Just a Walk in the Woods Ep4
Dafydd and Sarah are taking a break up at the cabin, their last case didn't end well and it's made a little soul-searching necessary for them both.
_Without ever discussing it, Sarah and I decided we'd be spending the night at the old fire tower. It was already getting late after we'd pretty much talked ourselves out and neither of us felt like making the walk back down the trail in the dark. It wasn't that the dark bothered either of us, we both had the kind of night vision you'd expect of a pair of cats and we'd taken plenty of night-time walks up here before. We just didn't want reminding of the most recent times we'd been prowling the night together. I guess I finally got to use the old fire tower for the same reason as the kids from the campgrounds after all. I took a few minutes to head down and lock the gate on the bottom of the steps so that we wouldn't be disturbed. Any kids wanting to use the place tonight would be out of luck.
After a fairly basic meal we turned in early. Neither of us went to sleep very quickly, we just lay there holding each other, listening to the wildlife in the forest around us. Sarah had her head on my shoulder and the tufts on the tips of her ears brushed against my cheek as her hearing focused on each noise.
Just to satisfy any prurient curiosity, no. We didn't. I just held her until she was finally able to sleep and then lay awake a few minutes more myself unable to stop going over every detail in my mind of the night we hit the warehouse._
Adam's eye ridges went up just like a furred guys eyebrows when Sarah and I stepped back in the room wearing our blacks and started to strap on our tactical gear.
"Just like that? Shouldn't you be bringing in the cops at this point? At the very least you would have some backup."
I opened my muzzle to reply but Sarah beat me to it.
"We call them after we hit the place and those kids are safe. We don't need backup getting in our way." Her eyes flashed as her lips pulled back to show her teeth and she snarled "Their asses are ours and I intend to collect!"
"Honey, I thought I was the semi-feral throwback around here?"
"You are. But I'm a woman."
I could see her point.
"So, guys, what should I do?"
"Stay here. Look after Caroline. We should be back a little before dawn." I reached into the cabinet and pulled out a revolver and a couple of speedloaders. "Here. You shouldn't need it because the bad guys don't know Sarah and I are involved, but just in case I do need to feed Terry his own nuts after making him watch me fry them you'd better have a friend at your side."
"I dunno, Dafydd. I'm not that good with a gun. I prefer to rely on what mama nature gave me."
"That's why I'm giving you a revolver. It's double action so just point and click, buddy. Press the catch here and the cylinder comes out, you press here to eject the used brass then slam one of these in and press the button on the back. Flip the cylinder back in and you're good for another half dozen shots. These are hydrashok hollow-points and they have a lot of stopping power without being backed by a heavy enough load to shoot through three guys in a row or make you smack yourself in the face with the recoil."
"Ok, I guess."
"Better to have it and not need it than the other way around."
We took Sarah's Jeep, my Jag would have been a little conspicuous in the area we were driving to. It was already late and we reckoned to be in place to kick off tonight's fun and games around 00:30. Sarah drove and I studied the floor plans of the warehouse we'd found online and downloaded to my tablet. We were planning on the fly, usually a bad thing, but Sarah and I had tactical instincts that worked really well together so it wasn't likely to be an issue on a simple 'move in, take down the bad guys' op. If we were lucky there wouldn't even be anyone in with the kids when we hit the place, but if there was we weren't going to take any chances. Anyone near the kids was going down hard, whether they looked armed or not. As we got closer I started to hear a deep rumble starting in Sarah's chest. It wasn't a purr.
"Remember, love, we need two alive if we can."
"Two?"
"One for the cops and one for us. I'm pretty sure you're going to want to take down as much of the network as we can, right? So we need one. The cops will have the same desire, and therefore so do they."
"Right. Minimum of two in a condition to talk."
After that we were silent until our target came into sight. It was a totally nondescript building, set back from the road behind a chain link fence across an unlit parking lot. As we drove past, I used my NVGs to make a quick survey of the building exterior for visible security cameras. Looked like we were in luck because I didn't spot any. Sarah drove around the block so I could scout alternate ways in and then we pulled into a neighboring businesses parking lot and picked a space around the back so we were out of direct view from our target location.
As I lay there with my mate sleeping on my shoulder I found a different question intruding on my mind. After considering it for probably longer than I should, I reached over with the paw that was not wrapped around my lover and retrieved my phone. Unlocking it one-pawed, I slowly typed an email. When I was done I read it through and thought about it for long enough that I had to unlock the phone again before hitting 'send.'
If I thought that would give me any peace I was way wrong. As soon as I was done my mind insisted on resuming what must have been its thousandth after-action review of our raid on the warehouse.
Within five minutes Sarah and I were in cover at the back of the warehouse, about five yards from both the loading dock and the fire escape. I'd tried scanning the place with a thermal viewer but the walls were just too thick to get a decent read on whether or not any parts of the building were heated or occupied. Just the general warmth of concrete radiating back the heat it had acquired during the day. I adjusted my throat mic and earpiece and saw Sarah doing the same.
_"Comm check."
"Five by five."_
"I'm going for a vantage from the other corner."
"Ok."
From the far end of the rear lot I couldn't see the loading dock entrance very well, but the fire escape was still clearly in view. There was a door labelled 'Plant Room' just around the corner of the building with a padlock dangling from it. If our floor plans were accurate, behind that door were steps down into the basement of the building.
_"Plant room door visible. Commercial padlock. I can probably defeat it in about two minutes."
"Copy. Looks like no external access via the fire escape door. To get high access I'd have to blow it and you're better at that than I am. Plus, it might announce our presence a little soon. Dock access looks doable though."
"Not sure we want to use that route. If it's how they bring the kids in and out it likely goes directly into bad-guy territory. I'd rather have us inside before they have a clue we're here."
"Concur. Looks like we're heading for the plant room. Go for it, I'll catch you up."
"Fuck. Camera above plant room door. Actively scanning."
"Shit. How vigilant do you think they'll be?"
"After Adam ripped up a few of them and bailed with some of their merchandise? Twitchy as a nest of fire ants. If I shoot out the camera they'll notice a blank screen for sure."
"How about if we use the fire escape for roof access?"
"Works for me. Skylight or vent, we'll find a way in up there. On my way back to you."_
As it turned out we had plenty of choices. Two skylights, easy access to the vents and a door to a roof-access stairwell. It was locked but a couple of three-round suppressed bursts into the door and the frame made it a real easy job to quietly pry it open. We were in.
The upper floor was clean. Anyone here wasn't using it at all - no footprints in a six month layer of dust. Any action was to be found on the lower floor. Sarah took the northeast stairwell and I took the southwest. We waited, watching for a few minutes to make sure nobody was patrolling nearby.
_"Northeast still clear."
"Southwest likewise. Time to move in. Let's see how many we can localize before we have to do anything."_
We moved into the warehouse carefully. Within two minutes we'd each spotted places where two or three bad guys were holed up. I was the first one to strike paydirt. Found a room where a big Dobie was snoring away in a bed on his own. I slapped a chloroform pad on his muzzle for long enough to make sure he stayed that way for a while and left him there, securely tied and gagged.
"Got one. Secured and ready to ship out."
_"One down here. I think I know where the kids are but there's three of them between there and here. The big storage room between the dock and the main area."
"Stay put. I'll see if I can get there from here. Would be nice we could get them all between us with one of us between them and the kids."_
Carefully I started making my way towards the room Sarah had suggested, making sure to stay away from where she'd spotted a late night card game going on. As I turned one corner, light spilled from an opening door further down the hallway and I froze in the shadows, gun up and ready. Two guys, a bear and a badger, were talking through the open door. I pricked my ears forwards, straining to catch some of their conversation.
"... so yeah, Dale. I'll just start my shift a little early. Take off and I'll finish up for you."
"Thanks, man. I need to get some air."
The badger exited the room and the bear walked in, closing the door behind him. As soon as the hallway was dark again I was moving, catching up to the badger before he took more than half a dozen steps. He never heard me coming and I had a choke hold on him before he even started to struggle, cutting off any chance of him shouting for help as well as pinching the blood vessels in his neck. Thirty seconds later he wasn't struggling anymore and I lowered him to the floor before using the zip ties dangling from my belt to make sure he wasn't going anywhere then gagging him to keep him quiet when he woke up.
Leaving the badger where I'd dropped him, I went back to deal with the bear. Slowly, quietly, I opened the door. The bear had his back to me, watching a bank of three monitors that cycled through views of the warehouse.
I was halfway through the door when the hinges creaked loudly.
The bears head snapped round and he was on his feet the moment he saw me, grabbing a gun from the table and bringing it around. Mine was already up and on target so he never had a chance. He went down hard without much of a face left. I dumped him in the corner and then went out and dragged the badger in before closing the door behind me and looking at the desk.
_"I've got their security monitoring station, Sarah, and our second live one. Give me a minute here for the cameras to cycle and I should be able to tell you where everyone is."
"Got it. When you see three guys playing cards I'm in the hallway facing the back of the middle guy."
"Ok, let's take this nice and easy, we don't want to leave anyone unaccounted for... right, there's the card game. Good job you didn't take them down, the camera is right above the doorway you'd be coming in from. You were right about where they were keeping the kids. One target in a chair by each entrance. On this side I found racks for six but only one occupied. Since we have nine accounted for and the layout on your side looks the same I'd say we're dealing with a maximum of eight remaining targets, three are location unknown, either racked out or absent."_
"Could be the three that Adam tore up."
"Could be but let's not count on it. You have a go to clear the card game."
We aren't cops and don't always work within the law. Niceties like asking them to put up their hands and surrender are all well and good but all it would take would be one of them deciding to go out in a blaze of glory and getting off a single unsuppressed round of return fire and everybody in the place would hear it. Sarah didn't take the chance. The three guys playing cards dropped where they sat as fast as she could aim and fire. Only the one in the center made it half way out of his seat - since he had his back to her she took him last. I saw her padding into the room, checking that none of the three was going to get up again then she turned and gave the camera a thumbs up.
"Good shooting, Sarah. That leaves two we know about watching the kids and potentially another three racked out on your side. If they are using the rooms on that side the same way as this one, you have to go past our potential three to get to the one we know about between you and the kids."
"I'll check 'em out on my way. I think it's time for you to move."
"Yep. Let me know when you're in position to take down the guard on your side."
I moved rapidly through areas I now knew were empty. Rounding the final corner I settled myself into the shadows behind some crates where I could get a bead on the guard dozing in his chair. One of the crates was cracked and through the crack I could see something white wrapped in plastic. Just to satisfy my curiosity I poked the blade of my knife through the crack and, as I suspected, a little dribble of powder emerged through the gap.
_"I'm in position Sarah."
"I will be in two minutes. There were three racked out and from the state of them I think they were the ones Adam met. They are torn up pretty bad - one of them doesn't look like he'll make it much longer outside of a hospital. I made sure they won't be going anywhere... Damn it!"
"What's up?"
"I can't get a clean shot without stepping into his line of sight."
"Ok, I am on target. You have the count."
"Got it... Ok. I'm set. Stand by.. Three second count... 3... 2... 1... Go!"_
On 'Go' I simply snugged my weapon against my shoulder and its sling and fired. Three pieces of spent brass arced through the air and the guard toppled out of his chair.
_"Target down."
"Target down here too. Let's check out the kids."_
Turned out there were eight kids in there, boys and girls, ranging in ages from five to twelve. Anne Willis wasn't one of them. After I showed her picture one of the others told me they'd taken her out the day before. Crap. I left Sarah with the kids and dragged Dale, the badger, over to her jeep and stuffed him in the back. Now it was time to make a phone call. I pulled up Janet's number and dialed. It took a few rings before a somewhat groggy voice answered.
"I know it's late, detective Carlson, but duty calls. You've got a major cub-trafficking and drug distribution hub at this location. You'll need medics for three, cuffs for one and seven bags. There's 8 kids, all unhurt, but you'll need a variety of interpreters. Drug squads going to be eating out of your hand for months too."
"Christ on a bike, Dafydd! Sergeant Olson warned me about you and I've heard some rumors but... Ok, let me get things moving here. I should be there in ten with the first backup arriving right behind me."
As it happened, she was there in eight minutes. I met her out front and walked her back to where Sarah was looking after the kids. Sarah stood up and beckoned her over.
"Kids, this is detective Carlson. She's going to look after you and make sure you get help. Janet, you're going to need interpreters for half of them, but Mark, Amy, Brianne and Amita here all speak English."
"I've got some Spanish too."
Sarah shook her head.
"Not a single latino in the entire bunch."
"Damn. Ok, we can handle that. Sounds like help is on the way."
"Yeah, which is our cue to rabbit. We'll drop by later and help with the paperwork. "
Sarah and I quietly faded out the back, collected her jeep and left.
After a rather late breakfast the following morning, I left Caroline with Sarah and Adam then drove down to a place I kept as a bolt hole, on the eastern edge of Saint Paul, down by the river and the rail yards. Down in the basement, chained to a ring set in the concrete floor, was a very pissed off badger.
"Good morning, Dale."
"Fuck you. What is this crap? I've got rights.."
"Do I look like a cop? You're in much deeper shit than you would be with the cops. You want to hear my version of the Miranda warning?" He looked at me and nodded so I gave him my nastiest feral grin before continuing. "You can scream all you want, I don't mind and nobody else will hear you."
I paused to let that sink in a bit.
"So Dale. Let's have a little chat about that operation we took down last night..."
_On that less than pleasant thought I finally found myself able to sleep. I drifted off with Sarah still wrapped in my arms, the peace of the night-time forest doing its healing work on us both. One way or another, our lives were about to change. It had already started.
To be continued..._