Return Fire (Sam Archer ) Read Free Page B

his partner could explain on the move. Heading back inside as Josh went down to start the car, Archer had pulled on some jeans and sneakers then woken the little girl as he did up his shirt, telling her something had come up at work and that she’d be having a sleep-over at Josh’s place. She’d become good friends with Josh and Michelle’s three kids and had stayed there in the past so it wasn’t an issue, especially as Archer had played up the adventure while quickly packing her bag and grabbed her epilepsy medication, the girl still half-asleep and not really understanding what was going on.
    Once he’d gathered her things and locked up, he’d carried the sleepy girl still in her pyjamas downstairs and out to the Bureau Ford. Josh had then burned it over to his place on the Upper West Side, he and Archer not saying a word, saving it for when the child in the backseat was safely out of earshot.
    Now just the two of them again, Josh fired the engine, released the handbrake and set off for the return journey to Queens, turning out onto Central Park West and heading straight for the Counter-Terrorism Bureau Headquarters just the other side of the Queensborough Bridge.
    ‘How long ago?’ Archer asked, his leg jiggling with nervous tension, looking ahead at the lamp-lit streets of the city as they flashed past.
    ‘Anywhere after 11 o’clock last night, Spanish time.’
    ‘Who was the last person to see her?’
    ‘Her grandmother.’
    ‘How did it go down?’
    ‘Alice took her out to dinner and after they got back they said goodnight about an hour before midnight,’ Josh explained. ‘When she wasn’t responding to any calls or knocks on the door this morning, her grandmother checked her room.’
    He paused.
    ‘Her bags and passport were still there, but Alice was gone. Left a real scene too.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘She must have put up one hell of a fight, Arch,’ he said, just making it past a red light and accelerating to try and beat the next one. ‘Both lamps were smashed and there was blood on the sheets.’
    Pause.
    ‘Alice’s?’
    ‘We don’t know yet. The Department have a liaison stationed in Madrid and he’s already got the Spanish cops running the samples for DNA. The results should come through in the next hour or so; if it’s not Vargas’ blood, we might be able to get a match on whoever abducted her.’
    As Archer absorbed the news, Josh turned left at Columbus Circle and started heading east across Manhattan on 59 th Street, the previous calm of the night now completely vanished, the shadowy Central Park rolling past their left side.
    ‘Any ransom calls?’ Archer asked.
    ‘None.’
    ‘Borders?’
    ‘Her photo and vitals have gone out to European police departments. A Spanish forensics team dusted the bedroom, but it looks like whoever took her was wearing gloves. The only prints in there were Vargas’, the maid’s and her grandmother’s.’
    His leg still jiggling, Archer checked his watch, picturing the abduction in his head. ‘Madrid is six hours ahead, so 11pm Spanish time is 5pm here. And her grandmother didn’t discover she was missing until 8 o’clock the next morning.’
    Josh nodded.
    Archer swore. ‘Jesus Christ, that’s a nine hour window to get her out of the country. She could be anywhere in Europe right now.’
    Josh didn’t reply. The humming of the car’s powerful engine filled the silence.
    ‘How did you hear?’ Archer asked.
    ‘Shepherd. The Spanish authorities called the Department and he’s ordered you, me and Marquez in. When I got there, he told me you weren’t answering your phone so he sent me to get you immediately.’
    ‘It wasn’t switched on,’ Archer replied. ‘We’re supposed to be on leave.’
    ‘Not anymore,’ Josh said, shaking his head grimly and speeding on towards the Queensborough.
     
    They crossed the Bridge moments later and after a swift right turn and a quick ride down Vernon Boulevard, pulled into a space outside