Gallery of the Dead

Ninety-Five

The man did guide Agent Fisher through absolutely every single step of the way, sometimes even telling her exactly what to say. He was also the one who had created the noise that had first startled Agent Williams. Through his cameras, he had watched as both agents approached and entered the first horse enclosure on the left. As Agent Williams moved to the internal door that linked enclosures one to two, the man ordered Agent Fisher to shoot her partner.

‘What?’ she had whispered back in a quiet voice that escaped her partner’s ears.

‘You heard it right, Special Agent Fisher. I want you to shoot him. Don’t hesitate. If you do, I swear I’ll start cutting your little girl. Shoot him. Shoot him NOW.’

‘I’m sorry, Larry. I’m so, so sorry.’

‘Sorry for what?’ Agent Williams had asked.

‘SHOOT HIM, or this little ugly bitch will start bleeding.’

‘For this.’ She squeezed the trigger twice.

‘OK, now get ready, because here come the other two.’

The man had watched as Hunter and Garcia exited the house and dashed toward the old stable building. He controlled the opening and closing of enclosure doors to give the impression that there was someone else in there with them. He also told Agent Fisher what to say when Hunter had suggested that she and Garcia team up to check the enclosures on the right.

‘OK,’ the man had said. ‘Let’s take out the guy on the right first. He has just entered the second enclosure. Go after him and shoot him dead. Shoot him three times, not two. Go... now.’

Once Agent Fisher had followed her orders, the man told her to run back to the first enclosure and wait.

On one of his monitors, the man watched as Hunter rushed out of the enclosures on the left, following the sound of the gunshots. When Hunter had entered the third enclosure, the man told Agent Fisher to also rush back into it and put on a good show, pretending she had just got there.

The man was pleasantly surprised with how good an actress Agent Fisher could be.

‘Don’t worry about finishing this one off,’ the man had said once Hunter had ordered Agent Fisher to stay with Garcia and call an ambulance. ‘He will bleed out anyway. Just let him suffer. Let’s go finish this. Let’s go take down this last one and I promise you, you will see your daughter again.’

The man observed as Hunter returned to the corridor between the two enclosures and slowly began moving forward.

‘OK,’ he said to Agent Fisher. ‘Move to the fourth enclosure. You’ll come out just behind him. Let’s go end this.’

The man listened as Agent Fisher told Hunter to drop his weapon and kick it toward her. When she told him that her daughter had been taken from her, the man’s eyes widened.

‘What are you doing, Special Agent Fisher? You better get back to the plan or your daughter dies.’

‘No,’ Agent Fisher had replied. ‘He deserves an explanation. They all did.’

The man thought about it for a split second. So what if she told him why she was doing what she was doing? He would die anyway.

‘OK, go ahead. Get it off your chest.’

As the man watched Hunter through the camera buttons on Agent Fisher’s coat, he got a bad feeling. There was something about the man he was watching that bothered him. To him, Hunter looked dangerous. A lot more dangerous than the other two. He decided it was time to end that game once and for all.

‘All right. That’s enough. I want you to shoot him. I want you to shoot him NOW, or I will rape this little bitch before I cut her, do you hear me? Shoot him. Shoot him NOW.’

BANG.