Two Days Later

Life was passing by just like it had been for the past two years and two days at 1915 Samar Circle. To anyone driving by, it looked like the home of the quintessential CEO: massive house, 1500 acres around it, even full size tennis courts in the backyard, large enough to land a large helicopter. In fact, on several nights, the nearest neighbors could have sworn they had heard several jet engines in the middle of the night coming from that particular property. And every time they complained to the "owner", they were always told the same thing: that "he" didn't know what they were talking about, and that they should get their hearing checked. They couldn't even begin to imagine what was going on in that house.

Each member of the team had at least half of a floor to themselves. Aaron lived in the basement/garage/armory, and it was considered fairly commonplace to hear loud explosions coming from it. But, aside from blowing random things into a million pieces, Aaron maintained everyone's firearms and other assorted gadgets. The only things he wasn't allowed to handle were the other team member's edged weapons, like Isaac's katanas, mostly because he already had access to enough firepower to level everything within a three mile radius.

Brian ran the garage, which contained all of the team's vehicles, including the red Hummer, Aaron's jet-black '69 Dodge Charger, Isaac's black Suzuki superbike, Davis's red 1979 Ford F-150 pickup truck, and his hot rod. In addition to handling the various ground vehicles the team used, Brian also had the daunting task of maintaining the mechanical aspects of the team's 5 Russian SU-47 "Phoenixes". In other words, it was his responsibility to make sure that all of the hydraulic, electrical and all other mechanical systems were working properly. Luckily for him, Aaron had had to convert all of the systems to their US counterparts, which took an extremely long time. But, now that they were loaded with all of the cutting edge electronics and radar that the black market had to offer, they could easily hold their own against anything that could possibly be thrown at them.

Isaac walked into Aaron's workshop only to find that he appeared to not be there. Sighing, he hit the wall next to one of Aaron's many bookshelves, revealing a hidden room in which Aaron was bench-pressing. He looked up at Isaac, who said simply, "We've got a problem."

Setting the 150 pounds of metal back onto its rest, Aaron put a black tank top and walked up to the conference room. Devon and Brian were already sitting in their respective chairs, surprisingly serious. Under normal circumstances, they were extremely gregarious, often to the point of being ridiculous. But it was as if their faces were set in stone, they were so serious. Immediately, Aaron knew that something was seriously wrong. He asked, "What's up?"

Brian pointed a remote at a large screen on the wall, and pushed a button. A single image showed up on the screen, and when it popped up, all of the jaws in the room tightened simultaneously, and Aaron's fists clenched to the point where his fingernails had cut the palm of his hand.

The image showed five girls, all gagged with tears streaming down their cheeks. One had wavy black hair with deep brown eyes, while another had dirty blond hair with brilliant green eyes. The other two had brown hair, although one had hazel eyes and the other had baby blue eyes. All looked terrified, and they were all holding up a sign that said, "$10 million in 96 hours or they die before your eyes."

Isaac said, "This was sent thirty minutes ago, and so far, I have no idea where the hell it was sent from."

Aaron blew out an angry breath, and started pacing. Brian squinted at the image, and pointed at one of the corners, saying, "What the hell is that?"

Everyone looked at the corner, and Aaron said, "Isaac, blow that up."

Almost before he said anything, Isaac's fingers were flying over a keyboard, and the upper right hand corner of the wall behind the girls grew until it filled the entire screen. In the middle was an upside-down pentagram with a star in each of the five points with the picture of a skull superimposed in the middle. Aaron grinned and said, "Good eye, Brian. You just earned your pay."

Brian immediately perked up and said excitedly, "So does that mean I'm not going to clean the toilets anymore?"

Aaron stopped grinning, and replied, "Well, no, I was just saying you did a good job. You still have to clean the toilets."

While Brian was busy looking crestfallen, Isaac walked over to Aaron and whispered, "We're going to need a lot more than just the usual equipment if we're going to take these guys on. You got anything that could help?"

Aaron paused for a second, and replied, "Yeah. I'm going to need to call up Chris and maybe Mattias for some back-up."

Isaac asked suspicously, "Who are Chris and Mattias?"

Aaron grinned and replied, "Follow me."

Five minutes later, Isaac walked out of Aaron's workshop with a massive grin on his face. Devon and Davis looked at him questioningly, asking with their eyes, "What?"

Isaac walked right by them, with the grin still on his face, and jumped into the passenger seat of Aaron's Charger, after which it sped down the driveway in a shower of dust, leaving Devon and Davis standing in the doorway. Devon asked, "What the hell is going on?"