Deadly Games - Cate Noble [35]
“Dr. who?” Maddy tried to look confused and shook her head. “I don’t know anyone named Dr. Rupert.”
“Rufin,” the woman repeated the name.
Pockface interrupted the woman with what sounded like more rapid-fire questions. Or threats.
The woman sighed and addressed Maddy again. “They need the baby-father, this Rocco, to find Dr. Rufin, in order to free you. He said that if you help, you will be freed more quickly.”
Fresh tears stung Maddy’s eyes. They were both lying. Nothing Maddy did, or didn’t do, would help. The sick feeling that she had been fighting suddenly surged. Twisting sideways, she hung her head over the side of the cot and retched, the vomit barely hitting the bucket the doctor slid into place.
Pockface stormed away as the woman lapsed into speaking Thai again. Even though the woman’s tone sounded sympathetic, Maddy knew it didn’t matter. She was doomed.
If her captors thought Rocco was the father of her child, they had assumed a relationship that wasn’t.
And if her freedom depended on these men gaining custody of Dr. Rufin, she and her unborn child were as good as dead.
Chapter Twelve
Southeast Texas
October 4, 2:10 P.M.
Rocco checked the rearview mirror. They’d been on the road nearly twenty minutes without incident. He’d driven north, then cut west in a zigzag pattern. So far there had been no sign of the black truck.
No police either. Which could change in the flash of a blue strobe light. A shoot-’em-up through town wouldn’t go unreported. And even though Rocco hadn’t fired his weapon, for fear of harming Gena, witness accounts could make him a definite person of interest.
Being held in custody while the cops verified Rocco’s identity and vetted his national-security-get-out-of-jail-free claim meant possibly being separated from Gena. And Rocco wouldn’t allow her to be vulnerable like that again.
Had Minh Tran’s man taken her today because they were concerned she could identify them from last night’s firebombing and wanted to keep her quiet? Or had their intent been to kill her? To make an example of her, to hammer home the seriousness of the threat Maddy faced?
Like he needed an example.
One thing was clear: Minh Tran’s men were determined to get to Gena. Their attack in broad daylight suggested they weren’t overly worried about the local cops. Which made them that much more dangerous.
He glanced at Gena. She’d obviously managed to shower and change, but now she looked even more fragile.
She was lucky to be alive after jumping from that truck. And while she claimed she was fine, once the adrenaline dissipated from her bloodstream, she’d be hurting. The sleeve of her shirt was torn. More scrapes were visible, new ones and old ones.
Gena continued to stare out the back window of Rocco’s rental sedan, clearly expecting the black truck to come after them. And Rocco had been so livid over the way she’d left him at the hospital that he’d purposely let her stew, hoping she’d think twice before endangering herself again.
Now, however, they needed to talk.
“You’ll be safe, Gena. I promise. I won’t let him harm you,” Rocco began.
She made a derisive sound. “If that’s supposed to make me feel better, or make me more malleable, it’s not working.”
“Let me amend that then.” He struggled to keep his temper in check. Yes, he was mad as hell at her, but she wasn’t the person to blame. Minh Tran was. And the payback Rocco now owed Tran had more than doubled.
“I won’t let anyone harm you as long as you stay with me,” he continued. “And I feel fairly certain we’ve lost the guy in the truck, so you can turn back around.”
She shook her head and doggedly kept her watch. “What about the man following you? My guy was pretty annoyed that you’d given him the slip.”
Rocco took his eyes off the road for a second to glance at her. “How do you know I was followed?”
“The guy who grabbed me called his partner and chewed him out.