The Tower

As Allander's words reached him through the dank air of the small room, Alex realized that he would never have another night of restful sleep. Dead or alive, Allander would haunt him in his dreams and visions, in the waking and sleeping moments of the rest of his life.

Alex sank down to a crouch and hugged his knees tightly. The trembling set in as he heard the front door open and close. He rang the bell again, then sat and waited for help.

Chapter 40

T H E first light of morning broke from over the mountains as Jade veered across four lanes to exit Highway 280 at Woodside. Travers kept a relaxed expression on her face, but Jade saw her hand gripping the side of the passenger seat. They'd gotten the call from headquarters less than five minutes before. Already there were dogs out combing the woods and hills.

He raced to the rural community, flying over dirt roads and potholes.

"Woodside? Why Woodside?" Travers asked.

Jade shook his head. "Don't know. Could be he wanted to get somewhere random to throw us. Widen the range of our search, make it less effective."

"We have forty minutes between here and the first crime scene," Travers said. "That's a lot of room. It'll be a pain in the ass to cover an area that large."

"McGuire said they were teachers," Jade said, thinking aloud.

He always does that, Travers thought. Ignores whatever he considers a digression. Just moves right on to whatever he's thinking about. But it works, she reminded herself. That's how he does it.

"At a home school, whatever the fuck that is," Jade continued. "Educators. The second group Leah told you he talked about."

"I hope to God there weren't more children."

Jade swerved around a large pothole without slowing. "Yeah, well," he said.

When they arrived at the scene, the house was already swarming with FBI and press, among the latter the two men Jade had terrorized at the bar. The pack of reporters fought their way over to Jade, tripping through the tangle of cords and cameras.

Although they were still at least fifteen yards away, they started with the questions.

"The city's in a panic and-"

"Investigation dragging into the sixth day-"

"Are you sure it's Atlasia-"

Jade cleared his throat calmly. "NO COMMENT!"

The group of reporters halted and looked at each other, trying to decide whether or not to proceed. They decided on not.

Travers spoke out of the side of her mouth as they walked past the frozen flock of reporters to meet McGuire at the front door. "Excellent poise, Marlow. Just what we meant by handling the press tactfully."

"Thank you, Travers. That's how it's done."

"I was being sarcastic."

"I wasn't."

"Hello, McGuire, what do you have for us inside?" Travers's tone changed from grumble to greeting without missing a beat.

"Similar scene. Parents, one boy dead. Another boy survived-ten years old. Atlasia was going to kill him, but he managed to lock himself in a closet. Alex, I think his name is."

"Let me guess," Jade said. "Ears cut off, 'H N E' written on the wall in blood."

McGuire looked at Jade for a moment. "Pretty close, Marlow. Tongues, and 'S N E' again."

Jade raised a finger to brush the scar on his left cheek. That made sense, he thought, in light of the fact that the ears had been cut out of the picture of him that Allander had left on his back counter.

"Huh," he said. "So the teachers are the speakers. That leaves us with the lawmakers who can't listen."

McGuire looked at Travers as Jade wandered trancelike into the house. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means," Travers replied, "that he's not as dumb as he looks."

Jade headed through the entranceway, staring into the mirror splattered with blood. He wasn't looking at the blood though. He was watching the reflection of Allander as he moved through the house.

The scent of Allander lingered about the bodies. I just missed him, Jade thought. He walked around this house less than an hour ago.

He squatted over the mother's body, on the floor. Linda Johnson. The name, like the woman, meant nothing to him. Looking at her lifeless form, Jade could not even imagine her as having once been alive. The battering she had received from the iron had left her somewhere outside of reality. She was grotesque now, something out of a fantasy.

Jade turned his gaze to the bloody letters, and his hand absently went to the woman's face, brushing her cheeks. He felt his fingers dip into the pool that filled her vacant mouth, and a sticky warmth spread over them.

Some of the agents turned and looked at each other with raised eyebrows, but Jade didn't notice them. He inhaled the heat rising off the body as he felt the moisture of Allander's making. Even the air seemed to hold its breath during the long pause before he rose from his haunches.