Chapter 17

"Maybe they just got here," Lana said, noticing her dad's truck and Aunt Valerie's Hummer in the drive. Jake felt the hoods, they were both cool and he shook his head.

"Stay behind me," he ordered, pulling his pistol as he stepped onto the porch. He started to knock and Lana handed him her key, before pulling her own pistol from her waistband. He nodded, carefully unlocking the door and easing it open. They could hear the sound of a radio in the back of the house, and then a woman's scream, cut off suddenly.

Lana tried to push past Jake and he grabbed her, his look a warning. She started to shake him off and he shook his head, motioning her to be quiet. He took his boots off, slipping quietly down the hall on sock feet.

"My room was the first on the left," Lana whispered. "Dad's is just past the bathroom on the right. Harvey's is the last on the left." Jake nodded as a choked off groan came from ahead, sounding like it came from her father's room. The radio was coming from that room also.

The door was partly ajar, and Jake peered through the crack. Janine was tied spread eagle to the bed, Harvey on top of her pounding away. A cloth of some type was in her mouth, probably whatever had been used to silence her earlier scream.

Jake saw four other men in the room, all standing around naked, sporting erections. All were nude, and the only weapon Jake could see in the room was a large knife laying on the nightstand. He drew a deep breath, readying himself, and then kicked the door open.

"Don't fucking move!!!" he yelled, pointing the pistol at Harvey. One of the other men made a grabbed for the knife and Jake shot him, almost without thinking. His round hit the man in the center of his chest and he hit the ground, shock on his face.

The others all froze, the sound of the shot was loud in the room and Jake's ears were ringing. Harvey looked over his shoulder at Jake, fear apparent in his face.

"Get off of her," Jake said his voice like iron. He could feel Lana at his side, her body shaking.

"Where's Dad?" she asked Harvey after he climbed off of Janine.

"Fuck you bitch," one of the men in the room said, his face going blank as the sound of a shot sent Jake's ears to buzzing anew. A small round hole appeared in his forehead, a splash of pink, red, and grey on the wall behind him. Lana swung her pistol to the man who had been standing beside him, her expression not changing as the man she had shot crumpled.

"WHERE'S MY DAD!!" She didn't yell, but there was steel in her quivering voice, uncontrolled rage bubbling just beneath the surface.

"He's in the basement," the man said, his hands shaking as he raised them slowly. "He's alive, I swear."

"And Aunt Val," Lana asked, her eyes boring into the man's.

"In Harvey's room," the guy said, the smell of urine filling the room as he pissed himself.

Lana whirled and headed down the hall. Her cry of "SON OF A BITCH" caused even Harvey to blanch and Jake heard Lana's stomping footsteps returning. If the scene in there was anything like the one in here, well he didn't think the other two thugs with Harvey were going to make it out of the room alive.

"Jake, these fuckers are dead," she said, walking into the room, shaking in anger.

"She alive," Jake asked softly. Lana stopped, ten feet from the man who had pissed himself, and nodded as she raised her gun. "Shouldn't we let her do that?" he asked mildly. He wasn't much for vigilante justice, and didn't want Lana to have to bear the burden of her actions. She would already have one death on her hands, if he could prevent more he would.

"Yeah, you're right," Lana said with a sigh. "Untie her while I watch these mother fuckers," she said, her voice rough with anger. Jake looked to the bed, seeing that Janine was secured to it using handcuffs.

"Where's the key," he asked.

"Mike has it," the talkative one whined.

"Where's Mike?" Jake asked, suddenly worried there might be more in the house.

"He and Sam went to get more beer and weed," the guy said. He was almost blubbering now and Jake nodded as he approached the bed.

"Janine, remember me?" he asked softly as he pulled the pair of panties that had been stuffed in her mouth out. She nodded, clearing her throat.

"Check on my babies, please!!" she said hoarsely. Jake looked to the man and he blanched.

"They're safe, I swear," he said, seeing his eminent demise in Jake's eyes. "Sam took them out to the farm; he said that the Confederacy wasn't going to steal anymore kids while he was around. Oh God, please don't kill me, I'll show you where they are!!"

"Yes you will," Jake said as he covered Janine with a blanket. "Janine, we don't have a key for the cuffs, and until we do you're going to have to stay here." She nodded, tears running down her cheeks.

Jake had Lana go into the hall and cover the men as he herded them out the door. He had them kneel on the floor in the living room and told Lana to go check on her aunt and father. He was worried she might not be able to shoot her brother if he tried anything. He on the other hand, would do so in a heart beat.

Lana rushed down the stairs into the basement, and Jake heard her calling for her father. A groan answered her and Jake figured the man was still alive. He heard a vehicle pull up out front and then his phone rang in his pocket. Keeping a careful eye on the men he flipped it open after seeing Lana's number.

"Jake, Dad's cuffed too. They worked him over pretty good, but I think he'll be ok. Aunt Val was awake, she was cuffed too. Call your dad..."

"Listen honey," Jake cut her off. "Someone just pulled up outside, I need to make sure it's not the rest of them coming back. Can you come up here?" Jake didn't hear a response, but heard her footsteps on the stairs. Jake motioned her to cover the three kneeling men as a board creaked on the front porch.

The door swung slowly inward and Jake was staring down the sights of his gun at his father. "Shit Dad!!! You scared me to death!!!"

"You mind pointing that somewhere else," Mark said calmly. His gun was held down at the ready position and Jake nodded, lowering his own.

"Everything ok?" Mark asked, still standing in the door. "We had a 911 reporting possible gunshots in the neighborhood. There's a car on the way, should I call them off, or let them come."

"Call them off Dad," Jake said, the implications of officers arriving hitting him. "Dad, if you can come in as my Father, come ahead. But if you're the Chief, do us both a favor and leave."

Mark gave Jake a hurt look and stepped inside, fishing his handheld radio out of his pocket. After advising dispatch he was in the area and it was a car backfiring, he followed Jake into the living room. Seeing Harv Jr. and the other two men being held at gunpoint he raised his eyebrow, looking to Jake for an explanation.

"Dad, I'm still not sure what's going on, and maybe it is a matter for the department, but I wanted your take on it first. When we came in, Jr. was raping Janine. She and Val are cuffed to beds in the back. Four other guys were standing around watching. Oh, Big Harv's chained up in the basement, Lana said he's been beat up, but he's ok."

"Jake, you said there were four more, where are the other two," Mark asked softly.

"One of them reached for a knife and I shot him," Jake said. "Then the other one..."

" ... refused to answer my fucking question and I shot him," Lana cut in. "Mr. Whitman, I like you, but these fuckers are dead meat. Don't try to stand in the way either." Her voice was iron and Mark simply nodded.

"That how you feel Jake," he asked in a monotone.

"Dad, we can't let something like this go unanswered. It we let these nut jobs think they can get away with something like this they'll just keep after us." He shot his Dad an apologetic look.

"Good, now I've got a call to make," Mark said, holding out a handcuff key to Jake.

"Colonel, Chief Whitman," Mark said into his phone. "Got a cleanup right up your alley. Bring packaging for five, two are down already. Also, need a cleaning crew for a small house, should be just one room unless somebody gets stupid before you get here." He gave the man on the other end the Dean's address and hung up.

"They'll be here in thirty," he said, smiling at Jake. "What, did you think I would let my son take the kind of heat that something like this would generate? Besides, you're a confirmed volunteer, as is Big Harv. Any attack on a volunteer is punishable by death, and the Confederacy doesn't believe in lengthy trials."

Jake nodded before heading down the hall. He went to check on Val, finding her chained to the bed in Harvey's room. Her wrist and ankles were raw, and the wooden bed frame roughed up, from her fighting her restraints. Her face was a mask though, no feeling showing through.

Jake quickly unlocked the cuffs, watching as she sat up, thanking him softly.

"Any of them still alive?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, two plus Jr.," Jake said. "Also, two went to get more beer." Val nodded, getting to her feet slowly. She was bruised, her face showing where she had been punched multiple times. Jake saw bruises all over her body, and winced at the pinkish smear on her thighs and buttocks.

"You find out where Janine's kids are yet," she asked as she led Jake to the master bedroom.

"Yeah, well, one of them said he can lead us there," Jake said.

"Good, now unlock her," Val said as she rummaged in the closet for something to put on. Janine came off the bed like a spring, wrapping her arms around Val. Jake told them he was headed down to unlock Harv and they both nodded, holding each other and crying.

Harv was more pissed off than anything, and Jake unlocked him quickly. He stood, a little shaky at first, but nodded when Jake asked if he was alright. Jake told him what had happened, and Harv nodded when he finished.