A Clamour of Rooks (The Birdwatcher Series Book 4)

by European P. Douglas

  “Life,” she replied. “Could be an animal, could be human. I'll get closer and see if we can get any shapes. Looks like they are partially covered by something though.” Sarah’s eyes were glued to the screen.

  “Ground Team arrival, one minute,” a voice said over the comms.

  “Hood ground team at perimeter,” Sarah said, “We might have something here.”

  The drone dropped and the orange colour became reddish and yellow too and it all seemed to become a blob with indistinct black lines running through the image.

  “What the hell is it?” Sarah asked.

  “I don’t know for sure,” the tech said horrified, “But I think it might be people huddling together in a pit!”

  “Turn on the normal camera so we can see the area,” Sarah said.

  “I don’t think it will...;”

  “Just do it!” Sarah barked. The screen flickered again and now Sarah was looking at a green area, bushes and some trees and nothing else at all. “Where are they gone?” she asked, “Go back to the people!”

  “This is the same place, Ma’am, we can’t make out anything visual from the drone, the ground team will have to see what it is.”

  “Send those coordinates to the ground team,” Sarah said and then she addressed the team though her mic. “Be very careful here, we are expecting traps that could kill anyone who may be held captive here and also ones that may harm you too. This suspect is unlikely to be present, but he is very clever and anything at all could be dangerous so don’t touch anything unless you are sure it is safe to do so. Coordinates for the primary objective have been sent to you now. I will be watching you on the screens here and will be on the scene soon myself. Good luck and again, be careful.”

  Sarah watched, her heart in her mouth, as the team left their van and started towards the target point. She glanced up at the drone screen again and it had been turned back to the infrared image. How many people were down there in that huddle? Ten? More? It was impossible to tell.

  “Trip wires present, keep a look out everyone,” the squad leader reported. Sarah looked back to the screens and saw one of them looking down as the operative stepped over some almost invisible wire. Sarah became aware of a noise in the background of all the cameras, something she couldn’t make out. Was it some kind of interference?

  “What’s that noise?” Sarah asked the squad leader.

  “It’s people calling out for help,” he answered sullenly. “They must be able to hear the drone over them.” How awful, Sarah thought, but hopefully it would all be over for them very soon.

  “Keep focused on your own safety first,” Sarah ordered. She watched on, scanning from one screen to the next as the operatives moved through trees and brushland. It was slow going but it couldn’t be any other way. Already Sarah had seen countless tripwires on the screens as agents carefully avoided them. She could hear the noise of the captives rising and knew they were getting closer. She looked up to the drone screen and now the team was coming into view, fanned out and moving in a wide arc towards the dungeon or whatever it was.

  “We have a visual, it looks like a pit with cage bars over the top,” the leader's voice came in. Sarah called out to the driver,

  “How far away are we?”

  “Ten minutes,” came the reply.

  “See if you can make it five,” Sarah called back and then turned her com link back on to the team. “Can you get to them safely?”

  “We can approach as before but we will have to inspect the bars for traps before we think about trying to open it up,” the leader said.

  “Do it,” Sarah said. The howling of the people being held prisoner was overwhelming now. Some thought they were about to be saved and they cried out in joy and desperation, but other voices within that throng felt only despair, and hope about to be snatched away. They thought the team was there to kill them. She wished she was there to try to bring some comfort to them all.

  Suddenly, however, all the voices in the pit began crying out in fear as one.

  “Shit!” one of the squad shouted and the leader was shouting,

  “Fall back, remember your trip wires!”

  “What’s happening?” Sarah asked, frantically looking from one screen to the next. As she asked the question she heard the answer- a horrible ticking noise, like a bomb timer rattling down to zero!

  “Timer ticking,” the squad leader said, “Not sure of the source but close to the pit.” Sarah watched his screen as he backed away stepping over brambles and then there was a flash of tripwire as he jumped over it.

  At that moment all of the cameras rattled as a loud explosion rang out. Members of the squad had bent over or were hitting the deck for cover and Sarah didn’t have a chance to ask what had happened before more and more explosions started ringing out. Now only screaming voices, some in pain and some in fright were coming through the comms systems. As she zoomed from one screen to the next, Sarah saw explosions rip through her team one at a time. She could hear them outside the van too, they were that close now.

  “Noooooo!” she screamed; the whole place had been rigged for traps that were set off as soon they reached the underground dungeon. “Sick fucker!”

  Three more explosions rang out and then everything stopped. For a moment there was no sound at all. Each of the cameras still operational showed only a vantage from down in the grass, unmoving. Then someone was groaning, and then someone one else. Sarah listened but that was all. Two people still alive, she thought, but for how long? Tears were flooding her eyes, but she did not let them fall. She wiped her face clean; she was going to have to go in there and see what had happened. And she still needed to know if Ellie had been in among the victims.

  Chapter 18

  Tyler left the stolen car at the scene and cycled back down to the place where he’d left his car. It took a long time, but it was mostly downhill, and it only added to the powerful sense of euphoria that shook every atom of his being. There was no denying it, this feeling was growing stronger every time he killed someone, that was probably the real reason why the lust was coming upon him so frequently these days and not because Dwight Spalding had poisoned his mind in some way.

  He changed the tyres on the bike to fatter ones once he was down off the mountain road and discarded the old ones in a barrel fire near town. Those would be the tracks back up at the burial site and they could now never be linked to this bike.

  Once back at his car, he drove home carefully and calmly, letting the wind whip in around the car adding to his endorphin enriched mood. It was approaching dawn by the time he got home and once inside he changed into his running gear at once and went out across the river to the woods. He ran to his spot deep in the woods, hard to access. There, just after a rocky clearing, he climbed a tree and up near the top secured the ring box with the eyelids to one of the highest perches. It was invisible to the ground below and also from above and strapped on well enough that no creature would never be able to untangle it. He looked around at the other trees and knew which ones also housed boxes like this. It was always a pleasure to be here, to be surrounded by his past and the life he led in the shadows. If only there was some way he could live here like this, only leaving to do the work he desired so badly every now and then.

  The sun was fully up when he got back to his home. He showered and then went to bed finally exhausted enough to sleep. It would be a nourishing sleep this morning and as his eyes closed he shuddered once more with bliss at how well tonight had gone.

  When Tyler woke that lunchtime, he saw that there had been lots of missed calls on his phone. He saw that Briggs had called no fewer than eight times and also some payphone numbers he recognised as informers too. Something had gone on this morning and whatever it was, it was big, and Tyler had missed it. He checked the news on his cell phone and saw it plastered everywhere. There was no real insight yet, but the general consensus was that a ‘botched FBI Raid’ had left ‘Dozens of people dead in rural Virginia’. Tyler scanned
the stories for any mention of Sarah or Delgado, but no agent had been mentioned at all.

  Tyler knew though, he could feel it. This was related to Spalding. If Sarah wasn’t one of those dead she was certainly somehow involved. He dialled her number, not thinking she’d answer but at least hearing a ringtone would be something. It did go to ring but then went to voicemail almost right away. He didn’t know what to make of that. That could happen when the person had bad coverage or when they dismissed the call without answering. Which one was it?

  He went downstairs for some coffee and breakfast and put on the TV news. There was helicopter footage of smoke rising from what looked like an empty field, but the news chopper had obviously been forbidden from getting any closer than it was thus limiting the chances of it getting any meaningful shot.

  While his breakfast, or better lunch at this hour, was cooking, Tyler called on some of his contacts next. There was information relating to the team that went in but not what they were looking for or what case they were on. There was also no mention of a commanding FBI Agent.

  On the TV, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Daniels gave a press conference from the FBI Academy at Quantico, but he said no more than to confirm there had been an operation this morning and that lives had been lost but that he was not in a position to say anything more. He blanked any questions by reporters as to what case it was.

  The closest town was one Tyler had looked into on his recent searches around the rural towns of the states in this part of the country. He hadn’t found anything nearby and it annoyed him as he looked on the TV images that he’d been so close to one of Spalding’s sites and had missed it. His mood was soured now, and it was the fault of one person.

  Spalding knew his secrets and he could bring the police and FBI down on him in a second if he wanted to. Every kill from now on would be tainted unless Spalding was dead. It was time to accelerate his plan, he couldn’t let Spalding dictate his life. As much fun as running around after all these killers and getting dynamite content for his book at the same time, none of that was as important as keeping his freedom and his secrets and his ability to do what he loved most in the world.

  In a way, Tyler knew this was taking away something that mattered very deeply to Sarah, but as it stood that was an unavoidable consequence of killing Spalding before he could tell what he knew. Of course there was always the chance Spalding could have some files somewhere that might incriminate or at least implicate Tyler, but Tyler wasn’t too worried about that. It didn’t feel like part of the game to him. He felt Spalding wanted him to reveal himself, that is why he goaded him so and got him so close to all these murders.

  An idea came to him and Tyler picked up the phone and dialed a number and waited to be connected. He was going to see Derek Davis again; he was going to see if his old boss knew anything more about Spalding from within the prison network and perhaps even get some advice on coming at a serial killer unawares. The TV screen remained a static image of smoke rising from a field, only now he could see it was from multiple sources and had gathered together in the air to form one column of whitish black smoke. How many people did it take to burn like that?

  Chapter 19

  There couldn't be a visual identification of Ellie’s body from the remains, so they were going to have to wait for DNA and dental records to find out if she was there at the Spalding captive site. When Delgado asked if she thought the young girl was here Sarah had shook her head and walked on through the long grass looking for more evidence.

  It had been many hours since the explosions and they were finally allowed onto the site once it was cleared of any remaining traps. It had been a grim task to look over the bodies of both the kidnapped victims and also the fallen comrades. Most of the dead they were only seeing for the first time in person. Usually it was the view from their camera agents like Delgado and Sarah saw their world from.

  Delgado looked to Sarah, saw her wander off from the main impact area. She looked like a figure of doom out there, shoulders dropped like someone who’d given up. It wasn’t the way you wanted to see anyone, least of all your partner. He walked over to her.

  “This is no one’s fault,” he said from behind her. “This is the way he wanted it and there wasn’t going to be any other outcome.”

  “We should have been more careful, we...;.I, should have seen this coming!” she shook her head bitterly still facing away from him.

  “Nobody could see this coming,” he said. Sarah didn’t answer, he felt she was crying. It didn’t feel right to bring this up now, but he didn’t feel it ever would. “I got a call from Spalding last night.” Sarah spun to face him, there were tears in her eyes.

  “What?”

  “He called my home number.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me last night?” Sarah demanded.

  “Because of what he told me,” Delgado said. “About you.” Sarah’s face flushed and he knew at once it was all true.

  “What about me?” she said, faltering.

  “He told me all about you and Tyler communicating on secret phones, holding back evidence and information and...;” here he was the one who had to pause a moment, “and pillow talk.” It sounded ridiculous but he wasn't fully prepared to talk about this now and he hadn’t thought of a way to say it. In fact, he had been thinking about leaving that part out altogether but now it was out there. Her glaring eyes bore into him. “Don’t look at me like that,” he said, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Sarah’s eyes broke off and she looked past him, worried someone might be close enough to hear them talking. She looked at the ground now and her face was no longer the red of anger but of embarrassment. At that moment Delgado saw how vulnerable she was for the first time and he felt sorry for her. He knew she was a good agent, and she had an exemplary record up to now.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “What are you going to do?”

  “This is what I’m doing,” he explained. “I’m talking to you, I want to hear your side of the story, the truth.”

  “This isn’t the time for that,” she said but he interjected,

  “This is the perfect time for this. I don’t need excuses or tales of woe; I just want you to tell me why?” Their eyes met again, both shining and hot with anger.

  “I can’t tell you everything he said was true as I wasn’t privy to the conversations, but everything you’ve alluded too is true to one extent or another,” Sarah said holding his gaze.

  “Why?” he asked again.

  “Because he killed my mother,” she said, tears of anger and frustration running down her cheeks. Her teeth were gritted and her eyes wide and honest. “They wouldn’t let me on the case and if I’m not involved Spalding won’t play his game and he’ll disappear again, maybe for good this time!”

  “He told me Carson Lemond was in Tyler’s house when he took him to kill him,” Delgado said.

  “That’s true too,” Sarah admitted, “But I didn’t know until later.” Sarah looked very tired all of a sudden and Delgado had what he wanted. She hadn’t lied to him and she hadn’t tried to paint things in a different light or hide things. He too had once worked outside the law in his early police days in his Mexican homeland. Sometimes that was the only effective way of policing. It wasn’t perfect, but the alternative was to let people get away with things and each time you did that you were setting yourself up for heartache down the road.

  “What are you going to do with this information?” Sarah asked. Delgado didn’t answer for a moment. He knew what he should do, but he also knew that didn’t mean it was the right thing to do. He looked Sarah in the eyes once more and then he knew what the right thing to do was.

  “We’re going to get him, Sarah,” he said. “I’m not going to reveal what I know but we have to put a stop to this clandestine shit.”

  “I can’t promise that,” Sarah said. “He makes the rules.”

  “Well then we have to limit it as much as we can, especially Tyler’s involvement.”
r />   “That’s not going to work either,” she replied.

  “Sarah,” Delgado said hotly, “I’m trying to protect you here!”

  “I know, and I appreciate it, but I’m not going to lie to you. I don't get to control events. We have to react when we can and sometimes Tyler is going to be involved and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

  “You don’t make life easy do you?” Delgado said, stepping away in resigned anger. He knew she was right, and he supposed he was angry now because his own life would now have that same unpredictability thrust into it until they caught Spalding.

  “I don’t,” she agreed. “But thank you for being on my side.”

  “It doesn’t seem the right thing to do, but it feels it,” he said, turning back to face her. Sarah half smiled at him.

  “We can talk about this more later,” she said. “Right now we have to keep working this scene. You never know what we might come across.”

  What the course of the day revealed was twelve dead hostages and seven dead FBI operatives. Two more were in intensive care and if they survived they were never going to walk again. There was no real evidence save the scene itself still under investigation and the scorched clothes of the victims. Some of them could be made out, the burns and injuries not sustained to the head, but most were unrecognizable save for what gender they were. Three women could have been Ellie, but Sarah felt none of them were. She had hope that Ellie was still alive somewhere.

  Late into the night as Sarah and Delgado were about to leave, one of the forensic team came up to them.

  “We have something you’re going to want to know,” he said.

  “What is it?” Sarah asked.

  “Within each of the hostages clothes, there is a fire-retardant bag with a slip of printed cloth in it.”

  “What do they say?” Delgado asked.

  “They all say the same thing,” the forensics guy replied, “The end is nigh.”