"Put it away, for Christ's sake," Renaldo snapped. His eyes darted around to make sure there were no strollers. The area was quiet. Everyone was at work. The widely spaced houses seemed deserted.
"What about your mask and gloves?"
Manuel pulled those out of his other pocket.
"Good," Renaldo said. He checked his watch. "Okay, this is it. Let's move it!"
While Manuel got out of the car, Renaldo reached into the backseat and got the canvas bag. He joined Manuel, and they walked back to the intersection, turning right. They didn't hurry, nor did they talk. Due to the canopy of leaves, the street was shaded yet each house blazed in bright sunlight. An elderly woman was walking a dog in the distance, but she was heading away from them. A car approached and passed by without stopping. The driver ignored them.
Coming abreast of the Bowman property, they briefly stopped, looking up and down the street.
"Looks good," Renaldo said. "It's a go!"
Maintaining a normal gait, they crossed the edge of the Bowmans's front lawn. They appeared like two workmen on a legitimate errand. They entered the treeline separating the two neighboring homes and were soon even with the backs of the houses. Eyeing the back of the Bowman house, they could see the door they intended to enter. It was about forty feet away, across a patch of sun-drenched lawn.
"Okay," Renaldo said. "Time for the masks and gloves."
Each quickly donned the items: masks first, gloves second. They eyed each other and nodded.
Renaldo snapped open the canvas bag. He wanted to be certain he had everything. He handed Manuel a roll of duct tape, which Manuel pocketed. "Let's do it!"
Reflecting their professionalism, they were across the lawn and through the door in a blink of the eye and with almost no sound. Once inside, they hesitated and listened. They could hear a TV with canned laughter from the family room. Renaldo flipped a thumbs-up and motioned for Manuel to move forward. Treading lightly and moving quietly, they passed through the study and down the central corridor. Renaldo was in the lead. He stopped just shy of the arched entrance to the family room. Slowly, he looked around the edge of the arch, seeing an ever-expanding view first of the kitchen and then of progressively more of the family room.
When he saw the girls, he pulled himself back. He raised two fingers, indicating two girls. Manuel nodded.
Renaldo then used his hand to indicate a wide, counterclockwise circle in the air to suggest they move through the kitchen, then approach the couch in front of the TV from the rear. Manuel nodded. Renaldo brandished his roll of duct tape. Manuel pulled out his.
After silently placing the canvas bag on the floor, Renaldo readied himself. He looked at Manuel, and Manuel indicated that he was ready.
Moving quickly but quietly, Renaldo followed the route he'd mapped out. The girls' heads could just be seen over the back of the brightly colored couch. The TV volume, which had seemed low when they'd first heard it, was not low, especially the laughing sequences. Renaldo and Manuel were able to move up directly behind the unsuspecting girls.
With a nod from Renaldo, each man sprang around either end of the couch and glommed on to the respective girl. The men were rough and decisive, grabbing the children by the necks and pressing their faces into the soft pillows of the couch. Both girls had made feeble reflex squawks, but the sounds were immediately muffled. Using their teeth, the men pulled off lengths of duct tape from each of their rolls, and, keeping their weight on the girls, they managed to bind each of their hands behind their backs. Almost simultaneously, they rolled the girls over. The girls gasped for breath, wide-eyed with terror. Renaldo put his finger over his closed lips to indicate that the girls must remain silent, but there was no need. Both girls did all they could do to satisfy their air hunger, and they were frightened to near paralysis.
"Where's your sister?" Renaldo hissed through clenched teeth. Neither girl spoke, watching their captors with unblinking intensity. Renaldo snapped his fingers at Manuel and pointed to Meghan, who was trembling in his grasp.
Manuel let go of Meghan long enough to pull out a square rag, which he roughly pressed into her mouth. She tried to resist by twisting her head from side to side, but it was to no avail. Manuel slapped a short piece of duct tape over the lower part of the girl's face, securing the gag. Rapidly, a second piece of tape was added, forcing Meghan to breathe loudly through her nose.
Seeing what had happened to Meghan, Christina quickly tried to be cooperative. "She's upstairs taking a shower," she cried breathlessly.
Renaldo rewarded her by quickly gagging her in the same fashion as Manuel had gagged Meghan. Then both men bound the girls' feet before yanking them upright and then together to tape them back to back. At that point, Renaldo gave them a push and they toppled over in an awkward heap, both still struggling for breath.
"Stay here!" Renaldo growled as he picked up his roll of duct tape.
Moving silently but quickly, Renaldo ascended the stairs. Once in the upstairs hallway he could hear the shower. It was a distant, soft, sibilant sound, which he followed, passing several bedrooms with open doors. The third door on the right opened into a bedroom unique in its disarray. Clothes, books, shoes, and magazines were haphazardly tossed about on the floor and on all horizontal surfaces. Black thong panties and a bra were draped over the bathroom's marble threshold. From within the bathroom, clouds of steam billowed out into the room.
With rising anticipation, Renaldo quickly traversed the room, being careful to avoid the debris. He poked his head into the bathroom but could barely see through the dense mist. The mirror was completely fogged over.
It was a small bathroom with a pedestal sink, a toilet, and a low tub that also served as a shower. An opaque white shower curtain with black sea horses hung from a silver-colored rod, and it was moving both from the forces of the water and rising steam and also from occasional contact by the shower's occupant.
Renaldo briefly debated how best to handle the situation. With the other girls already secured, it really wasn't a problem. In fact, knowing the girl was naked was a turn-on, and that had to be factored in as well. He reached out with the roll of duct tape and placed it on the edge of the sink. He couldn't help but smile, thinking he was being paid to do something he might pay to do. He knew the girl in the shower was fifteen going on twenty-one, with a couple of knockers worth a second look.
After thinking about a few different alternatives, including waiting for the girl to finish and get out of the shower herself, Renaldo merely grabbed the shower curtain and whipped it back. It was a tension rod, and the force of Renaldo's jerk pulled the whole apparatus off the wall, and it tumbled onto the floor in a heap.
At the moment of the shower rod and curtain's disappearance, Tracy had her back to the shower with her head under the torrent, forcibly rinsing her thick tresses. She hadn't heard the clatter, but she must have felt the surge of significantly cooler air because she leaned forward out of the gush of water and opened her eyes. As soon as she caught sight of the black-ski-masked intruder, she screamed.
Renaldo reached in and grabbed a handful of wet hair and yanked Tracy from the bathtub. Her feet tripped on the rim, and she fell headlong to the floor. Renaldo let go of her hair and put a knee into the small of her back while he lunged for her flailing wrists. Using decisive strength, he forced her hands behind her back, snatched the duct tape off the sink, and as he'd done downstairs, used his teeth to pull a strip of tape from the roll. With rapid movements, he wound the tape in and out and around Tracy 's wrists. Within only a few seconds, her hands were securely bound.