Baby Trouble: The Spy's Secret Family

Nick made a commiserating sound, and Werner shared an aggrieved look with him. Nick really was incredible at garnering empathy and trust from the German. He asked gently, “Do you have copies of these records with you? If you wouldn’t mind sharing them with us, I swear to you we’ll see they fall into the right hands.”

Kloffman reared back sharply. “No way. They’ll kill me.”

No need to ask who “they” was. Nick said soothingly, “Not if they don’t know who the source of the leak was. I give you my word of honor we won’t reveal where or who we got the information from.”

Kloffman didn’t look convinced. Laura spoke quietly. “Somebody has kidnapped our son. He’s six years old. And he’s going to die if we don’t find him. Soon. Please help us, Herr Kloffman. I promise we’ll help you.”

He nodded slowly. “I will give you everything I have. Maybe you can find something about your boy.”

Laura rose to her feet eagerly and Nick did the same.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the files with me. I keep them in a safe place.”

As would she in the same situation. So. It was going to require a leap of faith on their part, too. “Of course, Herr Kloffman. How soon can you get us a copy?”

“Twenty-four hours, maybe.”

A whole day? Her gut twisted in dismay. But it wasn’t like she had any choice in the matter. “Please hurry.” Desperation crept into her voice. “He’s so little….”

Kloffman squeezed her elbow reassuringly. “I shall do what I can to help, Fraulein.’’

She nodded, too choked up to say any more. Nick quietly traded contact information with the German and then guided her to the front door.

“A word of advice, Kloffman,” Nick commented as he reached for the doorknob. “Convince whoever’s actually running the show to sell off the pre-1970 ships before you have a major accident. Dump the Euro debt and invest in new, Norwegian-built, fast ships.”

Kloffman stared. “I beg your pardon?”

Nick shrugged. “Spiros Shipping has been in my family for three generations. And it’s being run into the ground. Stop thinking about short-term profit and look to the future before you destroy my company.”

The German stared, flummoxed. “Assuming I still have a job in a week, I’ll try.”

“Thank you for your help, Herr Kloffman,” Nick said soberly as he opened the front door. “We are in your debt.”

Out of reflex, Laura reached for the light switch and turned off the porch light as she stepped outside. The night was dark and cold, and she was more terrified than ever of the forces that had taken her son from her.

Chapter 9 (#ulink_5cb229a1-2392-5af9-9e42-78a95adba1eb)

Nick’s breathing still hadn’t returned to normal, and he’d been driving as fast as he dared back toward the estate for nearly a half hour. His company had become a major crime syndicate, compliments of a wife he didn’t remember? Why on God’s green earth had he ever married the woman? He supposed it didn’t matter, now. The deed was done, the damage cascading down on everyone he loved.

Laura burst out, “Do we dare trust him? With Adam’s life?”

“I think we should,” he answered.

“Why?”

He shrugged. “The time may come when we need Kloffman to hesitate before he calls his dogs down on us or Adam. I think we gave him good reason to hesitate.”

Laura sighed beside him. “You’re right, of course. I’m just not capable of thinking that clearly right now.”

He glanced over at her. “You’re not supposed to be thinking clearly. You’re a mother. You’re allowed to be panicked.”

“But Adam needs Super Mommy.” Laura’s voice cracked, sending a glass shard of pain through him. How was she ever going to move past the fact that he’d done this to their child? Even assuming Adam returned home safe and sound—and he refused to consider any other possibility—how were they going to move forward as a couple?

He asked slowly, “Do think you’ll ever forgive me for all of this?”

She stared across the dark interior of the car at him a long time before she answered. “I don’t know. After you lied to me in Paris and then spent the past year knowing you were living under an assumed identity and never told me, I don’t know how I’m going to trust you again.”

If only he could remember why he’d deceived her in Paris! For the first time, he regretted not really trying to work with the doctors who’d attempted to help him regain his memory.

“Now what?” Laura asked.

What, indeed? He was as stymied as she was and hated feeling this helpless. He’d felt this way in his box and had vowed never to be at anyone’s mercy again. No, this time it was his son’s life on the line. His control threatened to crack. Swearing silently, he fought off the urge. Laura needed him strong. Adam needed him strong.

“I don’t have a lot of contacts in the crime world,” Laura commented, “but I’ll put out some feelers. See if anyone’s heard anything.”

“I’d lay odds that whoever kidnapped me grabbed Adam, too,” Nick declared. “I’d love nothing better than to get my hands on that person and wring their neck.”

“You only want to wring their neck? I had something slower and more painful in mind,” Laura replied.

He shrugged. “I got you and the kids out of the deal. I learned things about myself in that box I’d have learned no other way. Things that have changed my life—changed me—dramatically for the better. Yes, the experience sucked. But, at some point, I have to get over it and get on with my life. I’m not kidding when I say that part of my past is over and gone. I don’t dwell on it.”

“I’m not so altruistic,” Laura muttered.

“You can sit around hating your life and bemoaning all your problems. Or you can accept that everyone has them and get on with dealing with yours in a positive frame of mind. I’m not saying life can’t be hard as hell. But it is possible to find joy in small things in the midst of all the bad stuff. I have my kidnapper to thank for making me understand this.”

“Will you be so philosophical if we find out he or she is behind Adam’s kidnapping?”

“I’ll kill him.” He added grimly, “And I’ll be entirely philosophical about it afterward.”

Laura smiled reluctantly and reached over to put a hand on his leg. He took a hand off the steering wheel and covered hers.

“We’ll find Adam,” Nick murmured. “Just keep the faith.” Why did it take something so awful to bring them together like this? How was he supposed to feel anything other than too guilty to breathe when he was finding Laura again in the midst of losing his son?

The house was in an uproar when they walked in. Marta had gone upstairs for Ellie’s 2 a.m. feeding and one of the FBI agents had discovered their disappearance.

The FBI agent-in-charge, a guy named Cal Blackledge, was not amused and chewed them up one side and down the other. Nick blandly explained that the two of them had needed to get away for a little while, to be alone and share their grief without an army of onlookers. Blackledge didn’t look convinced, but Nick and Laura stuck to their story, and there wasn’t much the FBI man could do about it.

As their chewing out was winding down, another FBI agent rushed into the kitchen. “You just got a message from who we believe to be the kidnapper.”

Laura’s coffee mug slipped out of her fingers and shattered into a hundred pieces all over the floor. Nick moved for the door nearly as quickly as she did, but Blackledge still got to Laura’s office first. When Nick stepped into the spacious room, a team of people was huddling in front of her computer. They moved aside, and Laura slipped into her desk chair. He watched eagerly as she clicked on the email message.

Your son and his nanny are safe. They will stay with me until you testify against AbaCo. When those bastards are put away for good, then you can have your son back. Do not fail, or else.

Laura looked up at him in shock, the thought plain on her face the same as the one he was having. The kidnapper was an enemy of AbaCo’s?

He asked, “What’s the kidnapper going to do when the government announces that it’s going to drop its charges?”

Laura paled and started to shake. He knew the feeling, dammit. They had two days until Adam’s life was forfeit. Two days to find and save their son.