Feel the Heat (26 page)

Little by little, she took in her surroundings. She was on a plane, a private one judging by the size and interior. Someone had spent a lot of money on this luxurious plane cabin. The interior looked like someone’s living room, with captain’s chairs for seats and the oversized couch on which she was sitting. Tables that extended from the walls for the chairs and at one end of the cabin she saw what looked like a very fancy galley. There were other things that her brain was too disoriented to identify.

Apparently she’d been sleeping on the couch, but how had she gotten to it? What did this man have to do with everything?

She tried to focus again but a dull headache was playing havoc with her brain cells. Her mouth was also extremely dry, which made swallowing hard. She rubbed her temples, trying to ease the throbbing.

“Feeling a little fuzzy, miss?” The man rose from his chair. “Let me get you some water. The sedative unfortunately has some uncomfortable aftereffects.”

Sedative? What sedative? She desperately wished her brain would kick into gear.

“Here.” The man, who had taken a bottle of water from a small under-the-counter fridge in the galley, twisted the cap off and handed her the drink. He stood watching her for a moment before taking his seat again.

She took the bottle and drank gratefully, the cool liquid soothing her dry tissues. It seemed to help clear her brain a little too.

“Who are you?” she demanded. “And how did I get here? Where are you taking me?”

His short laugh was more of a bark. “You don’t remember anything?”

Lauren frowned, holding the cold bottle to her aching forehead. She vaguely remembered working at her computer. Then there’d been a big explosion outside and she lost all power. Troy had run out the front door to find out what happened but first he’d given her a gun…

The gun! Yes! Fuzzy pictures floated in and out of her mind. The back door crashing open. Two men dressed all in black. She remembered pointing the gun at them and then…nothing!

“What did you do to me?” She glared at the stranger. “And why?”

“My name isn’t important. All you need to know is I work for a very powerful, wealthy man who needs your services.”

As her head cleared more questions bombarded her. “My services? Is he ill? Or is it someone in his family? Why didn’t he just call me?”

“He’ll answer all your questions as soon as we reach our destination.”

Lauren took another long swallow of her water, trying to pull herself together. She wished she could think more clearly. She stared at the stranger again. There was nothing remarkable about him. He was the kind of man who could easily blend into the environment, with his dark hair, slightly olive skin and expressionless face. His clothes were just as innocuous, a dark brown sport jacket with tan slacks and a white shirt.

“You still didn’t tell me your name,” she pushed.

“Go ahead, tell her.” A man’s voice, very sharp, coming from the end of the cabin opposite what she assumed was the cockpit. His clothing was just as bland, only in tones of gray and black, but his voice had an edgy nasal tone. When the first man said nothing he went on, “He’s Reid and I’m Fred.” His short laugh had no humor to it. “Aren’t you glad to meet us?”

“Knock it off,” Reid said.

“What’s the difference? She won’t be able to tell anyone.”

A knot of fear twisted itself inside her stomach. “What is he talking about?” She looked at Reid, who seemed to be in charge. “I want to know exactly what’s going on here.”

“I told you. You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Where are you taking me?” she demanded. As her brain cleared, her strength returned. “And why didn’t this man—whoever he is—just call me like everyone else does?”

But neither man answered her. Reid picked up his tablet from the table attached to his seat and began scrolling through it. The other one, Fred, sat in one of the other chairs, holding a mug of coffee.

“I want answers,” Lauren pushed, anger rising inside her. Who did these men think they were? “You can’t just kidnap me like this. There are people who’ll be looking for me.”

And soon, I hope.

Reid’s smile held no humor. “They can look all they want, but it won’t do them any good.”

As quickly as the anger had surged through her, that fast fear knotted into a hard ball at the pit of her stomach. She twisted her fingers together in her lap.

“I demand you take me back. Right now.”

The two men looked at each other. Fred gave his nasty laugh again.

“You can forget that. And we’re through answering questions.” He checked his watch. “All your questions will be answered shortly anyway.”

No matter how many questions she asked, neither of the men answered her. Fred occupied himself watching something on a private screen while Reid continued to work with his tablet. Finally, frustrated, she sat back on the couch and tried to figure out what to do. Unfortunately, nothing took root in her addled brain. The men continued to ignore her, and she did her best to tamp down the fear spreading through her. She had to believe that Troy would find her. He and Phoenix had the ability to do anything. Now she needed them to use those resources for her.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, trying to force herself to relax.

“Better not go to sleep.” Reid’s voice broke the silence. “You need to buckle your seat belt. We’ll be landing in a few minutes.”

Lauren felt around on the couch until she found the two parts of the seat belt retracted into the cushions behind her. She locked them together, then folded her hands in her lap. Taking several slow breaths, she forced a calm she really didn’t feel. But she knew she’d need every one of her wits about her if she was ever going to figure out what was going on here and find a way to get out of it.

The landing was so smooth she barely felt it, and she wondered exactly what kind of plane she was in. When the aircraft had come to a stop and the whine of the engines ceased, the two men rose from their chairs.

She had no idea where they were or where they were going but the fear she was battling rushed back again with sickening force.

Troy! Hurry! I need you.

* * * * *

Troy couldn’t stop pacing in Lauren’s kitchen. Larry and Paul had been thanked for their help. Now the five Phoenix partners were assembled at the large kitchen table, the air filled with the tension radiating from them. Each was focused on his specific task. The atmosphere was the same every time they prepared for a mission, but for Troy this one was personal. He had an idea now how Faith had felt waiting for the team to pluck Mark from a terrorist camp in the Peruvian jungle.

They had all thought the danger was past when the stalker was caught. He and Lauren could make plans for their life together. Now she was gone, and he felt as if someone had shoved a knife into his heart. He knew if anyone could find Lauren and rescue her safely it would be these men, his partners. It didn’t make the waiting any easier or lessen his dread at all.

Dan and Mark had their laptops open, reviewing yet again, frame by frame, the video they’d downloaded from the exterior cameras, analyzing the traffic patterns and frequency of various vehicles to see if any of the vehicles had a pattern. Andy was still analyzing the material he’d already received and running traffic probables.

Rick was checking private airports within a hundred-mile radius.

“They had to get her out of here somehow,” he told Troy. “It’s a safe bet they didn’t hang around San Antonio with her. That means a private jet somewhere, one that waited for them and took off within the last couple of hours.”

Mike D’Antoni had hacked into Lauren’s computer for the records she kept on her patients, easily breaking her password code. Although she never charged for any of her sessions, she meticulously recorded everything from the initial phone call to the final results. There were even notes from people she had turned down, and those were the ones he looked at first. There could be someone out there so desperate they’d resort to kidnapping her to force her to help them. All these people had been checked during the search for the stalker, but now he came at them from a different angle. As he added his notes to each record, he emailed it to Andy, who was running the names through Dragonslayer.

Kat, his wife, had shown up with him, in the hope that her remote viewing skills could help them. She’d been the turning point in rescuing her sister and others from a Mexican drug lord. Now she sat in near-darkness in Lauren’s office, a photo of Lauren on the desk in front of her, as she tried to summon up images that would help them pinpoint a location.

Troy had given her a big hug. “Thanks for coming to help,” he told her in a tight voice.

“We’ll find her and get her back,” she told him with quiet assurance. “That’s a promise.”

“I don’t know how long we can keep this from her family,” he said now, pouring himself yet another mug of coffee. “Her parents almost never call after they know she’s done a healing session. Both of them, especially her mother, are dead-set against it and try to talk her out of using it.” He took a swallow of the bitter brew. “But her brother calls her once a week. We’ve got maybe two days before we hear from him. What do I tell him?”

His emotions had never been in such turmoil. Anger, fear, desperation, dread and a few things he couldn’t identify whirled around in his system like a poisonous cocktail. For the first time in longer than he could remember, he felt a situation spinning out of control like this. He wanted to do something, but he couldn’t make himself concentrate long enough to be of any use.

“Got something,” Dan called.

Everyone stopped what they were doing. Troy nearly spilled his coffee in his haste to see what Dan had found.

“Look.” He pointed at the image on the screen.

Four sets of pictures were grouped together, each in one quadrant of the screen.

“You think these have something to do with Lauren’s disappearance?” Troy asked, afraid to even hope they’d found something. “Why them? What made them stand out?

“A lot of things.” Dan glanced at his tablet, where he’d taken notes. “These cars showed up at least a couple of times every day during the media frenzy. But after everyone was gone, they kept driving by. This house is almost at the end of the block so I sent these to Andy to compare to what he’s got. He can enlarge the license plates and run them. Make sure they aren’t homeowners. I just sent him the file. As fast as he is, I should hear from him pretty quickly.”

“Jesus.” Troy raked his fingers through his hair. “I thought we were being so diligent here. How did my antennae not pick up something like this?”

“Because we were focused on something else,” Mark reminded him. “And once we caught the stalker, we let down our guard. Our bad, but we didn’t think Lauren was still in danger.”

“I smell mercenaries,” Rick put in. “The C-4. The explosion. And the way those two guys executed the snatch-and-grab in under two minutes. They’ve had military training. I’m even guessing Special Forces.”

Troy blew out a breath of frustration. “I just can’t figure out a connection between mercs and any of Lauren’s patients. Maybe I need to personally contact some of them. Starting with the most recent.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” Rick agreed. “Maybe you’ll pick up a strange vibe or two.”

“That’s why I want to start with the Hausers. I got an itchy feeling when we were in the hospital room with them.” Troy rubbed the back of his neck. “I can’t tell you why. They are two of the most innocuous people you’d ever meet. But there was just something off. About her, especially.”

“Want me to come along? See if I pick up anything too?”

“What about the airports?”

“Andy’s got what I could find. He’ll need the Dragonslayer to get us a list of private plane activity in the last twenty-four hours. They had to bring the plane in, park it and be ready to take off at any moment. So let’s do this together.”

“Thanks. I’m sure not thinking as straight as I should right now. And I could use someone to keep me from blowing up at the Hausers if I smell something wrong.”

Troy knew his nerves were too close to the edge right now. His judgment could be clouded, or he could blow up at someone unnecessarily. Anyway, he’d be glad to have Rick along. The man had been a rock in some extreme situations and also had an uncanny ability to read people.

He was staring at the pictures again when his cell phone rang. He looked at the readout. Mia Romeo. He frowned, wondering why she’d be calling him and not her husband.

“Mia?”

“I tried calling Dan but he’s on his cell, I guess. I need to tell you something.”

Troy clutched the phone. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

“I was working in my office, trying to finish research on a project for a museum when I sort of zoned out. You know. Like I do sometimes?”

“I know. Get to the point, okay?” He let out a breath. “Sorry, Mia. I’m just a little tense here.”

“No problem. I understand. So here it is. I had what I call a waking dream. Everything else blacked out and an image of a bird flew across my field of vision.”

Troy’s eyebrows lifted. “A bird? Any special kind?”

“I think it was a falcon. I used to know someone who raised them.”

“A falcon,” Troy repeated.

“Yes. And it had a small O painted on its body.”

“Jesus, Mia.” He rubbed his chin. “That’s totally weird.”

“I know. I’m just passing it along for you to share.”

“Of course, we’ve had weirder things to work with,” he reminded her. “I’ll pass this along to everyone so if we come across anything that remotely resembles a bird or looks like the letter O we can try to analyze it. See where it fits.”

“See what everyone makes of it. Sorry I couldn’t give you more.”

“No, no, don’t worry. I’m sure this means something. We just have to figure out what. Thanks, Mia.”

“If anything else pops into my brain, I’ll call.”

Dan ended his call with Andy. “Was that my wife?”

Troy nodded and relayed the information from Mia.

Dan rubbed his forehead. “Everything she’s given us before has always been a real clue, but what the hell does a falcon have to do with this?”