Hunted, A Romantic Suspence Novel (10 page)

“The nurses said you could have some once you were awake and no longer nauseated. Want me to call them?”

“No.” Shaking her head, she looked out the window away from him. She hated the fact that her heart jumped a little faster knowing he was at her bedside. Her heart wanted to believe he’d stayed because he cared. Her mind knew better. He probably wanted to be sure she didn’t try to escape again.

The musky scent of the aftershave he’d worn earlier to his parents’ house filled the air around her. Her skin tingled. He’d moved from his spot in the corner to the bedside.

“Katie, you needed stitches in that wound, and they pulled out several pieces of wood and some glass from around it. The nurse said if you woke and wanted some pain medicine to give her a call.” He brushed her hair from her face.

She tried to swallow. Her mouth was as dry as cotton. “Is anything broken?”

“Don’t you remember the docs telling you how lucky you were that your injuries were so minor?”

“Yes.” The fuzzy memory crept into her mind and she nodded. “When can I leave?” She steeled her jaw, fighting with every ounce of her willpower to contain the tears that threatened.

“The doctors said I could take you home as soon as they were sure your concussion hadn’t caused any permanent damage.”

“You should let me get out of town. They know you’re helping me. It isn’t safe for you to be around me anymore.” She looked into his deep hazel eyes. Why wouldn’t he understand? “Surely you see that now.”

For a moment their gazes held. He slowly leaned in and kissed her softly, sending her pulse into hyper-speed and spreading warmth throughout her body. Then he held her face in his strong, warm hands and eased his lips off hers. The stubborn look had returned to his face.

“Wrong, sweetheart. What I see is the need for us to work together. The only thing Strict’s people did by hurting you and invading my privacy, is hack me off.” He pressed his lips to her forehead once more. “Now you close your eyes for a little longer, and I’ll go get you something to drink.”

Katie closed her eyes until she heard the door close. A deep sigh escaped her. She’d never been comfortable dealing with men’s stubborn egos. The wise thing to do was leave before he got back.

The determined set of his jaw and willfulness of his gaze flashed in her mind. He’d just come after her. With her luck, he probably
would
press charges against her for holding him at gunpoint.

Ignoring the throbbing in her thigh and hip, Katie eased to a sitting position on the edge of the bed. She tested her strength while standing. Not too bad. Then she took one faltering step toward the bathroom. Pain shot through her hip. She froze, panting and waiting for the pain to subside. As soon as the stars before her eyes disappeared, she forced herself to take another step, then another.

The pain grew less intense as she made her way across the room, focusing on the purple bag with her clothes hanging on the bathroom door. She grabbed it on her way inside.

For a moment Matt’s heart leapt into his throat as he stood in the doorway staring at Katie’s empty hospital bed. Then the toilet flushed.

She hadn’t left.

Relief flooded him, which was just as quickly replaced with anger as she exited the bathroom dressed in her bloody jeans and ripped sweater.

What the hell was she doing out of bed? And where did she think she was going?

The woman had no sense.

Leaning back against the doorjamb, he folded his arms over his chest. It took every ounce of willpower not to take one of her arms and help her back to bed. “Going somewhere?”

“We have to get out of here. It isn’t safe.” She sat on the edge of the bed and wiggled her feet into her shoes.

He watched in frustration as she tried to bend over to tie her shoes, only to stop and pant as flashes of pain passed over her face.

Hell would freeze over before she’d ask for help.

“Here, let me.” Kneeling at her feet, he lifted her right foot and set it on his knee, tying her shoelaces. “Why do we have to leave right this minute?”

“I assume you gave the admissions department my health card and Social Security number?” She winced as he lifted the foot of her hurt leg.

He nodded. “Sort of hard to get you admitted without them these days.”

“The Marshals gave those to me. As soon as I’m admitted to a hospital, they’re automatically notified. Then they’ll come to bring me in.”

Frustration surged through him. He knew she was scared, but she sounded like a completely paranoid conspiracy theorist. Setting her foot back on the ground, he remained kneeling in front of her, one hand resting on her knee.

“Katie, the Marshals’ job is to protect you. The longer you run from them, the easier it’s going to be for Strict’s hit man to find you.”

Tears filled her beautiful eyes, but she simply swiped them away with the back of her hand. “You don’t understand.”

Gently he laid his palm against her cheek. “Explain to me so that I will.”

“I did call them.”

“The Marshals?”

She swallowed hard and nodded. “The morning after you found my tire shot out. They were supposed to be picking me up at work that night. Only...”

“Only your car blew up instead.”

“They promised me if I followed their rules, no one would ever know who I was. When I called for help, they sold me out. You have to believe me.”

He rose and paced the room, thinking about the message he’d sent to the Marshal’s the night before. If she was right, then someone had traced that message back to his apartment. His action had nearly killed them both.

Stopping in front of the window, he stared into the early morning’s gray light. Outside, a dark sedan pulled up near the hospital’s entrance. Two men climbed out and hurried into the building.

“Damn. I do believe you and you’re right. We do have to get out of here. Now.” He took her by the hand and led her to the door.

Suspicion filled her eyes, but she didn’t fight his hold on her hand. “Why? Why do you all of a sudden believe me?”

“Because I think the Marshals just arrived.”

Opening the door just two inches, he peeked down the hall. The nurses’ station was located at one end where several employees stood talking, their backs to Katie’s room. A stairwell was on the hall’s opposite end.

Easing her back into the room, he grabbed both their coats off the chair by the door. “How fast do you think you can move on that leg?”

“Not as good as before, but I’ll manage.” She slipped on her coat and pulled the zipper up tight, determination etched in the fine lines of her face.

For how long in her young life had she managed just to survive? He’d like to get his hands on the people who’d forced her to do that.

He pushed the protective feelings into the back corner of his mind. He’d examine them later. Now, he had to get her to someplace safe.

“When we get in the hall, wrap your arm around my waist, like we’re lovers. We’ll head to the left and the stairwell. If we can get in there without being seen, we might escape before anyone comes looking for us.” Touching her under the chin, he lifted her face and stared into her eyes. “Got it?”

She nodded. Smiling at her, he released her then stepped to the bed. He plumped her pillows and laid them lengthwise in the bed. Then he drew the covers up high.

At the door, he turned off the lights and whispered in her ear. “It never works on TV, but maybe it’ll buy us a few minutes before they realize you’re gone.”

For the first time since he’d met her, she gave a small laugh.

He kissed her lightly then wrapped his arm around her waist. “Ready?”

“Yep.” She wrapped her arm around him, her injured hip next to his. Her weight leaned slightly into him, and he adjusted to support them both.

“Not too fast now.”

Opening the door, he checked to be sure the staff was still distracted. “Looks like they’re busy.”

“It’s seven in the morning. Report time,” Katie whispered in his ear. “We’ve got fifteen to thirty minutes before the nurses make rounds, depending on how long-winded the night shift is this morning.”

“Let’s go then.”

Without making a sound, they slipped into the hall. Katie showed him how to close the door without any noise. Turning their backs to the nurse’s station, they made their way to the stairwell. He prayed there weren’t any alarms on the door as he opened it. Nothing sounded and he helped her through.

Just as he eased the stairwell door closed, the single up bell rang on the elevator at the opposite end of the hall. Quietly he clicked the door shut.

“We’ve got to move fast,” he said in lieu of an apology. Before she could protest, he bent, lowering his shoulder and hoisting her up over his back fireman style. Air surged out of her lungs in a whoosh as she landed doubled over his shoulder, but they couldn’t waste time with her bum leg or arguing about it. She could chew him out later.

One arm wrapped around the backs of her thighs, and the other on the hand rail, he hurried down the stairs, trying to distance them from the Marshals or whoever came looking for them.

At the bottom step, he set her on her feet again. They slipped through the door into the emergency room lobby, just twenty feet from the exit.

“My truck’s not too far from here,” he said, drawing in breath as she wrapped her arms around his waist once more.

Again the staff seemed preoccupied with switching shifts. Even the security guards reported off to each other. No one noticed the couple making their way through the front lobby.

Suddenly, alarms sounded inside. The guards rushed past them toward the elevators.

Forcing himself to remain calm, Matt led Katie through the automatic sliding doors and out into the parking lot. Then he hurried her into his truck.

She turned to watch behind them.

“See anything?” he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the street. The urge to speed was overwhelming. Instead, he drove carefully away from the hospital.

“Nothing yet.” She continued to watch until he’d pulled out onto the road then she slowly turned around. “Do you think they’re searching the hospital?”

“With any luck they’ll search every floor.” He pulled the armrest down between them. “Why don’t you lay your head down and rest until we get back to my friend’s house?”

“I can rest at the house.”

“You’ll be too busy then.”

He felt her studying him.

“Doing what?”

“Answering questions.”

“Just send it to the house by courier, Jake.” Matt talked with his brother-in-law on his cell phone as he stood at the stove, flipping buttermilk pancakes.

Katie listened to him for a moment then searched in the refrigerator for milk for her coffee, but came up with hazelnut creamer instead. God bless the woman who owned this house.

Stirring the coffee, she maneuvered past the three furry beasts milling about the kitchen, their noses actively sniffing the air. She eased herself onto a chair, and watched them. Today, they appeared almost harmless in their efforts to convince the man cooking to share some of his feast. The man, on the other hand, seemed anything but harmless.

“No, I don’t want you to come over here. You stick close to Sami. Katie and I need to handle this ourselves.” He divided a pancake into three pieces and flipped them to the dogs. “I don’t want anyone else involved. It’s too dangerous.”

Ever since they drove away from the hospital, he’d radiated an awareness that crackled the air around him with tension. Gone was the Dudley-Do-Right Highway Patrolman she’d met that first morning a week ago. In his place was every action figure she’d ever seen on television with a little of an ancient barbarian thrown in for good measure. If swords had been legal, she could have easily imagined him strapping it on his hip as he prowled around the kitchen.

Once they’d arrived at the house, she’d expected him to grill her immediately for information. Instead he’d dialed his sister’s number and begun making breakfast, mumbling something about working better on a full stomach. Something in his manner suggested he was trying to calm himself before starting his question and answer period.

Katie studied him as he moved around the kitchen. Never in her life had she met a man like him. Strict and the men at the bunker always asked questions with their fists. They believed a man acted immediately. Indecisiveness or any hesitation was a sign of weakness to be exploited.

Yet, despite his anger, Matt worked hard leashing it before speaking to her. Even though his anger was palpable, she knew instinctively that it wasn’t directed at her in any way. He seemed determined to gather as much information as possible, but she had a feeling that if she didn’t have the answers he wanted he wouldn’t punish her for it, either.

“If you can find any files on Strict’s people, especially pictures, send them to me via e-mail. I’ll call you later.” He set a plate with two large pancakes in front of her and one with twice as many across the table for himself then he winked at her. “Yes, tell Sami that except for some bumps, bruises, and a few stitches, Katie’s all right.”

Katie lifted her fork and began eating, trying to ignore her heated blush of embarrassment. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone showed concern over her welfare. To have Matt’s sister ask about her caused an odd sensation to settle in her chest, one she didn’t want to ponder.

Hanging up the phone, Matt sat across from her and ate half of his plate of pancakes before stopping to drink his hot chocolate.

The man had a real thing for hot chocolate in the mornings.

“Jake has a copy of the sign-in log for the past two years at
the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisberg, Pennsylvania. He’s sending it over by special courier this morning.”

“Why do we need that?” She set her fork aside, her hunger satisfied and her appetite suddenly gone.

“Strict contacted someone on the outside to set up the hit. I’m hoping the log will give us some clue as to who we’re searching for.” He finished off his pancakes and pushed his plate to the table’s center. Sitting back in his chair, he sipped from his mug. “In the meantime, we should concentrate on finding out who at the Marshals sold you out. Tell me exactly what happened the day of your tire shooting, after you left me.”