62

I stared at the back hallway of the bank with its two lines of unmarked gray entrances. Massy could be behind such a door. He could be raising his knife over Jill. Over Garth and Frieda. I remembered the loud drone of flies and the metallic smell of blood at Béni-Messous. Then the woman in the burka cut in half and the child on a stake.

I opened the exit door and anchored my mind to the blacktop driveway on this side of the building. What if Blake couldn’t find the back entrance? Suppose he didn’t come? I fished out my cell phone and searched for texts and missed calls. Nothing. I pictured our phone ringing at home. Over and over. Then nothing.

A car slowly approached. I couldn’t see who was inside. The car window opened. A man with ragged ears peered at me from behind the wheel. I ran to the car. Jumped into the front seat.

“Breathe,” Blake said.

“He could kill them while I’m on the goddamn phone.”

Blake shook his head. His jaw tightened and loosened.

“Why not?”

He stared out the front windshield. “Massy wants to play with you first.”

The thought twisted my stomach. I needed a piece of gum. My stomach would explode without it. We pulled onto the highway and I said, “You don’t have to drive the speed limit, you know. You’re a fucking FBI agent.”

The car accelerated under me. It still seemed too slow.

Blake said, “Normally we’d be able to trace Massy’s call and tell which storage unit. But he used the internet. Voice Over IP routed through relays.”

“Unit 111,” I said. “We figured it out from his financials.”

He turned. “You’re sure?”

I hoped we’d interpreted it correctly.

“He’s slipped up,” Blake said. “He never guessed you’d figure out the storage site and unit in Julian. We’ve also searched his house. Percocet and Citalopram were on his nightstand. Sheets and clothes all over the bedroom floor. You know what that means? Our control freak is falling apart. It’s just a matter of hours.”

Blake’s taut face and pulsating jaw muscles belied his confidence. “And I’ll let you in on something else. We think Kogan has a phone hidden somewhere in his cell. But we’re not searching for it because we have a Stingray at Stateville.”

“What the hell is a Stingray?”

“It picks up mobile phone transmissions—voice, cell phone numbers, even emails. If Massy calls him we’ll hear every word.”

Blake switched lanes and accelerated past two cars. I stared at one of his red, misshapen ears. It looked as if he’d spilled acid on it.

He said, “Look, the one thing we know for sure is that Massy’s going to call you. The more he talks, the more he’ll start stroking his own ego. Especially if he thinks you’re suffering. Then he’ll make a mistake.”

“He’s going to start hurting them while I’m on the phone, isn’t he?”

Blake shook his head. “The second he touches your family, you say you’re hanging up. He craves an audience.”

Could I possibly do that? I fought off more panic. Forced my stomach back down. I looked out the window. We were on a residential street. In the fading light, a palm tree’s shadow loomed over someone’s dried-out lawn. On his front porch, a man glared at the car. How could I hang up?

We entered the suburban sprawl where I lived. “Do I beg?” I asked. “Do I weep?” As if I’d be able to stop myself.

Blake shook his head. “Try to make a deal. As long as he thinks you’ve got hope, he can manipulate you. That’s how he feels his power. Once you’ve lost hope, he begins his ritual.”

His ritual.

“This is the final period, the final minute. Just stay strong and we’ll get this guy.”

He pulled into our driveway. I jumped out and we ran past the Bird of Paradise flowers, past the orange tree to the front door. Blake followed me inside. The house was getting dark. I listened for the ring of my house phone. Nothing. We started toward the kitchen. I halted. Something was wrong.

The closet door slid open. Coats whirled and the hangers screamed. Massy leapt out. I saw a glint of metal. It popped. Blake shuddered and fell. Another pop. Pain seared through me. Every muscle cramped. I hit the floor.

Massy stood over me. He bent down. His irises had turned from dark brown to blue. My mind went blank.