The Baby's Guardian Read Online Free Page B

long now before he could get Sabrina out of there.
    Once he had her in an ambulance and on the way to a hospital, he could return to the original crime scene and try to mop up things. He’d left Lieutenant Bo Duggan in charge, but that was strictly temporary. Since Bo’s own wife was a hostage, Shaw needed to get back on scene so that Bo could be with his wife. If their situations had been reversed, Shaw would have certainly wanted to be with Fay.
    “The gunmen said they were going to use me,” Sabrina muttered, her voice a shaky whisper. But it was loud enough to cut through his thoughts and snare his attention. “To get you to cooperate.”
    “What?” Shaw said that a little louder than he’d intended and glanced at her over his shoulder.
    Sabrina shook her head, sending a curl of that wildred hair flinging over her cheek. “I don’t know what they meant by that. Do you?”
    “No.” But he could guess. “I’m a police captain.” A lot of people might want him to cooperate, especially when it came to helping with a plea bargain or reduced charges.
    That wouldn’t happen in this case.
    Shaw turned his head away from her so he could keep watch of all the areas around them. “What else did they say?”
    “Not much. They were careful not to talk in front of me or the others. But I think they knew I’d be at the hospital this afternoon. They were waiting for me.”
    Oh, man. That didn’t sound good at all. “Why the heck were you even there?”
    Sabrina took a deep breath. “Someone from the hospital phoned me. A male nurse named Michael Frost, and he said Nadine Duggan had called an urgent meeting of the moms’ support group. So, I went.”
    Shaw cursed and didn’t bother to keep the profanity to himself. Sabrina knew how he felt about that group. It was headed by Nadine Duggan, the wife of one of his lieutenants and a woman who’d also become a hostage. Bo’s wife. Nadine was a psychologist and probably bound to keep secret whatever she was told in that support group, but Shaw didn’t want Sabrina baring her soul to someone who might share those soul-baring secrets with her husband, a man whom Shaw worked side by side with. Bo and all the other officers knew about Shaw’s late wife, of course.
    Everyone also knew about the baby.
    But Shaw hadn’t wanted Sabrina to talk about theproblems that he’d had adjusting to her pregnancy. About all the appointments he’d missed for her checkups. All the calls from her that he hadn’t returned.
    Their arrangement was complicated since, after all, he’d ultimately given her approval to get pregnant. Hell, he’d provided the semen for the procedure, but he and Sabrina both knew he wasn’t really on board. Not emotionally.
    And it was those emotions Shaw wanted to keep to himself.
    Best not to let his men know the mental turmoil he was going through right now. Something like that could perhaps water down his authority, and as their leader, the last thing he wanted in a dangerous situation was to have his authority questioned or undermined.
    That’s why Shaw had offered to pay for Sabrina to attend another support group. But she’d refused.
    What else was new?
    They didn’t see eye to eye on, well, anything.
    “Is that why Nadine Duggan was there at the hospital, too?” Shaw asked, still keeping watch. Another wave of officers went into the building.
    “No. She was actually in labor. I saw her when I first arrived, but then she disappeared when the gunmen starting shouting. A lot of people did. It was chaos, and some of the women ran and hid.”
    Shaw had to take a deep breath. He hoped that didn’t mean anything bad had happened to the lieutenant’s wife or any of the patients, staff or babies.
    “What about this Michael Frost who called you?” he asked. “Did you see him after you arrived at the hospital?”
    “No.” She paused. “Why?”
    “No reason.” Not yet anyway. He’d make a call in a minute or two to have a background check run on