Read JOSH for Free Online Page B

couldn’t detect a darn thing from Josh’s expression.
    “I’ll show the ultrasound to the doctor,” the tech said, turning off the machine. “Someone will be in shortly to take you back to the E.R.”
    The tech had hardly made it out the door when Josh’s phone buzzed. Just like that Jaycee was reminded of the three missing women and the nightmare that wouldn’t end until they were all safe.
    Josh looked at the phone screen. “It’s Grayson,” he told her. And he clicked the speaker function.
    “How are the women?” Grayson asked.
    “One’s in labor. The other three are being checked out now.”
    “Good. Stay there with them, and if they’re feeling up to it, get statements from them. I’m trying to get a CSI team out here ASAP.”
    Josh shook his head. “What’s going on?”
    “I’m not sure.” Grayson paused a heartbeat. “But we found something.”

Chapter Five
    Something.
    Yeah, it was that all right. Josh looked at the items that had been collected from the rubble of the house that had exploded.
    A laptop.
    Or rather, what was left of it.
    Josh wasn’t sure they could recover anything from it, but there was a tech from the crime lab already working on it.
    There were also bits and pieces of paper. Several coffee mugs that would be processed for prints. Some shoes.
    And a badge in its black leather case.
    It was pretty beat up, as if someone had used it for a mini punching bag, but Josh had no trouble recognizing it as one issued to FBI agents.
    Beside him, Jaycee pulled in her breath when she saw it. “Is the badge mine?”
    Grayson nodded. “There’s enough of the identification card for us to confirm it’s yours.”
    “Oh, God,” she murmured and sank down into the chair next to the desk. “I didn’t have it on me when they took me. That means they got it from my apartment.”
    And more than that, it meant they knew who she was.
    She looked up at Josh as if she expected him to have some answers, but he didn’t. The only thing that he was certain of was they would have indeed killed Jaycee once the baby was born. No way would they let an agent go free.
    “But why steal my badge?” she asked, volleying glances at both Grayson and him.
    “We’re not sure.” Grayson motioned to the laptop. “But we’re hoping the info’s recoverable. Plus, we’ve contacted your supervisor, Philip McCoy, to let him know what’s going on, since he thought you were on a leave of absence this whole time.”
    “I did let him know I was taking some time off,” Jaycee said. “I was trying to deal with what happened so I told him I wasn’t sure when I’d be back to work—if ever,” she added in a mumble.
    “That’s why he didn’t push to find you,” Grayson continued. “Now that he knows what happened, he’ll check to make sure no one used your badge to get into the FBI building.”
    Where the person would have had access to all sorts of files and people. Of course, the San Antonio office where Jaycee was assigned wasn’t that large, so someone would have noticed a stranger trying to use Jaycee’s badge to gain entrance. If that had happened, it would have been a red flag for McCoy that something was wrong.
    Grayson opened his mouth to add more, but his phone rang. It was the third call that had come through since Josh arrived with Jaycee ten minutes earlier.
    Josh looked down at her. At her exhausted face. Her shoulders were slumped. There were dark circles under her eyes. She was biting her bottom lip. Every part of her body language told him she was tired and worried. Heaven knew what all this stress was also doing to the baby.
    “I’ll get you out of here soon,” he let her know.
    But that was another problem.
    He’d learned on the drive over that Jaycee no longer had an apartment. Since she hadn’t paid her rent, her things had been moved to storage and the place had been rented out to someone else. She had no family to speak of. And he wasn’t sure how she would feel about