“You ready?” Ricky said, handing Miles binoculars. He had a gun slung over his shoulder and was holding his hand gun out in front of his body. There were several extra magazines full of bullets attached to his belt and a few in his pockets.

“Let’s do this.” Miles took a moment to scan the property. “There are four men to the left of me about fifty feet from where we need to go. If we stay low and close to the house, we should be able to keep out of sight.”

“Which we both know is wishful thinking.”

“In our world, pretty much.”

They’d worked with the local law enforcement team and agreed on the best plan of action. Miles and Ricky had devised a plan to go through the service entry from what they found on the floor plans the police station was able to pull up. After entering the service entry, the chances of running into a worker was high, so they agreed to just knock them out quietly.

Ricky stayed low and made his way forward. He held his arm up with his hand in a fist as the stop signal. That signal was to let them know they needed to stay out of sight because someone was approaching. A few seconds later, he opened his fist, and they all continued their path toward the house.

At the service entry door, Ricky removed his night vision goggles and placed them in the bag he had slung over his other shoulder. “There.” He pointed to a woman walking with a bouquet of flowers. They stayed back until the woman was out of sight. “The plans said there are four floors, not including this one, and a basement. Want to start making our way upstairs first?”

“Yeah, let’s start at the top and make our way down,” Miles agreed, taking the lead.

Ricky stayed close to Miles and carefully checked around each corner. He knew taking the first flight of stairs was going to put them out in the open and make them the perfect target. Before they entered the house, they’d agreed if it became heated, the rest of the agents would enter immediately. For now, they all agreed having less people trekking around the place would look less suspicious.

As they made their way up the first flight of stairs, Ricky heard a scream. He stopped and took a double-take of the area and then continued up the stairs. Then it happened again. This time it wasn’t a scream, it was a moan. His mind went to the other night with Vikki and how beautiful her cries sounded.

Miles glanced back. “I hope we don’t interrupt anyone.”

“This dangerous mission could go to awkward in a flash.”

Once they reached the top step, Ricky heard a door opening. He tapped Miles on the back, and they stepped into the shadow. The moment the man came into view, Ricky inaudibly gasped. It was Dego. Then three more men stepped out of the room and headed down the stairs. Each one of the men had a gun slung over their shoulder and seemed pissed off.

When it was safe, Ricky whispered, “Think we missed something good?”

“I think we are the topic of discussion,” Miles said, leaning his head forward slightly to peek around the wall. “I’m bummed we missed the fun.”

“How the hell do we get to the next floor unnoticed now?”

“That way.” Miles pointed at two men walking down the hallway away from the stairs.

“You don’t really want to do that, do you?”

“Why not?”

“Because the last time, I was left to get my ass kicked while you took a ride.”

“A ride, I might add, that ended with me in a cell for five days.”

Ricky softly chuckled and carefully followed behind the two men. He stayed far enough back to not alert his presence but close enough to prepare to knock them both out without a sound. Miles was right by his side and ready to spring into action. Just as the men were about to open a door, Miles and Ricky at the same moment knocked them over their heads.

Ricky glanced around again and then dragged them into the room. “We need to change. Then still work on keeping out of sight as we find out where that scream came from.”

“I would say it was not a cry for help.” Miles laughed. “That was more of a cry for more.”

There was a door that closed just above them. “Come on, we need to get upstairs.”

Just as Ricky was about to place his foot on the bottom step, he heard familiar voices.

“Is she at it again?”

“You know her.”

“Yeah, her favorite thing to do.”

Miles and Ricky were listening from below. Ricky turned to Miles. “That’s Giano and Dego, right?”

“That can’t be.”

“This was too easy.”

Miles pulled up his phone and sent a text to the agent they were working with. We have both targets in sight. He closed his phone. “How do you want to do this?”

“The other two agents are on their way, so we wait.” Just then they heard a scream, but this time it wasn’t a sex scream. The person genuinely sounded scared from the high-pitch sound. “Or we don’t wait.”

* * *

“Ricky, hold up.” Miles placed his hand on Ricky’s shoulder. “We need to wait. I don’t want to chance anything and be the cause of Erickson’s death.”

He stopped and leaned up against a wall. “Fuck.” Ricky shook his head. “Do you remember the family I was assigned to protect?”

“Yeah, I know the whole story.”

“I never told anyone what the little boy begged before being killed.” Miles stayed silent, so he continued. “Will Grandma and Grandpa be okay?”

“Were they in the house, too?”

“No, but we found out they were on the way to visit them.”

“Fuck. I don’t remember in the reports two more bodies found.”

“We intercepted them before they arrived at the home,” Ricky said, glancing up the stairs. “How can you be that young and know one man is so horrible. The kid knew Giano hated everyone. His father made that clear and tried to protect them.” He lifted his hand gun and ensured the safety was off. “Giano has been leaving bodies in his path for far too long. Someone needs to stop him.” Ricky sighed. “I mean, the reason this all started was because of Letizia’s appearance on the news. Which still seems so fucked up. She was too young to know jack shit and yet, he still planned to take her down.”

“If we catch him, the chances of him actually going to jail are slim,” Miles said, leaning against the wall next to Ricky. “He has men on the inside and outside that will take care of him.”

“Which is why he needs to die.”

“Ricky. That’s not our job. We protect and serve.”

“His death will protect and serve the community and most importantly give Letizia the life she deserves.”

Miles sighed. “I want us all to feel normal again. My kids are so confused.”

“Vikki is scared to go back to work because Ella played the kind friend card for so long at the hospital.” Ricky pushed off the wall and turned to Miles. “I won’t kill anyone unless it will save someone. I get it, man. It’s just hard to stomach everything this one man has done. Look at how much he has disrupted all of our lives.”