Scene 23


Grant Estate, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

We had landed at the airport in Toronto and met up with our reinforcements. Ms. Raven and Ms. Swan had retrieved the layout of the estate that we had used from our previous mission* and we using this to plan our assault.

The tracking device was showing that Ms. Ritchgarl was spending most of her time in the rear portion of the house, probably a bedroom. Unfortunately, we had no way of knowing where Grant was located, nor any of his henchmen.

Fortunately, the house had only two main entrances, the large front door and the smaller back door. I assigned Mr. Loon and Mr. Toucan, along with the security force and Wompet, to guard the back door. Ms. Wren would be positioned with them to coordinate with the rest of us. Their role was to cover the rear escape and to serve as a reserve force if necessary.

Ms. Starling would be in command of the force at the front door. On her team were Ms. Hawk, Ms. Swan, Ms. Stork, and Ms. Falcon. Their role was to create any diversions needed to disguise the final team’s attempts to infiltrate the manor.

The final team would be comprised of Ms. Raven, Ms. Thrush, and myself. We would be entering the house through a concealed window and making our way to the bedroom where Ms. Ritchgarl was located. Our objective was to locate and capture her without being detected. I had chosen Ms. Raven for my team for her obvious security expertise. Ms. Thrush would again use the special choker to influence Ms. Ritchgarl and make her receptive to our requests. I would be directing the team and serving as additional muscle, if it was needed.

We still didn’t know the full connection between Mr. Grant and Ms. Ritchgarl, but based on her actions in Denver, we were assuming that she had been taken against her will.

Ms. Raven had chosen the bedroom next to Ms. Ritchgarl’s to make our entrance into the house. I had assisted her in her climb to the second story and she was cautiously looking through the window.

“All clear,” she whispered to us.

“Good,” I answered. “Get the window open and we’ll enter.”

She used her tools to unlatch the window and gently opened it. After slipping inside, she disappeared for a moment as she went to check the door to the room. When she reappeared, she dropped a rope down that Ms. Thrush and I used to climb up to the window.

“We’re inside.” I reported over my headset radio.

“Roger,” came back Ms. Starling’s reply. “We’re standing by.”

I turned back to Ms. Raven who stood ready at the door and nodded to her.

She pulled a small mirror from her belt and knelt to slide it under the door. Tilting it, she used it to examine the hallway outside the door.

“All clear,” she reported.

“Let’s move,” I said.

* See Kiltmen Down Opening Scene