Gallery of the Dead

Ninety

‘OK, this is where we split,’ Agent Fisher said, looking up into the sky.

The agents left Hunter and Garcia behind and quickly made their way toward the stables building. Once they got there, they flattened their backs against the wall to the right of the two large, sliding, barn-style doors. The doors hadn’t been slid all the way shut, leaving a gap between them of about a foot and a half.

‘Now that’s lucky,’ Agent Williams said, nodding at the doors. ‘We can make it through that gap without having to touch the doors.’ He quickly flashed a light on the door rails. They were in a terrible condition.

‘I’ll go in first,’ Agent Fisher said, but Agent Williams stopped her by placing a hand on her left shoulder.

‘No, Erica, I’ll go first. You cover me.’

‘Always the protective gentleman,’ Agent Fisher said, winking at her partner.

Neither of them had any trouble clearing the gap between the doors.

The inside of the building looked pretty much like what most people would expect a stable to look like — a long and wide corridor, flanked on both sides by individual horse enclosures. The concrete that paved the corridor was old, warped and cracked. The enclosures had clearly been modified and were a little different from most regular stables. There were no windows, openings, flaps or metal bars where one could look into the enclosure to check on the animals. Instead, they all had solid, sliding wooden doors, which were all shut. There must’ve been about twelve to fourteen enclosures on each side of the corridor, but what really made them pause as they cleared the stable doors was the fact that on the left, toward the end of the long corridor, they could see a dim light coming through the cracks on the wood panels from one of the enclosures.

‘So what do we do?’ Agent Williams asked, his voice a barely audible whisper. ‘Do we start at this end and check every enclosure, or do we move straight down the corridor and start with the lit one?’

Before Agent Fisher could reply, her headset cracked into life and she heard Hunter’s voice loud and clear.

‘Team A, this is team B. What’s your location? Over.’

Once Agent Fisher ended her transmission with Hunter her eyes found her partner’s. ‘I don’t like this, Larry. Not even a little bit.’

‘What’s going on?’

‘There’s a light on in the house as well,’ she replied. ‘Second floor. Just like us they can see no movement. Not yet.’

Agent Williams looked down the corridor at the faint light coming from one of the enclosures.

‘You’re right,’ he finally said. ‘I also think that the best thing to do is to proceed as planned. So how do you want to do this?’ he asked again. ‘Do we start at this end and check every enclosure, or do we move straight down the corridor and start with the lit one?’

‘I don’t know,’ Agent Fisher whispered back. ‘The light could be a trick.’

At that exact moment a muffled clang came from the first enclosure to their left, as if something had been dropped onto the floor.

Both of their hearts missed a beat.

‘Did you hear that?’ Agent Fisher asked.

Agent Williams nodded and quickly signaled her to get ready.

With ballerina steps they approached the enclosure. Agent Williams signaled his partner to ready herself at one side of the door, while he positioned himself at the other. The plan was for Agent Fisher to quickly slide the door open. Agent Williams would then storm the enclosure first, quickly followed by Agent Fisher. The two of them had performed similar maneuvers during different investigations countless times before. They both knew exactly what to do.

They readied their weapons and flashlights and signaled each other that they would go on the count of three. Agent Fisher used head nods to count them in.

One. Two. Three.

In one powerful yank, Agent Fisher pulled the door open. It traveled down its old and rusty rails uneasily, but still fast enough to surprise anyone who’d been hiding inside the horse enclosure.

As the door slid open, Agent Williams, who had his back against the wall outside, quickly rotated his body clockwise and into the horse enclosure, his right arm extended in front of him, his eyes alert, his weapon searching for a target.

A split second later, Agent Fisher appeared to his left, her weapon just as hungry as his.

Their eyes moved in every direction, finding nothing. The enclosure was empty, but their attention was immediately drawn to a second door located diagonally across from where they stood. It was an internal door that linked to the next enclosure along, and it was wide open.

‘The enclosures link internally,’ Agent Fisher whispered.

Agent Williams nodded and signaled for them to take cover formation. He would take the lead.

Moving three paces in front of his partner, Agent Williams began making his way toward the open door, his attention on edge, his weapon ready to fire. As he got to a few feet from it, he turned to signal Agent Fisher again, but paused in total confusion.

Agent Fisher’s weapon was raised and aiming straight at his heart.

‘I’m sorry, Larry,’ she said in a quivering voice. Her eyes drowning in tears.

‘What?’ Agent Williams was the image of perplexity. His weapon arm had relaxed, as his brain tried hard to make sense of senseless. ‘What are you talking about, Erica?’

‘I’m so, so sorry,’ she said again. Tears began rolling down her face.

‘Sorry? Sorry for what?’

‘For this.’

Agent Fisher squeezed the trigger twice in quick succession. The bullets exploded against Agent Williams’ chest with maximum impact, rupturing muscle, shattering bone and perforating his heart in two places.