Dead End

by Susan Sleeman

  “I was hoping to surprise Sierra. Mind signing me in and taking me up to her lab?”

  “I shouldn’t,” Pete said. “At least not until you tell me what this surprise is about.”

  “It’s personal.”

  “So you’re not here on business?”

  “That too, but the surprise is personal.”

  “See, now you had to go and ruin it. The minute you said you were here on business was the minute you made me have to call ahead.” He went to the desk and picked up the handset. “Might as well sign in while you wait.”

  He set the iPad on the desk, and Reed filled in the form. He’d been here so many times that he should have a completed form that he could pull up and just sign. He would suggest that to Maya the next time he talked to her.

  “That’s odd,” Pete said. “She’s not answering. You sure she’s at the lab?”

  “She was when I left, but that was hours ago. Maybe she went to her condo.” He thought she would still be working on finding Barnes and a niggle of worry took hold.

  “I’ll try her cell.” Pete made the call.

  Reed heard the phone ringing. Once. Twice. Three times. And more, but no answer.

  Pete’s expression tightened. “Not answering her cell either. Let me page her.”

  He made the announcement over the speakers, and Reed tapped his foot as he waited for her to call Pete back…but she didn’t.

  “Let’s go check her lab.” Pete led the way to the elevator, and they rode up to the fourth floor.

  Reed’s gut tightened with every level. When the doors opened, he bolted for her lab and had to wait for Pete to unlock the door.

  Reed pushed it open and made a quick sweep of the room. “Not here.”

  “Restroom, maybe.” Pete crossed the hall and knocked on the door. “Sierra?”

  They waited. No answer. Reed pushed the door open. “Sierra, you in here?”

  No answer. He went in and checked the stalls. All empty. “No one here.”

  “Condo next,” Pete said and took them up to the skybridge and down to her condo.

  Reed’s worry was growing with each step, and apparently so was Pete’s, as the older guy moved at a pace that surprised Reed. Pete knocked on Sierra’s door.

  Reed heard footsteps from inside and let out a long breath. Finally. They’d found her.

  The door opened and a sleepy Sam stood in the doorway.

  Reed’s tension returned. “Is Sierra here?”

  Sam yawned. “Not that I know of, but I crashed on the couch a few hours ago, so I’m not sure.”

  Reed brushed past her. “Sierra? Sierra? You here?”

  He raced through the rooms. One by one. Family room. Guest bedroom. Bedroom. Bathrooms. No Sierra.

  He hurried back to the door. “She’s not here.”

  “She’s probably in her lab,” Sam said.

  Reed shook his head. “We checked there, and she’s not answering her cell, either.”

  Worry tightened Sam’s face. “Maybe she had an errand to run or something.”

  “She promised me she wouldn’t leave the building.” Reed didn’t know if he was more upset that she broke her promise to him or that she had vanished.

  “Oh, well, then,” Sam said. “She could be in another lab.”

  “We paged her.” Pete looked at Reed. “Let’s check the parking garage for her car.”

  Pete spun and jogged toward the exit door. They quickly covered every floor of the garage, and Sierra’s cherry red Honda wasn’t anywhere in sight.

  Reed slammed his fist into the column, the sting taking away some of his anger and fear. “How could she go somewhere with a killer gunning for her?”

  “So you haven’t heard,” Pete said. “They arrested the guy who fired on her. A Brody Everson.”

  Reed spun to look at Pete. “When? How?”

  “She found his print on the Leatherman, and Blake got a friend to run it through the army database. It returned Everson’s name and Blake sent PPB to Everson’s house. He suffered a bullet wound to his leg and was in possession of a broken knife that matched the one used on Caulfield. Plus he had ammo matching the slugs you two recovered from Caulfield’s place.”

  Reed let out a long breath. At least a killer wasn’t after her, but why didn’t she text him to tell him about Everson? Or tell him where she was going?

  “So you see,” Pete said. “At least a killer isn’t gunning for her.”

  “Yeah, but where is she?” Worry rose up and grabbed Reed around the throat.

  “Maybe she told one of the partners where she went. Nick always seems to know what’s going on. I swear he has every room bugged.” Pete called Nick and put the call on speaker. “Hey, you know where Sierra is?”

  “Nah. Last I heard was when I sent her a list of buildings my algorithm turned up.”

  “You don’t think she found something and went looking for it, do you?” Reed asked.

  “Wouldn’t surprise me.”

  “We have to find her,” Reed said, shocked at the panic wedged in his tone.

  “We have GPS trackers on our phones,” Nick said. “Let me see if I can track her.” He stopped talking, but Reed heard him typing, and then he provided a Portland address.

  Reed didn’t recognize it. “What’s there?”

  “Let me look,” Nick said and then another pause. “An old building. Brick front. She might have found this address in the list of articles I sent her.”

  Reed looked at Pete. “Take me back to her lab. Now!”

  If Pete minded being yelled at, he didn’t show it, but marched toward the door.

  “I’ll meet you both there,” Nick said.

  Reed and Pete reached her lab as Nick came barreling out of the stairwell.

  Reed went straight to her computer, woke it up, and spotted an article about an old warehouse being sandblasted.

  Nick came up behind him. “Sand and brick dust.”

  Reed scanned the story. “It’s the address you gave me. Get this. The building’s owned by Caulfield.”

  “For real?” Nick asked.

  “For real.” Reed tapped the screen by Caulfield’s name. “And if Caulfield abducted Barnes, it would be a perfect place to stash him.”

  “Sierra would’ve figured that out, too,” Nick said.

  “But why didn’t she tell someone she was going?” Reed asked, panic totally consuming his voice.

  Nick met Reed’s gaze. “Because she knew we would stop her if she did.”

  “And for good reason,” Reed snapped. “She could’ve walked into a hotbed of danger.”

  Sierra wanted to bolt. To take her chances, but Eddie wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to get out of this building. Shoot, she couldn’t move faster than a bullet either.

  “Okay, fine. You want to play it this way?” Kuznetsov jerked his gun toward the door. “Get moving. Both of you.”

  Sierra’s heart started pounding. “Where are you taking us?”

  “Somewhere no one will overhear your screams when I get the information I need from you.” He shoved Sierra forward, and she could barely breathe for fear of what this evil man had planned.

  Eddie slowly got up and teetered on his feet. Sierra took his arm to steady him and help him outside. She felt him trembling next to her, but wasn’t sure if it was from fear or weakness.

  “It’ll be okay,” she whispered. “My team will come for us.”

  “But how will they know where we are?”

  Kuznetsov hadn’t taken her phone. Maybe Nick could track it. If he was even looking. If anyone was looking. She’d felt her phone vibrate against her leg moments ago, so maybe they’d discovered she was gone and one of them had called to find her.

  Or it could be Reed, but he might not even come after her. Not when she’d broken her promise to remain at the lab. She made that promise when Everson was out there looking for her, but Reed wouldn’t understand why she felt safe in going out because she hadn’t told him about Ev
erson. And she didn’t deserve his understanding. Not when she put herself in this position. Worse than that, she led Kuznetsov to Eddie and put him in more danger.

  Kuznetsov’s two goons stood by the door, and when Kuznetsov stepped outside, they both rushed to his black SUV and opened the doors.

  Kuznetsov shoved her and Eddie in the back seat, and one of the guys slid in next to them. Kuznetsov and the other man got in the front.

  “Where are we going?” Sierra asked again.

  No one answered.

  The lack of response sent her heart pounding harder.

  Father, please. Please let Reed or someone on the team have noticed I’m gone and come to our rescue. Please!

  Reed turned to leave Sierra’s lab, but Nick grabbed his arm. “We can’t just go rushing out there like Sierra did. We need a plan.”

  Reed didn’t want to plan. Not with Sierra’s life riding on the line. He wanted to act. To get to her. Help her. But Nick was right. None of them would be any good to Sierra if they raced onto the scene only to be killed.

  “I’ll page everyone to the conference room for you.” Pete crossed to the phone on Sierra’s desk.

  “C’mon,” Nick said. “The sooner we formulate an action plan, the sooner we can go after her.”

  Reed didn’t have to be told twice. He bolted out the door and stood tapping his foot as Nick got the elevator open.

  “Who on the team can we count on for tactical support?” Reed asked.

  “Grady, Blake, and me, but Blake’s interviewing Everson with PPB. Sam and Riley can help, too. I’ll drop you at the conference room then get Sam, and she can call Riley.”

  Reed jetted into the elevator. He would rather be charging down the stairs, but the elevator was faster, so he tapped his foot to let out some of the pressure building inside. He couldn’t fathom that Sierra left the building when she promised not to go. He wanted to be mad at her, but his fear for her life trumped everything.

  The elevator jarred to a stop, and the door split open. Grady stood waiting.

  “Take over,” Nick said to his partner and remained in the elevator. “Be right back with Sam.”

  The doors whisked closed, and Reed brought Grady up to speed on the situation while they hurried down the hall.

  Grady ground his teeth as he opened the conference room door. “Sierra came to see me just before she left. She bolted out of my lab so fast I should’ve known something was up and followed her.”

  “You couldn’t have known,” Reed said, though he knew if he’d been in the same situation, he’d be blaming himself.

  As Reed waited for the team to assemble, he paced the room. Praying. Pleading. Begging God to keep Sierra safe. To show them the way to safely rescue her.

  Emory and Maya stepped into the room, their expressions tight as they sat. Nick, Sam, and Kelsey soon joined them.

  Reed stopped at the head of the table. “We believe Sierra went to a building owned by Caulfield where he could be holding Barnes.”

  Kelsey gasped. “Alone?”

  Reed nodded.

  “Riley’s not too far from there,” Sam said. “Nick told me where she went, so I texted Riley on the way down here and asked him to do recon.”

  Reed was thankful for their help, but he needed to control this op if he wanted to make sure it went well. “He knows not to approach, right?”

  She nodded. “At this point he’s only looking for her car.”

  “I’ll bring up the building on the screen.” Nick opened a laptop and tapped on the keys. The image soon displayed on the wall-mounted TV.

  “Let me also bring up satellite footage.” Nick typed again, and the satellite view of the warehouse loaded in a split screen. He rotated the shot, giving them a full three-hundred-sixty-degree view of the place.

  “One way in and one way out,” Reed said. “Windows are too high for a quick exit but someone could make it through them.”

  “Which means we need to cover all four sides of the building,” Grady said.

  “Can we get a map view to see nearby buildings?” Sam asked.

  Reed looked at her. “Your reasoning?”

  “Riley’s a former PPB sniper. If we have the right building nearby he could provide overwatch.”

  “He have an appropriate rifle with him?” Grady asked. “If not, I’ve got something he can use.”

  Sam snorted. “Are you kidding? The guy doesn’t leave home without his favorite weapons.”

  Reed had expected Grady to argue and say as a former Marine Scout Sniper, he should provide the overwatch, but he was clearly a team player.

  “Okay, here you go.” Nick moved the mouse around until he lighted on a tall building with a good view of the warehouse. He zoomed in on the building. “It’s an old fire station turned museum. Should work.”

  “We should also consider Grady for overwatch,” Maya said.

  “I could take a stand near the rear of the building,” Grady said calmly. “Between Riley and me, we should have the whole place covered.”

  “Let me find another location.” Nick moved the mouse over the nearby businesses.

  “That warehouse would be perfect,” Grady pointed out.

  “Okay, I’ll locate contact information for both locations so we can get permission to use their rooftops.” Nick started typing again.

  “Once you do, I’ll make the calls,” Reed said. “They’re more likely to say yes to the FBI than a private agency.”

  Nick nodded and began typing.

  “Okay, so Riley and Grady are on overwatch,” Reed said. “I’m going in through the front door. Alone. Nick take the back. Sam one of the sides. But we need another person for the other side.”

  “I can do it,” Maya said. “I’ve been shooting since I was a kid.”

  “Yeah, but shooting at what? Paper targets at the range.” Reed asked, trying his best not to sound skeptical when he was. Very.

  Maya firmed her shoulders. “I grew up hunting with my dad and can handle moving targets.”

  Reed thought about it and then decided her limited skills were better than leaving a side unprotected. He nodded. “Okay, we know the assignments. What about weapons and protection? I’ve got my go bag, but what about everyone else?”

  “Riley and I have appropriate weapons and our vests in his car,” Sam said.

  “My collection of assault weapons has us covered,” Grady said. “And I have vests for Nick and Maya.”

  Sam’s phone chimed. She glanced at it and looked up with a frown. “It’s Riley. Sierra’s car is across the street from the warehouse. She’s not in her car, and she’s nowhere in sight.”

  A vise tightened Reed’s stomach, and he felt like he might hurl. “We need to get moving. Now!”

  “I’ve got contact information for the building owners.” Nick jotted it down and slid the paper over to Reed.

  “I’ll make the calls on the way to the warehouse, and we’ll fine-tune the plan as well.” Reed planted his hand on his sidearm. “Let’s move people.”

  27

  Reed stepped out of the SUV and ran his binoculars over the building that looked forlorn and abandoned in the thriving Portland landscape. Sierra’s car sat right where Riley had reported finding it, but she still wasn’t inside.

  “Overwatch report,” Reed demanded over the communication device that connected the assault team together.

  “All’s quiet in the front,” Riley said.

  “Ditto in the back,” Grady said.

  “Let’s move, people.” Reed gestured for Sam, Nick, and Maya to follow him. Reed still wasn’t one hundred percent confident in Maya’s skills, but she seemed to be sure of herself and that was half the battle.

  He reached Sierra’s Civic. “Hold here while I check her car out.”

  He grabbed a handle and found the door unlocked. He leaned in and scanned the interior. No sign of a disturbance. No blood. Nothing to indicate she was injured. But Reed didn’t relax. Not one bit.

  He jo
ined the team again and they set out, four strong. They split at the sidewalk, and he reached the front door and paused. Making entry into an unknown space, facing an unknown subject, kicked up his pulse. Maybe he shouldn’t have created this plan. Should’ve brought in SWAT. It wasn’t too late. He could still abort.

  And what would he do if SWAT rushed in and botched the job? Reed couldn’t live without Sierra. That he knew for sure. And that meant he had to handle this himself.

  God, please watch over all of us and let us bring Sierra home safe.

  Mentally ready now, he leaned toward his mic. “Overwatch report.”

  “Clear,” Grady said.

  “Clear here, too,” Riley said.

  “Ground team?” Reed asked.

  Maya and Sam reported all was clear.

  “Back door’s been jimmied,” Nick reported. “But no action.”

  “Breaching.” Reed swung a battering ram that Grady provided from his collection of tools.

  The door swung in. Reed dropped the ram and raised his rifle. He stepped inside and ran his gaze over the large, empty space. The back wall held three doors. A restroom sign was above the one on the right. Exit above the middle one. And office over the third door located on the corner.

  He wanted to race over to the office, but he needed to be sure there wouldn’t be a flank attack. He strode across the room to the restroom where a half-filled water bottle sat on the floor by a rusty chair. He kicked open the door and confirmed it was empty. Kicked open the exit door that led to a small mudroom, confirming the outside door and that area was also empty. He went to the office and caught a whiff of a similar odor that often clung to his clothes after running. He clicked on the light and spotted a sleeping bag, empty water bottles, and food trash. But no Barnes and no Sierra.

  His heart fell, and he pressed his mic. “Looks like Barnes was held here, but he’s gone, and so is Sierra.”

  Panic clutched Sierra by the throat as Kuznetsov turned into a driveway leading to a dilapidated cabin in the woods. She needed to do something, but what? She couldn’t stop a big man like Kuznetsov from shooting her, not to mention stopping his huge bodyguards. And she didn’t want to do something stupid and put Eddie’s life in danger.