Mr. Red and Mr. White went to the manager's house. Katie Bartlett heard the door chimes and thought it was the baby-sitter. When she opened the front door, she turned pale and her legs buckled at the sight of an armed, masked man wearing a headset with a microphone jutting under his chin. Behind him was a second armed man.

"Back inside! Move it!" Red screamed loudly through his mask. He held his gun inches from her face.

Red and White herded the mother and her three small children into the family room on the main floor. The room featured a home entertainment center and a Tae-Bo video was playing. A picture window looked out on a small, still lake, but no one could see them unless they had a boat, and there were no boats on the lake that morning.

"Now, we're going to make a home movie," Mr. Red explained to Mrs. Bartlett and the kids. He talked to them in a matter-of-fact, almost friendly way.

"You don't have to hurt anyone," Katie Bartlett told him. "We'll cooperate with you. Please put the guns away. I beg you."

"I hear you, Katie. But we have to show your husband that we're serious and that I'm actually here in the house with you and the kids."

"They're two, three, and four," the mother said. She started to cry, but then she seemed to will herself to stop. "They're just little babies. My babies."

Mr. Red slid his gun inside his holster. "There, there. I don't want to hurt the kids. I promise I don't."

He was pleased with the job so far. Katie seemed smart and the kids were well behaved. They were a nice family, the Bartletts. Just as the Mastermind had said.

"I want you to be the one to put this duct tape on the kids' mouths," Mr. Red told Katie Bartlett. He handed over a thick roll of tape.