hung the cross around his neck.

“This is to remind you of the good in the world, so you don’t grow up to be like your father,” she said.

And Eric hadn’t. He might not have followed the letter of the law, but he hadn’t deserved to die the way he had.

Someone had to pay for his death. And if Cain found whoever had killed him, he would take care of them himself. To hell with his badge. He wanted justice. No—he wanted more than that.

He wanted revenge.

SIMON’S SMALL SOUNDS of hunger grew more incessant over the miles.

“I’ll feed you when we reach the monastery,” Alanna promised. “We’ll be there soon, honey.” Alanna struggled to remain calm as she veered from the winding road onto the highway that led to Buford.

Simon continued to fret over the next few miles, the countryside changing to suburbia. She glanced at her rearview mirror, trying to decide if the dark car was following her or if she’d finally succumbed to paranoia.

When she’d left Cain Caldwell, she’d debated whether to return to the lake cabin, but she was afraid he’d show up, probing for more information on Simon. This morning she’d remembered Paul telling her that Eric Caldwell had helped women go underground through a local monastery in Buford, and she’d searched the phone book for a number. Thankfully, there was only one listed in the small town, although there were several others in and around the city of Atlanta.

Headlights flashed ahead, nearly blinding her, but she managed to stay on the road, Simon’s cries escalating. “Hang on, sweetie, we’re almost there.” She checked the directions, then the numbers along the street, grateful to see the side road that led to the monastery. She turned down the road, then steered the car into the long driveway, her stomach knotting as Simon’s wails increased. A huge stone structure surrounded by black iron gates sat back from the road, woods surrounding it. Although the building seemed imposing, she had no choice. She needed help and she had nowhere else to turn.

Simon was screaming now, thrashing his fists and hands wildly. She stopped in front of the building, but darkness shrouded the stone structure, and the mixture of overgrown weeds and dead leaves and broken rock near the awning was not a good sign. Neither was the broken glass in the window to the side or the spiderwebs climbing like vines up the walls of the building.

The building had obviously been abandoned.

She was just about to drop her head and give in to tears when a dark sedan crept up the driveway toward her. Dear God. The car had been following her.

Adrenaline and self-preservation kicked in. She shoved the car into Drive, hit the gas and took off, passing the car and flying toward the highway. She tightened her hands around the steering wheel as the screeching tires roared behind her. Swerving onto the main road, she drove like a demon.

But a few minutes later, she bumped across the railroad tracks just before the railroad crossing warning dinged. Then the crossing rails lowered and trapped the sedan, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

The shrill sound of her cell phone cut into her reprieve. Alanna’s heart raced as she glanced at it. Was Paul calling her?

Hands shaking, she answered it. “Hello?”

“Ms. Hayes, this is a friend of Eric Caldwell’s.”

Her breath hitched. “You worked with Eric?”

“Yes. He told me about your call. I know he was supposed to meet you the day he died.”

Relief spilled through her. “You work for the same organization as Eric?”

“Yes. He gave me your cell number in case he couldn’t reach you.”

“I went to the monastery but it was closed.”

“I know. Meet me at the cemetery where Eric is buried.” He recited short directions in a clipped voice. “And make sure you’re not followed.”

“I will. Thank you.” She checked her rearview mirror and drove toward the graveyard. Thank heavens Eric had told someone else about her. Maybe they could help her and Simon escape.

CAIN HAD TRIED TO LEAVE the cemetery several times, but each time his legs had refused to work. Now he sat on the ground beside the fresh mound of dirt with his head down, so swamped with childhood memories of Eric that he could barely breathe.

He caught the flicker of a gray parka in his peripheral vision and glanced sideways.

Jane Carter, the woman with the baby, had come to Eric’s grave. Her frail figure stood like a ghost in the shadows of the trees only a few feet away. The baby lay bundled in her arms, her shivering form a staunch reminder of the terror he’d seen in her eyes that morning and the day before.

He had to know why she’d come.

And why she’d been drawn to his brother’s grave when she’d been in such a hurry to escape from him this morning.

ALANNA ROCKED the baby in her arms, shielding him from the howling wind with her coat as she searched the graveyard for the man who’d phoned her.

She spied a man sitting hunched over on the ground beside Eric’s grave. Was it Cain or the man who had called to help her?

Gravel crunched behind her, the footfalls of someone approaching sending a chill up her spine. She turned around, half expecting the men in the black car to have dogged her, but the shadow of a woman deep in the heart of the knotty pines flickered. Alanna couldn’t distinguish the woman’s face or anything else about her, except that she wore black. Maybe she worked for the organization, too. Or was she just a mourner?

Then the man turned and looked straight at her and she realized it was Cain. The anguish in his eyes nearly made her legs buckle.

She couldn’t let him see her. Alanna pivoted and started back to her car, but before she reached it, Cain caught up with her and grabbed her arm.

“I thought you were headed out of town.” Cain Caldwell’s hulking body towered over her, and Polenta’s warning rang in her head. Be careful of Eric’s brother. He had some military background, medical training. Don’t let him know about Simon.

“I am. But I thought I’d stop and pay my respects to your brother.” Not much of a lie, but she was so rattled she couldn’t think.

“So you knew Eric well?”

She shrugged, not knowing how to answer. Eric had had a nice voice. She just prayed he truly hadn’t died because of her.

A drop of sleet hit Cain Caldwell’s cheek, another pelted the ground below. Dead leaves fluttered into his black hair, across his leather jacket and onto the ground, but he seemed oblivious to the cold or the weather. Except for the black irises of his eyes. They burned with an intensity that seared her.

“Your brother was a good man,” she said, knowing in her heart it was true. He had planned to help her. No questions asked.

“Yes, he was.” His jaw twitched slightly, the only indication her comment had affected him. “Not everyone realized that, though. Sometimes he liked to straddle the line of the law.”

“He…I’m so sorry he’s gone.”

Again that twitch in his jaw. “Tell me why you’re here.” His gaze flickered over her. Then Simon.

As if Simon realized he was being scrutinized, he squirmed in her arms, one fist sneaking out of the blanket. She tucked it back and soothed him, not wanting the cold air to touch his skin.

“I…I need to go.” She gestured toward Simon. “I don’t want him to get sick.”

She moved quickly to escape him, but Cain pulled her toward him, holding her so close his breath bathed her face. He’d obviously neglected to shave, and the dark stubble of his beard looked abrasive. She heard his teeth grind as he clenched them.

“It’s no coincidence that someone murdered my brother the same day you showed up needing help,” he said in a low growl. “Tell me what you’re afraid of and who you’re running from.”

She had no idea what to do or what to tell him. But his fingers dug into her arms tighter, almost to the point of pain. If he thought she had caused his brother’s death, would he take his anger out on her? Would he turn Simon over to the scientists searching for him or expose his birth circumstances publicly?

A shudder coursed through her. She could not let him do that to Simon.

His grip tightened as he stared deeper into her eyes. The way the guards on Nighthawk Island had handled her, their brutal force and threats suddenly rushed back, haunting her. She jutted her chin in the air, hoping the shiver in her body didn’t betray her show of bravado. “I’m running from men like you.” She purposely lowered her eyes to his hand where his fingers held onto her.

His gaze dropped to his hand, too, and he went still. He released her so suddenly that she stumbled backward, then caught herself and leaned against the tree to calm her nerves.

“I’m sorry.” His apology gushed out, so quick and gruff that she blinked to make certain she’d heard it. Then she saw him glance at the bruises on her wrist, and his anger transformed into regret. He held his hands up and frowned at them, then stepped away from her, as if to give her the freedom to leave if she wanted. “I won’t hurt you.”

She nodded stiffly, as uncomfortable with this tender side as she had been with his gruff exterior.

“I simply want some answers.” He jerked his head toward the mound of his brother’s grave. “He was my baby brother. My…my only family.” He cleared his throat, pain lacing his thick voice. “I…I have to know who killed him.”

Alanna closed her eyes, the raw grief in his words pulling at her heartstrings. How could she help him without endangering herself or Simon? Polenta’s warnings reverberated over and over in her head. She couldn’t trust him…

“A…an ex-boyfriend is after me. He…” Lies tumbled through her mind. What would he believe? What would make him want to help her, not harm her or Simon?

“He’s the one who hit you?”

She nodded, shame washing over her for deceiving him. But Simon’s safety was the only thing that mattered. “I’m afraid he’ll hurt the baby.”

“The baby’s his?”

Before she could answer, a gunshot pierced the air. Cain pushed her and Simon behind a tree, and they both hit the ground, shielding Simon with their bodies.

Chapter Five

Cain’s jaw snapped tight. Who were these thugs? Why would they try to gun down an innocent woman and baby?

He pulled out his own weapon and aimed, then fired, sending the bullet into a tree only a few feet from the men’s heads. Jane screamed and the baby cried out.

The men froze. He fired again, this time hitting a lower tree branch that splintered and fell to the ground. He aimed the next one into the ground at the bald man’s feet. He reached for his cell phone to call for backup, but the men turned and ran toward their car, both heaving for air and looking over their shoulders in fear. His gaze swung back to Jane. She had scrambled behind a low bush, trying to quiet Simon but to no avail. Cain waited several seconds until the men’s car tore from the parking lot, then slipped as quietly as he could toward her. Seconds later, she raised her head and peered through the brush, cuddling Simon close as she searched for the men. He gently placed his hands on her arms. “Jane—”

She jerked to a standing position, ready to run.

“It’s okay now, they’re gone.” She was shaking so badly he did the only thing he could.

He pulled her and Simon into his arms and offered her comfort.

ALANNA FELL INTO Cain’s arms, knowing she should resist but unable to help herself from accepting the safety of his strong embrace. She’d been running scared for days with nowhere to turn, and she had come so close to losing Simon.

The phone call had been a setup. How had the men gotten her number and known about her contact with Eric? She should get rid of the phone—

Paul. Dear God, she couldn’t. It was her only way of staying in touch with him.

Simon seemed to calm, his cries quieting. Cain stroked his back in slow rhythmic motions, murmuring soft words of reassurance.

A tear threatened to escape but she blinked it back. She couldn’t allow herself the weakness.

“Are you all right?” Cain asked softly.

Alanna nodded against his chest, finally pulling away enough to look into his eyes. Simon angled his head toward her, then toward Cain as if to ask why someone would try to hurt them. Alanna kissed the baby gently on the cheek. “It’s okay, Simon. Everything’s all right now.”

“Who were those men?” Cain brushed at a leaf caught in her hair. “And don’t tell me one of them was your old boyfriend.”

She clutched Simon’s pudgy finger and disengaged herself from Cain’s arms, already missing his warmth and strength. “I don’t know.”

“Why are they after you?” His voice was low, but his gaze dared her to lie.

“I…my ex-boyfriend must have hired them to find me.”

“To gun you down?” Not that he hadn’t seen it all before. But he didn’t believe her.

“He wants me to come back.” She stumbled backward. “He’s obsessed…”

Cain steadied her. “Come on, you’re going home with me tonight.”

“No—”

“Don’t argue with me, Jane. You damn near got yourself killed. No telling what could have happened to Simon.” He reached out and laid a palm against Simon’s cheek. “The baby needs a safe place for a while. And I want some answers.”

“Thanks for rescuing us, Cain, but I can’t stay with you.”

He took her arm and ushered her toward her car, ignoring her protests. But as they reached it, he pulled her past the door. “We’ll come back for your car later.”

“No.” She might need to escape later. She needed her own wheels. “I can’t leave the car here.”

“Then I’ll send one of my buddies after it.”

One of his cop friends? “Then you’d have to tell them about me and Simon.”

“Yes. And if you’ll give me the name of this old boyfriend and a description, I’ll issue an APB for him.”

She halted, gathering all her strength to remain still when he tried to urge her forward. “You can’t do that, Cain. Please. Just let me go.”

“I’m not letting you drive off tonight with Simon. And if you don’t level with me about Eric, I’ll haul you in for withholding information in a murder investigation.”

“Please, Cain, no.”

“This obsessive boyfriend of yours might have followed you here and killed my brother.” He hesitated, obviously reading the panic in her face.

But his steely gaze didn’t waver. “If you don’t want me to call the police in, then when we get back to my place, you have to tell me what’s going on.” He gave her directions to the cabin.

She reached for the door handle. Cain grabbed it first, wrapping one arm around her. “And don’t get any ideas about running, Jane. I’m going to be right behind you.”

CAIN’S PULSE CLAMORED as he jumped in his Jeep. Sleet pelted the windshield, the bitter wind picking up. Trying to stay on Jane’s tail, he turned on the defroster as the car flew over the ruts in the dirt road.

The same small dark green Honda turned off the dirt road onto the highway and he caught a glimpse of black inside—was the woman following her?

Peering through the fogged windshield, he stayed right behind Jane’s Toyota. He tried to get a good look at the person in black inside, but the Honda suddenly pulled into a convenience store and he realized he must have been wrong about the car following Jane.

Still he called in the plates along with Jane’s. A few minutes later, he learned the Honda belonged to a woman named Phyllis French. She had no priors, no record, nothing unusual about her at all.

The car Jane drove belonged to a doctor named Paul Polenta. He had no record either, and the car hadn’t been reported stolen. So who was this Polenta guy? Was he the old boyfriend who’d been stalking her? Another lover?

DAMN.

Irritated, Phyllis slipped into the convenience store, grabbed a disposable cup and filled it with coffee. The man Alanna Hayes had gone to see was either a cop or working with them. She’d recognized the standard weapon and the badge clipped on his outside coat pocket.

The cop was also following Alanna.

He’d spotted her as well.

So had Alanna Hayes at the graveyard, though the woman had no idea who she was or that she wanted Simon just as badly as the men searching for her.

Phyllis stirred cream into the coffee, then added a packet of sugar. The cop hadn’t seen her face. And even if he had, he couldn’t know anything about her connection to the Hayes woman. No one did.

As far as the scientists back on Nighthawk Island were concerned, Phyllis had disappeared from their lives after her miscarriage. But she hadn’t. She’d suspected something strange about their work. Then she’d found out about those fertility treatments….

Why the hell would Alanna Hayes go to the police? The stupid nurse had to know the danger in doing so. She would have been better off going to the press. And if she’d told that cop her story, why hadn’t he taken her in for kidnapping?

Brahms’s “Lullaby” floated into her head. She’d hummed the song to her unborn child during her pregnancy. She’d intended to sing her baby to sleep with it every night. But now Alanna had Simon, cuddling and rocking him at night, when it should have been her.

Those bastards on Nighthawk Island had kept Simon from her long enough.

Phyllis would make them pay.

Grabbing a newspaper from the bin on the wall, she stepped to the counter to pay.

“Will that be all, ma’am?”

Phyllis nodded.

“Four fifty-five.”

She threw down a five-dollar bill, then rushed out the door. She’d already lost precious minutes hiding in the store. She couldn’t afford to waste any more, or she might lose her only connection to Simon.

But before she made her move, she had to find proof that Simon belonged to her. So they’d never be able to steal him from her again.

A HALF HOUR LATER, Cain stood in his kitchen heating a can of soup while Jane fed Simon. The baby gurgled and spit rice cereal everywhere, then lapped up the peaches with gusto as Jane spooned them into his mouth. She had been suspiciously quiet, avoiding conversation with him, focusing all her attention on the baby.

Cain would let it ride for now.

But when Simon went to bed, they had to talk.

He filled the bowls with steaming chicken noodle soup and placed one on the table in front of her, the other at the opposite end for himself. He added crackers and poured them both some coffee, then set the sugar and milk on the table, and took the seat at the end of the table.

He had not been around babies much, but Simon seemed happy and well cared for in spite of their earlier ordeal. Jane, on the other hand, was a mess.

He didn’t want to think about the strong urges he’d felt when she’d pressed herself into his arms. Protective instincts had mushroomed alongside sexual feelings that had no place between them.

Especially if she was involved in Eric’s death.

Simon suddenly blew bubbles, spraying Jane’s shirt. Jane laughed, a soft, lighthearted, totally content and motherly sound that pinched his stomach. Even pale and frightened, she’d draw any man’s eye, but with a smile on her face she looked absolutely beautiful.

“I think you’ve had enough.” Jane wiped Simon’s chin with a paper napkin. “Now how about some milk to wash it all down?”

Simon cooed a reply while she laid him back in her arms and slipped the bottle into his mouth. Like an experienced mother, she angled herself to sip her coffee and eat at the same time.

“Looks like you’ve done that before.” Cain couldn’t keep a grin from sliding onto his face.

She smiled at him, actually blushing. “Seems like babies always want to eat when the adults do.” She shrugged, her green sweater slipping off one shoulder. “I don’t mind, though. He’s good company.”

“It’s obvious you love him very much.”

“I do.”

“Did you and this ex-boyfriend break up before you met Eric?”

She stiffened, then sipped her coffee again. “Yes. He was stalking me and I asked Eric for help. That’s how we met.”

He nodded, admitting the plausibility of her story. But she didn’t quite meet his eyes when she spoke.

“Why didn’t you want me to call the police? You can issue a warrant for this guy, get a restraining order—”

“I’ve done all that before.” She stood and rocked Simon from side to side. He was falling asleep in her arms, one hand curled against the bottle. “Is there someplace I can let him rest for the night?”

“This way.”

Cain’s cabin consisted of two bedrooms with a shared bath and an open room that served as the den, with an attached kitchenette. A faded green sofa and comfortable recliner occupied the den along with a TV and his ancient stereo system. He normally didn’t bring women here. They found it too rustic.

“Is he crawling yet?”

“Not yet,” she whispered. “Although he’s trying.”

“So, he’ll be okay on the bed?”

“I’ll put some pillows beside him so he doesn’t roll off.” She gently pulled the bottle from Simon’s hand and kissed him on the forehead while Cain turned down the navy comforter. Then she eased Simon onto the bed, brushing a tender hand over his belly as he stretched his chubby arms and legs. Light blond eyelashes fluttered once, but he didn’t wake.

“He’s so tired. It’s been a trying day.”

“I imagine so. It’s not every day a baby gets shot at.”

He heard her sharp intake of breath. As soon as they made it back to the small den, he turned to her.

That haunted look returned to her eyes. “We’ll be out of your way in the morning.”

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Cain folded his arms. “Now, just before those goons showed up you were going to tell me about Simon’s father.”

ALANNA WAS EXHAUSTED, but she couldn’t give in to it. Even though she’d told Cain she and Simon would leave tomorrow, she had no idea where they would go. With Eric dead, the monastery abandoned and the men after her close on her tail, how would she possibly escape? She was in way over her head. Completely out of her element.

And Cain Caldwell was demanding answers.

What would make him want to protect Simon instead of turning him over to the men looking for him or to the police? There was only one thing….

“Who is his father, Alanna?”

She hesitated, gathering courage, praying God could somehow forgive her for what she was going to say. “The baby, well…Eric is Simon’s father.”