Save Her Child by CJ Lyons (best historical biographies txt) 📗

“No!” Beth grabbed Leah’s arm with both hands. Leah shook her off and stepped back away from her. “No, please,” Beth begged. “I can’t risk them finding us. Can we take your car?”

Reluctantly, Leah pocketed her phone and grabbed her bag. Assessing and treating the baby came first. Then she would either convince Beth to see reason or call Luka to deal with her while she got the baby to the hospital. “Where is he?”

“Hidden. In the church.” Beth led the way back across the pavement to the church door. They entered a small vestibule that opened up onto a corridor leading behind the worship area. There were several doors—offices and storage, and a changing room for the ministers, Leah guessed as Beth rushed her past them in the near-dark. Then Beth turned sharply and there was a deep step down onto rough stone, two more steps and they reached a thick wooden door. Beth opened the door, held Leah’s hand, guided her inside an unlit room, far enough to close the door behind them, and finally, Beth flicked a light switch.

The room was much older than the rest of the building—possibly even original, given the white-washed curve of thick logs along the outer corner and the thick-planked, rough-hewn flooring. There were no windows, only a single, bare overhead lightbulb whose illumination was almost obscured by the dust motes that filled the air with a musty essence. Shadowy figures wearing bright-colored robes gathered along the outside wall, a life-sized nativity.

Leah glanced at Beth, who crossed to a set of shelves that held clear plastic boxes of Christmas and other holiday decorations. At the far side of the shelving unit was a tabletop hinged to the ancient plaster wall.

“Reverend Harper said this was the original church and they built a safe place to hide if they were attacked,” Beth explained as she unlatched the table and raised it, exposing a horizontal support beam that was notched along the top, matching where the hinges protruded. Except for one notch that was empty, as if the corresponding hinge had broken. Beth slid her fingers inside the empty notch, releasing a mechanical click, and then she swung open a hidden door in the lower part of the wall.

“He’s in here,” she told Leah. “The reverend said no one would find us here, but I had to come out, get help when he got sick. He was fine, I don’t know what happened, he was fine. Until I woke him a little while ago and he wouldn’t nurse, felt warm.” She ducked inside the hidden room and emerged with the baby cradled in her arms.

“Bring him into the light,” Leah said as she dragged a plastic bin to the center of the room to use as a makeshift examination table.

Beth had swaddled the baby in several blankets. She set him down and carefully unwrapped him. “I thought he was just tired—I know I was. So I let him go back to sleep, but now he’s so listless, I can barely keep him awake and he’s still refusing the breast. The reverend was going to bring me some formula to try, but he hasn’t come back…” Her voice drifted off, one hand caressing the baby’s dark hair as Leah opened her bag and grabbed a stethoscope.

She listened—no heart murmur, good lung sounds—then checked the baby’s fontanelle and reflexes. Responsive but drowsy, no signs of meningitis. “One of the blood tests they took after he was born showed signs of an infection,” she told Beth, drawing up a dose of the ceftriaxone. “I’m going to give him a shot of antibiotic to fight the infection, but then we need to get him back to the hospital.”

“No—you don’t understand. I can’t let them find us.”

“I’m sorry, we really need to monitor the baby.” Leah swabbed the baby’s thigh and injected the medicine. He made a small squeal of pain, but went silent again.

“Can’t you show me how to give him the medicine?” Beth pleaded. “If they find us, they’ll kill us.”

“He could get worse—sometimes this infection spreads into the lungs or even the brain. It’s very serious, Beth.”

Beth considered, her face tightening as tears seeped from her eyes. She leaned down and kissed the baby. “Take him. If I’m not around, they won’t find him. Take him.”

“We can keep you safe, Beth. Please let me—”

She shook her head. “No, no. I can’t risk anything happening to him. I’ve already made so many mistakes.” She clutched Leah’s wrist. “Please, you have to promise me. You won’t let anything happen to him. Please.”

“We’ll take good care of him.” Leah glanced at the door. She hadn’t heard from Luka and wasn’t sure if it was safe to take the baby outside. She began to wrap the baby back up, debating whether she should call an ambulance—no, it would take them too long to get here. She could take Luka’s car—he’d left the keys for her. It would be the fastest way to get the baby to safety.

The baby and Beth. They both needed protection. “The man you’re afraid of, he works for the Zapata family, right?”

Beth tensed, her gaze going to the door as if getting ready to run. “How did you know?”

“He killed Spencer’s wife and another man. We think he’s coming to find Reverend Harper, that’s why Sergeant Jericho and I came here.”

“He’s here? Now? Then there’s no time.” Footsteps pounding down the hall outside punctuated her words. “We need to hide.”

“Quick, take the baby.” Leah bundled the baby into Beth’s arms and helped her back through to the hidden room. She didn’t have time to lower the desk before the door to the hallway slammed open.

Leah whirled, her back to the wall.

Forty-Four

As Luka ran up the front porch steps, he heard two more shots fired in quick succession. He wrenched the front door open. His leg brace caught and he tripped over the threshold, slamming into the foyer wall and almost falling. Pain lanced