One Who Knows

              The team waited in silence looking at Ramirez as he slid his phone back into his pocket. 

“Sergeant, Captain says the caller is coming from inside the building.”  Said Ramirez snapping his pocket. 

“Did the Captain say where the caller is calling from?” asked Sergeant Gooding adjusting his helmets chin strap. 

“Yes, the caller is calling from the basement.”  Replied Ramirez getting a tighter grip on Stompley. 

“Alright men, lets get Stompley to the main floor so we can get him medical attention.  Said Sergeant Gooding hitting the 1 button on the elevator panel.

The elevator dinged when it reached the first floor.  Ramirez and Karding handed Stompley off to two EMT’s waiting to take him to the hospital.  The elevator door
slid closed when Gooding hit the B button for the basement.

“Alright men, Pooley and Cringston take low positions when the elevator opens up.  Said Sergeant Gooding  directing his attention at the two officers.  Ramirez
and Karding head out first and keep alert.   

The team members gave a thumbs up agreeing with the command and shouting out “OO Rah.

“Alright men, lets find our little friend.”  Said Gooding tapping the magazine on his assault weapon.   

The elevator grinded down the shaft until it reached the basement.  The elevator door didn’t ding when it slid open.  Gooding had disabled the alarm so that it
wouldn’t make any noise when it opened up.  Pooley crouched down on the left side of the elevator taking aim towards the right of the basement.  Cringston  crouched down on the right side of the elevator pointing his weapon at the left side of the basement. 

Ramirez and Karding stepped out, weapons held at eye level while the attached tactical lights lit the area in front of them.  Sergeant Gooding stepped out bracing himself against a wall just ahead of the team.  He turned his head, gestured with his hand telling the team to advance slowly up the basement.  Ramirez quickly moved to a column that gave a good view of the basement in front of him while giving him good cover.  Karding moved sliding behind a stack of chairs panning his weapon’s light back and forth. 

Pooley and Cringston advanced up the basement kicking aside rats scurrying around.  Pooley’s boots crunched plastic syringes coated with red residue.  Condoms littered the area around his boots.  A huge waterbug peeked out underneath one of the used condoms.  Pooley lifted his boot bringing it down on the waterbug. 

The bug crunched oozing out its liquid innards.  Sergeant Gooding bent low with his weapon trained on the area in front of him.  Looking ahead he directed his men with the wave of his hand to keep moving.  The team obeyed the command as each officer moved up both sides of the basement.  A shadow danced on the left side of the wall as a stream of light shined from an open room. 

Ramirez tore open a cherry lollipop.  He slid against the frame of the open room, and looked back at the team.  Karding, Pooley, Cringston, and Gooding came up behind Ramirez.  Karding stood behind Ramirez, Pooley knelt on the other side of the open room.  Cringston stood over Pooley on the same side.

Ramirez pulled out a telescopic mirror stretching it into the room.  He moved the mirror to the left seeing a desk, chair, and some books.  He moved the mirror to the right and saw bookcases stacked with more books.  Ramirez moved the mirror back to the left and took a second look.  He quickly retracted the mirror sliding it into his pocket. 

“Whoa, what is that?”  whispered Ramirez pointing to the left side of the room. 

“What do you see?” asked Gooding looking at Ramirez. 

Pooley adjusted his kneeling position peeking around the door frame to see what Ramirez was looking at.  Ramirez pointed to a tapestry hanging on the wall with a pair of shoes poking out from the bottom.  Gooding pointed at Karding to advance into the room to check on what was behind the tapestry.  Karding positioned his weapon at eye level as he moved towards the shoes.  The team followed behind taking up strategic positions within the room. 

Karding held his weapon in one hand while he pulled the tapestry back with the other hand.  The bar that held the tapestry came away from the wall spilling everything to the floor.  A plastic head fell into Karding causing him to jump back.  The shoes were attached to a mannequin that was holding a brown wig in its right hand.  Karding punched the mannequin in the chest knocking it over. 

“That was a waste of time.”  Said Pooley kicking the mannequin’s head. 

“Sergeant, you wanna take the mannequin home?”  asked Ramirez pushing the mannequin with his foot.

“Nah, my wife would be very jealous.”  Said Gooding picking up the head, and kissing the face. 

“That is very nice.”  Said Karding forming a heart with his hand. 

Air rattled through the vents making the aluminum shaft bang.  The team looked up listening to the air circulating.  A middle panel on the shaft dented forming a perfect shape of a knee.  The denting continued down the entire vent shaft.  The rattling got louder. 

Karding and Ramirez picked up a table placing it underneath the vent grate.  The rattling got silent with no movement.  Karding got up on the table just under the grate.  He pulled out his utility tool pushing out the phillips head screw driver.  He started to unscrew the first screw when the grate fell open. 

Karding almost lost his balance trying to avoid being hit by the grate.  Gooding moved in his direction to steady him.  Karding grabbed at the ceiling for extra support.  He peeked up into the vent shining his flashlight around.  A shadow was moving around the bend in the vent. 

“There is a shadow moving around the bend of the shaft.”  Said Karding hoisting himself up into the shaft. 

Ramirez hoisted himself up into the shaft to backup Karding.  The shaft was very narrow only allowing a single file advancement.  Karding was moving pretty fast
along the shaft to catch up to the shadow.  He reached the bend cautiously peeking around the corner.  Ramirez was right behind him checking over Karding’s frame. 

“How we doing guys?”  asked Sergeant Gooding trying to get a feel for the situation. 

“We are hot on the trail of the shadow.”  Replied Karding moving even faster through the shaft. 

“The team and I are on our way going to the floor above.”  Said Gooding urging the team to move towards the stairwell.  “We will head off the subject.”

The team sprinted towards the stairwell being led by Gooding.  He slammed the door open letting each team member catch the door.  Sprinting up the stairs was nothing as each member took the steps two at a time.  They reached the first floor level when Gooding held up his hand.  He slowly opened the door getting a view of the lobby. 

He stepped out training his weapon left then right.  Pooley and Cringston followed behind doing the same tactical movement.  They advanced down the lobby checking every corner.  Pooley turned walking backwards watching the rear.  Gooding tried a door, but it was locked.

Cringston jiggled the doorknob on a door near him.  The door opened up slowly into a conference room.  He entered the room panning around the room.  The room had a footprints poster on the wall.  That’s the poster where the set of footprints appears right next to the person visible in the poster.

A cross was affixed to the wall with a Bible sitting on the coffee table along the wall.  He looked under the conference room table, but no one was in the room.  He quoted the saying that was under the cross which said “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.”  He touched the cross bowing his head.  He turned and walked out of the room closing the door behind him. 

“Hey, Gooding, What is the situation?”  asked the Captain trying to hide the frustration in his voice. 

“We have Ramirez and Karding following the subject in the ventilation shaft.”  Replied Gooding keeping his focus on the lobby ahead. 

“Keep me abreast of the search.”  Said the Captain knowing that the ERU team was on top of the situation. 

“Hey Karding, anything yet?”  asked Gooding jimmying the lock on another door. 

“The subject seems to be just out of our reach.”  Said Karding breathing heavily over the radio. 

Karding and Ramirez reached another bend in the shaft.  They started to head around the corner when a loud metallic bang landed in front of them.  Smoke filled the area growing rapidly.  They both reached for their gas masks sliding them on.  The smoke blinded them holding them in their place. 

“You are really starting to put a crimp in my day!”  Yelled Ramirez directing his comment towards the subject. 

They pushed through the smoke not sure what was on the other side.  To their relief no one was there.  They proceeded on down the shaft coming upon a vent pushed open into a room.  Karding lowered himself into the room landing on a chair.  Ramirez jumped down landing in a crouching position. 

“Hey Sergeant, we have lost our subject.”  Said Karding looking around the room. 

“Where did he go?”  asked Gooding concern etching his brow. 

“We got blinded by a smoke bomb.”  Said Ramirez shaking his head. 

“What was that?”  asked the Captain covering one ear as sirens blared.  “Did I hear that you lost the subject?” 

“Yes Captain.”  said Ramirez waiting for the Captain to respond angrily. 

There was silence which if it were a radio station would be a no no.  Ramirez and Karding waited for the response.  The rest of the team made their way down to where they were.  Sergeant Gooding, Cringston, and Pooley appeared at the doorway of the room.  Gooding leaned up against the door pushing pebbles around on the floor. 

“The subject has to be in the building still.”  Said Gooding looking at the dust flying around through the sunbeam. 

“We don’t know where he went to.”  Said Karding.  “The shaft ended abruptly.” 

“How does a shaft end abruptly?”  asked Gooding trying to comprehend the statement. 

“There was a concrete wall formed around the end of the shaft.”  Said Ramirez clarifying the response.  “The subject definitely came into this room.” 

“He definitely didn’t evaporate into thin air.”  Said Gooding searching through papers on a table. 

“It is very frustrating because we were right on the subject.”  Said Karding coughing through a scratchy throat. 

Ramirez walked around the room taking care to look at everything.  He wanted to make sure that he didn’t miss anything.  He propped up turned over chairs to keep the team from tripping over them.  The hole in the door in the center of the room caught his attention.  He stepped over to the door opening it up. 

The light switch didn’t work because the bulb was busted hanging on a wire.  He shined his light around the room coming across a toilet that was cracked in half.  Sergeant Gooding peeked in the room watching Ramirez.  Ramirez adjusted his hat as he looked in a mirror that was hanging lopsided on the wall.  He tried to level it, but it fell off the wall shattering on the floor. 

Karding, Pooley, and Cringston took a look at the papers on the table.  The papers showed architectural drawings of the building.  There was nothing out of the ordinary about them.  Karding pushed them aside.  A cardboard file box held more files.

Ramirez and Gooding came out of the bathroom.  Gooding walked over to the table and rifled through the file box.  They seemed to hold engineering drawings.  Nothing that would help them with their search.  There had to be something in this room. 

“Captain, you can come in here.”  Said Gooding tapping the table with his pointer finger. 

“Alright, Markerson and Bromley are coming with me.”  Said the Captain making his way towards the lobby. 

Markerson and Bromley followed close behind.  They all made their way to the room where the team was.  They arrived at the room while the team was bent over binders opened on the tables.  The binders held press releases, stock data, analytical data, and business policies.  There was nothing of any use here either. 

“What is our game plan?”  asked the Captain entering the room. 

Markerson and Bromley entered the room taking up a spot to the left.  They watched the interaction between Gooding and the Captain. 

“Well, right now I’m not sure.”  Replied Gooding pushing the binders aside.  “Maybe Ramirez and Karding can come up with an answer.”

Pooley sat down on the edge of the table tipping the table in his direction.  The items on the table started to slide towards him.  Ramirez grabbed the items so they wouldn’t crash to the floor.  His hands weren’t quick enough.  The file box slipped right through his hands crashing to the floor. 

The files slid out of the box disturbing the info inside.  A mini cassette recorder fell out onto the floor.  The impact pushed the button activating the tape.  Pooley picked up the cassette placing it onto the table.  Everyone stood quiet trying to hear the voice. 

“I love this game.”  Said the voice with a high, pitched tone.  “I will play with you guys as long as I can.Leaving dead bodies wherever I go is going to add up.  I have eight more people to snuff out.  The fun part is these people have no idea how many hours they have left.  The mystery is how long it will take you to find me.  I look forward to the chase hoping that I don’t have to manipulate any part of the chase.  Manipulating the chase is too basic for me.  If I have to impede my plan to make the chase basic for your team the victims will go up.  You better make the best of the chase.  You’ve got to get into my life, my mind, my background, and what makes me tick.  You guys can’t handle me.  I know everything about your protocols, each one of the team members, and especially you, Mrs. Markerson.  Oh yes, I know all about you Markerson.”

The team looked in her direction.  She was dumbfounded as to the comment.  She didn’t know what to make of the caller.  He was probably as dumb as a lobotomized individual.  That comment got her mojo amped up. 

“One more thing all you wonderful people.”  Said the caller making a wheezing sound.  “I’m on my way to see my next victim.  I think I’ll change up the way I am going to kill the next person.  Hey, why don’t you look under the toilet.  Move the toilet away from where it sits. Have a great day.” 

Gooding  entered the bathroom and moved the toilet aside.  Underneath the toilet was a picture of the Governor’s wife with a big X marked through her face.