Doc nodded.
"Don't tell Hardison. He'll be in here wanting to examine it." Eliot said.
Nate looked back and forth between the two, and when no answers were forthcoming, he spoke up.
"I'm sorry. What is that?"
Doc looked at him as if he should know this and she was surprised he didn't, though there was really no reason he should.
"That, Mister Ford, is a tracking device linked to a geosynchronous military satellite. The beeping you hear is Parker's signal. If you two are finished playing games, I suggest we go get her, and see if we can't round up those that are holding her at the same time."
Doc looked at Eliot. He nodded. She turned back to Nate. "Round up your team. We leave in five minutes. Eliot and I have some unfinished business. We'll meet you at the car in four minutes thirty.
"We're not finished here, Nate. We'll take this up when we get back."
Nate walked out, grateful for Doc's intervention, but mildly confused about what had just happened. When he was gone, and the door closed and re-locked behind him, Doc looked at Eliot and said, "What's going on, Eliot?"
Eliot shook his head and said, "There's not time to get into that right now."
"We'll discuss it later, then. How are you feeling?"
"Still somewhat weak, but I'm better now than I have been."
"It may be a long haul rescuing Parker and rounding up the people who have her. Do you want some help?"
He gave her a sharp look, knowing full well that she intended to go with the team. She responded by holding up a syringe with a small needle on it. He raised an eyebrow.
"Mild stimulant. Should keep you going just long enough for us to get Parker and get back here, especially if it doesn't take too long."
He shrugged and nodded.
She was finished a moment later, and they ran out to the big, black SUV together. Eliot knew Doc preferred to drive herself, as did Colonel Vance, although both of them ranked highly enough to have a driver if they wanted one. So, he slid into the passenger seat as she slid behind the wheel. Hardison, Sophie and Nate crowded into the back. As they reached the highway, she floored the gas pedal, and drove with single minded purpose. A moment later, she pushed a button on the desk and spoke into the air.
"This is Twisted Serpent 175880."
"Good evening, Commander. Please state your request."
"Where am I in relation to GSAT 11281 tracking signal out of Portland, Oregon?"
"Please standby." Come on. Come on.
"Signal is traveling north, northwest."
"Where is that in relation to my position?"
"Directly ahead, ETA 13 minutes. Shall we stay online and guide you in?'
"No, update two miles out, and alert law enforcement in the area that I am responding to a medical emergency and should not be approached, followed, or stopped."
"Roger that." Doc severed the connection and sped up.
Mere minutes later, the car's speaker made a loud dinging sound, and Doc touched a button. The air in the car filled with a familiar voice.
"White Devil to Twisted Serpent." Vance.
"Go ahead."
"Men are in position, awaiting orders. What's your ETA?"
" ETA Three minutes."
"Roger that."
No sooner had Vance cut the connection than a loud buzz filled the car. Doc touched another of the buttons on the dash and the same voice she had spoken to before answered.
"Two miles out, ma'am. ETA 1.5 minutes."
"Thank you. Guide me in."
"Yes, ma'am." The voice stayed with them, like their own personal GPS.
Half a block from where they were going, Doc turned off the headlights, and used only the car's running lights to guide them. She parked next to Vance's black SUV and instructed the others to be very quiet getting out. Without making a sound, she got out and snuck up to Vance.
"I need a SIT REP."
"Three known assailants inside with at least two girls. The men have the place surrounded."
"How do we get them out?"
"Gas grenades ready for deployment, if they won't cause the captives undue harm."
"I can handle anything they might cause."
"Good. It's show time, then."
From that point on, Vance communicated with his men only through hand signals and orders spoken quietly through the communicator on his wrist.
Moments later, the first grenades went sailing in, and nothing happened. No one came rushing out, coughing and wheezing. Doc and Vance and Eliot all looked at each other. Were they somehow a step ahead? Or was something else going on?
Vance held his communicator up to his mouth and said, "Cover all means of entrance or escape. We go in on my count."
Vance gave his men a moment to get into position and put on their gas masks, and then said, "Go, go, go!"
While Doc and Vance and their men stormed the inside of the house the women were being held in, Eliot went around the house and into the back yard. He wanted to test a hunch. Standing frozen at the edge of the yard, he scanned the back of the lot and the edge of the woods. He didn't move a muscle, even when he saw a young woman appear at the edge of the lot. He couldn't see where she came from, and it was then that he wished he had a pair of binoculars. He stuck to the perimeter of the property and moved slowly until he was under cover of trees. Then, he moved faster. At the edge of the property, there was a barbed wire fence, and he could see the root cellar dug into the ground behind it, where the captives had come out, along with one of their captors. None of them had noticed anything amiss as of yet, and Eliot planned to keep it that way.
He belly crawled underneath the barbed wire, and then, moving quickly and quietly through the trees, he circled around behind them, and quickly dispatched the first of the captors, who was the only one out of the root cellar besides the women.
Looking at the five women, he said, "Crawl under the fence and go back to the house, there's a team of people there waiting to make sure you are safe. Go now. Hurry!"
Terrified, the women did as they were told, running blindly toward the house. All of them encountered the barbed wire, with varying degrees of success, and Eliot winced inwardly, knowing how much it hurt to tangle with barbed wire. Then, he watched in amazement as another man came out of the cellar, whom he rapidly knocked out, and then five more women. He sent these five women after the other five, knowing that by this time, some would have reached Doc and Vance and they would find comfort and care there.
Another man crawled out and Eliot delivered a punch that sent him reeling. He jumped up faster than he should have, and came back into the fray. Eliot hit him again, and he hit the ground and rolled. In a matter of moments, Eliot had pinned him to the ground. He wanted answers.
"Where's my friend, Parker?"
The man stared at him and didn't answer. Eliot didn't want to hit him, as he might knock him out and might not get the answer he wanted.
"Where's David Kelley?"
This time, the man on the ground spat in his face. Eliot heard the confused murmur of several people behind him, and he turned slightly, never loosening his grip on the man beneath him, realizing that yet more women were emerging from the hole in the ground. He delivered a final punch and the man's eyes rolled back in his head and he lay still. Vaguely, Eliot wondered if he killed him, but didn't have time to care at the moment, he had others who needed his protection.
Eliot watched in amazement as ten women came out of the hole this time. That told him something—that there was only one more captor. Otherwise, there'd have been no reason to send these out in a group of ten, when the others had been sent by fives. Either something had happened to one of them, or the leader planned to be last out, with the other three to watch the women until he emerged. One by one, he sent the women to follow and join the other women headed back toward the house.
Suddenly, he heard a twig crack behind him, and whirled around to find Shelley standing there with his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"Easy, Eliot. It's just me. I came to see if you needed some help."
"Did Vance send you?"
"Would it matter if he did?"
"No. Not really." He paused, staring straight ahead, and then he seemed to shake himself to shake it off, and said, "Take these three men back to the house. We'll deal with them there. If they make one move out of line, shoot them." Shelley nodded.
"What are you going to do?" He asked.
"Me? I'm going to backtrack the tunnel, make sure there's no one else hiding there, trying to wait until we leave to get away," Eliot answered. He continued. "I haven't seen Parker, and I know they brought her here. I've got to find her. Tell my team I'm all right. I'll join you soon."
"Got it. Be careful, brother."
With that, Eliot disappeared down into the root cellar, closing the doors behind him. It was pitch dark in the tunnel. Giving his eyes a moment to adjust, Eliot realized that he had a flashlight in his pocket, albeit a little one, but he hesitated to pull it out and turn it on, knowing that for a time, it would make the shadows darker and anyone hiding down there would be harder to see, and depending on the width, might be able to slip by without his notice.
As it turns out, he heard his assailant before he saw him. It was subtle, a brush against a wall, a disturbance of the air, but Eliot struck out viciously, numerous times, and after a moment, he heard a thud as the guy fell.
Fishing the flashlight out of his pocket, Eliot turned it on and held it with his teeth, while he undid the carbon fiber rope with steel cable core he had borrowed from Parker, and used it to tie the man's hands and feet. He shone his light on the man's face, and spoke in surprise.
"Well, David Kelley. Finally, we meet."
He started slapping his cheek, until David Kelley groaned and opened one eye. Unceremoniously, Eliot hauled him upright and pushed him up against the wall, hard.
"Where's Parker? What have you done with my friend?"
"That little bitch was asking for it—escaping with Gabby and then having the audacity to come after us, with you all."
"Answer my question, Kelley, before I make you answer."
Defiance flashed in the man's eyes. "She's back at the house, mostly in one piece, although she might be a little worse for the wear. Especially that pretty little face of hers."
With those words, Eliot yanked him to his feet, from where he had been sagging against the wall, and frog marched him forward, toward the house. It took every ounce of self control Eliot possessed not to lay him out, but in his mind, this one belonged to Parker, and Eliot planned to see that she got a shot at him.