WITNESS PROTECTION 02: The Baby Rescue Read online

  Maybe, like him, she wasn’t too thrilled to be babysitting a criminal like Don Saunders. He understood the need to give deals to catch the big fish in a pond of scum, but it still bothered him when he dealt with ones like Saunders. His faith was the only thing that made this palatable. In the end Saunders would get his due. He would be held accountable for his actions with the Lord.

  “How much farther is it?” Lisette Sutton asked in a husky voice that almost betrayed her businesslike demeanor.

  “Another fifteen minutes. The safe house is out a ways—not a lot of neighbors to wonder what’s going on.”

  “Also harder for Mr. Saunders to catch a ride somewhere.”

  “True.”

  “Who’s with him right now?” She shifted toward him, her posture not as tense as before.

  And for some reason that made the confines of his car even smaller. His gut clenched at the same time his hands did on the steering wheel. “Marshals Janice Wallace and Neil Simms. The other on the team is Quinn Parker, who will be at the house later.”

  He took the exit off Interstate 70. At the intersection of the off ramp and a country road, he came to a stop and made the mistake of glancing at her. His gaze collided with hers. A faint red colored her cheeks, and she turned away.

  Her stiff carriage returned, her shoulders thrust back. The temperature in the car dropped even more. He made a right turn onto the two-lane highway, a wall of mountains on his left blanketed with snow. At least the roads were cleared.

  “Is our destination up in the mountains?” She finally broke the silence a few miles down the road.

  “No, at the foot of one. The area around here is beautiful and worth exploring in your free time. Have you had a chance to do much sightseeing?”

  “No.”

  “How long have you been in Denver?”

  “Six months. How about you?”

  “Two years.” About the extent he would stay in any one place. That was why he had applied for the open position in St. Louis. Colton was bummed that he didn’t get it. “How do you like Denver so far? Have you found a place to stay yet?” he asked, trying to play nice with the Ice Queen and learn about his new partner.

  “When I first moved here, I lived in one of those extended-stay hotels. Hated it. I was out searching for a place every spare moment I had. I found a nice acceptable apartment in only a week.”

  “I still haven’t gotten around to finding an apartment. I don’t mind the extended-stay hotel I’m at. It’s just a place to sleep. I’m looking to move to another assignment when this case is over with.” Why did he reveal that? He didn’t usually offer much personal information even to someone he was working with.

  “During that week I felt like I lived out of my suitcase. Hotels always give me such a temporary feeling.”

  He shrugged. “I’m used to that. It doesn’t bother me. No obligation on my part. No lease.” There was a time it had bothered him. But as a child, after his third move to yet another foster home, he’d begun to accept that would be his normalcy, and he’d better get used to it. So everywhere he lived he’d learned to accept it was only temporary, and eventually he embraced that way of life. Even as an adult he moved a lot, usually only staying at a post no more than a year or two. It was easier that way. He didn’t become invested in his coworkers’ lives. So much better when he left if he wasn’t too close to his coworkers.

  Colton turned onto a gravel road still covered with snow that winded through some tall pines and aspens. He called the marshals in the cabin where Saunders was being kept. “I’m nearly there. I’m glad to see no fog.” He gave his team members the code with the last sentence to let them know that he hadn’t been compromised. “Is everything all right?”

  “Just peachy. Nothing unusual has happened,” Marshal Janice Wallace said, her voice getting lower with each word. “Except this witness is driving me crazy. Otherwise, Neil and I are having a grand ole time.”

  “The cavalry is here to rescue you two.” He peered through the trees as he approached a bend in the road. “In fact, I’m pulling up now.” He took the curve, coming upon a log cabin in a small clearing with various evergreens mixed in with deciduous trees surrounding the open space. A blanket of pristine snow stretched out from the safe house.

  “Yeah, we saw you coming and cheered. I’m surprised you didn’t hear us from the main highway,” Marshal Wallace said in reference to the two hidden cameras posted at the beginning of the gravel road.

  “Was that the noise I heard? Glad you cleared that up.” Chuckling, Colton disconnected.

  “Did something happen?” Agent Sutton—no, at least in his thoughts she was Lisette—panned the area as she unbuckled her seat belt.

  “No, other than Saunders. He has such a winning personality that it doesn’t take long for him to drive a person crazy with his complaints and whining. When we had that incident on the way to the airport in St. Louis, he griped the whole way that I was trying to kill him. Believe me, if I had wanted to, he would be dead now.”

  Lisette’s intriguing green eyes widened.

  He grinned. “Just kidding.”

  She blinked and pushed the door open, her professional facade completely in place. “I know that.” Her hand went to her glasses to straighten them.

  He made her nervous. That was her sign—adjusting her glasses.

  Marshal Wallace swung the door open and stood in the entrance. The tall woman with short black hair smiled. “Nice to see you two. Come in.” She stepped to the side, introducing herself to Lisette as they shook hands.

  Colton entered the cabin behind Lisette, who paused a few feet inside to scan the large room with a massive fireplace along the back wall, a kitchenette off to the right and a hallway that led to the single bedroom. He liked the defensible layout. There was only one way into the cabin with one window in the bedroom; there were none in the bathroom or kitchen and three in the living area. Off to the side he noticed the computer sitting with shots of various camera views of the terrain and road near the safe house.

  “Where’s Saunders?”

  Marshal Neil Simms swiveled around in the chair before the laptop. “Hi, I’m Neil, Lisette.” He smiled, then turned his attention to Colton. “Still sleeping. He was up late complaining of his digs. You should wake him, or he’ll be up late again tonight when Janice and I have to take over.”

  “But he no doubt needs his beauty sleep. The trip here yesterday was a tiring, stressful one.” Colton pressed his lips together to keep from grinning.

  The two marshals on the night shift started for the exit. “Quinn is on his way here,” Simms said, and then opened the front door. “We’ll be back this evening. Have fun.”

  The echo of the door clicking shut filled the small cabin. Colton looked at Lisette, who prowled the perimeter, glancing out each window. “I’m surprised those two didn’t wake up Saunders right before we showed up.” He strode toward the hallway to check on their witness.

  “You’re going to wake him?” Amusement laced Lisette’s voice.

  “You know the adage about never waking up a sleeping baby? I think it applies in this case, too, but I want to check on him.”

  Her light laughter drifted to him as he made his way down the short hallway, checking the bathroom before opening the door to the bedroom. Saunders stood at the small window peering out.

  “If you’re thinking of escaping, I’m not sure you would fit through it. In fact, I know you wouldn’t.”

  Saunders stiffened his shoulders and pivoted toward Colton. “I thought I was rid of you, that they would fire you for your incompetence yesterday.”

  “That incompetence is what would have saved you if those guys had been assassins. You could be dead if I had waited around to chitchat with them.”

  “How do you know they weren’t sent to kill me?”

  “Because we set up your cover well and those guys are being checked out thoroughly. We won’t proceed if they don’t check out.”

  “
Then how in the world do I know if I’m safe here?” Saunders pursed his mouth, thinning his cheeks.

  “Unless you called someone, no one knows you’re in Denver.” Out of the corner of his eyes, Colton spied Lisette coming down the hall.

  “You do. And the other two marshals guarding me last night.” Saunders’s eyes flared. “And her.”

  Colton gritted his teeth. Lord, where is that patience?

  Lisette positioned herself to his left and slightly behind him. “Mr. Saunders, I’m from the FBI and here to ask you some questions. Please come into the living room.” Her voice held a hint of a Southern accent, warm and almost inviting, adding a certain charm to her words.

  Saunders stared at her for a long moment. “At least this lady is nice to look at. Can’t say that about the other one.”

  Tension whipped down Lisette’s length and flowed from her in waves. “I beg your pardon.” The glare she sent Saunders would put most people who were smart in their place.

  But not their witness. He roared with laughter. “Sassy, too. I bet you’re a handful.”

  “In the living room, Mr. Saunders,” she said in a tight, husky voice, her Southern drawl more pronounced, but nothing warm and inviting in the tone anymore.

  Interesting. The more angry Lisette Sutton became, the more her Southern heritage came out. Colton let Saunders move into the hall where the man faced Lisette.

  “What are you afraid of? That some man might think you’re pretty if you let your hair down, took off those ridiculous glasses and wore proper feminine clothes?”

  Lisette drilled her sharp gaze into Saunders to the point he frowned and continued his trek into the living area without another word.

  “Are you okay?” Colton almost felt indignant for her at the sneer in Saunders’s voice.

  She lifted her chin. “Of course. I won’t let someone like him get to me.” She adjusted her brown-framed glasses and followed Saunders.

  “I heard that, little missy,” Saunders said with a laugh.

  She didn’t break stride but kept going into the main room. Colton trailed her, admiring how she walked—like a soldier going into battle.

  Silently he applauded her bravado. He’d read she was a good interrogator; this was one of the reasons she was assigned to this case. Saunders had been playing games with the U.S. Marshals Service from the first moment he was arrested in the warehouse and told them he had information that could lead to the downfall of a large child-smuggling network. He either had to produce useful information, or he would go to jail per the agreement Saunders had signed. Colton hoped Lisette could draw the information out of him.

  Lisette sat at the kitchen table that seated four and gestured for Saunders to take the chair across from her. Colton decided to stand back and assess the witness while she started the interview.

  She opened the folder she’d brought concerning the case, her movements precise, deliberate. “I see here you claimed that Joe Delacorte’s death was the tip of the iceberg, as per your conversation with Marshals McCall and Summers, who talked with you last in St. Louis. So what are you implying?”

  “Can’t you read?” Saunders flipped his hand at the folder. “It should be in there.”

  “What was Delacorte messed up in?”

  He came up from the chair and leaned across the table. “As I told the marshals in St. Louis, child smuggling from all over.”

  “Please sit down,” she said in a calm, soft voice. “This can be an easy process or a long and difficult one that sends you to prison in the full population. You know how some criminals feel about crimes involving babies. It doesn’t sit well with them. There is no telling what could happen to you in jail, not to mention if your boss found out you had been talking to us to cut a deal.”

  Saunders snorted but sank back in his chair.

  Colton lounged against the kitchen counter to watch the match. She was good. His respect went up a notch. She glanced toward Colton, giving the witness time to think over what she had said. In the instant their gazes met, a connection linked them, more than this case. It held for a few seconds before she severed it and swung her attention back to Saunders.

  Confused, Colton pondered his reaction to their shared look and nearly missed her next question.

  “What were the plans for Sophia Duncan? Why was she singled out? And then what about the other children? Do they all end up in St. Louis? You said you had specific information to share with us.” She shut the file, crossed her arms and set them on top of the folder.

  Colton forced himself to focus on Saunders. He didn’t need to be distracted by his temporary partner.

  Saunders shrugged. “Don’t know about all the kids. I know from my brother Luke he took jobs in Kansas, Illinois and Iowa and those came to St. Louis.”

  “But you don’t know about other states or where those babies ended up?”

  “No, except Colorado. That’s why we’re here.”

  “When your brother was arrested for the murder of Delacorte, did you take over for him in the organization?”

  “Take over?” Saunders’s mouth twisted.

  “Yes, your hearing is good. Did you take your brother’s place?”

  Saunders looked at Colton. “I have full immunity with anything involving this case?”

  “Only if you fulfill the agreement you made with the government prosecutor.”

  The lowlife took a deep breath and expelled it slowly. “Yes, Luke and me worked together. My next job was to pick up a package here in Denver and wait for instruction where to take it.”

  So this was the reason Saunders wanted to be here in Denver. Was the package he was picking up a baby? Or information about the organization? Colton pushed off the counter and approached the man, hovering over him. “It? What are you picking up?”

  Disdain flittered across Saunders’s face. “A baby, of course. Haven’t you been listening?”

  “When?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “From who?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Colton got down in his face. “What do you know?”

  * * *

  Lisette relaxed back in her chair, enjoying the exchange between the two men. One thing the FBI agent from Miami had said about Colton Phillips was that he was a good interrogator, usually getting what he wanted from his witness.

  Saunders smirked. “What’s this? Bad cop, badder cop?”

  Colton pulled back and crossed his arms over his chest, his expression chilling, the blue of his eyes arctic cold. “This isn’t working. I’ll be reporting to my supervisor that you haven’t given us any useful information, which means you’re in violation of your agreement with the government.”

  Saunders’s sneer fell. He blinked rapidly and turned his regard to Lisette, as if she would rescue him. Fixing a stare on him, she wanted him to squirm for a little bit. “We aren’t going to keep spending thousands of dollars to keep you safe if you aren’t going to fulfill your part of the bargain. Would you, if you were in our shoes?”

  Saunders’s cackles resonated through the cabin. “Never in a thousand years would I be a cop.”

  “We know this is about child smuggling. Tell us something we don’t know. Who is your boss in St. Louis?”

  “I don’t know his name. All I have is a burner phone I use to get my instructions, which you have now.”

  “Then what use are you to us? Marshal Phillips, make your call to your supervisor. This is a dead end.” She narrowed her eyes, boring into the man across from her. Silence fell. Colton towered over the witness but didn’t say a word.

  “Okay. Okay. Right before I was apprehended, this was all set up. I’m supposed to meet my contact in a few days at a masquerade ball for charity. If I check out, then he’ll give me the information where to pick up the baby.”

  “Where are you supposed to take the baby once you have it?”

  “My boss will call me with instructions once the handoff is successful.” He looked back and forth betw
een Colton and Lisette. “You have my burner phone. Maybe that can help you.”

  She bent forward. “You know it doesn’t help. Is this all you have? Where’s the information about who might be behind this baby-smuggling ring that you insinuated you had in St. Louis?”

  “I—I can’t...”

  “You can’t or you won’t?” She raised her voice.

  Saunders snapped his mouth closed and pinched his lips together.

  Colton kicked the legs of the table nearest Saunders. “That’s it. The deal is off. You’re going back to St. Louis. You’ve been playing us for fools.”

  THREE

  “You can’t do that!” Saunders shot to his feet, color draining from his face. “You promised to protect me. I’m putting my life on the line because of you.”

  “Mr. Saunders, please take a seat.” Lisette forced a calmness into her voice while she worked to keep her emotions—anger, frustration, impatience—from showing in her expression. “Marshal Phillips has been dealing with you longer than I have and is no doubt tired of these games you’re playing. Give me a reason not to go along with him.” The stab of Colton’s razor-sharp look sliced through her, but she ignored him. However, his warning that he was in charge kept blaring in her mind.

  Saunders eased back into his chair, drawing in a deep breath. “I can’t tell you who the bosses of the smuggling ring are because I don’t know who they are, but I do know there are several running it. A person only knows who they directly work for. I’ve worked with a middleman for this part of the country a lot lately. I’m supposed to get the baby and deliver it to him. So until I meet my contact at the party and find out where to pick up the baby, I can’t tell you who the middleman is.” He paused, probably for dramatic effect, then continued, “Except he goes by Jackson. I don’t know if that’s a first or last name. We’ve been working together for over a year so I’ll have to be there. In fact, I have to call him the day of the party to make sure everything is still set up.”