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“Yep.”
“Andrea, on my signal, scare them away.”
“Roger that.”
I headed out of the tree cover with Gabe, Dante, and Pete following. We approached the house diagonally from the rear and stopped before we rounded the corner to the front porch. “Now,” I said in my comms. We heard thepopof suppressed rounds and the shouts of surprise and fear coming from the two men who had just gotten out of their cars. Andrea kept firing until they got back in their cars and drove away.
“Good work,” I said. “We’re going in the front door.”
“I’ve got you covered,” she replied
“The police might come to visit,” Gabe said.
I shook my head. “We’re all good. I called in a friend who has connections with the Pennsylvania state troopers. He’ll intercept any calls out.”
“Roger that, Chief.”
I motioned for them to follow me around the corner to the front of the house. I heard shouting coming from inside. No doubt it was Ephraim on the phone with one of the men who’d been scared off. I held up my fist, signaling my team to stop and wait. “Masks,” I murmured.
We all pulled down the black ski masks we wore on missions like this. Michael would wipe any video evidence, and we would all just turn into concerned citizens helping a friend find his sister if the state troopers arrived before we left.
I motioned forward again, and we stormed the front door, pushing through before Ephraim or his customer could stop us. We all drew our side arms, and I shouted, “Hands up and don’t move!”
The john froze in his tracks and raised his shaking hands up high. Ephraim, who was standing behind a half-wall in the kitchen, leaned down to reach for something. I raised my weapon and pointed it right at his head. “One more move, and I won’t have a problem putting a bullet right between your eyes, you rapist piece of shit.”
Ephraim Little raised his hands in the air, his face ghostly white. He looked to be in his mid to late-fifties, with graying hair and watery blue eyes. He was a pretty big guy and looked like he probably worked with his hands. “Who are you?” he asked, his voice shaking.
“None of your business,” I spat. “Now come out of there, nice and slow.” Gabe moved to stand behind me, just to my left. Pete and Dante pulled out zip ties and quickly tied the john to a wooden chair that was part of a dinette set.
Ephraim kept his hands up while he came around the half-wall. When he was about five feet away, I put my hand up to stop him. “Hand over the keys to the padlocks.”
He had the balls ask, “What padlocks?”
I lowered my gun so it was aimed at his crotch. “I don’t have to shoot to kill, asshole.” His eyes widened and his face got even paler. When he reached for his pocket, I growled, “Slowly.” Gabe strode over and took the keys from him once he got them out of his pocket.
Dante grabbed hold of him as soon as we were done and roughly sat him in another of the wooden chairs. Once both men were securely tied, Pete pulled a pair of hoods from a pouch on his belt and put one over each man’s head. When we were sure both men couldn’t identify us, we all pulled our ski masks off.
I pointed at Pete and Dante. “Sweep the house. Make sure there’s no one else here besides the girls.”
The two men nodded wordlessly and began their search. Marco tapped his earpiece. “Team two, stand ready. All hands. Bring your electronics too. Treetop, they’ll need an escort.”
He heard Andrea’s snort of laughter. “Sure thing, Sarge. I’ll just need to take off my ghillie suit first.”
“Roger that.”
“You can’t do this!” Ephraim shouted from under his hood.
“What exactly can’t I do?” I asked.
“You can’t invade a man’s home like this.”
Gabe and I looked at each other in disbelief. “You mean like you can’t pretend you’re a sixteen-year-old boy on the internet and lure a fourteen-year-old girl out to meet you and then kidnap her?”
The man twisted his wrists, trying to get out of his bonds. “Is this about that little n—”
Gabe grabbed the back of Ephraim’s neck, shoved his gun under the man’s chin, and growled, “You do not want to finish that sentence, you absolute piece of garbage.”
Dante, who had just returned to the room, said, “Man, you must have a death wish to talk like that.” He turned to me. “All clear.”
