the air. Max’s heart stopped. There was an infant in the car!
“Get back in your truck and let me handle this!” the bald man thundered at him. “This woman is a dangerous criminal and I’m taking her into custody for murder and kidnapping!”
“He’s lying!” the blonde yelled. Her accent was British, the kind that made him think of royalty and the Tower of London. She was kneeling down on the ground with one palm pressed into the pavement. Strength battled the vulnerability in her face. But it was the defiance in her eyes that made his breath catch.
The wail of the baby grew louder. Max listened carefully. It was the strong and hearty yell of an infant who was several months old, and definitely a howl of anger, rather than a whimper of pain or distress. Thankfully.
Max raised his hands and took a step forward. “Please, Officer, I’m not trying to get in your way, just let me make sure the baby and driver are both okay.”
“Max, listen to me!” The sound of his name on the young woman’s lips seemed to shake something inside his chest. “I’m not kidnapping this baby, and I didn’t kill anyone. I promise. I’m his nanny. This man’s name is Smith. He’s not a cop. He’s a killer. He murdered the baby’s stepmother—”
Her words were swallowed up in a cry as Smith cuffed her hard on the back of her head. Max’s jaw set. This stopped here and now.
“Step away from her with your hands up!” Max shouted. “If you really are a cop, I demand you show me your badge, although I’m pretty sure that despite the pretty flashing police lights on the car, which I now presume you’ve stolen, you don’t have one.” He grabbed the CB radio from his shoulder. “I’m calling this in.”
Smith reached around his back. A Glock flashed in his hands so quickly Max barely had time to process what had happened. But there it was, with its barrel focused on Max’s face.
“Drop the radio and get down on the ground now,” Smith ordered. “Hands behind your head. Or I will shoot you where you stand.”
Max froze. Okay, Lord, now what do I do? He’d faced more than his fair share of criminals without the benefit of a weapon or bulletproof vest. In fact, he’d just finished telling an auditorium full of fresh-faced university students that paramedics were attacked and injured more often than those in any other lifesaving career, and that he’d personally taken more blows to the jaw, punches, kicks and attempted stabbings than he liked to remember. But a bullet? This would be a first.
“I said, let her go.” Max’s voice rose. Gun or not, there was no way he was backing down now. “I will not let you hurt them.”
Even if it meant fighting to his dying breath. The nanny’s right hand darted behind her back. Smith aimed the gun at Max’s head. Something cold glinted in his eyes and suddenly Max knew with crystal clear certainty this man would kill him without a moment’s hesitation.
Oh, Lord, I really need Your help right now!
The nanny yanked a pair of scissors out from behind her back and plunged them into Smith’s leg. He swore. The gun fired, its bullet flew high into the sky.
Max dived into a front roll, feeling the heavy fabric of his uniform take the impact as his body hit the pavement. The woman slipped from Smith’s grasp and ran for the car.
Max charged, throwing himself at Smith and locking his own hands around the weapon before Smith could get off another shot. They wrestled for the gun, rolling on the ground, as Max battled to hold his own against a man twice his size. He heard the sound of a car seat carrier unclicking from its base, a car door slamming and footsteps in the trees. The baby’s cries faded into the distance.
The good news was it sounded like she’d got the baby safely out of the car. Bad news was it sounded like she was running.
The gun flew from Smith’s grasp. Max sprang to his feet, only for Smith to level a sucker punch to his jaw that filled his eyes with stars. Smith darted for his vehicle. Max stood frozen for a second, uncertain which direction to run. But even before he heard the unmarked police car’s door slam, he knew his answer. It wasn’t his job to stop criminals. It was his job to save the lives of anyone who needed him.
Max took off running through the woods, following the sound of the nanny’s footsteps and the baby’s angry wail. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the night around him. A woman and a baby alone in the woods, what did she think she was doing? Where did she think she was going?
Ahead of him he could hear her crashing through the trees. Behind him, the police car’s engine roared and then faded back along the highway. Smith was leaving.
“Hey! Wait! It’s okay!” Max called. “He’s gone! You’re safe!”
Then he could see her, dim in the moonlight, as she darted through the trees ahead of him with a bag on her shoulder and the baby in the car seat carrier clutched to her chest. He was gaining on her and so close that in another minute or two, he’d be able to touch her shoulder. She stopped, set the baby carrier down at her feet, spun back and raised the scissors.
“Stop! Right there!” she said. “Not another step! Or I’ll stab you! I’m not kidding. I will not let you hurt Fitz.”
“Oh, I totally believe you would stab me.” Max froze. “And while I have more than enough gauze and bandages in my jump bag to patch myself up again, I really don’t want to.”
The corner of her lips twitched. His hands rose higher as his eyes ran over the baby. To his relief, the child looked fine and more surprised than hurt or scared. Still, a visual examination wasn’t as accurate as a physical one would be.
“I promise, I only want to help, and Smith is gone,” he said. “However he got his hands on an undercover cop car, I really don’t believe he was an actual cop. You have nothing to fear now. It’s just us three.”
Cold March wind flickered between the trees. The baby whimpered softly. The woman reached down, tucked him deeper into the blankets and pulled the hood up over him. Where did she think she was going? The closest town was over an hour’s drive away. She had no wheels, no shelter, nothing.
Nothing but him.
“I’m just reaching for my flashlight, okay?” he said. “It’s on my belt. I just think this might go a bit easier if we can see each other better. All right?”
She nodded. He reached with one hand, clipped the light from his belt, switched it on and set it on the ground. A warm, yellow glow spread through the trees, casting the underbrush and branches in a maze of shifting shadows.
They both stepped forward into the light and his eyes scanned her slender frame. Her hair tumbled loose and wild around her shoulders. Her eyes were large, dark and luminous. Once again, the thought of British moors and royalty crossed his mind. It was like something out of one of those books his mother read, about beautiful and plucky countesses who escaped their captors, slipped from their prisons and ran with the royal heir.
Only, he was no fairytale hero. And whatever danger this woman was in that had her tearing through the woods and clutching a pair of scissors out in front of her like a weapon was all too real.
“I’m
