Page 75 of Beaten

Stand by for details.

I called Jack, told him what had happened, and what I suspected, and gave him the address of the vacant parking lot where I’d parked. While he organized the rest of the team, I called Dean and asked what he’d seen prior to Emily returning home.

Fortunately for us, Dean was retired and wouldn’t feel the need to call 9-1-1. The police couldn’t do anything. They wouldn’t break down the doors and raid the house just because my gut said something was wrong. Her calling me Jack might be a neon sign flashing “Help me,” to me, but they couldn’t act on it.

But we could. And we would.

Dean said he hadn’t seen any movement in the house since Mrs. Taylor closed the curtains about an hour before Emily got home.

Shit, if he’d forced her to close the curtains, then he’d been in the Taylor’s house for almost two hours. I could only imagine the hell he’d put them through. Was now putting them all through. We didn't have any proof Craig was there, but every cell in my gut was screaming that he was, and thatwe didn't have a lot of time.Please God, let us get in there in time.I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if he killed them.

I'd picked a secluded, tree-lined parking lot at the end of the street for our command center. We couldn’t risk gearing up in the middle of the street, it’d be hard not to notice five guys putting on bullet proof vests and slinging rifles.

Jack was the first to arrive; he’d had Meg drive him so he could work on the way over. It might be a short distance from our house to here, but every second counted. My gear bag was on the open tailgate of my truck and I was putting on my vest when Jack hopped out.

“Anything new?” Jack reached into the back seat of Meg’s car and grabbed his gear bag. He already had his vest and duty belt on. We all kept a duty belt ready to go, with extra magazines for our pistols and rifles, as well as a tourniquet in case the worst happened.

“Negative. Dean’s got eyes on the house but hasn’t seen any movement.”

“Let me know what I can do to help.” Meg offered. Just because she wasn’t trained to gear up or breach doors, didn’t mean she couldn’t help.

“Thanks Meg.” I turned my attention back to Jack. “ETA for the others?”

“Less than five.”

“Good. Meg, can you drive around the block and look for Craig’s car? We’ve had eyes on the front twenty-four-seven but none on the back. That’s the only way he could have gotten in unnoticed.”

“On it. Jack, you need anything else from the car?” He shook his head no. “I’ll make a note of any cars parked on the streets around the block and report back.”

“Thanks.”

The others arrived while Meg was circling the block. I called Dean and put him on speaker phone so he’d be up-to-date with our plans. We formed two teams, one to breach the back door, the other the front. I’d go in the front with Jack, and Dad was taking the back with AJ. Doug and Dean would be on over-watch; Dean in his car, and Doug in the backyard. Just in case Craig managed to get by us.

He won’t get past me.

My anger-fueled impatience was growing by the second. I wanted to be breaking down doors and shooting that fucker in the face. Dad and Jack reminded me I wouldn’t do any good if I was too pissed off to stay focused. When I grunted in reply; Dad, worried I’d go in guns blazing and fuck shit up, made a command decision and gave Jack the lead.

I wanted to argue but he was right, it would only take a second for shit to go south if my fear or anger took over. I had to trust Jack.

Meg came back, she hadn’t found Craig’s car but she saw two cars parked on the streets. She’d called Sammie and asked her to run the plates. One was registered to the address it was parked at, the other to Daniel Spencer, from Houston.

Craig must have borrowed someone’s car, knowing we’d be looking for his. Fuck, he was smarter than we’d given him credit for. Which meant he was also more dangerous.

“Meg, did you tell Sammie what’s happening?”

“Give me some credit.” I should have known better. Sammie was on duty tonight. Meg knew if she had told Sammie what was going on she couldn’t, in good conscience, keep it from her commanding officer.

What we were doing wasn’t exactly within the parameters of the law. If things ended badly, we’d be in big trouble, but I couldn’t let myself think about it.The only thing that matters is saving Emily and her parents.

With our strategy in place, we climbed into two trucks, drove to the house with our lights off, then took up our positions at the doors. We confirmed everyone was in place, then went radio silent.

We weren’t knocking or waiting for an invitation.

We were going in hot and fast.

I heard the click signaling Dad and AJ were in position at the back door, and Jack’s click confirming our ready position. We counted to three then kicked in both doors simultaneously.

Chapter 37

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