With water dripping down his face from wet, plastered hair, he glared at his watch again. An hour had passed. He didn’t believe another fifteen minutes would hurt him. What were a few more minutes when he’d waited four years to kill him.

Shadows darkened while the rain let up, and a gloom settled over the bars near downtown Houston. Streetlights emitted an eerie glow spreading through the dense air like a dull halo. He slid deeper into the darkness while people leaving the nightclub hurried to their vehicles, heads bowed, their only intent to get out of the rain. With his backside against an old wooden building, he wrinkled his nose at rotting timber odors.

His t-shirt clung to his body, his teeth chattered and he shivered.

This wasn’t the first time he’d stalked his intended victim. He’d sworn years before he’d make the three police officers pay for his father’s death. He ground his teeth together. They hadn’t killed him. His father killed himself. They destroyed his spirit, his will to live. In the stalker’s eyes, they’d killed him. His eyes narrowed like dart tips. He would get revenge or die trying.

Again, he glanced at his watch. When he looked back to the bar’s entrance, a man and woman, laughing and clinging to each other, ran for a small red Fiat parked close to the entrance. His face contorted in rage. His eyes narrowed to slits, recognizing his intended victim. His hand darted to the pistol sticking in his pants. Trembling, he gripped the wooden butt. That bastard didn’t have any right to laugh and have a good time. His father wasn’t able to, and the stalker couldn’t till he killed them all.

With a poisonous smile creasing the corners of his mouth, he nodded, his jaw firm. He released the pistol butt. Let Mr. Detective David Mason have his fun. It won’t be long and I’ll make him wish he’d never been born. He looked around, but now wasn’t the time. People got caught by making rash decisions.

As the Fiat sped away, he eased from the darkness and headed to his car. He needed to sleep. He’d planned this for four years and knew it was perfect. Three police officers were about to die, and he would get away with it.