Murphy Apparated to a residence in Kent and found the security field agent named Schmidt Gibson.
The latter was somewhat surprised by his swift arrival, but he did not ask any questions. Instead, he said, "Sorry, boss. The other guy was fast, and his methods were unbelievable. By the time we discovered him, he had already left."
As he spoke, he switched the main television feed to a recorder and rewound it. "Look at this."
The television displayed a warehouse, with the camera facing directly toward its main entrance. The timestamp read 22:06 at night.
The seemingly motionless night footage continued for a while. Then, the warehouse door lock suddenly fell off by itself. The door opened a narrow crack before immediately closing again.
The strange thing was that not a single person appeared on the screen.
Schmidt then switched the footage to the warehouse interior. It was still empty, but then a crate suddenly opened. A bottle of liquid was taken out and placed to one side. Then, with a snap, there was a flash like the magnesium flare of an old-fashioned camera, followed by a wisp of white smoke.
Yet the camera still had not captured anyone.
Murphy frowned. "Is there infrared footage? I remember telling you to install infrared cameras."
"Yes."
Schmidt switched to another recorder and rewound the footage again, returning to the warehouse entrance. This time, however, the image had a pale green tint, enhanced by an active infrared emitter.
This time, they saw the person who had opened the warehouse door.
He moved stealthily, but the outline of his body remained indistinct, like a chameleon blending into the night. Only when he made larger movements could they make out parts of his silhouette from the distortions in the image.
Inside the warehouse, the lighting