The kitchen was to the right with a hallway directly to their front. Jared assumed the hallway connected with the kitchen, making the two rooms interconnecting. Without a word Jared moved to the hallway and stopped as John moved laterally to the right in order to clear the kitchen. John was surprised since he had never worked with Jared in a real-life situation, while Jared was secretly proud of the fact that he was taking some initiative in their little two-man operation.
He knew John viewed him as a lesser, and for some reason, it bothered Jared. Again, this post-event psychology garbage was baffling him. Why was he jealous of Shannon’s obvious affection for John, and why did he care what John thought of him when it came to tactical skill and prowess? Secretly Jared was glad Bart had spent all that time teaching him how to clear a house. He should have been proud that Bart’s teaching allowed him to save his or someone else’s life, but, truth be told, Jared was most happy about being capable so he didn’t feel inferior.
When John was finished with the kitchen, he moved close to Jared and whispered in his ear, “Kitchen connects to the hallway up there.” He finished by pointing Jared farther up the hallway.
Jared dipped his chin in acknowledgment before moving into the hallway, his rifle up and at the ready. John pushed up against Jared in the tight confines of the hallway, trying to ensure they had two rifles pointing ahead in case trouble reared its ugly and unwanted head. A hallway was no place to be in a gunfight, and John knew all too well your only real choice, if some bastard stepped out of a bedroom doorway, was to fight forward—violently.
If he and Jared tried retreating, they would both surely be gunned down from behind and die in a pile of humanity on the floor of the hallway. If they returned fire and advanced on an assailant, they could disrupt the aggressor’s perceived advantage. This would greatly enhance their ability to gain back some of the disadvantage they gave away by being in the hallway in the first place.
Squished together, the two advanced toward four doorways down the hall. In the absence of artificial light, the hallway was dim at best, while the floor was equally lacking with boards that creaked and groaned with even the lightest shift of one’s body. The first was open, and John easily cleared most of the room without ever entering the space. Once Jared was slightly past the first room, John swept in and easily cleared the tiny area, including an even smaller closet. They repeated the process with the second bedroom and a small hallway bathroom before arriving at the last door, which was closed. The door had a large latch on the outside with a padlock on it. John didn’t bother checking to see if it was a key or combination type; it didn’t matter.
Chapter 11
After seeing the padlock on the door, John leaned into Jared. “Go in the room next door, and if I take any hostile fire, light ’em up through the wall. I’m gonna tear that lock off and make entry. I’ll let you know when I’m going in, so don’t tear the place down with me inside,” John whispered.
Jared bobbed his head and ducked into the bedroom that shared a wall with the locked room. Once inside, Jared thought about the situation and wasn’t comfortable not being able to see John. He moved to the doorway, where he could still cover the shared wall while maintaining a visual on John. Jared wanted no part of any sort of friendly-fire incidents.
Jared watched John about to strike the latch with his rifle butt. Then he stopped and appeared to mentally measure whether he could pry the latch with his weapon’s barrel. Finally, John seemed to abandon any desire to intellectually game plan because he ended up simply kicking in the door. The door caved easily under the heavy kick John administered, but the latch held, causing only the bottom of the door to cave inward. Without hesitation, John squatted and pushed under the door, then stood straight up and ripped the rest of the latch and door off their moorings.
If there was anyone inside, John must have looked like some crazed monster with the rifle up and the shattered door hanging from his large shoulders, Jared thought as he refocused on the wall he might have to shoot through. One last peek outside and Jared knew he wouldn’t be shooting through the wall as he watched John disappear into the room.
“Don’t shoot,” John roared just as Jared reached the door himself.
Jared found John standing just inside the room, staring at the far side of the room, where two young women were cuffed to the wall. The young women looked terrified, while the two men stood dumbfounded staring at them. The woman to the left looked to be in her mid-twenties, with brunette hair and brown eyes. She was barefoot and wore leggings and a torn T-shirt with the Santa Clara University Broncos logo on the front. The second woman seemed to be in her late teens or early twenties, blonde with green eyes, and was also barefoot. She wore jeans and what had once been a stylish blouse before being overused and under washed.
Jared looked on in horror at how the women were secured to the
