bullets and bouquets

66

"All right, Pippa, come on," Bella gives her an article of Sadie's clothing. Specifically, one of her white shirts. She takes in Sadie's scent before pulling Finn in one direction. Dacre has Elio and Natalia gives him one of Sabrina's shirts. After he has the scent, he pulls Dacre in the same direction. Bella and Natalia then give the shirts to the other dogs. Vita and Orso also begin to track Sadie's scent. Fia and Nino track Sabrina's, "You guys were right."

All six German shepherds pull on their leashes in the same direction. Joe has Vita and Orso. Jenna has Fia and Nino. Men from each gang leader follow behind them. They are armed and prepared. Since they are in the countryside, there are no civilians to call the police for suspicious behavior.

"Let's go over the plan again," Natalia says, "Dacre and Finn will enter first with their teams."

"I'll use amnesia bombs to subdue the enemies," Finn states.

"Then Natalia and I will enter to help look for Sadie and Sabrina," Jenna explains.

"And Joe and I come in last with the dogs when necessary," Bella adds.

"So we're all on the same page, good," Natalia states.

"Are you guys going to kill the gang?" the brunette asks.

"Should we?" Joe asks.

"Well, if you leave them alive, won't they try and come back?"

"Good point," Dacre comments, "We can kill them after we get Sabrina and Sadie. Sound good?"

"Yeah," the others answer. Before they can get close to where Sabrina and Sadie are being held at, some men from Z Harris' gang attack them.

"Luce verde!" Bella yells. The dogs run up to the men and begin to bite them. Gunshots ring out from the men and from the group.

"Ah! Fucking dogs!"

"Shit!"

The group continues to fight while the dogs keep them distracted with pain. Within the next couple of seconds, all of Z Harris' men are gone.

"Fuori," Bella states. The dogs run back to their respective handlers. Natalia pants and catches her breath, "Everyone okay?"

The rest of them nod. They've lost some of their own men as well.

"Andare," Bella commands, meaning "go". The dogs look around but ultimately sit down, meaning they've lost the scent, "Fuck."

"What?" Jenna asks.

"They've lost the scent," Natalia answers.

"The gunpower might be too overpowering of a smell," Joe adds.

"Well, the men attacked us, we can't be far from where they are held," Dacre suggests, "Let's keep going this way."

***

Back at the Estate, Trent has Lyle and Pierre working on locating the families of the children. Florence sits in the security room with Cinna as they try to help the group pinpoint a location or give them any useful information.

"What is that, there?" Florence asks, looking at a little dot on a map.

"I don't know," Cinna states. He zooms in on the monitor.

"Is it a building?"

"No, it's too small to be a building," he states, "... it's a trap door. They're being held underground."

"I'll radio Natalia," Florence says, "Natalia, it's Florence, do you copy?"

"I copy."

"You're not looking for a building," she says. Natalia stops the group.

"What?"

"You're looking for a trap door. They're being held underground," the blonde woman informs them.

"Are you sure?" she asks.

"Positive. It's the only thing in the relative location to where you are," Florence looks at a different monitor that's tracking them, "You're close."

"Okay, got it," Natalia answers. She puts her radio back on her belt, "look for a trap door."

"Trap door?"

"Pippa has something!" Finn calls as the dog almost pulls his arm out of his socket. The others are quick to catch up with them. Pippa pulls at the leash, head down sniffing the ground aggressively. Just like Florence said, Pippa stops in front of a wooden trap door, "Holy shit."

"Florence," Natalia radios her, "We found it. We're going in."

"Copy that, we have eyes on you."

Finn and Dacre hand the dogs off to another member of the team, "Ready?"

Finn nods. They put their gas masks on and open the trap door. They listen for sounds but it's quiet. The rest of their team prepares to go down. Finn pulls an amnesia bomb out of his bag and throws it down. Natalia, Jenna, and Bella stand back to avoid being taken out.

"We'll find her," Dacre says to Bella as they lower themselves into the bunker. The two men disappear along with their teams. The bunker is dimly lit and as they reach the bottom, they find no one. No one was guarding the entrance when the bomb went off. The men all stay silent as they begin to search the bunker. They have no idea that someone is watching them.

***

The same woman from before bursts into the room where Sadie and Sabrina are being held. They are still in their underwear and still cold. She walks over to Sabrina and releases her. She grabs her by the arms and drags her over to the other side of the room. She puts a giant metal cuff around her neck. It's attached to the ceiling by a crank. Sabrina begins to sob knowing that she's going to die by being hung. The woman rips the duct tape off her mouth.

"Ow! Please... please, what do you want?" Sabrina begs. The woman slaps Sabrina across the face.

"Shut up," The woman walks over to Sadie and rips the tape off her mouth. Blood comes pouring out of her mouth, "God damn it, I had you cleaned up for a fucking reason."

The woman punches Sadie in the stomach. More blood comes spilling out of her mouth as she groans.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Sabrina shouts. The woman smirks at the blonde before punching Sadie across the face, "Sadie! Sadie! Stop!"

"Brina... it's o-okay," Sadie spits out blood with every word. Sabrina sobs as Sadie begins to lose consciousness. The woman walks away and picks up the hose. She sprays Sadie with the cold water again, cleaning the fresh blood off of her, "Ah!"

Finn and Dacre hear the screams. Finn pulls out his radio, "Natalia, we hear them."

"On our way," the brunette answers. She opens the trap door and Bella gets anxious.

"Wait," she stops them, "Let me go with you."

"Bella..."

"Please. I need to see her. I need to save her," Bella pleads. Natalia looks at Jenna.

"Okay," she answers, "Jenna, stay here with Joe."

Jenna moves away from the trap door. She hugs Bella, "Be safe."

"Thank you," the brunette answers. The two girls then begin their descent into the bunker. If only they knew this is exactly what Z Harris wants.