Chapter 252

Justin was right as Courtney followed him to the edge of town and onto North Hill Road; this was not one of the modern parts of town. Courtney was driving her Suburban and I was sitting in the right seat.

Shelly was riding with Justin in the lead in one of the marked Frost Borough security cars. Courtney and I were in her suburban following them. We were followed by Ronnie Baines and Sandra Couples in another of the marked cars. They were followed by several more of the day people in the last marked car with Vicky and Ching Lee in the rental car.

We turned into 19429 and were looking at an older two story larger square house. The front porch had been closed in sometime in the last few years. There was no door on it. The house needed paint and maintenance in the worst way.

As we emptied the vehicles I directed Justin and Sandra to secure the back of the house. As we approached the porch, I noticed there were no doors on the side of the house we were at. As we got closer I directed Shelly and Vicky to watch the other side of the house. Even though I did not give the order all of us had our guns drawn and ready in case someone went stupid inside.

The smart phone still showed the card inside the house at this address.

AS Courtney, Ronnie and I started navigating our way to the porch, I saw a sheriff's car go past the house headed into town make a sudden stop and u turn to come back to the house for a second pass.

The ex-marine came to the front in a situation like this as I surveyed the porch. It was stacked with plumber's tools, torches and pipe along with boxes of fittings and an assortment of yard and tree trimming tools.

In a split second decision, "Courtney, you need to go keep the new arrival outside and occupied," I said. She nodded and went to meet him.

I went to one side of the door and motioned Ronnie to take point on the other side of the door. Like me he had been used to running up to a door in full gear and kicking it down. The gear he was wearing now couldn't hold a candle to the military grade stuff. It required brains to overcome that drawback. I was glad he understood that.

There was no door bell or knocker. Standing to the side I used my left foot to knock aggressively on the lower door. I keyed the mike and said, "Heads up, getting ready to go in."

I kicked the door three times again and yelled, "Anybody home, hello."

I was just about to kick the door in when someone inside yelled, "Hold your pants on I coming. Who is it?"

I responded to that with, "Hello, hello,"

As soon as the door cracked a bit I kicked it the rest of the way open and Ronnie pushed the guy back and into a chair at a table.

The other four security people that were behind us rushed in. As they did I keyed the mike, "Be careful, don't touch anything that could be evidence, look for the girl or her clothes." I wondered how much of their training they would remember. They had a day or two of training on how to search a potential hostile environment.

As each room search came back clear on the radio I asked the 30's something man with a scruffy nasty beard, "Where is Caroline?"

"I don't know any Caroline, who are you? Get out of my house. Do you have a warrant?"

I pulled out my cell and showed him her picture. I could read the startled knowing look that flashed in his eyes. I pressed another button on the phone and opened the ID locating program and expanded it several times. It still showed the ID as very close.

"Ronnie, if he moves shoot him, just make sure he will live long enough to answer a few more questions," I said.

I followed the red dot on the screen as it led me to the living room to a couch that also made into a day bed. I pulled the strap to open it up. It still had sheets and a blanket on it as it opened up.