Page 75 of Off Limits Daddy

I opened the back door and saw him huddled in a ball behind Duncan's seat. His eyes and mouth rounded, and he shirked back until recognition came to his face. Then he scrambled across the back seat and into my arms.

“The bad people came.”

“I know, baby.” I wrapped my arms around him. "It's okay. I'm here."

"There was loud noises."

"I know." I hated going into investigative mode, but I needed to know what he knew. "Did you see anything?"

He shook his head where it was still buried in my shoulder. "He yelled ‘Batman’."

At that point, Aiden would've just beelined it down to the car. On the one hand, I was grateful that Aiden didn't have to see more violence. But once again, there was no witness, and how was I going to connect Duncan’s shooter to Wally Creighton?

But first things first. I had to get Aiden away and to a safe spot.

"Aiden, I need you to get back in the car and duck down. You and I are going to leave, okay? I'm going to take you somewhere safe. You can see where I work to catch the bad guys."

"Will you get them?"

I hoped to hell that I would.

Aiden got into the car, ducking down behind the seat. It was against the law to drive without him in his seatbelt, but I was more concerned about who might be watching us.

I grabbed the spare key to Duncan's SUV that was hanging in the garage and climbed into the car.

I called Detective Riker. "I found the boy. I'm taking him back to the FBI office." I hung up the phone. If he had any qualms about that, too bad for him.

I pressed the remote to open the garage and backed out, glad that when I had pulled into the driveway, I didn't block it. I made it out onto the street and drove as fast as I could while at the same time was careful not to bring attention to us.

My mind whirled with thoughts of the case. Of Aiden. But mostly, of Duncan. I wanted to go to him. I had to know how he was doing. Was our last conversation going to be his telling me that I could give up our baby to him? His thinking I didn’t care for him or Aiden or our baby?

The best thing I could do for Duncan right now was to keep Aiden safe and finally put Wally Creighton away.

When we reached the FBI building, I brought Aiden to my desk, pulling over an empty chair for him to sit. I pulled out some papers and a pen. "Why don't you sit here and draw or something? I gotta figure out how we can get the bad guys, okay?"

The little guy was shaking, but he sat down as he was told and took the pen.

"What's happening, Agent Marsden?"

I didn't even look up at Agent Matthews, so angry that he had brought this upon us. "A woman showed up at Duncan Ashworth's today." I glanced at Aiden, not wanting him to hear the details. I made a gun gesture with my hand. "Twice in thechest. He's been taken to the hospital, but I don’t know his status. I found Aiden hiding in the pre-established spot that they'd agreed upon in the case of an emergency."

I finally looked up at him, hoping to see remorse or regret. He gave a quick nod. "Any idea who this woman was?"

"I'm waiting for Detective Riker to send me information. But I wouldn't be surprised if it was Julia Racine. She could have been working with Creighton. She would've had access to the social security numbers of all the kids that were compromised. Several weeks ago, she had been insistent on moving Aiden away from Mr. Duncan into a two-parent household. I can't be sure at this point if she was going to return him to Wally Creighton or not, but Aiden had been in Wally's home before. And as you know, we suspect that Aiden was in the car when Wally and apparently, Jonny Walters, went and took care of Detective Donovan and Darcy Patrick."

"They killed them."

My head whipped around to Aiden. "What is it, baby?"

"They killed them."

"You saw the gun?" Agent Matthews asked.

Aiden recoiled, drawing into himself. I reached over, picked him up, and put them in my lap as I knew Duncan would do. "I know this is very scary, Aiden. But you know what? We're trying to get these bad guys. You can help us. You can be a hero. You just need to tell us what you saw and who was there."

Aiden buried his face in my chest, and I felt frustrated that I couldn't give him what he needed to trust me, to tell me. Then again, why should he? Sure, I'd been around, and sometimes, I'd enjoyed spending time with him and Duncan, but I'd never been very motherly to him. Duncan hadn't been wrong when he said that he and Aiden didn’t need me. But at that moment, I desperately wanted them both to need me.

"You're going to be safe here, Aiden. I won't let the bad guys get you."