CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Paige could feel her heart beating faster in her chest as she sat a little way from the address that the shark tank had been delivered to. It was a large industrial space, a warehouse with corrugated iron roofing and big roller doors, exactly the kind of place that a magician might use to store his props.
It was obviously quite dilapidated, as if someone hadn’t bothered with maintaining it for a few years. Paige spotted a broken window on one side, and some cracked brickwork. There were patches of graffiti that hadn’t been cleared away, too, so that the whole place had the air of somewhere almost abandoned. Maybe, if this belonged to a magician whose career had stalled, he’d stopped being able to pay for the repairs.
The very emptiness of the location only increased Paige’s nerves. This seemed like exactly the kind of location the killer might pick to hide out. If he was in there, then this could get very violent, very quickly.
“You could wait here and watch for anyone trying to run,” Christopher suggested from his spot in the driver’s seat. He could obviously sense some of Paige’s worries about all of this, but even so, he should have known better than to ask.
“I’m an agent now,” Paige pointed out. “I can’t just sit out the dangerous parts.”
She saw Christopher smile. “As I recall, I couldn’t get you to do that even when you were just a civilian consultant.”
“So why would I wait in the car now?” Paige asked.
“True. We’ll need to stick together and move quickly once we’re in there. In a space like that, once he hears us coming, he’ll probably try to run or hide.”
Paige was more worried about a couple of cameras she could see at the side of the building. It seemed that their killer was taking his security measures seriously, and those cameras might give him a chance to see them coming well before they could get close to him.
“We’ll need to move quickly,” Christopher said. “I got a warrant based on the address we got from the store, so we’re covered there. There’s a side door I think I can get us through. Once we’re inside, we’ll need to sweep the building for any sign of the killer.”
Paige nodded. This was the side of Christopher that she wasn’t sure that she would ever be able to match, even though she was an agent now. It was the side that was all action, ready to take down bad guys at a moment’s notice.
“So, do we go now?” Paige asked.
“In a minute,” Christopher said.
He got out of the car and Paige followed as he went around to the trunk. He opened it, revealing the stash of tactical gear that the local field office had left there for the two of them. Paige strapped on a tactical vest, watching as Christopher did the same. He tossed her a shotgun, a Remington like the one Paige had trained with back in the academy. The reflexes drilled into her in that training came back to her and she checked the weapon carefully, loading it.
“Do you think I’ll need this?” she asked. Her handgun was still strapped to her, after all.
“This guy has murdered three people,” Christopher replied. “Better not to take any chances.”
Paige nodded. Christopher had a point.
“Ok,” he said. “Now we’re ready. Just follow my lead in there, Paige. You’ll be fine.”
He said it in a businesslike tone, but Paige thought she could hear a hint of worry there. Even now, he was anxious about leading her into a dangerous situation.
“Should we call for backup?” Paige asked.
“I’ve texted Sanchez, but I want to move now. The longer we wait, the more chance there is of him spotting us and disappearing. I think the two of us can take one killer.”
Paige hoped that he was right.
She followed as he led the way towards the building. There was a side door there, and they paused while Christopher took out a set of lock picks, working on the lock. It sprang open in under a minute, and Christopher led the way inside, gun out, ready for trouble.
Paige followed in his wake, trying to remember her training. She had to cover the angles, making sure that she dipped her weapon every time her line of fire crossed where Christopher was. She had to watch for danger, and still make progress through the building, clearing each room they passed as they went.
There were several such rooms, each one set up with a table and a few chairs, more like a series of office conference rooms than anywhere someone might have lived. There were more rooms that looked as if they might be for storage, each one locked with a padlock. If they caught the killer here, those would need to be cut off so they could search the storage lockers for evidence.
The place was well lit, at least, strip lights guiding their way along a broad corridor leading to a set of double doors. Paige stood on one side of them, her back pressed to the wall as she waited for Christopher to open them.
They moved through quickly into a much larger space, stacked with boxes, shelves, and even a couple of shipping containers. Had the killer just taken over a storage facility, using it as a place to keep his macabre props until he needed them to kill someone? Paige couldn’t guess at the contents of most of the crates, and there wasn’t enough time to start opening them up to look. They had to focus on catching the killer.
There was a loading bay towards the front of the place. A truck was there, and Paige could see its driver unloading a large box. Was it due to be used in the killer’s next trick? Another man stood waiting, looking on with an eagerness that made Paige wonder exactly what was in the box.
This had to be the killer, and the thought of that made Paige pause for a moment, staring at him as if she might be able to see that side of him just by looking at him. It also meant that she would be able to recognize him if he ran, and pick him out of a crowd. He was a man in his thirties, tall and dark haired, good looking in his way and dressed in clothes that were casual but looked expensive. He was wearing dark slacks and a black turtleneck sweater that made him look like he wanted to be able to creep around without being seen.