"the Pawns: They are the very Life of this Game." Francois-Andre Danican Philidor
V. En Prise
Location: Glenwood and Ravine Ave NY,NY…11:45AM Tuesday
"I lose sight of the van as soon as they drive through the intersection of Glenwood and Ravine Avenue." Harold explained as he re-watched the traffic cameras.
Shaw slowed the car to a stop as they reached the end of Glenwood Street.
"What kind of kidnappers bring their detainees to a partly residential area." Ross questioned stepping out the car and taking in her surroundings.
"Stupid people. I know this is New York and everything, but you'd think seeing two unconscious people being dragged from a van would warrant a call to the police." Shaw retorted as she looked over the apartment buildings and houses.
"They could be stashed somewhere around here." Ross trailed off as the rumble of the subway train passing by, drew her attention to a brick face building.
"An office building would be too big and easily infiltrated; a house, is a more controlled medium space but prone to escapes and witnesses," Shaw argued as she watched Ross pull a pair of binoculars form the car.
"And an abandoned warehouse hidden behind a loud railroad tracks near the water sounds just right Goldilocks, and it looks like our vans still there." Ross replied with a smirk as she passed the binoculars to Shaw.
"Dumbass's" Shaw stated with an excited grin, as she moved to the trunk of the car.
Ross watched as Shaw pulled a large black duffel bag out of the trunk before moving back to the front of the car and dropping the open bag on the hood.
"Umm…you plan on running into a small army Shaw?" Ross questioned as she stared at the duffel bag filled with assault weaponry.
"I treat guns like condoms Ross, I rather have one and not need it, then need it and not have one." Shaw explained with a gleeful grin as she quickly assembled a Bushmaster XM-15 carbine assault rifle.
"I admire your enthusiasm to be prepared Shaw but I think we can leave that RPG in the car." Ross commented pointing to the rocket launcher.
"Ms. Shaw, why do you have a rocket launcher?" Harold chastised.
"Calm down Finch, we might need it someday and besides it's not mine its John's." Shaw explained as she stuffed the duffel bag back in the car.
"Personal arsenals aside, do we have a plan to get into that building?" Ross questioned as they crossed the subway tracks and quietly made their way up against the building.
"Well first we need to take a look inside, and then we'll wing it." Shaw replied setting her rifle down, leaning it up against the wall as she looked up at the windows above them.
"How high off the ground do you think those windows are?" Shaw asked.
Ross looked up "Maybe nine or ten feet"
Shaw took a step back and looked Ross up and down "How tall are you?"
Ross raised her eyebrow "Six foot. Why?
"Oh no reason," Shaw grinned taking Ross by the forearm and pulling her closer to the windows.
Location: Unknown… 6:15PM Tuesday
Joss and Jacob both dropped to the ground as the heard the gun shot.
"That was close less than a mile away," Jacob stated.
Joss nodded her head in agreement scanning the area around them for coverage, as they both rose to a crouching position.
"We need to take cover, it's too risky to move any further, we don't know where the shooter is or if there is only one." Jacob stated.
"Where" Joss replied looking through the relatively flat expanse of trees, grass and dirt of the forest setting.
"Up." Jacob replied gesturing to the countless tree tops and branches above them.
Joss though to herself, going up would give them a vantage point but it would also put them in the ultimate vulnerable position if the shooter saw them. She gave up analyzing as she heard another gunshot getting closer.
"Fine." Joss gritted out as she and Jacob began climbing up a tree trunk into the large branches of an oak tree. They both stopped on a medium high branch partially obscured by levees.
"We'll take 2 hour shifts, sitting back to back," Jacob stated as he watched Carter turn around, facing toward the tree trunk as they both settled down on the same tree branch before turning his gaze downward towards the forest floor.
"Sounds good I'll take the first shift…"Joss began to commit before she was cut off by Jacob as he covered her mouth with hand while his other arm went around her shoulders pulling her against his chest.
Joss was in the process of preparing to bit him when he softly shushed her, his eyes focused directly below them. As she followed his line of sight she tensed as a man wearing camouflage and a orange hunters vest walked into the clearing below them, carrying a bag and a riffle.
Joss cursed in her head as they watched the man start a camp fire and set up his camp for the night directly below them.
They watched as he sat down by the fire and pulled out a walkie-talkie
"Hey Victor this is Samus, I killed one, it was a white male about 5'8", tag on his wrist said 4B, unfortunately the little bitch chained to him got away."
"Now how did that happen Samus." Victors' amused voice sounded out of the walkie-talkie.
"Well after I shot the man I decided to have a little treat, the little bitch got the drop on me when I was getting ready, and here I was, willing to make it fun for her. I guess when a find her I'll make she's dead before I pull my pants down." Samus replied back.
Joss seethed with anger as the man talked about trying to rape someone before she cringed with disgust at his willingness to have sex with a dead body.
"That's cringe worthy Samus." Victor replied less amused.
"Hey even after their dead their insides are still warm for a few hours." Samus replied with a chuckle, "any ways, how much did I get for the dude I just killed?"
"Unfortunately Samus, your victim was in the 'B category', and not a part of the specialized 'A category', therefore your earnings for killing 4B is $50,000, enjoy the rest of your hunt." Victor relayed before severing their connection.
Joss and Jacob watched as the man settled against the tree trunk with his rifle.
"We have two options; one, we wait for him to fall asleep and subdue him, or two, we wait until morning for him to leave." Jacob whispered into her ear.
"Option 1" Joss whispered while she un-shouldered the backpack, removing the knife and handing him the backpack.
Location: Glenwood/Yonkers NY, NY …12:10PM Tuesday
"Ms. Shaw, Ms. Ross are you both okay." Harold questioned while his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as he heard rustling and grunting over the line.
"I'm good" Shaw replied as she looked through the window.
"I'd be a lot better if Shaw wasn't standing on my fucking head!" Ross grunted out securing Shaw at the ankles as she stood on her shoulders.
"Keep complaining Ross and I'll really step on your head, now quite squirming and hold still." Shaw commented as she continued looking through the window.
"Okay I can make out 4 men, there all gathered around a pile of money, it looks like they're dividing up their payment. No sign of Reese or Carter." Shaw relayed out loud.
"So this must have been an exchange point, lucky for us, whoever's behind this hired idiots who stayed around to count they're money in the open." Ross added.
"So what is our course of action now? Should we call the authorities?" Harold asked.
"Not if we want answers fast." Shaw replied as she signaled for Ross to put her down.
"Very well, how are we going to proceed?" Harold asked warily.
"I was just gonna wing it Finch, you know maybe a gas grenade or two, and some knee shots," Shaw listed off as she and Ross made their way around to the front doors where the van was parked.
"That sounds,…dangerous. How do you plan on walking in without getting shot at Harold questioned concerned.
"Who said anything about walking in?" Ross questioned as she opened the unlocked door to the empty van.
"A hundred- thousand split four ways, officially the easiest money we've ever made." Tim bragged with a grin.
"Didn't I tell you fools this job was going to be a walk in the park." Devon laughed out.
"Yeah except for Bryan, since he got kicked in the chest by a girl, how's your chest bro." Tim laughed as he looked at Bryan.
"Fuck you man that shit hurt, fucking bitch I hope she's got a black eye" Bryan defended himself as he thought about the woman he punched in the face for kicking him in the chest.
"Alright the money's divided up, twenty-five thousand for everyone" Jake stated as he began putting each pile of money into a separate bag.
"Hell yeah I'm getting me some pussy tonight." Tim replied as he pick up his share, "Going home, buying a bottle, then I'm heading out to the strip club to make it rain on some hoes…"
"Tim shut up! Do y'all here that?" Devon asked listening to the faint sound of an engine as it got louder.
Before anyone could respond a loud crash echoed through the abandoned warehouse as a van came crashing through the front doors. They all scattered as the van drove towards them, screeching while the brakes slammed on as the van skidded to a stop.
They all drew their guns as the driver's door swung open and a tall woman stepped out.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Devon questioned still in shock.
"Practicing for my driver's test." Ross retorted sarcastically as she started walking towards them with her hands up.
"Bitch what!" Tim yell out pointing his gun at her. "Do you not see this gun stop moving or I'll shoot you."
"Really?...It might help if you take the safety off first,…though it doesn't really matter since your all about to lose a knee cap." Ross stopped walking as she stared in amusement at the man holding his gun sideways at her.
"Bitch are you fucking crazy there's four of us and one of you, you don't even have a gun!" Devon barked out.
Ross laughed out, "You guys sure say bitch a lot… and I never said I was going to shoot you."
As soon as the words left her mouth she heard shots ring out as all four men hit the ground clenching their knees.
"Wow that was pitiful." Shaw stated as she shouldered her rifle walking towards the men grunting on the ground.
"I know right," Ross agreed as she kicked the kidnapper's guns out of reach.
"So boys we have a few questions for you about to the people you abducted this morning. We want to know where they are and who paid you to take them." Shaw asked pulling out her hand gun, "and the first person to talk gets to keep his other kneecap."
Location: 51st/Lexington Avenue NY, NY…2:30PM Tuesday
Lilith removed her apartment keys from her purse, unlocked her front door and entered inside kicking the door shut. She tossed her backpack and purse on the floor, passing the man sitting on her couch and walking into the kitchen.
"You know Peter you could always call before you drop by unannounced." Lilith stated as she grabbed an apple off the counter and bottle of water from the fridge.
"I could but where's the surprise in that." Perter replied back with a smile.
"So what are we doing now?" Lilith asked as she made her way into the living room and plopped down on the couch next to him.
Peter dropped a folder into her lap, "You have a new assignment."
"Right what now, breaking into a government building, stealing from a research lab, tracking down missing people." Lilith asked bored as she opened the folder.
"The basics are in there, get to know him and his habits, you'll be meeting him on Friday." Perter stated as he stood up and left her apartment.
Lilith looked down at that file, glancing over her new assignments name and information a she kicked her shoes off and laid down on her couch removing the picture from the folder.
"Hello Taylor Carter…. now why is Peter so interested in you?" Lilith mumbled to herself as her eye lingered over the boy's picture.
An:Thank you all for the reviews I really appreciate them.
:) Here's a little snippet from the next chapter;
Jacob glanced back at the campsite "So her name's Joss right?"
"Yeah"John replied with a quick glance before continuing to walk a perimeter around their camp.
"Do you know if shes seeing anyone?" Jacob inquired nonchalantly as he looked at John.