Page 71 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“We’re walking out of here,” Henning said.

“Not happening,” Lambchop again said. His gaze darted to the hallway. He knew that something had happened to Sherman. “Undertaker, make entry. The Birdman is down.”

Just then, Henning and Adams, shifted position, threw the two others right at Mother and Lambchop, who gladly propelled themselves to crash right into the two law men. Henning andAdams darted into the stairwell, closing, locking and bolting the door shut.

The two men pushed the willing human shields off of themselves and ran to the door, finding it securely locked. The two human shields bolted out of the front door.

“Lambchop!” Mother alerted seeing them escape.

“Fuck!” Lambchop exclaimed. “This door is massively reinforced.” He knew they couldn’t go after those two, cover the outside escape windows, and cover the door. “Undertaker, did you find the Birdman?”

“Affirm, he was struck on the head. Is out cold.”

“Drag him here into the front room to treat him so you can cover this basement door,” Lambchop ordered.

“I have alerted the local LEOs,” Flores transmitted. “They’re coming without lights and sirens, are aware of activity by ATF.”

“Thank you, Louisa,” Lambchop replied. Even with the backup he was sure at least two of the four would get away. He’d do all he could to be sure it wasn’t four out of four.

As soon as Sloan appeared in the archway, Lambchop and Mother ran out the front door. They split and circled in opposite directions around the house. Neither window well had been disturbed. The basement was locked up tight. They held their vigils by each window well until the local LEOs arrived, six of them. By this time, Sherman was conscious. He had a hell of a bump on his head but swore he felt fine. Lambchop ordered him to wait in the car with Jackson and the little girl.

As soon as the backup arrived, Lambchop, Mother, and Sloan broke through the door in the front room. It had stairs that led down to the basement. Lambchop led the way down the well-lit stairs to the equally well-lit basement. “The house issurrounded! It’s over. We’re coming down and we will fire if we are fired upon,” Lambchop warned.

At the bottom of the stairs, the three men thrust themselves out into the open basement, each training their weapon in a different direction. No one was there. There were several work tables and computers set up with various other pieces of equipment. They ignored the tables for now.

On the north wall was a closed door. They advanced on it. Lambchop yelled his warning at it. A split second later, he kicked it. The door jamb splintered, and the door banged open. The men rushed inside the room to find a hole made in the foundation and a tunnel being eaten up by the darkness.

“Holy shit,” Mother remarked.

“Who the fuck has a tunnel in their basement?” Sloan asked.

“Someone guilty of something they may need to escape from,” Lambchop replied. “Sloan, yell up to the officers and tell them what we found and then follow Mother and me down this tunnel. I’m sure those two are long gone but we need to see where this comes out.”

They followed the tunnel. It ended about eighty yards in, with a ladder leading up. Climbing the ladder, they emerged from the storage shed at the back of the property, the door to the back open. The sides of the shed were shrouded with bushes so the getaway was hidden from the view from the house. They looked around but as expected, saw no one. All they did find was the unmistakable outline of a vehicle that had no snow in it that had been parked behind the shed. Its tire tracks led away down the street that ran behind the target house in the direction they’d driven when fleeing.

They ran back to the house and descended the stairs to the basement. The local LEOs were already inspecting theequipment on the work tables. “Looks like a facility to process stolen IDs and credit cards and to create false identities,” one of the officers said. “We’ve already called it in. A detective is en route.”

The Shepherd Security Team looked over the equipment as well. “Fucking hell. Now we don’t even know what names they’re going by or what they’re driving,” Sloan said.

Lambchop had Sherman return to the house to give his statement. Then he returned to the vehicle that Jackson waited in with Lilly. They didn’t mention Jackson or Lilly to the local police. They drove back to the hotel. The three other members of the team waited for the detective and did a quick turnover of the scene when he arrived.

Victor

Jackson notified Wilson when they arrived at the hotel with Lilly. Jackson carried her in, still wrapped in her Disney Princess blanket. She’d been put to bed wearing her clothes and shoes. Jackson had talked with her in the car as they’d waited. “You’re silly, wearing your shoes to bed,” he’d said.

“Mommy said it would be easier. We’re going on an airplane very early,” she’d said.

Jackson transmitted this info to the Digital Team. They could comb over security video from the airport looking for Stella Adams and Blake Keening and go through the passenger manifests for all flights looking for a party of three, traveling with a small child who was a no show for the flight.

Reina gave her a big hug, so relieved that she was okay and away from Stella and Blake Keening. “I promise you they will keep looking for your mommy.”

“Blake hurt mommy. He hit her,” Lilly said.

Reina hugged her again. “Well, you know what? Your mommy is tough. She’s working hard right now and will be back as soon as she can.” Reina felt kind of bad for lying to her, but she didn’t need anyone telling her that her mommy was as bad of a personas Blake Henning was. She needed to believe her mommy was working to get back to her.

After a drink of water and a snack, Reina put her back to bed. She sat with Lilly until Lilly fell asleep. Then she left the room and went back out into the living room area where Jimmy and Lambchop sat. She wasn’t sure where everyone else was.

“She’s finally asleep,” Reina said. She sat on the couch beside Jimmy.

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