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direction. Then he motioned again and another two ran forward on the right. Again there were more gunshots. A loud explosion announced that one of the American shotguns had discharged.Then something flew out of the darkness and struck the wooden floor. It was one of Stanley’s men. His torso had been torn in two with the upper half missing. Then several shouts were heard and men started moving quickly.
    “There!” Stanley shouted and fired his Webley at a large shadow that moved quickly through the darkened end of the large room.
    Abberline heard the heaving grunting and the horrifyingchuckle that announced that the Ripper was no longer in hiding. The sound made the experienced inspector freeze in terror. Then he saw the enormous shadow rise up in between two large tables with test tubes, beakers, and jars on its top. The shadow grabbed the first table and held it before it just as several large-caliber rounds struck the wood. The shield allowed none of the bullets topass through. Several men rushed the large and quickly advancing shadow. The first was knocked across the room as something large and club-like struck him, sending him through a large window. The second was stomped upon with brutal force as more bullets struck the thick, wooden table. Then the sound came that froze every one of the professional soldiers and also the two policemen in their tracks—aroar, not like the sound of a wild animal, but more of a purposeful act to scare everyone who heard it. More screams, more shots, and then the sound of breaking, tearing, and the horrid screams of men as the Ripper waded into them.
    Abberline grabbed Washington and the two men skirted to the left as gunfire erupted from all over the second floor. The large table was finally thrown and that affordedAbberline his first look at the man Robert Louis Stevenson had dubbed Mr. Hyde, but he and his men knew as Jack the Ripper.
    “My God!” Washington said as his feet froze at the sight.
    The clothing had been ripped and shredded. Tatters of a once-white shirt hung along the beast’s long arms as they swung at two men who charged him. The soldiers were immediately broken and lifeless as they slammedinto the far wall. Abberline saw the face of the man he had chased for nearly two years. The face was crevassed and lined. Dark fissures were deep and dingy where there wasn’t muscle supporting the skin. The beard was thick and an inch long. The eyes were wild and the forehead massive. The teeth were large and misshapen and the man was clearly ten sizes too large for the clothing that covered hisbody. The beast standing before the remaining men was no less than seven feet tall.
    Several bullets hit the man before he could move, but they seemed to have no effect.
    “The head—shoot for the head!” Stanley shouted as he tried to get to a better location in the darkness for a clear shot. Before he reached his spot he tripped and fell, and that was when he looked over and saw that the club thathad been used against his men had been the remains of the sergeant major. He lay headless and lifeless beside him. Colonel Stanley scowled and then with a shout he stood and charged the creature that could not possibly exist. He started firing the Webley as he ran toward the large beast. Then just as the bullets struck in the shoulder and chest, the Ripper moved. It was like a large cat that maneuveredfor the kill. It quickly seized the colonel by the neck and pulled him up and in front of it. The Ripper was now using Stanley as a shield.
    More bullets hit the beast from behind, but still the Ripper elicited no sound other than the loud grunting and snarling of a large predator. It was as though the thing standing before Abberline and Washington had lost the ability of speech. There was noscream of pain and no words. Stanley tried to raise the pistol, but the hand was taken and the fingers slowly crushed until the large weapon fell free. Abberline charged, firing his own weapon. Two