As Drake slowly turned the doorknob, he figured that he was in luck. 
Tanner's thugs hadn't even bothered locking the back door. Once the sound of 
Jarhead firing off a few shots to start a diversion came, he pushed the door 
open. It wasn't until he heard the low growling close behind him that Drake 
realized why the goons hadn't felt the need to lock the door.
	Drake considered himself somewhat of a cat person. Wouldn't want to own 
one of the little furballs, but at least they usually left him alone, unless one
 happened to be lying in the bushes that he chose as a hiding spot for taking 
pictures of a cheating husband. But dogs, they had an annoying habit of trying 
to tear off portions of his anatomy when they found him in their territory, 
much like the distressingly large dog now standing on the back porch was about 
to do.
	As Drake slammed the door shut behind him and listened to the frenzied 
barking outside, he reflected on the fact that there's never an easy break in 
his line of work.
	Since nobody was coming to check on the dog's barking, Drake made his 
way quickly through the house, and up the stairs. One of Tanner's men was still 
in the house, but he was looking out the front window, allowing Drake to slip by
him easily.
	Moving quickly, he tore through the rooms upstairs. A bathroom, two
messy bedrooms, and two rooms that were empty except for some scattered beer
cans and pizza boxes.
	Drake cautiously moved down the hall toward the last room. If Robbie's
girl wasn't in here, than this entire endeavor would be a wasted risk, and if
there was one thing Drake hated (there were quite a few, actually, ranging from
deadbeat clients to his landlord) it was putting his life on the line when he
didn't have to. Which is why he was more than a little upset when the room 
turned out to not have any young girls in it. The two large men rising from 
their chairs with expressions of angered surprise on their faces also added to
the feeling.
	They both looked like average grunts. Large, muscled, wearing clothes
 that looked like they hadn't been washed in a week, and most importantly, from 
Drake's point of view, each was wearing a holster with a gun in it. One of the 
men growled a question as he reached for the holster strapped under his left 
arm, dropping a small black book he had been holding. "Who the heck are you?"
	Despite the situation, Drake actually favored the thugs with a small
grin. "I'm nobody important. The guy you've got to worry about is behind you."
	The first goon drew his gun and sneered. "Yeah, right, like I'm gonna
fall for that!"
	The next sound was the shattering of a pane of glass in the window as
a bullet smashed its way into the room, and struck the thug, who toppled forward
with a strangled exclamation of surprise. His partner spun around to face the
window, drawing his own gun, giving Drake the perfect chance to smash one of the
wooden chairs in the room over the goon's head.
	Drake flipped a thumbs-up to Jarhead, who was sitting high in the
branches of a tree across the street, a grin on his face, and a hunting rifle in
his hands. Bending down, Drake picked up the book the thug had dropped, and
flipped through it. It wasn't as well written as War and Peace, but it was
certainly a lot more interesting. The first few pages were just lists of names
and addresses, some of them crossed out in red ink, and all in the parts of 
Crummton notorious for containing the homes of gang members and the grunts of 
The Outfit, Drake noticed. After those came a note, however, which made Drake's 
day even worse.
	"Louie, make sure to hit all these places. The boss wants all of the
kids, and he needs them all in perfect condition. If even one of them gets the 
slightest cut, you'll wish that we'd given you to The Outfit. If you do this 
right, though, you'll be set for life."
	As Drake made his way back down the stairs, he let his thoughts roam. If
the guy holding the book was Louie, whoever wanted those kids would be set back
for a while, but probably not for long. And judging by the way some of the
addresses were crossed out, several kids besides Robbie's had already been 
taken. And all of them from people who had good reason not to go to the cops for
help. But what could someone want with all those kids...?
	Drake's thoughts were cut off as he opened the back door, and nearly had
his foot bitten off by the large dog he'd escaped before. He slammed the door 
shut again, and began working his way into the house, when he suddenly heard the
front door open and slam shut, followed by the sound of voices quickly
approaching his location...



M.E.T.A. 1, Scene 4
http://www.chaoseed.com/btr/meta/
4/3/00