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“Yes. So far, we’ve found three here in Texas and another five in the nearby states we’ve contacted. There’s likely more.”
“Have these women given birth?”
“Not these women. But there have been six who’ve had their babies only to have them snatched from the hospital before they were a day old. It’s been an ongoing case, and no one has found any answers as to why it’s happening. That is until Kurt discovered that the man who’d been following you at the beginning was in cahoots with another fellow from China.”
Kurt broke in and without naming names he proceeded to tell her about Amber Colthurst, the governor’s daughter. He laid out the facts only. About how a young girl had gotten into trouble while teaching in China and then about the arrest.
He explained more about why they’d sent him there to fetch her home and what happened in the alley when they’d picked her up.
“You mean to say that these men jumped you and your friend while you were trying to get this poor girl out of the country?”
“Yes. During the turnover. We had arranged to meet with her lawyer who would bring her to where we waited. He also handed over her documentation so we could take her safely out of the country.”
Confused, Ruby shook her head. “I don’t understand. What does this girl have to do with me?”
“She was pregnant. Granted, in her case, she knew the father… a young man she’d been having an affair with. But what she didn’t know, and we believe happened, was his parents had somehow found out about them and had given the police information about her parties.”
“You mean they set her up?”
“It’s what I believe. Only it backfired because of her father’s influence. He made plans to get her out, unknown to them. If they’d had their way, she’d have given birth in their country, and had it been a boy, they’d have stepped in.”
“The poor girl. She must have been traumatized.”
“Oh, she was. Mostly because her fellow didn’t stand up for her. She’d been left to deal with everything on her own. Twenty-three, frightened to death, and pregnant… all she cared about was getting safely home.”
“How could his parents get the police to raid a house party? Are the rules in China that strict?”
“They claimed there’d be drugs involved, which there were. Just weed, but in China, that’s a huge no-no. Along with her roommate, she was charged.”
“But why did you become involved?”
“Like I said, I was sent to pick her up and escort her back to the States. But why they chose me is because I speak the language and my boss felt it might matter.”
“Did it?”
“Didn’t hurt. Most important, her family had enough money and pull so arrangements were made for her to get released before her detention started.”
Still confused, Ruby asked, “Granted it’s a sad story, but what does it have to do with me?”
“You remember I mentioned his family? Well, they didn’t give a hot damn about Amber, but they did care about the grandchild she was carrying. The potential male grandchild. It seems they’d sent three men to stop us from leaving the country with intentions of keeping her there until after she gave birth.”
“Obviously, they failed in their attempt.”
Kurt grinned, an evil glint in his eyes that reminded her of a little boy who’d just made off with a stolen cookie. “Seems so. Yet one of the men who had been there that night to take her away from us was the same fellow sitting next to your stalker at the restaurant.”
“Holy shit.” Ruby sat up straight in her chair. “There’s the link. They were working together.”
“I found it strange at the time. But since then, they’ve both disappeared, only to be replaced by a Chinese woman who I now believe followed you to my house. I never told you about her, but she was parked at the entrance to Molly’s place the night Jupiter fussed, and other than saying she was lost, she had no good reason for being there.”
Stress formed and Ruby had to fight it back. “I think I’ve seen her. There’s been a few times I’ve experienced the odd feeling that I was being followed. It’s the weirdest sensation. When I’d checked, more than once, I’d see a Chinese girl in the area. I didn’t recognize her as being the same person, but it might have been because of a hat she wore one time and a different hairdo the next. I don’t know. It felt silly to put any emphasis on such random events that I shrugged it off.”
“Did you happen to notice the person who helped us the night in the alley, when you’d been kidnapped by the Trail’s gang?”
“You mean the woman who suddenly appeared at the exact moment we needed help?”
“That’s the one.”
Ruby looked into his watchful eyes, waiting for her answer. Then she turned to see that Neal wore the same quiet demeanor… as if pausing for her reply. Going back to the night they were talking about, the stench of smoke and the screams in the distance overcame her memory. Her fear reignited as her searching mind brought her back to where a gun had been pointed at Kurt.
