Rise (The Phoenix Series Book 1)

by M. K. Cunningham

  There was no way I was going to be able to get into that building without being spotted. The gate to the fence was electronically controlled, which wouldn’t surprise me if it wasn’t an electrified fence also. Once I was to get past the gate, it was a good fifty feet before you made it to the door. Looking at the door, there was no handle on the outside to open it. Instead, I stayed back in the tree line to scope out the place. I was approaching my seventh hour when Jerry and the two men, with him began walking out of the building and into his car that was parked to the right. As he was getting ready to leave, a moving truck was approaching the building.

  Shutting off the car, Jerry and his men got out and waited for the truck to pull into the fenced-in area. He didn’t look pleased with the driver once he stepped out. Something was being said, I couldn’t make it out, Jerry turned slightly to grab a handgun from the person to his left and shot the bastard point blank in the face. The driver fell to the ground. Without turning around, Jerry held the gun in the air, and the person he initially grabbed it from took it and placed it back in his holster.

  Stepping over the body on the ground, Jerry proceeded to walk to the back of the truck. With the snap of his fingers, the guy with the scar on his face unlocked the tailgate and lifts the door up. From where I’m at, I can’t see what is in the back. Moving closer, but still staying in the tree line, I want to look at what is in there.

  Lifting himself into the back, the guy with the scar begins to start yelling and screaming. After a few seconds, I begin to hear loud screams coming from multiple people. Dragging a woman out by her hair, he throws her off the truck and onto the ground. She lands on her side and doesn’t move an inch. Looking closer, she is naked and shaking uncontrollably. Her dark brown hair is a rat’s nest, and she is skinny as hell, seems like she has been starved.

  Laying in a fetal position, not staring at anybody, Jerry finally walks up to her. Kneeling, he places his hands on his knees and begins talking to her. I can’t make out what is being said, but once again, he is becoming pissed off. Getting up, he kicks her multiple times in the stomach. Her fetal position is now more prominent, trying to block the kicks. With one swift movement, he changes gears and kicks her once in the face. Blood comes shooting out of her mouth. Bending over, he says something else, and she begins to slowly make her way to her feet.

  Turning his head, I finally hear him, yelling, “Unload the rest of them!”

  Lighting his cigar, he watches as the man with the scar on his face quickly starts throwing all the women off the truck. By the time they all gain strength to get to their feet, they line up, facing Jerry. Not one of them would look at his face. Instead, they all had their heads down, staring at their feet. From what I could tell, they looked to range from teens to late twenties, varying in every color. I didn’t see Greer in the lineup, which had me grateful but that didn’t mean she wasn’t in there.

  Watching, one henchman walks up to the first girl and grabs her roughly on the upper arm and forcefully pulls her to his body. Nose to nose, his voice is too muffled to hear due to the distance between us. With the way he’s groping her pussy, I could only imagine it was something sexual.

  I had to hold back every instinct in me that wanted to get up and put a fucking bullet in all their heads. If I did that, no doubt I would screw myself over because there might be a chance Greer isn’t in there then I’d never find her. Not to mention, I have no idea how many men he has in the building.

  As the woman, who is being sexually assaulted, begins to cry, he takes his hand from her and slaps her hard across the face leaving a nasty red mark I’m sure would cause a decently sized bruise. Grabbing her by the wrist, he motions for her and the others to follow his lead. As he gets five feet from the door, I can hear a buzzer go off to let them in.

  Once the first couple of women walk into the building, one of them near the back of the line starts to panic and runs straight to the gate. Jerry just stands there, watching her with a big grin spread across his face, as she is in a full sprint without turning around to look behind her. Inches from it, she leans in and touches the gate. Electricity starts to shoot through her body, and she screams. Letting go, she falls to the ground screaming in pain, not touching her burnt palms. Another woman in line turns around and starts running to the one on the ground. She must have meant something to her if she ran for her, but I’d never know because as soon as she left the line Jerry called out, “Shoot her!” Not even a few feet from the one on the ground, the guy with the scar aims and shoots her in the head.

  Jerry wasn’t a guy who looked to tolerate much. If he was trying to put the fear of God in them, he was definitely getting his point through. Once he put his gun away, he began to walk towards the girl with blood splattered all over her face and burnt hands. Grabbing her wrist, he flings her up and kicks her in the ass to get her moving.

  The girl looks down at the body and begins to weep. She tries to stop in her tracks but is shoved from behind.

  Before Jerry makes his way into the building, pass the two lifeless bodies on the ground, he turns to look around. Ducking down, even more, I hide. I’ve got to get Greer.

  After a few days of tracking and following Jerry, he only stayed in two different places. The second location was the main building he was known for staying at the most. I hadn’t seen any sign of Greer and my guess was that she was in that building, or worse, dead. I tried a lot to not think of the worse, but my thoughts seemed to go there a lot.

  Heading back to the precinct, I had a plan set into place.

  CHAPTER fifteen

  thane

  A s I’m standing in my study with papers upon papers scattered all over my desk, my cell begins to ring. Looking down, where the front of my phone is lighting up the document that is laying on top of it, I move it out of the way and slide the green dot to the left to answer it. Sighing softly, “Hello?” I say it as a question, but I know exactly who it is.

  “William’s, we got another tip. We are raiding tonight so be here at 1900 hours if you want in on the job.”

  My heart beats fast in my chest. “Yes sir, I want in on the job. See you then.” Clicking the red end button, I place my phone back down on the desk, staring at a black and white photo of Greer that was taken by the investigator who was on the job before me. She is wearing a white ball cap with her hair pulled through the back of it in a ponytail and big metal framed sunglasses on. She has on a white tank top and jean shorts that have tears in them.

  Were we really going to find Greer tonight? Who the hell keeps sending in these tips?

  Glancing up at the clock to the right of my desk, next to my door, I see that it is 5:30 pm. If I’m going to make it into town and get my gear ready, I’m going to have to head out in the next thirty minutes. Placing my hand on the round glass with amber liquid in it, I pick it up and welcome the burning sensation that slides over my tongue and down my throat.

  ***

  Showing up to work, I head straight to the locker room to switch into my raid gear. As I approached my locker, me and half a dozen other men are getting dressed. From the other side of the lockers, “Yo man, we are finally going to get her after years of huntin’ her down!” I can hear Rodrigues and another man give each other a high five while laughing it off.

  Behind me, “Rookies, I swear. If they didn’t know their ass from a hole in the ground…” I turn to look behind me to find Phillips changing. I’m not sure if he is talking to me or rambling to himself, but I engage in his conversation.

  “Why do you say that?” Phillips is one of the three old timers that have been here for twenty plus years. They’ve experienced just about everything that could happen or go wrong while on duty.

  Turning to look me in the eyes, “Son, I’ve done over fifty of these kinds of raids. One of two things is going to happen.” Lifting his right hand and raising his pointer finger in the air, “One, the suspect will be there, but they are going to put up one hell of a fight. If she is as good as they say
she is, there will be bloodshed.” Raising his middle finger while still keeping his pointer up, “Two, she won’t be there. We will have wasted our time and most likely caused trouble where we shouldn’t be causing trouble.”

  Nodding my head in agreeance with him, “I can understand.” We both turn back to our lockers and proceed to finish getting ready.

  ***

  Walking into the garage of the precinct, me and ten other men are standing there, waiting for the Captain to get here and brief us on tonight’s raid. I’m standing next to Phillips and two other guys who I’ve never talked to. The room is filled with chatter until Captain Slater walks in. He is fully dressed in black raid gear, military style boots, khaki pants with a shit ton of pockets in them, long sleeve shirt with a vest on the back that says “POLICE” in white ink, gloves that are hanging out of left pocket and a black helmet with the visor pulled up, so we can see his face.

  “Gentlemen. Today at 1700 hours we received a tip that Greer Robinson is at a farmhouse about twenty-five miles from here. We have no idea how many people are with her or if they are heavily armed.” Raising a black and white picture in front of us with Greer’s face on it, “This is the suspect we are looking for. Get a great look at her because I don’t want any mistakes made.” Looking to me when he said those last words, I can tell that tonight I would have to be careful. “We move out in thirty so get what you need for tonight. Force will have to be used. I would like her alive!” With that, he walks out of the room.

  ***

  Pulling up to the dirt road that leads to Greer, three black SUVs are tucked off to the side blending in with the night. Three people stay behind, one being the Captain, so they can drive the vehicles in when we give the go ahead. Seven of us, including myself are tucked away in the wooded area, scoping out the place.

  In front of me is a rundown two-story large wooden farmhouse. There is a giant barn in the back that looks as if it will tumble with the slightest wind and off to the left is a broken fence that looks like it hasn’t been repaired in ages because the wood is rotting, and tall weeds are growing all around it. The timber surrounds the house with only one way in and out of it. According to our records, an elderly couple that goes by Fredrick and Janice Holland live here by themselves.

  After an hour of sitting in the woods, all seven of us are spread out around the house, and we’re not seeing much activity. The same two guys walk the perimeter which takes them ten full minutes to get back to the front of the house. They are carrying 9MM Tactical Machine Pistols and seem more interested in chatting with each other than actually guarding the house.

  Static comes over the radio before I heard Captain Slater, “Unit One, you have the go-ahead to take out the guards. Unit Two, once they do that you have the all clear to breach the house and storm the rooms. Unit One will follow.”

  Looking to my right, I can see Unit One creep through the timber with their guns in position. As the two men move past them, two officers step out and grab them from behind, placing a rag over each of their mouths, as the others scan the area for any threats. The two officers take their limps bodies back into the timber and secure zip ties around their wrists and ankles. “Unit One to Unit Two, clear.”

  Just then, I stand up from my squatting position and move forward, towards the enormous farmhouse with my gun in position. Scanning the area one more time from left to right, my unit steps into the open area and we approach the front door quietly with Unit One right behind us. There are no lights on in the house but that doesn’t mean no one’s home. Leaning in, I place my hand on the door handle and gently open it. Looking through my night vision, I give the “all clear” sign with my hand and we move forward. Walking down the narrow hallway, I take the first room on the right as the others pass by searching each room. Once again, I open this door and I discover an elderly couple deceased on the bedroom floor. The smell is horrendous, and flies are swarming around them. I step around their bodies to check the room, it’s clear.

  Taking my right hand, I place it on the radio that is just at the base of my shoulder, “First room clear. Elderly couple found and deceased.” Letting go of the radio, I place both of my hands back on my gun and walk out of the room and down the hallway. I can hear others over the radio clearing all the other rooms and so far, nothing.

  As I make my way past the other six I come across the kitchen. Peering around it, I see nothing but old food with mold forming on top at the kitchen table. Looking around, I check all the doors, three of them are closets and one leads to the basement. Once again, I radio, “Kitchen clear, heading to the basement.”

  By the time I make my way down two steps the rest of the team is right behind me. I stop in front of the first door on the left and wait as the rest of the team passes me to clear the next set of rooms. Hoping and praying that she is in this one, I open the door to find nothing but an old furnace and the water heater. Quickly but panicking, I make my way down the hallway after radioing to them that the room was clear, and I bypass all the rooms that are currently being checked, hoping that nobody has found her yet. I turn the corner and approach a door on the left that is slightly cracked with a hint of light coming from it but just before I step in I hear Pop! Pop! Pop! Coming from behind me. Over the radio, they are calling for back up in one of the rooms. Seconds later I hear another set of Pop! Pop! Pop! And then an “all clear.”

  Pushing open the door my heart stops for a second before I force myself back into cop mode, “Freeze motherfucker or I’ll blow your head off!” I point my gun at the Hispanic that is kneeling down next to Greer’s battered body. He has a syringe in his hand and it’s grazing the side of her throat. Mere seconds later he takes his thumb and pressing down on it and injects her. With the pull of the trigger, the bullet goes straight in between his eyes and blood splatters all over the wall behind him and all over Greer’s face.

  Running up to her, I place my hands on each side of her head. Her eyes are swimming all over the place and she can’t look at me straight. She keeps closing them and opening them back up. Whatever he gave her, it’s strong. Picking her up, I carry her to the other side of the room and place her behind the door. Taking my hand, I radio in, “room eight clear”. Moments later I hear six sets of footsteps maneuver past my door. Taking my right glove off, I feel for her pulse. It is weak, very weak.

  Taking out my burner phone I dial the only number on it. “Summer, I found her. She is here. Go ahead with Plan A.” Just before we left the precinct I made the call to Summer to let her know what was going on. I couldn’t do this by myself, I needed help if I was going to get her out of here alive without cuffs. Placing my phone back in my pocket, I picked Greer up, who was now unconscious. Looking out the door, nobody was in sight. I went back the way I came, and I needed to hurry. There wasn’t a lot of rooms left to check and it was a matter of time before Captain Slater would head this way with the vehicles once the area was secured.

  Climbing the stairs two by two I reach the top and I’m standing in the kitchen. Summer and Easton are just outside, tucked behind some brush, waiting for me to bring Greer to them. Looking down at her, her body is in bad shape. I can only imagine what they did to her. She had burn marks all up and down her left thigh and she has red marks around her throat, possibly from being strangled. Over a third of her clothes are missing. I was so angry, I wanted to kill someone right here and right now, but I forced myself to stay focused.

  Static comes over the radio once more, “Unit One to Base, the house is clear.” Shit! I need to get her out of here fast. I can hear the sound of tires screeching from the road. Placing all of Greer’s weight on my left arm, I reach for the door and fling it open. I can see Summer and Easton standing at the tree line but just as I walk out Captain Slater and the vehicles approach and I can hear a couple of men from downstairs making their way up to the kitchen. I close the door fast and hide in the bushes at the back of the door.

  Summer and Easton are just a mere fifty feet away and I can’t
get to them. I now hear Captain Slater and a few of the men in the kitchen talking. I know if I was to get up now and go towards the timber they would see me, and Greer wouldn’t have a chance. If I stay here any longer her chances of survival were growing weaker by the minute. Whatever he injected her with, was way too strong for her body to handle. Seconds later I feel Greer’s body jolting in my arms. Looking down, she is convulsing.

  Placing my hand at her cheek, I say in a loud whisper, “No! No! No!” Looking to Summer and Easton they show that they see the fear in my eyes. Looking behind me, into the window that shows the kitchen, Captain Slater, and the men are a few feet from the door and window. I may have a chance.

  I pick Greer up and run as fast as my feet will allow me to. As I reach the timber I can hear Summer, “Oh fuck, no Greer.” She places her hands at her mouth to try to stop herself. Looking at Easton, “do something, quick!”

  Just then, the back door opens, and Summer and Easton drop down into the brush with Greer. I stand there, acting as if I’m looking into the timber, trying to play it cool.

  Yelling, “Williams, what are you doing out here? Did you see something?”

  Turning around, with my hand on my gun, “No sir, thought I did but when I looked it was just a deer running through the timber. I think I spooked it.” Behind me, I could hear Easton working on Greer and it killed me to not be able to see her or help them.

  With hesitation, “Alright, get your ass back in here and help detain anyone still alive.” Nodding my head at him he turns around and walks back inside.

  Quickly but briefly I turn around to see what is happening with Greer. Easton has just got done injecting her with something, “What’s that?” I come off saying it more aggressively than I should have but at this point, I really don’t care anymore.