Page 121 of Close Pursuit

Katie shook her head. “He was the physician who delivered her. But he’s definitely not her father.”

“He’s listed on her birth certificate as the father.”

Jeez. How did this woman know that? “Yeah, and I’m listed as the mother of record. We had to put our names on her birth certificate to get her through Customs in Kyrgyzstan. But I’m no more this child’s birth mother than you are.”

“Indeed? Well, that explains a lot.”

Huh?“How?”

“Clueless American,” Natasha muttered.

She turned back to face the front and snapped something at the driver in Russian. He slowed down his breakneck pace and blended in with the traffic fleeing the shooting behind them. They turned off the broad avenue and took surface streets through a run-down residential area into an industrial area. Old warehouses and factories loomed, dark and dead, around them.

The SUV stopped in front of one and a guy from the back seat jumped out to throw up a huge garage door. The vehicle pulled into the cavernous space and the door closed behind them.

“This is where we will learn your true value to those who care about you,” Natasha commented.

“How’s that?” Katie asked, her gaze darting around at every detail she could ascertain in the gloom. It looked like a huge, empty warehouse. Concrete floor. Littered with trash. Rusty steel columns at wide intervals supported I-beams up by the ceiling. It looked like a few windows were spaced high up by the ceiling, as well. But at the moment, no light shone through the filthy panes. A house-sized box stood off to one side. Offices, no doubt.

It was to these the SUV headed.

“No funny business, Katie McCloud. I’m not under orders to keep you alive. I’m only under orders to take the baby. It is a kindness I do you to let you stay with her.” She snorted. “Not that I want to take care of some squalling brat, anyway.”

Take the baby? Why? Who wanted Dawn so badly?

No matter how loud she shouted the questions inside her head, no answers came to her. Where was Alex? And Ian? Were they alive? She devolved into fervent prayer.

She had to keep thinking. Stay aware and alert. Look for an opportunity to slip away from her captors. Leave a clue for her rescuers. She figured they’d driven for nearly a half hour. They’d never really left the urban sprawl of northern New Jersey. She sniffed the air. No salt smell, so they’d probably driven inland. She estimated roughly due west from Atlantic City.

They’d probably gone sixty miles per hour for the first five minutes or so, and then slowed maybe forty miles per hour. She did the math in her head. She was fifteen to twenty miles away from the Cartwheel Casino, then.

“Take her out there,” Natasha ordered, jerking her chin at the warehouse space behind them. “I have several calls to make. No one leaves here and no one makes any phone calls. Understood?”

The three men nodded and led Katie out of the office.

“What are your names?” she asked the guys.Get to know your captors. Become a human being to them and not just a commodity.Hostage training 101, dumbsquat!

How many times had she heard her father growl that over the years at cop shows doing bad hostage plots on television?

A sob threatened to break through at the thought of her father yelling at the TV. She forced it down brutally. She had no time for fear. She had to be strong for Dawn. For herself. For Alex.

For Alex?Was she that far gone to him? The Russian thugs shoved her down onto a sturdy metal chair with a vinyl cushioned seat. They taped her ankles to the chair legs and passed duct tape around her waist and the chair back until she was securely attached to the seat.

“I gather you’re not planning to keep me here for long since I can’t go to the bathroom like this?” she tried.

The Russians didn’t deign to answer her.

One of the thugs commented reasonably kindly, “Don’t try nothin’. We’ll be watching you, and Natasha says to shoot you if you try to pull anything. Wouldn’t wanna to hurt the kid, so you behave, okay?”

Katie nodded her understanding.

All three men retreated into the shadows, leaving her alone on that chair with Dawn in the sling around her neck. Thankfully, they’d left her hands free to hold the infant. Somewhere in the mad flight from the shootout, she’d finally lost the baby bag. At least Dawn had a reasonably fresh diaper on. Now, if only whatever was going to happen didn’t take too long, Dawn should sleep for several hours before she got hungry.

If Dawn’s birth father wanted her, why hadn’t he just identified himself and asked to have her? He was legally entitled to custody of his daughter. Why all this drama and violence to snatch her?

Which led to the question, what if this wasn’t Dawn’s father coming after her? Whoelsecould possibly be interested in one tiny baby?

Oh, Alex. Where are you? Please be all right.

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