It was him.

The phone, the dog. They were decoys. Both decoys.

He placed a call back to Kelly. “Kelly, it’s Jack here. I believe our suspect is in the vicinity of the new safe house. Could you organise some additional support urgently.”

“Will do.”

Jack was glad he’d made the decision to move the girls, but where was the man? He drove back to the safe house.

<°)))><

Watts stalked through the house. Empty. The curtains in the back bedroom were open, and grey light illuminated the room. He heard what sounded like a car door slam. He walked over to the window. The garden backed onto a cul-de-sac—a dead-end street. Two cars. People were getting into one. The redhead. They drove off. He kicked the wall in frustration.

Two men observed the car drive off. They turned and headed back towards the house. He saw the guns at their sides. Plain-clothes cops.

He walked through the house to the front, to a living room looking out to the street. Light flooded the room as a car pulled up.

He was trapped.

Well, gods, what do I do now?

55 – We’re going to get you

JACK PARKED THE CAR. The house sat in darkness. Good. The team must have left with the girls. He stared at the house and let out a yawn as the weariness returned.

Wait. What was that? He thought he saw a flash of light in the house. His heart picked up its pace. Maybe he was more tired than he’d thought. Or maybe there was someone in the house.

He drove off and parked a few houses away, and contacted the removal team.

“Proceed with caution. I think someone’s in the house. In the front living room.”

“Understood.”

He pulled his hand gun out of its holster, put on his communication equipment and made his way back to the house. He snuck up and took residence behind a wall in a neighbouring property to watch over the safe house. Night sounds filtered the air. His heart slowed down and his breathing relaxed. This all changed as a figure rushed from the side of the safe house and headed towards the front gate. It was the suspect.

“Hey, you!” The voice came from behind Jack.

He turned to see a stout man with his hands on his hips. The neighbour?

“Police Officer.” Jack showed his badge. “Please get back inside. We have a dangerous situation here.”

The man turned and rushed back inside. The suspect had disappeared—he would’ve been warned by the man yelling.

“He’s gone,” Jack said into his radio. “Probably heading down the street.”

“On it.”

Jack’s instinct was to chase the suspect. The wizard. He knew it was the wizard—he’d been carrying a weapon that looked like a crossbow. 

He’d seen what the wizard could do with the crossbow. He needed to hide. Behind the tree? No. Too exposed. The brick wall would have to do. He crouched beside the wall, felt the coldness of the brick on his back, stared at the pistol held in front of him. His hands were shaking, and perspiration flowed down his cheeks. 

Footsteps. Someone was coming. A shadow, then an arm came over the wall. The arm held a weapon. A crossbow. 

A loud bang filled the still night. Jack heard a whining sound, and fragments of brick fell on his head. The arm was gone. Adrenaline kicked in. Jack jumped up and saw a figure running towards the parkland. He considered taking a shot, but the distance was too great.

“You okay, Jack?” the voice came over his earphone. “Had to take a shot, wasn’t sure what he was up to.”

“Thanks. You did good.”

Jack jumped over the wall, running after the fugitive. He was safe as long as he could see the running man. He doubted that the man had been hit—the shot from his team member was more of a distraction tactic than anything else. Jack didn’t care either way. The shooter just saved his life.

“Operations?”

Another team member caught up with Jack.

“Here, Jack.”

“We need to get a helicopter and dog squad here, and fast.”

“Will do.”

Jack could hear the heavy breathing of the man running beside him. Their target disappeared into some shrubbery. Jack stopped and motioned to his team member to retreat. They couldn’t risk becoming targets of an unseen assassin.

The dark street was awash with streams of red blue lights as the backup team starting arriving. Jack could hear the sound of a helicopter in the distance.

We’re going to get you, Mr Wizard.

Toby crouched behind some bushes, hiding from the helicopter and its powerful spotlights lighting up the path and parklands around him. He’d soon be the centre of attention. Soon be the actor on stage. Soon be visible to the world. He enjoyed the limelight but needed a strategy to get out of this predicament. 

The park ran alongside a freeway, and the good council had installed tall bland concrete walls to act as sound barriers to keep the residents happy. Sadly, they planted more grass than shrubbery, which didn’t give him many options. If he ran from his hiding spot onto the grassland he’d be exposed like a rabbit, and the walls were too high to climb. The only option was to go back the way he came.

Two men shielded behind a vehicle at the top of the parkland, safe from him and his arrows. Not that his arrows could shoot that far. Other officers joined them. Some crouched as they approached, avoiding imaginary bullets or arrows. One officer had a dog on a lead. The dog looked fitter than the one he’d befriended earlier.

Going back the way he’d come was looking less and less like an option.

The thwump, thwump, thwump of the helicopter was louder. He imagined a dragon weaving through the sky to rescue him, but instead of red flames spewing out of a dragon’s mouth he saw white light invading the darkness. The helicopter’s floodlight swept all before it and illuminated the dog charging down the hill. He took out his crossbow. The dog he would shoot. Then he’d need to give himself up.

The bright light flooded the dark greenery, revealing his presence. He lifted his hands to shelter his eyes from the blinding light. The dog growled, but couldn’t see it. He fumbled on the ground, found his crossbow, placed it on his shoulder, and took aim in the direction of the growling. The arrow bolt made its usual swish as he fired it.

But no thud, no yelping.

The arrow had missed its target. A force pushed him backwards and he felt the dog’s jaws clamped on his arm. He dropped the crossbow, rolled to try and get away from the dog. Now on his back, he shook his arm in a vain attempt to dislodge the canine, but the dog bit down harder.

Two shadows appeared. “Keep still. We have weapons aimed at you.”

“Can you get this mutt off me?”

“I would be nicer to the dog, sir. He has a distinct advantage over you at the moment.”