The purr of the engine died silently as the team parked in the shadows behind the two story rancher. Sliding out into the night, they glanced around searching for any signs of security.
From off in the distance a dog barked, and the sound of a horn ripped the silence apart but other than that it was as though everyone in the neighborhood dreamed on, unaware of the ogre in their midst.
“Ghost, Emily. You’re working together. Access the rear patio door to gain entry. Tinker, you and your boys’ll enter the master bedroom. Liam, Daug, you’re with me. We’re going to collect the kids. Use tranquillizers if you feel the need to.” Bulldog ordered softly. “We’re here to kill his soul before that filth he calls a body.”
Ghost smirked slightly and tapped her friend on the shoulder. Soundlessly they glided through the shadows and into the space beneath a small, yellow bulb that threw light over the back yard. Reaching up she twisted the bulb, sending them into darkness as Emily worked the lock quickly.
Entering the kitchen, the two women made short work of tossing the ropes on the table before moving into place. From above them, the sounds of a scuffle could be heard, including a feminine voice calling out a moment before all fell silent.
Exchanging a glance they moved over to turn on the hood light and wait. This was something they were very well equipped to do, and they did it with chilling skill.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Elaine Jamison demanded as she was hustled into the kitchen. Dressed in nothing more than the silk nightie she’d worn to bed she jumped and gave a startled squeak when she saw the two figures cast in shadows in her kitchen. The heavy grip on her shoulder forced her into a chair and she stared at the group as they moved to quickly bind her.
A few seconds later she sobbed out a protest as her three daughters were brought into the room. “Please, please. Just leave them alone. They’re innocent, babies, please, I’m begging you. Take the money, the car, the television set, just don’t hurt my babies.”
“Shut up.” Emily ground out. “Where’s your husband?”
“H..h…he’s working late. He had to go to some function at a school not to far from here. He’ll be home within the next few minutes.” Elaine prattled on as her kids sat huddled together in fear. She struggled against the rope binding her when one of them moved over to sink to her heels next to the girls. “Please, I’m begging you! Please, just let…”
“Shh.” Ghost smiled at the older girls. “Hey. You uh had a rough night huh?”
The only response she got was two terrified shrugs and the baby’s whimper. Reaching out a hand she trailed a hand through the oldest girl’s hair. A moment later she closed her eyes, sinking into the mire and murk of her gift’s effects. Like a movie on fast forward the girl’s life flashed before her eyes, memories of happy days filled her minds eye. It was only the most recent ones that were becoming fuzzy and darker.
Rising to her feet she turned and glanced at her team-mates. “It started.”
“How bad?” Bulldog demanded.
“Singling out, pampering, the beginning steps. There’s been some contact as well. Mostly oral…”
“What are you babbling about?” Elaine gasped, kicking out and staring at the intruders. “Don’t touch my daughters!”
“And the other ones?” Emily asked softly.
Repeat the same motions over and over again, Ghost read the girls’ souls clearly, seeing the truth that brought a sigh of relief. “Not yet.”
“When exactly is your husband due home?”
Elaine glanced tearfully at the clock. “Five minutes from now.”
“What do you think?” Emily stared at Bulldog.
“Evac the kids.” Bulldog smiled charmingly at the woman sitting trussed up. “Take ‘em to a safe house.”
“Pandora’s?”
“Pandora’s.”
Emily and Ghost gathered the three youngsters and ushered them out the door even as they heard Elaine being gagged. A shared glance between them and a moment later the girls were buckled into the backseat of their mother’s car.
“Relax,” Emily smiled at them. “Daddy ain’t going to hurt you every again. Any of you.”
“He’ll bring us back. Bring me back.” The eldest declared void of any emotion. “He says I can’t escape him.”
Emily glanced at Ghost and shrugged. “Just get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”
Elaine watched the eleven men in her kitchen, the fear choking her as they raided her cupboards and fridge. The rope burned as she struggled, the night air was cold upon her bare flesh, and the men didn’t seem in any hurry to leave. Gasping and choking through the gag she watched as one sat down across from her and stare at her heaving chest.
“Please God, don’t let them hurt me or my babies.” she prayed. The sound of her husband’s car in the drive did little to ease her fear, rather she felt the fear deepen into a physical pain within her body.
“Hubby’s home.” The snicker drew a muffled snob.
“Elaine? What the hell is going on?” Walter bellowed as he moved into the living room. “I told you before….” He froze in the kitchen doorway to stare at the picture he saw. His wife sat bound and gagged, and hulking men occupied his kitchen.
“Come in and sit down,” Bulldog invited and grabbed him. Tossing him at the wall, he watched Walter Jamison slid to the floor with a scared, hate filled look upon his face.
“What is it you want? Money? A little entertainment?”
“We’ve already got it.” Tinker drawled stepping on the man’s thighs, holding him in place. “You and your pretty wife there are going to provide us with sport, and then, we’re going to kill you.”
Walter shook his head. “I don’t know who you think you are but…”
“We’re specialists.” Tinker jerked him forward and smirked at him. A quick jerk of his hand and the man was laying face down on the floor, his hands and feet quickly bound. “And we don’t have the patience to behave.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
“We’re going to do to you what you’ve been doing to the kids you keep, to your own daughter!” Tinker whispered. “And then, we’re going to do your wife!”
Elaine shook her head desperately as she stared at them. Screaming into the gag, she watched as the men methodically stripped her husband before moving him closer to the stove. Closing her eyes, she flinched with each sound of flesh meeting flesh, even as she heard him screaming in agony.
She lost track of time as the men beat her husband, until she jerked her eyes open to stare at one of them. The softest of caresses upon her face belied the violence she’d listened to and she glared at him. “Dmmm oooo.” She swore.
“No.” Stalker shook his head and hunkered down before her. “I’m going to take this gag off, and I want you to ask him why. Tell him to explain to you why he’s lying there slowly bleeding to death.”
Elaine glanced at her husband in shock. True to the man’s statement, he was a bloody, banged up mess. His face was swollen and black, and there was blood and bruises all over the rest of his body. His penis had been severed, it lay oozing blood a few inches from his body as he lay jerking in shock.
Licking her dry lips she stared at him, “Walter? What’s going on?” She whimpered.
He shook his head desperately, for her to know was even worse than a stranger. It meant he had no clean access to the one he desired.
“Walter for the love of God, tell me.” Elaine pleaded.
“Tell her Walter. Tell her how you’ve been selling young girls and boys into sexual slavery. How you’ve been taking the kids off the street and throwing them to the wolves. Tell them all about how you sent your retriever to pick up a pair of kids, so young they didn’t even know what the word sex means. Tell her all about what you were going to do with them?” Tinker ground out. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”
Walter shook his head, desperation and rage growing within him. He had to escape, had to get away, had to protect his industry even if it meant leaving the woman staring at him in growing horror.
“Is that true?” Elaine whispered looking from each of the men to her husband. “Is that what you’ve been doing?”
Bulldog threw the thick file on the table and opened it to a picture of one of the girls they’d taken from Walter Jamison’s stable. Slowly, with a great deal of pleasure he flipped each picture, each image before her eyes. “You have a lot of fun fuckin’ him? Does he turn you on?”
Elaine shook her head, her breath coming in broken, gasping sobs. It couldn’t be, there was no reason for this horror to be. Walter was a fine, successful, lawyer. He didn’t need to sell anyone into sexual slavery. These men were lying, they’d stolen her children from the house and when the police…
“If you’re thinking of calling the police. Don’t.” Bulldog whispered. “See, they won’t believe you. After all, he roughed you up, threatened to go after the kids and you did what you had to to save them. Like I said, we’re specialist. It’s your choice.” He paused carefully. “Your kids or him.”
“My children.” Elaine croaked painfully.
“Thought that’s what you’d say.” He grinned. “Evac her.”
“What about him?” Elaine rose shakily to her feet.
“Oh, we have friends who’ll help clean up.” Tinker laughed and opened the small cage he’d brought in. Setting it down, they watched several large, plump rats scurry out of it and across the floor.
Elaine shivered as the night air caressed her skin. She glanced at the man to her right sharply when he wrapped a warm blanket around her shoulders.
“We were never after you.” He whispered. “Just him. Just the monster that would have killed one of us, that nearly did. Come on, you’re safe and the girls are as well. We’ll take you to them.”
Elaine nodded and crawled into the dark van. She sat huddled in her seat as it started down the street. She didn’t know how to go on, not now when she knew the full level of the monster her husband had been.
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