She’d told Jack a few minutes ago that she didn’t want Max doing anything foolish. Now she was thinking that she should have taken Shane’s advice and left while she still could.
Would he come looking for her if she didn’t reappear in a reasonable time? Probably not, since she’d told him she’d be a while.
“Come on. We’re leaving,” he said.
“Let me go to the bathroom first.”
“Nice try. You already did that.”
“How do you know?”
“I was outside the door. I heard the toilet flush, and I looked in and saw you washing.”
She winced, hating the idea of his watching her take care of intimate personal details.
“Stop stalling,” he said. “Or I could just kill you here.”
Her gasp brought a smile to his face. “I guess you don’t like that idea. Probably you want to stay alive a little longer.”
The offhand comment was like his fingers tightening around her neck, but maybe she still could get away. Maybe she could somehow signal Jack.
“Quit wasting time. I don’t want that guy you’re with coming looking for you.”
“What guy?”
“The one in the lounge. Jack Brandt. The other hotshot Rockfort PI. Not the one whose cell phone I stole to trick your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
Troy snorted. “What is he?”
“I don’t have to talk about him to you.”
“Not now, anyway. Come on before I do something you’re really not going to like. We’re going to walk out of here together. I’m going to be right in back of you with the gun. Don’t try to go back to the lounge area where you spent the night. Turn the other way. You’ll come to an exit. Walk through the door and into the stairway.
His directions were very explicit. He must have been here for a while, planning his moves.
“How long have you been here?” she asked.
“Stop wasting time. Get into the hall and turn right.”
She did as he asked, praying that a nurse or someone would come along as they took a couple of awkward steps down the corridor. Then she canceled that prayer. If they did encounter someone, she could get them killed by asking for help.
Just as she had that thought, a nurse came down the hall toward the ladies’ room.
Olivia’s heart stopped, then started up in double time as she felt Troy’s gun pressing into the middle of her back.
She raised her eyes, and for a moment, she met the other woman’s gaze. But probably the nurse had been on duty all night and she didn’t catch the urgency that Olivia was trying to convey.
Feeling like she was on her way to her execution, she headed for the exit. As she walked, she eased her shoulder purse to the front and dipped her hand inside. At the exit, she pulled the door open and stepped into the stairs—where she scuffed her foot against the raised doorsill and stumbled.
Troy cursed and grabbed for her, holding her upright, but in the moments when he was holding her up, she managed to pull out the credit card she’d extracted from her wallet and drop it on the floor. In the scuffle, he didn’t notice, and he pushed her ahead of himself as they headed downward.
“We’re coming out at the side of the building,” he told her. “Turn right to the parking lot. And keep your head down.”
“Okay,” she whispered. She didn’t want to leave the hospital. She kept hoping that there was some way to run from Troy Masters. On the ground floor, the door had one of those horizontal bars instead of a knob.
“Push the bar,” he ordered, and she caught the tension in his voice. This was a dangerous time for her—and anybody who got in the way.
With no alternative, she did as he asked, and they were outside in the morning grayness.
“My car is in the lot. The red Beemer near the exit. I got a good space.”
She’d seen that red car before, she realized, but she hadn’t paid attention to it. Then she remembered he’d been driving a red car ten years ago too.
There were people out here, either walking toward the hospital or away, but she didn’t dare involve them. She and Troy made it to the car, and he opened the back door.
“Get in.”
Was he going to just leave her loose? Could she jump out when he stopped at a red light or something?
That hope was dashed when he slapped something wet and cold over her face. She coughed, then felt blackness closing in on her.
***
Jack glanced at his watch, thinking Olivia had been gone a long time. Trying to tell himself not to worry, he walked down toward the nurses’ station.
“Did the woman who was with me come this way to the ladies’ room?” he asked.
“Yes. I gave her one of our packages of personal articles.”