The Puppeteers (Mycroft Holmes)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - 2011; Stranger Danger

Cameron looked up as Jason, their supervising officer, came in with a new file. "Got another stiff and a lead to our next victims." He called. Everyone gathered around the table and looked up at the screen as he placed the files on the overhead.

"Mack and Bobby, I want you to check out the stiff. Name's Rachel Noleson. Forty-eight, maths teacher. She was diagnosed with liver cancer about a year ago. She had a month to live and a fourteen year old daughter to take care of. The boyfriend and daughter are set financially, as we expected. Rachel accidentally killed Professor Gillian Faust with her car. They both went across the A1 and flipped. Get on it."

Bobby grabbed the files and walked away, her heels clicking against the concrete floor. Mack hurried after her. Jason looked at the rest of them.

"Now the lead. Vincent Trippi, thirty-eight, is dying of a rapidly growing tumor in his frontal lobe. Inoperable. We suspect his target will be David Waters. We need to find Vincent. He's already been reported missing from his hospital room and the family hasn't heard from him."

Cameron sat down at her laptop and downloaded the file on Trippi. She slid her notebook closer, flipped through months' worth of work and found the last few blank pages. Sighing, she pulled out a drawer and and grabbed a new notebook. She had gone through four already and she had only been here a year. Settling further into her chair, she began taking notes.

In the last six years, there had been seven suicides that had "accidentally" killed someone else. The victims were not connected but the killers were all terminally ill members of a small, barely heard of religion that believed killing an unrepentant evil doer would save their souls.

Mycroft Holmes' private task force had no reason to look into it except that three of the victims had been involved in a few of his past operations. Cameron was still catching up on all that had happened before she arrived.

David Waters, the next possible victim, had helped them catch Hans Ruber. Mycroft had promised him protection after he came to them with intel but murder disguised as a suicide would be difficult to guard against. Cameron sat back and stared down at the files. Her team had already profiled Trippi; he wasn't a hard read. She simply had to wait for Naomi, their third field agent, and Havi, their lead technical specialist, to find him.

As the psychoanalyst, Cameron also worked as the task force's negotiator. When money and the guns their paperwork said they didn't have weren't persuasive enough, she stepped in - their precision instrument in the more delicate cases. In all likelihood, she would have to step in tonight.

"Cam." She looked over her shoulder at Havi. He pointed to his screen. "We've got a hit on Trippi. Just spotted entering an office space. Waters isn't there but if we catch Trippi now, this might go a little smoother."

She nodded and found Naomi at her desk. She handed Cameron the handcuffs and a taser. "Just in case. Stay close to me. There's no name to that office space, it's not even sold yet. Could be his employer's hide out."

Cameron nodded, used to the drill by now. They slid into Naomi's black sedan. Cameron tucked the taser into a back pocket as they got out in front of the building. The door was unguarded and unlocked. The lobby was empty. Naomi led the way into the first office. She pushed the door open with a shoulder and swung to check the corners. "Clear." She called.

They checked every room, calling out that each one was clear. "I don't get it." Cameron muttered. She opened a closet door and looked down. "Naomi." She whispered. Naomi peeked over her shoulder at the dimly lit stairwell.

A flash of light and then a loud bang rang out from below. Naomi shoved Cameron down and pulled her out of the way. She flipped her phone open. "Havi, we've got shots fired. Get Bobby and Mack over here now." She pressed her back against the wall and looked at Cameron. "They're coming up. Go to the car."