Mommy Under Cover

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“Lucky guess.” He waited a moment. “But yours probably wasn’t a guess, huh?”

“Not really. Fletcher’s procedure of flushing and then replanting an embryo is possible, though illegal in this country and most others. But the technology to genetically manipulate a human embryo doesn’t exist. So I doubt he’d bother with the former when he can’t do the latter.”

Riley nodded. That was his theory, too. “So, basically he just uses insemination to impregnate his clients and pretends to do his DNA manipulation thing. The women walk out of his facility with a lot less money than they had when they entered, and they’re pregnant with babies they could have conceived the old-fashioned way.”

He winced at his choice of words, but Tessa merely dodged his gaze and resumed combing her hair. “By the time the couples realize they don’t have the perfect child,” she said, “it’ll be too late. Fletcher will have closed up his operation and skipped town.”

Or else the couples would be so attached to the kids that perfection no longer mattered.

Riley kept that part to himself. And he didn’t get to renew the insemination argument, either, because there was a knock at the bathroom door.

“We have a visitor,” Agent Ingram relayed through the closed door. “It’s Dr. Fletcher. He’s here.”

Adrenaline slammed through Riley. Not good adrenaline, either. “What does he want?”

“He says there are some questions about your records and he needs to see you right away.”

Great. Just great.

“Oh, and he’s not alone,” the agent added. “There are two men with him and both are carrying concealed weapons.”

Riley cursed

So did Tessa.

And they both reached for their guns.

Chapter Four

“Where’s Fletcher now?” Tessa cracked the door open and asked Ingram, who was waiting on the other side for further orders.

“I left him and his two assistants outside on the front veranda. I told them that I couldn’t let them in until I got the okay from you.”

Good. So, they weren’t actually in the house. That was something at least.

If Fletcher had been let in, he could use the opportunity to plant some kind of listening device. That would precipitate a thorough scrub-down of the place. A scrub-down that would take hours for Riley and her to do. But even if that hadn’t been an issue, Tessa was glad Fletcher was still outside. There was just something unnerving about being under the same roof as the murdering doctor, and she wanted to delay it until she was ready to face him.

“Stay out of sight,” Riley instructed Ingram. “We’ll be downstairs in a couple of minutes.”

Her father’s warning raced through her head. Fletcher might have dug a little deeper in your records than we originally thought.

If the doctor had found nothing, the fact that he was still looking wasn’t a good sign. An equally bad sign was that he’d made an impromptu visit barely an hour after Riley and Tessa had left his office.

“You think Fletcher’s suspicious?” Tessa asked, hurrying. She peeled off her bathrobe and grabbed her leather shoulder harness. Beside her, Riley did the same.

“Maybe. Or maybe this is just what he considers first-class service to his clients. Either way, stay alert.”

Tessa had no plans to do otherwise. “What about our weapons? If Fletcher has his thermal scanning equipment up and running, he’ll be able to see that we’re armed.”

“Possibly. But it won’t necessarily be out of character for the Tates. Remember, they’re paranoid about security. They’d probably consider Glocks and other 9 mm weapons to be proper accessories.”

True. But it could also make Fletcher’s suspicions about them skyrocket.

Together, they went into the dressing room. As the shower, it was easily large enough for several people, but Riley had a unique way of occupying space. Not his size, necessarily, since he wasn’t overly muscular. It was just his presence. Even with the rush of adrenaline, even with her nerves zinging from Fletcher’s unplanned visit, she noticed.

And she was sorry she had.

Tessa blamed it on that ridiculous heart-to-heart chat they’d had just minutes earlier. She’d said things to Riley she hadn’t intended to say. Ever. To anyone. Things that could have easily dissolved barriers that were best left between them. Thankfully the mission and Fletcher’s visit would put those barriers back in place. Because there was no room for personal feelings here.