Herc's Mercs: Once a Hero by Ari McKay

Author:Ari McKay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Torquere Press
Published: 2015-08-13T06:45:47+00:00

Chapter Ten

He watched the never-ending flow of people walking by the courthouse, intent on their own business. No one paid any attention to him. Why should they? He was just one more anonymous face in the crowd, as invisible to the cogs of the system as he had been for years, before they’d caught him and sent him away. He preferred not to be noticed; he was a creature of the shadows and content to remain that way. He could move in for the kill easier that way.

The foot traffic picked up as the morning court sessions began to recess and he moved forward, crossing the street and entering the building. He got through security unnoticed, but he’d been careful not to have anything on him that might set off alarms. He followed the rest of the herd to the elevators, getting into a car and riding it up with a dozen other people.

He’d cased the place before, noting the locations of the security cameras and watching the comings and goings carefully. Just like prison, the courthouse had a rhythm, a pulse, a pattern, and he was good with patterns. So he got off at the sixth floor where family court was held, slipped into the men’s room, and went to the sink to wash his hands. Sure enough, a couple of lawyers entered, talking business, and he waited until they left to follow them out. They got into the elevator, and he had to hide a smile of triumph as one of them pulled out a keycard and pressed the button for the underground parking deck.

The lawyers were still talking, so he pulled out a cellphone, pretending to be totally absorbed in checking something and ignoring the other men in the car. When the elevator reached the parking deck, he followed them out, but before either of them could challenge his presence -- the underground lot was for officials only -- he strode off purposefully toward one side of the garage, as though headed toward a car. He’d learned that trick from one of his cellmates; if you acted as though you knew what you were doing and where you were going, people would usually think that you did and ignore you.

He rounded one of the support columns, again pretending an interest in the phone, and stood there until he heard two cars depart. No one else entered the deck, and so he circled around, pretending he’d forgotten where he’d parked, just in case anyone was watching on the security cameras. It was probable no one was, but he was too close to his goal to get caught now.

It took him only a few minutes to find Whittaker’s SUV, and he smiled as he headed toward it. Everything up until now had merely been an appetizer, whetting his appetite for the main course.

It was about to be served, and the hunger he’d felt for ten years would be satisfied at last.

***

“And so having been found guilty by a jury

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