A Family Stolen

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 22 (Soldier's Entrance)

Jason crawled through the window into the basement and reached for the gun on his hip just in case there were any unexpected guards waiting for him. Hearing a noise nearby, he aimed the gun and turned to his right. "Who's there?" He shouted in a commanding tone. Colonel Wallace entered with the other soldiers and drew their weapons as well.

A man moved from the shadows, his gaze determined and chest moving slowly. "Gary Malone. You must be the rescue mission." Jason sighed, feeling a great deal of relief. Gary studied him closely and extended a hand. "You must be Jason." Jason nodded and took the man's handshake, meeting his firmness with a firmness of his own. "Trina talks very highly of you. Always has. It's unfortunate I've never been in a position to meet you until now, and unfortunate we must meet under circumstances like these."

"Same." He exhaled and pulled his hand away. "It's an honor to fight by your side, however." Gary smiled gently and Jason gave a quick nod. "You're being held hostage, but we won't ask you to flee."

"I wouldn't flee anyway."

"Right." He motioned to the Colonel. "I believe you know Colonel Wallace." Gary looked up with a wide grin and greeted the man with endearment. The Colonel shook his hand and patted his arm, looking into Gary's eyes with a proud smile. Gary took a deep breath and turned towards Jason.

"Situation report, Tyler. David Vega is mortally wounded." Jason's heart sank and he looked down, growling lightly. "Jesse's informed me that he's been beaten beyond what could be healed at this point. His body has begun shutting down."

"If he is alive or not, we need to get him out of this building. All of them." Gary nodded. It was a painful report, and as the last technical parent of the family, Jason was set to guard Gary with his life. Trina and her sister already lost their mother and father, their stepfather was not going to die on his watch. "We will let the others in through the back and front, but we must be cautious for any of Jerome's followers left behind."

"Right." Gary raised a gun, one that had been provided to him by Jesse, and looked up to the door. "They've left the door unlocked. I've done my part staying in here, but I won't say I'm not glad to see you guys coming in. Now let's save my girls."

"Yes sir."

"I give you the lead," Colonel Wallace said to his friend. Gary narrowed his eyes and looked to the door. "I'll have my men patrol the basement and ground floor, they'll sweep the grounds and let the police forces in. You head where you must." Gary turned to Jason.

"What's the status report for the other teams entering the building?" Jason straightened himself and cleared his throat.

"They are on hostage relief duty, sir." He was nervous and eager, but also worried about something possibly going wrong. Even with a perfect plan, there was always the chance something could go wrong. "I've been tasked with reaching the top floor." Gary's lips appeared to tighten and the man nodded with certainty.

"Ross's office is on the top floor. According to Jesse, the man has two ways into the room." Jason raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. He looked to the basement door, studying it for a second before glancing to the soldiers moving towards the power generators. "One goes through the restroom and out into a hallway. The other is his main entrance."

Seeing where Gary was headed with this, he started to grin. "So we take him from two sides? Someone enters through the main and the other through the restroom?"

"Yes." This would be great. As much as he wanted to make a direct route to Trina or make a beeline for Ross, he knew they needed to focus on taking care of each floor. The task forces available could do most of the work, letting them take that direct path towards the leaders; but they were there to assist as well. "I should warn you, Jesse has not been made aware of this as it's happened so swiftly."

"What?"

"While Marcus and Stephen have been taken out by David's actions, they've been replaced by two men that were a part of Jerome's gang. Purposely selected by the Chief for their connection to the Vegas." Jason furrowed his brow and Gary had the team shine a flashlight towards a dark corner. "One of them paid me a visit, so I took care of him…"

There was a vaguely familiar, leather jacketed man with dark hair slumped over in a corner. He had a black eye and was bound by rope. "Is…" He jerked his head back and raised his eyebrows. "Is that Ryder Daniels?" Gary chuckled softly and crossed his arms as the soldiers surrounded the man.

Jason knew Ryder from a photograph Trina let him see. He dated Tori very briefly. "Yes it is. He's one of the people that dated the girls and lasted such a short amount of time that he could potentially be forgettable. You'd probably be more familiar with a man named Mitchell."

"Mitchell?" He rolled his eyes and let out a grunt. "That dumbass kid?" Gary smirked. Mitchell was more annoying than he was troublesome. While her first boyfriend had been Jerome, Mitchell was the first person that she dated; it didn't last long and he decided to stalk her for a bit before she threatened to have her dad arrest him. "You're telling me Chief Ross put two useless, forgettable dumbasses in charge of floors?"

Gary shrugged. "Sounded more like temporary replacements." It was obvious how Gary had found out, he may have interrogated Ryder before keeping him unconscious. "The men were literally found either yesterday or the day before. Ryder was put in charge of the Ground floor. I'm sure we'll find Mitchell on the second floor…Then you know Danny and Ross."

"Fourth and Final."

"Yes. The third is where Jerome patrolled." They moved up the basement steps, taking slow strides just in case any of Jerome's knights came in. "I think Jesse was put in charge of the third floor upon becoming the Knights' new leader. Which is good, since that's where the girls are."

"Good. Then we're ready to let the task forces in from the back and front."

"Have your soldiers let them in." He nodded to Colonel Wallace, who immediately turned to give his men orders. Jason smiled with pride as Gary turned his narrow eyes towards the hallway. "Let's make our way up the main flight of stairs." He paused, glancing sideways. "That is, I assume you've turned off the elevators."

"Yes sir. Do you have any orders going through?"

"Orders? Aren't you leading this charge, Marine?" Gary smirked at him and he withheld a laugh. As the elder and technically superior officer, Jason looked up to Gary with a great deal of respect.

They heard footsteps nearby, so Jason aimed his weapon in the general direction of the noise. Gary hugged the wall, glaring as a shadow began approaching. "Now that you mention it…" A guard passed and stopped with his back to Gary. He raised his head to Jason and his eyes widened.

Before he could react, Gary struck him from behind and watched as the unconscious body crashed to the ground. "Try to avoid killing, if at all possible. Save them for arrests."

"Yes sir."

"Also." Gary crossed his arms and met Jason's gaze. "Not the best time to bring it up, but I heard you've got a ring for Trina?"

"Um." His face went red and he cleared his throat. "Yes sir. I would say after all this, I had thought of asking permission to propose. It seemed only right, but with Mr. Vega passing…"

"Son, you get us out of here and you can travel halfway across the world with my stepdaughter if you like." Jason's heart skipped a beat and he let out a relieved chuckle as Gary poked around the corner to scan the area. "I have always had a good deal of respect for you, so did David. We trust you with her, and you seem to make her happy. I couldn't think of anyone else that would be a good match; but first thing's first."

"Let's get through today."

"Damn straight."

Behind him, Colonel Wallace split his men into two teams, one to head towards the front to let one task force in and the second to the back door. He took off with one of the two teams to sweep the first floor.

"Good, this is better." Gary kept his voice low, so Jason did the same; it was to help avoid detection by any patrolling guards. "Two men are less noticeable and detectable than a group of armed soldiers." They turned down a long corridor, making their way towards the flight of stairs. "Did you get a floor plan of the building from Jesse?"

"I did." They were going to do quick sweeps, if at all possible; so they were going to need a general idea of the layout. "I've studied the floor maps to the best of my ability." It was always disorienting at first going from a map to the physical location, but it was still better than going blind. "We're to do a quick scan of the floor and make sure the area is light enough for the task forces to come in."

"You've got lines of communication open. Good."

"Yes sir." Jason grabbed his radio from his belt to show Gary. "Jade and Andre might push ahead if they feel confident with their task forces, but overall we are to do quick sweeps to try and clear as many as we can for them to go in and pull out the family and any other innocents."

"Okay." Gary leaned back and inhaled. "I'm still stunned to hear Tori's friends have been a part of the rescue effort."

"A huge part. I wouldn't believe it myself if I wasn't there to see it." He had a lot of respect for them as a result and planned on letting Trina know he thought they were turning out to be somewhat decent. The girls might not trust them at first, and it would certainly take some time to repair the broken relationships, but there was always hope

"Good." Gary leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. "I'm in good shape, but still feeling a tad sick from all the drugging. Jesse and Sinjin were a great help with the food and the medications." Gary held up a hand and leaned around a corner.

After second, he let out a chuckle and turned back. "Come look at this poor smuck." Jason walked over and looked to see what he was talking about. Across the hall, laying asleep on a bench was Mitchell. He was short and skinny, had a freckled face and a brown mullet. "Guess the second floor really is the lazy floor."

"Really." Jason cocked his head. "You'd think a police raid going on, power going out and everything would a sense of urgency to someone." All things considered, the second floor was the least guarded. Stephen had been on point in his patrols, so much that Jerome didn't need to station too many guards. "Jesse said Stephen always walked the floor, so there aren't a lot of knights here."

"Well, that makes this floor a bit easy to maneuver."

They went from room to room, checking for any guards at all. There were about three; one in a break room area and two had been walking different sections of the floors. They knocked each one out without them noticing their presence, and then returned to the center area to see if Mitchell had waken yet.

Their curiosity was answered by the loud snoring echoing amid the silence. "Jesus he's a hard sleeper." Jason blinked twice and sighed. "I don't understand the Chief's obsession with people that dated the girls."

"He thinks Dave and Holly went after every single person they dated, so he wanted to give them all a part of having revenge. Mitchell got it lucky, Trina was so young that it never had a chance to become serious enough for David to bother with him. Or rather, they dated before Dave and Holly got so protective."

Gary grabbed the rope that Jesse had provided to him in the Basement and removed a pocketknife from his waist. Jason moved behind Mitchell, staring down at the man as he sputtered in his sleep. "It's almost like watching a baby sleep."

"Yeah, right." Gary scoffed. "One that's become a willing participant in destroying my girls."

"Right."

Mitchell groaned softly and started rubbing his eyes. "Quick Jason, knock him out." Mitchel sat up and looked around, his eyes widening. Jason dealt a swift blow to his head, knocking him back on the bench. "Okay, well, that works."

Jason took a few steps away, giving Gary room to tie the man up. "Second floor clear," he spoke into the radio. "All hostiles incapacitated and detained. No civilians on floor two."

The third floor was going to be hectic, since it was the most guarded. The third was heavily guarded for two reasons: It was where the family was held and it was the primary floor for the knights.

"Ten four," Jade replied over the radio. "Thanks for making our load a little bit easier." Easy was perhaps an exaggeration, this seemed more like the calm before the storm to him. In his experience, and Gary's as well judging by his tense expression, things often got worse before they got better. Colonel Wallace is taking his men and the SWAT team to the third floor. Andre and I are taking the task force to the fourth. Do you copy?"

"I copy." The slow, continued assault was best. He wasn't sure whether to join the third floor sweep or not, however. They likely would, but if Jade and Andre were heading to the fourth, their help could be needed as well. "We will perform a quick status check on the family on the third, and send them down to safety."

Because all the movement happens at the same time, but each have enough to focus on one person, I wasn't sure how to divvy up Jason and Jade's team. So next we'll see Jade making her way up, then Jason and Gary will be heading to the top floor. Let's see if they can all succeed.