Tony: Alvarez Security Series (37 page)

Sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chin, she looked up, her heart pounding in her chest.
Tony’ll come, I just know it.
Staring at the man in front of her, fear still kept her immobilized.
Hernando’s crazy. How will Tony fight crazy?

A slight movement to her left caught her eye.
Tony?
she hoped. A face moved slightly from the laundry room giving her a glimpse of…
Bernard? Holy shit, what is he doing here? And in his hand…a gun?
Seeing a barely perceptible shake of his head, she quickly looked back in the opposite direction, not wanting to give away his location.

*

Tony’s men, in
military precision, quickly grabbed their mission gear that was always within ready reach and jumped into the SUVs. Gabe drove one with Tony as shotgun rider. Jobe in the back seat had Matt on the phone following what the police were doing. Vinny driving the other, had BJ on his laptop pulling up the floorplans of Sherrie’s little Victorian house.

“Jesus, Tony. Her old house has twists and turns and little rooms,” BJ groused, knowing that could impair access.

Jobe reported from Matt, “Back glass door at the dining room was shattered, setting off the alarm. Hernando surprised her and has her hostage. The police verbally engaged him but he’s back in the house, holding her hostage.”

BJ pulled up the security camera footage, then clipped, “There’s a second man inside. Snuck in while the police were just pulling into the front. Looks like he went from the dining room door through the kitchen and is hiding in the laundry room.”

“What the fuck?” Tony roared. “There’s someone with Hernando?”

“Don’t think so. Looks like he came in and is hiding. And Tony? He’s armed. And swear to God, it looks like a little old man.”

“Goddamn it,” Tony cursed. “Get Matt on the phone.”

Jobe patched back through to Matt and handed the phone to Tony. “Matt? Have someone go next door and see if Bernard Kotowski is home. He’s a neighbor. Former military from the Vietnam era and we think he’s snuck into Sherrie’s house and is hiding. May be armed.”

He could hear Matt shouting orders and cursing at the same time. “We don’t need some rogue old man reliving his glory days with an attempted hostage rescue,” he growled.

Tony tossed the phone back to Jobe. His stomach churned.
I should have kept a man on her. I should have not let her go home alone. I should have—

“Tony?” Gabe’s voice broke through his tortured thoughts. Tony’s gaze jerked toward him as the lights of the night passed the windows, casting shadows over the face of his friend.

“Stop. Whatever the hell’s going through your mind right now, just stop. This isn’t your fault. You gotta get your head back into the mission, sir, or I’ll personally sideline you,” Gabe continued.

Tony lifted an eyebrow at the threat, but knew enough about successful missions to know if he went in half-cocked, Sherrie’s life could be compromised. So a nod was his only response as he turned back to Jobe to ask about an update.

“ETA is three minutes, boss,” came Vinny’s voice over the radio. BJ chimed in, “Tony? Looks like Sherrie’s house has a partial basement and partial crawl space. You ever been down there?”

“Crawl space, no. The basement is little more than a cellar. It’s about ten by twenty and is used for storage. Door is off of the kitchen near mid-hall.”

Gabe added, “It’s only got two small crawl-through windows that we alarmed when we were at her house.”

“What about the attic?” BJ asked. “Where do the attic stairs come down into?”

“The hall outside the bedrooms. Never been up there.
Fuck, how could I have not checked out the attic?

“Then, sir, it looks like the attic is still the best entrance into the house,” BJ added.

Tony nodded and, glancing back at Jobe, growled, “Get Matt and call it in.”

Parking away from the driveway Tony and his men jumped out of their vehicles, grabbing their gear. Kevlar under tight, black, long-sleeved shirts, black cargo pants, night vision goggles and armed to the teeth, they headed over to meet Matt and Shane.

Shane nodded his greeting, then said, “Hostage negotiator isn’t happy about you being here, but the chief gives his support.”

“Fuck the negotiator,” Tony bit out.

Matt placed his arm on his friend, saying, “Easy, man. His job is to get everyone out alive, including the neighbor who you say may be in there.”

“Don’t give a fuck about Hernando and I hate to see Bernard get hurt, but goddamnit it, he put himself in harm’s way when he snuck in wanting to play the hero.” Turning to stare Matt, and then Shane, directly in their eyes, he continued. “Got one plan. Get Sherrie out alive. Anything else? Don’t give a fuck.”

Matt and Shane having both rescued their wives from dangerous situations just nodded. They got it. Family first. And Sherrie was family.

*

Sherrie’s mind raced,
trying to decide what to do. Bernard was hiding in the laundry room and was armed.
Tony has a gun in the nightstand by his bed, but that’s upstairs. No way could she get to it.
She wiped her sweaty palms on her pajama bottoms, trying to still her pounding heart.

I know Tony’s outside. I know he’s planning something. Think. Think.
Her eyes darted around, desperate to help. Closing her eyes for a moment, she quickly thought of her house.
What would Tony do? Attic?
Her eyes popped open as she thought about the stairs to the attic from the upstairs hallway. Her breasts heaved in panic as she thought it through.
No, he’s never been up there…he’d never chance it.

Her gaze moved to Hernando as he stood over her, shifting his gaze between the front door and the back. Her cell phone rang, the sound coming from the kitchen counter.

“Get it,” he ordered. “Might be the police ready to make a deal.”

Licking her lips nervously she stood, her feet bleeding as she walked to the counter. Her gaze went to the kitchen window, but she could not see out. Wondering if the police had surrounded the house and were watching her now, she picked up her phone.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Mullins? This is Sergeant Levin and I’m here to help get you and Mr. Velazquez out safely. Are you all right?”

“Ye…yes,” she answered.

“Does he have a weapon on you now?”

Glancing back at the barrel of the gun pointed directly at her, she nodded, forgetting to speak out loud.

“Ms. Mullins, we have a visual on you from the kitchen window and see you nodding. Is he behind the kitchen wall?”

Before she could answer, Hernando barked, “Give me the phone, bitch.” She handed it to him and he motioned for her to sit down in the hall again.

“You want to talk, pig? You talk to me,” Hernando said. “I want out and you’re gonna help me get out or this bitch is dead.”

The negotiator and Hernando continued to talk for a few minutes; he kept the gun trained on her as he rattled off his demands.

Her eyes darted once again toward the laundry room where she could see Benard now squatting on the floor, trying to aim his gun around the corner. Her eyes grew round as she tried to indicate that he needed to stay quiet and with the barest shake of her head, he moved back a bit.

Her mind racing again, she glanced at the door next to the laundry room.
The basement! Tony could come through there. He’d been down there when she had asked for help storing some boxes.
Closing her eyes again, she thought of the two small windows.
Can he get through?
Wiping her hands on her pajamas again, she swallowed back the bile that threatened to come up. Her gaze sought out Bernard’s once more.
It may just be up to us
, she thought.
Oh, Jesus help us.

*

Matt and Shane
kept vigil outside hidden by the bushes, their eyes trained on the two men as Tony and Vinny ascended the ladder placed against the house. The placement of the ladder allowed them to be unseen by anyone on the inside of the house and it lead to the small attic window. The two men were so silent, not a sound was heard.

“Damn, I’m good, but not that good,” Matt admitted.

Jobe nodded his appreciation of their feats. “Special Forces training. Most missions we went on, absolute silence and surprise was essential.” Nodding toward the now closed attic window, he added, “And Captain Alvarez was the best. Never seen a man train so hard.”

Gabe added, pride in his voice, “And Vinny? Best sniper we had.”

The four of them silently spread out among the police that had their eyes on the house. Always trained to keep their focus one-hundred percent on the mission, a look passed between Jobe and Gabe, each knowing what flashed through the other’s mind.
Let Sherrie be safe, ’cause their boss—and friend—couldn’t survive another loss.

The darkness of the attic appeared illuminated in a green hue as Tony moved stealthily from the window to the stairs. Vinny’s image appeared by his as they stopped. Both with audio amplifiers, they could hear the voices coming from below. No words were needed as they both assessed the risks.
If Sherrie and Hernando were in the hall where the stairs were located, they’d never get a shot off without endangering her.

Speaking softly into his radio, Tony ordered, “Keep him away from the stairs.” Gabe relayed that to Shane who headed off to the negotiator.

The phone rang again and Hernando picked it up this time. “You gettin’ my transportation?”

“We’re working on it, Mr. Valesquez. The chief won’t agree if we can’t have visual of Ms. Mullins to confirm that she is still alive.”

“How stupid do you think I am? I let this bitch get near a window, then you’ll have a shot at me,” Hernando bit out, his gaze darting around at the windows in the house.

“We’d just like to see her. You can move toward the living room and stay behind her if you like, but then we could see her easily.”

“Not happening. Not going toward the front of the house.” Hernando looked down at Sherrie, still sitting on the floor, a smile crossing his face. “You look at the little window in the back door and you’ll see her, but not me.”

No!
she thought. The back door led to the patio from the laundry room.
We head toward the back door, he’ll see Bernard.
Her legs refused to obey, but several swift kicks to her hips had her crying out as she stood.

Tony and Vinny slipped down the attic stairs and quickly passed through the hall by the bedrooms. They stopped at the top of the stairs leading down to the first floor, listening to the sounds below. Pulling off their night-vision goggles, they set them gently on the floor.

“Target?” Tony whispered.

BJ, still monitoring the inside security cameras, reported, “Sherrie and Hernando are moving toward laundry room off of kitchen. Neighbor is in there but have no visual on him.”

Sherrie now stood in the doorway of the laundry room, visible from the window in the outside door. She saw nothing but blackness in the yard, but knew someone was watching. It gave no comfort. Her stomach in knots, her gaze drifted down seeing Bernard squatting next to the washing machine.

Bernard lunged forward, pushing Sherrie down while taking a shot at Hernando. The shot rang out as BJ shouted “Go!” into the radio, sending Tony racing toward the sound. Escaping harm, Hernando shot over Sherrie’s head, hitting Bernard in the side, immediately dropping him to the floor.