Chapter 14

The Search (Caution: Some bad language, sexual situations)

Steve and Gia finally got their senses back, when the last bomb went off. Tank and Ice were finishing off the last of the kidnappers. Three police cars pulled up. One of them was Stan Harrick.

“Freeze Everybody! Nobody move” Said Officer Justin Bloom. He was a two year veteran of the Martinsburg force.

“What took you so long to get here? Yelled Steve. This place was only attacked by oh, TWENTY kidnappers”

“Shut up! Nobody move” repeated Bloom.

“Justin, put your damn gun down. They’re the good guys” said Stan.

“You know these guys?” asked Justin.

“Yes, and you’re damn lucky they didn’t take you out pulling a gun on them like that”

He turned to Steve. “Hell, buddy, you look like shit”

“Gia, get back upstairs and take care of Rachel and Garrett”

“On my way” she went inside. “STEVE! Garrett’s hurt!”

Steve, Tank, Ice and Stan rushed inside. Garrett was still out cold. The would be kidnapper was dead.

“Stan!” called Steve. “Get an ambulance here, now!”

“Rachel!” called Gia. “Honey, are you okay?” There was no answer.

“Oh no...oh, no no no” Said Gia “Rachel!” She called as she ran upstairs past two more dead kidnappers. “Rachel! It’s okay, you can come out now!”

Gia checked Rachel’s bed. Empty. The battle hardened commando began to look everywhere. “Rachel! RACHEL!” she screamed. Tears were pouring down Gia’s cheeks. Steve! They got her!”

“Son of a bitch! There were just too many of the bastards. How many are out there, Stan?”

“You took out twenty one, not counting the three in here. I count just five dead”

“Any of them awake?”

“Just one”

“Take a walk, Stan”

“You sure, Steve?”

“Oh, yeah. This won’t take long. I need to attend to one of the ‘wounded’”

“You got it, Ace. Time for my impression of Sergeant Schultz. “Bloom, Corrales, come with me”

In the back yard, one of the kidnappers was struggling to get up. Gia got to him first.

“Talk, dirtbag. Where were you supposed to take the girl?”

“She ain’t a girl. The leader told us that. I want a lawyer”

“We aren’t the cops, dickless” hissed Gia.

“Fuck you, bitch”

Gia punched him in the gut. He doubled over.

“Fuck ME? I don’t think so”

Steve got in the face of the kidnapper. “Tell me what we want to know, and I let you go to jail. I ask once. You give me the wrong answer, I blow a piece of your body off with this pistol” He showed him the silenced 9 millimeter.

The kidnapper’s face blanched. “You can’t do that. It’s a violation of my rights!”

Steve shot his foot. Gia covered his mouth.

“AAAAAAAAAAAA”

Gia whispered in his ear. “Talk, or we shoot the other foot, then your knees, hands and so on. Now who’s fucked, little man?”

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk! W-We met at the old Duncan place! The guy who ran the meetings, he always has a hood on. He says it’s to protect us. He gives us drugs, and we listen to his shit! That’s all I know, man! That’s it. Wait! He said he was going to torture her then make her his slave or something. He also wanted the mother. I knew that cocksucker was going to get us killed”

“Very good. If I find out you are lying, well, I have a lot of friends in the prison system. He leaned close. “I will kill you, and nobody, nobody will miss you”

They dragged him around to the front with the others. They were stacked around like cordwood.

Steve called Brianna and briefed her. Steve told her they had an idea who had done it, and they were on his trail.

The first ambulance had arrived, and they were wheeling Garrett out of the house. His head was bandaged. Steve stopped the EMT’s. “How is he?”

“Concussion, broken forearm. Did he do all that damage in there?” asked the lead EMT.

“Hell, yeah!” said Tank with a smile. “You’ve earned your special ops nickname, kid. What do you want me to call you?”

“Already got one, Tank” he replied weakly.

“What is it?”

“Headhunter”

The team smiled. Ice then said, “I couldn’t have come up with a better one”

“How’s Rachel. They won’t let me see her”

Steve looked at Gia with concern. “She’s fine, Garrett. You did a great job protecting her”

“We need to get going sir” said the lead EMT.

“Stan, did you call DPS in?”

“First thing”

“Good, because you have an official shit storm here thanks to these bozos. We haven’t got time to answer a bunch of questions I already know the answers to. Every minute that sick son of a bitch has her, the worse her chances get of coming out of this thing in one piece”

“Did you get any info from your ‘informant’?”

“He said they met at the old Duncan place. Where is it, and who owns it?”

“Well, the last I can remember, Dan Buford’s wife was the owner. She was a Duncan. It’s about twenty minutes west of town” Stan answered.

“Can we get you away from the crime scene?” asked Steve. “I need you along”

“Hang on. Corrales!”

“Yeah, boss?”

Take command of the scene until DPS arrives. Have Bloom pull tape, and keep the onlookers back. Start securing the scene”

“Ready, Stan” asked Steve

“Let’s roll”

“Tank, Take Gia to her Hummer. You and Ice ride with her. Meet me at the Duncan place. I’ll send you the address”

The Leader had Rachel where he wanted her. He had prepared this place especially for her. It had a cot, a punishment table, and all the instruments to purify the harlot. She slowly stirred.

Rachel felt sick to her stomach. She knew she wasn’t home. “W-W-Where am I?” she asked.

“Right where you need to be, harlot”

“What’s a harlot?”

“How innocent. A whore, you filth! You are now a prisoner of the Sons of Purity. I will purge you of the desire to break God’s law. You will learn many difficult lessons, filth”

“My name is Rachel! Stop being so mean!” she screamed.

He reached over and slapped her. She fell to the floor and began crying.

I have provided you with your uniform. You will wear it until you have learned what you are. Put the items on. Your education begins now. You have 5 minutes”

“These clothes? They’re terrible. I don’t want to”

He pulled out a black device that looked like a television remote to Rachel. He touched her with it, and her world exploded in pain. She screamed and fell down again.

“WHY DID YOU DO THAT!” she screamed.

“Every time you disobey, you will be punished. That was the lowest setting, tramp”

“MOVE IT!” She jumped and began to get the clothes.

“Are you going to leave? You shouldn’t be in here while I change, It’s not nice”

“I’m not leaving, in fact, there are a lot of people watching us now. BEGIN! Put everything on”

“Please! Please don’t make me do this! I won’t make you mad anymore. I’ll be a boy” wailed Rachel.

The hooded man laughed. “Too late for that” He hit her again with the stun gun.

Rachel collapsed again. She began crying uncontrollably.

She numbly walked over the clothes on the table. There was a white blouse, a pleated plaid skirt, knee socks a pair of panties like she had never seen before. You could see right through them. and they were very skimpy. They embarrassed her. She took her sleep shirt off, and put the blouse on. It was a little tight, but she got it buttoned. She put the skirt on. It was very short. Almost too short to cover her panties. She pulled off her old underwear and put on the new panties. She was totally humiliated. She felt worse than naked, and that man had seen her get dressed. Tears were flowing freely. She put the knee socks on, and there were a pair of high heeled Mary Janes. The strap looked strange. She slid it in and it clicked. She was locked in the shoes. She tried to stand up, but the shoes were hurting her feet. She finally got up as the hooded man came into the room.

“Very good, slut” he sneered “This is what girls wear to learn. I will teach you many lessons. Come here.”

Rachel was very scared as she walked uncertainly over to him. “Who are you? You sound familiar”

The hooded man took off the hood.

Rachel gasped. “Mr. Buford! Why are you doing this! Please, let me go!”

“Turn around, slut” he said. He put leather wrist cuffs on her wrists and locked them together. Rachel began to cry.

“Shut up! If you cry I will hurt you again” She tried to stop, but she was so scared.

“Please! Mr. Buford! Let me go! My mommy will wonder where I am! What do you want from me?”

I’ve heard enough from you. He then taped Rachel’s mouth shut with two pieces of gaff tape. She was silent. She backed up to the wall. She stood uncertainly, like a fawn just learning to walk.

Dan Buford had waited years to get one of these girls in his power. There was one before, but she was unsuitable. He had tried to eliminate her, but he was unsuccessful. She still lived. This one was so young, so innocent. Not human. Perfect. No one would recognize her corpse when he was done with her. But that was weeks from now. Buford’s eyes were like a wild animal. He was completely insane.

“Now, he sneered. Let’s see if you really are a girl. He licked his lips and walked slowly toward her.

“MMMMMMM! mmmmmmmMMMM” was all Rachel could say. She was trying to scream for help. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “MMMMMMM” She shook her head no.

As Buford got closer, and prepared to violate the helpless girl. Then Rachel remembered something. When he got within range she gave him a knee to the crotch with everything she had. Just like she did with Wayne. He screamed and collapsed to the floor. Rachel was furious. She then backed up a step and kicked him in the head with all she had. The shoes were stiff and well made. There was a crack and he was still.

Rachel went over to the door struggling to walk on the 4 inch heels. She turned around and tried the door. It was locked.

“MMMMM!” she moaned in frustration. She then walked over to Buford’s still frame. She knelt down and fumbled as best she could with her bound hands into his pockets. She found his cell phone and his keys. There were about fifty keys on the ring. Trying each key in the lock with her hands bound behind her would take forever. She would try the phone and hope she could get someone to understand her.

The phone had service. She stumbled over to the bed in the room the sat down. She felt the keys and dialed 911.

“911, What’s your emergency?”

“mmmm mmmMMMMM”

“I can’t understand you. Is this a joke?”

“MMMMMMMM MMMMMM MMMMMMMM”

“This is no place to call for a laugh. We are tracing the call. Good bye”

“MMMMMMMMMM!!!” Rachel was frantic. She was starting to have problems breathing.....the room started to spin........it was getting dark.

“Garrett?”

“Yeah, Randall?”

“How can you lift all that weight and not get tired?”

“I control my breathing”

“How?”

“Well, I just breathe in when I lift and exhale when I lower, that way, I get plenty of oxygen”

Randall breathed in then out slowly. “Like that?”

“There you go! Keep practicing!”

Rachel was half on the bed, half off. She pulled herself painfully up. She needed to control her breathing. No more crying. She scooted her bottom around and reached for the phone again.

“Stan, I just had a thought. Perhaps Rachel managed to get her cell phone. I didn’t see it at the house. What if she tried to make a 911 call? Steve was willing to try anything at this point.

“I see where you are going. Let me call the center” he got on his cell phone to avoid the chance that the kidnapper had a scanner.

“Emergency 911 Center. Linda”

“Linda, this is Stan Harrick. We’ve had a kidnapping go down tonight. A girl named Rachel Harris was taken. Get out an Amber Alert, and if any strange calls come in, for the love of God don’t hang up. Watch those operators. Pass it along. Keep the call on the line until you can positively ID the caller. It will come in from a cell. Got it? You can save this girl!”

“I’ve got it Stan. Passing it along now”

Linda passed the info to all the operators on duty. Janine, one of the operators, held her hand to her mouth. “Oh my God, Linda. I think she just called five minutes ago. I thought it was a joke”

“What did you hear?”

“All the person kept saying was mmmmmmm mmmmmm Now that I think about it, whoever it was could have been gagged somehow. Linda! What if it was her? What if she dies?”

“She won’t die. Good work, Janine. You may have just saved her life!”

“Janine held her face in her hands. “I hung up on her”

“Janine! Get back in the game. I need you sharp. If she calls again, keep her on the line”

Linda got the number and called Stan. “I think she may have called. The number comes back to a cell registered to a Dan Buford”

“Got her! Steve! She may have called 911 from Dan Buford’s cell phone! If she calls again, we can triangulate the call”

“IF she calls again? They let her go?” yelled Steve.

“Easy, Hondo. They didn’t know. Good call though. I’ll bet she is at the Duncan place” Steve hit the lights and floored it. They were still five minutes from the farmhouse.

“911 what’s your emergency?”

“MMmmmmMMM MMMMMMM” Rachel was doing all she could to alert the operator to who she was

“Oh, thank god! Rachel?” Janine had answered the call

“MMMMM MMMMMMMM” she tried to say yes.

“Can you talk, honey?”

“MMMM MMMM” indicating no.

“ That’s okay, honey. I know it’s you! Don’t hang up, baby! The police are coming!”

Rachel closed her eyes. The tears started again.

Stan pulled up to the farmhouse. It was dark save for a light in a back room. Buford’s car

The convoy pulled up to the house with lights off. Steve and Stan and Gia would hit the house. Ice and Tank would make sure no one got away out the back. They weren’t playing this time. They all had M-4 assault rifles. Anyone that tried to run wouldn’t get far.

The trio opener the front door Gia was on point and crept in, clearing the front room. Steve was next, Stan pulled up the rear. Gia walked carefully to the door of the room with the light on. She listened. She could hear muffled sounds.

“If that son of a bitch has touched her, there won’t be a trial” she thought. She motioned for Steve to kick the door in and she would clear the room.

Steve held up three fingers, indicating a count of three. He counted down silently. Three, two, one.

The door exploded off its hinges.

“FREEZE” yelled Stan.

Rachel jumped and screamed into her gag.

Gia ran over to Rachel. “It’s okay, Rach. You did very well” Rachel was sobbing into her gag. Gia started to carefully take the sticky tape off her face. First one piece, then the other.

“Oh, Gia! It was awful! He did terrible things! He shocked me and made me take my clothes off! He said a lot of people were watching me take my clothes off” Rachel dissolved into tears, crying for her mommy.

“Easy, honey. It’s over now” Gia held her, wishing to God she could make that son of a bitch pay.

Steve went to where Dan Buford lay. Blood was coming out of his ear. Steve checked his vitals. “He’s alive, but barely. Depressed skull fracture here at the temple”

“I’ll call it in, Steve” Officer Harrick then called for an ambulance to the address. The ambulances were coming from Killeen now. Martinsburg general was swamped. The tornado of 2004 didn’t cause this many injuries.

Steve called Brianna. “Got her. She’s fine. The perp was a nutball from her church, Dan Buford”

Brianna was silent for a moment, she then replied “Thank God, Steve. And thank you”

“Don’t thank me. I screwed up. Big time. No charge for this one”

Brianna countered. “Steve Marshall, no one but you could have stopped all those men. I heard the reports. Twenty five men attacked that house. Your team managed to fight all but one off, and it took two bombs to get Rachel out”

“Garrett killed three men tonight, Brianna. No kid should have to live with that. He doesn’t even know yet. I failed, Bree. I got cocky”

Did I tell you what Buford did to Rachel? Steve continued. “He drugged her, brought her to his little hidey hole, and molested her. He hit her with his hand and a stun gun. Forced her to undress for an internet party of perverts. Do you know who took care of Buford?”

“Who?” said Bree quietly.

“Rachel did. Damn near killed him. He may die yet. A twelve year old girl, who should be worrying about boys and parties, just spent the night being molested by an animal who got exactly what he deserved. Only it was my job to punish him. Now this little girl is going to grow up with the knowledge that she crippled or killed a man.”

Steve paused for a moment. “Bree, have you ever killed someone?”

“No”

“I remember every face of every man I ever pointed a gun at. I see the faces of the six men I have killed every night as I go to sleep. It never goes away. Now two of the brightest, best kids I have ever met have to live with that knowledge. This isn’t a game where whoever kills the most wins. It’s about who does his job so well, no one has to die. It’s pass or fail. There is no in between”

“Steve?”

“Yeah, Bree?”

“Please come to the mansion when you get a chance. Please?”

“Okay. I’ll be busy with paperwork and interviews until next year. Later”

Gia saw Steve on the phone. She had managed to release Rachel from her cuffs, and was working on picking the locks on the shoes.

“Gia?” whispered Rachel.

“Yes?”

“I have to go pee”

Gia laughed. “Okay let me finish getting you out of these shoes”

“I mean now! I’m about to wet my pants”

“Why didn’t you say so, hun?”

“ I didn’t know where the bathroom was”

“Let’s go find it”

Rachel stood up. She almost fell over. “How do you walk in these things, Gia?”

“Practice, Practice, Practice. When we get back, I’ll get you a pair of your own, just not so high”

“Well, Hold on to me, Gia. If I fall in this outfit, I’d die of embarrassment”

“Believe me, I understand, sweetie”

Rachel made it to the bathroom. Gia, was going to wait outside, but Rachel asked her to come with her into the room. “I don’t want to be gross, Gia, but I don’t want to be alone. Can you not leave me? I just have to pee”

“It’s okay, Rach. We girls go together all the time. Rachel pulled her skirt up and pulled her panties down. As Rachel sat, she looked at the panties. I don’t know why he wanted me to put these on. They’re kind of pretty, but they aren’t the kind I wear”

“Well, they aren’t the kind I’d wear either, Rach. They are supposed to be for, well...some girls like to wear pretty underwear. You might like to someday, when you’re older”

“Maybe, but now I’m just cold. Can I have a blanket to cover up in?”

“Sure, Rachel” She called Tank “Can you get Rachel a blanket? She’s not really decent, and she needs to get warm”

“One blanket for the little lady, coming up!” called Tank. “Ice, Gia’s got one in the Hummer.

Rachel finished up and washed her hands. Tank passed the blanket to Gia through the crack she opened in the door. Rachel thanked her and wrapped up. While they were in the bathroom, Gia finished picking the locks to the shoes. Rachel was grateful to get them off.

“Thank you, Gia. They hurt something awful. I don’t think they were my size”

“Don’t worry about it, kid, you’ll never have to wear them again”

The ambulance arrived along with the DPS and sheriff’s deputies. They found Rachel, in her blanket, drinking a bottle of water Gia had given her.

“Is this the victim?” Asked the DPS officer coldly.

Gia answered. “No, this is Rachel. I’ll thank you to be a little more sensitive to someone who has just been through what this girl has been through. We need to get her to the hospital. Come on, Rachel”

“Hold on. No one is going anywhere until I get to the bottom of what happened here”

Gia stared daggers through the officer. “Steve, you need to handle this”

“Go, Gia. I’ve got it” answered Steve. “I’ll tell you what you need to know. You can question her all you want after she gets checked out at the hospital. she’s had a full night”

“Procedures say she stays”

“Screw the procedures, Bill. Gia...GO!”

“I’ll file a report on this, Harrick”

“Go ahead, Bill. Make sure you cross every T and dot every I. Because if you continue to hassle that girl, her lawyer is going to want to read that report. And if you want the ‘Austin Barracuda’ all over your six, by all means, go ahead”

Steve had to turn away before he broke out laughing at the DPS officer who flushed, then said “I suppose it can wait, as long as you know what’s going on, Harrick”

“I thought so, Bill”

The ambulance pulled away with Buford in critical condition. No reflexes, no pupil reaction. In all probability he was brain dead. Gia and Tank had taken Rachel to the hospital.

The team didn’t get done with all of the police interviews until two o’clock in the afternoon. No charges would be filed. Brianna was there representing all the team, as well as Rachel and Garrett. Garrett was still out of it with a bad concussion. He didn’t remember any of what had happened. Steve was thankful for that. All deaths were ruled justifiable homicides, and Rachel was simply defending herself.

The remaining charges were various weapons violations against the team, but a call from the governor made sure those went away. The state had “lost” his permits.

Brianna met Steve outside the police station. “So, can I offer you a ride?”

“No, I’d rather walk. I need to be alone”

“All right, I’ll walk with you, because I don’t want to be alone.”

“Suit yourself”

“You know, Steve, I understand what you must be feeling. I felt the same way for a long time. I never told you about certain events in my past”

“You don’t owe me anything, Bree”

“I need to tell you this. When I was transitioning, I met someone who I thought wanted me for me. A bright, pretty young girl. I hadn’t had my surgery yet, but I had been on HRT for several years prior. I had never gone through male puberty. I don’t even know what that entails. I was indistinguishable from my genetic girl friends. People who didn’t know me would never make me”

“Bree, what are you trying to say?”

“Listen to me! I had known this boy for a couple of years. He was kind and gentle, and treated me like the girl I was. We started dating. Six months in to our relationship. I wanted to show him physically how I felt about him, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have the equipment. So I did what I could to please him. Manually, even orally. I didn’t expect anything in return. I loved him so much. Then one day he wanted to go all the way. I didn’t have the equipment yet, and I just couldn’t do what he wanted. It seemed wrong somehow for me. He didn’t like my answer. He claimed I didn’t love him enough to give my body totally to him. I begged for him not to make me do that. I just couldn’t. He dropped it. A few days later, we went out and began to make out. I thought it was over. Then he asked me again. When I said I couldn’t. He pulled out a knife and stabbed me and threw me out of his car. I nearly died that night. I could never prove he did it. It was my word against his. Nobody would believe the local ‘tranny’. I vowed then to never be with another man again until I had my revenge. That man was Dan Buford.

She continued. “I went to see him in the hospital. He was hooked up to all those machines, his wife and children were sitting there mourning his loss. He’ll never recover, Steve. She looked him in the eye, tears streaming down her face. I realized then how silly and stupid I had been. I wasn’t hurting him. I was punishing myself. Right then and there I forgave him and let go of my anger. I quit punishing myself”

She looked Steve in the eye. “Now I want to live my life, and love again. To love you”

She kissed a shocked Steve on the lips. A tender, loving kiss. Steve returned it. She broke down in sobs, cleansing her soul of the years of hate.
Steve just hugged her.