It wasn’t easy to keep his cool, especially with Tobin eyeballing her like that. Jackson stepped in front of him to block his view. Holding the phone away, he asked, “When did this happen? How long since you’ve been away?”

Tobin gazed up at the clock, then flinched. “About twelve hours.”

“So much time,” Alani worried aloud. “They could be gone by now.”

“Probably are,” Jackson said, but he filled in Trace before disconnecting the call. He turned to Alani with an air that she didn’t misinterpret: the less Tobin knew, the better.

She nodded in understanding.

Did she also understand that he would do everything he could to find the women, and so would her brother and Dare?

Subsiding, she back-stepped until her calves found the seat. She dropped into it again.

Jackson paced between her and Tobin. “How’d you get away? No way in hell did you walk the forty miles to this hospital. And there’s another hospital that’s closer anyway. How’d you end up here?”

“Two hospitals are closer, but they were too risky. I figured they’d look for me there first. After a trucker picked me up, I stayed with him for as long as I could stand to, until I…until I thought I’d die if I didn’t lay down. Then he dropped me off in the emergency entrance, and here I am.”

Not bad. At least Tobin had tried to think ahead and act a little smarter. “You’d have been better off skipping hospitals all together, but then, I guess you don’t have a doctor who knows how to keep quiet?”

“Never necessary before.”

“Think about it for the future, because they’ve already found you here. I took care of a few goons on my way in.”

Panic lifted Tobin up despite his pain. “Where? How many? Why didn’t you tell me—”

“Shh. It’s all right.” Suddenly Alani was there again, offering Tobin another drink of water. As he sipped, she said, “They can’t hurt you right now. Jackson won’t let them.”

Jackson lifted a brow—but damn it, she was right.

“They weren’t dead when I left them, so who knows how much time we have. If you’ve got information worth your life, you better start sharing it.”

Alani set the water aside. “The trucker didn’t call the police?”

“No.” Groaning, Tobin settled back again. What little color had rushed into his face leeched out once more, thanks to aches and pains. “I gave him my watch to keep his mouth shut.”

Jackson scoffed. “You’re telling me they didn’t take your watch?”

“Believe me, I offered it to them. Even begged them to take it. They laughed and hit me some more.” One hand curled but not tightly; from the looks of his fat fingers, his tormentors had popped a few knuckles. “They said I might as well understand that all they wanted were answers.”

“What were the questions?” Alani asked.

Jackson curled his lip. “Apparently nothing that he could help them with, or he’d be dead right now.”

“Exactly. I’m ashamed to admit it—”

Folding his arms, Jackson said, “Yeah, yeah, you’re suffering shame. We get it.”

“—but I told them what I knew.”

“Which was squat.” And thank God, because if Tobin had led the cretins back to Alani, Jackson would be finishing him off himself right now.

“I told them your name, where Alani worked, the hours she kept.”

“Oh, Marc.” On the verge of panic, Alani covered her mouth. “My employees, my office—”

“They’ll be fine,” Jackson assured her. “Already took care of it.”

Without questioning that, proving her trust, Alani wilted. “Thank God.”

“I’m so f**king sorry.” Tobin swallowed and turned his face away. “They wanted to know where Jackson took you, but I had no idea. I tried telling them anything I could think of, but it wasn’t enough.”

“And so they continued to coerce you.” Alani drew a slow breath and put back her shoulders. “You’re not accustomed to those types of people. I understand. Few would hold up in the face of deliberate pain.” Blindly she reached for Jackson’s hand.

Surprised, he went one better, tugging her into his body, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

Surrounding her as much as he could.

He needed her to know that he would never, not under any circumstances, betray her. He’d happily die first.

As if she understood, she leaned back against him and folded her hands over his. “If you want to make some amends, Marc, you can answer Jackson’s questions now.”

“Of course.” His one eye grew watery. “I’m grateful that you were with Jackson, and that you weren’t hurt by what I did.”

“Be grateful that Jackson wasn’t hurt, either, or my attitude would be entirely different.”

Huh. Nice sentiment. After Jackson gave her a small squeeze of appreciation, he reclaimed control of the topic. “The other night, who was the second shooter?”

Tobin looked at him in confusion.

Disgusted, Jackson shook his head. “Don’t get cagey now. In for a penny and all that shit. You might as well tell me.”

He stared at Jackson. “I don’t understand.”

“One person shot at us,” Alani explained. “But someone else was there, too. A second shooter.”