Running on Empty by Christy Reece Page A

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