Her Striker by Charlene Raquel

Chapter Twenty-eight

 

 

“This is freakin’ cool!” Dean muttered under his breath. He wanted to be more excited about using the thermal imaging camera drone that he was flying around the house, but Gwen’s situation remained the clear focus. He was helping to rescue her. He stopped at each window to capture regular and infrared images to map out who was in the mansion.

Most of the rooms were empty with only a few servants occupying the third floor. They determined that Gwen’s father was on the second floor, but no one else seemed to be on that level. There were a couple of windows on the third level that would not allow the camera to penetrate and the images reflected back. That was the most likely place Gwen would be held.

There was a basement that Rip was about to enter through hurricane doors that were secured with a simple combination lock. Bolt cutters snipped it off easily. They hoped Gwen wasn’t being held in some creepy dungeon-type place.

Boomer was set to break into the kitchen and sweep the ground floor. He hid behind some patio furniture, waiting for the signal. There was a guard in a small office off the kitchen and Boomer would take him out first. They were all issued tranquillizer guns with a quick-acting sedative. Jeff wanted to keep this clean, and they would do whatever they could to make it that way.

Jeff climbed onto the front porch’s roof and planned on breaching the house from the front second floor window. It was an empty room so he should be able to cut the glass from the window and slip inside.

Crash found a couple sets of French doors that led to a large formal living room. They were an attractive feature to have, but not secure at all. A thin plastic card slid between the doors flipped the locking mechanism up and the doors opened with ease. He had complained that it wasn’t any fun without a little bit of a challenge.

“Ready for breach. The house surveillance cameras show one guard downstairs and one on the third floor, but he appears to be asleep.” Sam had been monitoring the cameras they had hacked into but there were not enough of them to cover the entire place.

“One heat signature heading toward you, Rip. You got the guard in the garage, but it looks like another one is wandering around.” Dean was in charge of the exterior and controlling the drone.

“Go set on three.” Rip called out, sounding excited. “Three…”

“What the hell was that?” Jeff whisper-yelled over the mics.

“Boomer got a little excited and darted the woman in the kitchen before she put her glass down.” Drew called over the mic. He had been assigned to watch Boomer and Kip make entry.

Boomer spewed several colorful words and fired a second time. “Two down. Catch up, boys.”

“You want to wake the whole house so we can take them all on?” Jeff griped. They had all been set to breach the house, but Boomer had engaged early.

“Shit! Entering now.” Rip pulled the door open and dashed down the stone steps into the basement.

Crash shook his head as he made his way inside. “Clear. Moving on.”

“Going for Richard Mason.” Jeff updated the group.

Crash made his way to the staircase leading to the second floor. “Approaching the second floor on the way to the third.” He silently crept up the steps, keeping his dart gun at ready, scanning everything as he went. His eyes peeled for even the slightest movement.

 

~*~*~

 

Gwen reached the end of the second floor, shocked that she remained free. She thought she would have been found by someone. It had sounded like glass breaking downstairs, which was where she was heading, but she had no choice but to continue onward.

The steps were around the corner from where she was. All she had to do was swing her body around and she would be descending. Gwen picked up her foot to take a step but was stopped when she collided with a muscular body clad in all black with a dark mask over his face. The man grabbed around her waist, securing one of her arms in the process. His hand came down over her mouth so quickly she didn’t have time to scream.

Gwen thrashed and struggled, kicking her feet and hitting him with her one hand.

“Gwen! Stop!” Crash hissed. “We’re here to rescue you. Stop struggling. We need to get out of here.” He pulled her closer to him. “Package secured.”

Gwen settled a little but was suspicious. “Who are you? Who’s we?”

Crash rushed down the steps, half carrying her with him. “Drew, Dean and Sam are outside waiting for you.”

Gwen sagged with relief. “It was my father. He had two men kidnap me.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll get him.” Crash stopped at the bottom of the steps. “Striker, call the contact I gave you at the FBI. I’m bringing the package out.”

“I’m not a package.”

“No, you’re a possession. My possession.”

Gwen cringed and clung to Crash.

“Put my daughter down. You’ve broken into this house illegally to kidnap my daughter.” Richard Mason held a nine-millimeter sig pointed at them. “Gwen, step away from him. I’m going to shoot him for breaking in and attempting to take you.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Crash breathed into her ear. “Don’t move. Keep him talking.”

Gwen swallowed the lump in her throat but nodded slightly. “You kidnapped me! You took me from school. You’re a monster.”

“You are my daughter. I can do anything I damn well please.”

“You can do it.” Crash whispered.

“You gave me to your friend! He was going to keep me here against my will! You locked me in a room.”

“Step away, Gwen, or I will shoot him through you. You’ve already cost me a great deal of trouble.”

“Your friend won’t like that. I heard him tell you that I wasn’t to be touched.”

“Don’t you sass…” Richard Mason didn’t finish his sentence. Boomer punched him in the side of the head and followed it up with a kick, knocking him out.

“It took you long enough. This asshole had a gun on us.” Crash kicked the gun away from Richard.

“You could have disarmed him in seconds, and you know it.” Boomer shook his head in disgust. “His arm was shaking and everything. It was almost too easy.”

Gwen’s head volleyed between the two men she didn’t know but saved her from her evil father. “We have to get out of here! There are three others with him and a bunch of servants.”

A loud thump came from above, which made Crash grin. “Sounds like one of them is taken care of.”

“I’m going to help Tech clear the upper floors.” Boomer took off up the steps.

“Who are you guys and how did you find me?”

Rip stuck his head into the room. “Whoa! It’s me. Basement’s clear. I left one tied up down there. This op was no fun. The dick was asleep at his desk. Supposed to be monitoring the security system. No wonder nothing happened when we cut off their access to the cameras. The dumb ass had still photos on his screens and didn’t notice.”

Gwen’s adrenalin rush was coming to an end. Tears brimmed her eyes as she followed them toward the kitchen.

All three of her rescuers pulled their guns out and pointed them at the commotion at the back door. Drew stormed into the house and ran to Gwen, taking her into his arms.

Drew ignored the three guns pointed in his direction. “Thank God you’re okay.” Drew tightened his hold on her, burying his face in her hair.

Gwen trembled as she clung to him. “You came for me. You saved me.”

“Dude! Did you hear that? We did all the hard work and Romeo over there gets all the credit.” Rip shook his head as he flicked on the lights.

“Second and third floors are clear.” Jeff called over the radio. “One target tied in the hall.”

Boomer and Jeff jogged down the steps to join everyone.

“You said there were two guys who kidnapped you.” Boomer showed Gwen a photo. “We only found this guy.”

Gwen glanced at the phone. “That was the driver, Lou. There was another guy named Ed. He was the one who pulled me into the van. Where’s Dominic? He was the one who my father gave me to.”

Crash, Boomer, Rip, and Jeff looked at each other, but it seemed to be a silent conversation.

“We need to check the house again in case the asshole is hiding.” Rip motioned toward the rest of the house.

Jeff nodded. “You guys go. I’ll stay here with the kids.” Jeff glared at Drew, Sam, and Dean. “I told you all to stay outside.”

Gwen frowned at him, but he was forgotten when she saw Sam and Dean. Sam tackled Gwen, forcing Drew to let her go. “Sam!”

“I was so worried about you! I can’t believe your father would do that to you. Where is he? Did they get him?” Sam rattled off questions.

Dean took his turn hugging Gwen. “Glad you’re okay.”

Gwen still couldn’t believe everything that had happened to her. She turned to Jeff. “Thanks for coming to get me and for bringing the commandos.”

Jeff nodded. “Those guys are some of the best around. I’ll introduce them when they get back.” He turned to his brother. “Dean, keep an eye out for the police. We’ve got a bunch of tied up bodies to deal with.”