Page 88 of The Agent
With a large, frightening man on each side of her, Natalie staggered forward through a large formal living room toward a set of double doors, one of which stood open.
She pushed the tendrils of fog out of her brain, trying to think coherently while her cheek throbbed from Dobs’s slap. She’d been at her house. Now she was here, feeling woozy. Probably drugged but that didn’t matter. What was important was that Regina was here. Synapses fired in her brain, and hope fluttered to life.
Leland must know Regina was here, so Tully would know Regina was here. She just had to keep Dobs from doing whatever he was planning to do until help arrived. Because she knew in her bones that Tully would come.
Stall.
“I feel sick,” she said, letting her weight sag against her captors. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
Vince cursed. “The boss won’t like her puking on his fancy carpet. Let’s get her to the bathroom.”
They lifted her so that her feet barely touched the ground and hustled her out the door and partway down a hall, where they thrust her into a powder room.
“Spew fast,” Vince said, backing out but leaving the door open. “The boss don’t like to wait.”
Natalie lowered herself to her knees in front of the toilet and made herself gag. That was enough to kick the nausea into gear and she retched with dry heaves a couple of times before something came up.
“Where the fuck is she?” Dobs’s angry shout jabbed at her eardrums.
“Puking up her guts,” Vince said.
“Get her out as soon as she’s done,” Dobs grumbled.
Her stomach spasmed a few more times, emptying its contents and burning her throat and the cut inside her mouth with bile. She added as many fake dry heaves as she thought she could get away with before she flushed the toilet and dragged herself upright by holding on to the marble sink.
“You done?” Vince started back into the bathroom.
“Please let me rinse my mouth,” Natalie begged, wiping her lips with the back of her hand.
Dobs’s goon wrinkled his nose at the smell. “Do it quick.”
She turned on the cold water and cupped her hands under it, bringing handfuls to her mouth to swish and spit out. Then she splashed the chilly water on her face, hoping it would sharpen her mind even more. Yanking the elegant hand towel embroidered with a swirlingVHfrom the towel ring, she blotted her face gently, although she still hissed with pain when she touched her swollen cheek. She dropped the monogrammed linen on the floor and stepped on it.
Vince grabbed her arm and spun her around. “Move.”
Her knees felt stronger now that her stomach was empty, but she decided it would be a good idea to continue to wobble on her feet. That brought the other guard over. Was that good or bad?
As they passed through a large entrance hall—although not as grand as Tully’s—she noticed a set of matching suitcases piled by a doorway. Dobs was leaving. Taking Regina somewhere she couldn’t escape from?
A tremor of nerves ran through her as she slowly connected the dots. He must have used Natalie as leverage to get his wife to come here. Once he had Regina, would he need Natalie anymore? Would he just let her go, or would he want to eliminate witnesses? She glanced at the man walking beside her. He was a witness, but Dobs paid him. Did that mean Vince would keep quiet if Dobs committed murder?
Could Regina have snuck out of Dawn and Leland’s apartment without them knowing? No, she couldn’t—wouldn’t—have done that. Help was on the way. Natalie had to believe that.
She genuinely stumbled over the edge of a patterned runner in the long hallway they were walking her down. Vince’s grip tightened painfully and she whimpered.
They marched her through another doorway into a room with a huge wooden desk and chairs upholstered in black leather. Regina was huddled in one oversize chair, looking pale and frightened, while Dobs paced in front of the desk. At the sight of Natalie, Regina jumped up. “Are you okay?” she asked, coming forward with concern darkening her eyes.
“Other than being drugged and kidnapped by your psycho husband, I’m fine,” Natalie said. She was trying to provoke Dobs. If she could make him mad, make him pay attention to her, it would slow down his exit. She hoped.
She ignored Regina, who came to a startled halt.
“You sent me all those stupid emails and notes, didn’t you?” she prodded as Dobs rounded on her, his face flushed with anger. “Did you honestly think those ridiculous quotations about beauty would scare me?”
The flush darkened and mottled. “They did scare you. You hired a guard and that asshole consultant.”
“No, my friends sent the guard and the consultant. I thought it was an overreaction.” Natalie started to shake off her two unwanted guards but decided that her knees still weren’t reliable enough. “And you really overdid the melodrama by throwing blood on my door.” She rolled her eyes. “Where did you get that idea? Some adolescent Halloween prank? I laughed when I saw it.”
“What is she talking about, Dobs?” Regina asked, an expression of horror on her face. “What blood?”
