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Mrs. Coolson pats his arm comfortingly. “We’re okay. The ambulance was just a precaution. They looked us over and checked our blood pressures, probably just because we’re old.”
“What happened?”
“We heard some commotion soon after you all left. A truck, like a military vehicle, pulled up and about a dozen men in black outfits and ski masks poured out. They were armed, and made a lot of noise, but they left as quickly as they came.”
Jackson looks at Mr. Coolson. “How’s your blood pressure, old man?”
“I’m just fine. A little elevated, but not bad, considering.”
Jackson’s shoulders visibly relax. He, Micah, and Lukas stay with the older couple to get caught up while Bennet heads back to Agent Tova. Luis and I follow Bennet.
“What can you tell me?” He asks the agent.
“Not much, I’m afraid. They did some damage, probably just to cover their tracks and make it look like a burglary, but nothing seems to be missing, and it doesn’t look like they were searching for anything specific. Most likely, they were hoping to find someone rather than something. We’re dusting for prints, but I wouldn’t expect to get much evidence.”
Bennet and Luis talk with Agent Tova and another man while I look back at the commotion around our home. I knew they’d find us eventually, but I never could have prepared myself for the feeling of helplessness and intrusion of someone finding us here. It’s the only home we’ve ever known. The only home I’ve ever had.
“I’m going to go back to the Coolsons, see if there’s something I can do to help,” I tell Bennet and Luis, walking back towards the ambulance.
Halfway down across the driveway, a police officer approaches me. “Uh, miss? You live here, right?”
“Yes, can I help you?”
“Yeah, I just have a few questions for some paperwork. Looks like the man…men of the house are preoccupied.”
Is this guy serious?
Leading me to his police cruiser, he opens the door to retrieve a clipboard, and then rests his hip against the back of the car to flip through the papers.
“Just looking for…Ah, yes, right here. Could you confirm for me what time you left the house?” He leans forward with the clipboard, as if he were showing me something or needing me to write the answer myself.
Confused, I take a step closer and lean forward to look at the clipboard. As soon as I open my mouth to answer him, I feel a sharp pain in my arm. My vision blurs and the ground spins as I look down and notice a syringe in the police officer’s hand.
Attempting to call out for help, I stumble forward, directly into the officer’s arms. He pushes me back into the car, the door still open wide and waiting. A trap.
The door closes just as my head grows too heavy to hold up on my own, and the car pulls forward, driving away without one person noticing anything untoward has happened.
Luis
A police car drives by, pulling my attention from the conversation we’re having with Agent Tova.
“Where did Six go?” I ask Bennet, looking towards the ambulance. I see Micah and Lukas, and Jackson is standing between the Coolsons.
Six is nowhere to be seen.
“She can’t have gone far,” he says, looking around. “And it’s not like anyone could get to her with this much police presence.”
Bennet and I walk around the property, looking around the cars and trucks. The other guys notice us looking and join in. When we still don’t find her, we recruit various officers and agents.
Within minutes, it’s very clear that Six is gone and we start to panic. Agent Tova organizes a debriefing with each and every police officer, to account for anything that someone might have seen, or to account for any missing cars or faces. Everyone that is supposed to be here is accounted for, and none of them has come or gone since arriving.
The police car. Fuck.
“It had to have been an officer or someone posing as an officer. I saw a police cruiser driving out just before I noticed she was gone.”
Bennet blanches. “Shit. Derrick, we need access to the footage on every dash cam on the property. We need to know for sure if she was in that car and who it was that took her.”
To his credit, Tova doesn’t balk at Bennet’s demands or even ramble on about police procedure. Instead, he just makes it happen.
