Page 106 of Reset

“We’ve set up a room for you,” Joe added. “Julia put some clothes in the drawers for both of you, and there’s food and drink in there too. If you tell Julia your sizes—especially shoes, Sarah—we’ll get items that fit and have them delivered for when you wake.”

“That’s very kind,” Sarah told him. “I’m afraid I don’t have any money on me right now. Our wallets went missing.”

Ryan’s hand covered hers where it sat on her knee. “They didn’t go missing. The little assholes stole them. But you don’t need money, we’ve got it covered. Right?”

“Absolutely,” Joe said firmly, shutting any further discussion down.

Soft conversation broke out around the room as everyone settled into the many sofas and chairs. Well, all except Callum and Lake, who preferred to stand. Julia brought a cup of tea in for Sarah, placing it on a delicate table at her side. She added two bottles—one of orange juice, the other water.

“I didn’t know what else you might want, so I brought a couple of options. If you’d like more tea, or something else, just signal me. It’s no trouble at all.” She smiled shyly and whispered, “I enjoy looking after people.”

“Me too,” Sarah whispered back.

With a smile, Julia took the seat nearest Sarah.

“Okay,” Callum barked. “Let’s get this done before these two fall asleep. Elle, fill them in.”

Elle was sitting tailor-style on a large ottoman, her laptop open beside her. “Okay, peeps, here’s the summary. You were both lifted off the street by a mercenary called Prentice. After Rachel scared the ever-loving out of him, he told us he’d been hired by a fixer called Leo Fournier, here in Paris.”

“The Baker,” Ryan said around a mouthful of almond tart. “I’ve heard of him. He’ll do anything if the price is right. Who was he working for?”

“That we don’t know,” Elle said. “Yet. We have a lead on where he’s hanging out, and the boys plan to pick him up tonight.” She glanced at David, who took up where she left off.

“We have a room set up to talk to him.” David’s eyes were cold, and Sarah knew there would be a whole lot more than talking going on in that room. “You want in?” he asked Ryan.

To her surprise, Ryan glanced at her, then shook his head. “Not tonight. I want to make sure Sarah gets settled. You can fill me in once you’re done.”

David nodded.

“Apart from that,” Elle said, “we know that someone was investigating both of you during the time you were dating. Why they waited until now to pick you up, we don’t know.”

“They investigated us?” Ryan reached for more pastries.

“Read every piece of correspondence between the two of you. They seemed very interested in your relationship.”

Sarah suddenly lost what little appetite she had. Handing her plate to Ryan, who’d vacuum up what was left, she picked up her tea. The warm liquid was nectar from the gods.

“Did you find out who hacked us?” Ryan said.

“A hacker for hire called Bubba—would you believe it? I got in touch with him, but he said everything happened through a broker and he had no idea who wanted the information.” Her eyes narrowed. “Bubba had some unfortunate luck after our talk. He’s now being questioned by the FBI in some unrelated matters.”

Ryan grinned. “Only the FBI?”

“Possibly the NSA too. I’m biding my time.” Elle had a look on her face that Sarah had only seen on Bond villains.

“Do you have any idea why you were lifted?” Callum asked.

“Nope.” Ryan looked at her, and she shook her head.

“I don’t understand any of this,” Sarah said honestly.

“I can tell you this though.” Ryan moved on to the plate of cookies. “We were held in somebody’s killing field. Sarah was manacled to the wall while I was free to roam. When we broke her out, we found two other women who’d died manacled to the walls in different rooms. One of the women was part of a couple. Her husband died with her. It looked like they’d tried to escape. The couple was German, and the woman was French Canadian. I took their driver’s licenses for ID, but they were in the wallet that the kids stole.”

Sarah swallowed hard before addressing the room. “The Canadian woman was Adrienne Toussaint, twenty-six, from Quebec City. She was engaged. The couple was Stefan and Iris Muller, from Leipzig. They were twenty-nine and twenty-four, respectively.” She looked at Ryan. “I read the licenses.”

He took her hand in his as his eyes softened. “It’s good you did.”

“German, Canadian, English?” Joe said. “It’s all over the place.”