It took another forty-five minutes for him to reach the tree where his rucksack was being held. He would have to let the cat meow for a short time while he packed his purchases into the rucksack and hoisted it onto his back. When that was done, however, he clamped its jaws shut once more.
Then he sat and waited until nightfall.
The second night of surveillance. It seemed unnaturally quiet out there, as though the whole forest were holding its breath. Waiting for something to happen.
Drew was sleeping and so, finally, was Latifa. Kennedy coughed and Will turned sharply towards him. His colleague held up his hands. 'Don't shoot!' he grinned, before turning back to continue his surveillance. Will took a deep breath and went back to scanning the area for movement.
'He's out there, isn't he?' Kennedy said after a minute or so, his voice more serious now. 'He's out there somewhere.'
Will's expression remained emotionless. 'Yeah,' he said. 'He's out there somewhere.'
Ahmed looked at his watch. 02.00 hours. Now was the time.
He knew they were watching. Chances were they'd have NV, but even with that it would be impossible to see more than a metre or two into the forest. He would be able to get within that distance of the tree line without being detected. They were clearly relying on the motion sensors near the house to alert them to his arrival. He crept forward, his mouth firmly covering the jaws of the struggling cat. When he got as far as he dared, he started skirting round to the north, out of sight of the room with the lights on.
Any closer now and he would trigger the motion sensors.
Faisal Ahmed proceeded clinically and professionally. He removed his hand from the animal's jaws and then, swiftly, brutally, snapped the bones in two of its legs. The cat screeched pitifully, and its body went into spasm.
He had to move quickly now. He burst through the trees and, when he was a few metres from the house, he dropped the cat on the ground. The animal was in no state to move anywhere quickly: it dragged itself across the floor, but only managed to turn in a circle. Ahmed ran round to the other side of the house, past the front door. Once he was out of sight of the weakly mewing creature, he pressed his back against the wall.
Soon he would be able to get into the house.
But not yet. Not just yet.
The buzzer sounded.
Will had been resting, but the instant that tiny noise filled the room, he was on his feet. He grabbed his UMP and stepped towards Latifa's chair, aiming the gun towards her head. Drew and Kennedy had moved with similar speed, stepping back from the windows. Drew covered the door, Kennedy the windows. Will checked his gas mask was properly fitted.
'What is happening?' Latifa breathed, her whispered voice trembling with fright.
'He's here,' Will murmured.
The buzzer continued to sound. It meant there was still someone out there, looking for an entry, no doubt.
For a minute it sounded. Two minutes.
Will narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't right. If it was Ahmed, he wouldn't have stayed out in the open for that long — he'd have got close to the walls of the house, surely, where there was more cover. Drew and Kennedy seemed to be thinking the same thing: they were both casting him enquiring looks.
'I'm going down,' Will said, tersely. He grabbed a torch, removed the key from around his neck and unlocked the door, knowing that one of the others would lock it again after he had left.
It was dark in the hallway and he allowed himself a moment for his night vision to adjust to the change. Once that had happened, it took him a further two minutes to get down the stairs — each time he advanced he checked any new area to which he was exposed.
Now he was on the ground floor. The sound of the buzzer had faded away and all around him was silent. But then he heard something. High pitched. Like a scream, only not as loud. Carefully, he followed the sound. It took him into a room on the north side. The noise was louder here and it was coming from outside. Will crossed the room, then shone the torch through the window. The powerful beam illuminated something moving on the ground, and it was a moment before he realised what it was.
A cat, writhing around but unable to move far. It had been caught in a fight, Will surmised and he had been following its desperate mews of pain.
He closed his eyes. A false alarm. He felt the curious sensation of being both disappointed and relieved at the same time.
The animal couldn't stay there. Its movements were clearly what was triggering the motion sensors. Grim-faced, Will hurried to the front door, unlocked it, stepped outside and strode around to where the cat was scratching about on the ground, clearly in great pain. He had two options: pick the animal up and throw it into the forest, well clear of the motion sensors; or put the thing out of its misery now.
The cat continued to howl and Will's decision was made for him.
It took one shot from the UMP — a weapon far too powerful for this job at such close range. The instant the shot was fired, the animal was obliterated, its flesh spattered all around. But at least it was no longer in pain; and now it could no longer trigger the motion sensors.
Will looked out into the forest. 'Where the hell are you, Ahmed?' he whispered to himself. 'Where the hell are you?'
He turned back into the house, taking care to lock the door behind him.
Faisal Ahmed heard the gunshot that silenced the howls of the cat with satisfaction. He remained pressed against the wall, almost entirely motionless, for an hour before he judged the time right to make his next move.
Slowly, his back still against the wall so that he remained out of the beam of the motion sensors, he edged around to the front door. For the second time that day, he made use of the metal implements from their leather pouch to pick the lock. Once he was inside, he again took pains to lock the door behind him.
He was good at working silently — it was almost second nature. He crept into the kitchen and swiftly located the house's main fuse box. It opened up easily, he noted with satisfaction. That was good.
He needed a little light. He had correctly remembered the location of the door to the basement, so he went down there, shut the door behind him and drew a torch from his pocket. Out of his rucksack he pulled the receiver from the car he had bought earlier, along with a small detonating charge and a few tools. Within minutes his makeshift detonator had been created.
Stepping back into the kitchen, he fitted the charge into the fuse box, before spraying it with the builder's foam. The foam served two purposes: it held the detonator fast and when the time came it would muffle the sound.
Ahmed slung his rucksack back over his shoulders and extinguished the torch. He left the kitchen and quietly climbed the stairs at the end of the hallway.
He could see the room in which they had set up. Latifa would be in there, he realised; it was a struggle for him not to burst in, all guns blazing. But that would be foolish. Even though they would not be expecting him, they would be heavily armed and at the moment he did not know how many of them there were. No doubt he would be able to kill a number of them, but he risked being shot himself.
Patience, he told himself. Patience.
He crept across the hallway and into a room that was at the opposite corner of the house. It was very dark in here and again he allowed himself a little light from his torch. There was something he needed to locate. He found it quickly enough: a wire coming into the house just by the window. Looking through the window itself, he verified that it was indeed what he expected it to be: the wire connecting the motion sensor to whatever alarm system they had set up. It would be two-core flex. If he cut through either the live or the neutral it would disable the sensor while leaving a small snip in the flex that you would only see if you were looking for it. From his bag he removed a pair of wire cutters and in a second it was done.