Page 163 of Protecting Peyton

“I’ll check earlier video and let you know as soon as I can,” the techie replied. “Schematic of the building is on the way.”

Lucas’s tablet dinged, and he pulled it up. One large open office area up front with a series of small rooms off of it, and the large open warehouse area in the back.

“They’ll be holding her in one of these rooms,” Lucas said, tapping the front area on the diagram. “The side emergency exits are probably alarmed.”

I nodded.

He pointed at Constance. “So, we’ll hoof it from the street, and we’ll stealth enter through the back door here.” He tapped the diagram next to the loading dock. “While you two…” He motioned between me and O’Connor. “Hold outside the front entrance. I’ll give you the signal to breach when we have made our way through the warehouse area to the back of the offices. Then we go in from both directions.”

“Engagement and kit?” Constance asked.

Lucas set the rules of engagement. “Minimal non-lethal force except if necessary to save the hostage.”

She nodded.

I would have preferred looser rules, but the call was Lucas’s.

He continued. “We can’t risk being stopped by civilians, so body armor under clothing and handguns only, plus stun of course, and no helmets.” It made sense. Rifles or helmets could easily trigger a call to the cops if we were spotted.

O’Connor shook his head. “You make it sound like we’re invading a small country.”

Lucas fixed his gaze on the detective. “Constance is ex-Secret Service. Zane and I are ex-military, and we’re successful because we operate with precision.”

O’Connor shrugged. “Okay.”

“Kit up and let’s get moving,” Lucas said.

I had to help O’Connor get his vest on and adjusted, then I checked my SIG, grabbed extra clips and a Taser from locked storage for me.

“Don’t I get one?”

“Have you qualified on the Taser?”

“How hard could it be?”

That was ano. “Handgun only. Just stay behind me and don’t draw your weapon unless I say so.”

He shook his head, pulled out his revolver, and spun the cylinder.

A six-shooter? I’ll take the fifteen-round capacity of my SIG any day.I grabbed the blanket.

“What’s that for?” the detective asked.

He really was clueless. “You’ll see.”

After closing up the Cayenne, O’Connor followed me to our assigned location while Lucas and Constance hustled around back.

“Entering,” Lucas said a minute later over comms. “We’ll be in position in three.”

Peyton

“That’s it,”the voice said. “Time to wake up.”

I coughed, blinking water out of my eyes to see the monster in front of me, and Baldy, to my right. I was wet from my head to my chest.

Baldy laughed. “I told you the water would work.” A short dude stood behind him.

Sitting up, I blew some from my nose and squinted. Now I could see the misalignment in Monster’s nose from where I’d kicked him in Atlanta.