CHAPTER TWELVE
Early Thursday Morning
6:15 A.M.

The only good thing is the local police agreed to stay out of the way. Joe grabbed the microphone from the car's dashboard and adjusted the setting so he would be heard inside the house. "This is Agent Barnes of Task Force 385. The house is surrounded. I'll guarantee your safety, if you release the girls unharmed."

While Joe waited for a response, he paced the length of the car.

Finally, he heard a heavily foreign accented male voice. "As long as we have the girls, you won't attack the house."

Joe covered his eyes, protecting them from the sun that peaked over the horizon. He glanced in the direction that voice came from and saw the dark shadow of a female figure shielding a larger male figure.

"I want a helicopter that'll hold eleven people. You have thirty minutes to get it here or I'll shoot one of the girls." As he shoved the girl into the open window, she cried out.

"Damn." Joe's fist hit the trunk of the car, before he dialed Matt's number.

"A helicopter can be there in twenty-five minutes." Joe recognized indignation in Matt's voice as he continued, "I should be there in seven minutes. Don't do anything stupid."

Joe noticed George's number on his ringing phone. "Matt called you and told you keep me busy until he arrived, didn't he?"

"Not in so many words. He knows how much you have invested in this mission," answered George. "Talk to me about the situation."

*****
Sara heard George's voice and opened her bedroom door. As she walked toward him, she overheard him say, "Joe, don't. You're a government agent. There's no way you'll get out alive. There's a better way to get Cassie out."

She grabbed the phone. "Joe, don't. I love you!"

"Don't worry. I'll be fine. It's the quickest and safest way to get Cassie home." Joe hung up.

Sara turned toward George. "What's he going to do?"

George rubbed the back of his neck. "Try to exchange his life for Cassie's."

"Take me there." She grabbed his hand and yanked. "I need to be there. I can talk him out of it, I know I can."

"No. Joe's in enough danger. He needs to concentrate on getting himself and Cassie out safely. He doesn't need to worry about you too."

He freed his hand and glanced at his watch. "Matt should be there in a few minutes. He'll keep the situation under control." George scanned the living room. "We need to paint the kitchen and hallway." He picked up the can of tan paint and began shaking it.

"Why is Joe taking such a risk?"

"He loves you and believes he needs to return Cassie so you'll return his love." George pried the lid off. "He feels responsible for Cassie's abduction."

"There's no way he could have prevented it."

"I know, and you know, but Joe doesn't believe it." He poured paint into a paint tray and studied the kitchen wall. "This room shouldn't take too long. Do you want to begin on this wall or the one by the counter?"

"I want to be where Joe and Cassie are."

*****
Joe adjusted the microphone. "The helicopter will arrive in twenty-five minutes. You release the hostages."

"I told you there would be eleven passengers. I'll think about letting the girls go when we reach our destination."

"Why don't we exchange ...."

Matt rushed up behind Joe and grabbed the microphone. "That's one of the stupidest ideas you've ever had."

"If the girls get on the helicopter, we'll never see them again."

"I know that. Mike and Bob are right behind me."

"They're using the girls as shields. Mike and Bob are the best snipers in the business, but they'll never get a clear shot."

"The special reaction team," he glanced at his watch, "will be here in about ten minutes. We may be forced to storm the house."

"I won't allow it." Joe clenched his jaw.

"Have a better idea? Besides you exchanging your life for the girls?"

Joe scanned the house. "What if we cause a diversion? When they're trying to figure out what's going on, you, Jim, Derek and I'll sneak in through those unused windows." He nodded toward two windows on the southwest corner of the house. "Once inside the house, we'll take them one at a time."

Matt shook his head. "Nothing ever works that easy, but we'll give it a try." He scratched his head. "What do you have in mind for the diversion?"

Joe rubbed his forehead with his hand. "How much fire power is the reaction team bringing with them?"

"Enough, why?"

"Let's drop them in the front yard and make sure they're seen. As the kidnappers concentrate on them, we'll sneak through those side windows."

Matt nodded. "You think there are eight men holding three girls hostage, right?" After Joe nodded, Matt said, "That just might work." He took his cell phone from his BDU pocket and ordered the reaction team to make an impressive entrance.

*****
Just before thirty-five fully armed members of the task force's special reaction team rappelled from four Blackhawk helicopters, Joe, Matt, Jim, and Derek crept to the southwest corner of the house.

As the first three men dropped simultaneously from the sky with automatic weapons, Joe opened the left window and Matt opened the right. Matt sat on the windowsill. "Joe, you didn't say anything about dogs."

Joe gulped. "I didn't know there were dogs."

"I'm guessing two mastiffs baring teeth and snarling would qualify as dogs," snapped Matt. "Thank heavens helicopters are loud or our entrance was just announced."

After hearing the conversation through the communication system attached to each man, Eric Hoff, a junior member, said, "Be patient, I have a tranquilizer gun." He hurried toward the windows.

Eric handed the gun to Joe and said, "I only have three darts, so aim carefully."

Matt grabbed the gun from Joe. "You're too nervous. Let me do it." After both dogs went down, Matt said to Eric, "I want some more men at these windows. My plan's to keep everybody alive. As we capture them, hopefully one at a time, one of us will bring them to you. We'll interrogate them later. I want this pornography ring shut down."

He glanced toward Joe and the other two men. "Let's do it."

The four men entered through the windows. Joe and Matt scanned the vacant bedroom. They each took a deep breath before Joe opened a door.

Surprised the hallway was vacant, Matt and Jim went to the left while Joe and Derek followed the right hallway.

Matt and Jim crept along side the wall, as two men stared out the kitchen window discussing the air assault display. Jim came up behind the shorter man, forcing a gun to his back.

When the shorter man felt the gun, he grunted. This alerted the taller man and he pointed his weapon toward Matt. Matt kicked the gun away. They briefly wrestled. Matt's quickness and training overpowered the man. Matt and Jim passed the two men through the vacant windows to the waiting team members.


Joe and Derek entered the living room and noticed two men staring out the picture window. The man on the right heard a creaking noise, turned, and fired his weapon. Derek fell to the wood floor.

The second man fired and missed Joe. As Joe shot his weapon, a third man entered the room from a door on the left. The second man fell, as the third man wrestled Joe to the floor.

Derek fired his gun at the man who had wounded him.

Matt and Jim arrived at the living room, as two men dragged Joe into the adjacent bedroom. Matt assessed Derek's wound. "It's not life threatening. I'll notify the men outside to get you." The two men on the floor were dead.

Matt and Jim faced the door Joe had disappeared behind. Matt took a deep breath, then yelled, "There's enough fire power surrounding this house to level it to the ground. Let the agent and the girls go."