When a baby goes missing, a Texas marshal and a woman from his past discover there’s a whole lot more behind this kidnapping…

Holden Ryland certainly didn’t become a marshal just to end up busting his ex, Nicky Hart, for taking files from Conceptions Fertility Clinic. But only Nicky knows just what was really stolen: a newborn being held for ransom. A newborn who is kin to both her and Holden. The missing boy is only the start of a mystery that snakes through Texas, winding its way through their families. Bad blood may linger between them, but Holden can protect his nephew back at the Silver Creek Ranch. If they can lay their past to rest to rescue this child, is it possible for them to have a future together?

The baby had to come first.

Both men started to move. She saw one of them grab the carrier seat with the baby, and the other took some keys from his pocket.

Holden got them moving, too. Fast. Off the porch, and he headed straight for the car. The moment they reached it, he maneuvered her to the far side away from the house, and they ducked down.

He pulled out a knife from his pocket and jammed it into the front tire and went to the rear to do the same. That would slow them down, but it wouldn’t stop them. Those men were in a hurry to get out of there, and they’d drive on the rims if they had to.

The men raced out the door of the house, making a beeline for the car. They were just yards away when Nicky heard a sound she didn’t want to hear.

Footsteps.

Behind Holden and her.

Holden pivoted, aiming his gun, but it was already too late.

Holden

Delores Fossen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

DELORES FOSSEN, a USA TODAY bestselling author, has sold over fifty novels with millions of copies of her books in print worldwide. She’s received a Booksellers’ Best Award and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She was also a finalist for a prestigious RITA® Award. Contact her at www.deloresfossen.com.

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Extract

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Something wasn’t right.

US Marshal Holden Ryland didn’t have to rely on his lawman’s instincts to know that. The Craftsman-style house was pitch-dark except for a single dim light in the front room. The home owner, Nicky Hart, hated the dark, and whenever she was home, every light was usually blazing.

So, either she’d skipped out on their little chat, or... Holden decided to go with the skipping-out theory because at the moment it was the lesser of two evils. After all, there was a reason why they needed to talk.

A bad one.

Holden slid his hand over the gun in his holster and got out of his truck. He’d barely made it a few steps when her white cat came darting out from beneath the porch. It headed right toward him, coiling around his leg and meowing.

Another sign that something was wrong.

Nicky didn’t let the cat outside—ever.

So, was Nicky inside? And if so, had something happened to her? Holden cursed himself for not having done a silent approach. That way, he could have parked up the street, slipped around to the side of the house and looked in the windows. It might have alerted her neighbors, but that was better than dealing with some of the bad scenarios going through his head. Still, he hadn’t taken that precaution because he hadn’t figured he would run in to any kind of immediate trouble.

Well, no trouble other than an argument with Nicky.

When he’d called Nicky an hour earlier and told her that he was on his way to their hometown of Silver Creek to talk to her, she hadn’t said a word about anything being wrong. In fact, she sounded as if she’d been expecting his call. But then, she’d sent a text just a few minutes later, saying she wouldn’t be available after all.

Right.

Holden wasn’t about to believe that lie. She was dodging him. And not doing a very good job of it, either, because her garage door was up, and he could see her car. That meant she was probably inside and that there was a good explanation for no lights on and the cat being outside. He hoped there was a good explanation anyway.

He kept watch around him, kept watch of the house, too, and made his way to the porch. However, before Holden could even ring the bell, the front door flew open, and he braced himself for what he might see.

But it was only Nicky.

He looked at her, from head to toe. She was wearing jeans and an old concert T-shirt, and had her auburn hair pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. No visible injuries or signs of distress. She was scowling at him, but over the past year or so, that was the norm whenever she laid eyes on him.

“Didn’t you get my text?” she asked.

“Got it. Ignored it. Because we need to talk.” Holden moved to go around her and inside, but she stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

“It’s not a good time.” She paused. “I’m expecting someone.”

All right. That gave him a new theory. Maybe Nicky had a hot date who was on the way over. That might explain the lack of lights if she was aiming for something romantic.

A thought that bothered him a lot more than it should have.

Nicky was an attractive woman. Bullheaded and reckless, too. And she was married to her job as an investigative reporter. That said, she was still human and she probably did have a man in her life.

It still didn’t mean Holden was going to skip that talk with her. He wouldn’t.

Because he needed her to know that she was on the verge of being arrested.

He owed her that much. Barely. After the stunt she’d pulled last year, though, some members of his family might believe he owed her nothing. Still, here he was. He didn’t play Mr. Nice Guy very often, and he hoped he didn’t regret it this time.

“Tomorrow, you’ll get a visit from an FBI agent,” he told her.

Nicky didn’t even blink. “I don’t have time for this.” And she would have shut the door in his face, if Holden hadn’t blocked it with his foot. The edge of the door smacked against his cowboy boot.

“Make time,” he snarled.

She blew out a quick breath. “Look, I know you’re still in love with me,” she said, “but you have to leave.”

Holden tightened the grip on his gun. Yeah, something was definitely wrong. Because there was no way in hell he was in love with Nicky, and she knew it, too.

She shook her head, just a little, and glanced at the hold that he had on his gun. Was she telling him not to draw? Or was that head shake about something else?

Holden intended to find out.

But it was best not to confront this head-on. Because the living room behind her was dark, he couldn’t tell if there was someone waiting in the shadows. Someone armed and ready to kill her. Or maybe she’d discovered her house was bugged and she didn’t want to say anything incriminating.

Holden hoped it was the second option.

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Holden lied. “And we will talk then.”

Leaving was a risk—anything he did at this point could be. But Holden hoped if there was someone inside that it was a good sign that the person had let Nicky answer the door. The person didn’t want her dead.

Not yet anyway.

In her quest to get info on a story she was working on, she could have gotten herself mixed up with some very dangerous people, and that involvement might be coming back to bite her. To bite him, too, since Holden had to see what was going on. This was well past being a nice guy.

This had just become the job.

He drove his truck up a block, parked and fired off a quick text to his cousin Landon, who was now a deputy in Silver Creek. Holden didn’t request backup but told Landon that if he didn’t hear from him in fifteen minutes, to send some help—fast.

With that done, Holden hurried to Nicky’s house. Not going through the front yard but rather through the back. The houses in the small neighborhood didn’t have fences, but there were plenty of mature trees that he ducked behind and used for cover. The darkness helped, too, and for once he was glad Nicky didn’t have all the lights blazing.

Holden knew the layout of her house. He’d even spent the night there a couple of times, and he knew the best way to approach this wasn’t through the back porch. Instead, he drew his gun and went to the French doors off her bedroom.

Unlocked.

He silently cursed. Since Nicky was afraid of the dark, you’d think she would be equally concerned with locking up, but Holden knew she could be lax about that.

He eased open the door, slipped into her bedroom and stood there. Listening. He didn’t hear anything at first, only someone moving around in the living room where he’d last seen Nicky.

“You’d better be sure he doesn’t come back,” someone said. A man. And Holden didn’t recognize his voice.

In case this was a lover she was meeting, Holden waited for more. He didn’t have to wait very long.

“If that marshal does come back, I’ll kill him,” the man growled.

Hell. So, probably not a lover unless it was some jealous nut-job. Holden sent a second text to Landon requesting that backup, and he made his way to the bedroom door and then into the hall.

The house was old and had creaky floors in spots. He prayed he didn’t step on one of those because he wanted to get the drop on whoever it was that had just threatened to kill him.

“The marshal won’t be back,” Nicky assured the man. “Not until tomorrow anyway.”

“He said the FBI was coming. Your doing?” her visitor demanded.

“Hardly. The FBI will be looking for the same thing you want. Something I don’t have.”

Holden didn’t know specifically what she was talking about, but it might have something to do with her latest project. A state senator who’d been missing over two weeks. Nicky had been investigating his disappearance and had cut some corners. Ones that could land her in jail.

Of course, at the moment that seemed to be the least of her worries.

“You have those files all right,” the man argued. “Now, where are they? And don’t try to hold any of them back. I want every file you stole from Conceptions Clinic.”

Everything inside Holden went still.

Conceptions Clinic?

It was the name of the fertility clinic that Holden knew well, and just hearing it brought back some painful memories. Of his brother Emmett and his brother’s wife, Annie. Annie had been Nicky’s sister, and now both Emmett and Annie were dead. Annie had died in a car accident, but that hadn’t been the cause of Emmett’s death.

No. He’d been murdered only months after Annie’s death. His killer was dead, but that didn’t soften the blow for Holden. Emmett wasn’t coming back from the grave just because the Rylands had managed to get justice for him.

Before their deaths, Emmett and Annie made multiple trips to Conceptions Fertility Clinic in San Antonio with the hopes of finally getting the baby they so desperately wanted. But that hadn’t happened. Because they’d both died before the process could be completed.

So, why would Nicky steal files from the place now?

“You’re either going to give those files to me now, or I’ll start putting bullets in you,” the man warned her. “I won’t kill you, yet, but I’ll make you wish you were dead.”

Every word of that threat put Holden on higher and higher alert, and he had to move fast.

Still trying to keep quiet, Holden hurried to the end of the hall and peered into the living room. Nicky was still by the front door, and there was a man between Holden and her. And yeah, the guy had a gun pointed right at her.

Nicky didn’t say a word, but her eyes widened just a fraction when she saw Holden, and the man must have noticed even her slight reaction. He pivoted, taking aim at Holden.

The thug fired.

Not a loud blast. He was using a silencer on his gun.

Holden jumped out of the way just in time, and the bullet tore through a chunk of the wall.

“Get down,” Holden shouted to Nicky, but she was already doing just that.

She scrambled behind the sofa. It wouldn’t give her much cover, but Holden was counting on this moron shooting at him instead of her.

And that’s just what he did.

The gunman ducked down beside a chair and fired another shot at Holden. Then, another. The shots wouldn’t be loud enough to get the attention of the neighbors, which was a good thing. Holden didn’t want bystanders hurrying over to Nicky’s house to check on this.

Whatever this was.

“You want him to die?” the man barked. “Because that’s what’ll happen if you don’t tell him to get the hell out of here.”

Holden wasn’t going anywhere. He dropped lower to the ground, leaned out and fired a shot at the guy. However, before Holden could even tell if he’d hit him, all hell broke loose.

There was the sound of something metal clanking onto the floor, and a few seconds later, tear gas began to spew through the room. The effects were instant. Holden’s gray eyes burned like fire, and he started to cough. He could hear Nicky having a coughing fit, too.

But not the man.

Maybe he’d brought a gas mask or something because Holden heard him take off running, and saw him bolt out the back door.

Even though he was coughing too hard to catch his breath, Holden hurried after the guy, but he’d only made it a few steps when Nicky called out to him.

“Let him go. We have to leave now.” Covering her mouth with her hand, she staggered her way to him, caught him by the wrist and led him toward the side entrance to the garage.

“Landon will be here soon,” he choked out.

“We don’t have time to wait around for him. Please, we need to go.”

Holden didn’t fight her as they’d gone into the garage because he welcomed the fresh air. Also welcomed getting into her car since he didn’t want to be standing out in the open with that gunman still out there. But he did clamp his hand over hers when she tried to drive away.

“What the hell’s going on?” he demanded. “Who was that man and what files did you steal?”

Nicky shook her head, fighting to get his grip off her, but Holden held on.

“The people at Conceptions Clinic did some very bad things. There are babies in danger,” Nicky said, her breath shivering. “And one of them is our nephew.”

Chapter Two

Nicky knew that Holden had plenty of questions, but she couldn’t wait any longer. That gunman who’d broken into her house was no doubt on the way to the person who hired him.

And that person might move the baby before she could get to him.

“We have to get out of here fast,” she reminded him.

Even though Nicky was still coughing, she threw the car into Reverse and gunned the engine despite the fact that Holden still had his hand gripped around hers.

Nicky didn’t look at him. Partly because she was trying to maneuver her car out of the garage. Hard to do that, though, with him holding on. He finally let go.

“Start talking,” Holden insisted. He, too, was still coughing and rubbing his eyes. “I want answers, and I want them now.”

Easier said than done. There were a lot of pieces to this puzzle, some that could get her arrested, but the only one that mattered right now was the baby. Nicky had failed her sister in so many ways, but she couldn’t fail this time.

“Who was that man?” Holden added when she didn’t say anything.

“A hired thug. I don’t know his name, but I’m sure he’s already told his boss what happened.”

And what had happened was that things had just fallen apart. Nicky had thought she had more time, hours at least, to come up with a plan. But time had just run out.

She couldn’t help herself. The tears came, and she tried to fight them back. The tears wouldn’t save Annie’s baby. Right now, she had to focus and get to the hotel as soon as possible.

“Where are we going?” Holden demanded, and he took out his phone and texted someone.

Probably one of his cousins or brothers. They were all lawmen, and under different circumstances, they might be able to help. But in this case, they could make things much, much worse.

“The Victorian bed-and-breakfast about ten miles from here.”

“The place out in the middle of nowhere?” he asked.

She nodded. “I’m pretty sure that’s where they’re holding the baby.”

Holden cursed and sent another text. “There’d better be a damn good explanation as to why you’re pretty sure about that. And there’d also better be an equally good explanation as to why you told me Emmett and Annie had a baby.”

It was hard to think with everything racing through her mind, with her heart racing, too, but she tried. Sometime in the next five minutes she needed to convince Holden that he had to help her.

“This all started when I was investigating the missing senator, Lee Minton,” she said. “I found out he and his wife had gone to Conceptions Fertility Clinic around the same time as Emmett and Annie. So, I went to Conceptions, too, not expecting to find much, but they stonewalled me. That made me push even harder to find out what they were hiding.”

He mumbled, “Right.” Probably a dig at the fact that she usually pushed too hard. Sometimes, with deadly consequences.

“And what they were hiding was a baby? Emmett and Annie’s baby?” There was a boatload of skepticism in his voice.

Once, she’d been plenty skeptical, too. If she hadn’t been, if she’d jumped on this earlier, they might not be racing to save a child.

“Yes, their baby,” Nicky affirmed. “And don’t ask why they did all of this because I don’t know. Not yet anyway. But I think it might somehow be connected to the senator’s disappearance.” But she could be a long way from figuring how exactly.

“Senator Minton?” he asked, though he probably wasn’t asking for clarification but was rather puzzled as to how Minton would play into this. The answer was maybe he didn’t, but the senator had been missing for two weeks now, and it was while looking for him that she’d stumbled on to Conceptions.

“Yes, Senator Lee Minton,” she confirmed.

“How are you sure of any of this?” Holden snapped.

Oh, he was not going to like this. “I hacked into the clinic’s computer and copied some files,” she added. “Hacked into the senator’s computer, too, and then I put a listening device in Conceptions Clinic.”

Now, Holden’s cursing got a whole lot worse. For good reason. Because she’d just rattled off enough crimes to put her in jail. But she’d had an even better reason to do this.

To save Annie’s son.

“That’s what the thug was talking about,” Holden snarled. “Where are the files and what’s in them?”

Nicky decided to skip the where part and move to the what. Just in case the thug had managed to turn the tables on her and bug her car.

“The ones I copied from Conceptions were marked ‘the Genesis Project,’” she explained. “No names were connected with them, just case numbers, and when I looked at one, I figured out from the dates that the case number was Annie and Emmett’s.”

She’d tell him about the other info in them later. For now, Nicky focused on taking the road to the B and B.

“I don’t know who did it, but someone stole Annie and Emmett’s embryo and implanted it into a surrogate. And last week, the surrogate gave birth to a boy.” Nicky turned off her car’s headlights as she approached the B and B, and she pulled off the road, parking behind some trees.

Holden shook his head, stayed quiet a moment. “Could be it was a mix-up. Or maybe the embryo was donated to another couple who used a surrogate?”

Mercy, she wanted to latch onto that and believe it. “Then, why did that man just threaten me?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you stole more than one set of files or pissed off more than just these people. Or it could have something to do with why the FBI wants to arrest you.”

Even if it was true, it was still too big of a risk to let them move the baby. Of course, Holden might not believe there was a baby. He soon would, though.

“Who’s inside that place?” he asked.

“Probably more men like the one who came to my house tonight.” Hired guns to protect very precious cargo until they could get her father to pay up. “Look, I don’t have time to explain all of this, but if they move the baby, we might never find him.”

She didn’t voice her greatest fear, that the goons inside might try to harm him so there’d be no proof of what they’d done.

“What if there really is a baby inside?” he went on. “How would we even know if it’s Emmett and Annie’s?”

She motioned toward her hair. “According to what I heard from the eavesdropping device, he’s a ginger.” Not exactly rare but at least it was something like Annie and me. Besides, she thought she might recognize her own sister’s child.

“You have backup on the way?” she asked.

Holden nodded. “It’s Landon. I told him to do a silent approach.” He tipped his head to the house. “If the guy who was at your house had already contacted them, they could shoot us on sight.”

“No. They want me alive so I can tell them where the files are. That’s why he didn’t kill me right away when he barged his way into my house.” Not exactly a reminder to steady her nerves. Of course, her nerves hadn’t been steady in a long, long time.

Nicky eased open the door, but Holden stopped her.

“I’m not letting you go in there,” he insisted.

“They want me alive,” Nicky repeated. “They’ll want you dead. If anyone should go in there, it’s me. But I need you...well, if something goes wrong, I need you to get the baby out.”

Holden took hold of her again, and this time he didn’t let go. “You’re not going in there. Wait here. And so help me, if you disobey that order, I’ll arrest you myself.”

But he’d no sooner said that when someone opened the back door of the house. The place had a wraparound porch, and while the front was well lit, the back wasn’t. Probably on purpose. Because Nicky saw something she didn’t want to see.

Two men. A woman. And the woman had something bundled in her arms.

They didn’t linger on the porch. They hurried, practically running down the porch steps.

Nicky’s heart went to her knees. “They’re getting away. Go after them. We have to stop them.”

If Holden was listening to her, he didn’t respond. He just kept watching, kept his grip on her until he finally pulled back his hand so he could send a text.

“I don’t think she’s holding a baby,” Holden said. “I think it’s a decoy.”

Nicky tried to fight through the panic so she could see why he’d said that. Maybe because the bundle was huge. No way to miss that. And it wasn’t anywhere near cool enough for the baby to need multiple blankets. It was September, and the temps were still close to ninety.

Plus, there was something else that was off. The woman was as tall and bulky as the two men who’d hurried her out of the house.

Mercy.

This was some kind of trap.

“They probably suspect we’re here and will be expecting us to follow them,” Holden said without taking his attention off them.

The trio got into an SUV parked behind the inn. Almost immediately, she saw the headlights of the SUV come on.

“Landon will follow them instead, and he’ll have two other deputies do a quiet approach here,” Holden added. “Come on. Get out of the car. Stay low and move fast. I’m going to see who’s inside the house. I can’t leave you here or they might try to kidnap you.”

Nicky tried not to let that statement rob her of what breath she’d managed to gather. Because this was a risk. And not just the possible kidnapping. Nicky had to consider that this could be a ruse of a different kind. One where the baby was actually inside that SUV and these thugs wanted to lure Holden and her to the house.

Well, if so, it was going to work.

Of course, it was just as possible that at this very moment someone was escaping with the baby on the other side of the house. Everything inside Nicky was screaming for her to hurry.

“Do you have a gun?” he asked.

She shook her head, and he gave her one of those looks. The one that made her feel like an idiot. “I don’t keep a gun in my vehicle. And besides I didn’t plan on shooting anyone tonight, especially with the baby around.”

“Then, what was your plan, to ask them pretty please to hand over the child?” Holden snapped.

“No. I was going to sneak in and take him. I’m pretty good at sneaking in places,” she added in a mumble.

No way could he argue with that, but Nicky wished she’d had time to come up with a better plan. Too bad that thug had shown up at her house and thrown things into chaos.

“Just do everything I tell you,” Holden warned her. “Everything.”

With his gun drawn, Holden threaded them through the trees, but he stopped at the edge of the yard. There were plenty of windows, but she couldn’t get a glimpse of anyone inside. However, there was another car in the small parking area on the side of the house.

She glanced back at the road and the SUV, but the trees were in the way, and Nicky couldn’t tell if it actually stopped. She prayed that if the baby was indeed inside the vehicle, Landon would be able to follow them and find out where they were taking the child.

Holden led them onto the porch, and even though the door was partly open, they didn’t go inside. Instead, he went to a window and peered around the edge. He snapped back so fast that she knew there had to be someone in the room. Someone who had caused his muscles to go iron-stiff.

“Two men,” Holden whispered. “Both armed. There’s a baby carrier on the table.”

Even though she figured Holden didn’t want her to move, Nicky had to see for herself.

Nicky took in everything in one quick glance. The two men, one bald and the other wearing a black baseball-type hat.

And the ginger-haired baby asleep in the carrier.

Mercy. She’d tried to steel herself for whatever they might face, but it sickened her to think of a baby being around hired guns.

“If you create a distraction,” she said, trying to make as little sound as possible, “I can sneak in.”

Holden gave her a look again, to let her know that wasn’t going to happen. But she didn’t want to stand around there and wait. If these goons heard the other deputies, they might start a gunfight, and the baby would be caught in the middle.

Even though the window was closed, she had no trouble hearing a phone ring inside. She also had no trouble hearing one of the men answer it. Not with a greeting, either.

He simply said, “What now?”

Too bad he hadn’t put it on speaker because Nicky would have liked to know who she was dealing with. But nothing. For several snail-crawling moments. She had no idea what the caller was telling him, but it caused the man’s forehead to bunch up.

“All right,” the man finally said. “We’ll move the kid now. See you in a few.” He ended the call and turned to the bald guy. “That reporter’s car was just up the road. She wasn’t in it, but they’re sending someone to torch it and the house just in case.”

Considering all the other things going on, that was small potatoes. Still, it sickened her to think of these snakes destroying her home. And it would all be for nothing. Because the files weren’t even there.

“You know she didn’t just leave,” the other man said. “She’s out there somewhere.”

The first one nodded and slapped off the lights. “If she really knows what’s going on, she won’t shoot around the kid, and she’ll make sure the marshal doesn’t, either.”

The thug was right about not wanting to start a gunfight, but he was wrong about her knowing what was going on. She still didn’t understand why someone would do this.

“You don’t shoot around the kid, either,” the hat-wearing guy warned his partner. “But if you get a clean shot of the marshal, take it. Do the same to any of the locals who might show up to poke around here. Nobody who sees or could see anything gets away from here to rat us out.”

Nicky’s chest was already so tight that she couldn’t breathe, and that didn’t help. She hated that she’d involved Holden in this, and she didn’t want him or anyone hurt. But the baby had to come first.

Both men started to move. Even though there wasn’t much light in the room now, she saw one of them grab the carrier seat with the baby, and the other took some keys from his pocket.

Holden got them moving, too. They were quickly off the porch and headed straight for the car. The moment they reached it, he maneuvered her to the far side, away from the house, and they ducked down.

He pulled out a knife from his pocket and jammed it into the front tire and went to the rear to do the same. That would slow them down, but it wouldn’t stop them. Those men were in a hurry to get out of there, and they’d drive on the rims if they had to.

The men raced out the door of the house, making a beeline for the car. They were just yards away when Nicky heard a sound she didn’t want to hear.

Footsteps.

Behind Holden and her.

Holden pivoted, aiming his gun, but it was already too late.

Chapter Three

The man seemed to come out of nowhere.

Before Holden could do anything to stop him, the guy grabbed Nicky by her hair, hauled her back against his chest and jammed a gun to her head.

Damn.

This was not how Holden wanted things to play out.

He hoped there would be time to curse himself later for this botched rescue attempt. He should have waited until he had better measures in place. But maybe he could still figure out a way to fix this before it was too late for Nicky, him and, especially, the baby.

Holden scrambled to the front end of the car so he could take cover. That didn’t do a darn thing to help Nicky, but he wouldn’t be able to help her at all unless he stayed alive. Of course, another thug could gun him down, but right now using the car was the only option he had.

Nicky didn’t stay put, either. Despite having a gun to her head, she rammed her elbow into the guy’s stomach. The guy called her a couple of bad names and staggered back a step, but then latched onto her even harder.

“Try that again and I’ll bash you upside the head with this gun,” the thug growled.

Even though it was a clear enough warning, Nicky must have realized that he truly didn’t intend to kill her. Holden could see her face tighten, could practically feel her gearing up for a fight.

“No,” Holden warned her. “Don’t.”

And much to his surprise, Nicky listened. She also looked at Holden as if expecting him to tell her what to do next. He would.

When he figured out what the next step was.

For now, though, he didn’t want her in a wrestling match with a goon who was twice her size. Just because the guy had no plans to shoot her, it didn’t mean the gun wouldn’t accidentally go off, and Holden couldn’t risk a misfired bullet. Not just for Nicky’s sake, but for the baby’s.

“Can I punch her?” the thug asked his comrades approaching him.

“Not yet,” the guy carrying the baby answered. “I don’t want her bleeding in the car. Too hard to clean up.”

His voice was ice-cold. As was his expression. He was the one wearing a baseball cap and was also the one who’d talked about torching Nicky’s house and car. Holden figured he was the boss.

Well, the boss of these three anyway.

They were likely working for the person who’d been on the other end of that phone conversation. If Holden could just get the guy’s phone, he might learn who that was. First, though, he had to get them out of this alive.

All three of the men were dressed in black—that was probably the reason Holden hadn’t seen the third one sneaking up on them. They were all also heavily armed and wearing masks.

“Any sign of the locals?” the boss asked.

“No. But we got somebody watching the road. If they try to get here, we’ll see ’em.”

Holden hoped not. He hadn’t made that last text sound like a life-and-death matter, but his cousin would come prepared for trouble. Which was exactly what Holden and Nicky were facing right now.

“The marshal flattened two tires,” the one holding Nicky said. “What do you want me to do about that?”

“Nothing.” The boss, again. He adjusted the baby carrier in his hand so he could read a text he got. “Someone’s already on the way to pick us up. They should be here any second now.”

Hell. More hired guns. Just what Holden didn’t need.

Holden knew he had to do something fast, but he still wasn’t sure what that would be. Maybe he’d get a chance when the other car arrived. The men would no doubt look in the direction of the vehicle when it approached, and Holden could use that distraction.

Maybe.

But Landon also had to be nearby, too, and Holden had told him to do a quiet approach. Maybe his cousin would be in place before the thugs’ backup arrived.

The one holding Nicky made eye contact with Holden before glancing at his partners. “You want me to go ahead and shoot the marshal?”

“No shots around the kid, remember,” the boss insisted. “This is our million-dollar baby, and we can’t risk it.”

Even in the darkness, Holden could see Nicky’s eyes widen slightly. A million bucks. That was a lot of money to pay for a baby. So, maybe this wasn’t just some black-market deal.

But if it wasn’t that, then what the hell was it?

Holden glanced on the other side of the car at the two men approaching, and thanks to the angle of the lights coming out of the house windows, he saw the baby then.

And he felt as if someone had slugged him.

He’d thought when he saw the kid that it would take some hard proof before he would believe the baby was Emmett and Annie’s. It hadn’t taken more than a glimpse. The kid was theirs, all right. The proof was all over the baby’s face and that hair. However, Holden pushed aside his thoughts and concentrated on the situation directly in front of him.

“You obviously have a buyer for the baby,” Nicky said. “Well, I’ll match whatever offer you have. I can have the money to you within an hour.”

That was probably a lie. Nicky came from money, but it would take more than an hour to gather up that much cash even if Holden was contributing. Which he would. No way did he want his nephew sold like property, and neither would anyone in his family.

He wasn’t sure paying a ransom to the thugs would actually get them the baby, though. No. These men would just probably take the cash and the baby while going through with the plan to kill him. They wouldn’t want to leave a marshal alive.

The boss huffed. “Save your breath, sweetheart,” he said to Nicky. “I’m not gonna listen to a thing you try to tempt me with. Making a deal like that with you would get me killed the hard way.”

Later, Holden would want to know what the guy meant by that, but for now he had to focus on the mess that was unfolding right in front of him. He heard the car engine. Saw the headlights, too.

And he knew this wasn’t his cousin because Landon would be doing a quiet approach. In fact, Landon could already be there, but he wouldn’t have let these snakes know about it.

The thugs weren’t alarmed to see the black four-door pull into the parking lot and drive straight toward them.

“She goes with us,” the boss said, tipping his head to Nicky. “She’s got to hand over those files before we finish things with her. We might be able to use her father as added pressure.”

That got Holden’s attention. Nicky’s, too. “What does my father have to do with this?” she asked.

Holden wanted to know the same thing, and he got an even worse feeling about this. Not that he needed anything else to put him on full alert.

The thug didn’t answer her question, but Holden—and apparently Nicky—had no trouble filling in the blanks.

“You’re planning to get that million dollars from my father,” she snapped.

Bingo. Her father, Oscar, was stinking rich and would indeed pay a very high price to get his own grandson back. But there was no way a monster like Oscar Hart should raise a child. Oscar was barely a step above these thugs.

Again, the boss didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to the bald guy. “As soon as we’re in the car and out of firing range, go ahead and kill the marshal and torch the place.”

So, this was it. Holden had to make his move.

He volleyed glances between the men and the car, but the thugs weren’t looking at the car as he’d hoped. They still had their attention on Holden. That meant he’d have to wait a few more seconds until they were moving Nicky and the baby inside.

“There’s no reason for you to kill the marshal,” Nicky said. “In fact, if you hurt him, I’ll never give you those files.”

All three men stared at her. “Really?” the boss challenged. “And why would you care what happens to him? You two aren’t exactly on friendly terms. Not anymore.”

It shouldn’t have surprised Holden that this goon knew about Nicky and him. The rumor mill was in full swing in Silver Creek, and there probably wasn’t a person over the age of ten who hadn’t heard about the short affair he’d had with Nicky.

Very short. As in twice.

Too bad Holden thought about those two times with her more than he did all his other relationships. Much to his disgust. He chalked up his time with her as a hard lesson learned. She was the daughter of a criminal and always would be.

“In fact,” the boss went on, looking at Nicky, “the marshal might be wondering right about now if he can even trust you. He might be thinking you knew exactly what was going on before you ever convinced him to come here.”

She shook her head, as if defending herself, and then she looked at Holden. “I’m not lying. Not this time. I didn’t know my father was involved.”

Maybe not. But she’d lied before, about her father’s involvement in another crime, and that was the reason their so-called relationship had been so short. She’d put Holden in danger. His brother Drury, too.

A lot like now, in fact.

There’d been no baby involved then, but Drury certainly had been, and her lies had nearly gotten Holden’s brother killed.

Holden had to tamp down the anger he still felt just thinking about that. But Nicky no doubt saw, or maybe even felt, that anger.

The car stopped only a few yards from the men, but when the doors didn’t open, the bald guy went closer and reached for the handle.

Reaching, however, was as far as he got.

Because the door flew open, fast, knocking right into the bald guy and sending him flying back. Landon barreled out of the car, his gun aimed right at the boss. But the boss only lifted the baby carrier in front of him like a shield.

There was a special place in hell for a coward like that.

Holden didn’t especially need another reason to want this guy dead, but that did it. He ran toward the boss, going at him low so that he could tackle the guy. It was a risk because the baby could still be hurt, but anything he did at this point was a risk he had to take.

Nicky yelled something he didn’t catch, and from the corner of his eye, Holden saw her elbow the guy in the gut again. Maybe he wouldn’t shoot her, but Holden couldn’t do anything about that now. He grabbed hold of the boss’s legs, knocking him off balance, and the two of them went to the ground.

So did the carrier.

It didn’t fall, thank God. Even now, the boss was making sure his investment didn’t get hurt, and Holden was thankful for it.

Holden didn’t show the guy any such carefulness, though. He couldn’t shoot him, not with the baby so close, but he could punch him, and that’s what he did.

Landon scooped up the carrier and put it on the backseat. “We need to get out of here now,” he warned Holden and Nicky. “We managed to steal their car, but there are at least four gunmen on the road. All of them heavily armed. They’ll be on the way here by now.”

Yeah, they would be, because they’d no doubt heard Nicky’s shout and all the commotion.

Holden punched the boss again, the guy’s head flopping back, and he raced to Nicky. He had to give it to her. For someone so outmatched, she was fighting like a wildcat, scratching and clawing the guy.

When the guy saw Holden approaching, though, he took aim at him. Holden had faced down killers before and knew without a doubt this guy would pull the trigger.

So, Holden fired first.

Nicky was about six inches shorter than her attacker, and that was just enough to give Holden a clean shot. He put a bullet in the guy’s head. Before the kidnapper even dropped to the ground, Holden grabbed Nicky and ran with her to the car.

He stuffed her into the backseat next to the carrier and followed in right behind her. Holden saw his cousin Gage behind the wheel, and Landon jumped into the passenger seat.

“Hold on,” Gage warned them a split second before he gunned the engine.

But Gage had barely gotten started when the shot crashed into the front windshield. Holden pushed Nicky lower onto the seat even though she was already headed in that direction, and she covered the baby with her own body. Holden covered both of them with his.

Gage sped away with the bullets still coming right at them.

Chapter Four

Nicky had so many emotions going through her. Especially fear. She had found the baby, and he was safe.

But things might not stay that way.

More shots slammed into the rear window of the car, but the glass was reinforced, and the bullets didn’t make it through. Thank God. Since this was supposed to be the kidnappers’ getaway car, they’d probably made sure it could withstand an attack from the cops, but Gage and Landon had turned the tables on them and had obviously managed to somehow steal the car.

“They’re dropping back,” Holden said. He lifted his head even more, no doubt so he could have a better look. “They’re turning around to leave.”

Nicky’s first instinct was to say “good!” She didn’t want these monsters anywhere near the baby, but there was a huge downside to that. If they got away, she wouldn’t get answers she needed as to why the kidnapping had happened in the first place.

And worse, they could regroup and come after the baby again.

A million dollars was a lot of incentive to try to kidnap the newborn and to eliminate anyone who got in their way. Plus, as long as those men were out there, they would want to get to her, too. To get their hands on those files.

From the front seat, Landon made a call, but because Nicky’s heartbeat was crashing in her ears, she could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation. But she did hear him give someone their location with a request that other deputies go in pursuit of the kidnappers. He also asked that someone secure the inn. Nicky doubted the kidnappers had left any kind of evidence there, but it was a start in case the deputies didn’t manage to catch the men.

“How did you get this car?” Holden asked.

“Makeshift roadblock,” Gage answered, still keeping watch around them. “We parked an unmarked car sideways in the road. I hadn’t planned on someone else coming in, though. I just wanted to stop someone from going out. But when the car approached, and Landon and I spotted two guys armed to the hilt, we waited until they got out of the vehicle, sneaked up on them and clubbed them.”

Smart thinking. If they’d shot at the men, the others would have heard it and probably wouldn’t have gotten close enough to the car for Gage and Landon to help Holden and her escape.

“The men are tied up and cuffed in a ditch,” Landon added. “So even if the rest of them get away, we’ll have those two. Grayson and one of the other deputies are on the way now to get them, and they’ll bring them to the sheriff’s office for questioning.”

Nicky finally felt some relief. “Thank you. For everything.”

No one acknowledged what she’d said. Maybe because they considered this part of the job. Also maybe because they didn’t want to waste their breath speaking to her. She wasn’t exactly on friendly terms with the Rylands even though her sister, Annie, had been married to one of them. But that connection didn’t outweigh what Nicky had done.

It never would.

In their eyes, Nicky would always be the one who nearly got one of their own killed. And that was unforgivable.

“There were other men in those woods,” Holden reminded them.

Landon made a sound of agreement, and there went what relief Nicky had felt. Because those men could make it to their tied-up comrades in the ditch and free them before Grayson and the others could get to them.

“We didn’t want to get into a gunfight with those men patrolling the woods,” Gage explained. “Because we didn’t want anyone in the inn alerted. And we didn’t want to risk shots hitting any of you.”

Nicky whispered a thanks for that, too.

Holden had another look behind them, around them as well, and he must have been satisfied that the men weren’t following them because he eased off of her. In the same motion, he looked down at the baby. Not that he could see much in the dark car, but she figured Holden had a lot of thoughts going through his head right now. She certainly did.

First things first, though—she had to make sure the baby was okay. He was squirming a little so Nicky checked to make sure he hadn’t been hurt. He didn’t appear to be harmed, and his diaper was even dry. He also smelled of baby formula so maybe that meant the kidnappers had taken good care of him.

That was something at least.

But there was no telling what the little guy had been through. And that broke her heart. He’d come much too close to danger tonight. Much too close to being taken away from Nicky forever, and the threat still wasn’t even over.

“Is that really Emmett and Annie’s baby?” Landon suddenly asked.

“Yes,” Nicky said. “I have proof from some computer files and then recordings from the clinic.” Of course, that got Gage’s and Landon’s attention so she added, “You can’t use the recordings or files to make an arrest, but one of the files identifies the baby as Emmett and Annie’s son.”

Landon stared back at her, and Gage even looked at her in the rearview mirror. Since they were clearly still skeptical, she huffed and tried to make this a quick explanation. Her voice was shaky. Heck, she was shaky, and with the adrenaline pumping through her, it was hard to think.

“I stole the information, all right,” she snapped. “But if I hadn’t done that and if I hadn’t put a listening device in Conceptions Clinic, I wouldn’t have even known the baby existed, much less found out where they were holding him.”

And she wasn’t going to apologize for that—especially since the info had turned out to be true and they had the baby.

“I’ll want those files,” Holden insisted. “The recordings and anything else you have. I don’t suppose in all your snooping you also got proof of who’s behind this?”

“Behind what exactly?” Gage queried.

This was probably going to be as hard for him to hear as it had been for her. Mainly because Nicky hadn’t believed that anyone could do something like this.

“Someone connected to Conceptions Fertility Clinic—I don’t know who, yet—used Annie and Emmett’s stored embryos to make this baby. And not just him,” Nicky added. “There are others. Not necessarily Annie and Emmett’s child, though. In fact, I don’t think it is, but there are two other newborns out there somewhere.”

That got the responses she expected. A stunned look from Landon. A sound of surprise from Gage. A glare from Holden.

“Where are the other babies?” Gage asked.

“I don’t know.” That was the truth. “It was pure luck that I overheard them talking about Annie and Emmett’s baby, and there were no other names mentioned.”

“This could be connected to the missing senator, Lee Minton,” Holden added after a long pause. “Could be,” he stressed. “But it could also be connected to Nicky’s father, Oscar.”

That caused both Holden and Gage to curse again, and Nicky didn’t have to ask why. Her father wasn’t any better liked by the Rylands than she was, and worse...he was dirty. He’d never been arrested for his shady business dealings, but that was only because he hadn’t gotten caught.

Gage looked at her again in the mirror. “Oscar wanted a grandchild?”

Nicky had to nod. “Specifically, he wanted a grandson to carry on his so-called legacy.”

“A daughter wouldn’t do?” Landon snapped.

“My father and I are, well, estranged,” she admitted. “And he wasn’t exactly thrilled with Annie when she married Emmett.”

“Probably because he didn’t like the idea of having a federal agent for a son-in-law,” Holden mumbled.

She had to add another nod to that as well. It was true. Her father hated Emmett, resented Annie for marrying him, and that’s why this didn’t make sense.

“It’s true that my father wants an heir,” Nicky continued, “but this seems...extreme considering that he hated Emmett.”

“Your father does extreme things all the time,” Holden reminded her. “Plenty of them illegal. Plus, if you two really are estranged, maybe he figured this was his only chance at having an heir from his own gene pool.” Then, he shook his head. “But if he did do this, something must have gone wrong because those kidnappers said this was the million-dollar baby.”

Nicky thought about that for a second. “I need to talk to my father.”

“It can wait,” Holden insisted. “We’re almost at the sheriff’s office.”

She glanced out the window and saw that they were only a mile or so away, and maybe because they were so close, Landon and Holden started making preparations. Landon called the hospital and asked that a doctor come to the sheriff’s office. To check out the baby, no doubt. If something was indeed wrong, though, the child would have to go to the hospital. Still might have to do that since he was obviously still a newborn.

Holden made a call, too. To his cousin Josh, who was also a Silver Creek deputy. Holden asked Josh to arrange to have some baby supplies brought in. He also asked Josh to have a CSI process the car they were driving and especially check it for a tracking device.

That got Nicky’s heartbeat revving up again because she realized the kidnappers could know exactly where they’d gone. Of course, there weren’t too many other places they could have taken the baby, considering that an army of kidnappers were out there.

“Are your legs steady enough to run inside while holding the baby?” Holden asked her.

Nicky nodded, prayed that was true. She wasn’t anywhere near steady enough, but there was no way she’d drop the baby.

Her nephew.

He wasn’t just a baby. He was her own flesh and blood.

The first time she’d heard about him on those recordings from the fertility clinic, the news had hit her like a lightning bolt. The blow didn’t feel any less now that she had him in her arms.

This was Annie’s son. The baby her sister had so desperately wanted that she’d gone through months and months of fertility treatments, some of them dangerous to her health. It broke Nicky’s heart to know that her sister wasn’t here to see the baby she’d sacrificed so much to have.

But maybe someone else had sacrificed, too.

Nicky didn’t have time to bring up her concern because Gage pulled to a stop in front of the sheriff’s office. Even though she’d assured Holden that she was steady enough, he still took hold of her arm as they hurried into the building.

The moment they were inside, Gage took the car to the parking lot, getting it away from the sheriff’s office. Maybe because he was concerned there was something more than a tracking device in it. After all, the men had said they were going to torch her house and car so they could have been carrying some kind of accelerants.

Holden didn’t stay by the door. He hurried her through the squad room and into one of the interview rooms. It wasn’t especially comfortable, what with the metal table and chairs, but Nicky breathed a little easier because there weren’t any windows in the room. That would make it harder for the kidnappers to come after the baby again.

Nicky sank down onto one of the chairs, but Josh and Holden stayed in the hall. They had a whispered conversation before Holden joined her, and she could tell from his expression that he was about to deliver bad news. And he did.

“The men that Gage and Landon tied up in the ditch got away,” Holden said. “In fact, there are no signs of any of the kidnappers.”

Nicky tried not to let that send her into a panic. Hard to do, though, and she gently pulled the baby even closer to her.

“They’ll come after him again,” she whispered.

“They’ll try.” Holden came closer, looking down at the baby. Unlike in the car, the overhead light was on, and Nicky figured he saw exactly what she was seeing.

The resemblance.

Annie’s hair. But the baby’s face was all Emmett.

“I’ve seen baby pictures of Emmett,” Holden said. “That’s his son.”

Yes. Nicky had no doubts about that, but knowing it was just the start. They still didn’t have a lot of answers.

“Obviously Conceptions Fertility Clinic was onto you,” Holden continued a moment later. “That’s why they sent that thug to your house. Where are the files and recordings?”

Nicky hesitated only because she’d been so terrified of the kidnappers finding them. It was the only thing she had to bargain with them in case she hadn’t been able to find the baby. But now that she had her nephew—their nephew, she mentally corrected—there was no reason to keep them hidden.

Well, except for the sickening dread of what Holden and the others might find when they reviewed them.

She adjusted the baby’s position in her arms so she could take the notepad and pen from the table and write down the storage cloud and her password. “I don’t know what all the files mean,” Nicky explained. “Some are just numbers and code, and I wasn’t able to connect them to any names in the Conceptions database.”

A muscle flickered in Holden’s jaw when he took the notepad with the info. “You should have come to me or the cops the moment you found out what was going on.”

“There was no time—”

“So help me,” he interrupted, “you better not have withheld this because you wanted to do a story on it.”

It felt as if he’d slapped her, and Nicky flinched.

More of Holden’s jaw muscles flickered. “Sorry, but you don’t have a good track record when it comes to this sort of thing.”

No. She didn’t. She’d often put the story ahead of a lot of things, including other people’s safety. “I learned my lesson with your brother.”

And it wasn’t something she would forget anytime soon. She’d almost gotten Drury killed by withholding some evidence too long. Nicky had been working with a CPA who was helping her gather information on a crime family.

A crime family who’d done business with her father.

But the research had taken much longer than Nicky had expected. By the time she had given it to Drury, the crime family had been alerted, probably her father had, too, and Drury essentially walked into a trap. He’d nearly been killed by people he possibly could have arrested hours earlier if Nicky hadn’t been digging for more.

It wouldn’t do any good to tell Holden that she’d been searching for more evidence to put Drury’s attackers away for life. It wouldn’t do any good to tell him she was sorry. Or that she hadn’t lied or withheld anything to protect her father. Sometimes, she felt as if she was drowning in the water under that particular bridge.

Holden stepped out into the hall to make a call. To his other brother, Lucas, she realized. A Texas Ranger. Holden gave him a quick update, including the cloud-storage info, and asked him to see what he could find. He then went back into the squad room for several moments.

“I wouldn’t have put the baby in danger,” Nicky said when Holden came back into the room. She brushed a kiss on the baby’s forehead. “I’d just figured out where he was when that thug showed up at my house. And then you showed up.”

With everything else going on, Nicky had forgotten about the reason Holden had come. To warn her that she was on the verge of being arrested. “Is the FBI really involved in this?” she asked.

He nodded. “Senator Minton’s family hired a team of PIs to help find him. I didn’t know what they found, but I got word that the FBI was looking at you as a person of interest.”

Oh, mercy. She didn’t need this now. “They think I had something to do with his disappearance?”

“I’m not sure. They’re keeping what they have close to the vest, but now that I know what went on, I can probably stop them from taking you into custody.”

“I can’t go with them.” She got to her feet so she could look him straight in the eyes. “Whoever hired those kidnappers had plenty of money. No doubt resources, too, to pull off a scheme like the one at Conceptions. He or she could also have a dirty cop or two on the payroll.”

Holden didn’t argue with that. Something that didn’t help steady her nerves one bit. Even though she’d been the one to point out that particular possible danger, she’d hoped that Holden could have assured her that it wasn’t likely. No way could he do that, though.

“There’s one more thing,” she said. “The surrogate.” Nicky had to take a deep breath before she continued. “There are no surrogate names in the files, but I saw something, well, disturbing in our nephew’s folder.”

That got Holden’s attention. He stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

“There were two notes entered on the day the surrogate delivered him. One was the location where the baby was being taken. The other was...contract terminated.” Even though it’d been hours since Nicky had first seen those two words, it still gave her a jolt. “Do you think they killed her?”

Holden opened his mouth, closed it and then scrubbed his hand over his face. “Yeah.”

There it was again, another jolt. Of course, Nicky had already considered it, especially after what’d gone on at the inn, but she’d held out hope. Hope that was quickly fading because the surrogate would have been a loose end. No way would the person behind this want her around so she could tell anyone about the baby she’d delivered.

Holden took out his phone again and fired off a text. “Since Grayson and the deputies are tied up here,” he told Nicky, “I’ll have someone in the marshals’ office check and see if there have been any reports of a dead or missing woman who recently gave birth.”

Nicky nodded, and even though she dreaded hearing that a woman could be dead, a woman who’d given birth to their precious nephew, they had to find out the truth. And not just about the surrogate, either.

“How will we handle the investigation into Conceptions?” she asked.

“There is no we in this. You aren’t handling anything,” he snapped, but he quickly reined in his temper.

“How are you handling it, then?” Nicky amended.

He took a deep breath first. “The other lawmen and I will have to go at it head-on. After everything that just happened, they know we’re onto them so there’s no need to back off. Gage is already contacting San Antonio PD and the FBI.”

That meant soon Conceptions Clinic would be swarming with cops and agents. Maybe there’d be something to find, including those other babies that were out there somewhere.

She heard the footsteps in the hall, and Nicky’s heart went into overdrive again, her body preparing for another threat. But it was only Landon.

“We have visitors,” Landon said, not sounding too pleased about that. “The doctor’s here to check the baby.” Then, his attention went to Nicky. “And your father just arrived.”

Nicky’s stomach went to her knees. No. Not this. Not now. She was still reeling from the attack, but she also knew she had to confront him, to try to get those answers they so desperately needed.

“Why is he here?” Nicky asked. “Why did he come?” She knew it wasn’t because he was worried about her, and there hadn’t been time for too many people to have heard news about the attack.

Landon’s gaze dropped to the baby, but he didn’t have to verbally answer. That’s because Nicky heard her father’s voice booming through the squad room.

“Nicky, I know you’re here,” her father shouted. “I want you to bring me my grandson now!”

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.