Hotel #2
Jackson turned the SUV off. The key fob was on the console for Wilson. He and Rogers also got out of the vehicle. “We’ll circle the cabin and transmit our location after we’ve found the best place to surveil it and eventually breach it.”
Still sitting in the front passenger seat, Wilson scrutinized a heat signature moving in from the west. “I’ve got something big moving in from the west, still a ways out. I don’t want to pull out too far to get a good look at it, looks like a deer. I’ll keep you informed.”
“Be advised, team, that there are occasionally black bears in the area,” Yvette’s voice came through comms. “It’s rare this time of year, but it can happen that they’re not all hibernating yet.”
“Thanks, Control,” Wilson said before looking up from the monitor at the four men who stood clustered around the car windows. “Go.”
The four men moved away from the vehicle and faded into the dense forest, almost instantly becoming invisible. Crouching low, moving quickly, and as soundlessly as possible, Burke and Tessman proceeded northwest, following the coordinates on their watches.
The woods were ripe with earthy smells and the calls of several birds in the distance.
They heard the rustling of leaves as tiny feet hastened to put as much distance between themselves and these human interlopers in their home.
This was familiar to the two Marine Raiders, as they’d spent a great deal of time training and operating in dense wooded areas.
“Nearing the pickup, Taco,” Burke spoke softly. “Are we still clear?”
“Affirm,” Taco replied. “I’ve got you on my screen. You made good time.”
The two men stepped out of the woods and rushed up to the vehicle.
Burke went up to the driver’s side door with the intention of opening it to hit the hood release.
“Locked,” he announced. Undeterred, they both pulled their knives and punctured the tires.
“That’ll slow them down,” Burke told Tessman.
“All four tires slashed,” he stated. “On our way to the target.”
They re-entered the woods and made their way south towards the target cabin.
It came into view, but nothing about the scene would indicate that anyone was inside.
The drone had shown the cabin to be warmer than the surrounding area.
It must be from a space heater as there was no smoke coming from the chimney. And the entire area was quiet.
“On the target,” Tessman transmitted. “Two windows on the back wall with blackout curtains. No doors.”
“Front door on the south wall and several windows with blackout curtains or film,” Jackson advised.
“Two heat signatures remain in the center of the cabin,” Wilson said. “They haven’t moved.”
“I’m disappointed in Ellison. I expected some security that would let him know we’re here,” Burke whispered.
He looked around the ground where he stood, just within the tree line.
There were a couple of softball-sized rocks.
He picked one up. “We can hit the back windows with rocks and distract them while you come in the front.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Jackson said. “We still clear, Taco?”
“Roger that. The heat signature from the west is holding steady and nowhere near your location. I still think it’s a deer.”
“Moving to the door,” Jackson transmitted. Then he and Rogers moved quietly and quickly up to the cabin, each of them pressing their backs to the wooden wall on either side of the door. “In position,” he whispered.
In the back, Tessman picked up a baseball-sized rock. He pointed to the two windows and raised the rock into throwing position, as did Burke.
“In three, two, one,” Burke counted down.
“Go.” He and Tessman both pitched their rocks at the windows.
His larger rock broke the window with a loud shattering of glass.
Tessman’s bounced off after a solid thud, leaving a spiderweb of cracks on the window glass.
Both men immediately raised their rifles into firing position.
The unmistakable sound of wood splintering and a solid wood door exploding in and striking the wood wall behind it was heard, immediately followed by Jackson and Rogers’s voices yelling over each other as they rushed into the cabin.
“Hands up!” Jackson called.
“Let me see your hands!” Rogers shouted.
“Federal agents with a warrant!” Jackson added.
“Freeze!” Rogers shrieked when the two men ran in opposite directions from the dining table they’d been seated at.
“Gun!” Jackson yelled as one of the men grabbed a gun from the waistband of his jeans. “Drop it!”
As a single gunshot rang out, a figure in a tan Carhartt jacket dove through the shattered window and rolled to the ground. He popped up onto his feet as Burke fired a burst from his rifle, the bullets striking the ground in front of the man in the direction he faced.
“Freeze right there!” Burke yelled.
The man put his hands up and turned to face Burke and Tessman. It wasn’t Ellison.
“Got one out back. Not our target. Sitrep Jax?” Burke transmitted.
“One down, not our target either. Powder is assessing him. He’ll live,” Jackson replied.
“Taco, widen the viewing area of the drone. Our target has to be out there somewhere,” Burke said.
“On the ground, spread eagle!” he ordered the man in the tan Carhartt jacket.
He reluctantly dropped to the ground as directed.
Burke kept him covered as Tessman searched him and then secured his hands in zip ties behind his back.
“Are you ready for the local LEOs?” Yvette’s voice came through comms.
“We will need an ambulance, so yes, call them in, Control,” Jax replied.
None of the men from Shepherd Security wanted to have anyone else in the area, not until they either got confirmation that Mark Ellison was not in the area, despite the fact that his pickup truck was, or they found him.
But there was a wounded man who needed medical attention beyond what Rogers could render to him on the scene. He needed a surgeon.
“Mark Ellison? Where is he?” Burke asked the man in the Carhartt jacket.
“Don’t know him,” he lied.
“His truck is parked at the next cabin, up the way,” Burke said.
“Haven’t taken a walk, don’t know who, if anyone, is also in the area,” tan Carhartt man said. He had no ID on him, and he wasn’t giving up his name.
Tessman opened the fingerprint app on his phone and pressed the man’s fingers to the screen. “I’m going to guess you have a record, and we’ll know your name and address soon. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re from Minnesota, same as Ellison.”
Through comms, they could hear a similar line of questioning taking place by Jackson inside the cabin. The perp in there couldn’t have been wounded too seriously. He was also avoiding answering questions with doubletalk.
“Hey, that contact from the west just disappeared from the feed. I need a couple of you to go check it out. Is your scene secure enough for a few of you to step away?” Wilson’s voice came through comms.
“Roger that, Taco,” Burke replied. “Bringing our Tango in through the front, Jax. Then Moe and I can go check it out.”
“Come to the car. It’s too far to hike,” Wilson said.