Chapter 25
RPOV
Two hours later we were watching the location where we thought Clau was being held, it was the early hours of the morning, so the darkness suited us fine. Greik had given us lots of information about the place, she'd played here as a child after it had been built and abandoned. No one went close to it now, old superstitions and stories of hauntings kept everyone away. Trying to stop Greik from coming with us took a lot of persuasion but she was adamant she would go to where the others were or with us. I didn't want her to do either, but I knew she would do what she believed to be best.
As we watched the area, we actually hoped that most of the soldiers would leave the place to go to where the other villagers were hidden, and we weren't disappointed. We watched as a procession of trucks left passing the small houses and leaving only a few men on guard. That was our cue to start our plan. I watched as Ash left his post, maneuvering down the hillside and as he went to the back window of one of the small houses where we thought Clau was. Zeph and I made our way down to the larger house. Zeph went to the right as I headed to the back, I had fifteen minutes to find Serrano before Zeph started the fireworks.
The downstairs of the house was in darkness as I opened the back door, okay it was locked but nothing too difficult. I made my way quietly from the kitchen toward the front, seeing only one guard on the inside of the front door. I didn't want to kill the soldier, hell he hardly looked old enough to be shaving so instead of using a knife I aimed a gun at him, the fast-acting tranquilizer floored him in seconds, but I waited, constantly watching for any movement. When I was sure that the area was clear I made for the stairs and keeping the wall to my back and vision alert I started the walk up to the next floor, stopping, as my head came level to the first floor landing.
Only one guard again, was Serrano so sure of himself that he didn't think someone would come after him? I fired the dart, but this time moved quickly catching the falling soldier and letting him fall silently to the ground. I listened at the door and could hear some kind of music playing, but I wasn't so sure of going in through this door, my instincts were telling me this didn't feel right. I went to the next door down the hall and entered a room. It was a bedroom, very ornately decorated but there was a coat of dust over everything. A door led to the side that I assumed was the bathroom, another job for the tool kit. Then after I had made sure it was empty, I walked into a gaudy bathroom. I was pleased to find that my thinking had been right in assuming this was an adjoining bathroom between the room I had just come through and the room where I hoped Serrano was.
The door into his room was slightly open and it gave me a view through the gap into the bedroom. I was right, the bedroom door was rigged with sensors and light beams; one break of the beam of light and no doubt there'd be guns firing at it. I looked up and saw the gun high on a beam, certainly high-tech stuff for Serrano. I checked the room very carefully for more traps, a rug could contain a pressure sensor and the mirror could have motion detectors. As I looked further around, I saw Serrano stood looking out of the window, obviously watching as his soldiers left. There was an open laptop sat in front of him on the desk displaying a visual from a camera I assume was with them. With nothing else to concern me I aimed the gun at him and then stopped. There was a reflection that seemed to be coming from behind him and that's when I realized there was a glass partition between him and me. Shit, where the hell was the control for that? Probably the computer operated it, but that meant I wouldn't be able to get past it.
I just hoped that the fireworks Zeph had planned included cutting the power. A look at my watch had me bending down and waiting. I heard and felt the first blast as it shook the building. Serrano clutched at the table and started to look around and I could see the panic on his face. He still didn't talk to anyone and the dam laptop was still working, it was probably running on its own batteries. As he switched views to other cameras the picture began to waiver until all that was there was a blank screen, causing him to panic again and start jabbing at the keyboard.
The glass doors slid apart, the sound shocking Serrano and as he turned to look, I took the opportunity and fired two darts into his chest, watching as he collapsed to the floor. Not trusting that all the sensors were dead I moved cautiously across the room, uncovering the wires below the rug and stepping around the sensor. I used a gas can as I progressed illuminating red infrared beams and stepped over them. Once at the prone body of Serrano I zip tied his wrists and ankles rolled him into a black body bag and hoisted him up onto my shoulders.
Negotiating back past the booby traps and through the bathroom I was soon at the top of the stairs, again being aware of my surroundings to ensure no guards had come inside. The way back down the stairs was easy enough and once down I used my mic to call in to Zeph.
"In the bag"
"Out front"
The front door was open, I presume courtesy of Zeph with two dead guards laid on the porch so walking around them I threw the body bag into the trunk of the car, slamming it down before getting in next to Zeph. It was an old car, possibly a Chevy that looked and sounded as though it had been "Souped-up" and possibly one of Serrano's.
"Ash?"
"Waiting at the road"
As we drove quickly away from the house a large explosion engulfed the building behind us sending debris high up into the sky, Zeph just smiled as he looked through the rearview mirror at his handy work. Ash was waiting as we approached the road holding Clau next to him and once they were both in Zeph floored the accelerator to get us back to Greik.
"Pickup in an hour, same place as drop off"
It didn't give us much time but enough to ensure Greik and Clau were safe and then for us to get to the rendezvous point.
