The Auction

The Auction - A Hannah Todd Story

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental. This work is copyrighted by the author. All characters involved in sexual activity are eighteen years of age or older at the time of portrayal.

This is the continuing adventures of Hannah Todd. I would strongly recommend you read at least some of "The Bridge" and "Badass," which provide the backstory for most of the characters in this story. And if you've been reading me, thank you for your continued support. Your comments are priceless, so please leave your wisdom so I might improve my writing.

The Auction - Part Twelve

Duane was up at five, and in the gym downstairs at five fifteen. Bertha was coming early at my request today, but she wouldn't be here until five-thirty. Without Ellie. Mac was in the loop and was staying home with his daughter and doing some finishing of projects in the garage. With an operation like this happening, I'd need Bertha's support every step of the way.

I got up at six and woke the kids and went down for a cup of that delicious-smelling coffee that Bertha had already brewed up. A little jet fuel for my engine.

Duane was just coming upstairs from the basement gym, and he was a sweaty mess. He went outside to put in a few miles just to cool down from his workout. I decided on coffee before any thoughts of going for a run. My running partner would be unavailable to me. She was down in Maryland hanging out in a tree. None of my first team except Danny and Herb are around. Even my dear Domingo is going to be out there in the field getting shot at. And Lizzie won't run. Just on the treadmills. She said that running in the city is such a hassle. So many people. So she has her treadmill at her place, and she's sticking to it.

Bertha knew Duane was getting ready for battle and that he liked a full belly before he embarked on that kind of adventure. So she had the skillet going on all burners. She whipped him up half a dozen eggs, with bacon, sausages and home fries and a side of fruit salad. Such as it is this time of year. He had a cup of coffee and took a thermos to go. Black, like I like it.

When he went to the shower, I offered to do his back. He had his game face on and told me that today is not a day for that. That when the job is done, then he will come home and I can do his back if he can do my front. So we shook on it. At least I shook. All over when he gave me a world-class kiss and told me he loved me more than anything on earth.

He looked so handsome in his Ranger greens. How can I not drag this man upstairs and give him the finest bedding he's ever had? But I must be the supporting lover and mother to his children while he is off to war. We visited them after the big kids went off to school.

It was so cute watching him roughhouse with Duane, Jr. and cuddle with his little princess, the Diva. He told them each how much he loved them and then told them collectively. It broke my heart 'cause he sounded like he was saying goodbye to them. That, to me, is unacceptable.

"Duane. You must be careful. Don't go hard-charging in there, having to be the first one in. Lead from a safe vantage point. Lead from the rear, where all good generals command from. Many people are counting on your being there when it all washes out. Especially me."

"I love you too, Queen Bee. You are my one and truest love. You are everything to me. Please don't worry. I'll be home with bells on. I'm feeling good about this one. We've got a great crew, a superior plan, and the element of surprise is on our side. And I've got you, Hannah. What more could a man ask for?"

"Just that you come home to me, safe and sound, and that you bring my boys and girls home with you, all in one piece."

"I promise I will do everything in my power to make that happen.

"I love you, Duane. No other man could do for me what you do. It's way beyond the physical stuff. It's spiritual. I love you to the depths of my soul, Duane. I cannot live without you."

"Then I'll have to make sure that everyone makes it home then, right?"

"Go get 'em, my general."

"Yes, my Queen."

And with a great big kiss, he was off.

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I was a nerve ending the entire day. Bertha kept trying to feed me, and Lizzie kept plying me with wine. There were only videos from the wasp drone and the sniper rifles right now, during the day. Herman, Caroline and Kevin snuck up into the trees just before sunup and were sizing up the perimeter. It was a beautiful, sunny day, which was good for our snipers but not for the guards, who had to deal with the sun glare. They would never suspect that three snipers back in the tree line were watching them diligently.

We watched through Herman's rifle-cam as the fifty-caliber machine gun was mounted on its stand. There were six people on the roof. A gunner, his feeder and four baddyguards with either machine guns or sniper rifles. Lizzie and I watched as each of our snipers focused in on potential targets, moving from one to the other quickly and then doing it again and again. Practicing for the real deal. Herman would take out the machine gunner and his feeder, who were stationed right over the front door. Caroline would get the two on her side, and Kevin would take the other two.

Whenever they would do a sweep, getting a good shot at the garage door each was closest to, I would gaze at the screen, hoping to get a closer look.

We also had the wasp drone showing footage of what was happening inside. We could see where they were keeping the girls. The beautiful, pitiful things whose life of bondage was just beginning. There were two buses parked inside the warehouse, not far from the garage door on the left. There were also porta-potties laid out against the wall. Some of the baddyguards were marching girls from the buses to the porta potties and back. There were also cages lining the walls on that side of the warehouse, and they were filling up with girls, as vans and cars dropped them off one, two, maybe three at a time. All dressed in their skimpiest, sexiest dresses. They all seemed to be confined to one-third of the building. Good for our purposes, but it is what we expected. Exactly what we expected.

In the middle of the warehouse, and taking up a substantial space, was the auction floor, replete with its stage and podium. The seating was folding chairs and was done in groupings so that bodyguards might walk around and never be too far from any one person. The better to guard them. And guard against them.

There did not appear to be much action around the shipping containers, but I guess we'd know their purpose later on. If we get there. I know what our purpose would be for them.

There was plenty going on, but I still hadn't heard boo from Duane and his little brigade. The comm-link was not on, and the bodycams were off. The next couple of hours were torturous. I was driving Lizzie crazy with my pacing.

My obsessing was broken up at six-fifteen when I got a call from Ninja. Mr. Tagachi and his party had been waylaid on Route 40, and the only living member of the party was Tagachi himself. Both bodyguards and the driver were killed trying to stop us and Tagachi was sedated and locked in the trunk of his car. The dead bodyguards are inside the car, and it has been pushed into the woods. He expected to be at the venue between seven-fifteen and seven thirty. They wanted to get there early to gain entry and to survey the girls and where they were being kept. He also wanted to identify the button that would open the garage doors, which he did.

Romy, posing as Francois Peintre, and Hoagie disguised as the bidder Tim Handler, arrived with two close combatants after the real Handler received the same treatment Tagachi got.

Jim Butler, Avi, and Rapper Malone arrived separately, Butler as the proxy to Deacon Peacock. Upon entry and just past the full body scanner, the party was segregated, as Butler, who was expected, was pulled aside by the baddyguards.

Inside the trunk of Hoagie's classic town car was Tripper, our hacker in chief. Because they had arrived early, they had parking close to the venue as the outside baddyguards guided them to their parking spot. The place was nowhere near filled yet, but the sun was not down and the action never truly begins until dark.

As Romy's party was getting checked in, Ninja's vehicle was just being parked. The Butler party arrived last and found themselves standing in a long line until they got to the scanner, where Butler was revealed upon identification by the guards at the scanner.

At the same time, Juicy, in her Little Bird, and Ronnie, in the big Huey with a copilot and crew of two medics, were fueled up and parked at an abandoned airstrip ten minutes from the venue. Juicy would come in first and raise hell with her miniguns. Then after the battle, Ronnie would fly in and evacuate any of the wounded or dead. The ones who were ours.

At seven-thirty, the lights started flickering on around the outside of the warehouse, and the first of our troops; the A-team, got dropped off from a number of vehicles. Duane, with Anthony and Alec, joined by Dom, Ali and Juan, were the first into the woods, while the buses and vans drove around like they were on tour until just after dark. By then the road to the venue, which is normally silent, would be still again once all the bidders had arrived at the warehouse.

One by one and two by two, girls, all wearing black collars, were being led to the staging area where the bidding would turn them from formerly free women to someone's property. Dragged and prodded, dressed like they should be out on the street selling their wares, they obediently fell into line, stone-faced, resigned to their fate.

Duane and company hunkered down at the tree line, which was a little more than a football field away from the warehouse building. There were surprisingly few baddyguards outside, mostly being used to escort people into the entrance where the body scanner was; and to keep order in the long line. Everyone entering except for the baddyguards had to pass through that scanner. Everyone. A contingent of baddyguards was stationed in the parking lot watching over the cars, some being attended by chauffeurs, who were also armed, of course.

The scanner slowed the process of entering the building, but because Romy and Ninja's parties entered early, it gave them the chance to case the place. And to check out the girls and what their status and placement was. Also, to identify the buttons that electronically opened the garage doors.

From our vantage point, looking at the monitor showing the wasp drones point of view, we could see that as the bidders moved around and scouted out the girls, that many of the women were being taken out of the buses, a group at a time, and being paraded in front of the bidders. Other women were in cages or chained together. It was a cornucopia of human flesh. It made me angry that this could be happening. You would think that after what I've seen, I'd be immune to it. But it kills me just a little every time I'm exposed to it. The garage door opened one more time, and the last bus drove in. Filled with girls, I reckoned.

There was a knot in my stomach, so I had to walk away. I went to walk down to the Closet to see Herb, and I noticed it was dark out. The battle was getting ready to begin.

"Miss Todd. Turn on your side monitor; you know the full wall unit to your right. I want to send something into you."

So, I went back to the videoconference room where Lizzie was diligently watching the footage from Duane's body cam. He had just made it to the tree line, and the venue was jumping. Even from a hundred yards away, you could tell. All the windows were lit up, but the garage doors were closed.

At around nine o'clock, the buses dropped their cargo of fighting men off at the entry of the forest that would lead to the venue through the woods. Anthony was there to greet them. They hiked through the woods, and as they did, my right-hand wall lit up with screens of their bodycams. It was a sort of sensory overload for me, but I appreciated the input.

The comm-link was up and these guys were on it, but they didn't make a peep. Only the occasional cracking of a branch or a squish from someone who had stepped in a pile of dry leaves. They went about their business silently.

When they got to the tree line, they split into two groups. Rhee's people and my people. Rhee's people will enter through the open garage door on the right; where the shipping containers are. My people will enter through the left-side garage door and land where the buses are parked and the girls are being held.

Once we enter the venue and take care of business, we will join in the middle where the auction is taking place. We will kill and capture guards and round up bidders and their personal bodyguards. At least that's the plan. I also want Teetotaler alive and in person. I have a special place for him.

While all this was going on, Tripper had worked his magic and started the hack. Now his people, both in the woods and in the van, would have control over all drones, ASRs and Cyberdogs on the premises. It took him half an hour to capture and reprogram all the pieces of technology, but he got it done, and now all we needed to do was wait for the clock to strike ten; the time the auction is scheduled to start. That's when the shit will hit the fan.

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At nine forty-five everyone was in place. All in their Ranger green cammos and wearing balaclavas to cover their faces, making them appear even more frightening.

Alec, Anthony, Juan, Dom and Ali had crawled in toward the warehouse, outside the tree line, so they would be the first to breach to take out baddyguards who were watching over the cars and the front entry door once the outdoor technology was disabled and stopped shooting at their own people. Their long guns were poised to take out anyone leaving the venue from the front door. Our three snipers were poised to take out everyone on the roof and then to support the troops who would be storming the warehouse from the treeline. Caroline in particular would take out bodyguards and chauffeurs in the parking lot.

At ten on the dot, Teetotaler called out over the loudspeaker for everyone to take their seats. We heard it via the wasp drone that was sitting up in the rafters. It suddenly got very quiet during the announcement, then the noise level rose the instant the announcement was done as the bidders and their private security moved to their seats from the staging area where the girls were being kept.

That is the very moment that Duane called for the action to start, with the techs taking control of and unleashing Teetotaler's drones and ASRs to rain death both inside and outside the venue. Moments after he gave the command, everyone on the roof was dead. All the baddyguards in the parking lot were dead. Herman had taken out the machine gunner and his mate, and Caroline and Kevin took out the other four baddyguard snipers on the roof. Along with the charging RFS agents, they took out the guys in the parking lot.

Their technology did the rest as the ASRs and outside drones killed every operator guarding the outside, while the drones and ASRs inside took out baddyguards by autonomously focusing on their comm-links. The Cyberdogs attacked their handlers and then fell silent. It was a last-minute decision by Tripper's team to go for the frequency on their comm-links instead of the color black. It would save more souls.

As our team members reached the warehouse, after running across the football field sized area between it and the tree line, drones fell from the sky and from inside the venue, and ASRs and Cyberdogs fell silent thanks to Tripper's troop of techs.

Our inside people hit the deck and donned their orange beanies until the ASRs and flight drones were stopped dead in their tracks by the tech team. That's when Ninja and Hoagie, running through a hail of bullets, sprang into action and hit the buttons that opened the garage doors, only to be greeted by a hoard of Spanner troops and RFS assault squad members.

My five A-team members, along with my inside people, held off the remaining baddyguards and the personal bodyguards who were grabbing whatever weapons they could get their hands on. There was a lot of shooting and lots of panic as my guys flooded in through the garage door and past the girls to waylay any remaining guards and those who took up arms against us.

Rhee's people entered through the other garage door, finding little resistance from the other side. They made their way onto the bidding floor and shot at anything that was shooting back. Then they rounded up anyone who looked like a bidder. Those who were still alive.

Teetotaler was hiding behind the podium, shaking in his boots. His people hiding behind the stage. Rhee's troops locked him and another man down in a safe space for transportation to the southern Chester County property, and then to the safe house.

As the garage doors were ascending, Juicy showed up in her Little Bird and hovered in front of the warehouse prepared to take on anyone fleeing the venue. She made a quick pass around the warehouse to make sure there were no stragglers to be taken out, and she caught a handful running out the backdoors that she quickly dispatched before returning to the front of the warehouse to further prevent anyone from leaving. Archer was with her and helped to keep an eye out for anyone trying to escape. He'd traded his bow for a sniper rifle and was ready enough to pick off two of the stragglers. Juicy got the rest with the miniguns.

Lizzie and I held hands and hugged each other as we watched the drone footage and that from the bodycams as people ran around panicking and screaming as they tried to find some means of escape from the chaos. I was shaking. So was Lizzie.

After a little more than five minutes, the guns fell silent as Duane Royce came into the center of the valley of death inside that warehouse. Unscathed and in charge.

That's when the next step in the plan moved forward. At Duane's behest, I called Carlotta Russo, who had been on standby for me all day and night, and told her what was going on. From a certain point of view. I let her know that the auction was in process and that we would need a full-court press of law enforcement and that when I got the coordinates, I would contact her. "Carlotta, have a shitload of cops ready to pounce in western Maryland. That's what I can tell you now."

"But..." she said.

"No buts, Russo. Just do it."

The next step was to disarm and herd any remaining Teetotaler baddyguards and personal bodyguards into two of the shipping containers and bidders into the third. We locked them in for their own protection as well as to prevent their escape. If the girls got loose, who knows what they might have done to those who had actively enslaved them and tortured and raped them. We had seen what happened before. It wasn't pretty.

In the meantime, we had to attend to the girls, who were on the left side of the warehouse. The big garage door separating the large room containing the girls was closed to further separate them from the bad guys and make law enforcement's job easier. With megaphone in hand, Romy let the girls know that their long, horrible nightmare was over and that the police would be coming soon to set them free and to be patient. After what they had just experienced with gunfire everywhere and bullets flying, and people dying, they were huddled together in groups, shuddering and crying their eyes out. Three of them were dead, and several were wounded or otherwise injured.

The Auction - Ch 12

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