Alace’s bottom lip disappeared into her mouth, and she stared at them, her gaze flicking from one to the other, then slicing towards Doc. “Doc? What say you?”
“You don’t even have to ask, Alace. I will always side with the kids.”
“Okay.” Her chin dipped, and she glared at Owen from underneath her brows. “Most of the guards are in their barracks right now, only one guy on the gate, and two in the barn. I can cut the phones between the main house, the barn, and their housing, then terminate the outside lines. Cell phones are a problem.”
“I have a jammer. It’s channel specific, and I’ve already enabled the one our phones will be on, so we won’t be impacted.” Owen brought his duffle from the floor and placed it on the cabinet next to where he stood. “Two, actually, so we can plant one on either side of the residences for overlapped coverage. Drop them next to the ears August placed yesterday.” He lifted his head, relieved beyond belief that Alace was rolling with the change in plans. I can’t have another Shiloh. I can’t. “You’re already in their security system, should be able to lock the pervs in their rooms at the same time. They’ve got electronic locks on nearly everything.” He glanced at August. “I’m all about the scorched earth policy, too, man.”
“We’re in agreement, then.” August was taking a variety of items out of his backpack, and Owen immediately identified several as a type of incendiary device he’d used in Central America. “This was always plan B.”
“Owen, can you put the drone out?”
He nodded at the tablet and grabbed a box from a nearby cabinet. The device inside was preassembled and already programmed for the frequency Alace would use. As he watched the tablet, the screen split so half showed Alace’s face and half had a view of the countertop under the drone. He caught a glimpse of the tiny camera underneath moving, and the image changed to show the three men. Owen put a boot on the bench, then his other on top of the table, reaching overhead to fit his fingers to the sliding locks alongside the light fixture. He pushed and pinched, then twisted, and the entire light assembly dropped down a couple of inches before sliding to the side on a hidden track. August handed the drone up to Owen, who set it on top of the RV’s roof. He descended from the tabletop to the floor, leaving the hatch open.
The image changed again, the bright white of the RV roof shifting to browns and greens of foliage and yard.
“Kids are in their cells?”
As they’d suspected from the fruits of their research, the barn wasn’t truly a barn, but a holding arrangement for children brought to the compound.
“Yeah.” Owen cleared his throat, remembering for an instant two brave boys who’d confronted him from their own cells, what seemed a lifetime ago. “Nate, Walt, Tony, and Natalie—you ever find out what happened to them?”
Alace’s answer was immediate, the information as close to the tip of her tongue as if she’d anticipated his question. “Both sibling pairs were returned to family members. They’d been removed from the parental homes before being kidnapped, but after they were rescued, grandparents stepped up for the kids in both families.” Alace laughed softly. “Turns out the grandmothers had been friends in childhood but had lost track of the other. Now they’ve moved so they live side by side, and with the virtual merger of households, the kids have strong, extended family support.” Owen looked up at the tablet to find her staring at him. “We did a good thing then, Owen.”
“And we’re doing a good thing now.” He gave her a short, decisive nod as he transferred items from the duffle to his smaller, more portable backpack. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Doc?”
“I’m good to go. My supplies are easy to unpack as needed.” Doc’s gaze moved between Alace and Owen. His pause was brief but deliberate, and Owen experienced the emotion behind each word as he continued, “If you want me to take a more active role, I’m willing.” The reversal from his previous stance said volumes about the investment level with this mission.
“No need, Doc.” Alace’s voice was distant, dreamy as she focused on flying the drone. “I’m parking our bird here, so you can keep watch on the compound. I’ve already killed the phones both internal and external, and I’ve posted a notice on that company’s social media that there’s a known outage in the area. Owen, by the time you and August get the jammers deployed, I’ll be ready to rock and roll with locking the guests and guards inside.”
“Just like that?” Doc looked a little shellshocked, shaky in his disbelief.
Owen walked to him and rested a hand on his shoulder, gripping firmly. “Yeah, just like that. We’ve got the high ground here, Doc. Our job is to make sure the kids get out alive and unharmed. Anything past that is fate.”
“Fate?”
“Yeah, fate.”
“Fate, and a plan B.” Alace’s tone was strict, brutal in its firmness. “Ensuring all the kids and all my guys come home safely.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He didn’t have to wait for it, Alace gave him the eye roll right away, caught herself midroll and glared at him as if it was his fault for her physical reaction. Owen didn’t say anything else, merely grinned as he lifted the backpack and slung it over his shoulder.
Chapter Thirteen
Owen
Steering the RV down the winding Pennsylvania highway, Owen glanced in the side mirror, the surface reflecting nothing but open road behind them.
The ease with which they’d separated the guard staff from the guests had been a little surreal. Even the guard on the gate had been a simple shot, one made mentally easier to take once Owen had seen the kind of magazine the man had been flipping through. Foreign language, southeast Asian most likely, the images made up entirely of underage children.
Once into the compound’s systems, Alace had surfaced more information around MacLeod’s staff. Each guard was a released pedophile with violent crimes in their past, and remembering the men’s fevered enthusiasm earlier in the day, Owen hadn’t suffered any qualms about their plan.
August had joined him at the barn, and together they’d dealt with the two guards in place there. Quiet and efficient, August was as skilled as Owen, moving with a sense of confidence Owen had appreciated.
Once those guards were dead, they’d moved to the enclosures where the kids were being kept. Scared and embarrassed by their nudity, the rescued kids had been quick to don the clothing Owen found in a locked cupboard inside the building. There were more kids than had been exhibited earlier in the day, and August had been in charge of counting heads, ensuring none of the kids slipped off. The big man had wound up carrying the youngest among them, leading the way to the RV as if he were the pied piper, even without his wooden flute.
As soon as Doc indicated he had the situation in the RV under control, August and Owen had moved on to the next phase of the mission: neutralizing the remainder of the guards. The thuggish men had cowered before August’s and Owen’s size and displayed firepower, and meekly lined up on their knees. There were no messages to send here, no statements to make, and efficiency had ruled the day. Starting at either end of the row, the men hadn’t time to react as each received their single tap to the back of the head like a benediction. Owen had left the bodies where they’d fallen, stepping over the blood to reach the door closest to the main building.