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.

One of the day people tapped me on the shoulder as I was reaching for the blanket. “Boss here,” as he was handing me a pair of blue latex gloves to put on.

I flipped the blanket open and there were her clothes with the ID clipped on the belt. I felt sick to my stomach as I keyed the mike, “We have her clothes and blood. Everybody, make sure you have on gloves before you touch anything. Justin, Sandra search the back yard really well, look for a body, disposal area, anything.”

“Listen to me, all of you had the training; you know the drill. I want the rooms searched again, use your cell phones, take a 360 of pictures with them and of any drawer or closet before you touch it,” I said.

I took a picture of the clothes and went back to the kitchen.

“He says his name is Murphy Cox,” Ronnie said.

I shoved the phone in his face with the picture, “OK Murphy where is she? We know she was here.”

“I’m not saying nothing; I know my rights. I want my phone call,” he said.

One by one my people were reporting back from the room search and outside with nothing here, including Justin from outside.

“You have a real problem – we from the college security department, not the police department – you are not getting that call unless you answer my questions,” I replied. “ALL OF MY QUESTIONS!”

“Boss, I found a digital camera in here,” one of the group that was in the living room yelled, “It still has the card in it,” he replied.

He handed me the camera. I held it at arms length so I, Ronnie and a couple more guards could look at the stored pictures. It was all I could do to not to lose my breakfast; the guy standing to my left was not so lucky. He barely made it out the porch door, upchucking all over the grass. There were three men in the pictures working over Caroline – one of the men was Murphy.

To say I was mad was the understatement of the century. Murphy was going to tell me where Caroline or her body was or die a painfully slow death.

In the sandbox I had only participated in one painful extraction of information. The convoy I was in had been ambushed; we were holding our own and even taken a few prisoners. One of those prisoners had detailed maps and information on our convoy and several more that were to follow in the next several days. He was a boastful SOB about how they were going to treat us women captives.

I wanted to know how he got the information and was sick of his mouth. I shot off four of his toes and put one round in a kneecap before he told me all I wanted to hear. It saved the other convoys from attack and ours from another attack, if we survived this one. He died in the back of a truck before he could get medical attention. It was a week before I got the first good night’s sleep after that incident.

After that I listened to the field intell group any where I could get it; from the groups any time they were boozed up and bragging. I spent some free time on the net and reading blogs. Also, my time with the master could come in handy if time allowed when the need was there.

I went out on the porch, looking through all the tools for something to use instead of my Glock. There is a difference when the person you are interrogating has to live. I did not care on this one after looking at just a few of the pictures. It would save the taxpayers some court cost money.

I found just what I was looking for; I could make my interrogation last long and necessary until I had all the answers. The question now was how long would I spend in jail afterwards. I knew some good lawyers; I just hoped that they lived up to their billing.

Edit by Alfmeister
Proof read by Joe H.