Page 36 of Special Agent Murphy

While Frank checked for signs of life, Kayti drew her gun and followed Murphy. Catching up to him, she saw the body of the S.W.A.T. guy Frank had assigned to cover the back.

Rushing over, she checked for signs of life and was thrilled to find a pulse. Following her, Frank dropped to his knees too, his expression fearful.

Kayti relieved his fear. “He’s still breathing. No gunshot wounds. I think they just knocked him out.”

Calling into Command for an ambulance, Frank took over the care for his man.

She surrendered her place next to the fallen cop and went to Murphy. “He’s alive.”

“Good. You know they had this planned in advance. Someone must have cold-cocked him knowing the killer would be leaving from the back.” He re-holstered his gun.

“Where did he go?”

“I have no fucking idea. He just disappeared. Probably ran over to one of the streets nearby and was picked up.”

She scanned the area and saw why Murphy hadn’t followed, defeat making his face livid. In three directions, a path or a lane joined a main street. Who knew which one the killer used?

***

Hours later, after getting all the evidence together and watching the video from Alex’s hoodie, all they had was a dark-haired man, thick glasses and obvious fake beard hold up a phone, making sure Alex paid attention and angle his head to the restroom.

When Alex stepped through the door, the man attacked from the side before he even knew what hit him. Then the camera went black.

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