Page 70 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“Back a hair,” Mother whispered to Lambchop. “Yes there. Stop.” He scrutinized the display. Standing in an archway that led to what looked to be a hallway was Stella Adams. He was sure it was her. “Got target Adams in the room. Now continue to the right.”

There were no windows along the left side of the house but the window on the back at the left corner of the house had blinds that were closed, all but one on the bottom right corner that was broken and hanging just enough that the camera showed the interior of the room. Jackson switched it to night vision and then raised the camera head in front of the opening created from the broken blind. He swiveled it slowly, his eyes focused on the screen of the small monitor.

He made out the unmistakable outline of a small dark-haired body in a bed. His or her face was covered with a blanket. There was no way to be sure it was Lilly. He swung the camera to take a good look at the room. Rae had said Lilly had a purple jacket. There was a child sized jacket, and a small backpack tossed across the foot of the bed. With the night vision mode on, hecouldn’t make out colors. He’d have to make the determination if it was her coat when he was in the room.

“I’ve got a dark-haired child sleeping in the back left bedroom. Door is closed. I’m going to enter and try to confirm its Lilly before I extract her,” he whispered into his comms.

“Just extract, repeat, just take the child. We have target Adams in the front room. Notify when you’re clear,” Lambchop broadcast.

“Roger,” Jackson acknowledged. He examined the window and pushed up on the bottom section of it. It was locked. But it was an old-style lock, one swivel mechanism in the center of the window. He attached a suction cup circular cutting tool near the lock. It was a quick and quiet device to cut a hole in the window so he could slip his hand in and unlock the window. From there, he could lift the bottom pane.

On the right side of the house, Sloan and Sherman checked each of the two rooms, another bedroom that was empty, and a bathroom. A small rectangular window ran across the top of the shower. Their gooseneck camera caught Blake Henning across the room taking a piss in the toilet. They reported his location and activity through comms to the others.

Lambchop wished Jackson already had Lilly out. “Undertaker, cover the back door. No one gets past you. Birdman, report back to me and mother in the front. You’ll go in with us when we breach.”

“Roger that, Lambchop,” Sloan acknowledged. Sherman headed back around the side of the house towards the front.

“Going into the bedroom now,” Jackson transmitted after he’d cut the hole, unlocked the window, and slid the bottom pane of glass up.

He crawled through the window, pushing the blinds gently and quietly into the room as he rounded the window sill. He dropped soundlessly onto the carpeted floor feet first. Then he crept over to the bed. First, with a dim penlight flashlight in his hand, he examined the small purple jacket and fully packed and zipped backpack with the Disney Princesses on it. This had to be Lilly.

He put the coat and jacket on a table beside the window. He noticed a Disney Princess throw blanket covered the little girl in the bed. He wrapped it around her as he scooped her up. A small stuffed animal fell to the floor as he stepped from the bed. He retrieved it. At the window, he pulled the blinds aside. The movement startled the little girl awake.

“Shh, Lilly, I’m a friend of Miss Reina. We’re here to get you and your mommy away from that bad man. Please stay quiet.”

In the moonlight coming through the window, he saw her eyes go wide, but she nodded and dropped her face back against his shoulder. He grabbed her backpack and coat and climbed back out the window. Only when both feet were back on the ground did he transmit that he had her out and was proceeding to the car with her.

There was a second woman in the living room with Stella Adams. No one else was seen by any of the men but they couldn’t get a look inside the kitchen, where lights were also on but there were no gaps in the window coverings to see in.

The camera they had to view in the room showed Blake Henning re-enter the room and take a seat on the couch. He was repacking a duffel bag. “Okay, we go in fast, standard formation,” Lambchop transmitted once Jackson had transmitted that he was back at the car. “I’ll kick in the door. We announce ourselves as federal law enforcement and each take one.”

“You wearing your body armor?” Tommy ‘Louisa’ Flores, Bravo Team’s lead who was on in Ops, asked.

“Affirm, Louisa,” Lambchop replied. “And carrying sidearms only. Okay, on me,” Lambchop said. He set the camera onto the ground and then crept up to the front door. Mother was right behind him, his hand on Lambchop’s shoulder. Sherman was behind him.

As a matter of habit, Lambchop tried the door, surprised to find it unlocked. He immediately opened it and threw it wide, rushing in, his weapon leading the way. “Federal Law Enforcement! Hands up and don’t move!”

“Get ‘em up!” Mother echoed entering the room and going straight for Henning who had just hopped up from the couch.

“Freeze! Get your hands up!” Sherman yelled at Stella Adams who bolted into the hallway. She didn’t stop. He took off after her.

Henning ran towards Mother, banking on the fact that he was law enforcement so he wouldn’t shoot. He dove at Mother, intending to tackle him but Mother, a highly trained Marine Raider, deflected his tackle and helped him faceplant into the hard wood floor faster. Then he was on him, his knee pressing down hard on the center of his back.

The second woman was the only one of the three who froze and raised her hands as instructed. Lambchop holstered his weapon and was just beginning to secure her hands in zip ties when the door on the far wall flew open. A man wielding a shotgun stepped into the room.

“Gun! Get down,” Lambchop yelled. He pushed the woman to the floor and covered her with his own body as he drew his weapon and the shotgun was fired.

Sherman caught up with Stella Adams at the door to the bedroom Lilly had been in. He body checked her into the wall. “She’s not there. We got her out,” he told Stella.

Then the loud bang from the shotgun got everyone’s attention. The wall behind where Lambchop stood before dropping to the ground was now peppered with buckshot. When Mother had dropped to his belly, his grip on Henning was loosened. Henning sprung up and grabbed the man with the shotgun, who’d come up from the basement, and used his body as a shield. He pressed the barrel of a pistol into his neck.

“Drop the guns or I shoot,” he threatened.

Both Mother and Lambchop stood, their weapons trained on Henning. “Not happening, Henning. It’s over. Drop it!” Lambchop instructed. The other woman ran from the room and into the hallway.

Sherman and Stella could hear all that transpired in the living room. “Keep Lilly safe,” Stella said.

Then the other woman hit Sherman on the head with a pistol she produced from an ankle holster. Sherman collapsed to the floor. She handed the weapon to Stella. Stella grabbed her backpack from the hallway, slipped it on, and then pressed the gun under the other woman’s chin. They stepped back into the living room together.

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