Of Lights and Shadows (Book 4)

33) Activity in the Rain

Rain poured down as wind whistled noisily through the trees, only a few lone birds and frogs made any noise to accompany its mournful sound. Out of the black a dark figure emerged, stepping quietly on the wet grass, the rain slipping off its black hood and jacket as it walked from the line of trees to the road where it quickly crossed to the surveillance van. With skilled fingers, it unlocked the back door and clambered inside.

The sound of the rain was magnified inside the van thanks to the roof and the almost hollow inside. The figure did not seem deterred by this and carried on with his work, turning on the computers and video screens to see around the lake. The cameras were still running but the computers themselves had been turned off the save power as there was no one there to see them.

A still quiet voice crackled through the speakers of the figure's walkie-talkie and he brought it up to his ear to hear over the noise on the roof. When the voice had finished the man spoke into the microphone telling him where to find the cameras set up around the lake. He waited for the voice to confirm that it had understood before settling down in the van to wait.

Every now and again a dark figure would walk up to a camera on screen, there would be a short burst of static before the picture cleared and showed the dark figure walking away. Other cameras would just turn black and then switch themselves automatically back on, no figure to be seen. As each one turned itself back on a voice would speak over the line of the walkie-talkie to say that it was done, to each one the man in the van acknowledge and ordered to return to the van.

When all the cameras had been confirmed complete, he set about deleting the scenes in the videos that showed the men creeping up. He had just finished when a knock sounded on the door. Opening it he welcomed in Felicity Jordan.

'All done, sir?' she asked as she shook off the rain from her coat.

'All done,' Mulligan confirmed as he placed the last video tape back into place. 'With the feeds hooked up to our own van we will be able to see everything Hollow and his team sees. Now it's all up to who reacts fastest in the end. Hollow lets his men go home for the night so they don't get the night feed till morning, I want men watching those screens all night, every night, until something shows up.'

'Yes, sir.'

Silently, and paying no heed to the rain, the two set off after Mulligan locked the van. They found the rest of the group waiting for them in a second floor room that they commandeered for the operation. It had a clear view up and down the street where Dastardious's van was parked so they would be able to see anyone entering or leaving it.

The room hired was a simple one that had been empty for months and on lease, Mulligan had taken it as soon as he heard about it. A fold up bed was in one corner, two desks were set up in the middle of the floor with six monitors sitting on top, all showing pictures of darkened forest, paths, the lake, and other various spots as well as the rain splattering down.

There were four men in the room, the two usual, Jones and Oxley, a new man Mulligan had picked up for the night to help set up the video feeds and monitors and the latest member of the team, Devan Tsert.

'Everything working?' asked Mulligan as he moved over to the desk, took a seat in front of one of the monitors, and started scrolling through the different views that were offered.

'Yes, sir,' replied Tsert. 'Everything Hollow sees we will see also.'

'Good, that's what I want.' Rising from the chair, Mulligan moved to the window and checked out the view. The night was dark, but the light was stronger. The street lamps set up along the road gave off enough for Mulligan to make out most of the features of the world outside. It gave the perfect view.

'Dastardious Hollow knows something we don't know,' he said, turning to face his crew. 'He wouldn't have set up surveillance around the Lake if he didn't suspect something to happen here,' he indicated the scenes on the screens.

'We don't know what it is, but I don't think we would be far wrong if we presumed he suspected the Shadow to place Jackson Earl's body near, or on, the Lake. We are going to catch the Shadow before Hollow does. That means that any sign, any sign, at all of anything suspicious, whether on the Lake or down below at Hollow's van, happening, you tell me immediately. If Hollow gets the Shadow before us, it will mean the end of us! Understood?'

Jones nodded quickly in reply, eager to show that he understood and was willing.

'Should we try and stop them from heading off if we see something happening?' he asked.

Mulligan shook his head. 'If you see something happening I want you to be ahead of them before they've even finished gathering. You see something happening and you go straight to the source. Get to the Shadow before they do!'

'Yes, sir!'

As the group talked and made their plans and decided who was to take first watch of the night, the rain poured steadily down. Slowly destroying all traces of the footprints made in the mud.