“What do we do?” Since George had no clear view of the room from behind Andi, he had to rely on his partner to make a plan. SWAT was still filling the hall with bullets, though without much success as far as George could tell. The only ones who had managed to get inside were he and Andi, and they were too far to the side to do much more than take cover. He couldn’t even see their opponents, just knew roughly where they were because of the shouts and the thundering of the various guns.
“Over there is a broom closet that extends to the stairs. The walls are plasterboard, so I should be able to breach them and open fire on the fuckers from there. Give me cover so I can reach the door!”
There were a million things George wanted to scream at Andi fromAre you fucking nuts?toHow do you know what kind of material the walls are?andI really think this is a stupid idea!But he didn’t get the chance to say any of it, because his stubborn partner with the obvious death wish was already getting ready to sprint, and if George didn’t want to have to explain to Chief Norris why he lost her top—albeit suspicious—detective during a spontaneous raid in some rich person’s house, he had to get his shit together. Andi at least counted to three before he left the cover of their little dip in the wall, and George stepped forward just enough to cover his partner’s sprint to the door that was indeed just a few feet from them. Still, he was only able to see it because he left the cover more than Andi had before he came up with his plan. While he was keeping an eye on their opponents on the stairs—who were luckily occupied with SWAT at the front door, which made Andi’s plan seem a lot less suicidal than George had initially thought—he wondered what Andi’s secret was. The easiest explanation would be that he somehow already knew the building, and if that was the case, George had to admire his acting skills. Or perhaps he’d really gotten a tip, and the source was for some reason so disreputable that Andi didn’t want to let George in on it, though George could have put him at ease in this case—when it came to disreputable sources, he doubted anybody could go lower than the detectives at narcotics. Unless Andi was somehow in on it all and was just leading George around. Although their current situation didn’t feel like being led around. More like life and death.
The men on the stairs appeared to be running out of ammunition or they had a cunning escape plan up their sleeve, because they started retreating up the stairs. Meanwhile Andi had reached the door and vanished inside the dark hole behind it. While two of the bodyguards were still on the first landing, covering the other two who were sprinting upstairs, a part of the wall directly next to the stairs exploded in a burst of plaster and dust. Andi came out behind the cloud of debris and immediately started shooting at the two men. Since his angle was so weird—to their left and practically beneath them with the handrail on its small columns of stone as cover—they couldn’t aim properly while still maintaining fire on the main door. Andi had similar problems but managed to shoot the one nearest to him in the left calf. The man went down with a surprised scream and tumbled down the stairs, which was George’s cue to take a risk and leave his cover, opening fire on the second man. Attacked from three sides, the man decided that retreat was his best bet. Before he could reach the second landing, though, a bullet from the front door caught him in the side, felling him instantly. While SWAT swarmed into the hall to take the two wounded men prisoner, George ran across the marble floor to where Andi was aiming his gun upward. The two remaining bodyguards had reached the next floor, barely visible through the many columns of the banister. Since both their colleagues were down, they didn’t bother firing again but turned to run. George took a step in the direction of the stairs, the rush of the hunt burning through his veins. Andi held him back.
“No need. There’s SWAT people up there, enough to contain them. We need to go into the room where those pigs chose the victims.”
Andi led the way toward the arch into the next room. Two of the masked people were still in there, hiding behind a huge chaise lounge. They both were holding their own weapons, handguns, though much smaller than what their bodyguards had used in the entrance hall. The children they had chosen were huddled in a corner, utterly frightened and too close to the two men to not become human shields if things went south. George and Andi took cover behind a pillar. “Charleston PD, you’re under arrest. We have your bodyguards in custody, so make this easier for all of us and just give up.” Andi’s voice sounded a little cracked, probably because of all the dust he must have gotten into his lungs when he had shot his way through the plasterboard. George kept looking at the two men, hoping they wouldn’t be stupid. One of them was starting to lower his gun, but the other seemed indecisive. Very carefully, George took aim at the man’s head, ready to shoot him should he make one wrong move. In his entire career, George had shot three men so far, always in combat situations like the one in the hall. Until now, he had never had to end someone’s life in cold blood, and the responsibility weighed heavy on him. It was his duty to protect his partner, the victims, even the SWAT members outside. And that man surely deserved a bullet to the head for what he had done. George was under no illusion regarding the sins of the men they were trying to arrest at the moment. Still his consciousness reminded him it was a human being he was aiming at, not a mark at the shooting range.
They were caught in a strange triangle, the children in one corner, the two armed men behind the chaise lounge, and George and Andi behind the pillar. The air was ripe with tension, thrumming in the air, drowning out all sounds, crystallizing in his view of the man’s head which would sport a hole the moment he made the wrong decision. And it would be George’s doing.
A commotion at the other end of the room tore them from their standoff, black-clad SWAT members swarming the room with their weapons at the ready. The man must have realized he had no chance because he let his weapon drop and raised his hands.
The moment SWAT had subdued the two masked men and declared the room clear, George and Andi ran toward the children.
“It’s okay, you’re safe now. We’re with the police, and we’re here to get you out. Can you be brave for a few more minutes until we have all the evil men caught? Then we can get you outside.”
The children nodded, staring up at George with wide eyes. An older girl, George guessed her age to be sixteen, touched his arm. “There are more of us. Down in the cellar.” She quickly withdrew her hand, so fearful of his reaction, George’s heart went out to her.
“Thank you. We’re going to look for them as soon as possible.” He smiled at her, trying to reassure all of them without knowing what to say. What did one say in a situation like this? George hoped somebody had called an ambulance already, preferably with somebody who knew how to deal with traumatized children.
“They’re done.” Andi got up from his half crouch in front of the children, a determined expression on his face. “I’ll go get the others. Can you stay here?”
George felt torn. He wanted to stay and protect the children, yes, but who would be protecting Andi when he went into the cellar alone?
“I’ll go with him.” Adam Forard appeared next to Andi, his rifle still at the ready. George shook his head inwardly at his own foolishness. Of course Andi wasn’t alone in a house swarming with SWAT.
“Yeah, go. See you outside.”
Andi nodded at him before he turned toward a door at the other end of the room, left from the one SWAT had entered through. Forard followed closely. The way Andi moved suggested he knew where he was going, another piece to the puzzle of his secret. A piece that seemed to change its shape while George was looking at it, making it so damn hard to find out what was going on. George was more and more inclined to go with the psychic theory. Either that or Andi was an alien stranded on earth.Or he really is corrupt, a nagging little voice at the back of his head insisted. A voice he didn’t want to listen to but did so nevertheless because he was a cop and it was in his nature to be deeply suspicious no matter what he wished for things to be. After his partner’s back had vanished through the door, George turned back to the children, trying to comfort them while he waited for the all-clear to leave the house. In the distance, he could hear an ambulance. Soon these children would get all the care they needed including something to cover them. Unfortunately, there were no blankets or items of clothing he could give them in the vicinity, and he didn’t want to leave them alone after all they had been through.
TWO HOURSlater, all of the fifteen children they had found were in hospital, the ten men SWAT had arrested on their way to holding cells in the precinct, and forensics had arrived to take the crime scene apart. Adam Forard was coming toward them. Most of the SWAT team were already on their way back to the precinct, and he was ready to go as well.
“That went great.” He grinned at Andi. “And let me guess, you two were driving around, discussing your case when you heard a gunshot?”
Andi just shrugged. “Yeah. In this area, a gunshot is worrying, what with all those huge rich-people houses standing around.”
“One of these days, Hayes….” Forard shook his head. “This was a major bust. I assume related to your trafficking case?”
“Hopefully. We don’t know yet.” Andi tried to be vague, but it didn’t work on Forard.
“If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… I’ll eat an entire batch of Rodriguez’s chocolate chip cookies if this isn’t related.” He winked at George, who felt Andi shudder next to him.
“I don’t think you should be making jokes about this, Adam. In fact, don’t mention those cookies ever again.”
Forard threw his head back and laughed. “See you at the precinct.” He walked away, waving his hand in the air.
“Do I want to know?” George looked at Andi.
“About the cookies? No. They were terrible, and that’s the nicest thing I can say about them. Let’s get the car.”
George didn’t argue. On their walk back to the car, this time on the road, which made it easier, George wondered if Andi hadn’t thought about asking somebody to drive them there or if he needed the time to think. Since he was slowly getting to know his partner, he thought it had to be the second. Once they were in the car, Andi leaned his head back, exhaustion clear on his face. George started the engine.
“I think we should go and grab something to eat before we head into the precinct. This looks like another all-nighter, and we both could do with the fuel.”
“You’re right.” Andi hesitated. George waited, knowing that prying would get him nowhere fast. “We also need to talk about the report.” It sounded tentative, as if Andi was prodding at an aching tooth, waiting for the pain to set in. George still didn’t know what to make of Andi’s talent, hunch, instinct, whatever it was. What he did know was they had just saved fifteen children because of it and were hopefully getting closer to busting the entire ring.
