The Regulars are back again with spy hijinx.

The Regulars: Chapter 7

It's a night like many others. R.G lays in bed with his arm around a woman who knows everything about who he is but will never know how she saved him. Together they're resting that one true rest you only get with the right partner. Of course sleep is only one of the things that goes out the window when you have children.
"Wake up. Wake up, Dad." Adam repeats while rocking his father's shoulder. The little boy is just the right height to stand beside the bed and push straight with both his arms and he knows how to use his leverage. Smart children are both a blessing and a curse.
"What is it Adam?" R.G croaks out without opening his eyes.
"Boogie man tried to get in my room. Go get him"
"What is it honey?" Ashley croaks out, starting to role over to face the crisis.
R.G turns his head to address her and hears the familiar cracks of a neck that thought the day was over. "I'm on it hon." Turning back with slightly fewer creaks. "Now you stay in here with your mom. The boogie man is scared of her." With that he lifts his boy up and watches him scamper over and cuddle his mother for all she's worth, which to him is the moon and stars. It's a heartwarming scene but R.G has no time to enjoy it. He has a job to do.
Clad in the international boogie man hunters uniform, a t-shirt and boxers, he begins his patrol. This won't take too long. The house isn't large but it's more than adequate for a family of four and was right up until the fifth member arrived. It's a bit of a drive to work in the morning but the sounds of said fifth family member fussing make it clear once again why it's worth the time. The whole point of this move was to make a real home. Since it's clear from the doorway that Jamie isn't cooing in the gentle embrace of a boogie man it's time to move on to the older kids room.
No sign of boogie men in here. No sign of little girls either. Kari's bed is where it usually is but it's conspicuously empty. The empty cup on the nightstand gives some clue as to where she went.
They'll be wanting their own rooms in a year or two. It's only because they're twins that it's been excusable this long. They'll probably have to move Jamie in here and re-do the nursery for a growing girl. This is the bigger room so it's more equipped to take two. There will be a few complaints from Adam having to share his room with the baby but gender lines are the safest way to do this. Parenthood is all about planning ahead.
He checks under each bed, just so he won't be lying when he's asked. There's some clutter he's far too tired to start a fight about but nothing that's going to reach out for him. Something falls over in the closet. Perchance he owes this whole trip to haphazard stacking. It wouldn't be the first time. That's filed along with the mess under the bed as a discussion to have by daylight. That's one completed boogie man search. Now to get back to bed before the boy cuddles in too close to leave any room for him. But first things first, to the bathroom.
The door is open and the light is off. Kari isn't in here. She's always preferred the downstairs bathroom. She says it has prettier colors. Her proclivity is now his convenience. As tired as he is the fewer steps possible the better. After the direst of debates he decides against turning the light on. He's a grown man and he's just searched for monsters, it's fine. In only the ambient light he finds where he has to stand right next to the half closed shower curtain and proceeds to go about his business.
He does not hear the soft steps from the shower. In the low light he sees no reflection of the black shape behind him. Finishing his business, and a one, and a two and his hands shoot up to feel the hard bite of the wire that was meant for his neck. Moving almost faster than reflex he leaps and kicks hard with both feet against the toilet tank. He and his attacker fly backwards. The bathroom mirror shatters against the attackers head, which hits hard enough to leave spots of blood. Pushing to regain his hands R.G shoots out from his weakened foe and brings his marked fist to his temple with force glass can only aspire to. The instant he's hit the floor R.G has sprinted over his body. The crash and commotion have woken Jamie up and the terrified infant is wailing. He has to get to his son first of all and he needs to get a gun in his hand.
He races into Jamie's room without a thought. The poor child is in his hands before it occurs to him to look back. There's no one there. "It can't be like this" He tells himself "That would have been the perfect time to kill me. I can't afford to get foolish." With slightly more caution he exists the room. He moves with just enough discretion to see if there's anyone in his way. Stealth is not an option with a crying baby in your arms. When he reaches the master bedroom he closes the door hard with the weight of his body. Then taking just the time for a breath he goes to hand the boy to his mother who, while shaken, is still who she is.
"What the hell was that?" She asks while clutching her youngest close.
"In the bathroom. Someone tried to kill me." As his speaks R.G opens his nightstand drawer. With practiced care he pulls out the gun box and starts to work the combination lock. "Adam" He says too angrily "Where is Kari." Adam curls in close to his mother, not knowing what to do. With his unloaded pistol in his hand, pointed in the opposite direction of his loved ones R.G turns to ask again. His voice is cooler now but it could not be called calm. "Adam. Your sister is still out there. If I'm going to get her safe I need you to tell me where she went."
Adam's little fingers are all but dug into his mothers skin. He has no idea what is going on. He only knows that it's bad and daddy is going to set it right. "Kari went to the potty."
"Good boy, good boy." He manages while trying and failing to control his breathe. He tells himself "This is your family. This is your home. They need you together." He closes his eyes and with his free hand smoothes out his jet black hair. When he opens his eyes the game is on.
"Ashley." He says placing locking the clip into his Glock. "Call the office. Call the Regulars."
"What?" For all her strengths she's not a soldier. She was never meant to have to be. "I.... I don't understand. Can't we call the police?"
"The police will be here soon enough." With a trademark metallic click he loads the first round into the chamber. "We need the Regulars."
She knows the number, she starts to dial as R.G places his spare clip the only place he has for it, against his hip and held in place by the waistband of his boxers. He starts to walk out before turning back. "Lock the door behind me and stay clear of the windows." There's no time to say he loves her, even if it would be for the last time.
Starting against the wall he points his pistol out with both hand and slowly turns to claim more and of the hallway. With a spin he starts with the other direction and only then does he step out. He stands there a long second allowing for his eyes to adjust fully to the dark. He gains a modicum of control hearing the click of the lock behind him. Now the world consists only of he, his daughter, and God only knows.
He starts to stalk with two steel like arms extending his gun in front of him. It's only his service pistol but it's not his nature to own a pop gun. With a flick of a finger it can turn from semi-auto into the worlds lightest submachine gun. That might not be needed. He may have stopped the one intruder without a weapon. There may be one more, for which a single clip is more than enough. The cold metal against his leg may be a complete waste. But he cannot count on it to be.
He makes his way straight in the direction away from the rooms he's already been in toward the stairwell. Each small step and each new millimeter of view is painstaking. He cannot miss one detail. Missing what he missed in Jamie's room could have been fatal. Someone could have waited behind the door and struck at him at will. Of course he would have done whatever he could have back but being unarmed and having a baby in his arms wouldn't have made that much. There's no way it could have ended well.
The barrel of his gun pokes out from behind the wall long before he does. From here he can see downwards to the start of the den. There's not enough to see but it will have to pass for a secure opening. To aid this he listens. Any sound of movement, any hint of a voice, one that deserved to be there or not, would tell him volumes. He listens and peers but hears nothing. There's another small drop from the twin's room. Like a lightning flash he turns to it. He walks, he does not run, towards the room. He doesn't know what has made that noise but right now the fact that he's heard it and it has not heard him is his only advantage. He's not going to spend it until absolutely necessary.
R.G enters the room with caution, turning as to show himself to nothing he isn't ready to kill. There's nothing in the open so he turns the gun back to the closet. With sights firmly on the closed door he moves more completely into the bedroom in utter silence. Every muscle in his honed body is tensed. Something is in there, someone. This he knows but he does not know enough to fire.
Kari could be in there, having returned from the bathroom and hidden when the violence started. But he cannot call out to her. The mortal equivalent of Adam's nightmare could have decided to hole up and wait for the children to return. Making a sound would make him a target. In the darkest place he has to consider the very real possibility that they have her and are holding her unable to speak between them and her father's bullets. There's a cold pit in his stomach and sweat on his brow. In his mind he calls out to the universe. "Come on, give me something." It feels like an eternity before the downstairs toilet flushes.
Rounds pour out of R.G's gun and only when they stop does he hear a fall through perforated wood. Taking one hand off the weapon he opens the door and the spent shape of something that used to be a man tumbles out along with blood spattered children's toys. They can get more toys. They only have one Kari and with he has to get to her.
Running to the stairs he catches himself on the bathroom doorframe. The shower strangler is still alive. "Can't have that." Two shots to the chest end his groans. Now in a full run R.G reaches the stairs and forgoes them completely, sliding down the banister on the smooth fabric of his boxer shorts. He rolls into his landing and comes up in a crouch, sweeping back and forth for signs of movement, there are none. He pats at his side for the extra clip. It's still there. To kill through the door took several bullets and there wasn't time to end the other live efficiently. This is why he has so many bullets, so he doesn't have to waist the time lining up one kill shot. It's a philosophy that's saved his life more than once.
He rolls into a standing position and makes a mad dash for the bathroom. Turning the corner past the kitchen he reaches the hall just ahead of another masked man. He throws himself down onto the hardwood floor just ahead of the stream of bullets meant for him. The impact causes him to slide several feet back against the wall where he empties his gun into the man's meaty chest.
R.G expends the empty clip and replaces it with it's extended counterpart. Just then the bathroom door opens. "Daddy!!" Kari cries out, her face red and tears of terror running
down her cheeks. R.G runs to her and scoops her up with the hand he doesn't need for his weapon and runs to get back to the stairs and reunite his family. Such is not to be.
From the windows of the den he can see movements. Shapes. Humans. Masked. They can't escape. There's no damn time. "Kari, cover your ears." Tiny hands cover tiny ears and the flick of a thumb sets fire mode to rock and roll. Burst after burst of fire crash through glass and into flesh. In this moment he is all he is. Father and warrior are one as the quiet of this perfect neighborhood is penetrated by deserved deaths to end meaningless lives. He fires until nothing moves.
From the street he can hear a car peeling away. There's no way for him to chase it. All over the street houselights come on. In a minute there will be sirens. Soon the team will be here. It's over.
"Are you ok sweety?" He asks in his softest voice. She nods without taking her hands from her ears. He yells upstairs. I've got her. It's safe now."
He can hear the door opening and feet shuffling to the top of the stairwell. "Don't come down. It's a mess." No need to elaborate around little ears.
Ashley takes in the carnage and asks the natural question. "What happened?"
Adam provides the answer. "Daddy killed the boogie man."