128 (Operation Armageddon: Book 1)

Chapter Four: The Assassin | Part 1

"Hold it. What are you doing? We are in a lockdown," the technician at the main door blurted as he tried to stop Matthew when he reached for the keypad on the digital lock.

Matthew sighed. "I've already spoken to the captain. He has given us permission to bypass the lockdown. It's better to contact other precincts about our situations instead of letting ourselves be sitting ducks for the perpetrator to kill us."

The technician groaned, seemingly unhappy with Matthew's words or the captain's orders, however. "Anyway, that's the point of the lockdown! It's to make sure we catch the culprit! Plus, how would you know if the criminals are killing everyone one by one? How would you know that?"

"Criminals? I didn't say that there was more than one.... Wait a minute..." Matthew trailed off.

"Uh, uh..." the technician stammered as he looked around nervously, which was some strange behaviour, as the detectives thought.

Matthew raised an eyebrow, still waiting for the technician to respond. There wasn't a need to, though. Instead of a response came an action—an abrupt one.

The technician instantly pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Matthew. He cocked the gun and laid his finger on the trigger, preparing to shoot him if he was going to be a threat. "You blew this!" he yelled at Matthew, who was trying to stop him.

Everyone else in the room screamed and began scurrying around. Some ran away, down the corridor that led to the room where Officer Keystone was killed, while others took refuge by hiding at the corners of the lobby.

"Hold on, calm down. Now, what are you talking—," Matthew negotiated before getting cut off by the lights going out again.

And just then, there was a strange growling noise. The technician let out a blood-curdling scream of pain, accompanied by the noises of him struggling while his feet scrapped across the ground. Soon, the sounds of him getting dragged faded away.

"Oh, dear God! Oh, please spare me for once!" a woman wailed as she and the others began fearing for the worst.

"That d-detective... is right. Something is coming for us one by one. Two people have already been murdered!" another person shrieked as he thought about what Matthew had said.

"Three," Emma subconsciously corrected.

"Calm down. Let's not draw conclusions too quickly," Daniel stated. "I'm sure that he was just putting up a show. We'll find him."

The lights came back up again. And it proved Daniel to be wrong. A blood trail was left on the floor from the technician's gun. It stretched all the way to the door leading out of the main room to the passageway to the basement rooms.

There was someone coming after them in this game of cat and mouse.

Something.

"I'll quickly get the digital lock open," Matthew said as he turned back to punch in the passcode that the captain had given him earlier on.

Panicky whispers and fearful squeaks filled the entire atmosphere, with the smell of death incoming. The group anticipated more casualties, so they worked as quickly as possible to get the main door unlocked for everyone to get out.

"For some reason, we couldn't find the key. In that case, we'll have to use something else to get the lock off—by hook or crook," Captain Harris said.

"Yes, but don't you find it strange that we couldn't find the key? It was definitely in the room when Officer Keystone was still supervising the place. The thing is that a creature attacked him. So, why wasn't the key still there?" Megan made a good point.