* * *
Jace whirled around to Bobby. Fury consumed him, but terror dwarfed it. He feared for Taryn’s life. “Where is she?”
“I-I don’t know,” Bobby said as he stared stupidly at the empty bed.
Jace looked to the nurse. “Why wasn’t someone with her?”
The nurse took a step back. “Sir, I need you to calm down.”
“Calm down?” Jace asked in a cold tone. “A lunatic has held my wife prisoner for years. She was shot tonight and brought here. Now you have no idea where she is?”
“This is recovery,” the nurse said in a high-pitched voice.
An Indian woman with thick, black hair pulled back in a ponytail walked up as she put her hands in the pockets of her white lab coat. “What’s going on here?” she asked.
Jace glanced at her name sewn onto her coat. Dr. Anika Patel. “Doctor, my wife is missing.”
“The gunshot victim?” Dr. Patel asked.
“Taryn. Her name is Taryn.”
The doctor motioned for the nurse to leave, then looked at Jace. “I’m the one who performed the surgery. What do you mean she’s missing?”
Jace stepped aside and swung out his arm, indicating the empty bed. “She’s gone.”
Dr. Patel looked from Jace to Bobby and then back to Jace. “She can’t have gone far.”
“Is there any reason for a nurse to take her?” Bobby asked.
“None,” the doctor answered with a frown.
Jace ran his hand down his face, feeling frustrated and helpless at the same time. “She wouldn’t have left that bed unless something was wrong. Those who shot her tonight, they’re … a few got away.”
The moment those words were out of his mouth, Dr. Patel turned and stopped one of the nurses. After a few quick words, the floor suddenly became a flurry of activity.
“I can call for backup,” Bobby said.
Jace shook his head. “For all I know, one of your men is involved.”
“You can’t know that.”
“And you can’t say for certain they aren’t,” Jace spat.
Dr. Patel returned. “The floor is being searched. I have hospital security headed to every exit just in case. If they spot Taryn, they’ll stop whoever is with her.”
“I’ve got some friends checking those exits, as well,” Jace warned her. Then he turned in a circle, trying to imagine which way he would go if he were Taryn. “Where is the nearest exit?”
Dr. Patel pointed to the left. “There’s one on either side, but this one is the closest to her bed.”
“Where does it lead?” Bobby asked.
“To rooms,” the doctor answered.
Jace walked to the doors with her and Bobby following him. He pressed the button on the wall, and the large doors slowly slid open. “Any place for someone to hide?”
“Plenty,” Dr. Patel replied. “Like I said, the floor is being searched.”
Bobby blew out a breath as he glanced at Jace. “You better have the entire hospital searched.”
“All floors?” the doctor asked in surprise.
Bobby nodded. “All of them.”
She pulled out her cell phone and shot Bobby a disappointed look. “I think the FBI should’ve had someone guarding Taryn.”
Jace didn’t bother to agree. Bobby knew exactly what his thoughts were at the moment. With every second that passed without any sign of Taryn, Jace’s gut clenched in dread. The last thing he planned to do was stand around and wait for someone else to find his wife.
“Wait,” Dr. Patel said as she hurried after Jace.
He glanced at the doctor and Bobby, both of whom kept pace with him. “What?”
“We’re coming with you,” Bobby said. “Three sets of eyes are better than one. Then I can prove that I’m not in league with Boyd.”
The doctor halted, her face going slack. “Boyd Walters?”
“The very one,” Bobby said after he stopped and swiveled to look at her.
Jace turned and walked until he stood before Dr. Patel. “Why? Do you know him?”
“He’s a generous donor to the hospital. His mother has worked here for years,” Dr. Patel told them.
Jace fought for breath. It felt as if someone had punched him in the gut. “Who is this woman? Is she working tonight?”
“Mona. Her name is Mona,” Dr. Patel said in bewilderment.
Bobby’s brows lifted on his forehead. “Where does she usually work?”
The doctor’s forehead creased as she suddenly looked panicked. “Here. In recovery.”
“Shit,” Jace murmured.
Bobby blew out a breath and took a step closer to Dr. Patel. “Do you know if Mona was working tonight?”
“I saw her earlier,” she answered in a soft voice.
Jace looked around to make sure that no one was near. “We need to confirm if she’s still on duty and in the building.”
“This way,” the doctor said and took them down another hall to a nurses’ station.
Bobby stopped her before they got there and told her, “Go on your own. If Mona is near and sees either me or Jace, it might spook her.”
Dr. Patel nodded, swallowing nervously. “I’ll be right back.”
They watched as she made her way to the station and chatted with a few of the nurses for a moment. Jace was able to make out when she asked for Mona. The other nurses confirmed that Mona was still there, but they didn’t know where she was now. Dr. Patel smiled her thanks and made her way back to Jace.
“She was seen just a little while ago,” she said.
Jace was about to reply when a tall black man in a lab coat looked their way after talking to a nurse. “Hang on. We might have company.”
“What?” Dr. Patel asked with a frown.
The man eyed Jace and Bobby as he walked up. “Excuse me. Anika?”
Dr. Patel turned around. When she saw who it was, she smiled, her relief evident. “Oh, hi, Chad.”
“Is everything all right?” he asked her in a low voice.
Dr. Patel glanced at Jace. “Yes. Everything is fine.”
“Judy said you were looking for Mona.”
“We are,” she said.
Chad’s nearly black eyes looked Bobby over before sliding to Jace. “Has she done something?”
The doctor let out a breath. “I can’t do this. I can’t lie to him.”
“Lie to me?” Chad asked, his frown deepening. “What are these two forcing you to do?”
“We aren’t forcing her to do anything,” Jace said. “She’s helping us search for my wife, who is missing.”
That didn’t appease Chad at all. “And that involves Mona how?”
“His wife was shot tonight,” Dr. Patel said and blew out a breath. “It happened at Boyd Walters’s warehouses.”
Chad blinked and stood tall. He stared at Jace for a long moment. “Where was your wife shot?”
“Her right shoulder.”
“I saw Mona about five minutes ago. She was with a young woman who had her right shoulder heavily bandaged,” he said.
Dr. Patel swung her head to Jace, her eyes wide. “Five minutes isn’t that long.”