Runaway Vampire (Argeneau, #23)(28)
“Lucian is collecting a group to fly down to Venezuela to see what they can find,” he muttered unhappily.
“Venezuela?” Mary asked with surprise and he glanced at her with surprise of his own.
“Did I not tell you that Tomasso had been awake longer than me and had overheard them talking above stairs about our being transported to Venezuela?” he asked, and then muttered, “I thought I had.”
“You might have,” Mary allowed quietly. “My memory isn’t as good as it used to be.” Smiling wryly, she added, “And, I was a bit stressed out when we were first talking. I maybe didn’t take in everything.”
“Oh.” Dante nodded and bowed his head again, muttering, “My apologies. I did not mean to distress you.”
Mary frowned. The last thing he should be worrying about right now was any stress all of this had caused her. Besides, he sounded so defeated. Taking a deep breath, she stood abruptly and clapped her hands together. “All right then. I guess we’d best get moving.”
“What?” he asked, lifting bewildered eyes to her.
“Well, if your boss, this Lucian fellow, is arranging a rescue party to go down to Venezuela and hunt up your brother, you’ll want to go too. So . . .” She paused and frowned uncertainly. They’d hardly wait for her to drive Dante back north before launching their rescue attempt. At least she hoped they wouldn’t. They probably expected him to fly, she thought and said, “I’ll take you to the airport, then you can fly to Canada to meet up with your group. Or, are you supposed to fly straight to Venezuela and meet them there?”
“No.” He caught her hand and drew her back onto the bed beside him. “I am not going.”
“You aren’t?” she asked with surprise.
Dante shook his head and stared down at her hand, trapped in his own. “Lucian said I was too close to the situation and might jeopardize Tomasso’s life by doing something stupid,” he said grimly, and then cleared his throat and added, “He also agreed I must stay and look after you in case the kidnappers who followed us are still in the area looking for your RV.”
“Oh, that’s just silly,” Mary muttered impatiently. “They dropped back and then drove right past us when we were getting gas. Obviously they decided you weren’t worth the effort.”
“I’m not sure that is true,” Dante said quietly. “They were talking when Tomasso and I heard them approaching the room where our cages were. One of them was saying that someone they called ‘the Doc’ would be extremely pleased with them for catching twins for his experiments, and would no doubt give them a bonus for it,” he explained quietly and then added, “That is why I suspected they had driven ahead to try to ambush us. None of the others taken were twins. They would want me back.”
Mary frowned at this news. She knew that twins were considered useful when it came to experiments. Certainly Josef Mengele had preferred them and she’d recently read that NASA was performing some sort of experiment involving twins. And this certainly did explain why he’d kept harping on the possibility of the van waiting ahead to ambush them.
“We are to wait here. Lucian is sending hun—” He paused abruptly, and then said, “He’s sending officers to trail us in the hopes of capturing the kidnappers when they do make their attempt. That is the other reason he does not wish me to go to Venezuela.”
“Because he wants you to be bait,” she said solemnly.
He nodded, and pointed out, “Catching them is the fastest way to learn where Tomasso is, as well as find the rest of the kidnap victims.”
“Yes, I suppose it would be,” she agreed quietly.
“That and the need to protect you are the only reason I am not already headed for the airport.”
“I see,” Mary murmured, and found she was surprisingly concerned about this bait business. Not for herself, but for Dante. She’d thought that worry was over when the van had dropped back then driven past them, but this put a new light on things. They may have simply been preparing an ambush as he’d suggested which made her very glad she’d turned off the highway when she had. They should be safe enough here. It wasn’t like this was the only campground in the area. So if they had set up an ambush and then realized they’d turned off when they didn’t appear, his kidnappers would spend the night driving around in search of them. Even if they came to search here they’d run into difficulties. The campground gate had been open when they’d arrived because she’d been expected, but she was quite sure Dave would have closed the gate on his return to the office if all the booked people had arrived.
Sighing, Mary glanced to Dante and then followed his gaze to where he still held her hand. Swallowing, she watched his thumb slide gently across the top of her fingers in a gentle caress and was startled at the heat the light touch raised in her. And then she noticed that her fingers looked like her mother’s did in her memory: old and lined compared to his smooth, youthful skin.
When had that happened? she wondered, and then tugged her hand away and stood abruptly. Heading for the bedroom door, she announced, “I brought you more clothes. They should fit better than what you’re wearing. If you don’t like them, the back bedroom closet is full of Joe’s clothes and you’re welcome to try them.”
“Mary,” Dante said as she paused inside the bedroom and turned to shut the door.