Free Secret Delivery by Delores Fossen Page B

seconds.
    “Take Joey to my office,” Jack instructed Tessie. He relocked the emergency exit and activated a security alarm. “The break room’s through here.”
    In the opposite direction as his office.
    She would be under the same roof as Joey, but Jack didn’t intend to let her spend time with him. Still, it wasn’t far. Just on the other side of the hall.
    The break room was indeed sparse. It had a sofa and a small table with two chairs. There was a coffeepot and various packs of crackers and chips on the narrow counter beneath two white-painted cabinets. A miniature brown fridge hummed in the corner.
    Jack opened a closet and pulled out a pillow and a patchwork quilt. “Dr. Bartolo said you should rest,” he reminded her. He also grabbed a pair of black sweatpants and a man’s white button shirt that was dangling on a hanger. “The doors are all locked. No one’s going to get in without me knowing it. It’s safe here.”
    “Rest,” she repeated, knowing that wasn’t going to happen. “I can give you my statement now. Or whateveryou call it. I’ll do whatever you need me to do to help find this man.”
    He tossed the bedding onto the sofa and handed her the clothes. He also took a plastic bag from the top of the closet. “For now, I need you to rest. Oh, and I need that hospital gown. It might have some DNA or trace that could lead us to the kidnapper.”
    She took the clothes from him, mumbled a thanks and motioned for him to turn around. He did. And Alana caught the counter so she could keep her balance while she stepped into the pants. They were several sizes too large for her, but anything was better than the open-back hospital gown. She pulled it off, placed it next to the coffeepot and slipped on the shirt. It, too, was big and the bottom hit her at midthigh.
    These must be Jack’s clothes.
    The shirt carried his scent.
    “Now rest,” Jack insisted. He checked over his shoulder as she was managing the last button.
    Alana didn’t budge. She couldn’t. She was afraid if she sat, she’d fall back asleep. The drug the kidnapper had given her was still in her system, and she was light-headed. She didn’t want to feel this way. She wanted to be able to help Jack keep Joey safe, and for that to happen she had to stay awake.
    Jack huffed, riled that she wasn’t cooperating. He walked to her, took her gown and stuffed it into the plastic bag. He laid it aside on the counter and caught her arm. He tugged her toward the sofa, but Alana stayed put.
    “I need to help. I need to do something,” she insisted.
    “You’ve done enough.” He was angry.
    It took her a moment to fight through the fog in herhead and study his expression. He didn’t turn away. Jack just stood there and stared at her.
    And then it hit her.
    “Oh, God. I’m sorry.” She pressed her fingertips to her mouth to stop it from trembling. “I’m so sorry.”
    “Don’t,” he warned. And it was indeed a warning. He wasn’t pleased about this situation—or about her—and she suddenly understood why. It wasn’t just the fact that she would be so close to her son.
    It was because she’d brought this danger to Joey.
    She hadn’t meant to do that. Her escape from the house in the woods had been so frightening. So chaotic. She hadn’t had time to think. If she had, if she’d realized there was real danger, she wouldn’t have come anywhere near her son. Though she had no idea what she would have done.
    Her life was spiraling out of control, and she didn’t know what to do to make it stop.
    Alana started to tremble. Not just her mouth as she tried to speak. But her entire body. And she had no choice but to try to get to the sofa. She had to sit after all.
    “I didn’t know that coming here would put Joey in danger,” she said. “I swear, I didn’t know.” Mercy, she sounded hysterical and was very close to it. How could she have done this to her son?
    Jack opened his mouth, closed it and then cursed under his breath.