Her Boss's Baby

Her Boss's Baby - Epilogue

"Its been a month." Jane glared across the table, "You haven't found her. Why not?"

"Jane," Randall sighed, "I am working on it."

"She missed Thanksgiving, now she's missed Christmas. Randall..."

"Damn it, Jane." Randall's chair tipped to the floor as he jumped to his feet, "I want to find her as badly as you do. I'm working on it." He stormed out of the house and across the deck.

Rain reached over from his place beside Jane and took her hand, "Love, you need to give him time."

"Time? Rain, it's been a month. Lord only knows what Jamison has been doing to her."

"She knew what she was doing when she went with him." He pressed her fingers to his lips, "Randall has a lot of contacts in all corners of the world. He has men everywhere searching for her. He will find her."

"Before or after Jamison changes her forever?" Jane heard her cellphone ringing in the bedroom and went to fetch it. She didn't recognize the number, but answered anyway. "Hello?"

"Jane!"

"Oh, my God, Nikki?" Jane recognized her friends voice immediately. She hurried to the dining room and waved to Rain. "Where are you?"

"I don't know exactly." Came the response. "I was drugged when he brought me here. There's a village nearby. They speak a dialect that tells me we're probably in South America. Most of this place is jungle. I'm guessing Brazil."

Rain was on his phone, Jane guessed to call Randall. She pushed a button on her phone to record the call. "We're going to find you."

"Don't worry about me." Nicole told her. "I need you to tell Randall, it's the New Year's Eve celebration on the base."

"What?"

"Jamison has men on the base. They are building bombs that will detonate during the Fireworks Show on New Year's Eve."

"Oh, Jeez." Jane gasped, "They're going to kill hundreds of people."

"Soldiers." Nicole answered. "They're going to kill hundreds of soldiers."

"Why haven't you called before?" In the background, Jane heard a woman's voice speaking in a foreign language. "Who is that?"

"A friend in the village." Nicole answered then spoke to the woman in the same language. "I haven't been able to master the language enough to figure out where I am. Though these people are very isolated. We've got to be deep in the jungle. They don't know anything other than this village. There's only one or two people in the village who have phones, and they're landlines."

Jane saw Randall jogging up the stairs to the deck, "Randall's here."

"I have to go." Nicole told her. Give him my message. I'll call when I can."

"You have to come home." Jane told her, "You're my maid-of-honor."

"You're getting married. I'm glad. I gotta go. I'll call again when I can."

The line went dead. Jane stared at her phone a moment before turning to Rain and Randall who had just entered. "She hung up."

Randall reached for her phone, breathing heavy from his exertion, "You recorded it, right?"

"Yes." Jane played back the call for him.

"Shit, New Year's Eve? He's..." Randall shook his head.

"She doesn't know who he has on the inside." Jane said, "Only that there is someone."

Randall nodded, running a hand through his short hair, "At least we have a starting point. I need to find out what language they were speaking, that will get us a hell of a lot closer."

"Her father can tell you." Jane suggested, "He has been studying languages for nearly fifty years. He lived in the jungles of South America for years before Nikki was born."

"I've got to get over to the base," Randall headed for the door, "I'll check in with you later."

"I can email the file to George Nelson." Jane offered, "And ask him to see if he can figure out what language she's speaking."

Randall nodded and disappeared out the door.

Jane sent the file, and turned to Rain, "I feel like we're one step closer to finding her."

"We are." He took her into his arms, and kissed her forehead, "Before you know it, all your friends will be here watching us walk down the aisle."

"I really hope so." She went up on tiptoes to press her lips to his. "I love you, and I want to marry you, but I need Nikki to be here. She and I have been planning our weddings since we were little girls."

"I understand. As long as I know it will eventually happen, I don't mind waiting."

Jane rested her cheek against his chest, her arms were wrapped around his waist. She felt content, happy, and safe, but unsettled at the same time. While she had found happiness with her daughters and Rain, she knew her best friend was lost somewhere and had to be found.