His Revenge by Charlene Raquel
Chapter Five
“Fuck!” Rip hit the dashboard.
“The warehouse is twenty minutes from your current location if you do not hit any traffic.” Dean’s fingers flew over the keyboard.
“I’ll try to tap into the traffic cameras along the new route.” Sam brought up another screen and cursed. “There aren’t cameras close to the warehouse. I’ll lose you at least a mile out. You are going in blind.”
“I can fly the drone in there before you pull in.” Drew offered, but he really wanted to demand that they bail on the whole thing.
Gwen pulled off her gag and sat up but made sure to keep low so that no one would see her. Luckily the back windows were tinted dark.
She screeched when Boomer opened the back door and slid in next to Jeff. She had no idea how he made it down from the roof so quickly. “What now?”
Boomer turned to her. “We have twenty minutes to come up with a new plan.”
~*~*~
Dean and Sam searched through the business listings near the warehouse to see if they could find any sort of security cameras they could tap into. Drew began pacing the dining room again.
“I found a small kitchen cabinet company that is not too far away and has a few cameras outside of their location.” Sam brought their live feeds up on the monitor. “People really need to work on their security. It’s been so easy to break into everything tonight.”
Drew glanced at Sam’s computer. “It’s a shame we can’t get a satellite to do a fly by.”
Dean’s eyes lit up. “It would take some time, but we could probably pull that off.”
Drew stopped and glared at Dean. “I was joking.”
Dean shrugged. “You thought you were.”
Sam ignored the guys and focused on the vehicles she could see around the cabinet place. Nothing was moving in the area. She was going to have to find another security feed. “Jeff, do you have a second drone with you?”
Jeff’s voice came through their coms. “Nope. Wish we did. We’ll be pulling up to the warehouse in a minute. We’re going to park around the corner and hopefully find another way inside. I’m going to stay with Trouble. Rip, you and Crash circle around. I want to keep her out of sight and out of harm’s way. We need to try to sneak up on whoever is inside.”
“Agreed.” Rip opened the passenger side door and hopped out.
Crash and Jeff stepped out of the vehicle, but Jeff got back in behind the wheel. He needed to be able to get Gwen away in a hurry.
Drew flew the drone a little in front of Crash and engaged its night vision mode. If it was bigger, it could have had a light, which would have been helpful since it was nearly pitch black. There were no streetlights that were lit. Most of them appeared to have broken bulbs and fixtures. Whoever did business around the warehouses didn’t want to be seen. “There’s something moving up ahead. I’m going to try to get closer.”
Jeff pulled out his tablet and watched the drone footage. “Don’t get it too far ahead. The tech is tied to Crash’s watch so don’t fly it out of range.”
“Damn, should have told me that before.” Drew eased back closer to Crash.
Jeff growled. “Newbies. Striker, you can check it out, just don’t fly around that corner.”
“Got it.” Drew said to Jeff. “He should have been clearer with his directions. How the hell was I supposed to know what he was talking about?”
“I can hear you, you little shit. If you want to talk crap about someone, make sure your mic isn’t on.”
Dean laughed. “Dumbass.”
“Guys, what’s on top of the building to your right? Is that a satellite dish? Like a really huge one?”
Rip glanced up. “I’ll be right back. Wait here. There’s too many variables in this situation.”
“Hurry the fuck up or I’m going in without you.” Crash grumbled as he slipped into the covered doorway. “Striker, what’s the movement you saw? Can you identify it yet?”
Drew moved closer to the building, but still within range of Crash. “A homeless guy is lying against the wall.”
Jeff focused on the video feed. “Move closer and zoom in so I can see his face.”
Sam frowned at the images she was seeing on her screen. “What homeless person do you know who has perfect teeth and skin? He has some scruff, his hair’s a little long, but not unkempt. His clothes seem dirty, but not excessively. There is no way he’s really homeless.”
Jeff grinned. “Good assessment, Pixie.”
Sam beamed. She had always been great at looking at a situation and being able to put all the pieces together quickly and in ways others didn’t see at first. “Thanks.”
Dean continued to scan the area. “Navy blue Ford entering the area. The cabinet company’s surveillance picked it up. It’s moving slowly. Three occupants in the car.
Rip appeared next to the doorway that Crash was leaning in. “Took you long enough,” Crash grumbled.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but that satellite dish is not getting TV channels. It is a broadcasting dish with no receiver equipment. If we had more time, I would check it out. The top floor of that warehouse has all of the windows blacked out. Something’s going on there, but, that gentlemen, is for another day.” Rip bounced on his toes. He was ready for some action.
“We can’t circle around the building from this direction,” Crash pointed ahead. “I don’t want to find out what the pretend homeless guy is up to.”
Rip nodded. “Might have something to do with the satellite dish and blacked out windows.”
Jeff cracked his knuckles. “Striker, swing that drone back this way and see if the garage door is open that we are supposed to drive through.”
Drew was happy he had something to focus on besides being worried about Gwen. She had been unusually quiet the last half hour and he hoped it wasn’t because she was scared. “It’s open.”
Dean frowned at his laptop. “The navy Ford disappeared, so it must have gone inside the building.”
Three loud bangs rung through the area. “Shots fired!” Crash yelled as he and Rip ran toward the warehouse.
Drew flew the drone ahead of them to make sure the way was clear. He slipped the small device through the opened door close to the sides so no one would see it. “Guys. The Navy car is inside and there are three dead guys on the floor around it. No one else seems to be around.”
“The shooter has to be there somewhere,” Jeff cautioned. “Proceed carefully.”
Drew used the drone to scan the inside of the warehouse. “There’s an open window on the back side of the building.”
“Yeah, and I bet the homeless guy is gone too.” Crash had his Sig Sauer out and was clearing the right side while Rip was clearing the left.
Sam shivered. “Do you think the homeless guy is the shooter?”
Jeff sighed. “That would be my guess.”
Drew growled. “What the fuck is going on?”
“That’s what we are going to find out.” Jeff didn’t like missing pieces and he felt like they were missing a boatload.
After several minutes, Rip and Crash deemed the building clear. They took photos of the dead guys to run through facial recognition, checked for IDs and phones, and made sure they didn’t leave anything behind that would tie them to the scene.
“Let’s get out of here.” Crash and Rip jumped back inside the car and Jeff peeled away.
Gwen hopped over the seat to sit next to Rip. “What now?”
“Now, Hank sends another text.” Rip pulled out the cloned phone and typed a quick message asking what was going on. The phone in Crash’s hand dinged. Someone took out the would-be kidnappers.