Fossen Delores - Christmas Guardian стр 2.

Red ruby? You gotta be kidding me. A code word? For what? Why?

I have to disappear for a while, Shelly said, obviously ignoring him. But when I can, Ill explain everything.

With that, she hung up.

Jordan didnt waste a second, not even to curse. He redialed Shellys number. But she didnt answer. The call went straight to voice mail.

Time for plan B. He phoned one of his agents, Cody Guillory, his right-hand man at Sentron, the private security agency that Jordan owned. Since Cody was pulling duty at headquarters, he answered on the first ring.

Im guessing whatevers wrong got you out of bed? Cody greeted.

Yeah, it did. I have a situation, Jordan replied. Shelly could be in danger. She still has the same cell number and possibly the same phone she used when she worked for Sentron so try to track that. Discreetly. Let me know where she is.

Will do. Give me a couple of minutes. Anything else?

Jordan looked at the baby and debated what he should say. Dont let anyone know you have him, Shelly had warned. Shed even used another rare please.

For now, hed take the plea and warning to heart. Just find her and send someone in case she needs help, Jordan said, and he ended the call.

The only illumination came from the moonlight seeping in through the windows, but it was enough for him to see the basket. Jordan stared at the baby, whose eyes were drifting down to sleep, and because he didnt know what else to do, he groaned and considered the most obvious scenario. Had Shelly given birth to his child without telling him? And if so, why wouldnt he have heard rumors that he was a daddy? Thered been no signs, no hints, nothing to indicate that this child was his.

Except for the dark brown hair, dark brown eyes.

Like Jordans own.

Still, that didnt mean hed fathered this baby.

He needed to talk with Shelly, and even though it was clear she was in the middle of a personal crisis, he tried her number again. Again, it went straight to voice mail. This time he decided to leave a message.

Shelly, we need to talk. He wanted to say more, much more, but a cell conversation wasnt secure. His number wouldnt show up on her caller ID or phone records because all calls from his house and business were routed through a scrambler, but someone could get her phone and listen to any message he might leave.

Someones trying to kill me, shed said. Even with the shock of finding the baby, Jordan hadnt forgotten that. Like him, Shelly now owned a security agency. Even though shed been in business less than a year, her startup agency provided services as bodyguards, personal protection, P.I.s.

And probably more.

That more had nearly gotten him killed a few times. Was that what was happening to Shelly now? Had a case gone wrong, and was someone trying to use the baby to get to her? Maybe shed had no choice but to bring the child to him, but it damn well had been her choice not to tell him before now.

If the child was his, that is.

The phone rang, slicing through the silence and waking the baby. He started to fuss. Jordan had no idea how to deal with that, so he lightly rocked the basket. Thankfully, the little guy hushed, and Jordan took the call.

Its Cody. I tracked Shellys phone, no problem, but while I was doing that, I heard her name on the police scanner, and I zoomed in on the conversation with our equipment. He paused. About five minutes ago, a traffic cop responded to a failed carjacking just about a half mile from your place. Its Shellys car.

Oh, God. How bad?

Bad. And that was all Cody said for several long moments. Shellys dead.

That hit Jordan like a punch to the gut. He squeezed his eyes shut. Youre sure its her?

Yes, Ive tapped into the camera at the traffic light, and I can see her face. Its Shelly, all right. Looks like a gunshot to the head.

Jordan forced away the grief and pain and grabbed the basket so he could take the baby with him to his home office. He turned on his secure laptop. Send me the feed from that traffic camera. Audio, too. And get one of our agents over there.

Ive already dispatched Desmond Cody paused, and in the background Jordan could hear the chatter from the laser listening device that Cody was using to zoom in on the scene. An eyewitness is talking to the traffic cop right now.

The images popped onto his computer screen. Jordan saw Shellys car. The drivers door was wide open. Her body was sprawled out in the middle of the street, limp and lifeless. Hell. If hed just gotten to the door sooner, if he could have stopped her from leaving his place, then maybe shed still be alive.

Another patrol car arrived, but Jordan zoomed in on the conversation between the traffic cop and a twenty-something woman dressed in a fast-food restaurant uniform. An eyewitness. Her body language and nearly hysterical tone told Jordan she probably hadnt been involved in this as anything more than a spectator to a horrific crime.

The man didnt want her car, Jordan heard the woman say, and he cranked up the volume.

What do you mean? the cop asked.