Part 21

Tom looked at his watch again.

"Quit doing that."

Startled, he looked at Cassy. "Doing what?"

"Looking at your watch. The time isn't going to move any faster or slower
because you're watching it."

Tom sat down in his chair. "I know that. I'm nervous about this bust.
If everything goes according to plan, there will be a baby there when it
goes down."

Cassy patted his hand. "I know. It makes me nervous too. But the good
news is that Tina will be posing as our nanny and she'll get the baby out
of there as quickly as possible."

"I know." He stared at a spot on the table.

"You still seem troubled. What else is it?"

He looked her in the eyes. "You."

Cassy frowned. "Me?"

"Yeah, you. Cass, this could be a dangerous situation. I don't like the
idea of you going in there. We already have one baby in the line of fire,
I don't want two."

"You are so sweet sometimes."

"I'm not doing this to be sweet. I'm dead serious here. I'd prefer to do
this alone."

She could see the anger in his eyes. "No chance. The deal was I'd remove
myself from active duty after this case closes. That hasn't happened yet.
I'm still your partner, at least for a little while longer."

"Dammit Cassy." Tom slammed his fist on the table, causing more noise
then he intended. "You are not just my partner. You are the mother of my
child. I am asking, no begging you, to sit this one out."

She could see how serious he was. "I'm sorry Tom, but Georgia will be
joining Patrick when he picks up their son." She stood up. "I'm going to
see if Tina is ready. I'll meet you at the car."


"Well I guess that's it." Dr. Reed placed his cell phone in his jacket
pocket and closed his briefcase.

Ashley walked into the kitchen. "Did you say something?"

"I just said I was about ready to leave."

"Have you heard from Carson?"

"No." He looked at his watch. "Therefore, I have two choices. I can
assume they are cops and deal with it accordingly. Or I can assume they are
potential clients who want a baby."

"So what are you going to do?"

"If I don't go, then I lose out on a lot of money." He walked over and
opened his briefcase. "But I'll take along protection, just in case."
He eyed his gun before returning it to the briefcase. "I'm pretty confident
everything will turn out okay. He is the best and if there was anything to
the Birch's I would have heard by now."

"You're probably right." She went to the fridge poured herself a protein
drink. "Want one?"

He made a face. "No thank you. How can you drink that stuff?"

"I only drink it after my work out. Besides, it's good for you and the
taste isn't so bad." She held the drink out. "How about just a sip?"

"No. I think I'd rather drink nail polish."

"It doesn't have the same kick." She grinned at her husband. "Just one
drink, and if you don't like it, I'll never mention it again."

He never could resist her when she was wearing a leotard. "All right, one
drink and that's it." He took the drink from her and took a long swallow.
He spit it out immediately. "That was awful."

She put the glass down. "Maybe it's an acquired taste. Sweetie, look at
your jacket."

He looked down and saw that he had that awful stuff all over his jacket.
"Great, now I have to change."

Ashley walked over to the laundry room. "I picked up your other jackets
from the dry cleaners this morning." She handed him a clean one.

He laid his dirty one on the chair and put on the new one. "How do I
look?"

She smiled. "Like a million bucks."

He kissed her on the nose. "More like 50 thousand." He grabbed his
briefcase. "If by any chance Carson does call, call me on my cell phone.
I don't want Rebecca knowing anything about his. She may look it, but
she's not stupid."

"Of course." She walked him to the door. "Be careful."

"Honey, with what I make today, I'm taking you out to the most expensive
place in town for dinner."

"Sounds like a plan."

She waved as he drove off down the street.


"It's not too late to change your mind, Cass." Tom asked as they sat in
the parking lot of Dr. Reed's office."

"Forget it. I'm doing this."

"Am I missing something here?" Officer Tina Jones asked from the back
seat.

Tom turned around and looked at her. "Nothing, Tina. Just a mild
disagreement. Is that car seat buckled in securely?"

"Yes. Are we ready to proceed?"

This time Cassy turned and faced Tina. "Are you sure you understand what
has to happen in there?"

"Yes, it is my job to get the baby out of the building as fast as I can
while posing as the nanny."

"That should do it. Ready Cass?"

"Let's do it."


Ashley had started the dishwasher when the phone rang. She wiped her
hands on the towel and reached for it.

Two minutes later she slammed the phone down. "Dammit, dammit. I knew
this would happen. I have to warn Brian." She grabbed the phone and dialed
his cell phone number.

"Come on Brian, pick up."

Stunned, Ashley turned around as Brian's cell phone rang from inside his
jacket pocket, which was still lying on the back on the kitchen chair.
"Oh no," she whispered. She didn't even think about it. She grabbed a gun
and left the house.


Once again Rebecca greeted them and escorted the three of them into Dr.
Reed's office.

"Good afternoon, Patrick, Georgia. And who do we have here?" He nodded
towards Tina.

Cassy spoke up. "This is the nanny we hired to help us take care of little
Michael." She looked around. "Where is he?"

Dr. Reed smiled to himself. He pushed a button on the phone. "Rebecca,
could you bring the baby in here?"

Rebecca's voice came through the speaker. "Yes, Dr. Reed."

She entered the room with the baby. She handed him to Cassy. "Oh
Honey, doesn't he look perfect."

Tom smiled at the baby. "Yes, he is. Why don't you let Tina take him
in the other room."

"All right." Cassy handed the baby to Tina. "Tina, make sure you fasten
him in that carrier real well. We don't want anything to happen to our
little baby."

"Of course, Mrs. Birch." Tina stood up and left with the baby.

Dr. Reed focused on the papers in front of him. "I believe the deal was
for $50,000."

Tom pulled out his wallet. "Wait a minute, Reed. What about the paper
work? The birth certificate? The adoption papers?"

He handed Tom a folder. "The birth certificate is filed with the county.
The adoption certificate is enclosed. Everything has been done the way you
specified."

Tom looked the paper work over. "Everything looks good here." He handed
Reed a briefcase.

Dr. Reed opened the briefcase, glanced at the contents and closed it. "I
guess that takes care of everything." He stood up.

Tom stood up. "Almost everything." Tom pulled out his badge. "Sorry Reed,
but you're under arrest."

"Arrest? You're cops?"

Cassy stood next to Tom and pulled out her gun. "That's right, Brian boy. You
you are going to pay for what you've done."

"What have I done? I arranged a private adoption. Is that so wrong?"

Enraged, Cassy went over to him. They stared at each other from across
the desk. "Wrong? You call selling babies to the highest bidder the right
thing to do? Greer found out, didn't she? She found out about your dirty
little scheme and you killed her for it."

She glanced over to her partner. "Would you care to do the honors?"

"My pleasure."

Reed saw Tom pull out his handcuffs, so he picked up the small potted plant
off his desk and threw it at Cassy. She ducked in time to avoid being hit but it
was enough of a diversion for her to lose control of the situation. She dropped
the gun on the desk and he immediately picked it up.

Pointing the gun at Cassy, Reed walked around the desk to where she was
standing and shoved the gun into her neck.

Tom pulled out his gun. "You don't want to do anything stupid. Let her go."

Reed laughed. "Let her go? Are you crazy? I'm calling the shots here,
Officer. And I say she dies. I say you both die."

Cassy tried not to panic as he pressed the barrel of the gun into her
skin. "The same way you killed Greer?"

"Hell no. I'm going to kill you face to face. Greer never saw it coming.
A few seconds with a handkerchief and it was all over for the little rich girl."

Tom took a step toward Reed. "Let her go, Reed."

"I don't think so. You come any closer and blondie here is going to get
it."

Cassy braced herself for her next move. "You have been watching too many
John Wayne movies, Reed. Blondie doesn't get it, blondie gives it."

The next few seconds moved like minutes to Tom. Cassy's elbow jabbed
Reed in the stomach and the gun fell. Tom moved in and pushed Cassy out of
the way. Reed lunged for Tom, but the door opened and Reed grabbed his wife
instead. The gun she was holding fired. Cassy fell to the floor.

"NOOO!" Tom screamed.

---------The end of story.

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