Shadow Men – 30 – Rafe and Steele

Rafe broke cover to race to the side wall of the house. He plastered himself against it, smiled tightly when he saw Steele had done the same thing, and made his way down to join him. Steele pointed to the slightly open window, knelt and very carefully began to inch it up the rest of the way while Rafe stood beside him, his pistol in one hand.

Suddenly the skies opened again. Rain began pouring down. Thunder rolled, followed by a bright flash of lightning. "Fuck," Rafe growled and fired. The man whose stealthy movements had been revealed in the seconds of light fell face forward on the ground at the trees' edge. "Inside, now," Rafe barked out, not that he needed to. Steele was already through the window. As Rafe started after him he heard a low gurgled groan of pain and then silence. Night-blind for a second because of the lightning, Rafe dropped instantly to his knees and rolled to the side when he hit the basement floor.

"I'm good," Steele whispered. "There was someone. He didn't expect the lightning though." Rafe could hear the relief in his partner's voice. "But now we'd better get a move on before we have company."

Rafe took the small flashlight he'd stashed in one of his pockets, made certain it was set to pinpoint beam and flicked it on. He aimed it at the walls, keeping the light well above floor level. There were two doors, one directly across from the window, and another on the right-hand wall. He pointed to the first one then to the body of the man Steele had killed. Steele nodded and dragged the body to block the door while Rafe went to test the doorknob of the side door.

The knob turned but Rafe waited to open the door until Steele joined him to stand to the side of the door, pistol in one hand, his chain in the other. Only then did Rafe turn off the flashlight and inch the door open just enough to listen, between the thunder booms, for any indication that someone was on the other side.

Finally, feeling it was likely safe, Rafe pushed the door all the way open so it hit the wall, and moved rapidly into the center of the room. He flicked on the flashlight again and checked the area. It was small; virtually empty with only a few boxes stacked against one wall. A quick movement caught his eye. He almost fired then realized it was a mouse, or rat, which scurried behind a box.

"So far, so good," he murmured when Steele joined him. "Work our way down to the end?" He aimed the flashlight at the door opposite the one they'd just come through.

Steele nodded. There were two more rooms. Using the same system, they made it to the back of the house without finding anything but a few more scared mice.

Rafe approached the door he figured should open onto a hallway. "Déjà vu all over again," he whispered with a slight quirk of his lips. "Only no elevator." While Steele held the light Rafe tested the door handle, which turned but didn't let the door open. "Locked, of course," he said as he knelt to take care of the problem. When he finished he stood and opened it a crack. The dim light in the hallway let him see they were only a few feet from a flight of stairs that led up. That would have been perfect if it weren't for one thing. A man stood at the bottom holding a gun, which he now aimed at Rafe.

Rafe signaled to Steele that they had company as he backed away from the door. When he did he saw someone enter through the other door, also carrying a gun. "Down," he barked to his partner even as he pulled the trigger.

Steele hit the floor rolling, came back to his knees and fired at the man who came barreling through the hallway door. "Stupid amateurs," he said with a shake of his head as his target fell back against the wall and slid down, leaving a broad swath of blood behind him.

"Told you he was hiring idiots now," Rafe agreed as he kicked his victim's gun out of the writhing man's reach. Then he pressed his own pistol to the man's forehead and fired. "Too late to worry about the noise," he told Steele when his partner frowned.

"Yeah, but he could have told us how many were still upstairs."

"Would you, if you'd been him?"

"Good point since we really didn't have time for a little fun and games to convince him to spill all."

Rafe nodded then held up his hand, his head tilted. "Too quiet," he finally said softly. "Why aren't the troops rushing down here?"

"No clue, but I'm not about to wait around for them." Steele stepped to the door and into the hall. "Empty, so far. Shall we…"

"Beard the lions in their den? Hell yeah."

(Fair warning: Things are going to get very dark for a while, but bear with it. The story has a long way to go before it's finished.)