"Ah, she's sleeping. Do you think I could sit with her for a few minutes?"

"You were only supposed to be popping in to say hello."

"I've been so worried about her."

If Kate had the energy, she'd have laughed.

"You buzz when you need me."

"You're an angel, Marie."

As she heard the swish of the door Kate realized she should have spoken out.

Now she was alone with him. Her heart juddered.

"What happened to your face?" Jack asked. "Did someone hit you other than me?" His fingers dug into her wrist. "Talk to me, Kate. Look at me." She yelped and opened her eyes. His face was inches from hers, almost too close for her to focus.

"Aren't you going to ask how I am?" He held up his bandaged arm.

She began to gasp.

"Hey, calm down." He stroked her cheek, slid his hand to her neck and squeezed. His grip tightened and stopped her flow of air. She grabbed his arm, trying to pull him off.

His eyes darkened. "Remember what happened? Remember leaving me to die, bitch? Remember that?"

The pressure on her neck eased and Kate gulped air into her lungs.

"I hear you've kept quiet, Kate."

She fumbled for the call button. Jack caught her fingers.

"I think you're playing a game," he whispered. "Be careful. I'm better than you and my game is nowhere near over."

She chewed her lip.

"Hey, I heard the good news." He traced the outline of her face with his finger.

"That's how I managed to persuade the nurse and the cop to let me see you.

Appears we're going to have a baby of our own." He smiled. "Saves me from having to snatch one from Burger King."

Kate gave a little moan.

"Hey, that was a joke. You're supposed to laugh." He squeezed her fingers. "I explained to the Fed about our deviant ways, and about Tommy cutting your back." Jack's face came closer. "They think we like pain. They're right. I like hurting you and you like hurting me." He muffled her mouth with his hand and bit her neck. "If you won't love me, I'll take my pleasure any way I can." He slid his hand under the sheet onto her stomach. Kate tensed.

"You make one sound and I'll find Nathan and kill him. I heard a nurse say he was being X-rayed. I can find him. He should be dead anyway, butting in where he's not fucking wanted."

She sucked in a shaky breath through her nose.

Jack grinned. "Remember when I gave you those flowers and said this was going to be the biggest adventure of your life? Was I right?" He took his hand from her mouth.

The flowers he'd slammed in her face. She brought the words out of her head, rolled them around her mouth before releasing them. Repeated the question she'd asked before. "Why did you choose me?"

"The truth is-I didn't." He kissed her neck, sucked her skin hard until she felt it burn. Kate tried again to get the call button but he caught her wrist.

"Naughty. Maybe I didn't choose you, but you're mine now, for as long as this takes."

"I don't belong to you."

"Yeah, you do." Jack hitched up his gown and pulled back the cover to climb on her. "Reminds me of the times I fucked your mother in Ashlands. We had to manage in a single bed. Kind of cozy."

"Jack don't, please."

"Shut up."

He pressed his bandaged arm across her throat and pushed his fingers inside her. Kate tried to squirm free but he was too strong. She struggled to pull air into her lungs and grabbed at his injured arm. He flinched and lifted the pressure from her neck, but she knew she couldn't stop this.

Jack yanked up her gown and forced himself into her. Kate didn't struggle. She went limp and made herself a promise. This was the last time he'd touch her.

He'd never do this again. She'd rather be dead. There was nothing in his face, no pleasure, no hatred, nothing. No one would ever love him. One day, she might find someone who'd love her, but Jack would never have that. Never. He was the loser, not her.

A moment later he tensed and groaned. When Kate felt a spurt of warmth, she gagged. His arm lifted from her throat and she closed her eyes. She wouldn't stay in the hospital. Once he'd gone, she'd leave. She dragged deep gulps of air into her lungs.

"Sleep now, sweetheart. Tomorrow's going to be a big day for you. You're going to meet my Dad and give him the biggest surprise of his life. I can't fucking wait." The moment the door closed Kate opened her eyes. She sat up in the bed and reached for the back of the IV stand. She had no idea if switching it off would bring nurses running but she clicked the switch, peeled back the tape on her arm and pulled out the line. With her hand clasped over the puncture wound she staggered to the bathroom. As she washed Jack's semen from her legs, she retched.

Her fingers trembled as she put on her dirty clothes. She moved a pillow under the covers and tucked the IV line beneath it. It would only fool an idiot. Kate sighed. When she opened the door and looked down the corridor, a police officer sat reading a book. Kate watched the man who was supposed to be watching her, and waited.

The opportunity came sooner than she'd thought. A group of nurses walked past, blocking the line of sight to her room. Kate slipped out and went the other way, her heart pounding. She wanted to run, but made herself walk slowly. She took the first set of stairs she came to but every outside door had a sign saying it was alarmed. There were very few people around. She might be challenged at any moment.

Kate followed the signs for the ER. If people came in for treatment, there had to be a way out. She prepared herself for the hand on the shoulder, the shout for her to stop but they didn't come. She simply walked out the door. But Kate hadn't thought what to do then. The first breath of cold air struck a triple blow. No coat, nowhere to go, and no money-her chances of survival were nil.

When Nathan saw the shape by his car, it was a moment before he worked out it was a person. Another moment to register who. "Jesus Christ, Kate. What are you doing out here?" He crouched at her side. "How did you get out of the hospital?"

Her teeth chattered. She looked half-frozen.

"Let me take you back inside."

She reared up. "No...Jack's in there. Please, take me away from here. Help me."

"Weren't the police watching you?"

"Jack came to my room. He...." Her shoulders slumped. "It's okay. Sorry.

Sorry." She pushed herself to her feet and started to walk away. Nathan went after her.

"Kate, stop. You'll die out here."

"I'll hitch a lift."

"For f-get in the car." He stared straight at her. "I won't let him touch you ever again. I promise. Do you trust me?"

She nodded. It was the no hesitation that hooked him.

"Get in the car."

Nathan covered her with his coat as she lay across the back seat. Within moments, she was sound asleep. Now he was going to do something stupid.

Seems he was making a habit of it.

Chapter Thirty-Two.

Hedley switched on the bedside light in his hotel room and looked at the time.

Three a.m. Oh Christ.

"This better be important, Daniel," he growled into his cell phone.

"It is. You remember I was checking the guests staying in the Home Sweet Home motel at the same time as the Thompsons?" Hedley sat up and swung his feet out of bed. "Yeah?"

"The couple in the next room were a Bert and Martha Audubon from Kansas.

Just so happened they called in response to the Amber Alert on Sammy to say they'd seen a guy in their motel parking lot taking the plates off his Suburban.

He'd told them he was buying personalized ones for his wife but he never put on new ones."

Hedley ran his fingers through his thinning hair. It was a wonder he had any left. "And we didn't follow up on this?"

"The person who took the call logged the motel in Kansas City. I saw the name Audubon in the room next to the Thompsons, did a search for it and realized someone had messed up. I just spoke to the couple." Hedley winced. "At this hour?"

"Hey, I apologized." Dan sounded too excited.

"Spit it out," Hedley said.

"They told me the day before the kidnapping, as Thompson pulled his vehicle into the parking spot, his wife tumbled out of the door of the room and fell at the Audubon's feet. She wore handcuffs and her head was bleeding." Hedley closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "They didn't report that? Didn't think it was a touch strange?"

"Thompson convinced them there was nothing wrong. He said his wife was epileptic and needed to be restrained in case she hurt herself. But Martha Audubon told me she thought the woman whispered the word "police". Her husband persuaded her the word was please'."

Shit. "What were they thinking? How could they be so stupid?"

"They're kind of old."

"Then they should have known better," Hedley snapped, then regretted it.

"Sorry. Not your fault. Good work, Dan."

"There's more. I wasn't sure if we'd checked to see if a Kate Evans had been reported abducted. Guess what? She was reported missing by her neighbor in San Antonio. I spoke to the detectives in charge-Foster and Santiago."

"And?"

"Foster said it wasn't clear cut she'd been kidnapped. Her place of work received a resignation letter, and she'd taken some of her clothes, but there was a smashed up bouquet of flowers in her apartment which they think was how the guy got in. The clincher for Foster was she'd left a message scrawled on a toilet lid. It said Help'."

Oh Christ. "Those inept bastards couldn't find her? What else?"

"How did you know there was more?"

"Twenty-five years experience and the tone of your voice."

"I'll watch that. Well, they have a sighting of her at an ATM the night she disappeared. The guy with her threatened a man. The cops also happen to be looking for Nathan Beranson. He went into the florists that supplied the flowers to ask about the guy who'd bought the bouquet."

"Trying to solve this all on your own?"

"I wish."

Hedley could almost hear Dan smile.

"The detectives figured Beranson was looking for someone, but they didn't know who. They've been trying to contact him."

"And all three of them are here. Good work, Dan. Send me the details." Hedley broke the connection and rang McAllister. "Bob, this is Hedley."

"How the hell did you know?"

And Hedley guessed what had happened. "She's gone?"

"I've just had a phone call. They went in to check her IV and there was a pillow in the bed."

Hedley's hopes of a quick return to his family crumbled to nothing. Shit. "I take it Jack Thompson is still there. He's not to leave the hospital. I'm heading over there now."

When Hedley arrived, two squad cars sat outside, officers still inside and he swore. He rapped on the window of the nearest vehicle. The cop jumped out.

"Why aren't you looking for her?" Hedley demanded.

"We've checked the building and the immediate vicinity. No sign."

"Look again."

Hedley turned when he heard another vehicle pull up. McAllister stepped out and the uniformed cop hesitated. "We can't find her," he told his boss.