The Arena: The Awakening (1) Read Free Page B

computer and a whiteboard. The only saving grace was a small window, from which there was a clear view of the park opposite the building. Hank set down his coffee and opened the box. All the files were fairly straightforward in content, detailing a seemingly random killing each by a single gunshot to the head. There was a lot of paperwork to go through, so Hank started with the basics. On the white board, he jotted down the location of each incident – Manhattan, Philadelphia and rural Blairstown in north New Jersey. Expert biochemist Leonard Fowler had been shot outside the offices of the biggest pharmaceutical company in New York City, where he had been working. Howard Rogers, the victim in Philadelphia, was a retired mathematician vacationing with his wife when he was killed. The female victim, Constance McDonald, was shot on the driveway of her Blairstown home; she was a phlebotomist working for a blood donation agency.
    There were no obvious links between the victims other than their rather gruesome deaths. The pictures from all three scenes showed that in each case there was little left of the victim’s head at all, which suggested to Hank that these were high velocity shots. The forensic analysis report noted that only bullet fragments were recovered from all three incidents. All the fragments were made of solid carbon fibre. This meant the bullets had a high tensile strength, but no rifling marks were evident on the fragments for comparison and they couldn’t be matched to anything on the National Ballistic Database. The reports also confirmed that whatever held the bullets together had ruptured on impact, splitting the round into multiple pieces which, in turn, caused maximum damage.
    Hank didn’t know of any organisation, agency or otherwise, with such advanced technology. What he did know was that the shooter in all these cases was likely to be a sniper rather than a close range killer. Whoever had initially been looking at these files had clearly had the same thought, but none of the places from which the sniper took their shots were ever identified and the only connection established between the three victims was the bullet fragments.
    After several hours of reading and re-reading the case files, Hank had had enough of paperwork for the day and decided he needed to visit the crime scenes. Both the males had been shot in public places almost two years ago, so his best starting point was the Blairstown address for the female. She had lived alone with no family and the house had remained empty and unsold since her death. It was only an hour or so away from the office so Hank decided to hit the road with Laura , his vintage muscle car and most prized possession. The trip also afforded him the opportunity to catch up with an old friend on the way.
     
     
    Chapter 4
    An Old Friend
     
    On an unkempt road just outside Denville in New Jersey, Hank pulled Laura cautiously up a long driveway. The house at the end was sun-faded pink and had a set of green painted garages situated just behind it. He pulled past the house and parked just outside the garage doors. With the window down, Hank could hear classic '70s rock coming from inside the garage.
    “ Ha! Nothing’s changed here then” Hank thought to himself with a half grin on his face.
    Hank had sounded the horn a couple of times but there was no reply. Taking the initiative, he went to the garage side door and went inside looking for Fitz. It had been a couple of years since they had last seen each other, but they were old friends and Hank knew they would always pick up from where they left off.
    “ FITZ? ” shouted Hank.
    An unintelligible reply came from across the workshop from behind what looked like a dismantled Cadillac.
    “I knew I would find you here under another pile of crap” Hank said in a jovial tone.
    “What are you talking about pal? This is going to be a dream machine when I’m finished with it” replied Fitz as he turned down the volume on