Chapter 17 Rescue #3
"Jesus, fuck, man," Cade fake groused as he lifted his shirt and turned around in a circle.
"Pantlegs too," the guy insisted.
"Fucking paranoid bastard, aren't ya?" Cade spat out as he lifted his pants.
When the thug was satisfied, he opened the door wider to let Cade in. As expected, he was holding his own firearm.
Scanning the interior, Cade filed away as many details as he could: a corridor leading to the kitchen in the back; a lit but empty living room to the right; a darkened dining room to the left with no sign of movement from within; and stairs leading up to the second floor with no one visible on the landing.
The goon yelled toward the kitchen, "Hey assholes, I'm taking a guy up to see the ruby. I'll be right back."
The man's words prompted murmurs from the kitchen at the rear of the house, but Cade couldn't make out how many voices.
In his ear, he heard Taylor say, "We're in position at the back and can hear you clearly.
We have visual confirmation. Two hostiles in the kitchen.
I repeat, visual confirmation on two hostiles.
We're on standby, waiting for your signal. "
So far, all was according to plan.
The guy waved his gun in an obvious warning before motioning upstairs.
Cade climbed the stairs with the goon behind him and took in the layout of the second floor, knowing there should be four bedrooms, all to the left.
The door to the bathroom at the top of the stairs was open, and Cade noted it was empty.
"Second door on the left," the man said when they reached the top, just as Tag's voice whispered in his ear. "Confirmed, ten heat signatures. Two down, eight up."
Mentally processing that information, Cade deduced there were six other people upstairs besides him and his guy, and the only question was whether they were all kidnapped girls or if there was another thug or even a client lurking somewhere behind these doors.
Pulling out a set of keys from his front pocket, the guy unlocked the door, then threw it open.
It banged against the inside wall with a thump, and a petite girl jumped to her feet, her stance defensive.
Cade immediately knew it was Natalie. The hair falling past her shoulders matched Tristan’s fiery copper tone, and their faces bore a striking resemblance: same nose, same eyes, same freckles.
He was relieved there were no obvious bruises or injuries.
Natalie stared them down as if itching for a fight, and he respected her already.
Her eyes skittered away momentarily to glance across the room, and when Cade's followed and landed on the other girl, his heart squeezed.
She sat with knees curled to her chest, dark hair pulled back to expose an ashen face and eyes wide with fright.
Fucking hell, these monsters. He would be happy to slaughter them all.
Natalie remained silent but tipped up her chin — just like Tristan.
"That's her," the guy said. "No touching."
Cade pretended to examine her. "You a real redhead, kid?"
She scrunched up her face at him but nodded.
He studied her for a minute, feeling bad that he was about to be crude. "You ever been fucked?"
She sputtered, indignant. "No!"
"You sure?" Cade asked, continuing the show for the goon.
"I think I'd know if I was," she spat back. He had to admire her guts.
Forcing out a laugh, Cade commented, "Shit, she's got an attitude, huh? Guess the red-headed temper is for real, huh?"
"Whatever. You done?"
"Yeah, got what I needed," Cade answered, holding Natalie's gaze for a heartbeat, hoping he could convey that he was a friend. He couldn't tell if she understood, but he supposed it didn't matter because this whole thing would be over in a matter of minutes.
As they headed downstairs, Cade asked the guy, "You got any other rubies here besides her?"
"Nah, just a citrine and four onyxes."
Rodriguez said over comms, "That confirms five girls plus Natalie. Six girls, King, and three perps make ten. King will take out the one he's with, and we'll get the other two in the kitchen."
"Damn. I like redheads myself. Too bad that one's off limits. You ever, you know, sample the product?" Cade asked, and while he smirked on the outside, his stomach knotted at the idea.
"Nah," the guy answered absently, seemingly relaxed and not suspicious of Cade's visit or conversation.
Which was exactly where Cade wanted him.
When they reached the front door, Cade reached for the doorknob but then paused and gave the signal.
"One more thing," he said, and before the guy could ask, 'What?' Cade heard a thud from the back of the house, the scratch of furniture across the floor, and then two sharp pops, followed by two heavy thumps in quick succession.
As his guy turned toward the noise, surprised and distracted, Cade easily disarmed him and had the barrel pointed between his eyebrows before the man even knew what had happened.
The whole affair took only seconds, and then the house fell eerily quiet.
Over comms, Rodriguez said, "Two hostiles eliminated in the rear."
Adrenaline had Cade's heart pumping hard as he took his own weapon back from the thug and demanded, "How many guys here besides you?"
The guy eyed the gun and spat out, "Two."
Believing that was probably true, but definitely not trusting it one hundred percent until he verified himself, Cade told him, "Hand over the keys and your phone."
The man reluctantly complied, and Cade pocketed the items and pushed him toward the kitchen.
When they entered the room, Cade tossed a quick look at the motionless bodies, feeling nothing but satisfaction over the elimination of two more pieces of shit.
He motioned for his guy to sit in a chair and barked out orders.
"Watch him while we sweep the house," he told Taylor as he handed him the thug's gun.
Brandishing his own Glock again, he instructed Tag, "Check down here, just in case you missed a heat signature.
He says it was just the three of them, but I want to make sure.
Rodriguez, you're with me. We'll check upstairs, confirm it's only the girls up there. "
Ignoring Tag's sneer at the implication he might have missed something, Cade climbed the stairs with Rodriguez close behind. He unlocked Natalie's door before tossing the keys to the other agent and opened it slowly with his gun out but pointed down. Natalie jumped to her feet again.
"Anyone here except you two?" he asked, nodding toward the dark-haired girl.
Natalie shook her head, but he still checked under the bed and the closet, and upon finding them empty, told her, "I'm a friend of Tristan's. We'll get you out of here, but we need to make sure it's safe first. Stay here until I come back, understand?"
Her eyes widened, but she agreed, and Cade exited into the hallway, where Rodriguez told him, "First room's clear. One girl."
"Mine too. Two girls."
After Rodriguez unlocked the next door, Cade took the keys from him and accessed the final bedroom. A blonde girl lay curled up on the bed, bruised face, vacant eyes, not reacting to his presence. Her catatonic state made his stomach twist.
"Are you alone?" he asked as he opened the closet, finding it empty, and then under the bed. She didn't answer him, but he had already concluded she was.
"We're going to get you out of here, but wait until someone comes back and says it's safe, okay?"
Her eyes slowly slid to him, but her face held a blank expression, and she didn't move. Swallowing a curse, he exited the room and found Rodriguez.
"All clear. One girl. You?"
"Clear, two girls."
Tag's voice came through his earpiece, "Downstairs is clear."
"Understood," Cade responded, and after they verified the bathroom was indeed empty, he added, "Upstairs is clear as well. Verified six girls. I'm coming down."
Leaving Rodriguez to stay upstairs with the girls, Cade met the other two agents back in the kitchen.
Tag leaned against a counter with his arms crossed over his chest, and Taylor stood with his weapon trained on the hostile, who looked bored even though he had to know he would be dead within minutes.
Cade didn't have high hopes for getting intel on the Handler, but they could get lucky.
"What do you know about the Handler?" Cade asked.
"I know he pays me," the man snarked.
"Where is he?"
"No fucking idea."
Hoping to intimidate enough to shake loose something they could use, Cade stepped closer and growled, "Where is he?"
"I don't fucking know. I'm not his keeper." This asshole was annoying as shit, and Cade was losing his patience. He wanted to get this over with and get back to Tristan.
"What's his real name?"
"Fuck if I know."
This was turning out to be a waste of time.
"What else do you know about him? What does he look like?"
When the guy clamped his mouth shut, Taylor inched his gun closer to his head.
"Jesus. Big gut, fat face, thinning hair."
"Miss America then?" Tag snarked.
"Yeah, he's a real fucking beauty queen."
"I need more details? Is he white? How tall? What color hair?"
The goon hesitated slightly, but when his eyes slid over to the gun Taylor pointed at him, he answered begrudgingly. "Yeah, he's white. Maybe five-ten. Brown hair, what's left of it."
Satisfied that they now had a physical description, Cade asked, "Can you call him?"
"Nah. Uses a burner. Numbers change all the time."
Cade fished out the guy's phone and searched the call history, confirming the story when he saw dozens of unknown numbers. He knew it was a long shot, but punched the number for the last incoming call, pressed the speaker button, and slid the phone in front of their hostage.
"If the Handler answers, tell him you need to meet him. Set up a time and place."
"I told you, he won't answer."
"Do it anyway," Cade hissed.
The man made a face, and they all listened to the sound of ringing until a message played saying the number was no longer in service.
Cursing, Cade turned back to the man. "How often does he call you?"
"I don’t know, man. When something is going down, like we're transferring product or something."
"Anything like that planned?" Cade pressed.
"Not that I know of."
Fucking dead end after dead end. "When will he call again?"
"I don't fucking know. Never do."
Jesus, this was going nowhere. Cade hadn't expected much, but it was still frustrating. Deciding the guy had nothing else to offer, Cade turned to Tag and asked, "Anything else?"
"I don't think so."
On comms, Cade announced, "Annabeth, we're bringing the girls out now. Send Kate."
"Understood. ETA two minutes."
Nodding to Taylor, Cade turned to leave the kitchen, speaking into his earpiece. "Rodriguez, I'm on my way up. Let's start rounding up the girls."
Before he reached the staircase, a gunshot popped.
On comms, he heard Taylor report, "All hostiles eliminated."
"Understood," Annabeth responded.
Upstairs, he and Rodriguez gathered up the girls. Cade returned to Natalie's room and assured her, "It's safe now. We're getting you out of here. Tristan's outside waiting for you. Can you help her?" He motioned toward the other girl, who sat rocking on the bed.
"You're sure it's over?" Natalie asked warily.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
Natalie's shoulders slumped with relief, and she blew out a long breath. Cade felt relieved as well, now that he let himself notice it. The only thing left was to get these girls back to their families.
To get Natalie back to Tris.
Natalie carefully approached the other girl and said gently, "Hey, Emma. We're getting out of here. This man is a friend of my brother's, so it's safe. Come with me, okay?"
Emma studied Natalie and blinked several times before accepting the outstretched hand, but eyed Cade warily as she stood.
He led them out of the room and down the stairs, while Rodriguez and four girls walked in front of him, including the shell-shocked blonde, who clung tightly to a dark-haired girl.
Before they left the house, Cade took a quick detour to the kitchen and tossed the keys to the floor next to the dead guys, trusting that the cleaner would wipe their prints.
Stepping out onto the porch, he saw Kate had arrived, and knowing the girls were in good hands, he approached Natalie and told her, "Come with me. Tristan's over here."
Now that the rescue was over, Cade's heart thumped with excitement and satisfaction.
He couldn't wait to see Tristan reunited with his sister, to see the relief on his face, to watch the tension drain from his body.
He imagined the smile that would split Tristan's face, how he'd hug Natalie tightly, and how they'd both cry.
How he'd finally see Tristan happy and would know he'd helped make it happen.
With Natalie close behind, Cade strode to the car and grabbed the handle. As he swung open the back door, he announced, "Tris, Natalie's here. She's safe."
When Tristan didn't jump out, Cade looked inside.
The car was empty.