Caught in the Crossfire

Jewelry store fire has officials questioning string of similar incidents

A five-alarm Midtown fire destroys jewelry store and neighboring buildings, killing 3. Fire marshalls are working with the building owner and residents to piece together clues about the disaster.

The fires continue to pile up, Tuesday night’s being the fourth in a month, and it is getting harder for officials to deny the claims that London is being inhabited by a serial arsonist.

With a deep sigh, Liam pulled his eyes away from the newspaper, folding the wrinkled sheets in front of him. The bodies were continuing to pile up, and the police were doing nothing about it. Denying the truth was going to do nothing to stop it.

“It’s a shame, isn’t it?” Leonard spoke, spooning a bit of his pudding cup into his mouth.

Nodding his head, Liam sighed. “Three more innocent people are dead at the hands of this murderer, and they’re doing nothing about it.”

“You’d think they’d be able to dig up some old files or something.” Leonard shifted in his seat. “I mean, this guy clearly knows what he’s doing. He’s gotta have a history.”

A spark set off in Liam’s mind, setting his wheels turning. This guy had experience; that much was obvious. He was precise, detailed, and left no witnesses. Even in the first fire, everything had gone too smoothly for it to be the arsonist's first crime.

Pulling on his coat, Liam stood up from his seat. “I just remembered I’m meeting someone. I’ll catch you later.”

When Leonard gave his usual goodbye nod, Liam slipped out of the factory’s employee lounge and onto London’s streets. His hand moved to his coat pocket, and pulled out his phone, which already had Penelope’s name flashing across it.

Penelope: No matter how many times I go outside, I’m still surprised at how cold it is!

It was just after 7 o’clock, and the sweet brunette would just be leaving the small internet café across the street from his factory. Liam could practically picture her walking, wearing her large coat and wrapped in a wool sweater. He had seen it a few times before, when he left work the same time she left the café. Every time it happened, Liam wanted to walk across the street and introduce himself, but something held him back.

As if he had willed it from his mind, when Liam looked across the busy road, he saw the small girl walking along the sidewalk, laptop in hand. If anyone could find out the history of the arsonist, it was that girl right there, the one with the glasses and high ponytail.

With his eyes locked on her, Liam crossed the busy road. He ran out in front of a few cars that were driving a little too fast, but he didn’t care. He had to hold onto this courage while he still could.

When he was just steps away from her, she turned down a dark alley, that was lit only by the moon and the fractured light from the windows towards the top of the tall buildings. That was where Liam’s courage stopped. There was no way he could talk to her now.

Approaching her in the dark alley would mean startling her, and explaining from there that he was the boy she had been talking to for all of those months was sure to go horribly wrong. Nothing good could come from the situation materializing in front of him.

Liam let out a deep sigh, as he stood in the place where the road met the alley. She didn’t look back at him, not once, and Liam took note of that. She didn’t even know he was there.

The girl was halfway down the alley, just past the large green dumpster, when a man jumped out from behind it. Even from so far away, Liam could see the knife the man wielded in his hand. He had seen situations like this unfolding before. It was a bad part of town, and it happened all the time. But none of those times made Liam feel the way this one did.

Thoughts of Penelope, the girl he had confided in for many months, being harmed by this dangerous man flooded his mind. Just the thought of him touching her sent Liam’s body into hyper drive. His muscles began to tense, as his heartbeat changed to its sporadic rhythm.

Penelope kept her eyes on the man, as he sliced the knife back and forth in front of her. The way she held out her arms gave her a calm appearance, but her frantic eyes proved that she was terrified.

Without a second thought, Liam raced down the alley, his arms pumping at his sides. In just moments, Liam was behind the attacker, and Penelope’s eyes were locked on him. He reached his hand to the attacker’s neck, punching him in the pressure point below his ear.

Groaning, the man fell to the ground, and Liam wrapped his arms around the attacker’s neck, as he proceeded to pull him up.

Penelope took multiple steps back, while Liam detained the mugger with relative ease. He was moving so swiftly and with so much strength, that it sent Penelope’s thoughts in a flurry. The man’s movements were unnatural, but so perfect Penelope thought she’d never seen anything as brilliant.

With a pump of his hand, Liam had knocked the man out completely. The mugger fell to the ground in a disheveled heap, his arms and legs laying out in front of him. His breaths were heavy, but he was alive and virtually unharmed.

From the moment Liam had entered the alleyway, his face had been blocked by the attacker, and Penelope’s thoughts had been too rapid for her to make any sense of the situation, but with the mugger laying on the ground, everything was more clear.

Her voice slow and stuttering, Penelope spoke. “You – I know you.”

That was impossible. Liam was certain the girl had never seen him before. He was careful to stay away from her, so he wouldn’t give anything away.

“You were at that crash.” Penelope continued, her voice still shaking. “You saved those people.”

Liam’s mind raced. When had she seen him? How had she remembered what he looked like? What else did she know?

Before he could respond, Penelope spoke again. “You came out of nowhere. You practically lifted a car off the ground. How could you do that?”

Liam had heard that many times before, when he was unable to get away in time. He had already manufactured a generic response.

“Adrenaline, I guess?” His voice was calm. It had to be to convince her. “It happens all the time.”

Shaking her head, Penelope threw out her hands. “Don’t give me that load of bullshit. What you did wasn’t adrenaline. You – It wasn’t natural. What you did – People don’t do that.”

“Listen – “ His words were cut off by Penelope’s shaking voice.

“Don’t lie to me,” she said. “Tell me what you are.”

Liam was so startled by her words, that didn’t have time to stop the chuckle that escaped his throat.

“What am I?”

“Yes, what are you?”

Penelope was persistent; he had to give her that. She wasn’t going to let up, and Liam had to do something to stop it.

“Listen, you’re in shock. It happens.” Liam took a step closer to her. “You need to get home and rest. I can walk you, if you’d like?”

Letting out a chuckle, Penelope shook her head. “You won’t even tell me what’s going on. If you think I’m going to walk home with you, you must be mad.”

Penelope reached for her cellphone, pulling it out of her back pocket. Her hands moved across the screen quickly, despite how numb her fingers were.

“What are you doing?” Liam asked, moving towards her.

“I’m calling my friend.” Penelope said. “He’ll know what to do.”

The moment Penelope hit the dial button, a simple ring sounded from the ground. Penelope’s eyes moved from her phone, to the one at Liam’s feet. He was unsure how it got to the floor, but somehow, during his struggle with the mugger, it had.

Penelope quickly hit the end button, stopping the ringing from the ground. When she hit the dial key again, the phone restarted its incessant tone.

Before Liam had a chance to pick it from the floor, Penelope had swooped it up. Her eyes grew wide as they fell upon the screen. Her own name flashed on it, over and over again, as the call continued.

Realization hit her, and she looked up from the ringing device.

“Liam?”