15
Christ, Finn… whereareyou?
The words repeated over and over in Joe’s head as he steered the big SUV southward along Wake County back roads. They were on the way to check out the fifth potential site Pixel had found in the last two hours, but Joe was starting to wonder if his instincts had been wrong about where the kidnappers would have taken Finn. They’d gambled everything on this one shot, yet even with Pixel and Thunder flying a half dozen drones in aircover looking for potential places, even with Tailor scanning the police bands listening for something to indicate suspicious activity, nothing had panned out. It was as though the kidnappers had actually managed to disappear into thin air, leaving no clues as to where they’d gone or what they’d done with Finn.
The repetition was annoying, but at least it was better than the litany that had been playing at the beginning of their hunt. That one had been,My fault, my fucking fault,and it had been a lot more difficult to bear. Yet as time passed and the other’s hopes for finding Finn started to fade, Joe refused to give up. He would keep at it until they found Finn, no matter what. Finn had to be alive—the alternative was simply unacceptable.
“Hey, Morrissey… there’s a report that just came in of suspicious activity at a house on Lake Wheeler off View Water Drive in an area called Lakewood Farms. A neighbor was out in their boat and noticed a man in the woods behind a house that was closed up for the season.”
Joe’s heart leapt, and he clenched his fists on the steering wheel. “Got it, Tailor. Pixel?”
“On it,” Chris replied, his voice tense with concentration. “I have one drone ten minutes out of that area. I’ll keep it over the lake, so it doesn’t look like I’m looking.”
“Good.” Joe glanced over at Drew. “Can you contact the police for Wake County? Give them your Hercules Security ID number. Let them know we are investigating.”
“On it.” Drew grabbed the cell phone assigned to their vehicle and made the call.
While Drew focused on the authorities, Joe punched up the address on the GPS as Tailor read it out. They were almost fifteen minutes away from the spot in question, which Joe was determined to get down to ten. He wanted to be there when the drone made its pass; if it was the kidnappers and they spotted the drone, Joe didn’t want them to have any kind of a head start.
Fortunately the summer season for tourists had ended and those who came for the fall leaves hadn’t yet started, so traffic was light. This section of Wake County had some very affluent homes, since it was far enough from Raleigh to avoid city taxes while close enough for commuting into the capitol.
Drew returned the phone to its place and glanced over at Joe. “What’s the plan when we get there?”
Joe considered. Something about this appeared far more promising that their other leads. “We can give Pixel’s drone a few minutes to scan. He’ll get photos, and maybe he can sync one up with one of the suspects from the surveillance video from the conference. If he does, we go in hot. If he doesn’t… we go in, but with at least one set of nonlethal loads. There’s probable cause for a crime, at least trespassing, but I don’t want to kill anyone who isn’t one of our targets, if it can be helped.”
“Solid,” Drew said with a brief nod, and he sat up straighter as he peered out the window as if premission adrenaline was making him restless.
“Our best bet for a live capture might be a guard, if that’s who was spotted on the outside,” Joe said, hoping to distract Drew from any thoughts that could impact the mission. “How are your take-down skills? Had much experience with silent infiltration?”
“It’s not my strong suit,” Drew said. “I can try, but you don’t want me taking the lead.”
“Okay.” Joe considered for a moment. “Let’s plan on this. I’ll locate and take out the first guard I see. You back me up. Then we’ll head for the house. Let’s go for silenced loads. If someone with Finn hears shots, they might have orders to kill him.”
“Good thought.” Drew breathed in deep and released the breath slowly as if to ground himself. “We got this.”
“Right.” Joe nodded, more to himself than Drew. “There’s a public boat dock, it looks like, about half a mile away. Let’s park there, just in case they have lookouts up at the road. There’s no way to mistake this thing for anything other than bad news coming to call.”
Five minutes later they were at the dock, and Joe pulled the Hummer to the far end of the public parking area. There weren’t many cars in sight, which was a good thing for helping them keep a low profile.
“Let’s load up,” he said as he unfastened his seatbelt. “Pixel! Anything on the drone?”
“I’ve got movement in the trees at the house in question, but I can’t get a fix on anyone,” Chris replied tensely. “A glimpse of a man, possibly armed, but I only got dark hair and dark clothes. Want me to go in for a closer look?”
Joe hesitated. “No, Pixel. Hang tight.” He glanced at Drew. “This could be a shitstorm. Last chance to hang back.”
Drew shot Joe an incredulous look. “Fuck that,” he said, a growl underlying his voice. “Let’s nail these motherfuckers and get Finn out of there.”
“Okay.” It probably was a good thing Drew was along, as little as Joe wanted to admit it. If nothing else, someone would be there for Finn if Joe bought the farm. “Give me a two minute lead, since I want to go in silent. Let’s go.”
They left the Hummer after gearing up, with Joe slipping into the woods as quietly as a cat. He didn’t pay any attention to Drew; if he was spotted, there wouldn’t be anything Joe could do for him, so Joe chose to focus on the way ahead.
Joe wasn’t quite as good as Ghost or Pita at silent movement, but he was definitely good enough for this job, and he did have the disadvantage of being much, much larger than the two men who had trained him in stealth. He was able to get into sight of the house they were targeting without any challenge, and he stopped for a moment behind a large tree to report, keeping his voice low. “Joker. I’m in sight of objective. No guard in sight.”
“Copy that,” Drew said, keeping his voice low as well. “Ready for company?”
“Negative. Let me proceed first. Stay back at least fifty meters in case someone slips in behind me.” He glanced over his shoulder to where Drew was stationed behind a tree several yards behind him. Drew gave a thumbs up, and Joe nodded.
Well, this was it. Drew claimed to have his back, and Joe got the feeling he was about to discover if Joker was telling the truth or not. Drawing in a deep breath, Joe started forward toward the house.
