Ryan sat in the old rocker. His baby daughter Chloe nestled against his bare chest. Skin-to-skin contact was best for bonding, or so Lupe had informed him.
He knew nothing about babies or children. He was an only child. His cousin Rex was, as well. Though the man had recently met his mate, and while Rex had inherited a daughter in the deal, Ryan had been too busy investigating the corporate corruption and money-laundering that his cousin had accidentally uncovered to visit the young family. He had never even paid much attention when he visited the few friends who did have children.
No, he was utterly unprepared for this one. But he would not be for long. He had already downloaded a dozen books on the subject of babies and parenting while Lupe tended to Laura and their daughter.
The woman had arrived within half-an-hour of the birth. But Laura's mother and younger sister had made it first. The two women were there within fifteen minutes of the text that Laura had sent. He had struggled to remember the women's names from the files. And Laura had seemed to want to ignore him, now that the crisis had passed.
But he was having no part of that. As soon as he remembered Stacey and Mercedes, he had introduced himself. The younger woman had smiled and told him to call her Mercy since they were family. But Laura's mother seemed less pleased to meet him. It made him wonder how much the woman knew of the truth.
The moment that Lupe had arrived, she had checked the placenta, which Laura had spontaneously delivered almost the moment that Chloe had begun to nurse. Then she had examined the baby, cleaning her with some sweet-smelling oil rather than soap and water. She had passed his daughter to him with the briefest of instructions on bonding and holding a baby.
Then the women had worked together to get Laura, first to the bathroom, then, once she was cleaned up and dressed in a fresh gown, into bed. The woman had insisted that she drink cup after cup of some foul-smelling tea that she assured them would minimize the risk of bleeding.
Lupe had helped Laura to breastfeed the baby once more before she and Mercy had tackled the major clean up in the living room. They had done a pretty good job on the amniotic fluid from the couch and floor. His jeans were almost dry now too.
He supposed he should go out to the rental car, bring in his suitcase, and change into fresh pants. He was not bothering to check into a motel as he had planned. He was not leaving them unprotected.
Leaving them unprotected? Ryan sighed, as stupid as he knew he had been, he could not bring himself to regret the tiny bundle of pure innocence that slept contentedly on his chest.
He stared down at his daughter through the haze of tears, but there were other things he lamented. The biggest of which was that after all he had been through, all the promises he had made to himself, his child was a bastard.
Thankfully, Laura had had the foresight to at least lie about that fact. He had almost laughed when he discovered how incredibly accurate her cover story was. The soldier that she had met while on assignment. A whirlwind romance and elopement only days before he was deployed.
He was confident that, at some point, she had intended to kill him off in action. Neatly tying up her story and protecting their child from the stigma of bastardy that they both knew still existed, especially in small towns like this one.
But that was not going to happen now. He was determined about that.
No, he was as much to blame for this situation as she was. Well, maybe. They had not had time to talk about that.
Lupe had stayed a couple of hours to make sure that everything was going as it should. Laura's sister, the other one, had arrived an hour afterward. Elena had to get someone from their church to watch her toddler, but she, too, had left half-an-hour ago. Her mother was the only one left. Stacey Reynolds was in the bedroom with Laura, just in case she woke and needed anything.
He knew that they would have to confer soon. The sooner, the better. The reason he had come here was just as relevant now, maybe more so. Though he was not the man for the job, he had known that it was a conflict of interest that night, but this situation only deepened that.
His first priority, his loyalty, was to them now.
He needed to make things right for them and the agency. He shifted gently in the chair, as he reached in his pocket for the phone, but even that was enough to rouse the baby. Chloe whimpered in her sleep but quieted back down as he rubbed her back beneath the quilt that covered them both.
He did not have long. She would need to be fed again soon. Lupe had said that she would need to nurse every couple of hours, especially until Laura's milk came in, whatever that meant. Ryan added it to the ever-growing list of questions that he needed to look up in those books.
He chuckled, remembering that Lupe said to read the one by Dr. Spock first. He had not known that Vulcans were such experts on babies.
He punched the button; he did not need to wait long, the man answered on the first ring. "About damned time, Ranger."
He did not care much for the man that had been assigned as his handler midway through this assignment. The previous one, a woman that he knew well and would have trusted with his life - and theirs - had been in a car accident. She would live, but it was doubtful if she would ever again be up to the task of returning to her job.
"Stephens," was his only reply.
"So, what does the woman know? Is she going to be cooperative?"
"I don't know yet. Things were more complicated than your file let on. Why was the fact that she was pregnant not in there?"
"Pregnant? What the fuck? Wait a minute."
Ryan wanted to cover his daughter's tiny ears just in case she could overhear, but he did not dare move again.
"That's not right. There's nothing in her medical records to indicate a pregnancy. She's still covered under Cobra, of course. But she's not used her insurance even once. Wait, here is a purchase of a car seat on one of her cards, but that's it."
He waited, letting the man take the lead in this conversation was best for now. "So, how far along is she? As you said, this complicates things. The father? Is he making trouble then? Is it that former fiancee of hers?"
"Listen, Ranger. I'm sorry you got caught with your pants down on this one. But until Junior bit the dust, the woman was not of much interest to the investigators. There was no reason to believe she knew anything about what was going on. And honestly, there still isn't. But we have to be sure of that, especially now."
The man paused for a moment on the other end of the phone. "McBride is missing. No one outside the agency knows yet. We are trying to keep this quiet, obviously."
Ryan pondered the man's words. This changed things. Yes, it meant that any information Laura might have was more valuable. That was good; they could use that to their advantage. But it also meant that whoever was behind this whole mess was looking to tie up loose ends. Would they see Laura as one of those?
"How? When?"
