The Night Stalker

One Hundred and Fourteen

Bright, burning light exploded in the corridor like a flash grenade. Suddenly, everything was illuminated. Andrew let out such a painful roar it was like he’d been stabbed through the heart, but the pain came from his eyes, as he was almost blinded by the intensity of the brilliance, amplified thousands of times by his night-vision goggles.

Andrew instinctively reached for the device and lifted it from his eyes, but the damage was already done. His eyes were struggling to cope with the light blast they’d received directly to the retina, and he felt dizzy and confused.

It took Hunter just a split second to realize what had happened. From the corner of his eye he could see Garcia standing at one of the turns of the corridor. On the floor in front of him was a flare, burning intensely — one of the trial flares he’d seen just minutes earlier in Andrew’s ‘factory’.

Garcia had soon realized that the only way anyone could see in the dark was by using a light-enhancing device, like night-vision goggles. And he knew exactly how they worked. From Katia’s cell, he had heard Hunter and Andrew fighting. He couldn’t just sit there and wait. He knew Hunter was great in hand-to-hand combat, but he wouldn’t stand a chance against an opponent he couldn’t see. Garcia remembered the ‘factory’ and the flares. Even in the darkness, he knew he wouldn’t get lost in corridors structured to go around in a squared pattern. All he needed was a second of bright light, but to Andrew it would feel like a bomb had gone off inside his eyes.

That was exactly the chance Hunter needed. Without thinking, and in a fraction of a second, he threw his body forward towards Andrew. Garcia did exactly the same. Both of them collided with Andrew at the same time, sending him thundering against the wall. He slammed head first into it with incredible force. The roles had completely reversed. Andrew was totally blinded by the explosion of light, and entirely disoriented by the heavy knock to his head. Just like Hunter moments earlier, Andrew swung his arm around in a desperate attempt to defend himself. But how do you defend yourself from opponents you can’t see?

Garcia immediately delivered a well-placed and powerful punch to Andrew’s solar plexus. Hunter followed it up with one to his jaw. Andrew’s head jolted backwards and hit the wall again with a dull crack.

He passed out immediately.

The last thing Hunter and Garcia saw just before the flare extinguished was Whitney Myers’ lifeless body lying on a pool of her own blood on the floor. Her throat slit the entire length of her neck.