Running On Empty: An LCR Elite Novel

by Christy Reece

  Everyone went silent as they waited for the call from their boss with the news that Pierce and his minions had been apprehended. Secondary to that was the knowledge that the mansion held other victims. The teens who had served their meal couldn’t all have been there by choice. Rescuing everyone wasn’t always possible, but it was something LCR strived for in every operation.

  The cell phone Aidan had placed in the middle of the table buzzed. Pressing the answer key and then the speakerphone, Sabrina gave the information she knew her boss would want to know first. “We’re all here and in good shape, Noah.”

  “Excellent. Great job tonight, guys. In addition to the eight children you all rescued, the authorities found three older ones in the kitchen on the first floor. To sweeten the pot, eleven assholes will be rotting in a jail cell for a long time. You’ve all got a lot to be proud of.”

  She knew her boss too well not to recognize there was a huge “but” coming. Even though Noah was thousands of miles away, she heard the grimness in his tone.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Pierce was nowhere to be found.”

  Sabrina shot an incredulous look at Aidan. “That’s not possible. The man was unconscious. He swallowed enough of the powder to put him out for at least ten hours.”

  “Someone must’ve gotten him out,” Aidan said.

  “Igor,” Sabrina snarled the name.

  “Who?” McCall asked.

  Cursing herself for not taking out the ugly-assed man, Sabrina explained, “He’s Pierce’s shadow. I should’ve stayed long enough to take him down. I didn’t see him during the rescue and stupidly assumed he’d gone to bed.”

  “There’s no way you could’ve prevented it, Fox. Don’t beat yourself up.”

  Yes, there was. She should have made sure. Aidan, Riley and Justin would have taken care of the children. She should have stayed and finished the job.

  She shelved the self-anger for later. “How about Catie and the other children?”

  “Catie’s already seen her mom and dad. They were waiting at the clinic when the bus arrived. They wanted me to make sure you all knew how grateful they are. The other kids are being identified as we speak.”

  “McCall, what about Pierce?” Justin asked. “We going after him?”

  “He’ll go to ground. Take comfort in the fact that we’ve greatly impeded his ability to do business. No point in going after him until he resurfaces. We’ll be ready for him when he does.”

  “So what’s next?” Riley asked.

  “You and Kelly report back here tomorrow afternoon for a new assignment. Thorne, I’ve got you cleared for a couple of days off.”

  “What about me?” Sabrina asked.

  “Fox, you didn’t ask for it, but you’ve got at least a week of downtime coming. Just because you said everyone’s okay doesn’t mean I don’t know about the slug you took to your face.”

  “Not to mention the sleeping powder she ingested with Pierce,” Aidan added.

  “I won’t even ask you how you stayed upright,” Noah said. “Grab that sleep you’ve been putting off for too long.”

  She knew better than to argue. Stupid to have ordered a beer. She’d only taken a half dozen sips, but that small amount, along with the drug, was pulling at her like nobody’s business. If she didn’t get horizontal soon, she’d keel over.

  “Will do,” Sabrina agreed.

  “And I mean it, Fox, do not even think about going after Pierce yourself. Understand?”

  Since she was about five minutes from losing consciousness, she had no problems making a promise…at least for now. “Not a problem,” she assured him.

  The call ended. As if her body had been waiting for that signal, she swayed in her chair.

  Aidan grabbed her upper arm and righted her. “Whoa, you okay?”

  Shaking herself from her stupor, Sabrina pushed up from the table and stood. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m wiped.” She nodded vaguely at the table. “G’night. See you in a few days.”

  Standing, Aidan threw some money on the table for their drinks. “I’ll walk you to the hotel.”

  “Don’t be silly. I’m fine.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Absolutely. It’s a two-minute walk, tops. I can stay awake that long.”

  She headed toward the door. The instant she was outside, she drew in a deep breath, sure that the fresh air would rejuvenate her. A wave of dizziness followed. Crap. Maybe it would be a good idea if Aidan walked her back to the hotel. She wanted a soft pillow beneath her head, not Javier’s graveled parking lot.

  She made a half turn to go back inside. Something covered her head, and her vision went dark. She felt the prick of a needle at her neck. Comprehension came quick. She managed to connect with what felt like a hard jaw before her mind blanked into unconsciousness.

  Chapter Four

  “What do you mean you can’t find her?” Jordan Montgomery’s sharp voice came through the phone like a whip.

  “Just what I said.” Phone to his ear, Aidan stomped around Javier’s parking lot, looking for a clue, anything, that would tell him what had happened to his partner. “Her bed wasn’t slept in last night. I let her sleep in because I figured she’d be out for at least eight hours. When she didn’t answer the door, I had management let me in her room. Her luggage is still there, but there’s no evidence that she made it back to her room last night.”

  “Shit.”

  That was just one of the many curses Aidan had uttered over the last half hour. He’d been about to sound the alarm to McCall when Jordan had phoned from LCR’s Paris office to congratulate them on a successful mission. The words “Sabrina is missing” had been Aidan’s first words to Montgomery.

  Dammit, why the hell hadn’t he walked her back to her room? She had been groggy, almost asleep on her feet. Any other time, if anyone had accosted her, he had no doubt who would’ve won. Sabrina was the most capable person he knew, male or female. Having that drug in her system had made her vulnerable. Aidan cursed himself for not watching her back.

  The voice of Eden St. Claire, Jordan’s partner and wife, broke into his dire thoughts. “When’s the last time you saw her?”

  “She left Javier’s Hideaway around one thirty. Said she was going back to her room for a long sleep.”

  “I know Javier doesn’t have surveillance cameras in his parking lot,” Montgomery said, “but what about the hotel?”

  “Ingram is checking it right now, but so far, nothing is showing up. Looks like she might have been taken in Javier’s parking lot.”

  The silence on the other end of the phone was telling. Both Montgomery and Eden were probably thinking the very same thing Aidan was. With no surveillance and no witnesses, how the hell were they going to find her?

  “I was about to give McCall the news when you called.”

  “We’ll alert him,” Montgomery said. “You, Ingram, and Kelly shake down all known contacts of Reuben Pierce until there’s nothing left for them to talk about. If he’s the asshole who took her, he can’t have gone far with her.”

  “This makes no sense, guys,” Eden said. “There’s an all-points bulletin out for Pierce. Why would he risk getting caught to go after Sabrina? Any sane criminal would go to ground and wait it out.”

  “And how the hell would he even know where to find her?” Aidan said. “It can’t be Pierce.”

  “I’m not disagreeing with either of you,” Montgomery said. “However, let’s get the question of whether it’s Reuben Pierce or not out of the way so we can concentrate on who else it could be.”

  “Agreed,” Aidan said.

  Disconnecting the call, Aidan’s eyes roamed over the parking lot. There wasn’t much of one—mostly a small graveled area that could hold only perhaps four to five small cars. Since this was a small town, most people walked to where they wanted to go. The entire city limits could be covered on foot in twenty minutes or less.

  He headed to the back of the building for
one more look. There had to be something…some kind of a clue. His peripheral vision caught the glint of something. Turning, he strode to a drainage ditch on the far side of the property and knelt. A cell phone, identical to Sabrina’s, lay in a puddle. The screen was shattered, as if someone had stomped it. Dammit, that confirmed his fears.

  Not one to feel helpless or hopeless, Aidan surged to his feet and determinedly set his mind to finding out who the hell had taken his partner. And when he found them, he would make damn sure they regretted it. Kidnapping an LCR operative wasn’t a good move for anyone. One that could prove to be a fatal mistake.

  LCR Headquarters

  Alexandria, Virginia

  His thoughts grim, Noah ended the call from Eden and Jordan. Even though he knew what he had to do, he didn’t immediately act.

  Since moving the main LCR facility to Virginia, he had spent way too many hours with government officials. When he had developed the concept of LCR Elite, he had accepted that as a necessary, if unpleasant, side effect. With its focus of extracting hostages from war-torn and terrorist-ridden countries throughout the world, the intel often provided by these officials could make the difference between a successful and failed rescue op. However, involving any government, even his own, in LCR business would never be something he took lightly.

  The transition from France to the US had been smooth. He had expected nothing less. His people were the best. He had hired them, trained most of them, and trusted all of them with his life. LCR operatives knew better than anyone how to adjust to change.

  Samara and the kids were settling in nicely, too. He had made the change for them. Samara came from a large family, and with her busy schedule as LCR’s main counselor, she’d managed to see her folks only a couple of times each year. And it hadn’t been fair to their kids, Micah and Evie, to deprive them of their grandparents, along with all the aunts, uncles and cousins. Noah might shudder at the sheer number of in-laws, but seeing his wife’s and children’s happiness and contentment more than made up for his discomfort.

  The changes within LCR had been numerous but all good. Thanks to LCR operative Lucas Kane, who had donated a substantial amount of money to the organization, Last Chance Rescue had been able to expand beyond Noah’s wildest dreams. LCR branch offices spread all over the globe, with trusted informants throughout the world on alert and ready to help, the most up-to-date technology at their fingertips. Most important, LCR had the toughest and bravest operatives imaginable. Last Chance Rescue was thriving.

  LCR Elite, now with ten operatives, had gotten off to a good start with several successful rescues under their belt. Sometimes working in conjunction with other agencies but most of the time on their own, LCR Elite was a force to be reckoned with.

  But now, one of their own had been taken. Anyone who knew Noah McCall and LCR had to be aware that they would upend hell to recover a fellow operative. And because of the identity of this particular operative, Noah’s gut told him her disappearance had nothing to do with Sabrina’s job as an LCR operative. This went back to her previous job, before LCR. Which meant he had no choice but to contact those government types again.

  Noah opened his desk drawer and withdrew Sabrina Fox’s personnel folder. Opening it, he pulled a sealed envelope from the side pouch.

  The day Sabrina had accepted his offer to work with LCR, she had presented him with this envelope and the instructions that if she were ever taken and they had no clear idea of her abductor or her location, he was to open the envelope and follow the instructions.

  He ripped open the envelope, withdrew a single sheet of paper, and took in the contents—a code, consisting of numbers and letters, along with a phone number with a DC area code.

  Noah punched the number into his phone, heard one ring and then an androgynous voice stated, “Code verification.”

  Not knowing if he was supposed to speak the code or punch it in, Noah tried entering it first and received nothing but silence. He then spoke the code and almost immediately heard a clicking noise and then an older male voice said, “State time and location of the last time Ms. Fox was seen.”

  “I don’t think so,” Noah said mildly.

  “Excuse me?”

  Noah got the feeling this man wasn’t used to being challenged. There was not only surprise in the gruff voice but also amusement.

  He wasn’t one to get into a pissing contest, especially when one of his own people’s lives was at stake, but he damn well wasn’t going to give information to some unknown person and then just back away. Sabrina was no longer a government agent. She was one of his, and he took care of his own.

  “If we’re going to find Ms. Fox,” Noah stated baldly, “then we’re going to work together.”

  “We don’t work with others.”

  “Make an exception or you won’t get the information you requested.”

  “You would put her life on the line?”

  “Absolutely not. But neither will I kowtow to some secret government entity. We work together and we’ll find her.”

  “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

  “Feel free to tell me.”

  There was a long, silent pause. He wondered if the guy was even breathing. Finally, he said, “Very well, Mr. McCall. Meet me at the Lincoln Memorial in an hour.”

  “How will I know you?”

  “Don’t worry. I know you.”

  Noah clicked the key to end the call and then sat back in his chair. Why did he suddenly feel as if he’d just made a date with the devil?

  Coley Springs, Idaho

  Fury bubbling within him, Declan’s hands fisted at his sides. The unconscious woman before him had starred in every recent nightmare. Limp and lifeless on the cot, her black cotton T-shirt was a startling contrast to the bleached paleness of her face. Except for one jarring exception.

  “Dammit, Sabrina, where the hell did you get that bruise? I know I didn’t hit you. I couldn’t—”

  No, of course he hadn’t hit her. The rage he felt at the vivid bruises on her soft, fair skin conflicted with the bitter hatred he had for this woman. Just how damn stupid could he get? He was planning to kill her…why did it matter that she was bruised?

  Was that why she was still unconscious? He’d given her only enough of the drug to disorient her. She’d rarely taken drugs, said they made her feel stupid and slow. But when she had taken them, there had been no adverse effects. So why had one small dose knocked her on her ass?

  He touched his fingers to the pulse on her neck, telling himself to ignore her petal-soft skin. Her pulse was strong. Her breathing shallow, not erratic or fast. She was asleep, nothing more. Ignoring the surge of relief, he removed his fingers before he did something asinine like trail his fingers down her creamy skin to that tender hollow place at her neck.

  How many times had he kissed her there, relishing the warmth of her skin, the erratic beat of her pulse throbbing against his tongue as arousal had taken over? How many nights had he lain awake and watched her sleep? When she was awake and aware, her face was lively and animated. Asleep, she looked as innocent and serene as the Madonna.

  She had said more than once that she was no great beauty. Declan used to argue with her but had soon realized her inability to see herself as beautiful had been one of the ways she dealt with her past. As a teenager, she had been both sexually and physically abused by her stepbrother. One of the defenses the bastard had used against her was her looks—constantly drumming into her head that her beauty caused him to do the vile things he did. It had taken her years to overcome the psychological mind-fuck. Denying her beauty became one of her ways to deal. Declan hadn’t argued. Having his own demons to contend with, who was he to criticize her methods?

  He pressed his fingers to the pounding in his skull. Why the devil was he even thinking about that time anyway? What they had shared had been a lie of epic proportions. Maybe she’d made the whole abuse thing up. She was an accomplished liar—something he had once appreciated. He
’d just never figured she’d use her lies on him.

  But lying there, unconscious and vulnerable, made her look as helpless and defenseless as a kitten—a slender, beautiful woman with the face of an angel. She didn’t look as though she could step on a spider, much less kill a man with her bare hands. He had watched her do the latter more than once. The woman was one of the most dangerous people he had ever known.

  Without a backward glance, he went out the door. He’d let her stew for a few hours. When the time was right, they were going to have a long, uninterrupted discussion. Neither of them would survive it.

  Chapter Five

  Consciousness returned in slow increments. First, she was aware of a hard surface beneath her body—not a bed—more like a thinly padded slab of concrete. The complete absence of noise was her next awareness. Shouldn’t there be street noise? Sabrina lay still and quiet for several minutes, carefully assessing. Her mind felt thick, unwieldy. Drowsiness tempted her to go back to sleep. An inner voice whispered an urgent message that all was not right.

  She struggled to hold on to thoughts that seemed as wispy and insubstantial as a spider web. Why? What had happened? Why was alarm replacing the dull lassitude? Her eyes fluttered, tried to open. She managed to lift one eyelid to a slit. What she saw forced both her eyes open in a blinding flash of realization and comprehension. Fury followed. Grogginess evaporated. She had been abducted. Who and why didn’t matter. There were probably thousands of people who would like to see her dead. Admittedly, only a fraction of those people would have the guts to actually kidnap her, but the number of those who would was still quite high.

  She didn’t bother to question how she’d been taken. She didn’t remember anything after leaving Javier’s. Didn’t really matter. The only thing she needed to concentrate on was getting the hell out of here in one piece.