"No body bags," she promised with a smile, before blowing him a quick kiss. Rolling to her stomach, she pushed herself into the drainage ditch and began scuttling toward the deeper shadows several feet past the house.
The black material of her uniform blended in with the darkness, giving her the additional camouflage needed when she crawled out of the ditch and into the weeds and brush that grew at the edge of the property.
Keeping to her stomach in the long shadows, she crawled over the rough grass and rock-strewn yard, keeping her eyes on the window that gave a view into that side of the house.
"I'm moving in along the side of the house," she whispered into the mic as she finally moved against the outside of the building. Coming to her feet, she flattened herself against the siding. "Is there a back door?"
"It leads into the kitchen," Lance answered. "There's a short hallway that then leads to the living room and, beside it, the bedroom where he's holding her."
"I'm on it. Beginning radio silence." She flipped the mic up, leaving only the receiver active as she made her way to the back of the house.
Passing the back door, she moved instead to the window at the far end of the house. It was securely locked, but the small metal lock was easily turned when she slid her knife beneath the frame and began prying upward.
Within minutes she was sliding the window open and moving into the house. She could hear him now. His voice was slurred, enraged as he cursed from the front bedroom.
"Harmony, one of the neighbors who came up has reported that Mason keeps a knife on him. A switchblade." Lance spoke in her ear. "He's a mean gutter fighter, so be careful."
So the bad boy liked to play with knives. Well, so did she.
She slid the window closed before looking around carefully. She had come into the boy's room; his scent was all over it. There were few toys, only a small bed and dresser, a few scattered shirts. Inhaling at the bleakness that attested to what his life must be like, she moved toward the doorway, listening to Tommy Mason scream at his wife.
"You stupid whore. I warned you what would happen if you tried to leave. Didn't I warn you?"
She could hear a woman sobbing, but she couldn't hear the child.
She found the little boy in the living room, huddled into a corner, his hands covering his ears as he rocked himself back and forward. Tears marred his dirt-streaked face and his eyes were clenched closed.
Moving in close, she simultaneously laid her hand over his lips and crooned a soft
"Easy, sweetie" at his ear.
His eyes flared open.
"Shhh," she whispered again, her touch gentle as she ran it quickly over his fragile, shaking body. "Are you hurt?"
He shook his head no, but his eyes were wild, frantic as his mother cried out his name from the other room.
"I have to yell if anyone comes," his voice trembled as he fought to speak. "He'll hurt her again. I have to scream."
She set her fingers against his lips.
"Trust me."
He shook his head desperately, tears pouring from wild blue eyes as his body jerked with silent sobs.
"Have you ever seen a Breed?"
He almost stilled, his eyes widening. Most children were fascinated by the subject of Breeds. They wrote letters to the Sanctuary, and a few times, Harmony knew, Tanner Reynolds, the Breed liaison, had enchanted children at several schools. They were the newest version of superheroes to the little minds.
Lifting her lip, she showed him the canines, a bit small perhaps, but definitely impressive. He blinked back at her in shock.
"I bet if you stay very, very quiet, I can make sure your momma is fine. And I'll make sure he never comes back. Can you be quiet for just a few more minutes and give me the chance?"
A silent sob rattled his little body. He was obviously malnourished, terrified. "Very good," she crooned at his ear once again. "Now be very, very quiet. Okay?" He nodded desperately.
Harmony flipped the mic down, activating the link.
"The child is safe. To your left as you enter, huddled into the corner. I'm going for the mother."
"Easy, Harmony," Lance warned, his voice worried. "Keep the link active." She flipped it up. The wire was a distraction she didn't need.
Pressing her finger to her lips as she gave the boy one last look, she moved back to the doorway. She waited until she was certain the boy wouldn't see her before she slid the K-bar from the sheath at her side and moved back to the hallway. The bedroom door was open, the room lit by the flashing lights from the cruisers outside.
"Sons of bitches. They had no right interfering in my business." The sound of a hand meeting flesh was followed by a woman's broken cry. "This is all your fault, you whinyassed bitch." Moving on her stomach, Harmony began to inch her way through the entrance, staying low and silent as Tommy Mason screamed at his wife. Her feet had cleared the doorway when the wide, hulky excuse of a man pulled a switchblade from his pants and flipped it open.
He gripped his wife's long hair in one hand and lifted the knife with the other. And Harmony knew her time had run out. Rolling quickly, she came to her feet, her knife slicing through the hair he gripped as she slung the woman to the floor.
"What the hell?" He surged back, his gaze first surprised, then narrowing with fury on Harmony. "You're one dead whore."
Harmony sighed dramatically. "So I've heard."
He had to come out of the house alive, she reminded herself as she rammed the flat of her hand against his nose, pulling back just in time to temper her blow. As he flew backward, she caught his wrist, wrenched the knife from his grip then twisted until he fell to his knees. A hard knee to the small of his back and he was on the floor as she snapped the restraints around his wrists.
"It's like this, ass**le," she hissed at his ear. "You're under arrest." Then she gripped his hair, pulled his head back and slammed it into the floor. The first time, he managed to groan and buck furiously. The second time he slumped beneath her, his large body going boneless.
It was almost too easy. The adrenaline surging through her body hadn't been given the fight it needed. It pulsed and hammered through her veins as an icy burn began to build beneath her flesh.
Jumping from the fallen man's back, she shook her hands then rubbed at her thighs. Geez. What the hell was up with this?