Jake knew very little about pregnancy, but he sure the fuck knew that wetness down there wasn’t good. At least not while they were doing fifty-five on a county road in icy conditions.
Shit.
Rodeo glanced in the rearview mirror, the whites of his eyes stark in the reflection of his dark face. “Guys, is there a problem?”
Doc shrugged. “Amniotic fluid.”
Rodeo sputtered, “Fuck that shit in the same zip code as me. I am burning this car after we get home.”
At her next brutal contraction, Doc said to Jake, “I need your help here. Now.”
Here? Now? No.
Doc called out rapid-fire orders.
Jake unbuckled and scrambled to obey, movements awkward with the harness still attached and their gear taking up too much space. He banged his elbows and knees against the roof and sides of the vehicle.
Somehow, he managed to fold down one of the back seats down, scoot Kiera over on top of it, and shove supplies far back and to the side. Taking care not to hurt her, he crawled across and folded down the other side until he had both seats down, creating a larger flat area.
After pulling the front passenger seat forward as far as it would go, Doc then clambered into the back of the SUV, yanked over a large canvas bag, laid out supplies on a folded seat back, and flipped on a compact machine. He pressed a probe to her belly. Whooshing beeps filled the vehicle. Eerie sounding. A digital representation of life. Faster than Jake’s heart rate.
Sweat broke out on his upper lip.
As the vehicle careened around a curve, Kiera bit down on another scream. The terror on her pale face… Jake would never forget it.
“Oh, my God. Baby coming!” she gasped.
The beeping sound slowed down. Jake knew nothing about baby monitoring, but his heart sank along with the lower tones.
“You’re going to be fine,” he crooned, trying to project a calm confidence.
He was about to throw up.
Also, the unanswered question remained: no one knew how an exposed baby would do.
Exposed? Hell, that kid was conceived by sperm permeated with Morpheus Virus.
That kid? No. His child. His.
Doc called over his shoulder as he shrugged out of his vest, “Rodeo, fold the front seat toward the dash. I need more room.”
“Roger.” Keeping one hand on the wheel, Rodeo reached over and pulled the lever, cramming the seat back up against the dashboard. Not missing a beat, he then signaled a lane change and smoothly steered the vehicle onto a two-lane state highway.
“Where are we going?” Kiera asked in between contractions.
“The compound,” Jake said.
She grabbed a strap on his protective vest. “No! Beau… He knows where the compound is.”
Doc shook his head. “Second compound. Morpheus Squad had a plan B.”
By now, the original empty compound would be ash, if Curly had completed his work on schedule.
The beeps from the monitor seemed very fast. Too fast? Doc met Jake’s stare.
“Do you want a hospital?” Doc asked Kiera, snapping on vinyl gloves with crisp efficiency.
“Yes, but won’t Beau find me in a hospital?” Her voice, ragged and desperate, ripped through Jake.
Doc’s nod, a mere shifting of shadows in the lights of passing headlights, iced Jake’s veins. “Possibly. But if you want a hospital, we’ll go to one. We’ll make it work.”
Their cover would be blown wide open, too. Jake didn’t care. He’d trade his freedom for this baby’s life.
“Can you take care of everything, Doc?” she panted. “Will the baby be all right?”
“It’s safer in a hospital. But I don’t know if we’ll get there in time.” He blinked. “I have delivered babies before and am trained to take care of newborns. If you’re okay with the fact that I’m neither an Ob-Gyn nor a pediatrician, then yes, I can do this. It’s your call.”
“No, will the baby. Be. All. Right?” she cried. “With the virus.”
“Seems to be doing okay right now,” Doc answered.
Another non-answer.
“Good enough for me—” Another contraction had her puffing hard and groaning.
“At the end of this contraction, let’s scoot your pants off,” Doc said.
Damn, he was calm. The guy said it like he was commenting on paint color or the weather.
“We’re really having the baby? Here. Now.” she gasped.
“Here? Now?” Rodeo hollered, voice in soprano range.
“Shut up, Rodeo,” Doc snapped.
His teammate clamped his mouth shut and stared at the road in front of him.
Doc turned back to Kiera. “Not so much we. More like you. I will help. You’re having this baby. Soon.”
With his assistance, she shoved the jeans leggings and underwear down and away. Doc positioned a thick cloth and plastic pad underneath her and placed a papery drape over her bare hips and bent legs.
Jake’s head spun. By God, he would not pass out, but fuck him sideways, they were really going to do this right here in the car.
What about his damned viral monster who gave Jake his super strength? That lily-livered bastard wanted no part in this clusterfuck, cowardly little shit.
As the SUV rumbled and lurched onto the shoulder of the road with a stomach-turning swerve, Doc barked at Rodeo. “Eyes on the road, soldier! You have one job: don’t get in an accident.”
“Roger that!” The vehicle made a violent swoop back onto pavement, sending Jake’s heart into a nosedive.
Shit. Doc, yelling? Never happened, unless things were going south in a hurry.
“Crank up the heat, Rodeo!” Doc turned on a headlamp he had positioned on his forehead. “Make it a sauna in here.”
With a gloved hand, he examined Kiera. Lines formed next to his mouth. “You’re completely dilated, baby is almost here.”
She panted. “I could have told you th—” Another squealing scream burst from her lips.
Holy shit. The death squeeze she gave his arm? Impressive. This woman could choke out a grown man with that much strength.
“All right. Bear down, Kiera. Good job. Excellent.” Doc’s voice became low and comforting, almost singsong, relaxing everyone in the vehicle.
Well, maybe not Rodeo, if the whites-of-the-eyes horror reflected in the mirror was any indication.
Memories swamped Jake.
Images of Kiera’s pregnancy loss back in high school, his ex-wife’s cries of despair and tear-streaked face, Kiera’s current terror and pain—all barreled into him with a one-two punch of past and present which left him reeling.
Air burned his lungs. He grabbed the handle of the back door. He wanted to run.
Instead, he turned and cradled Kiera on his lap, brushing the matted hair back from her sweaty forehead. Screw his personal demons.
Could he do right now what he couldn’t before: stick with her, no matter what happened?
No matter the outcome.
The baby’s heart rate slowed down. Beepbeepbeep. BeepbeepBeep.
Beep…
Fear choked him.
Beep…
The shit that was important to him crystallized in a split second. And what was most important in his life screamed bloody murder from the back of a speeding SUV.
What about their future?
Right about now, he couldn’t give two fucks about any future beyond the next minute because there was a human being coming out of Kiera.
Her next scream filled the car and then some. His ears were probably bleeding.
“There you go,” Doc encouraged her. “You’re doing great, Kiera.”
How in the hell could he remain so calm? Was he on pills? Could he share?
“Keep going, Kiera. Push, honey,” Jake babbled. He had no idea what all he said, only that he didn’t want things to get worse.
Worse?
She was cranking out a baby who may or may not be affected by a top-secret military virus, while lying in the back of a moving vehicle as it traveled on icy roads at a high rate of speed. There weren’t many ways it could be worse.
Actually…
In a burst of paranoia, he glanced out the back window. Okay. Good. No one followed them.
“One more time, Kiera,” Doc crooned.
Her grunt and primal scream rattled the glass in the windows and made acid churn in his gut. Kiera clamped down on Jake’s arm and made an admirable effort to do a full sit-up with him attached.
He felt a silent shifting sensation as her body tensed and then relaxed on a big whoosh of exhaled breath.
Doc’s shoulders and arms moved vigorously as he grabbed towels and a round, plastic squeegee thing.
Silence. Except for the rasp of cloth on wet skin as he worked. A few presses of the squeegee bulb blurped in the quiet vehicle.
Jake couldn’t breathe.
Oh, shit.
“Doc?” Kiera panted.
Doc didn’t look up. Kept moving his hands back and forth. His shoulders had gone tense. His jaw went hard.
Her head lolled back on Jake’s lap. “Is she okay? Jake? Please, tell me.”
Doc reached for another towel.
He continued working, big hands chafing a tiny body.
Please let the baby be okay. Please.
The bulb thingy made more noises as Doc suctioned again.
Silence filled the hot SUV.
“Please, is she all right?” Kiera’s voice cracked.
Jake caught sight of a tiny pasty-white arm.
He stared at that arm as sweat rolled down his neck.
Then a feeble, thin cry emitted from the wiggling baby.
His baby.
Kiera gasped and squeezed Jake’s hand.
Then their fighting baby grabbed a solid lungful of air and screamed for all she was worth. Jake winced. Like mother like daughter. The best fucking sound he had ever heard in his entire life.
Two tiny feet kicked in the air. Doc did a clamp and cut routine with the umbilical cord.
Doc’s shoulders relaxed. Sweat dripped off his chin. “Can I put her on your skin, Kiera? It will help keep her warm.”
“Yes, anything she needs,” she said, her voice hoarse.
With Jake’s help, she lifted her shirt and reached for the kicking, mewling baby. Doc opened a reflective heat blanket and tucked it over the baby and around Kiera.
While Doc finished his work down below, Jake stared in amazement at Kiera and her living, breathing baby girl.
His baby girl.
Something was wrong with his eyes. He had to keep blinking away blurriness.
“You did it,” he said, leaning over to drop a kiss on Kiera’s damp forehead.
Her head lolled back on his lap. “All because of you and the guys.” Her chin quivered. “If I were still there…”
“Shh, we’re not going to think about that.”
“How did you find me?” she whispered.
He smiled. “I’d love to take credit, but Stumpy gave you wearable GPS tech.”
“Wow.” As she nuzzled the baby, Kiera’s amber gaze went liquid. She cupped the baby’s head. “Oh, my gosh, look at her hair. She’s got so much. I wish Mateo was here to see her. He would have been the best uncle.”
Mateo. A lead weight dropped into the pit of Jake’s stomach, and he swallowed. “Yeah, and she’s beautiful, like her mother.”
Still terrified that the virus would make him do something stupid, he stroked his daughter’s soft, round cheek. But carefully. He had to be so gentle. Why did his fingers shake?
“Thank you, Jake. So much.” She lifted her head from his lap. “You too, guys.”
“Happy to help,” Doc said, a relieved smile the only betrayal of emotion. “Rodeo, you good up there?”
With a weak wave of his hand and an incoherent whimper, his teammate remained strictly facing forward, gripping the steering wheel.
Doc rolled up the waste into a plastic bag and placed a special stretchy undergarment on Kiera. “All done. Um, you’ll have to use the sheet for now.” He tucked the drape around her hips and knees and leaned back on the folded front seat.
“Works for me.” She beamed at her cooing baby.
Her face glowed in a way Jake had craved since the day he’d first met Kiera.
He’d lost his chance before. He had almost lost his chance again tonight. There was no guarantee of a future together. Not after what he’d said to her.
Something twisted in his chest. He made a silent promise to at minimum be there for this baby and Kiera for as long as he possibly could.
Lequire was still out there, enhanced with the virus. The guy was even more dangerous and unhinged. Morpheus Squad’s mission to destroy Fallen Comrades wasn’t even close to over yet. Kiera’s family was still in danger. The team had work to do.
For now, though, Jake would enjoy the brief peace, for as long as it lasted.
But before he started his work of keeping Kiera and her baby safe, and before he helped the team destroy Lequire…
Jake had one more mission to complete.