The Death of Jacob Track (Book One of the 33X Series)

Chapter 17

He reached Hays about seven pm, grabbed some Burger King (not wearing his ski mask, obviously) and found the name and address for the medical examiner through a contact he had. Since it was late fall, the skies were almost dark, which helped him quite fine. He found the address easily through GPS. It was a very nice two-story stone house in the "rich" part of town. The street was near empty with only a few scattered houses throughout the 2-3 block area. He found a good hiding spot and parked with his headlights off. He was less than a block from the Hampton's house. He used binoculars to peer into the windows, watching them as they did their nightly activities. Tyler Hampton was not young, but not old either. He was 43, dark hair with a speckling of grey, well built and healthy. His wife, Marie, was 38, blond, busty and Larry guessed enjoying her nicely paid small city life. Larry didn't know the wages of a medical examiner, but guessed it must be good to afford such a nice house, or one of them had family money.

He waited for them to sleep, wishing they'd stop watching the damn news. Finally around 11, Tyler kissed Marie and headed upstairs. Marie went to the kitchen, then followed. Larry knew his time was getting closer. He watched them make love in the upstairs room and then the lights were off. He gave himself another 30 minutes to assure they were asleep. In all his watching, Larry never noticed them to check doors or windows. He suspected, like most small town Kansas people, their doors were unlocked. He hoped anyway.

At 11:45, Larry, gun in pocket and mask on his face, walked slowly to the Hampton house. He stayed in the shadows as best as he could. He was surprisingly light and quiet. As he suspected, the front door was unlocked. He opened it quietly and headed upstairs. He had watched them enough to get a general layout of the house. He headed upstairs.

He quietly stepped into the master bedroom. Tyler and Marie were asleep on their backs. Larry pulled out the gun and silencer, shot them both once in the head. Neither woke up nor knew anyone was in their house. They died instantly.

Once dead, he replaced the gun back into his jacket and began rummaging through their belongings. He wanted it to look like a robbery, but he had to be quick. He didn't have a lot of time. He found a large wad of cash in a sock drawer and grabbed some necklaces and rings from a nearby jewelry box. Larry headed back downstairs, broke a few small items to look as though he was rushed and dangerous, and strewn papers around the living room. He found a few more small valuables on a coffee table and shoved them into a jacket pocket. Seeing that it was clear outside, he left the house as quiet as he had gone in. He walked slowly as to not cause concern to anyone who might have been peeking out a window. Once he was in the car and moving again, he kept the headlights off until he was far enough away to not be a suspect.

Using his contact again, he found the address where Tyler worked. It was a small concrete building on the south edge of town. He was a bit worried about cameras and other security measures. He knew the building was empty but had to plan how to get inside without notifying the police. He had only one choice. He dialed the number, as he drove past the building.

"Larry this is the third call of the night!" A man said angrily.

"I know, sir. I wouldn't call if it wasn't an emergency."

"How is it an emergency?" The man asked impatiently.

"Sir, if I do not take these actions tonight, I will not be able to continue my research and finish the LZ Virus. And we both know that you do not want that."

"I've just about had enough of your troubles, Larry. I do not pay you for your personal choices, however awful they are!"

"Yes, sir, I'm sorry to be a burden to you. But you know that I am close to finishing it. I need to finish it!"

"What do you want? I don't have all night."

"I need you to hack the security cameras and doors to the address you last gave me." Larry said.

"Are you fucking serious, Larry? The protocol I will be breaking!"

"I need to destroy a file, sir. It is beyond important!"

"A file on the LZ Virus?" The man asked.

"No.. no, of course not!"

"Then I don't see how I can be of much service to you. I've given you enough of my time for one night. Good..."

"Sir, please!"

"Good night Dr. Rumsfield." The man hung up the phone.

Larry punched the steering wheel. He would have to find a way to do it himself. He couldn't stand that man, whatever his name was. Larry usually did his job without much trouble, but the past six months had been very hard for him. All of his life tests were coming at him at once, and it wasn't always easy. He had to make a lot of hard choices that weren't always considered "moral" by most standards, but they were for the greater good.

Larry found a deserted road, changed into normal clothes and then headed back into town. He stopped at a gas station and bought a six-pack of beer, then headed to Wal-Mart for alcohol and a few cleaning rags. He had a plan that he hoped would work. Before getting back to the ME's building, he changed his clothes again, removed his license plate, fill the beer bottles with gasoline and soaked the rags in alcohol. He drove slowly back as to not spill his new Molotov cocktails in the car.

Larry knew he had to be as quick as possible to not be caught. He couldn't afford to get caught.

He pulled slowly into the parking lot, easing close to the building. Larry pulled out the gun, shooting frantically at the front door to break the glass, also aiming at the visible camera. The glass door shattered, the camera fell to the ground with a crunch. Larry pulled out the Molotov's, lit one and threw it inside. He watched the fire slowly creep through the doorway, flames licking the entry way.

He lit another and tossed it. The fire on the ground helped ignite the new cocktail. Flames began growing through the building. Larry lit another and tossed it. Fire ball. Glass windows were breaking. He could smell the burning of the gasoline. He quickly lit and threw the last three bottles. The whole thing was over in under two minutes. He sped away as the flames and smoke filled his rear view mirror. He had five to ten minutes before the police would show up and he'd be long gone. Larry couldn't help but smile.

He had done all he could for one day. They'd never catch him now. He was a free man. Hopefully, that report never went any further than Hays. The computer would be ruined. Any paper or audio recordings would be ash. Everything except the concrete walls would be left standing. Nick's murder would be nothing but a memory now.