Page 41 of Pain
The night had surprised him, but he wouldn't have changed a thing about it. Xander was a welcome distraction, and one who wouldn't be upset if his emotions weren't always on him. This was exactly what he needed.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Xander pushed the back door open, slipping silently into the house. He was glad to have a job to do after several weeks of nothing. When Bryon had called him, saying there was a job, he was more than willing to drop what he was doing and get back to work.
As he stepped into the house, a chill went through him. He'd learned long ago not to ignore his body's warnings. Something was off or going to go wrong. He'd felt the chill more than once, and every single time, there was something out of place or something that went wrong during the sting.
Debating if he should abandon the job or just proceed with caution, he looked around the darkened living room. The only light was from the moonlight that came through the windows from outside.
Checking to reassure himself he had his gun on his side, he tried to get a feeling as to why his body was warning him about something going wrong. They'd done their research. The man they were after had been in jail four times. Each time, he was released to offend again. They'd finally gotten proof that he'd been hanging around a local elementary school, and Matt had hacked into the guy's laptop, finding recent images of girls at one of the local parks, playing at the playground. A repeat offender like this wasn't going to stop. It was up to the team to make sure he couldn't hurt anyone again.
Xander shifted the file in his hands, cautiously moving through the house, unsure where the perp was at the moment.
A child's cry echoed through the house and Xander's stomach turned. There was no mistaking the sound, the pain, the fear that was in the child's cry. Everything else forgotten, Xander set the file on the couch beside him and pulled his gun out.
Following the sound of crying, Xander paused outside what he knew from his research was the master bedroom. He mentally prepared himself for what he was about to see, praying he didn't scare the child more by doing what he was about to do.
Without hesitation, Xander kicked the door open, not surprised at all when the man rolled off the child and picked up a gun off the nightstand by the door.
"Don't try it." Xander fired, his aim well placed as a bullet ripped through the man's arm. As much as he wanted to worry about the child, he couldn't until he'd secured the man. Wasting no time, he was on top of the perp, wrapping him in a headlock as he kicked the gun away from where it had fallen on the floor.
The child screamed, but he had to make sure the perp was down before he even looked to see how badly the child was hurt. Pulling the syringe from his pocket, he slammed the needle into the man's neck.
It took only minutes for the man to slump in Xander's arms. Releasing him, he let the perp fall hard to the floor, not caring at all if he was injured.
"I'm going to help you." Xander turned to the child, sure his masked face and the gunshot were freaking the child out even more than she already was.
His chest tightened when he looked down at a young girl, probably no older than eight or nine. Her big brown eyes stared up at him, tears rolling down her cheeks. Her hands were secured to the bed, and she was completely naked with blood smeared across her legs.
The girl struggled to get free, and that about killed Xander. He wanted nothing more than to release her and get her the fuck out of there. "I need to get the bad man away, but there are going to be policemen and firemen coming to help you." He glanced to make sure the blood he'd seen wasn't life threatening, then he moved a blanket over her body, covering her nakedness. "They'll get you home to your family, okay?"
She shook her head and cried harder.
"I promise they are coming. It won't be long, but I have to take care of the bad guy first." Xander grabbed the man by the hair, seeing the look of fear in the man's eyes. If it wouldn't have been so traumatic, he'd let the little girl do his job for him tonight. It was only fair she take care of the man who'd raped her. Dragging the man out of the room and down the hallway, Xander tried not to think about the scared little girl in the bedroom. He had a job to do, and they had rules for things like this happening. The child wasn't touched until the police got there. He would do what he had to do, then get out as fast as he could.
"You're one sick fucker." Xander dropped the man on the living room floor, unable to hold himself back from kicking the man in the ribs. "I've never wanted to hurt someone as bad as I do you." Xander pulled out his knife, enjoying the look of fear growing in the man's eyes. "Don't worry, I won't kill you." He cut through the man's pants, tearing them off him as soon as he had them cut enough to grip. "But, I am going to make you wish for death." Xander quickly pulled out his tools.
He didn't bother taking his time. He honestly didn't care if he did this job right or not. Let the man bleed to death, let him die of infection if he didn't get the tube in right away.
Taking a deep breath to calm his anger, Xander went through the steps just like he always did, never looking up at the man's eyes again, even when he cut his cock. He wanted out of the house as fast as he could, so the child could get help.
Tossing the man's cock and balls as hard as he could across the room at the wall, he quickly inserted the tube into his urethra before he pulled out his handheld blow torch and cauterized everything.
He didn't bother with anything more other than securing the man to the base of the coffee table before using the small can of spray paint to point the police to the victim. He then gathered his things and rushed out the door.
It was probably the fastest job he'd ever done, and maybe the sloppiest, but he needed to get the young girl help. Rushing to his car, he pulled out the burner phone, quickly calling 911. "There is a child being raped at 6712 Boothe Street." He hung up as he pulled away from the house.
Most of the time, he liked to be far away before the cops showed, but tonight, he needed to see that someone got to the girl. Finding a house for sale several streets down, he parked in the driveway, hoping the house was as abandoned as it looked.
He took a deep breath as he pulled out his own phone and sent a text back to Bryon.
Done. Active victim found. Secured and followed procedure. Watching for response now. STK
"Fuck!" Xander smacked the steering wheel. The image of the young girl would haunt him. She wasn't the first victim he'd seen, but each one got to him. It was a reminder of why they did the job they did, but it also left him feeling sick and disgusted with himself for days after because he personally had to walk away and leave the victim alone when she was so scared and probably injured.
Scanner traffic has units on the way. Don't take risks. Leave if you must. STK
He was probably closer than he should be to the location, but he couldn't bring himself to drive off until he at least saw the first unit pull up at the house. He'd left the back door open, and the perp in sight, so he was the first thing they would see when they entered the home. He made sure they would see the perp first, wanting to make sure they didn't move the victim out and find him after. The young girl didn't need to see what Xander had done.
