Read Return Fire (Sam Archer ) for Free Online Page A

private, secluded area which provided privacy, space to work and complimentary food and drink. Arriving at the reception desk, they each showed a woman in a navy blue BA suit their boarding passes and passports. She welcomed them through with a smile that was impressively genuine for this time in the morning, but only Josh managed to match it as they passed her desk and walked into the Lounge.
    There were about twenty other people sitting around the room, mostly businessmen and women reading documents or working on laptops, brought together for a brief spell before flying on to their various destinations around the world. A few had dozed off, that light kind of sleep that would be ended in an instant when a flight was called for boarding, whilst others were sipping drinks or eating the light snacks provided.
    There were plenty of available seats and the quartet moved towards four armchairs centred around a low-cut polished table towards the back of the lounge, the typical police approach, keeping their backs to the wall and their eyes on the door. Placing their bags down, Josh and Marquez immediately headed over towards a coffee and tea selection across the room beside the complimentary food. As they both left, Shepherd’s phone started ringing and he took the call, walking away and talking quietly to whoever was on the other end.
    Momentarily alone, Archer took a seat an d leaned back in a leather armchair, rubbing tiredness out of his eyes, the warm darkness of his apartment a distant memory now it had been replaced by harsh airport lighting and cold recycled air from the ventilation system. He felt like shit; ever since Josh had told him Vargas had been taken, his stomach had knotted up like an intricate Chinese puzzle and had stayed that way ever since.
    What the hell was this about?
    Whatever the reason Stanovi ch and Payan had kidnapped Alice, they’d taken her at 2:30am; she would have been fast asleep, the element of surprise helping to make their task easier, but it sounded as if she’d gone down fighting. Even though these men must have caught her off guard, she’d still managed to draw blood from all three, giving the investigating team plenty to work with.
    Sitting there alone for the moment, Archer paused.
    All three.
    There was someone else involved here. The owner of the fourth sample that Travis said wasn’t Vargas’ and which hadn’t yet been matched.
    A third kidnapper.
    As he considered the few facts he had, Archer tried to clarify his thoughts; the owner of the as yet unidentified blood sample was another mystery in a night already full of them. Everything had happened as suddenly as a fast-moving tornado hitting an unsuspecting Midwest town. Three hours ago he’d been fast asleep but was now on his way to the UK to track down two sleazy, ex-con sex traffickers who’d kidnapped his girlfriend.
    Another nightmare.
    But this time he was awake.
    Sitting there alone, his foot tapped quietly with impatience as he checked his watch. He’d seen the Liam Neeson movies but he also knew the facts; every sixty seconds after a woman is kidnapped by men in the sex-trade is another minute closer to never finding her again. Although Stanovich and Payan were both apparently back in London, there was no guarantee at all that they’d brought Vargas to the city with them. They could easily have passed her onto someone else on their way through Europe, injecting her with substances to keep her compliant.
    Or done something even worse.
    Feeling bile rise in his gut, he forced his mind elsewhere, but despite his best efforts it kept conjuring up an image of Vargas tied up somewhere, bleeding and vulnerable, still dressed in those small grey nightclothes she wore, alone and scared.
    Just hold on, Alice, he thought.
    I’m coming for you.
    Then his thoughts shifted to Stanovich and Payan. His already dark mood turned as black as pitch.
    I’m coming for you too.
    Ten feet to the left, Shepherd thanked whoever had called