Steve followed his partner back to the farmhouse with a foreboding sense of doom. Far for him to doubt Mike's decisions when it came to this case; but he couldn't shake off the shudder running down his back as they approached what was quickly turning into the organ trafficking headquarters, if they were to trust the circumstantial evidence uncovered thus far. He tried to mentally prepare himself for what they might have to face, only to realize that there was little he could do to be ready for a situation as heartless and grotesque as this one.
Mike's black overcoat was swinging back and forth in the slight breeze, as they circled the back door once again, by far their closest clue to where the action was going on inside the house. And coincidentally, it was close to the kitchen area where he'd seen both a young woman and a young man tied up to something against the counter or floor.
As they reached the back door, he subconsciously grasped the mid-sized crowbar in his hand tighter, prepared to put the tool to good use, his left hand resting over the holster on his hip and ready to open it if needed.
Before he even grabbed the door knob, Mike turned around to face him, his eyes wandering back and forth between the crowbar and his partner's sullen features.
"Would you like to have the honors?"
Grinning back at the Lieutenant's attempt at lightheartedness in a desperate situation, Steve smiled broadly, before lifting the crowbar like a battle axe.
"You bet I would."
Mike stepped aside, making room for him to slide the claw into the narrow gap of the door and framework, positioning it just above the deadbolt.
Using his full body weight, Steve pushed it into the gap as deep as possible, before reaching for the long end and pulling as hard as he could.
And yet, despite his most strenuous efforts, the door didn't budge.
When his second attempt yielded the same result, Mike took over, but the outcome remained the same.
"You know, I am starting to wonder what all they have that door locked with…", Steve said slightly out of breath, using his left arm to steady himself against the door frame.
"Probably more than we have in our arsenal to open it with.", Mike answered somberly, before taking a few steps back to survey the back of the house.
Steve tried to follow his glance, but couldn't figure out what the Lieutenant was looking at, until his eyes came to rest on a broken second story window right above them.
"You think you could climb through that if I gave you a boost?"
Taking a couple steps back, Steve nervously bit his lip as he scanned the deteriorating siding along with a small ledge above the doorframe, big enough that he could rest a foot on it while maneuvering his way through the opening.
"I think so…"
"Here, wrap this around your hands so you don't get cut when you reach up for support."
Mike searched his dark gray coat for two handkerchiefs, before helping to protectively tie them around his partner's bare hands.
"When you get up in there, draw your gun. They could be inside waiting. If anything looks out of place, don't climb in, do you understand that?"
Steve looked up when his partner's voice reached an unusually high pitch. The bright blue eyes staring back at him were filled with worry and uncertainty. Sharing the same sentiment and fighting the crippling fear that arose from his gut, Steve tried to smile, but found it to be growing increasingly difficult.
"You're just going to stand around and lecture me, or are you going to give me a boost so we can get this party on the road?"
Jokingly slapping the back of his head, Mike smiled back briefly, then interweaved his hands for Steve to step into. Hesitating for a moment, the young Inspector tightened the thin white fabric of the handkerchiefs around his hands one last time, before stepping into Mike's manmade ladder and letting the Lieutenant hoist him up several feet into the air.
As soon as he came close to the window, Steve reached for the side of the wooden framework, where no remnants of the glass pane could cut him. With that support, he used his right foot against the ledge over the door and pushed himself up along the siding, until he was balanced.
"Easy now. Be careful. Take it easy…", Mike urged from below and he could hear him take a few steps back to watch him.
Slowly pulling himself up, Steve risked a glance inside the room, not surprised at all to find it deserted and weathered from the lack of protection. Old dry leaves covered the wooden floors that had grown wavy from moisture damage. Right below the window was a mountain of glass shards, as if it had been broken from the outside. Through a doorframe that was missing its door, he could see the beginning of a stairwell leading to the main floor.
The ceiling up above was peeling from water damage and a good-sized hole in the east corner allowed him to see an equally compromised roof cavity.
When he felt confident that he was balanced, Steve reached for the few remaining pieces of glass still stuck in the bottom part of the window frame and pulled them out, before carefully sliding them onto the pile right inside the room.
Once clear, he put both palms onto the wooden framework, shifted his weight over and used his feet against the siding to get enough traction to lean his upper body through the window and into the room.
"Would you be careful…!", Mike whispered urgently from below, just as Steve managed to pull one of his knees onto the frame and more or less awkwardly crawled through.
"I forgot to mention I never was good at the parallel bars in gymnastics…", Steve answered through forced breaths, before pointing his index finger downstairs, "See you in a minute."