This Could All End in Tears

"Two Go-Bags," was all she said to Vince. He evaporated to do her bidding as her numb fingers fumbling with the number buttons on her cell.

Amanda had been in live combat, hostile third word nations ruled by military dictators, she's heard screams, gunfire, explosions, women and children weeping, but nothing quite like the empty ring of an unanswered phone.

Her first call had gotten her only an answering machine. But failure was never an option in Amanda's world. She would call every number she knew, even if that meant sending a fucking federal agent to their house. First thing was first though.

"Yo, Manda, it's been a while. What's up?" A smooth masculine voice came over the speaker on the third ring. There was no mistaking the voice. Matt Sanders officially qualified as a god in her book.

"No time, go home now." Just her tone, shaky but commanding, was enough to convince her friend. He hung up without another word and she was positive that he was racing towards his wife and son as fast as his vehicle would take him.

Valary had seen the black van pull up the driveway and knew instinctively that something was wrong. The security system should have told her someone was coming. Leaving the dishes sudsy on the sink, she ran to Jack's bedroom just in time to hear the door opening down stairs. She motioned for him to be quiet. He was old enough now to know that his daddy's job was dangerous and he had to listen carefully whenever either of his parents told him to do something.

She took her son's hand and opened the saferoom using the fingerprint scan operated by a system disguised as a painting on the wall. It was one of Megan's more ingenious creations.

She ushered him in, quickly taking stock of the supplies in there. He could probably stay hidden for two or three weeks if he was judicious about his food rations (but what little kid would be?) It was very small, built only for him, and she knew she couldn't fit in there as well. It was completely sound proof so that he could hear what was going on outside but they couldn't hear him. It was also bullet proof and impenetrable, but she was taking no chances.

"You have to stay here and be quiet until one of your uncles or Daddy comes to get you, okay?" She heard doors opening and closing downstairs and knew she had only a few more seconds, if that. "Don't open the door for anyone else, and remember that Mommy loves you." She kissed him on his forehead and shut the door, which could now only be opened form the inside. It was indistinguishable from the rest of the wall. The sets of thudding footsteps came stomping up the stairs. Her eyes scanned over the room looking for a hiding place, her heart fluttering like a humming bird's in her chest. Seconds later the door was flung open by two of the men.

One of them held a crowbar and the other one had a pistol. They gave the room a once over, seeing no one. Unsatisfied they checked under the child-sized bed, threw open the closet, and still came up empty handed. The only thing left in the room capable of holding a person was the large wooden chest by the closet, which was used to hold linens. They flipped it open, only to have a sheet thrown over their heads. The one with the firearm squeezed off a shot in the confusion. It grazed Val's arm as she climbed from the chest, but didn't do any major damage. She sprinted to the window, glad that they were only on the second story and tugged it open. She was just pushing the screen out of the way as she felt a dull pain in her head and staggered to the side. At first she saw a lot of white as if she were staring into a light, but that soon eased into just a few floating blobs. She had a concussion for sure, and even a trickle of blood from where the crowbar made contact.
"Alright lady, where's the kid?" The gunman demanded. She carefully registered his New York accent, so much like Megan's, but glared at him wordlessly. He bent down to her level and grabbed her chin, making her stare him in the eyes. "I'm just asking you a simple fucking question. You wanna give me silent treatment, fine. But that won't get you out of this alive. You understand? Now, one more time. Where did you put the boy?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she answered in a cool voice, her eyes barreling into his brown ones.

"Your funeral." He shrugged, grabbing her arm and dragging her out of the room, down the stairs and into the living room. He threw her down in the middle of a ring of guys, all of who seemed to be looking at her as if she were the foulest thing to walk the planet.

A couple of them roughly took her by her upper arms and bound her to one of the wooden chairs from the dining room. Once she was fully restrained a new guy came up to her and asked her the same question. She stayed silent, not all that surprised when he slapped her in the face. Whatever they did to her, her baby would be safe and that thought gave her fire. Matt would avenge her suffering and care for Jack. Nothing that they did to her could phase her with that knowledge
.

Megan could only curse wildly as she dove for her screeching daughter. Men clad totally in black with only their eyes and mouths visible had just burst through the large windows in the living room, the glass shattering and covering the carpet. Megan grabbed the wailing child, running for the safe room hidden under the stairs. Her advanced alarm system wasn't reacting at all to the obvious intrusion, which only made her panic more.

There were very few people with the capability to override her programming. These people were obviously not fucking around.

She choked as noxious fumes made her eyes and throat burn. She hacked, falling to her knees as tears streamed down her cheeks. She did her best to cover her little girl's mouth and nose with her shirt, but she was crying and freaking out so badly that it was no use. Megan tried to crawl to the closet under the stairs, but she had no idea where she was going. A swift kick to her ribs reminded her that the air wasn't her only enemy at this point.

She had trained a little with Brian and Amanda over the years, but she was far from being a master like they were. Her basic defense did her little good under this level of disorientation. It was by luck alone that her back kick actually caught one of the men in the knees. She felt someone tugging on Ava, and screaming obscenities she yanked her daughter away from the unseen hands, falling backwards on her ass.

Her fingers brushed over the handle of the baseball bat the man she kicked had dropped. She grabbed it, standing up and hitching Ava higher on her hip, knowing this was her only chance. She swung as one of the masked agents dove at her, catching his temple while his jaw cracked ominously. She stumbled along, the smoke actually beginning to dissipate, only to be grabbed roughly from behind and flung to the ground. Her only weapon made a dull pinging thud against the floor as it slipped out of her grasp. She cradled Ava to her chest with one hand, shooting the other out behind her to catch her fall. Her arm twisted painfully behind her and went numb- clearly a bad sign. She attempted one last time to scramble to her feet, and carry her terrified daughter to safety. A viscous kick landed in her shoulder blade while a hand caught hold of one of her feet, sending her to the ground again.

Matt pressed down on the accelerator of his truck, cursing himself for not taking one of his faster cars or staying home in the first place. He didn't know why it had been Amanda who had called him but he didn't have time to think about it. He thought his son's sickness must have gotten really bad really fast. Jack was a resilient little boy, and this was about the worst illness he'd ever had. He never should have left his family.

Luckily for law enforcement he didn't run into any police on the way home, and even though the ride seemed to take much too long he cut the normal expected time in half with his excessive speeding.

He grabbed his shotgun from behind the seat, knowing instantly that hostile forces had invaded his home. The nondescript black van parked in his driveway helped him towards that conclusion. The two men stationed with the vehicle jumped out, shooting. They were covered in black, ski masks over their faces. Matt doubted that there was any help coming. He ducked behind the door of his truck, firing one quick shot to the chest at his first opponent, and then catching the other in the head as he tried to dive into the van for safety. Suddenly his brilliant idea of buying a secluded house with a lot of land between them and the neighbors seemed like a really stupid move. He grabbed two guns and a smoke bomb off of one of the downed men before he ran to the front door, kicking it down. The rage boiled in his blood.

"Mama!" Ava screamed, her hot tears falling haphazardly on Meg's face, her voice shrill and vulnerable as her mother could only yell vulgar words at the men. She released her baby in a last ditch effort, yelling, "Run!" as she threw herself at one of the men to distract them. Ava stood unmoving for a second, watching in horror as a knife was pulled from it's sheath and glistened ominously through the lingering haze.

She shrieked again, but did as she was told and took a few wobbling steps away. She was roughly yanked off the ground, a sweet smelling cloth pressed over her face as strong hands held her still. A scratchy rope material began binding her feet and hands while she fought to stay awake. She closed her eyes almost willingly as her mother's agonized cries muted and faded away with her consciousness.

Megan had no idea what had happened to her baby at first, she was only aware of all the various injuries she was receiving as the men brutalized her. She couldn't fight and she grew weaker with each blow. For a few seconds the only thing that kept her together was the faint hope that maybe her innocent child had escaped a similar fate. She knew she had been stabbed in the thigh, yet her whole body seemed completely impervious to the pain. She was in shock. She knew this and dreaded what might happen when it wore off. Would they even leave her alive?

"Leave her, she'll be dead long 'fore those dumb fucks get back here. Leave the note and let's go." The voice was gruff, hard and cold. The words hung in her ears for what might have been a millennium within a second before Megan could work up the mental capacity to scream. They could not be taking her baby away from her. Her and Brian's little Pickle, their Ava. She tried to lunge but her body had all the power of a waterlogged rag doll. She flopped against the stained floor, gasping barely enough oxygen to feed her lungs as she tried to protest, to fight. Someone laughed and threw a pristine white card on the ground by her head. Her vision blurred the room, though no smoke remained to cloud it, and she saw that she was alone. With one final roar of anguish she curled into a ball and sobbed. She'd failed her daughter, she'd failed her fiancé, and the pain was overwhelming. No amount of shock could take that away.

Not all of the men had guns. Matt figured that was the only reason he was able to break into his home so quickly, but he soon realized that wasn't exactly true. They had no idea what they were up against and they were completely unprepared for anything like the onslaught that Matt brought them.

Even if they all had grenade launchers he doubted that would have made much difference. He was able to knock off five of them right off the bat before his shotgun ran out of ammo. By that point he had been able to take shelter behind an overturned coffee table while he whipped out a nine millimeter from his back pocket and continued picking them off. There were ten or so guys in his living room, and with Val slumped over in the chair in the middle of them he had to have sniper like precision.

When he stormed the house he hadn't thought he could get much more angry than he already was, but seeing what they'd done to the woman he loved, he proved himself wrong. What scared him even more was that Jack was missing. The magazine on his second gun ran out, leaving only one gun left.

Four of the guys were able to get close enough that he knew he wouldn't have time to kill them without being injured himself, and with his family still in danger that was a risk he couldn't afford.

He threw the smoke bomb, knowing that since there were several people trying to shoot him it would give him the advantage of invisibility so he could continue taking them on one at a time as he found them. The first opponent he came up against went down easy. Matt snapped his neck, and let him fall. He took the guy's crowbar and continued on to the next. Of course he had no idea where he was going, but he was still at the advantage of being more familiar with his surroundings than the opposition was.

He headed in what he hoped was the general direction of his beloved. He heard the attacker behind him before he had a chance to strike. He whipped around and brought the crowbar swinging, smashing it against the guy's jaw and sending him to the ground.

As the smoke began to dissipate he saw another and cracked him over the back of the head. Though he fell he attempted to scramble to his knees. Enraged Matt brought the weapon down on him time and time again, even after he fell limp and still.

"Matt?" Val's voice was trembling. He looked up, his face melting from it's hardened crazed mask of anger to one of affection and pain. The smoke was gone now so he rushed to her and fumbled deftly with the knots as she went on to explain that they were never after her, but Jack was the target. It made no sense. If they were just kidnappers how would it matter whether they took her or Jack as long as they got someone? As soon as Val was free of her bindings he took her in his arms and started screaming for his son.

"He's in his safe room." Val assured him.
Jack heard his father's screaming, and pressed the button about five times before the door could catch up to his excitement. He rushed out, only to be greeted by a tall man dressed totally in black his voice was full of gravel as he demanded Jack be quiet and reached out for his arm. Knowing what to do he swung his leg out, catching his attacker between the legs at the same time as he screamed.

"Daddy!" Matt thudded up the stairs hearing the distress in his son’s voice. His face became red again as he walked in on the scene.

"Jack, take your mother to the next room and stay in there." His eyes never left the now cowering roughen on the floor as he spoke to his boy.

"Okay. Are you alright Mommy?" Jack's big eyes, exactly the same as his fathers, looked with concern at his mother as his little hands tried to help her walk. She smiled down at him, smoothing his rumpled hair.

"I'll be fine."

As soon as they had left the room, Matt's maniacal smile came back and the poor bastard by his feet began whimpering.

"This is your lucky day," he told the black mass. "You're going to tell me exactly what I want to know and then I'll make your death quick and almost painless." The man remained silent, inching backwards as fast as he could. "I was hoping you would say that," Matt grinned even wider, cracking his knuckles and then slamming his fist into his palm as he approached the quivering pile of shit.