Ally made sounds while the other man checked out her cell phone. “I’ll tell you what she’s been doing. She’s been spying on the boss and sending messages. He’s not going to like it when he hears about this. I’ll call him while you take her out back. Don’t rough her up too much until he tells us what he wants done with her.”
“We don’t have any more empty rooms.”
“Then throw her in with one of the girls.”
The man untied her hands and dragged her through another door. After leading her down a long hallway with doors on both sides, he unlocked one and threw her inside, knocking her to the cement floor. She heard a shuffling sound in the room before the door clanged shut.
A small vent to the outside near the ceiling prevented the space from being completely black. Over in the corner huddled a figure. Ally got up on her knees and made her way to her. In a minute the girl undid the cloth and it fell away.
“Xie xie,” Ally said to her in Mandarin. “My name is Ally. I’m here to help you. The man I’m going to marry is a policeman. Soon he will come and get us out of here. While we’re alone, tell me everything you can about what has happened to you.”
The girl broke into a spate of Chinese, speaking so fast Ally had trouble following her. They must have been there, talking, for an hour before they heard the door open. Someone shone a flashlight in their faces. Ally was jerked to her feet and dragged down the hall to the same office as before.
This time a light had been turned on. She found herself looking into the cold hazel eyes of a tall, dark blond, athletic-looking man. “So you’re Robert Martin, the dragon with the split yellow tongue. To refresh your memory, you’re wanted for murder, armed robbery and female trafficking. You’re without a doubt the most depraved man on the planet,” she spat out.
He gave her a stinging slap across the face that cut her lip and would leave bruises, but her outrage was stronger than her fear.
“You know how I can tell?” she asked, baiting him. “You reek of garlic from the cream you use. I can smell the stench from here. That’s what gave you away.”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “You’re the woman who duped my grandmother on the phone.”
“What happened to your adoptive father and aunt? Did you kill them, too? Does your grandmother know about that? Your days of rounding up female gymnasts like cattle has come to an end. You can kill me, but it won’t stop the Texas Rangers from putting you away for the rest of your unnatural life.”
He screwed up his face. “The Texas Rangers don’t know squat about me.”
“Want to make a bet? Who do you think received all those text messages I sent?”
A nervous tic played havoc with the corner of his mouth. “You’re lying,” he growled. “Who are you?”
“I’m the daughter of Lawrence Duncan, former ambassador to China for fifteen years, until last summer when he was recalled to the States. Your entire operation throughout Asia is going to be closed down, sending the hundreds of evil kidnappers who work for you to prison.
“Surely by now you must know you’re the top man on the FBI’s most-wanted list, Bobo. Or shall I call you Momo? Perhaps your greatest act will be to face the death penalty for your crimes against humanity. Thousands of families of female victims will cheer.”
His skin grew mottled with rage. He lunged for her and knocked her against the wall. Just before she blacked out, Rangers swarmed the room. She cried out Luckey’s name before everything went dark.
* * *
THE PARAMEDIC IN the ambulance finished putting in the IV. “She’s coming to, sir.”
Luckey hunkered next to her, holding her free hand. He kissed it. “Ally, sweetheart? I’m right here.”
Her head moved back and forth before her eyes opened. “Luckey...” Her voice broke with emotion. Tears streamed out of the corners of her eyes.
“It’s all over. You’re going to be fine, thank God. Do you know you captured Robert Martin single-handedly? Everyone from the warehouse is in custody.” Luckey had so much to tell her, he didn’t know where to start, but right now she needed rest and quiet.
“You got all my messages?”
“Every one of them. But I didn’t hear from you again after I reached the massage parlor, and I couldn’t figure out where you’d gone. By then the Rangers had taken over and had followed your leads. All I could do was obey my instinct and meet the guys at the warehouse.
“When I saw your car and heard you baiting Martin, I couldn’t get to you fast enough. You’re the smartest, bravest woman I ever met, but if you ever do this to me again, I swear I’ll die of a heart attack.”
“Please don’t do that. Now we can get married, right?”
He sucked in his breath. “Right, but I’d like to live long enough to enjoy the honeymoon.”
“Where shall we go?”
“I don’t know yet. I can’t think.”