Free The Baby Thief by L. J. Sellers Page B

planned to do, overwhelmed him at times too. He said the words out loud for the first time, reminding Elizabeth of the enormity of what she’d asked of him.
    “I kidnapped your sister and I’m holding her hostage in the sanctity of my church. In time, I’ll harvest her eggs, fertilize them, and transfer the embryos to your body. That more than makes up for you getting me off the hook after the accident.” Carmichael grabbed Elizabeth by the shoulders. “I think I’ve paid my debt. If you want your donor to have the hormones and medical treatment she needs, you’ll write me a check for a lousy ten grand.”
    Carmichael kissed her hard on the mouth before she could respond. He was tired of fighting, tired of worrying about money. Liz would come through for him, he was confident. Right now he wanted to enjoy her slender body again while he had the chance. She resisted for a moment, pushing against his chest with her hands, but opening her mouth to his kiss at the same time. Carmichael slid his hands off her shoulders and began to massage her sweet breasts through the black silk. In a few seconds, she began making tiny moaning sounds and he knew he had her. Perhaps he could talk her out of fifteen thousand. Lord knew, he could use every penny.
    * * *
    Zeke stood just inside Carmichael’s office, too stunned to retreat and too furious to care about the grunts and groans coming through the partly open door. He’d come looking for the Reverend to let him know he was headed for town in the morning and he’d gotten an earful instead.
    The Reverend had lied to him about the woman they’d picked up. There were no rich parents, no money in the works. He’d been suckered, conned into kidnapping someone so Carmichael’s skinny bitch of a girlfriend could steal a baby from her.
    Zeke couldn’t believe he’d been so gullible. Just because he and Carmichael had been friends, had lived and worked together for ten years didn’t mean he had to believe everything the man said. He should have asked more questions, done a little investigation. But when he’d heard fifty thousand, his head had zeroed in on the money, and it had clouded his thinking. Fuck and doublefuck. He’d probably never even see the five thousand Carmichael had promised him, unless the ice doctor came through with the money Carmichael was trying to hump out of her. Zeke had only met Liz twice but he hated her on sight. She was a blast of cold air. Now that the Reverend had done her dirty work, the church wasn’t likely to get another dime out of her.
    Zeke slipped out of the office, leaving the door open like it was when he came in. The kidnapping and egg-stealing thing would blow up in their faces, sure as the sun would come up tomorrow. He needed to get as far away as he could as soon as he could. It was risky enough when he thought he was kidnapping a heroin addict who would probably not go to the police or be able to identify him if she did. Stealing someone’s baby right out of her body was something else entirely. It was worse than anything he’d ever done.
    He felt sorry for the woman in the basement, and he wished like hell he’d left her at the bus stop. She didn’t deserve all the shit that was happening to her, but Zeke couldn’t do anything about it now. What was done was done. It was her life or his at this point.
    If he let her live, she’d put the finger on him, and he’d go back to prison, which was the same as dying. He wasn’t ready to think about how he would take care of the problem yet. It would take a few days just to get used to the idea. On the other hand, Zeke thought squeezing the life out of Carmichael for getting him into this mess would be a pleasure.
    Zeke headed for the church office and the computer he used for bookkeeping. There had to be some money he could get hold of quickly. He thought about blackmailing the ice doctor, but that would be more work than he had in mind. If only one of their contributors would make