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On the second floor, the only light in the hall came from one of the rooms that had its door open. Shadows cloaked everything but it was still easy to spot the lone guard lounging in an old folding chair to the left of a closed door. He jumped to his feet the second he spotted Rowe, reached for his gun…and then it was like a shadow swallowed him whole. Hollis got only the barest glimpse of arms sweeping around the man from behind and then he was soundlessly pulled back into the deeper shadows. Hollis lifted his gun and took a half step forward to go after the man when he realized that he’d just seen the other Ranger in action. Holy fuck. There was only a creak of wood as if the building were settling and the softest whisper of cloth rubbing across cloth…and then nothing.
Risking a glance over at his companion, he found a wicked grin stretched across Rowe’s lips and a flush to his cheeks. He had a strong suspicion the man was fully aroused and planning the first moment he could get Noah alone and pinned against the nearest fucking wall. Hollis shook his head.
Noah appeared with Ian less than a minute later, his blue eyes twinkling with laughter. These two fucks were enjoying themselves. Another time, another raid, Hollis might have been able to join in their amusement, but his eyes immediately shifted to Ian. He wasn’t looking quite as pale, but the place still had him rattled. Hollis wanted to get him out of there and that wasn’t going to happen until they got to the kids.
Carefully crossing the second floor, they each checked the two other rooms where the doors were open. They were largely empty, just a stray blanket, a sleeping bag, some old bags of fast food or junk food wrappers, and piles of empty alcohol containers. Jagger apparently didn’t care too much if his guards drank while on the job. When they returned to the closed door, both Noah and Rowe knelt in front of it while Ian handed over the sling bag that he’d been carrying. His fucking hands itched to reach out to Ian and pull him close, but he didn’t. He needed to focus. That was the best way to keep Ian safe.
From the bag, Noah pulled out a long hose with a camera attached to one end, while Rowe hooked the other end up to what looked like a handheld monitor. Hollis had been a part of enough infiltrations over the years to understand that Noah would carefully feed the hose under the door so they could get a look at the layout of the other room before they stormed in. With any luck, they’d be able to see how many guards were left or if the door was rigged with an alarm in any way.
Noah had just managed to get the hose fed through the wide opening under the old door while Rowe booted up the monitor when the door was jerked open. The guard stood on the other side, blinking at the two men who knelt at his feet, looking utterly stunned.
“Oh! Hi!” Rowe said, smiling broadly at the man as if he hadn’t gotten caught trying to sneak a peek.
Balling up his fist, Hollis slammed it into the man’s jaw, snapping his head back and knocking him flat. Noah immediately lunged into the room and onto the man, ensuring that he was unconscious while the rest of them stormed into the medium-sized room to discover only children.
There was no stopping the gasp of horror that slipped from Hollis’s lips as his wide eyes skimmed over the two groups of kids huddled against the walls. There were ten of them, ranging from the ages of about eight to thirteen, he guessed. They wore only thin shirts and jeans, nothing to combat the cold of the room. All the years he’d worked in Missing Persons, he’d dreamed of finding something like this. Dreamed of actually rescuing a group of kids like this. His heart beat a strong tattoo against his rib cage as he thought of all the families they were about to help. Blinking back the moisture that stung his eyes, he quickly put away his gun and pulled out his badge from the back pocket of his jeans.
“I’m a police officer, a detective with the Cincinnati Police Department. You’re safe now.” He got back only a soft whimper from somewhere in the group, but not one child looked relieved. A hand landed on his arm, and he looked over at Ian who was smiling up at him. Somehow, the young man looked both heartbroken and completely serene.
“It’s okay,” he whispered.
Hollis nodded against the knot that had formed in his throat, unable to speak, but sure that he’d never been so proud of another human being in his entire life. Ian Pierce had returned to one of the places of trauma in his life; he’d faced armed guards, and now he was helping kids who might not have been so lucky as to have a Lucas, Snow, and Rowe step into their lives.
