Kasey stared down at the man on the floor. He was secured to the leg of the large oak dining room table where he'd found him going through some kind of files. His first job was to get the man subdued, but now that he'd done that, he was curious what the papers he was looking at were.
"What are you up to, Asshole?" Kasey nudged the man with his steel-toed-boot as he stood over him. He reached for the papers and started to read, his pulse racing as he realized what he had in front of him. He looked down at the drugged man, shaking his head. "Are you really stupid enough to have all this on paper?"
The man could only stare up at him, a hint of fear in his eyes.
All Kasey had was the burner phone on him, but he needed to get the information off the papers for Bryon and the other guys to go through. It was a goldmine of information, listing children with a photo and ID number, then beneath it, there was buyer information along with the name and phone numbers of the men who had bought the children.
When he'd reviewed the sting earlier in the day, Kasey thought it would be a simple in and out. There were no children on site, and the man was known only because of his past criminal history, and his current one where he was posting images of himself forcing young boys to do disgusting things with him. Now, seeing the papers and information on them, Kasey realized they were onto something much larger. This was a full trafficking group, and from the looks of it, he had the leader drugged at his feet.
Fuck! He didn't know what to do. Team rules said they never took evidence from the location, but now, seeing this, he needed the information. He pulled out his burner phone, wishing it had a camera on it. It didn't. He debated on calling Bryon from it, but that would lead the cops to Bryon's number when he used the phone to call the police after.
His heart pounded as he looked around hoping for a way to get the information. He could write it down, but he really needed those photographs to match the kids with missing ones. There must have been close to thirty different sheets, each one a different child and buyer.
"You are one sick fuck." Kasey kneeled beside him, figuring he needed to get the physical side of things done before the drugs started to wear off. "I should just kill you." He held the blade to the man's neck, almost tempted to make one long slice across it. "But that's too easy. I want you to suffer just like those kids are." Kasey didn't waste time with the scissors, he used his curved blade to cut the man's pants from his body.
Of all the times to be alone, but honestly, he had no way of knowing he would come across a load of leads and information. He just needed to follow procedure. The team had rules for everything and this was no different.
He forced himself to forget about the files for the moment and focus on what he was doing. It was second nature. It was like brushing his teeth. He'd done it so many times that he did it almost without thinking. Still, he needed to focus. A dead perp wouldn't go over well. He pulled the string from his pocket and tied off the balls and cock. It took only a second to pull the string tight, and with a smug smile at the man now crying in front of him, he sliced, finding more pleasure than normal at cutting the man's cock from his body. "You are a disgusting pedophile." He tossed the balls and cock across the room before he pulled out the tubing and not so gently forced it into the man's body, so the urethra didn't clot. Once that was done, he heated the knife with the mini torch and pressed it to the bloody wounds, cauterizing them.
"Hurt?" He stood, glad to see the man pale and crying. "There is a special place in Hell for men like you." He kicked the man before turning and going back to the papers on the table. He needed a way to copy them. He glanced around as an idea popped into his head. It would mean staying longer than he wanted, but he needed the information.
Needing to make sure the man was secure in case the drugs started to wear off, he zip-tied his ankles to the other end of the heavy table before picking up the pile of papers and leaving the room. He wandered the house, remembering the layout from the plans Carter had shown him. The man had to have a computer and printer somewhere in his office.
He flipped on the light in the office, quickly rushing to pull down the blinds so no one walking by the house would see a masked man inside. Once done, he found the printer, thankful it looked like it worked. He prayed it had ink in it as he put the first page into the slot and pushed copy.
The printer started to print, giving him a semi-clear photo and a great copy of the written information. He set the other papers into the slot to print and hurried back out to make sure the man was still secure.
The man had drool dripping down his cheek, but Kasey ignored that, instead focusing on anything else around that might give them information on the other pedophiles or the location of the children this fuck was trying to sell.
The man groaned.
"I bet that hurts like a bitch. I wouldn't know, of course, because I protect kids, not hurt them like you do. I hope you hurt for a long time. I hope it fucks with your head to think about being a eunuch. Every time you need to pee now, and you go to grab your cock, nothing will be there. Sick fuck." Kasey was more worked up tonight than he had been in a long time, and that wasn't good. When he was angry, he didn't think straight, and he needed to keep a clear head and finish, so he could get out of here before something more happened.
Checking the area to make sure he didn't leave any evidence, he gave the man one final look before rushing back to the printer. He smiled, seeing everything had copied perfectly. He quickly grabbed the papers, shut off the printer, and made his way back to the dining room. He stepped over the man, ignoring him as he set the papers back on the table where he'd found them. He made sure that the file the team had for the police sat right beside them.
"You have a good life, fucker." Kasey turned and headed out of the house. He took a calming breath before casually walking to his car. He didn't wait around. He drove several blocks before pulling over and pulling out the burner phone. He quickly dialed 911. "Yes, there is a pedophile bleeding and in need of medical at 12943 Festival Drive. He won't be able to answer the door." Kasey hung up the phone.
After another deep breath, he stashed the phone and everything else he needed to get rid of in the plastic bag. Sweat dripped down his forehead as he pulled the mask off. He'd never been so glad to have a sting over with, but also so excited about the information they had gained.
He pulled out his personal cell and quickly typed a message to Bryon.
Completed, but had a slight delay. Have information. Need to meet with you at the house. Safe and scene secure. Cops called. ETA 30 min. STK
Bryon wouldn't risk calling him until he was sure Kasey was done at the lake and far enough away for the cops not to pull him over and question him. As long as he said he was safe, Bryon would wait for his arrival at the house.
Kasey rushed to the lake, tossed the bag into the water, and quickly changed the plates on his car. There was no way he would park in front of the team house with the wrong plates on his car. It was one thing to change them in his own driveway, but he wouldn't ever put the whole team in danger by his actions.
It took him nearly forty minutes to get to the house. Bryon stood just inside as he opened the door and walked in.
"What happened?" Bryon's forehead was creased with worry, and behind him, Becca looked nervous.
"Nothing bad, but I had to get copies of some information I found. I left the originals for the police, but we needed to have the information as well." He thrust the stack of printed papers at Bryon, not giving him a chance to bitch at him for taking anything from the house.
Bryon's lips pressed tight into a thin, angry line, but he didn't say a word as he glanced down at the papers. His eyes slowly widened as he read, skimming from one page to another as he saw what Kasey had found.
"Fuck, how did we not know about this?" Bryon looked up, meeting Kasey's stare. "You were right to get this." Bryon turned and yelled, "Trenton, I need you and Carter now."
Both men ran down the hall, everyone aware when Bryon raised his voice it was important.
"What's up?" Carter's eyes looked over Kasey. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Kasey nodded. "I found some stuff."
"Stuff, hell, you found gold." Bryon handed half the papers to Trenton and the other half to Carter.
"What is it?" Becca finally approached them.
"Names of children and their buyers," Carter said in shock as he looked at Kasey. "How did you find these?"
"He was sorting through them when I got in there. They were on the table in front of him. Probably stuff he doesn't keep a digital footprint of, but thought he was safe keeping a written one. I had to use his printer to copy off the originals. I know it's against the rules, but I couldn't leave this kind of information behind." He was ready for Bryon to yell at him, but it was worth any anger he might have to endure.
"So, the cops have all this too?" Carter asked.
"They have the original. Color photos of each child and handwritten information. I debated on taking it all, but honestly, I was so shocked to find it, I didn't know what the right thing to do was."
"No, you did right. Hopefully, the cops will follow through on this and won't fuck it up." Bryon glanced over at the papers. "Fuck, look." He pulled one sheet from the stack Trenton was holding. "Anthony Libbons. The little boy kidnapped a couple weeks ago." He held up the picture for Kasey to see.
Kasey didn't know if he should be happy about it or not. It meant the boy had been sold. Sure, they had information now on who bought him, but that didn't mean they could find him. He thought about Noam and how this would affect him and his case. He'd have to tell the family what he'd found.
The thought of leaving town was now even more unsettling. He wanted to be there to support Noam, even if that meant just holding him when he got home after a long day. The guilt was growing at having to keep secrets from him.
When Noam had brought up someone going after the pedophiles while they were talking at dinner earlier, he wasn't sure how to respond. He tried to keep it as basic as he could without lying to him about anything, but it was hard. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.
Why was it fate threw the perfect man in his path, but made their lives cross professionally also? Why did they both have to be connected to the same cases, the same darkness that was in the world?
"You okay, Kase?" Bryon narrowed his eyes at him.
"Yeah, was just a rush of adrenaline trying to figure out what to do, how to get those copied. I didn't know if I should leave the originals or not for the cops, let them go after the others. I just had to stick to the rules of the team and make my own call on bringing us copies back." He shook his head. "I need a beer."
"You've earned yourself a case of beer." Trenton held up the papers in his hands. "Do you know what this could mean?"
Kasey nodded as he went to the fridge, the whole group following him into the kitchen. "It can open all kinds of doors, give us people to search and hopefully others linked to them. It means that hopefully all of those kids can go home finally." He prayed they were all still alive or hadn't been resold to others.
"Fuck, I hate we're leaving town with all this new information coming in." Bryon sighed.
Hope surged through Kasey. "We can still call it off. Let the cops go in."
"I told you, one of the pedophiles is the Mayor. I don't trust the cops to handle this without a huge cover-up. We're going in, then we are going to call the sheriff in the next town to respond. It will be a mess, but I'd rather know for sure those kids and women that are being held there will be saved. All we need is the mayor getting there and commanding the police. I'd like to say it wouldn't happen, but we all know how politics and money can get in the way." Bryon shook his head. "No, we're still going. Trenton, Matt, and Carter will handle this stuff. There's enough there that they won't get through it all before we get back."
"Says you." Carter glanced up from the page he was reading. "This shit calls for some long hours and lost sleep." He nudged Trenton. "You with me?"
"Yeah, we can take turns napping if we need to." Trenton glanced over at Kasey. "Be safe in Nevada. We'll be here following along best we can on the surveillance we've hacked."
"Thanks. You guys find those fuckers, so we can go after them when we get back. I'm not waiting for the police to go through the courts and get warrants." Kasey was ready to bring them all down, ready to bring the kids home.
"We'll be ready." Carter smiled as they turned and walked back to the geek cave.
Bryon sat down at the kitchen table. "Lucky find tonight."
"Freaked me out. I wasn't sure what to do."
"Maybe we need to think about upgrading the burner phones to ones with cameras. It will be a bigger expense, but might be worth it. Maybe add small cameras to your tools. I don't know. It's something I'll have to think about and we'll talk about in our next meeting. You okay for this sting in Nevada?"
"Yeah, not happy about it, but it needs to be done. We can't leave those women and kids sitting there any longer. Every day we wait, we risk losing some of them or having more taken." Kasey downed a few gulps of beer. "I just hope we know what we're getting into. That many being held and only six or seven guards, it seems odd to me. How good is your intel?" He knew better than to question Bryon and Carter's intel. They had never let him down, but this time, he just needed a bit more security that they knew what the fuck they were doing.
"We've used every source we have. We've had satellite imagery of the place for a week now. Carter's using every resource and has talked to every source he has in the government who will help him. We are sure. There will likely be six to seven guards when we go in, armed, but not trained. These are nothing more than hired hands. Carter will loop the surveillance feed, so we can get in unseen, the alarms will be turned off before we get there. I've worked with Carter for weeks on how to get us into this place. It's why we didn't go sooner. As much as I want to save the women and children, my team's safety comes first. We have done everything we can to ensure we get in there without a problem. We've learned their habits, watched where they sit. I'm confident that we can do this successfully." Bryon smiled. "Our team is the best. We can and will do this."
Kasey nodded, confident that Bryon and Carter had worked hard to make sure it all went smoothly. "I trust you. I trust the team."
"Good, then go get a little sleep. Stay here if you want. We'll leave at eight." Bryon stood.
Kasey finished off his beer and tossed it in the trash. "I'm going home. I'll be back by seven-thirty. You sleep too. Let them handle what we found. We're taking your car. You'll get first shift driving." Kasey slapped him on the shoulder as he walked out of the room.
As he got into his car, he took a minute to collect his thoughts. So much was going on, but that didn't change the fact people needed to be saved, and it was his job to make that happen. No matter what, he would do his job and trust those around him to do theirs.