Gallery of the Dead

Ninety-Six

Hunter had no idea how many times Agent Fisher squeezed the trigger, but he only heard the first shot, and for some reason, that single blast sounded a lot louder than any gunshot he had ever heard, but still Hunter never closed his eyes. He would not give her or whomever it was that was watching them through the cameras the pleasure of seeing him flinch. Instead, Hunter looked straight into Agent Fisher’s eyes.

He saw the tears and the anguish in them. He saw the undying love of a mother who needed to protect her child. He saw the turmoil she was going through, the emptiness reflected from her soul. He also watched as her weapon hand was practically blown to pieces by the shotgun blast that came from her left.

A twelve-gauge shotgun cartridge releases tens of lead pellets. Upon exiting the gun barrel, the pellets spread out like a ‘ball of death’ traveling toward its target. That ball of death hit mainly Agent Fisher’s hand, nearly obliterating it, but some of the pellets did hit her arm, chest and stomach, causing blood, muscle and bone to splatter in all directions. Her gun was catapulted across the floor and her body dropped to the ground like an empty sack of potatoes.

Hunter’s eyes shot to his right and he saw Garcia standing there with smoke coming out of his shotgun. Hunter blinked twice to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

‘Fucking bitch,’ Garcia said, now looking at Hunter. ‘She shot me three times.’

He noticed the mesmerized look on Hunter’s face.

‘What, you think that when I went back to my car to pick up the Twins here that was the only thing I picked up?’ He shook his head, unzipped his jacket and used his knuckles to knock against the Kevlar vest underneath it. ‘Oh hell no. I also grabbed my second-best friend here — Mr. Not Today. There’s a reason I keep it in the boot of my car.’

‘But you’re bleeding,’ Hunter said.

‘One of her bullets grazed the inside of my left arm.’ Garcia lifted his arm to show the wound. ‘Hurts like a motherfucker.’

Hunter rushed to Agent Fisher’s body on the ground. She had fallen inside enclosure number four on the right, just by the door.

Garcia was right behind him. ‘Shall I shoot her again?’ he asked as he got to Hunter.

Hunter lifted a finger to his lips while shaking his head at Garcia. He then pointed at his ear and made a circular motion with his finger to indicate that there were others listening.

Garcia halted.

A few more gestures told Garcia that there were cameras around.

As Garcia took a step back and began scanning the walls inside the enclosure, this time for cameras, Hunter quickly checked Agent Fisher. She was still alive, but losing a lot of blood through the horrible wound on her right arm. Hunter took off his belt and used it as a tourniquet to reduce the bleeding before searching her pockets. He found the cellphone the man had sent her, but it was shot, completely destroyed by one of the shotgun pellets.

‘Motherfucker,’ Garcia said as he identified a tiny camera above the inside of the door to the enclosure. He moved to the tip of his toes and grabbed it off the wall. It was round and small, the size of a coat button. ‘No microphones,’ he said to Hunter. ‘This is a visual aid only.’

‘Whoever this guy is,’ Hunter said, ‘he’s got no ears here anymore. The phone is shot to pieces.’

‘How is she?’ Garcia asked.

‘Alive, but she’s losing blood fast. We need an ambulance here, now.’

‘I’m on it.’

‘And wrap something around your arm wound,’ Hunter said. ‘Before you bleed out, too.’

‘I’m on it.’

While Garcia called for back-up, Hunter called Adrian Kennedy. As they waited, Hunter stayed with Agent Fisher while Garcia went around the stables collecting every camera he could find. There were thirty-two in total — one inside each enclosure and four on the center corridor.

It took the FBI back-up team and the ambulances less than forty minutes to get there. Adrian Kennedy was inside a jet and on his way. Agent Fisher was still alive, but the paramedics didn’t sound very hopeful about the chances of her actually surviving.

‘So the killer’s got her daughter?’ Garcia asked, after Hunter had told him the little he had gathered just before Agent Fisher got shot. His arm had already been bandaged up.

‘That’s what she said.’

‘So chances are, she’s dead.’

‘I’m not so sure,’ Hunter replied.

‘How come?’

‘Your shotgun blast obliterated the cellphone in her pocket, which means that the killer lost ears on this place immediately. He had eyes, but no ears anymore. What he saw through the cameras was Erica getting shot by you and falling to the ground like a corpse. He probably thinks she’s dead.’

‘She still might be,’ Garcia said.

‘But not yet,’ Hunter retorted. ‘Anyway, if the killer thinks Agent Fisher is dead, what’s the point in killing her daughter? Remember, this is a killer who has always been merciful with his victims. He never tortures them. He’s not after that kind of pleasure.’ Hunter shook his head. ‘No. I don’t think he’s going to hurt her. I think he’ll just let her go.’

Right then, Hunter felt his cellphone vibrate inside his jacket pocket.

‘Detective Hunter, UVC Unit,’ he answered straight away. He listened for several seconds, his expression changing from tired and worried to completely surprised. ‘You’re kidding. Send those photos to my cellphone now. I’ll wait and I’ll call you back.’

‘What’s going on?’ Garcia asked.

‘Hold on,’ Hunter replied, his attention fixed on his cellphone, waiting for it to beep announcing a new text message. It did ten seconds later.

A minute after that, Hunter was on the phone to Adrian Kennedy again.