Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3) by Matt Lincoln (classic books for 10 year olds txt) 📕

would help get me out of this. “In a building across the street from the general store. There was a blue wind chime on the front porch.”

“That sounds like James’s kid,” one of the other men grunted. The first man seemed to relax a little.

“What does she look like?” he asked suspiciously. I hadn’t actually seen the girl when we’d entered the house, only her parents and the two men we’d followed inside.

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

“Then how do you know he was trying to hurt her?” The man asked as he pulled a gun out of his waistband and pointed it at me. My heart stopped, and I could hear a ringing in my ears as I looked down the barrel of the gun.

“Hey!” Patel’s voice broke through the ringing in my ears and grounded me again. I turned toward the sound of her voice. She was standing a few feet away. Her gun was pointed at the man, and she was slowly approaching us.

“Stop!” The man yelled. “Or I’ll-”

“Yuh wi what?” Patel cut him off in Patois. “A yuh gwine lick shot ah federal agent? Yuh waah di fi wi wul agency tuh cum dung pan you?”

I wasn’t entirely sure what she’d said, but I could tell she’d mentioned the term “federal agent.” Whatever she’d said, it had given the men pause. They were looking at each other nervously, and I was tense as I waited to see what their response would be.

“Mi nah fraid ah sum Merikan agency,” the first man finally growled with a scoff. He took a step forward and puffed his chest out in a show of confidence.

“Den bi fraid ah mi,” Patel hissed as she stalked toward the man, her gun aimed directly at him. “Mi bet mi cud kill at least two ah yuh before yuh get ah shot eena. Between fi mi partner an mi Mi bet wi cudda wollah yuh pan di grung eena ah few seconds. Suh wah mek nuh yuh jus gweh before mi decide tuh use yuh ed tuh tess fi mi aim?”

Patel and the man stayed locked in a standoff for a few more seconds before the man finally lowered his gun.

“Let’s go,” he growled at the men behind him. He tucked his gun back into his pants before turning around to lead the rest of his troupe down the street and around the corner.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. That wasn’t the first time I’d had a gun pointed at me, but the experience never got any easier.

“Did you threaten to kill them?” I asked Patel once I felt comfortable that the men were out of earshot.

“Yes,” she huffed as she put her gun back in its holster. “Definitely not protocol, but it was necessary for this situation. They weren’t at all intimidated by the fact that we were federal agents. I needed to find another way to get them to back down.”

“How did you know that would work?” I asked.

“I didn’t,” Patel admitted. “But you were up against four men with a gun pointed at your head. We didn’t have much to lose at that point.”

“That’s true,” I conceded. My hands felt a little shaky from the rush of adrenaline, but I tried to brush it off. “We should head back to the house. What happened with the other suspect?”

“He’s in police custody,” Patel informed me as we made our way back. “The cops that were on standby came in and took him away fairly quickly. Even they don’t want to spend any more time here than necessary.”

“I can see why,” I remarked.

“Indeed,” Patel nodded. “Let’s just speak to the parents and get out of here. I have no desire to spend any more time here than I need to.”

We hurried back toward the house. Even though we were out of danger, for the time being, I kept glancing over my shoulder.

“Do you think that those men were working with the traffickers?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” Patel frowned. “If they were, they probably would have just killed us. I think it’s more likely that they were just some residents who didn’t like having the authorities in their neighborhood.”

“Great,” I replied sarcastically. Though I suspected as much, considering how surprised the men had seemed to hear that the suspect had been targeting a girl living in their neighborhood, it did nothing to alleviate my fears. If anything, it just made me more nervous that we might be attacked again at any moment.

I felt relieved when we finally made it back to the house. Patel stepped inside first, and I followed her in. The woman from before was sitting on the couch rocking a small girl back and forth in her arms while the man was cleaning broken bits of glass and furniture off of the floor. I hadn’t realized how much damage we’d inadvertently caused earlier.

“What is happening?” the woman asked as we came into the house. “Who are you? Why did everyone suddenly start shooting?”

The man on the floor suddenly stopped cleaning and stood up in front of us as if shielding his wife and child.

“You are Mr. and Mrs. Green, correct?” Patel asked. “The men who came into your home tonight were here before, weren’t they? I’m guessing they told you that they were going to take your daughter to a school in America.”

“How did you know?” Mrs. Green asked. She exchanged a nervous look with her husband.

“We heard that you changed your mind the first time,” Patel replied. “Can you tell us why you did that?” The woman stroked her sleeping daughter’s hair gently.

“I just had a bad feeling,” she croaked as tears began to well up in her eyes. “I just had this fear that if I let them take my little girl, I would never see her again. I was right, wasn’t I?”

“I’m afraid so, Mrs. Green,” Patel nodded.

“I told you!” The woman suddenly yelled at her husband. “I told you something was wrong!