Baby Trouble: The Spy's Secret Family

“Who else could it be?”

She answered grimly, “It’s not like you and I don’t have other enemies. What about AbaCo? Could they be trying to blackmail you into not testifying against them?”

Fury glittered in Nick’s gaze. “They most certainly have experience with kidnapping and the personnel to pull one off on short notice. And they know you and the children are my life. But going after a child? Those bastards …” His voice trailed off as he choked on his fury.

She knew the feeling. “The trial starts next week. If they have Adam, we’re going to have to find him fast.”

“I know just the person to ask if AbaCo has Adam.”

“Who?”

“AbaCo’s CEO.”

“Werner Kloffman?” Laura echoed. “Where on earth would we find him? High-profile people like him tend to move around the globe and don’t exactly advertise their whereabouts.”

“What do you want to bet he’s in Washington pulling strings and trying to get the government to drop its case against his company?”

“Good point. If you’ll step aside and give me access to your laptop, MysteryMom needs to contact a few strategically placed people within the government.”

“MysteryMom?” Nick asked.

“That’s my email handle when I’m doing work for DaddyFinders, Inc. I built up a pretty decent informant network over my years of searching for you.”

He looked at her soberly. “I am eternally grateful you never gave up on me. You and I won’t give up on Adam, either. We’ll find him.”

A sob threatened to erupt from her chest, but she shoved it down. Her baby boy needed Super Mommy firing on all cylinders right now.

Nick must have sensed her momentary weakness because he said encouragingly, “Lisbet’s with him. She’ll protect him as fiercely as you would.”

She nodded gamely, refraining from suggesting that Lisbet might very well be dead and out of the picture by now. She knew all too well how important it was not to dwell on the negative, but instead to focus on hope and determination and keep moving forward.

Nick’s arms came around her. She clung to him tightly. Despite the unresolved problems between them, they were united in purpose when it came to retrieving their son. And that was all that mattered for now.

She disentangled herself from his arms and headed for Nick’s laptop computer.

Nick woke up as gray dawn crept around the jet’s window blinds, surprised that he’d managed to catch a nap. Fear for Adam slammed into him moments after his eyes blinked open, so heavy on his chest that he could hardly breathe. He tossed and turned in the uncomfortable airplane seat, tearing himself apart with guilt over having brought this danger to his son. Thankfully, Laura was asleep stretched out across several seats and Ellie was crashed in a playpen. He slipped out of his seat and tiptoed over to check on Ellie. The poor baby’d had a rough night last night and was sleeping deeply.

This aircraft was equipped with Wi-Fi, and he used it to connect his laptop to the internet and check the morning news. The gossip sites were having a field day over his return to the public eye. Even serious news outlets were commenting freely on the status of the Spiros fortune now that Nikolas Spiros was back. Analysts were speculating gleefully on whether he would attempt to seize control of his company from the German firm that had owned it for the past half-dozen years.

A limousine met them at the airport when they landed and whisked them south to Laura’s estate in Virginia. The mansion was crawling with police and FBI investigators who had frustratingly little information to share about Adam and Lisbet’s disappearance. The FBI kidnapping expert on scene seemed alarmed by the lack of a ransom note.

When Laura pushed the fellow to speculate on who’d taken her son, the FBI man hinted that perhaps whoever’d taken Adam didn’t feel a need to leave a note but felt the message was loud and clear enough without one.

Nick’s jaw tightened grimly. Which was a fancy way of the guy saying he thought AbaCo had Adam and that the kidnapper’s intent was clear—stop the child’s father from testifying against the company.

It didn’t help matters that, by midafternoon, the estate’s front gate was crowded with luridly curious reporters. The FBI had felt it would be best to go public with the story, plastering the news with pictures of Adam and putting the public on notice to look out for the little boy. It was a close call to say who hated the media attention more—him or Laura. Both of them were stretched to the breaking point by the lack of progress and the feeling of being trapped in their own home.

Finally, as they picked at the sandwiches a red-eyed Marta put in front of them, Laura’s laptop beeped to indicate an incoming message. She leaped from her seat to check it.

“It’s for MysteryMom,” she said tersely as she opened the message. Instinct had warned her not to reveal all her sources to the FBI team that had invaded their home. She’d kept her MysteryMom identity and email account to herself since the FBI was monitoring all her phones and other email accounts. Nick moved to her side quickly. The message, short and to the point, popped up. Kloffman is borrowing a home from friends at the following address. A posh street in the Washington, D.C. suburb, Old Town Alexandria, was named. The message was not signed. Not that he cared who had sent it, other than to want to thank the person someday … after Adam was safe.

Laura murmured under her breath, “We’ll have to sneak out past the FBI and the police.”

He nodded slightly. “I’ll engage them in conversation while you make arrangements for Ellie.”

He went downstairs and didn’t engage in conversation as much as he threw a tantrum, demanding that the law enforcement agencies do something. Personally, he understood that they had no leads to go on and their hands were tied until the kidnapper made the next move. But he kept that opinion to himself as he ranted and generally forced everyone’s attention onto him while Laura had a quiet word with Marta about watching Ellie for the night and milk in the freezer.

Laura slipped into the living room and made eye contact with him. He allowed her to talk him down off his fake ledge and the police were more than happy to let the two of them retire upstairs to the privacy of their suite.

“Are we good to go?” he asked Laura when the door shut behind her.

“Yes.”

He eyed the black turtleneck and slacks she’d laid out on the bed. “I gather you’re planning to break into the guy’s house?” he asked doubtfully.

“Do you have a better idea?” she demanded.

“Actually, yes.” He headed for her closet and pulled out an elegant linen sheath dress, silk stockings, fashionable stilettos, and an expensive pearl necklace. “Put these on. And do up your makeup and hair to the hilt.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Let’s knock on his front door. Or more precisely, you knock on the front door. He won’t think twice about opening the door for a woman who looks like you. Once he’s got the door open, I’ll join you. If we have to force our way in after that, so be it. But I bet he doesn’t put up a fight. He’s a businessman, not a thug.”

“You’re probably right. I’m not thinking all that clearly right now.” She glanced at him gratefully, and the spark of warmth in her eyes shot through him like a lightning bolt. Even in the midst of this crisis, she attracted him like no other woman.

She was authorized to be off her A-game. It was no surprise she’d fall back on her old CIA habits in a situation like this. But he knew life as a CEO. And if a beautiful, elegant woman showed up at his front door, he’d have let her in.

Laura dressed quickly and came back into the sitting room looking like a million bucks. Her flesh impact hit him like a physical blow. “You’re a hell of a woman,” he murmured.

“I’m a freaked-out mommy.”

“Stay strong, sweetheart. For Adam.”

She nodded and stepped close, leaning against him. They stood together quietly for a moment.

“Ready?” he murmured.

“Let’s do it.”

It was ridiculously easy to sneak out of their house. Laura knew every detail of the security system and made easy work of slipping past it. They pushed his BMW out of the garage in neutral and let it roll down the slight hill behind the house until it was out of sight of the mansion. Only then did Nick start the engine and guide the vehicle toward the back gate.

The trip to the Virginia suburbs of D.C. went quickly. Laura was grim and silent beside him. She definitely had her Super Mommy game face on.

The GPS efficiently led them to an elegantly restored row house in the heart of Old Town. Nick pulled into a driveway a few houses down and turned off the engine. He murmured, “You go first and I’ll lurk in the bushes until Kloffman has opened the door.”

Laura nodded coldly. Super Mommy was in full grizzly-bear mode. Satisfaction coursed through him. AbaCo’s senior leadership had coming whatever Laura could dish out and then some.

He followed her to the front porch and crouched beside the lush rhododendrons flanking the front steps. She rang the bell and stepped back so she’d be in plain sight through the door’s peephole.