Chapter 12: The Warehouse
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Cassidy woke up late Friday morning and rushed off to work with just enough time to get there on schedule. The confusion that she experienced the night before was gone. Everything seemed to be as it should, with the exception of her late start. She contributed that to overwork catching up with her. The feeling of lost time that she experienced Thursday night was gone. She had no memory of ever having the sensation nor the argument she had with James. She had no recollection of either ever happening. Sleep had somehow washed away her confusion, cloaking everything that happened after her meeting with David and inducing within her a feeling that all was as it should be.
“Hi, Janice.”
Cassidy was nearly two-hours into her workday when a call came into her station from Dr. Janice McCullough. She saw her name in the caller ID.
“Hi, Cassidy,” Janice returned. “I heard you were back at work and I thought I should give you a call.”
Cassidy thought the last part of Janice’s greeting was unusual. They were friendly with each other, but she never thought of Janice as a close friend and assumed that as a mutual truth for them both. The absence of a call from her over the past twelve days kind of confirmed that thought for Cassidy, so she had no reason to expect a personal call from her now.
“Yeah, I came back Monday, but I’m on desk duty until the end of the shooting review.”
“That’s standard procedure,” Janice replied sympathetically.
There was a momentary awkward silence that followed causing Cassidy to believe that there was more to her call than a welcome back greeting. After coming to that conclusion, Cassidy resolved to draw out her real reason for calling.
“Is there something I can do for you?”
“I wasn’t sure if I should bother you with this,” Janice hesitantly began. “This is something that I’ve been sitting on for more than a week.”
“And what is that?” Cassidy encouraged.
Janice paused momentarily then decided to continue.
“I saw the doctor’s report on Albert Haynes. They noted something that—surprised me.”
“What?” Cassidy asked with concern.
“The attending doctor noted that Haynes had a pair of tiny puncture wounds, slightly more than an inch apart, on the inside of his right arm, just above the wrist.”
Cassidy needed to hear no more to understand why Janice had called. The wound she described was similar to the wounds found on five of the nine bodies found in the Greenbelt and in identical locations on two of them.
“The injuries were well into the process of healing,” Janice continued. “It was an incidental notation. The doctor thought nothing of it. I only mention it because it caught my attention.”
“Did you examine the wounds?” Cassidy asked sharply.
“On what grounds?” Janice questioned back. “The injuries played no part in his death. They were at least a day old and they appeared to be superficial.”
“They sound like a match for wounds found on some of the Greenbelt victims,” Cassidy sternly insisted.
“I knew you were going to say that,” Janice mildly retorted. “That is why I was reluctant to tell you.”
“You should have called me, Janice,” Cassidy argued into the phone.
“The case is closed, Cassidy,” Janice responded. “You killed the guy.”
“There could have been accomplices,” Cassidy disputed. “We have to examine those injuries.”
Janice hesitated to respond. She had anticipated everything Cassidy had to say. It was an obvious coincidence, but the similarities of the wounds were not enough to convince her that there was a connection. She had no reason to believe that any of the nine victims were killed by such an injury, and Albert Haynes clearly was not. The only thing that made any of the injuries objects of interest was the absence of an explanation for them.
"I told Lt. Graham about the wounds and he dismissed them," Janice reported in her defense.
"This is my case," Cassidy rebuked. "You should have called me."
Cassidy knew that there was little to no chance of examining Haynes’ injuries now that he was interred. She already knew that Lt. Graham was not going to support a request from her to exhume Haynes’ body. And she believed it even less likely that the precinct captain would agree to it without Lt. Graham’s endorsement. Cassidy was frustrated with the whole situation.
“I thought I should tell you, and I did,” Janice offered apologetically. “If you can get Albert Haynes’ body exhumed I will be happy to examine it. But I can’t support a request to do that without some evidence that links his injuries to the deaths of the Greenbelt Nine. I’m sorry.”
Janice excused herself from the call and went back to work. After hanging up, Cassidy mulled over the news from Janice then went back to processing paperwork that other detectives did not have time to do.
Cassidy was not convinced that the puncture wounds on the Greenbelt Nine, or on Albert Haynes, was germane to the crime she was investigating. But coincidences were annoyances that she felt a need to resolve or prove to be irrelevant before letting them go. In this case, the puncture wounds had yet to meet either one of her criteria. Despite her irritation, she put the matter behind her and concentrated onto her duties at work and the list of names she got from David Burrell. Nearly an hour later, a new report was brought to her attention.
“Cassidy,” Nina Chan called as she snatched open the Information Technology Room door and stepped into the hall.
Cassidy was moving through the precinct outside of the IT room when she was stopped by Nina’s call. She turned back toward the precinct’s technical analyst and watched as she raced toward her with a sheet of paper in her hand.
“Hi, what’s up?” Cassidy asked as Nina stopped in front of her and extended the paper.
“Last Tuesday I did some test calls in the Newtown area that you were interested in,” Nina began excitedly.
Cassidy took the sheet of paper and began examining it as Nina continued. Printed on the paper was a map of a half mile square area in Brooklyn.
“And I’m ninety-five-percent sure that I know which building those calls you were asking about came from.”
“You do?” Cassidy questioned back as she continued to examine the paper.
“Yeah,” Nina returned with a wide smile and pointing at the paper.
“Is this an apartment building?” Cassidy asked as she continued to study the paper.
“No, it’s a warehouse,” Nina answered.
Cassidy continued to study the map and pondered aloud: “A warehouse?”
“That’s it. I’m sure of it,” Nina insisted with a nod. “You see; I did some test calls all around this area. And I noted the towers that were handling the calls and the differing signal strengths from each location. By comparing the signal strengths recorded by the towers for each location I was able to shrink the area where the calls originated. This is the place. I’m sure of it. I would have brought you this sooner, but I had to wait for the phone companies to pull...”
“Damn!” Cassidy broke in with frustration.
Nina was startled a little by her sudden burst of aggravation. She stopped in mid-sentence to give Cassidy a surprised look.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sorry, I’m just upset about this whole situation,” Cassidy explained.
Nina had expected her report to be welcomed information. The fact that it was not made her wonder if she had done something wrong.
“What situation? I thought this was what you wanted.”
“It is,” Cassidy assured her. “I’m just pissed off about having my hands tied.”
Nina had no idea why Cassidy was angry. Her mind was always focused on providing the answers to questions that the detectives put to her. How that information was used was often of no interest to her.
“So, this doesn’t help you?” Nina questioned.
“Yes, yes it does,” Cassidy spouted apologetically. “I’m going to look into it. It’s just these prepaid phones. I’m certain that the answers I’m looking for are hiding behind them and the Lieutenant is preventing me from getting around them.”
“Well prepaid phones are anonymous,” Nina explained. “You can’t get around that. The carriers don’t even know who owns them.”
“I don’t think I need them to know,” Cassidy mused out loud.
“Why is that?” Nina asked.
“I think the people using them may be buying them in bunches—three, four, five at a time. Which would make sense because they only use them for a short time, a month at the most, and then they discard them. And if that is true, then the last phone that my suspect uses has a good chance of being the last phone in the lot to be activated.”
Nina’s face lit up with understanding.
“So, all you need to find that phone are the serial numbers from that lot. If you had those, it would be a simple process of elimination.”
“I wouldn’t even have to wait for the last phone to activate. I could just filter out the phones already discarded and then search for any cellphone in the lot that only make calls to burner phones.”
“So, the person you’re looking for is almost certain to have the last two or three cellphones from the lot to go active,” Nina added with sudden awareness.
“Precisely,” Cassidy agreed.
Nina took a moment to assess the plan. She concluded that it was doable.
“So why aren’t you doing it?”
“I’m on desk duty for one,” Cassidy explained, tossing her hands. “I’m not supposed to be working cases. A second reason is the subpoena I would need to match the electronic serial numbers with mobile identification numbers. The Lieutenant would never sign off on that. In his mind, this case is closed.”
“So, you’re working a case that you’re not supposed to be working,” Nina pondered out with confusion and surprise.
“Yeah,” Cassidy admitted in a word.
Nina gave Cassidy a sly look with a barely contained a grin.
“Well, I might be able to get those numbers for you.”
“What?” Cassidy quickly returned.
“Yeah, there might be a way,” Nina returned with a contemplative look and a nod of her head. “But I don’t think you’ll be able to use the information as evidence in a trial.”
“Wait, wait,” Cassidy jumped in with a shocked expression. “You’re saying that you can get the information without a subpoena?”
“Maybe, yeah,” Nina confirmed with a nod and a shrug.
“Wait,” Cassidy challenged with disbelief. “I’ve dealt with phone companies before, and they don’t give up anything without a subpoena, and the majority of the time they devote weeks to fighting those.”
“Well, that was your problem,” Nina returned with a smile and a pleased-with-herself expression. “When you come at the phone companies with subpoenas, that brings the lawyers into the room.”
Cassidy was taken aback by Nina’s confidence. Nina continued to explain.
“This isn’t top secret information. They’re not hiding it in a vault. That’s just quality control records. If you go into the head office with a subpoena, they’re going to think trial, publicity and damage to the brand. Now, if you go in through a side door and convince the right person that there won’t be any of that, then they just might be willing to let you take a peek at what’s lying around on their desk.”
“And you know someone like that?” Cassidy questioned with hope and surprise.
“Hey, this is my bailiwick,” Nina professed with a wide smile. “Just give me a few days to look into it and I’ll see what I can do.”
“Nina, you’re a treasure,” Cassidy proclaimed with excitement.
“Thank me later,” Nina quickly pushed back. “This isn’t written in stone.”
“I have faith in you,” Cassidy insisted with a grin on her face.
Cassidy was overwhelmed with excitement. She turned away and hurried back to her desk eager to investigate the warehouse where the Newtown calls originated. But the possibility that she might learn the new number that one or more of her suspects were now using was the icing on the cake. She hoped that information would unveil the secrets the prepaid phones were concealing. Her need to know and understand what had happened overruled all other concerns and considerations. The names that she got from David Burrell the night before became a secondary issue. They were just more people she had to investigate. She believed the warehouse had the potential to give her some answers to the mystery she was immersed in.
It was half past eight in the morning when Nina told Cassidy about the warehouse. She had the bulk of a full day of work ahead of her and the morning seemed to drag on. She did find information on the building’s owner: Andrew Lantz, white male, 63 years of age with no criminal record and good credit. But that said nothing about what was happening in the warehouse, and the workload piling up on her desk prevented her from learning anymore. She was frustrated with her efforts to work an investigation as a side project. She had nothing pleasant to say to anyone and often said nothing when spoken to in passing. That was doubly true when someone brought her more work. It was a quarter to twelve when she broke her silence.
“Cassidy,” Nina called out as she approached her desk. “We’re going to Griff’s for lunch. You coming?”
Cassidy looked up with a start and saw Nina, Officers Kate Hecht and Eileen Nugent. It was not the offer that surprised her. It was the time. She had been working too diligently to keep up with the time. Her mind was occupied with clearing the work from her desk as quickly as possible.
Cassidy had lunched with this group of women many times in the past, but she had not done so this week. Over the past four days, she considered her time too valuable to waste by going out for lunch. But that did not stop them from asking every time they went out.
“I can’t,” Cassidy professed apologetically.
“You say that every time. You’re working too hard and you’re letting them take advantage of you.”
“Nina is right,” Kate supported. “If you don’t set limits, they’re just going to keep pushing more work on you.”
Cassidy could think of no immediate response but began shaking her head in anticipation of declining the invitation.
“Come on, relax a little,” Eileen quickly said, cutting Cassidy off. “It’ll all be here when you get back. I promise.”
Cassidy could think of no good reason to say no. She would not be able to do any work on her side project until later that afternoon and could think of nothing more she could do in the precinct to unveil the mystery of Andrew Lantz. Her reluctance to accept was due to the fact that she wanted to use her lunch to go see the warehouse. But the act of leaving the precinct after declining such an invitation was a maneuver she had not considered. She was just about to reverse her position and accept the invite when a person she did not expect to see walked into the squad room.
“Uh, I’m sorry,” Cassidy stuttered. “But I have a lunch date.”
Cassidy logged off her computer and gathered her trench overcoat as she spoke, glancing intermittently at the person that had just entered the squad room. Nina, Kate and Eileen followed her glances to the stranger coming toward them. Collectively they assessed him as a medium height and exceedingly good-looking man with neatly coifed hair. He was smartly dressed in a charcoal gray suit and matching vest, a gray patterned tie and a shockingly white shirt. A folded white handkerchief peaked out from the suit breast pocket, and a visitor’s identification card was attached to his lapel. Cassidy hurried to intercept him before he could reach her desk.
“Hello,” David Burrell greeted as Cassidy hooked her arm around his and turned him back toward the entrance.
“Come on,” Cassidy encouraged as she led him back the way he came.
“Okay, well you have a nice time,” Kate called out to Cassidy with a wide smile.
Nina, Kate and Eileen watched them exit the squad room with approving stares.
Cassidy steered David out of the squad room and down the hall in a rush. David put up no resistance and was more than a little surprised by her eagerness to leave.
“What are you doing here?” Cassidy asked with a frown.
Cassidy continued to steer David toward the employees parking lot entrance.
“I’m here to invite you out to lunch,” David responded with a smile.
“You didn’t say anything about us going out to lunch today,” Cassidy whispered as she walked.
“If I had, you would have said no,” David returned with a pretense of a scowl.
“So, you just decided to come to my job and drag me out of the precinct,” Cassidy questioned.
“I gambled that you would be more inclined to say yes if I was already here,” David explained. “And it would appear that I’m right.”
Cassidy was slightly displeased with David’s attempt to manipulate her, but she was not prepared to dispute the matter. She gave his answer a look of irritation out the corners of her eyes and then led him out the door to the parking lot.
“My car is in the front,” David said as he continued to follow her lead.
“We’re taking my car,” Cassidy returned as she strode with resolve.
“Yes Ma’am,” David acquiesced as he tagged along.
Cassidy drove out of the 122nd precinct parking lot in haste and with David in the front passenger seat. She knew that travel time to and from the Brooklyn warehouse would give her little time to look it over, but that did not deter her from her plan. She was determined to get a look inside that building before the weekend started. They were five minutes into the journey when curiosity got the better of David.
“Where are we going?”
Cassidy kept her focus on the road, and the rapid pace of her driving, while she answered his question without a second thought.
“There’s a warehouse in Brooklyn that I need to check out.”
“Is the food good?” David queried back with a bit of wit.
“I need to take a look at it,” Cassidy explained without regard for his remark.
“Why?” David asked, faintly curious.
“You don’t need to know that,” Cassidy replied dismissively.
David accepted the answer without dispute. He road silently alongside Cassidy up until the moment she parked the car, twelve minutes later.
“Is that it?” David asked, pointing to a brownstone building further up the street.
Cassidy ignored his question. Instead she responded to his preparation to leave the car.
“You’re not coming,” Cassidy instructed as she pulled the key from the ignition.
“This is not what I was expecting when I said lunch date,” David commented as Cassidy opened her door.
Cassidy ignored David’s remark. Her mind was fixed on the warehouse, for the most part.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The warehouse was a two-story high building that looked as though it had been out of use for some time. There was no movement outside of the building, and the loading bay door was closed. Cassidy examined the outside of the building as she moved toward the personnel entrance. When she arrived at the door, she promptly tried it and found it locked. She shifted her focus to the small square window in the door, attempting to peer into the interior. The limited illumination inside made that difficult. There were no lights on inside, but she could make out windows along the side of the building that created small bright spots and long black shadows. She began to rap loudly on the door while continuing her search. She shortly concluded that she was wasting time and effort.
Cassidy was reluctant to give up. She backed away from the building and looked for another way in. She walked around to the rear of the warehouse not knowing what she would find there or what she was looking for. She was growing short on patience. She suspected the warehouse would be even less accessible over the weekend, and she wanted to learn something about the contents of the building if not the people who were regularly inside it.
A raggedy chain-link fence did nothing to obstruct Cassidy’s plan to circumnavigate the building. It took her little more than a minute to pass through a tear in the fence and move around to the rear of the building. She saw nothing back there to suggest that anyone was in the structure. There were no cars or trucks parked in the spaces lined out for them. After a brief scan of area, she turned her attention to the closed personnel door at the back of the building. She walked up to it expecting it to be locked. She grasped the knob, gave it a twist, and pushed. To her surprise, the door swung open.
The interior of the warehouse was pitch black. Cassidy pulled a small flashlight from the pocket of her suitcoat, turned it on and stepped across the threshold. She moved carefully through the building with the beam of her flashlight illuminating the floor in front of her. She looked for signs of anyone inside. After several moments of complete silence, she elected to stop and call out.
“Is anyone here?”
The silence that followed was further support that no one was inside the warehouse. The dark interior was interrupted in places by diffused light coming in from small windows high on the wall to Cassidy’s left. In most places, the light was blocked from streaming directly onto the floor by crates and boxes stacked on metal racks about 15-feet high. Much of the floor was bathed in black shadows created by the racks and containers. The main room of the warehouse was more than 20-feet high. A second level walkway with a railing protruded out from the right wall and extended all the way down its length. Cassidy saw two large windows and four doors on the second level. She found staircases at both ends of the walkway. Cassidy slowly moved to the right, along the back wall, until she found the center aisle. She turned into it and began to walk toward the front of the warehouse.
Occasionally, Cassidy used her flashlight to examine the crates and boxes shelved at the end of a side aisle. She saw nothing suspicious about them. Halfway up the center aisle, she found the bottom of the staircase that ran parallel to the front wall of the warehouse and up to the second-floor. Cassidy continued to move in that direction at a slow pace. She directed the beam from her flashlight from side-to-side across the floor. She saw nothing interesting enough to hold her attention for more than a few seconds.
After a slow walk, Cassidy reached the front of the warehouse floor. Along the way, she saw boxes and crates that were marked as machinery parts, raw materials and retail merchandise. When she reached the end of the center aisle, she turned her attention to the stairs that led to the second level and began the climb.
At the top of the stairs, Cassidy came out onto the walkway that ran the length of the wall on the second level. The outside light coming through windows on the opposite wall did a better job of illuminating the upper level. Cassidy began to move down the walkway with her flashlight still lighting her path. At the first window, she found closed blinds and moved on to the door next to it. She tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. She opened it and stepped through, illuminating the room with her flashlight. It was a small indistinctive office with an old metal desk, metal file cabinets, and metal and vinyl chairs. The floor was linoleum and looked to be in need of cleaning. The room was utilitarian and not setup for comfort. Cassidy took one quick look around from just inside the doorway then stepped back out and moved down past the next window to the door beside it. That door was unlocked as well. Inside, she found a similar setup as the first. After another quick examination, Cassidy backed out onto the walkway and moved down to the third door. There was no window next to that door, but it too was unlocked. Inside Cassidy found a large storage closet filled with office and janitorial supplies. She took a few seconds to scan the room then backed out onto the walkway.
As Cassidy moved down to the fourth door, she wondered what she might find inside. Because it was the last room, she judged by the remaining length left on that level that the space behind the door had to be quite large. Cassidy approached the door and grasped the knob expecting it would open with the same ease as the first three. She was mildly surprised to find it locked.
The fact that it was the only locked door that Cassidy found inside the warehouse was all the incentive she needed to be curious about the interior. Her curiosity moved her to examine the lock.
Cassidy did not have a honed skill for picking locks, which was far truer when it came to locks that were seriously meant to keep people out. But her time as a uniformed patrol officer did afford her an opportunity to coax open a bathroom door in a 40-year old, two-bedroom house. After examining the lock, she concluded that the similarities between the two were greater than their differences, and with that thought in mind, she applied herself to the task of opening the door. With the use of a department store credit card, it took her a little more than a minute to jimmy the latch out of the framework. She then gave a push and the door swung open.
When Cassidy first peered into the fourth room, she could see nothing. The room was long and dark. There were no windows to allow the diffuse light in from the warehouse windows. She panned across the interior with her flashlight. The length of the room was the first thing that Cassidy took interest in. It was as large as the other three rooms combined. The décor was the next thing to take her by surprise. Her small flashlight did a poor job of illuminating the color and quality of the furnishings within the room, but the large canopy bed at the far end from the door was unmistakable.
Cassidy stepped across the threshold as soon as she saw the bed. A new sensation caught her attention the instant her foot settled onto the floor. The room was thickly carpeted. She paused momentarily on the carpeting, then she walked two steps into the room. From her position, she could see it was not an office. There was a sitting area with a four-person sofa, a coffee table and two sofa chairs stationed at the end of the room opposite the bed. Every new discovery raised Cassidy’s interest in the room. Her pocket flashlight’s limited ability suddenly became unacceptable. She turned about and searched for a light switch, finding it next to the door. When she flipped the switch, a soft yellow light filled the room. Cassidy immediately looked up at a series of decorative lamps attached at intervals along a rod that spanned much of the length of the room. Each lamp directed its light to a different area of the room. Next, Cassidy turned her attention to the decor.
The furnishings were sparse but attractive and looked expensive. The heavily ornate, intricately carved wood framed canopy bed dominated the room. Cassidy gravitated toward it with a growing look of curiosity. At first, her interest was limited to the fact that the room seemed out of place. Slowly her interest turned to the furnishings atop the bed. The abundance of decorative pillows suggested to her that the bed might not be there for sleeping. When she came to within a foot of the bed, her eyes locked in on the brown fur throw blanket that covered it. She reached down and pulled out a few strands to examine.
“Oh, my god,” Cassidy whispered to herself.
Cassidy stood there for several seconds looking at the bed in stunned silence. A new thought took hold of her. She quickly returned her flashlight to her outer suitcoat pocket and then retrieved her personal ultraviolet flashlight from her upper left inside pocket. With her new tool in hand, Cassidy hurried over to the light switch and flipped it off before turning on the ultraviolet flashlight. When she turned it toward the bed, Cassidy was surprised by what she saw from fifteen feet away. The black light illuminated a vast area of glowing speckles and splatters on and about the bed. The densest area was at the head of the bed. Cassidy moved several steps closer as she continued to examine the stains. Soon she found full and partial handprints mixed in with the stains. She gasped in realization of what she had just found.
“This is it!” She softly exclaimed.
At that moment, there was no doubt in Cassidy’s mind that she had found the sight where her nine Greenbelt victims had died. She realized that the stains she was looking at had to be the residue of their blood. She asked herself: What was happening here? With that in mind, she went back to the light switch, turned on the overhead lamps and began a more thorough examination of the room. She was looking for anything that would explain, or be a clue to, what had happened in that room. But there was nothing there besides the bed, seating and the coffee table.
It did not take Cassidy long to accept the fact that she would find nothing more in the room to advance her investigation. Now her mind was free to entertain a new question: What should she do next? She knew that the absence of a search warrant would make the discovery of the room inadmissible as evidence. She concluded that she had to get back to Lt. Graham and convince him to apply for a search warrant on the weight of the evidence that brought her there.
Cassidy quickly turned off the light and closed the door behind her as she hurried back out onto the walkway outside the room. She retrieved her flashlight as she moved and began using it to light her way back the way she came. Her movements were quicker this time; she was in a hurry. Besides wanting to get back to the precinct as soon as possible, she wanted to get out of the warehouse before anyone connected to it could arrive to find her there. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she hurried back over to the center aisle, and proceeded down it.
Cassidy had walked a quarter of the length of the center aisle when she heard the first sound that was out of place. It was a noise that sounded like something small and metallic had fallen to the floor. The sound came from behind her, off her left. She spun around and pointed her light in the direction of the sound.
“Is someone there?” Cassidy called out.
After several seconds of silence, Cassidy moved on. She dismissed the sound to a rodent or a breeze through a crack in the building. She had just turned about and taken a step when a rustle of noise ahead of her on her left, coupled with a quick shadowy movement high atop the racks, startled her into drawing her weapon. With her gun gripped in her right hand and her flashlight gripped in her left, Cassidy positioned her right gun-hand atop her left and began to examine the dark spaces on both sides above the aisles.
Cassidy was not expecting to see anything atop the 15-feet high warehouse racks. A person moving about on top of the racks was the furthest thought from her mind, plus the figure she saw moved nothing like a person. But that logic only enhanced her feeling of dread. If the shadow was not a human, then she concluded it had to be an animal of some sort. And based upon the size of the shadow, and the range and quickness of its movement, she concluded that it had to be much larger than a rodent.
Without speaking a word, Cassidy examined the area above her, to her left. It was clear to her that she was being stalked. With her gun ready, and staying vigilant and stationary, she hoped to get a good bead on it before it could make contact with her. Seconds later, the sound of movement to the rear and left of her shocked her into spinning around. Panic framed her expression. With her gun and flashlight extended out at arm’s length and a wide-eyed gaze, she saw nothing in motion. Then a loud sound to her left shocked her into spinning back around.
The crash of something heavy falling to the floor caused Cassidy to step back reflexively. In that instant, she looked and aimed her flashlight and gun down toward the floor where the noise came from. In that same moment, a figure leaped across the center aisle and landed atop a rack on the opposite side. Cassidy’s sudden fixation on the noise and floor of the aisle in front of her caused her to completely miss the leap above her. After panning her flashlight across the aisles, a new sound drew her attention behind her. She spun about and gave the location a momentary scan before moving back toward an aisle on her right. She reached the intersection of the next aisle in five steps where she paused to give the center aisle one last look, then she turned and continued her escape down the new side aisle.
The side aisles were the darkest areas of the warehouse. The boxes and crates shelved on the racks did an effective job of blocking out what little light there was. Cassidy used her flashlight to light her way. The pace of her movement was a rushed walk. Her gun remained ready atop her left flashlight hand. Fear was now a fixture on her face. After moving down the length of the aisle, a sound from behind shocked her and caused her to spin around to look back the way she came. She was a step away from the aisle’s opening. She panned her flashlight back and forth across the aisle and then up and down. She saw nothing and decided to move on. During the first backstep into her retreat, she became aware of a presence immediately behind her. Shock sent her spinning around at the best speed her reflexes could produce, but she was stopped in mid turn. A pair of hands grabbed her right arm and the collar of her jacket and wrenched her into the air. The warehouse seemed to tumble around her. Cassidy could feel herself tumbling through the air. The duration of her fall seemed longer than it should have been up until the moment her mind stopped processing time.
As Cassidy stirred to consciousness, her first thoughts were nonsensical ramblings. Her eyes opened and a vague imagery of darkness and bright lights began to fill her vision. She became aware of smoke. Her lungs were experiencing a burning irritation. Smoke was stinging her eyes and she had a severe headache. She began to cough and move as awareness slowly returned to her. She could see the glow of a large fire on the far side of the warehouse, and she realized that she was lying on the floor. Shortly, she recalled that she had been attacked. She remembered being thrown through the air and colliding hard with something that did not give. She searched behind her and saw that she was lying next to the warehouse side wall. She looked back the other way and saw her flashlight was still on and lying on the floor in the distance. She did not see her gun; it was no longer in her hand. She began to feel for it in the darkness as she started pushing herself up from the floor; and then she saw him. It was the figure of a man. He was about ten yards away. Her dazed state, the darkness and the smoke combined to make him barely visible. She could see that his back was turned to her. She began to search harder for her weapon. She froze when the figure turned in response to her movements. His eyes were luminescent like the eyes of a cat. He held his stare on her and she on him. Their exchange lasted a couple of seconds, and then a distant shout from a female voice broke the connection.
“Cristiãn!” (kris-shē-ôn)
The figure looked back toward the caller for a moment and then turned his attention back to her. Cassidy could see nothing of his face due to the smoke in her eyes and the shadows that engulfed him. She saw one side of his figure dimly outline intermittently by the growing glow of the fire in the distance. The rest of him blended into the darkness of the aisle he was standing in. The only part of him that stood out clearly was the gleam of light coming off his eyes, and Cassidy was fixated on them. He returned her gaze for a moment more before backing away into the aisle and out of her sight.
Cassidy had no time to wonder where he went. Within a few seconds of his disappearance, the smoke and fumes of the fire began to overwhelm her. With the increased strain to breathe, she began a frantic search for her gun. Cassidy crawled about in the dark feeling for her weapon. Her coughing became more frequent and pronounced with each passing second. Shortly into her efforts to breathe and find her weapon, she heard a familiar voice calling her name. The calls were repeated, and the caller was David.
“I’m over here,” Cassidy choked out at a level far below a shout.
Cassidy repeated her response several times with declining success. Despite her failing responses, David followed her calls.
“I have to find my weapon,” Cassidy protested when David took her by the arm.
David ignored her objection and tried to pull her up from the floor. Cassidy pulled free of his grasp and continued to feel about the floor.
“Do you see my gun?” Cassidy asked between coughs.
David saw her determination to find it and gave the area a quick scan but did not see it. He quickly abandoned the search and reached down for Cassidy.
“We’ve got to go,” David yelled as he grabbed Cassidy by the arm.
David pulled Cassidy up and then began to steer her toward the rear exit of the warehouse. It took them less than a minute to get out of the building. He guided Cassidy around to the front of the building and across the street. By that time, the flames had extended out the windows and up through the roof. Smoke was billowing out through every opening in the building. Cassidy and David stood watch from the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. The sound of sirens in the distance could be heard closing in on their location. After a moment of gawking, David turned a questioning look to Cassidy.
“What happened in there?”
Cassidy continued to stare at the burning warehouse and pondered his question with a look of disbelief. After contemplating an answer for several seconds, she responded with the only answer her mind could produce at that moment.
“I don’t know.”
ns216.73.216.13da2
and then Add to home screen.