The police chief didn’t have very much to say, and what he did have to say sounded ridiculous. He told them to be extremely cautious and not to stop to talk to anyone without calling for back up.
“Even if you think you see your own mother, call for backup,” he had said, his face so red it seemed as if his overburdened heart was on the verge of bursting open. “This is something way out of the ordinary that we are dealing with here. Understand?”
Ron and Nathan had nodded. Ron nudged Nathan. Nathan snickered.
“Just trust me. You’ll see what I mean when you watch the video.”
Later that night, as the two men drove past the Newton city limits sign, Banks’ warning was the furthest thing from their mind.
“Twenty after ten,” Nathan said looking at his watch. “We could’ve slept thirty more minutes.”
“I’m used to leaving early in case traffic is bad,” Ron answered.
“Ron, I don’t think traffic is a problem around here.” Nathan glanced out his window at the humble homes nestled in the pine trees. “Looks like some of these bumpkins may not have running water or electricity, but they certainly don’t have to worry about the traffic,” he sarcastically grumbled.
“We’d better check in before we go on duty,” Ron said.
“Just radio in,” Nathan suggested.
“Nah, we’d better drop by.” Then he added, with a sarcastic grin, “Hell, they might not know how to use radios down here.”
When the two DPS officers, with twenty years experience between them, pulled into the parking lot at the Newton County Sheriff’s Department they were more unprepared for what was waiting for them than they could have possibly imagined.
They would have sworn when they pulled in the drive and parked beside one of the Newton County patrol cars that no one was in the parking lot. But, as soon as they stepped out of their cars. Ron saw Police Chief Banks on the other side of the county car.
Ron nodded at Banks, bringing him to Nathan’s attention, then said in voice that was just above a whisper. “I wonder if he’s going to go on and on about that damn film again.”
“Oh, please no. Anything but that,” Nathan sarcastically mumbled, covering his grin with his hand.
John Banks stepped up to the hood of the DPS cruiser, but moved no further. “Cold night,” he said, with grin.
Ron and Nathan exchanged puzzled glances. “Yeah, it’s cold all right,” Ron answered, having moved to Texas from Oregon, Ron was convinced Texans had no idea what real cold was. Ron walked toward what he thought was Police Chief Banks.
Ron was right beside Banks when he turned and said, with faintly hidden sarcasm, “Come on, Nathan. Let’s get out of this cold.”
Nathan snickered and came around the car. As soon as Ron turned back around to walk toward the Law Enforcement Center, the beast struck. It quickly slashed Nathan across the throat.
Ron heard a gurgling sound behind him. He turned. A clawed hand ripped across his throat.
When Darren Woolford walked through the front door to the jailhouse there were six people inside. Past the first security door, Bill and Sam were sitting in the dispatcher’s office covering for Clara while she made a trip to the ladies’ room. They were currently in deep conversation about how to handle the newest media surge and the new possibility of FBI intervention into the case. The hallway to the ladies’ room was also past the first security door. Clara was just stepping out of the restroom on her way back to her office. The squad room was further down the hall, past the ladies room and directly across from the men’s room. The game of poker had shut down as soon as James had retired. Emilio and Chad had watched the ten o’clock news to see what was being said about their situation and to catch a few clips of Sam’s statement to the media. After the news anchor finished his comments on the situation, Emilio got up and went to bed. Chad had put the video of the attack on Lana Parish and Bob McCoy back in the VCR and was now getting ready to watch it again. Behind the second security door, Emilio was getting ready to bed down in his cell-turned-apartment for the night. He was carefully attempting to get his pants off over the bandages on his left leg.
In the cell next door, James was just nodding off.
Darren walked through the entrance and stopped at the first security door. He waved at Bill and Sam through the Plexiglas partition separating the dispatcher’s office with the entrance. Bill turned from his conversation with Sam and nodded.
He pressed a button on the control panel and unlocked the security door.
“Hi, Darren,” Clara said as she came down the hallway to the left of Darren.
“Well, hello Mrs. Clara,” Darren said with a pleasant smile, then he continued straight ahead down the shorter hallway toward the door to the dispatcher’s office and the second security door.
The hallway between the two security doors was short. The dispatcher’s office was located to the left and was separated from the hall by another large reinforced glass window and a door situated near the end of the hall by the second security door. Across from the door to the dispatcher’s office was the booking room; it was similarly situated with a large window for the first ten feet of the hall, then the door. The only difference was that the window on the booking room had blinds so it could be used as an interrogation and questioning room. Both of the doors had large reinforced windows in them. It was a huge steel door with multiple electric locks, but since the cells were not currently housing prisoners, the second security door was unlocked.
Darren walked to the end of the hall and reached for the door to the dispatcher’s office.
Inside the office, Bill was sitting in the dispatcher’s chair, and Sam was propped up against the wall, near the door. Bill was facing the door when he saw Darren through the window, reaching for the doorknob.
Something wasn’t right.
Then it was like Bill was suddenly drenched with a bucket of cold water. Everybody was supposed to be working in pairs at night, but where was Darren’s partner?
Bill dove for the door, but he was too late. The door flew open with tremendous force, crashing into Sam, knocking the big man to the floor.
The momentum from Bill’s lunge for the door carried him right toward the Darren-thing as it stepped through the doorway. Before they collided, the beast managed a short left-handed swing, connecting with the right side of Bill’s back. Using the clawed fingers that were buried deep into Bill’s side for a grip, the beast flung Bill on past him and into the hall.
As Clara turned the corner from the restroom, she saw Bill fly out of the dispatcher’s office and slam into the opposite wall, leaving a wide bloody streak on the white wall as he slid to the floor. She screamed and ran back down the second hall toward the squad room.
On the ground below the beast, Sam was trying to get to his faithful old Colt, but couldn’t reach it. He was lying on his left side and couldn’t seem to roll his body over to get to his shoulder holster. The reason he was having trouble moving was due to a severe pain that was shooting through his left side and down his left arm. The stress of the last few days, combined with the sudden adrenaline rush of the attack, had caused legendary Texas Ranger Sam Jones to have a heart attack.