“I had a dream about Dutch. A nightmare.”
“Yeah?”
“He was in trouble.”
“Interesting.”
“Have you been able to reach him?”
“I haven’t, but I don’t have any
reason to believe—”
“I’m asking you to make sure he isn’t in danger.”
“I have every intention of continuing to do so.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, unsure if he was angry with her.
“Now I have a question for you.”
“Go ahead.”
“Is there a reason you didn’t inform Mantis that you were changing hospitals?”
“It wasn’t intentional. My parents…”
“I would be very disappointed to think you were refusing to communicate with him. We’re a team, Alegria, and must operate as such regardless of any inappropriate relationships you may be in.”
It felt as though Doc was scolding her, and she didn’t like it. “As I said before, I don’t have my phone,” she responded defensively while glaring at her mother who had walked back into the room with her father.
“Alegria, is this a good time for you to talk more candidly?” Doc asked.
“It really isn’t.”
“Roger that. Please call me back when you’re able to.”
“Yes, sir, but I’ll need your number,” she answered. She felt her cheeks heat at having to ask for it, but until she was able to find her phone, she had no choice.
Chapter 21
Dutch
He studied the man who stood before him and who had just threatened him. “What do you want?”
When the man didn’t answer, he sat down on the edge of the bed and rested his hand on the blanket that covered the naked woman’s body. “Is this who you’re here for? I can tell you, if she pleases you half as well as she pleased me, you’ll be a happy man.”
“Silence!” the man ordered. “You know who I want, and it isn’t a whore.”
“Enlighten me.”
“Mantis Cassman. If he isn’t here within twenty-four hours, you’re a dead man.”
Who the hell was Mantis Cassman?
He studied the man who had been guarding him for the last hour, and watched as he began to nod off. That’s what happens when you hire amateurs, he thought to himself.
He almost had the rope binding his hands loose, and once it was, he’d be able to get to the knife he felt in the lining of his boot. Again, amateurs. They took his gun, but hadn’t bothered to look for any other weapons.