Taylor motioned for a halt. Two men stood at either end of the building with rifles and tin-pan helmets from World War I—Civil Defense.

Taylor tapped his watch and held up two fingers—two minutes. Then he gestured to Holman, McKillop, and Ruby, and pointed toward the back of the building.

Holman checked his watch and led McKillop and Ruby behind City Hall. After two minutes, they’d attack the sentry at the west end, while Taylor, Clay, and Gene attacked from the east.

They edged closer, low and ready. Clay couldn’t help grinning. Those poor wardens were in for a surprise.

Taylor signaled the assault.

Clay burst into running, his rifle raised. The sentry spotted them, startled, and reached for the whistle around his neck.

“Drop it!” Taylor pointed his Thompson submachine gun at the sentry, right up to his chest. “Drop the rifle too.”

Shoulders slumped, the middle-aged watchman obeyed and lifted his hands in surrender. Voices and a scuffling sound—the other watchman was disarmed too.

Taylor pointed to the roof.

Gene and Ruby shimmied up palm trees. At the top, they swayed back and forth and jumped to the roof. Then they pointed their rifles out over the street.

McKillop and Holman escorted their prisoner to Taylor.

The lieutenant pulled his handie-talkie radio from the case on his back and pulled out the antenna. “Taylor to Rudder. City Hall secure.”

“What have you done with my daughter?” The first sentry’s voice warbled.

“Your daughter?” Lieutenant Taylor asked.

The man’s face agitated. “She’s only seventeen, and one of your men made off with her.”

Clay frowned. The Rangers hadn’t had an hour free since they arrived.

“Sir, our men haven’t set foot in town until tonight,” Lieutenant Taylor said. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“Peggy went to the movies with her girlfriends on Saturday night, and she went home alone. Only she never came home.”

“Have you reported this to the police?” Taylor slung his Tommy gun over his shoulder.

The man pressed a trembling hand to his forehead, dislodging his helmet. “They think she ran away, but not my Peggy. She’d never do that.”

“I’m sorry this happened, sir.” Taylor had a soothing voice when he wanted to. “All our men are accounted for, but I’ll report the situation to our commanding officer and the commander of the school.”

“Thank you.” He sagged back against the stucco wall.

Holman and McKillop sauntered away, and Clay followed. Time to form a perimeter.

Shouts rang out around town, and radios squawked. Sounded like the Rangers were taking their military objectives.

“Bet I know what happened to that girl,” Holman muttered to McKillop. “One of those sailor boys knocked her up, and she went to ‘visit an aunt’ for nine months.”