Free Sawyer by Delores Fossen Page B

wasn’t a fight he wanted. Not with these stakes.
    Even over the baby’s fussing, Sawyer heard another sound.
    Breaking glass.
    Followed by the frantic beeping of his security system. A warning that one of the windows had just been opened.
    The intruders were in the house.
    Sawyer didn’t take the time to call Mason. Backup was already on the way, but it might not arrive soon enough. He had to take measures now to protect Cassidy and the baby.
    “This way,” he mouthed to her and tipped his head to the laundry room just off the kitchen. It had a door that led to the side yard, but he wasn’t sure he could move her there just yet. Not until he figured out the position of the two men.
    Sawyer kept Cassidy behind him, and he hurried to the keypad on the wall and pressed in the buttons to stop the alarm from sounding. It would only make the baby fuss more, and the noise would make it impossible for him to pinpoint the location of the men. He definitely wouldn’t be able to hear footsteps and movement.
    Even without the steady beeps of the security system pulsing through the house, Sawyer still didn’t hear the intruders. They certainly hadn’t come in with guns blazing, which told him this might be another kidnapping attempt.
    But why would they want Cassidy when she’d already agreed to give them the ransom money?
    “Ryland?” a man called out. Judging from the sound of his voice, he was either in one of the bedrooms or the hall.
    Way too close.
    Sawyer didn’t answer because he didn’t want to give away their position. He only hoped that backup would arrive before this turned even uglier than it already was.
    “Agent Ryland?” the man repeated. “We know you’re there. We know you have the kid, too.”
    “It’s one of the kidnappers who took Bennie and me,” Cassidy whispered. “I recognize his voice.”
    Not much of a surprise that the kidnappers would come after them again, but it did make Sawyer wonder— where the heck was Bennie?
    “Hand the kid over to us,” the man shouted, “and you can keep Cassidy.”
    It was an interesting demand, one that Sawyer wouldn’t even consider. No way would he turn over the baby to these goons. Still, it added another question to this dangerous situation.
    Why did they want the child?
    Unfortunately, Sawyer could think of a reason.
    If Emma was indeed his daughter, they could use the baby to get money from him. He wasn’t nearly as rich as Cassidy, but his grandparents had left him and his brother a good nest egg. Plus, his Ryland cousins were well off. Maybe the kidnappers figured they could milk Sawyer and his extended family in addition to the ransom that Cassidy would be paying for Bennie.
    “You’ve got ten seconds to make up your mind,” the kidnapper warned him.
    Heaven knows what these men planned to do, and Sawyer didn’t want to find out. He looked over Cassidy’s shoulder and into the side yard. No sign of any backup. Going out there with Cassidy and the baby could be risky, but it might be safer than staying put.
    Sawyer watched and listened for any movement of the kidnappers. He finally heard footsteps, cautious and slow. They were making their way toward them.
    He reached around Cassidy, unlocked the side door and then quickly changed positions with her so he could go outside first. Sawyer’s gaze flew all around, and when he didn’t see anyone, he pulled Cassidy into the yard with him.
    They’d barely had time to take a step when a man came barreling out of the bedroom window. Sawyer took aim, fired, but he didn’t hang around out in the open to see if he’d hit him. He pushed Cassidy and the baby around the corner and to the back of the house.
    Just as the shot came his way.
    Sawyer had hoped these bozos wouldn’t fire around the baby, but obviously he’d hoped wrong. That shot was quickly followed by another one, and it took off a chunk of limestone siding.
    “Get down on the ground,” Sawyer told Cassidy.
    She did, and unlike the