The Cradle Files

Garrett opened the door and caught her arm, practically dragging her into the garage. He didn’t waste a moment. He yanked open the driver’s door of his vintage black Mustang and shoved her inside. Lexie scrambled into the passenger’s seat so that Garrett could get behind the wheel and start the engine.

“Hang on and stay down,” he warned.

And with that, he gripped the steering wheel with his left hand and gunned the motor. The car bolted forward, crashing through the garage door.

GARRETT HAD HOPED that his garage door wouldn’t put up much resistance, but unfortunately, it did. A slab of it landed right in the middle of his windshield. The safety glass cracked, webbed and otherwise obstructed his view, but it stayed firmly in place.

He didn’t dare put down his window and stick his head out so he could navigate, either. Not with three gunmen in the area. But he did turn on his headlights and floored the accelerator. He braced himself for the gunmen to shoot at them, braced himself for an all-out attack, and tried to keep his own gun steady.

“I don’t think they’re following us,” he heard Lexie say.

He glanced at her and saw something that caused his blood pressure to spike.

She was looking out the back window.

Garrett immediately shoved her back down in the seat. “What part of stay down didn’t you understand?”

“I might have to return fire. You concentrate on getting us out of here. I’ll do what I need to do.”

He couldn’t argue with that. It was reasonable. Well, semi-reasonable. There wasn’t a lot about this situation that qualified as reasonable. Still, he truly might need her to return fire if this evolved into a gun battle. He didn’t like the three-to-one odds if he had to do this alone. But then, he didn’t care much relying for backup on someone with memory issues.

Garrett checked the side mirror and was a little surprised at what he saw. He was also slightly relieved. An empty street stretched out behind them. So maybe the gunmen hadn’t pursued them. For now, anyway.

But he couldn’t count on them just giving up.

“Go back through the bits of memory you have,” Garrett insisted. “And come up with a theory as to who just tried to kill us.”

“The doctor with me during the delivery,” she readily answered. “The man who took the baby. Or the cop who ran me off the road.”

Three suspects. Three gunmen. Coincidence? “And you don’t know who any of these men are?”

She shook her head. “No. But I intend to find out.”

“Because they’re the only ones who might know where the baby is.”

He hadn’t meant to say that aloud. Heck, he hadn’t even meant to think it. He couldn’t devote a lot of mental energy to the baby now. Mainly because he didn’t know if there was a child. And if their daughter had actually been born, he needed to get Lexie to safety before he started to unravel this deadly puzzle she’d brought to him. Even if there wasn’t a child, it was abundantly clear that someone was after Lexie.

And him.

The shot that’d come through his bedroom could have been aimed at either of them. Or both. And if they hadn’t immediately turned out the lights and gotten down on the floor, Garrett had no doubts that there would have been a second shot. Probably a third. There would have been as many bullets as it took to eliminate them.

This had not been a warning. It’d been a cold, calculated attempt to execute them.

Why?

He checked the mirror again, and when he saw that things were still clear, he slowed to a reasonable speed and took the turn to the highway.

“Where are we going?” Lexie asked.

He didn’t answer her, because he knew it was an answer she wouldn’t like. Even with the possibility that a cop was involved in this, he had no choice. He was going to police headquarters.

Garrett only hoped it wasn’t a fatal mistake.

Chapter Five

Garrett took a huge gulp of the god-awful coffee that the rookie officer had given him, then he signed the statement he’d just prepared about the shooting “incident.” He hoped the caffeine would help with the headache that throbbed in both temples. Spent adrenaline was a witch to deal with, and he didn’t have the time to let the effects wear off naturally.

He needed a clear head, and he needed it now.

Across the room, seated on the break room sofa, Lexie was finishing up her handwritten statement and sipping coffee as well. She was also making the same disapproving expression at the bitter taste. Well, that was partly the reason for her expression.

Some of it was aimed at him.

All right. Most of it was aimed at him.

“I hope I don’t have to say I told you so again,” Lexie grumbled. Practically tearing through the sheets of paper with the tip of the pen, she signed her name to the report and tossed it onto the table.

It wasn’t the first time she’d voiced that complaint since they’d arrived at police headquarters an hour earlier. Garrett didn’t think it would be the last, either.

Nope.

He was in for a night of her complaints. Garrett just hoped those objections weren’t warranted. Because it might be awhile before he could figure out if coming here had indeed been a bad idea. It might be longer still before he could discover if there was a departmental leak. Or worse, a would-be departmental killer who had a penchant for running women off the road.

Garrett dropped his statement on top of Lexie’s and checked the clock mounted on the wall. His brother, Lieutenant Brayden O’Malley, would be arriving within minutes. The shooting and those gunmen put this case right in his brother’s lap. However, even if it hadn’t fallen within Brayden’s realm of responsibility, Garrett had no plans to go to anyone else. He’d already decided to keep this investigation close to the vest.

Or rather, in the family.

“We’re wasting time,” Lexie continued. She practically slapped the foam cup of coffee on the adjacent table, and got up to pace.

“We’re staying alive,” Garrett corrected. “That is what you want, right?”

Lexie stopped pacing only long enough to send a narrowed, fiery glance his way. “I thought you believed me about the baby.”

Her words sent a jab of pain through his right temple. He’d meant to set this whole issue aside until they’d resolved the gunmen situation, but he now knew he couldn’t. “I believe you believe it.”

She stopped again. Right in front of him. Mere inches away. “Refresh my memory—are you always this pigheaded?”

“Always.”

Lexie huffed and squared her shoulders. She was probably aiming for a show of strength, but failed miserably. Because there was nothing she could do to dissolve that look in her eyes. The pain.

The fear.

He wasn’t unaffected by that look, either. Despite all the bad blood between them, there were other things between them as well. The past that stained their present relationship was one he couldn’t forget.

With her broken memories, Lexie was lucky. In that respect. She probably didn’t remember the attraction that had started all of this. It was too bad he couldn’t give himself a little dose of selective amnesia. It would help him focus on getting those men who’d tried to kill them.

“I remember something,” she said out of the blue.