THIRD PERSON POV:
Rescue.
An act of saving or being saved from danger or distress.
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She had dialed the number.
He picked up the phone and smiled cynically.
Wyatt and Anastasia made eye contact, she nodded and he began typing.
"Hello Anastasia." his voice boomed in Anastasia's ear.
"Uncle Casher," she sighed, "You have Courtney and Dylan?"
Ana had phrased the statement as a question, even though they both knew that Casher had been the one to order the kidnapping. There was no question about the statement, only facts were being stated.
"Yes, I do." Casher confirmed, "Now if you want them to be returned to you unharmed, you will do exactly what I tell you, Anastasia. Do you understand?"
Ana rolled her eyes and looked towards Wyatt. He shook his head, he needed more time.
"Of course I'll listen to you Uncle Casher." Ana relented, "You were my father's brother. That had to have meant something to him, which means it means something to me." Ana told him softly.
She had to buy Wyatt time, enough time to finish tracking the location of Casher. This was the only way Courtney and Dylan would come back alive and unharmed. Deep down, Anastasia knew Casher would never give Courtney and Dylan back to her alive and unharmed, which meant taking things into her own hands.
Uncle Casher was not the same man she knew while she was growing up. Granted, when Anastasia knew him, her mother had always been around. Now her mother was not around, and considering Casher "loved" her mother, he must be driving himself mad over her death.
Ana paused for a split second as she thought, 'Maybe that was the reason behind everything?'
But she needed to dismiss those thoughts right now. There were more important things going on, and right now, Ana needed to be mentally present and focused on Casher. She couldn't allow him to get one over on her.
"Good girl." Casher spoke, "Now you'll need to hand over your gang to me, seeing as a little girl like yourself shouldn't be worrying her pretty little head about such matters. Do you understand that, sweetheart?"
"Yes, I understand Uncle Casher."
"That's a good girl, Ana." Casher replied, "Now You'll also need to bring yourself to the address I'll be giving you. Tonight at six-thirty. Do you understand or have any question?"
"Yes, Uncle Casher I understand. I'll be handing myself and my gang over tonight in exchange for Courtney and Dylan's safety. I don't have any questions."
"Good girl." Casher nodded his head in agreement, even though nobody could see him in his empty office, "Now-"
Wyatt had shook his head and gestured to his computer before holding up two fingers. He still needed more time to find the correct location. He needed two more minutes, at least.
"Actually, Uncle Casher-" Anastasia cut Casher off from hanging up, "I have a question I want to ask you. Can I do that?"
Casher was quiet for a moment before he responded, "I don't see the harm in answering a simple question from a young girl like yourself."
Anastasia didn't speak for a moment and Casher got impatient, "Your question, Anastasia? What is it?"
Casher didn't want her to ask any questions about what was to happen. The less information Ana had was better in Casher's eyes, however, he knew that in order to keep Ana at bay, right now he'd need to give up a little information. Eventually, though, Casher believed that he would be holding all of the cards.
"Why?" Anastasia asked quietly.
"Why what?" Casher asked, genuinely confused by the one-worded question.
There were so many things he did that she could ask the question "why" to. He didn't know which one she was refuring to.
"Why did you kidnap Courtney and Dylan? I would have given you the gang without you having to take them away from me." Anastasia spoke, practically forcing the last sentence out.
She would never give the gang up, not until she was older and had children to take her spot. She would never give her gang to someone as evil as Casher, Ana wasn't that stupid. Even if everyone else thought she was...
However, that didn't mean that she wouldn't use her gang to get what she wanted.
"Y-You would have just given me the gang?" Casher stuttered out.
That was news to Casher. He didn't think she would have given her gang up had he not threatened her. Hell, Casher wasn't sure if threatening Courtney and Dylan would be enough to do his bidding.
"Yes, I would have. So why did you feel the need to take Courtney and Dylan?" Ana asked after pausing for a few more seconds. She needed to stretch this phone call out for as long as she could.
"I figured you wouldn't have given your gang up." Casher stated with no hesitation.
Casher didn't know what to think. He didn't feel guilty, but he knew that tonight he was going to kill these children right in front of her. Ana would have given her gang up anyway, without him even taking Courtney and Dylan.
Maybe everyone's words we right, he was a monster.
'No, I'm not a monster. People forced all of my negative actions upon themselves.' Casher thought to himself.
Silence rang throughout both sides of the phone call.
"Any other questions, Anastasia?" Casher asked, wanting to finish this phone call. Anastasia always made Casher think and he hated that about her.
Ana looked to Wyatt and he nodded his head and gave her a thumbs up.
Wyatt had the address. She could hang up the phone and save Courtney and Dylan.
"No, I'm okay Uncle Casher." Anastasia replied, "As long as I get Courtney and Dylan back without a problem tonight."
"No problems will occur tonight as long as you hand yourself and your gang over, sweetheart." Casher smiled coily at her voice. At the end of the day Casher was still getting what he wanted.
"Of course, I'll see you later tonight then Uncle Casher."
"Before you hang up, Ana, make sure you don't tell anyone what you're doing. They may try and stop you from handing the gang over." Casher added. He couldn't take any chances of his plan failing, not when he was so close to victory.
"You've got it. I'll see you tonight, Uncle Casher." Ana told him and listened to him hang up the phone.
Ana then quickly hung up the phone as well.
"Ana he's at 473 Picollo Avenue. Apartment building 73, apartment number 401. Meaning he'll be on the fourth floor, first room." Wyatt told her as she moved out of her seat.
"Let's start getting the team on call. I want them all prepared with the best equipment and I want them on the scene or enroute within the next ten minutes." Ana demanded.
"Sending it out right now." Wyatt told her as he continued typing on his computer.
Ana moved to put her equipment on.
Her equipment consisted of a bullet proof vest, two small hand guns, both attached to the sides of her hips, two small, consealable daggers, which she placed on the inside of her coat pockets. They were out of sight and small enough to where people wouldn't be able to feel them on her body. This way Ana could get the drop on Casher, making it much easier to get both Courtney and Dylan back safely.
There was no telling what Anastasia might run into.
Once Anastasia was fully ready, with everything attached where it was supposed to be, and she had an ear piece placed gently in her ear, covered by both her ear and her hair. She walked out of the house she was in and moved towards her car. After saying a quick goodbye to Wyatt and Jamie who were staying behind to guide her throughout the house.
Seven minutes after the ended phone call between Casher and Anastasia, Ana was leaving in her car, half her troops were already at the address, and the other half were currently enroute to the adderess. Once everyone was in position, Wyatt and Jamie would let her know when to have her troops enter the building.
Heavy surveillance was on the location, with Wyatt and Jamie watching for anything out of the ordinary. They were giving her updates via the ear piece. And Ana could only hope that the twins were in the same place as Casher when he made that phone call.
Anastasia refused to let Casher get away with this. He couldn't get away with killing her parents, her adoptive parents, and definitely not for kidnapping her little siblings. He was going too far and needed to be stopped, whatever the cost.
A Few Minutes Later, at the Site -
"Is this it?" Ana asked into her ear piece as she drove by the address Wyatt had given her.
"Yeah that's it." Wyatt reassured.
"I'm gonna go in ahead of the teams. I need to check this place out first." Ana informed Wyatt and Jamie.
"Ana..." Jamie sighed.
"You're not changing my mind." Ana shook her head.
"Okay." Jamie and Wyatt spoke togther, "Just be careful."
"I will be." Ana told them through the ear peice, "Now, instructions, Wyatt."
"You're gonna want to go around back, through the ally-way and then, you should be able to find a guest parking spot. Park there and then go through the door. There's going to be about four different doors you have to go through. All of which should be locked, but I disabled them and reassigned them to a basic code. In order to get in you have to type in the numbers 110198-891011. It's your basic birth information typed forwards and then backwards. Once you're through I'll reset it to a bunch of random numbers that have no significant meaning." Wyatt told her.
"Park. Go through four different doors, using password 110198-891011."
"Correct." Wyatt told her.
"Got it. Thanks Wyatt."
A Few Minutes Later -
Getting out of the car, Anastasia quickly moved through the different levels of the apartment building until she got to the correct floor, and the correct apartment number.
Once she was at the correct spot, she took a deep breath before beginning to quietly pick the lock on the door. She had to try and get her baby siblings out first, they were the most important part of the entire mission. Anything else she could come back too at a different time. Not them, not Courtney and Dylan, they were too irreplaceable. They were the last important memento she had from her adoptive parents.
After about thirty seconds of fiddling with the lock, trying desperately to unlock the door as quietly as she could, she finally heard the familiar soft click of the locked door opening. Once she silently removed her tools that she used, she quietly pushed the door open, hoping it wouldn't squeak loudly. Luckily it didn't.
Once she made her way inside the apartment and softly closed the door behind her, making sure everything looked as it did before she entered, she continued on her journey further into the apartment, so she could find her the kids she considered her children.
Biologically, they might not be related to her, not at all. But her adoptive parents trusted them in her care, and with her being told by them that she could do it. That she could raise twins all by herself as a mother. Of course she wouldn't take her adoptive parents place, just like no one would take her parents place. But she would protect them like their mother or father would have.
Ana knew that both Courtney and Dylan would grow up knowing that they weren't biologically her's, but she loved them no matter what. She would explain that their parents died when they were younger because they were protecting everyone from the bad guys. She wouldn't hide anything from those children. Whatever they wanted to know, she'd tell them. Because they meant that much to her.
Six Minutes Later -
Minutes had passed and Ana was still unable to find her younger siblings. She was beginning to think they weren't here after all. But before she understood what her own body was doing she was flipping someone else over her shoulder, and pinning their body down to the ground, holding her foot to their throat. A sign used as if to show who held the power. In this case, Ana held the power.
The man she had thrown to the ground didn't look familiar, yet she felt like she had seen him before. Maybe in a different lifetime?
"Who are you?" she whispered harshly.
"I'm the man who kidnapped your children." the unknown man told her.
Ana's foot pressed harder against the man's throat.
"But I didn't want to, I swear." the man choaked out as his eyes widened.
Surprisingly, Ana found herself believing the man. His eyes held a certain truth to them, and maybe a certain sadness. However, she didn't drop her guard.
"Then why did you kidnap them?" she asked just as harshly as before as she applied a slight more amount of pressure on the man's throat.
"Because that man, the man who wanted them-" Ana cut him off, asking, "Casher?" to which the unknown man nodded his head, as much as he could with Ana's foot placed on his throat.
The unknown man began speaking again, "That man, Casher... He took my wife who was pregnant with our second child, as well as my daughter. She was only two. Casher, he waited until my unborn son was born and then he murdered my wife. He used my two year old and new-born baby as leverage. He threatened me, if I didn't do as he said he'd kill my children, they're the only things in the world left of my wife. I couldn't let him kill them. You have to understand. Please understand, I never wanted to hurt anyone, I just wanted to protect my children."
Tears dripped down the unknown man's face as he remembered the last time he saw his wife and children. It was nearly three years ago. He missed multiple milestones, that he would never get back. He wasn't even sure if his daughter remembered him, he was positive that his son didn't remember him or know who he was.
It was silent for a moment before the unknown man's voice filled the silence once again.
"I want to help you get your kids back." the man told her, not trying to hide his tears. He let them fall, he didn't care anymore. What could he live for without his children and wife? What was left for him, because for him those three people meant the whole world to him. He didn't love anyone besides them. And now with them being gone, he needed to right his wrongs.
Ana moved her foot off the man's throat, her gun stil aimed at the man's chest.
"What's the catch?" Ana asked the man cautiously.
"I want you to help me get my children back. Please." the man begged her, his eyes looking at hers.
He didn't move, he didn't care about the gun to his chest or the potential bullet to his brain if Casher found out that he was betraying him. Any consequence was worth it if he got his children back. This was Anastasia Marie Smith-Wolp, she had caused Casher more than one headache or failed plan.
"Okay." Ana sighed, withdrawing the gun from the man's chest.
She truly felt bad for this man, he had lost everything he cared about in his life, it was time he got some of that love back into his life.
"The name is Hunter, by the way." the man, now known as Hunter said.
"Okay, Hunter. My name is Stacy." Ana lied, she never went by Stacy, but if Hunter was trying to trick her...
"I know your name in Anastasia, but okay, I'll call you Stacy. if it makes you more comfortable" Hunter chuckled and Ana only grunted in response.
Hunter began to speak once again, "By the way, I'm pretty sure I know where Casher has your twins, unless he moved them without telling anyone."
Ana smiled a small smile before she spoke.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Show me where they could be." Ana demanded, as she placed her gun out in front of her.
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After going down to the base level floor of the building, they continued on down to the basement levels, going down one more floor to the section where misbehaved children belong, according to what Casher says.
"They were sent down to this section when they arrived here. I was to bring them down here, but I never got to bring them to their cell or even what section they were in down here . They have someone else do that, but right now everyone else is on break, celebrating the fact that they all think they won the war without it even starting." Hunter sighed as he explained. Then he ran a hand through his hair.
"So we just have to check all these sections?" Ana raised an eyebrow at Hunter.
"Yeah, but the thing is that there are over fifty cells to check per section, there are seven sections, and their break ends in about fifteen minutes." Hunter sighed, frustrated at the turn of events.
"Don't look so glum. We've got fifteen minutes, we better start searching." Ana said before darting off to start checking the first section.
Minutes Later -
"I found them." Ana whispered to herself.
'Cell 37. Section 4.' Ana thought, before running back to get the key.
She had two minutes until everybody started filling back in. She wasn't going to make it, she realized.
"Wyatt?" she called into her ear piece, waiting for him to speak.
She waited fifteen seconds, continuing to race through the halls.
"I'm here, sorry. What's up?" Wyatt's voice muffled as he spoke.
She found the key board. She looked at the section four key board, quickly locating cell 37's key. She grabbed it.
"I need a distraction. At least seven to ten minutes worth." Ana said quickly as she raced back towards the cell.
"I'll see what I can do." Wyatt said before Ana heard typing.
The key would open the door that held Courtney and Dylan's sleeping forms, plus what looked to be two other children from the looks of it. She had to get them out of here. She was so close to getting them to freedom.
Time was ticking, but Ana had to rescue Courtney and Dylan. It was a must, Ana couldn't give up until they were out of this building and in the SUV, driving far away from here, where they would be deemed safe.
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Once Ana got back to the cell she had found her children inside, she noticed Hunter right by the cell.
"Oh my god, here are your kids." Hunter called out.
"I know I already have the key. Now move, we don't have long." Ana said, pushing Hunter out of the way.
As soon as Ana unlocked the door, and opened the door Wyatt's voice rang clear throughout her ears.
"Ana you've got about three minutes before they get down there. I'm not sure exactly how long it'll take them to get to your exact spot, but they're going to notice the key's gone. When you're ready to get out of here, let me know."
"Okay." Ana sighed quietly.
Both Ana and Hunter walked through the cell door, Ana keeping the cell key on her, just in case something were to happen. As Ana walked towards Courtney and Dylan's sleeping forms, Hunter gasped.
"What Hunter?" Ana asked as she turned to look at the man she had met not even an hour prior.
"T-That's... Ellie," Hunter cried out in relief.
'His daughter.' Ana thought.
"Then that must be your son." Ana pointed to the little boy next to Ellie, "Congrats on finding them, but if you want them to live, I suggest picking them and getting ready to run." Ana told him.
She quickly picked Dylan up and set him on her hip, repeating the process with Courtney. She sighed looking at them, they seemed unharmed, but God did Ana miss them.
"Okay." Hunter nodded as he picked up his daughter and his son, whom he never got to name.
But his wife loved the name Eric, so the young boy in his arms was going to be named Eric. Ellie, a 5 year old girl, and Eric a 3 year old boy.
"Okay." Ana spoke into the ear piece, "We're ready to go Wyatt. Get us out of here."
"Great, when you exit the cell go left, about one-hundred-fifty feet from that is a door, that door will take you to a back set of stairs. Right by where I had you park your car earlier. It should be a straight shot from there to the car." Wyatt told her, confidence seeping into his voice.
A Few Hours Later -
"Okay, Hunter. This is everything you need to start your new lives. And remember if you ever need anything let me know" Ana smiled.
"I will, even though you've already done so much for me and my family." Hunter sighed happily as he looked at the young teenager in front of him.
Hunter couldn't believe that his time as Casher's captive was finished. He could finally close that chapter of his life and keep those days behind him. If only his wife was still here and alive, then Hunter's life would be complete, but his life is better than it was only mere hours ago. Hunter still had a reason to be thankful and praise whatever God he believed in for keeping his children safe, and bringing them back to him.
He couldn't wait to start a new life. His new life.
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"Well, I hope he enjoys the private plane." Ana sighed once she closed the door to the outside.
In the past four hours Ana had successfully taken back Courtney and Dylan, while killing off at least half of Casher's army that he had collected, alongside Hunter. Ana had also successfully freed multiple children Casher had been holding captive, as well as a few of the adults Casher had been holding captive as well.
Of course Ana hadn't directly stumbled across Casher, meaning she couldn't kill him. Not yet. The war was only half way won at this point, but Ana and 'The White Wolves' had definitely won this portion of the battle.
The war wasn't won, but this battle was most definitely done.
Now Anastasia has to make sure that in the coming days her family is protected, because the war is coming and it's raging, ready to be released, on who whoever's closest.
The war wouldn't care who it took out.
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Author's Note -
Here's chapter thirty completed.
You officially met the man who kidnapped Dylan and Courtney. He only did it because he wanted to save his children, but at the end of the day, Anastasia got Courtney and Dylan back, and she also freed Hunter and his children from captivity. She also rescued many more young children she was able to find after Courtney and Dylan had been taken to safety.
Let me know what you think about this chapter. And make sure you all comment, vote (by clicking the star), and share this story with those who might like it.
Thanks for reading!
-michaelaloveswriting
Original Version Published: Feburary 1st. 2020
Edited Version Published: January 10th. 2023