And so much more…

Within the day they had found security footage of Kenzie walking down a sidewalk a few weeks ago, seemingly hypnotized. And after some more digging, they also found another girl, the one that had just gone missing, from the same school nonetheless, walking down that same sidewalk. Her name was Brooklyn Daniels. Greg could feel it, they were close.

By the next day they had the buildings singled out. It was as unassuming as Kenzie had described it. It looked like a dilapidated strip mall from the outside, but it sat in an area where there were no adjacent security cameras and when Kenzie and Brooklyn walked into this surveillance free zone, they never walked back out. After narrowing it down to these few buildings they sent an agent out there disguised as a homeless vagrant to do some reconnaissance. Soliciting the area for most of the day, he eventually returned and reported that there was a lot of movement from the middle most building. People entering and leaving moving large boxes and what appeared to be file boxes. On surveillance we could see many white vans entering and leaving this dead zone. Hearing about and seeing this movement, Tony decided it sounded as though this group was packing up and getting ready to leave. Greg, based on all this information, activated his QRF or Quick Reaction ****. He, and Tony, would lead this **** in an operation to take the building and arrest anyone inside. They were about to blow the top off this thing.

Around 0200 they had the strip mall surrounded in unmarked vehicles. Greg and Tony were the first group going in. They liked it that way. Over the years all the men in this van had become brothers. Countless raids and cases solved had made them trust each other in a way that most others will never experience.

“Not seeing much going on out there, think these pervs dipped?” Mark, the designated driver, believed that assuming the worst made sure it didn’t happen.

“Don’t talk that shit into existence. Not tonight. Let’s hope that’s not the case,” Tony replied. While usually we put up with Mark’s ramblings, this case was wearing us all down, and instead of warding off bad luck we didn’t want Mark’s statement to turn into prophecy.

“What’s the rules of engagement on this?” Snyder, our demo man, asked.

“No killing! We need everyone alive. The more information we can get the better. Expect civilians or even hostages.” Greg was on edge too. He didn’t want this to slip from their fingers.

Over our comms we could hear another voice chip in, “that’s a real shame, I would’ve enjoyed taking the cap off of a perv.” Rob, or as the group calls him, DeadShot, due to his seemingly superhuman marksmanship skills, was our designated sniper. Everyone felt safer knowing that DeadShot was watching their backs, but knowing he couldn’t really do much but observe this operation put us all even more on edge. If it came down to it, we were on our own. DeadShot was perched up across the street and had a pretty clear view of the building, but he was only covering outside, and couldn’t see into any of the windows that were all boarded up.

“Damn right, but we get it Big Man. You always need your info…” Snyder, always something to say, but Greg brushed off the antagonizing from him. He was glad to have him on the team. Most of his file was inked out in black, and rumor had it he was ex CIA or maybe even something darker. Greg knew better though, he had seen his full file. Even the parts marked in Black. Turns out Snyder was ex Navy, an ex Navy Seal to be exact, and the kind of stuff he got up to during his time in, well, Greg was surprised he had landed a diamond like him. Greg never worried about the men who had his back.

Tony was sitting in the passenger seat looking out when he spoke up. “Unidentified vehicle pulling up. Looks like one of those white vans we saw. One last weapons check boys, we’re moving the moment they start bringing stuff out.”

All the men quickly checked to make sure they had a round chambered, there was a click signifying that DeadShot was acknowledging the comms by quickly queuing his radio. They were all hyped up and ready to go. A small bead of sweat rolled down Greg’s face. He really needed this to go well, there were families counting on him…