TO SAVE A CHILD
In the dark of night, Quinn Robertson is on the run with her little niece, desperate to bring the child to her biological father. All Quinn knows from her scared sister is that the girl is in terrible danger. And when a security and rescue specialist intercepts Quinn and claims heâs there to help her, she isnât sure who to trust. According to Malone Henderson, Quinnâs niece was stolen as a baby from her real fatherâthe very man Quinn is trying to reach. As Quinn works with Malone to uncover the truth, someone is trying very hard to make sure certain secrets stay buried, and that father and daughter are never reunited.
Mission: RescueâNo job is too dangerous for these fearless heroes
Quinn needed to know the truth, and she needed to know her sister was safe.
âEverything okay in here?â a man said, the voice so unexpected Quinn jumped.
Malone stood on the threshold, his broad shoulders nearly filling the space.
âYou scared a year off my life.â
âSorry,â he said easily.
âIt wouldnât matter if I hadnât already had ten years scared off back in the woods.â
He nodded, his expression hard. âThings could have gone really bad back there.â
âI know. If you and my brother hadnât come along, they would have gotten Jubilee.â
âAnd killed you.â The words were so blunt, his voice gruff.
âThey didnât.â
âWhen did you notice them following you?â
When had she?
She remembered spotting the truck on her way through New York, seeing it again a few hours later in Pennsylvania. âThey were following me for a couple hundred miles.â
âSeems odd that they were able to pick up your trail so far from home.â
She hadnât thought about that. Sheâd been too busy trying to figure out how to escape them.
ONE
They were coming.
She could hear them as clearly as she could hear her pulse pounding frantically in her ears. Feet crunching on dry leaves, clothing brushing against pine boughs, the sounds of pursuit ringing through the dark forest.
A twig snapped, and Quinn Robertson shrank deeper into the tree throw, her arms tight around her five-year-old niece. Jubilee didnât speak, didnât whimper or cry or beg for her mother. She hadnât made a sound since theyâd left Maine twelve hours ago.
Please, God, donât let her make one now.
The prayer bubbled up, borne of desperation and just the tiniest bit of hope that it would be heard.
Please...
A light bounced over the thick tangle of roots that jutted up from the hole Quinn cowered in and swept toward the ridge sheâd just run down. Tumbled down. Sheâd been terrified, and she hadnât been careful. She was still terrified.
Had her brother, August, gotten her message?
Did he know how close she was to his house?
Did he realize she should already have arrived?
If sheâd snagged her purse before sheâd taken off, she could have texted to let him know she was in trouble, but sheâd left it in the Jeep, her cell phone inside of it. There hadnât been time to grab anything but Jubilee. By the time her niece was out of her booster seat, the car that had been following them, the car Quinn had pulled off the road to avoid, had made a U-turn and was heading back in their direction.
Sheâd run into the forest that lined the rutted country road. Sheâd had no other choice. Tabitha had entrusted Jubilee into her care. Sheâd begged Quinn to bring the little girl to her father in DC. Her real father. Not the man Tabitha was married toâthe man whoâd left bruises on Jubileeâs cheek, bruises on Tabithaâs throat. The one Quinn had known nothing about. She hadnât known her sister was married. Sheâd had no idea Tabitha had a child. Five years had passed since sheâd seen her sister face-to-face, and suddenly she was at Quinnâs door begging for help, her eye black, finger-sized bruises trailing down the column of her throat.
Quinn hadnât hesitated. Sheâd agreed to do what Tabitha was asking. She probably would have agreed even if her sister had told her how much danger she might find herself in.
A lot of danger. More than she should be facing alone.
Quinn shuddered, holding her breath as someone raced past her hiding space. Jubilee lifted her head from Quinnâs shoulder, her long braids snagging on roots that jutted into the tree hole.