“Oh, sweet Jesus.” Daphne struggled to her feet and started over the edge of the ridge. “I have to go.”

Boomer dropped his rifle, snagged Daphne’s hand and jerked her down beside him. His expression was taut with fury. “Don’t you understand? If you go, they’ll kill you.”

Her heart thundered against her ribs. Her baby was down there with a psychopath. What did Boomer expect her to do? Stand by and let them kill an innocent child? “Better me than Maya,” she said and struggled to free her wrist.

“You can’t go.” Still holding her wrist with one hand, he grabbed his rifle and fumbled with the clips holding the strap to the rifle’s length.

Daphne braced her feet against the snow-covered, rocky terrain and pulled with all her might.

Boomer’s grip was like an iron band. He refused to release her. When he’d freed the strap, he turned to her. “You’re going to hate me for this, but I can’t let you go down there. I risk losing you as well as Maya. I’m not willing to lose you both now that I’ve found you.”

She stared down at the hand holding the strap. “What are you doing?”

He wrapped the strap around her wrists and dragged her backward, away from the edge of the ridge. “You have to stay put and let me do my job.”

He looped the strap over a low-hanging tree branch and pulled it tight, knotting it snuggly.

“You can’t leave me here.” Daphne yanked and tugged, but his handiwork held. She wasn’t going anywhere. “Damn it, Boomer, that’s my baby down there. You can’t keep me from her.”

“I’m keeping you from getting yourself killed. Now, be quiet while Hank and I figure out how to handle this situation.”

“One minute, Boomer,” she whispered harshly. “A quarter of that is almost gone. You have to let me go down there.” She pulled so hard, the strap rubbed her wrists raw. “Please, don’t let my baby die.” Tears ran down her cheeks.

Boomer resumed his position and stared through the scope. He lay for so long, without moving, Daphne thought he’d fallen asleep.

Please, don’t shoot my baby. Please. She repeated the mantra beneath her breath, praying for a miracle.

Maya was not just the result of fling with a handsome SEAL on a resort island. She was the hope for the future Daphne had needed after losing her fiancé. She was the result of falling in love with a real hero. A man who’d suffered while defending their country and way of life. Maya was the glue that kept Daphne together and, hopefully, would bring and keep Boomer in their lives.

If Maya died…

More tears slipped down Daphne’s cheeks. If Maya died, every happiness Daphne had dreamed of would be gone. She wasn’t even sure she could be with Boomer knowing their baby was dead. Her baby looked like him. Seeing him every day would be a steady, painful reminder.

Anger replaced sadness. Anyone who could hold a baby hostage had to be the lowest form of life. He didn’t deserve to live. Hell, she already knew that based on how he’d choked the life out of that woman in Cozumel. Harrison Cooper deserved to die.

“If you’re going to shoot someone,” Daphne shouted to Boomer, “make sure it’s the bastards holding my baby hostage.”

Boomer counted two people inside the chalet, besides Chuck and Maya.

After the man pointing the gun at Chuck’s head had issued the ultimatum, he’d pulled Chuck and Maya back inside the building and closed the door.

“Ten seconds remaining,” Hank called out. “I counted two men besides Chuck and Maya.

“I got the same,” Boomer acknowledged.

“From where I am, I can take out the one further inside if you can take out the one who came to the door with Chuck.”

“If they come out that way again, I can do it.”

“Five seconds,” Daphne said. “Please don’t hit Maya or Chuck. Anyone else if fair game.”

Boomer’s lips twitched. The woman had fight, and she would defend her child like a mother bear.

“Four…three…two…one…” Daphne whispered.

The door opened. Chuck stepped out onto the porch, holding Maya.

“Time’s up!” the voice shouted.

Boomer could make out a blond-haired younger man holding a handgun to the back of Chuck’s neck.

Chuck seemed to be saying something, but no sound was coming out of his mouth. He held Maya with two fingers pointing up.

Boomer concluded the man was confirming only two men were in the chalet.

Chuck leaned to one side slightly, giving Boomer a better line of sight at the man holding the gun.

He drew in a deep breath and held it, the crosshairs of his scope on the blond man’s head. One slip-up, and he could kill Chuck or Maya.

Moisture gathered on his upper lip, and his finger curled around the trigger. Images of the Islamic State militant dressed in the white imam’s robe rose up in Boomer’s mind.

He blinked to clear the image and focused on the blond man, a far cry from the militant with the black hair and the black beard. He couldn’t loose his concentration now. Not with his baby’s life depending on him.

“You just sentenced your baby to death!” the man shouted.

“That man down there is not an ISIS militant. He’s a murderer, and he’s threatening our baby,” Daphne whispered. “Shoot the bastard.”

Boomer pulled himself out of the past and focused on his future. With the gentlest of pressure, he pulled the trigger.

The bullet blasted out of the rifle and a moment later hit the target.

Not even a second later, Hank fired a round, piercing the window of the chalet.

The blond man Boomer’s bullet had struck jerked backward, and his gun went off. Chuck flinched and dropped to his knees, still holding the baby in his arms.

Boomer was on his feet and scrambling to release Daphne from the tree. He ran to the snowmobile and leaped onto the seat.

Daphne flung herself onto the back as Boomer revved the engine. Then they slipped and slid down the trail toward the chalet at breakneck speed.

When they came to a halt in front of the chalet, Boomer and Daphne flew off the snowmobile and ran toward the porch where Chuck sat, cradling Maya in his arms. Blood oozed from a wound on the side of his head, just above his ear.

Daphne dove for Maya and gathered the baby in her arms, peeling back the blankets to check for injuries.

“Maya’s all right,” Chuck said. “I made sure of it.”

“Which is better than can be said for you,” Boomer said quietly.

Chuck shook his head and winced. “He just nicked me.”

Boomer knelt beside the blond man and felt for a pulse. There wasn’t one.

“Harrison Cooper?” Boomer asked.

Chuck and Daphne nodded.

“He’s dead.” Boomer glanced across at Daphne. “He won’t be bothering you or anyone else, ever again.”

Daphne clutched Maya to her chest, her eyes narrowing. “Good. The bastard had it coming.” She kissed Maya’s forehead and wrapped her more tightly in the blanket.

Boomer moved into the chalet where he found a man dressed in a business suit lying on the floor, moaning, blood pooling beneath his shoulder.

Boomer stepped over the dead blond man “Who do we have here?”

“Harrison Cooper’s father.” Chuck had pushed to his feet and leaned against the doorframe. “Meet Senator John Cooper.”

“You murdered my son,” the man on the floor said through gritted teeth. “I’ll have you all in the electric chair for what you’ve done.”

“We think not,” Boomer said. “Your days of killing off witnesses to your son’s messes are over. The fact you’re here, supported by a team of mercenaries, isn’t going to look good to the authorities.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” the senator said.

“The men you sent on snowmobiles to kill us didn’t accomplish their mission.”

“I suppose you killed them as well. The courts will see your actions as a brutal killing spree.”

“The courts might have, but we saved one of your mercenaries,” Boomer said. “My bet is he won’t go down with you. I doubt you could pay him enough money to lie in front of judge and go to jail for you and your murdering son.”

“It’ll be my word against his—and yours.”

“Not so fast, Senator.” Chuck pulled a cell phone from his pocket. “I recorded everything—from your threats to your son’s. We have multiple witnesses, including one of your own cleanup crew, who I’m sure will be eager to cut a sweet deal. You’re going to jail, and your son’s going to hell.”

Several trucks appeared on the road leading up to the chalet. They were followed by a couple of county sheriff’s vehicles.

Hank arrived on the porch, shoving the man from the snowmobile chase ahead of him. “The cavalry has arrived.”

Boomer slipped an arm around Daphne. “We need to get Maya somewhere warm.” With the door to the chalet wide open, and the generator turned off, the house would be as cold as the outside.

Daphne handed Maya to Boomer. “Take care of her while I help Chuck.”

Boomer took Maya and tucked her, blanket and all, into his jacket.

Daphne took charge of tending to Chuck’s “nick,” cleaning the wound and wrapping his head in a swath of strips torn from a pillowcase.

With the bleeding stopped, Chuck smiled and hugged Daphne.

Boomer couldn’t be angry with the man. He knew how it felt to be in love with Daphne, having loved her since they’d met in Cozumel.

Once law enforcement cleared them to leave after they’d promised to give their statements at the sheriff’s office the following day, Boomer and Daphne took Maya and headed to the truck. They’d stay at Hank’s ranch while Hank and Chuck remained behind to answer questions and make sure the senator didn’t get away with his lies and treachery.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait for Chuck?” Boomer asked as he helped Daphne buckle Maya into the car seat.

She smiled over the top of Maya’s head. “I love Chuck.”

Boomer’s heart plummeted into his belly, and he had a hard time concentrating on the multiple buckles that were part of the intricate car seat.

Daphne’s grin broadened, and she reached across Maya to touch Boomer’s hand. “I love Chuck like a wonderful older brother. I don’t know what I would have done without him this past year, and I want him to be a part of Maya’s life.” She squeezed his hand. “But you were what kept him at arm’s length from me. Even when you were on the other side of the world, you were always in my heart and on my mind.”

Boomer released a deep breath and stared across at her, sure she could see the moisture gathering in his eyes, but not giving a damn. He gave her a half-smile. “You don’t know how happy that makes me. I’d hate to have duke it out with Chuck. Especially after he took such good care of our daughter.” He lifted Daphne’s hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “I love you Daphne Miller. I never stopped thinking about you. When I was up to my eyeballs in sandstorms and ISIS militants, I thought of you and how, when I got back to the States, I’d find you.”

Her smile was sweet, her eyes misty. “And then you did.”

“Thanks to Chuck and Hank,” Boomer said. “Remind me to thank those two for bringing us back together.” He backed out of the rear seat and closed the door. Before he could get around the truck to help Daphne into the passenger seat, she was already inside.

He’d have to step up his game if he wanted to show her how much she’d come to mean to him.