Chapter 7

They'd been at it for nine hours, and they'd come up short as the death toll continued to grow. Beth kept watch on the police feeds for reports of what the press were now calling the "execution serial killer."

"Lucas, the locals are receiving reports of a man shot dead on the street by a sniper in Croydon."

He frowned. "Not random sniper fire but one man shot dead?"

"Yes, according to this, one shot to the head."

"It's got to be our man. What's the street?"

"Park Lane in central Croydon."

"Near Croydon College?"

"Yes, he was a professor there…. Did you get anywhere with six by the way?"

"No. They're still denying any knowledge or involvement."

Beth shook her head. "Who else could be doing this? Foreign intelligence?"

"Could be," Lucas thought for a moment as he turned down another road to avoid rush hour traffic. "But why would foreign intelligence care…this is really an MI-5 problem because it's in-house."

Beth stared at him. "Lucas, we're sure that this isn't another section within MI-5, aren't we?"

"I've asked all the questions, Beth. No one has claimed any knowledge."

"They wouldn't then though, would they…"

"Even the home secretary has been oddly quiet throughout."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"He says he's been talking to Section A about it—"

"—A? It's not their job, domestic terrorism, that's what we do."

"I think," Lucas pondered, "that it could be a little bit about Harry."

"Does he think we've all fallen to pieces?"

"Maybe. Frankly, I think he's taken it at least as hard as we have…"

Lucas scanned the scene as they neared it and knew they were too late. "Damn, we can't keep following this guy. We have to get ahead of him somehow. Beth, based on the patterns he's chosen through 18 victims, any chance you can pinpoint a possible area for number 19?"

"I can try."

She studied the map Ruth constantly kept updated and sent, and said, "Sutton or Merton."

"Large area."

"This is a guessing game, Lucas."

He nodded. "Sutton it is then."

He headed the car in the direction of Sutton and shook his head. The sun was going down, and darkness would not help them in the least…

Ruth rubbed her eyes; she'd been staring at the information on the victims trying to find some kind of correlation. And then her eyes narrowed in on something on the page: all of the victims worked at public institutions where a lot of people gather. Ruth stared at the ever-increasing radial map on her computer screen and then brought up a list of employees on her computer, quickly searching through them until one stood out from the others because he was not British-born. And she picked up her phone.

"Are you sure, Ruth?" Lucas asked into the Bluetooth headset.

"Yes, I'd put some quid on it, Lucas."

"All right."

He hung up, stomped on the accelerator and changed directions.

"Where are you going?"

"Borough of Merton, near Wimbledon."

"Ruth found something?"

"Yes she did… our next victim: Mr. Alik Mayan."

"Ruth is bloody brilliant!"

"Yes she is…"

Feeling positively bone weary and sick inside, Harry parked the car once more out of the watchful sights of CCTV, and waited. He checked his watch; he still had a cushion of time. He put on the ski mask and the silenced rifle and headed toward the home of his target. It was just past dinnertime, and Harry positioned himself across the street behind the cover of trees, watching quietly through the infrared scope on the weapon, and into the window of the family just finishing their meal. A wife and two kids: Harry had to fight the bile trying to rise in his stomach once more at what he was about to do. He wished the kids would hurry up and go attend to their studies; he would be damned if he did this in front of them.

"Come on, come on…let's get this over," he whispered.

Lucas and Beth parked near the address Ruth had given them, and they scanned the street.

"How do you want to play it, Lucas?"

"Our best option might be to just go in there and arrest him and take his family into protective custody."

"Let's get on, then," Beth said.

As they were getting out of the car, they heard glass breaking and a woman scream. They began running toward the house….

To his horror, Harry saw Lucas and Beth heading toward the house. It had always been only a matter of time until his team figured out the pattern – he was actually surprised it had taken them this long; but then, it was Ruth's job to analyze and come to these conclusions and some part of him knew she couldn't have been completely unfazed by his apparent death. His attention snapped back to the present, and he realized he was trapped behind the trees with no way out. He looked at his watch, there was time for neither delicacy nor cleanliness on this one. He removed the silencer from his rifle, made sure his ski mask was secure, and just as his two officers were looking in his direction, he fired, wide, sending them scattering for cover.

Harry took off at a run for his car as they fired their weapons.

TBC