《The Manifest》Chapter 37

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Edgar watched as Devon did his best to look and act like every other delivery boy. The bait was set and he looked around the yards and driveways for any hint of someone who might take the bait. Edgar was no fool, he knew there was no way in hell packages or any other kind of mail would be delivered to a person in a relocation program without being screened first. So the mere presence of a package boy should set off some sort of alarm. At least that's what he would do if he was trying to keep someone underground. The question is, are the people watching Mrs. Johnson just as paranoid or was Jerome finally getting to him? Edgar kept looking around, wondering if he would ever get what he was looking for. He didn't have to wait long, as two men in rather cheap looking suits, scrambled out of a car that had heavily tinted windows and ran across the street and to where Devon was located. They didn't even bother to try to talk to his partner as both men drew their weapons and ordered Devon to drop to his knees, which was all that Edgar needed to hear. He pounded the wall behind him.

"This is it! Let's go!" Edgar called out.

Cyrus was in the back, as was his entire crew. His men darted out of the truck and started to quietly scramble onto the yard where the two men were standing. Devon was doing a great job to keep their attention. He co-operated with them by dropping to his knees but as they walked closer he started to talk to them, saying he was just a package boy and what not. This kept them oblivious of the men that were quietly approaching. Edgar watched from the truck as Cyrus was the one who finally broke the silence to inform the two suited men of his presence.

"Freeze!" he bellowed as loud as he could, "I want your firearms on the ground and your arms as high as they will go, right now!"

Edgar watched from a distance as the two men turned around to see how screwed they really were. Standing on the lawn behind them was fifteen heavily armed men, dressed in what could only be described as a full S.W.A.T gear and armed with some badass automatic weapons, complete with silencers. With faces masked, wearing full kevlar and helmets that made every one of them virtually bullet proof, the men in suits suddenly realized exactly what was going on: they had run headfirst into an ambush.

"Federal agents!" Allen screamed as he held out a badge, "We are..."

"I don't care what you claim to be!" Cyrus called back from behind his mask, "If you do not drop your weapons in the next ten seconds, we will use reasonable force to take them from you. I'm not going to ask you again: either you drop the guns or we'll drop you! Now!" when Cyrus has said 'now', all fifteen men raised their weapons to eye level, and waited the word from Cyrus or action from their targets to authorize firing.

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The two suited men stood there like statues, not sure what to do. Eventually it was the elder of the two who made the first move. Allen raised a hand up, "Alright. We are dropping our side arms."

"We are?" Davis said, not sure what to do.

"Yes we are and that's an order." Allen snapped back to Davis as he put the weapon on the ground. After Davis did the same, four of the men in front of them lowered their weapons and came forth while the other eleven stood there with guns still in the air, providing cover. Two of them grabbed the guns on the ground while two others two took the men into custody and cuffed them both with their hands behind their back.

Allen didn't seem impressed, "Do you have any idea what you have just done?" he spit out with a very harsh and annoyed tone.

Cyrus walked over to the man and looked him right in the eyes, "I know exactly what I'm doing. My employer has paid a lot of money for the right to speak with you and I intend to deliver."

Allen had no idea what the man was talking about until he finally saw a face that he recognized. Edgar Willis had gotten out of the delivery truck and walked over to survey the catch of the day. Even though he was dressed up like Devon was, the guys still recognized his face.

"Son of a bitch." the elder agent muttered to himself as he saw the PI walk over to him.

"So you do know me." Edgar said with a smile, chances are people watching Mrs. Johnson were shown his photo and told to look out for him, "Then I guess you know why I'm here, don't you?"

"You're here to expose our operation!" Davis snarled at him.

"No, I'm not." Edgar said as he turned to face them both, "I'm here to bring it down like a house of cards. And you two are going to help me accomplish that goal."

"We have no intention of co-operating." Allen said, trying to be as defiant as possible.

"You should have thought about that before dropping your guns." Cyrus said as he waved the pistol in front of the two men, "Because now that we have you in custody, we are more than capable of making you talk. One way or another, you are going to give us what we want, pig."

"You better let us go!" Davis called out, "We radioed for help and backup is on the way." He said in obvious desperation, trying to convince them to change their mind.

"No, you didn't." Edgar quickly replied, "Even if you wanted to call for help, you couldn't. Before I sent my bait to the door, I made sure all channels were scrambled for a three block radius. We'll be out of town before they even know you're gone." he turned to face Cyrus, "Take them to the truck."

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As Cyrus' men dragged the two agents off, Edgar walked over to the door and knocked on it gently. A few seconds later, the door opened. Mrs. Johnson and Devon had taken cover in the house during the standoff between the agents and Cyrus' men. As Edgar walked in, Devon was all smiles but he could tell the old woman was very confused.

"Mrs. Johnson?" Edgar asked.

Her face brightened up. "I haven't been called that in a while." she said, not sure what was going on.

"Well it's nice to finally meet you." Edgar said as he held out a hand, "My name is Edgar Willis. I'm a private investigator, and I'm here on behalf of your daughter who hired us to find you."

The old woman started to tear up, she kept thinking this was all a dream and she was going to wake up from it and still be a prisoner, "Is this real?" she asked not sure what she was going to do.

"Quite real, love." Devon said as he padded her on the shoulder, "And I hate to be a bugger, but we have to leave very, very soon. Get dressed and leave everything behind. We're not sure how much time we've got before someone calls these blokes for a check in."

"Thank you." she said as she disappeared into the other room to change.

Edgar walked over to Devon, "You alright?"

"I'm fine, mate." Devon said with a smile, "You do realize that finding Mrs. Johnson is going to go right to Jerome's head. We'll never going to hear the end of this."

"That's alright. We can afford to live with that." Edgar retorted as he looked around the house. He wondered how many items in the house were bugged and or running with cameras. He put a hand up to his mouth and then said out loud, "What do you think we should do with the bodies?" he asked suddenly, while at the same time making a gesture with his hands to let his partner know the place is likely bugged.

Devon seemed to immediately catch on to what he was doing, and played along, "We got a little time. I say we toss them into the river. It's only a few blocks from here." the two guys were smiling and doing their best to not laugh out loud as they kept talking and feeding false information to the bugs. A few moments later, Mrs. Johnson came out with a small bag packed. Edgar took the bag for her.

"Ready to go?" he asked with a warm smile.

"Of course." she quietly replied, trying to hold back her excitement.

"Then let's move." Edgar led her out the door to the truck that was now parked in the driveway and waiting for them. Mrs. Johnson took the seat Edgar had been using and Devon took the wheel again. Edgar sat behind them both as they pulled out and started to drive away. They drove for a while, everyone silent and not saying anything except for the noise in the back area.

"I'm a federal agent!" Davis repeated, "You can't do this to us!"

Edgar pounded on the wall behind him, "Somebody shut him up!" he ordered to no one in particular. Moments later, they heard the familiar ripping sound of duct tape and little else but the odd muffle afterwards.

"Much better." Devon said as he cut another corner and hit one of the main roads, "Just let me know when you want to pull over for the change. I suggest we wait until after passing that first service center on the highway. That stretch will lower suspicion."

"I agree." Edgar conceded as he was back on the cell, trying to contact Jerome with news of the operation. No answer. Weird, Edgar thought to himself. He was a little concerned, but decided to think nothing of it for now.

As they passed the station, Devon waited for an additional minute and then pulled over. Mrs. Johnson didn't know what was going on, but the two men hopped out of the truck and proceeded to peel the delivery logos off the side of the truck. Cyrus came out of the back and did his part, taking the license plates off the back and replacing them with alternates. As Devon ripped the massive sticker off the side of the truck, it revealed a new cover for their getaway. Their parcel delivery truck was now a bread delivery truck. Edgar seemed pleased with this, and was on his way back into the truck when his cell phone went off. Eager to see if it was Jerome, he answered it before getting back into the truck, "Edgar Willis."

"Edgar." the cheery old voice crackled on the other end, "I really hope you have a moment for a rich old fart like myself."

"Sir Norsberg." Edgar answered as he took a few steps away from the truck, "It's good to hear from you. In fact, your timing is impeccable."

"Oh really." the old man replied with a playful tone, "Do you have a juicy update for me to chew on?"

"We got her." Edgar reported with a small sense of pride and accomplishment, "Mrs. Johnson is in custody."

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