Page 14 of Dangerous Protocol

Andi handed Hawk a bright orange safety vest and a clipboard with a bunch of forms attached.

“I’ll split off and cover Hawk and Remy when they approach the house.” As Jonathan spoke, Hawk tugged on a hard hat and clipped a plastic gas company ID to the front.

Rather than cause a huge dramatic scene, Hawk would simply knock on the front door and tell Sherborne thata potentially deadly gas leak had been reported and that Remy was specially trained to locate it. All of the information they had on Sherborne indicated he was a pussy with no tactical skills whatsoever. So they fully expected him to let Hawk and Remy in without much pushback. If he didn’t, they were prepared to make entry in other, more aggressive ways. Taking down a piece of shit like Sherborne would give him great pleasure.

“Remember, when Hawk finds the girl, he’ll use the code wordlost. We’ll make entry, take down Sherborne, get the girl, and get out. Clear?” He looked around, and they all replied in the affirmative.

Remy barked, and his excitement was animated by the wild wagging of his tail.

Hawk was an excellent tracker. If the girl was in that house, he would find her.

“Let’s go,” Jonathan said.

They split up and made their way the few blocks to Sherborne’s house. The neighborhood was nice and quiet because most folks were at work.

“We’re in position and covering the target’s back door,” Andi whispered.

“Approaching the target’s driveway.” Hawk had his hand to his mouth as if covering a cough.

He had to be careful not to give himself away. They had zero intel on where Sherborne might be inside theresidence, and for all they knew, he could be staring out the front window.

Jonathan jogged across the street and took up position behind a row of bushes separating Sherborne’s yard from the neighbor’s yard. “In position.”

“Headed to the door.” Hawk lowered his hand, walked up the short path, and gave three solid knocks to the wooden door.

Knowing Sherborne was probably watching him, Hawk glanced down at his clipboard, flipped through some papers, then looked back up at the door.

“What do you want?” Sherborne’s voice was muffled behind the closed door.

Hawk’s mic was hot, and the team could hear what was happening.

“Uh, yeah, I’m with the gas company.” Hawk held his badge up in front of the peephole. “We got a few reports of a gas leak in this area and have narrowed it down to this street.”

“What’s with the dog?” Sherborne asked.

“He’s specially trained to sniff ’em out.” Hawk gave a dramatic sigh. “Look, buddy, I got a lot of people to see yet. If you ain’t worried about your house being blown to smithereens, then I’ll just be on my way.” He turned, got two feet from the door and it swung open.

“Wait!” Sherborne looked up and down the street. “Fine, you can come in, but don’t touch anything.” Hestepped back, and Hawk and Remy disappeared inside before the door shut.

Jonathan heard the deadbolt lock.

“We’ll just do a quick walk-through of the rooms, then be on our way,” Hawk said before giving the command to Remy. “Seek.”

They could hear the dog panting and sniffing and the sound of his tags jingling. Doors creaked open, then were shut. Something rustled. This continued for several minutes, and Hawk still hadn’t said the code word.

“Wow.” Hawk gave a low whistle. “Look at all them screens. You must really be into computers. And look at this fancy cell phone.”

“Give me that.” Sherborne sounded apoplectic. “I said not to touch anything!”

“Sorry, man. Geez, relax,” Hawk said.

Remy could be heard whining in the background. That room was probably filled with the type of electronic storage devices he would normally be looking for.

“You going to be much longer?” Sherborne’s impatience was obvious as he ignored Hawk’s statement.

“Nah. This is the last room, then we’ll be outta yer hair,” Hawk said. “Oh, sorry man.”

Sherborne was bald as a cueball, and Jonathan smirked at his teammate’s not-so-subtle dig.

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