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No! He had to stop thinking like that. Noah would protect Ian. Noah had spent even more time in the Rangers than Rowe. He had the same mad skills if not more. If anyone was safe tonight, it was Ian.
At the bottom of the wide staircase to the front porch, Rowe paused and motioned for him to stay. Hollis gave a quick nod before letting his eyes sweep over the area. The brush and the trees had been cut away from the front enough to allow a large vehicle like a van or a truck to pull right up to the stairs. There was only a crescent moon out but the sky was clear, providing just enough light for him to see the deep ruts in the dirt from the tires. The kidnappers likely drove right up and unloaded the kids here quickly, not giving them a chance to try to make a run for it—not that they had anywhere they could go.
From Rowe’s GPS, they saw that White Rock was surrounded by woods and mountains. The nearest town was fifteen miles away and that was along a narrow, winding road out of the mountains. Even if a kid managed to escape, he was likely going to die out in the woods either from exposure, a bad fall, or an animal attack. Jagger had chosen his hideout well.
Hollis turned his attention back to the schoolhouse. The two-story building looked like it was barely standing. The old wood siding was rotted with only a few chips of paint still clinging to the dirty, weather-beaten wood. The windows were covered over with relatively new plywood. A few of the stairs, as well as some of the boards in the porch, had been recently replaced with newer two-by-fours. It looked as if Jagger had done enough to keep the building minimally safe for use while it temporarily housed the kids before his next auction.
Rowe remained as low as possible, keeping to the shadows and out of the view of any of the holes in the plywood covering the windows. Hollis’s stomach clenched to see absolutely no weapon in his hands. Of course, Rowe was a fucking weapon, but that didn’t mean that Hollis felt any better about him going into that building without a gun drawn. Fuck knew those assholes were armed to the teeth and wouldn’t hesitate for a second to open fire on the man.
A second later, the night went completely silent as the steady hum from the generator suddenly stopped. The plan was that Ian would turn off the generator while Rowe and Noah approached from the front and back doors, respectively, to knock out the first-floor guards.
The little bits of light that were streaming through the cracks in the house went out and even from the bottom of the stairs, he could hear voices raised from the inside.
“What the fuck?” called a rough voice from the first floor.
“Benny forgot to put more fuel in the goddamn generator again. Stick your head outside and tell him to fix it!”
More cursing followed and loud banging on the first floor as the man possibly knocked into something in the darkness as he approached the front door. Rowe quickly positioned himself to the side so he wouldn’t immediately be seen. As soon as the larger man with shaggy brown hair jerked the door open and took a step forward into the cold night air, Rowe clocked him hard with his fist in the jaw. The man staggered but wasn’t out. He stumbled to the side and Rowe took the opportunity to wrap his arm around the man’s throat from behind. He was attempting to put him in the same chokehold he’d used on the other guard. The only problem was that he was much larger and taller. Rowe couldn’t get the move locked in fast enough.
The guy huffed and stumbled into the side of the building. In two bounding steps, Hollis drew his gun and was up the stairs and on the porch. He pressed the muzzle right between his watery blue eyes.
“Stop,” he said in a low, cold voice.
The man immediately froze, his eyes wide with fear. It was enough to let Rowe get the hold in. Just a couple of seconds later, the man was unconscious, all his substantial girth resting on Rowe.
“Fuck, he’s heavy,” Rowe muttered softly on an exhale. He soundlessly laid the man out on the porch, while Hollis dug for the tape in his bag. They took enough time to place a piece over the man’s mouth and to bind his arms. Rowe was turning back to the house when Noah emerged from the darkness. Hollis jumped and swallowed back a curse. Even Rowe appeared momentarily flustered by Noah’s sudden appearance.
“No one else on the first floor,” Noah whispered.
