Free Charmed (Second Sight) by Hazel Hunter

at the carrier again.
    “I’m the father ,” Daniel said. “And–”
    “And you have a document from the mother granting you complete custody,” Maurice finished, talking over him. “Oh, wait. You don’t? ”  
    Maurice snickered.
    “Maybe,” Geoffrey said. “We should all just calm down and put our heads together.”
    Maurice had to laugh again.
    Really. It was just all too funny.
    “That would make,” Maurice said, laughing. “Wait. Let me count.” He pointed at each of them and then himself. “One brain between the three of us!”
    He wiped a tear from his eye.
    He hadn’t felt this good in years . It was the other shoe dropping. It was relief. He took another sip. It was an excellent martini. He looked at the two of them, waiting for their next joke. When it didn’t come and they looked at each other, he felt suddenly tired.
    Tomorrow–he inhaled deeply–would be a very busy day.
    “Go,” he said, exhaling and waving them off. “Just… go .”
    He took another sip.
    “What the fuck?” Daniel yelled as the baby cried again. “I came all the way out here with a guaranteed $25K,” he hefted the car seat slightly, “and you want to turn it down?”
    “Maybe there’s something we can figure out,” Geoffrey said.
    Maurice was starting to lose patience. For all he knew, the police were next, knocking on the damn front door.
    “Get out,” he said.
    Daniel’s face reddened and his eyes seemed to bulge.
    “You do not want to piss me off,” he said. “ Trust me.”
    Geoffrey looked warily between the two of them.
    “ Trust you,” Maurice said, glaring at him. “Trust you to screw it up royally. Take your kidnapped son and get out.” Daniel’s glower had turned into a smug grin and, somehow, Maurice found that infuriating. “ Get out! ” he screamed. “ Get out! ”

    •••••

    Daniel jammed the seat belt into its holder, locking down the infant carrier in the back seat.
    “Asshole,” he muttered. He slammed the BMW’s door closed and yanked open the driver door. “Fucking asshole .”
    The baby was crying again.
    “Shut up!” he yelled as he pounded the steering wheel. “Shut up!”
    He started the engine.
    “Well fuck them,” he said.
    I’ll just sell it myself. I’m the one in control of the web site and the adoption group. Let them see what they think of that . But–he glanced in the rear view mirror at the baby–he’d need to buy formula or something. And diapers.
    “Goddamn it,” he muttered as he threw the stick into reverse.  
    This was getting complicated.

CHAPTER TWELVE

    ISABELLE HADN’T REALIZED the road to the commune was so dark at night. Then again, she’d never really seen it. When she’d last been here at nighttime, it’d been in the back seat of Mac’s rental with Kayla giving birth.
    But up ahead, around a long bend in the road, light was moving through the trees.
    Mac took his foot off the gas.
    “Isabelle,” he said, quickly putting a hand behind her shoulder. “Get down.”
    She ducked forward, hit the seat belt as it froze, then wriggled out of the shoulder strap. Mac unsnapped the closure on his holster. Light shone on his face, growing brighter, and though he squinted, he never took his eyes off the approaching car. One hand on the wheel, he quickly withdrew the gun.
    Isabelle’s eyes widened.
    Maybe Mac should get down.
    Bent forward, she could only see his face and the black night beyond his window. Just as she was about to say something, the trees that had been invisible just a few moments before suddenly flared to life, the light in the SUV brightened, and then everything went black again as Mac whipped his head around.
    “That was Daniel,” he muttered, holstering the gun and hitting the brakes. “Hold on.”
    Isabelle sat up just in time to grab the arm rest as Mac cranked the steering wheel over and they slid sideways. She lurched toward him, leaning wildly, as he suddenly straightened it out and hit the gas. The