"Heat signatures for four bodies up and moving on the ground floor, two on the door, one at the window. Best guess is males judging by the size. No one on the roof." The mercenary turned to Philip, "If your girl is in there she's probably in the basement right under the bathroom. Unless they packed a lead lined box, that's the best way to keep the Feds from spotting the smaller signature."

"Getting her out safely is the first priority. Once we have her the rest of them are expendable."

"Yes sir." He took in Philip's seemingly relaxed demeanor, "Branch?"

"Semper Fi." Philip replied tersely, as he gave his weapons a final check. He patted down his pockets quickly, making sure he had extra rounds as well as the things he'd need to take care of Chloe.

"At least you know what you're doing." He turned to EJ, "We'll hit both doors simultaneously, gas first to give you time to get in, get the girl, and get out. We'll take care of the clean up." He held up a small gas mask, signaling for everyone to don them before they left the vehicles.

As they moved into position, Philip let his mind play out potential scenarios for the operation. Automatically shying away from any possibility that Chloe was not in the building or that she was beyond salvation, he worked out several routes to get them both out of the building and away from the area before anything occurred that would attract police attention.

The sound of the glass shattering as the first of several rounds of gas filled canisters was fired triggered EJ & Philip's charge through the door. In the dim light filtering through the filthy windows, he vaguely noticed the size of the body at his feet as being too large to be Chloe. EJ tapped his shoulder then pointed down, indicating that the building's basement was indeed intact. EJ swept a small device from side to side as they crept down the stairs, watching it carefully for any sign of explosives.

A muffled thump from the far corner drew Philip's attention, gesturing sharply to EJ to cover his back he skulked toward the sound, probing the floor in front of him carefully with his prosthetic foot before letting his weight settle. He tried to step quietly, but water had leaked into the dirt filled basement at some point forming a thick mud, and the sucking sounds every time he pulled his foot free sound loud to his hypersensitive ears. Finally reaching the corner, he found the noise was coming from behind a wall of cinder blocks.

Checking behind him to make sure EJ was still covering the stairs, he holstered his weapon and started moving the blocks slowly, using a flashlight to examine each for any sign of a trip wire before touching it. Gradually he uncovered a small opening, as he reached inside the thumping noise became more pronounced and several rats scurried past him squeaking angrily. Hissing in disgust, he started to turn away but then a soft whimper caught his attention. He hastily pulled away several more blocks, finally uncovering a narrow dank crawl space seemingly filled with refuse. A quick sweep through the the clutter with a gloved hand sparked more thumping as the pile of debris in the center of the crawl space thrashed.

Philip reached into the pile and was rewarded with the sensation of soft flesh, before the thrashing resumed. Swearing softly to himself he pulled off his mask and stuck the flashlight in his mouth; carefully gripping it with teeth before using both hands to grab at the thrashing mound and yank it towards him. As he pulled her free of the tiny space Chloe lashed out with her feet nearly knocking him down.

"Baby it's me. It's Philip!" He yelled as the flashlight fell from his mouth. EJ appeared at his side, ripping off his mask and holding up a light so that Chloe could see that they were not the enemy. As the light fell on her upper body Philip realized that a cloth sack had been placed over her head and taped into place. He threw himself at her, using his weight to hold her in place while he lowered her to the floor. Tugging gently at the duct tape holding the front of the bag to her throat, he could hear her sobbing as he worked to free her with a minimum of damage to the sensitive skin. Telling her "You're safe now. I promise you're safe" over and over again until finally he was able to pull the cloth away from her face.

She spit out a wad of fabric, tried to take a deep breath and started coughing. Philip held her close while he guided a bottle of water to her lips. She would have gulped it down, but he pulled it away murmuring "Not too much, you'll just make yourself sick. Slowly, that's the way."

Finally she croaked, "I'm not dreaming? You're really here?"

Flicked the light upwards EJ said, "I doubt you'd dream of me darling."

As soon as the light in EJ's hand hit her eyes she screwed them shut, recoiling in pain. He lowered the flashlight slightly, playing it over the rest of her body while Philip used a knife to cut away the plastic handcuffs binding her arms and legs. Philip ran his hands deftly over her body, quickly checking her for injuries while EJ carefully kept the light away from her face. She hissed in pain when Philip gently brushed her right hip and he asked quietly "Can you walk?"

"I think so." She tried to step away from him, and just as she felt her leg buckling he swept her up in his arms. "Philip, you can't carry me. Your leg..."

"Will be fine. You don't have any shoes and there's no telling what's breeding down here in this muck. I just wanted to know how badly you were injured." He shifted her weight to one side fumbling in his pocket until a small pouch came free.

EJ took it from him, deftly unsealing it and removing a lightweight disposable blanket. He helped Philip wrap it around Chloe before moving to the stairs. "Keep your heads down. Theoretically our friends have taken care of the details, but better safe than sorry. Yes?"

"Right." Philip whispered in Chloe's ear, "Keep your eyes closed, you've been in the dark a long time and it's going to take some time for them to adjust. Okay?"

She nodded and pressed her face into his neck, "Okay. Philip...what...how did you do this?"

"I told you. I'll do anything to protect you. Now hold on and keep your eyes closed. We're going to be moving fast." He cradled her tightly as he rushed up the stairs behind EJ, carefully shadowing his movements in order to keep as much of Chloe's body as possible shielded by their body armor.