The Tower

Walking over to the green Blazer on the path, he opened the door using a key from the carabiner key ring he had lifted from the body. He drove the Blazer far enough into the woods so that it was no longer visible from the road. Leaving it behind a cluster of trees, he got out and headed back to the body, looping his arms under its shoulders so he could drag it to the Jeep. He grunted with effort as he lifted it in the back, pushing it facedown across the seats. He would dump it somewhere down at the base of the hill.

Throwing the car into drive, he glanced over at the second body he had propped up in the passenger seat. He leaned over and patted its knee.

He would keep this one.

Jade's eyes opened; the ringing was so loud that at first he thought it was inside his head. He rolled over and lifted the phone off the cradle.

"Marlow. Travers."

He groaned and rolled onto his side. "If you want to gloat, I'd prefer a singing telegram."

"No time, thanks. We got him located. Placed a call and stayed on the phone sixty-three seconds. Three seconds too long. Must've mistimed it." Travers's voice was charged with excitement.

Jade pulled on his sunglasses in an attempt to shield the onslaught of light from the crack beneath his curtain. No way, he thought. No way he fucks up like that, not by three seconds.

"Who'd he call?"

"His former defense attorney. Made a few threats, shook the guy up pretty bad."

Jade rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand. It wasn't adding up. Allander would've known that line was hot. "Where's he fixed?"

"Mountain View. Cross section of Fisk and Glen Boulevard- 4512. We have it listed as unoccupied. Perfect hideout. We're set up and we're moving in twenty. Be there in fifteen."

"I'll be there in ten," Jade said, and was immediately out the door.

The complex was surrounded when Jade arrived. It was a two-story strip of small apartments, guarded by a thick brown railing. The apartments were arrayed in two wings that met in the middle, giving a sense of enclosure to the front parking lot. Heavy green curtains were visible through most of the windows on both floors. Probably low-income rental units, he decided.

The building sat back off a fairly busy four-lane street. Jade glanced up the street and saw road workers in orange vests diverting traffic. Jade stood tall next to the officers crouching behind their car doors. FBI all the way. Flashing lights on undercover cars. He walked through the vehicles lined in the front parking lot.

McGuire looked up at him. "Get behind a door, Marlow," he hissed.

"He's not gonna shoot from far away," Jade said, surveying the scene broadly. "Not intimate enough."

McGuire yanked him down by pulling beneath his knee. "You don't know that. He's never been cornered before," he said.

Jade glared at him for a long time, biting his cheek. "Be grateful you have your title between us," he finally said, looking away.

Travers appeared at their shoulders. "Nice you could show up, Marlow. We've been in position for fifteen minutes without response. We have snipers on neighboring buildings and men in position there, there, and there." She pointed to the black-vested men with Heckler and Koch MP5 9-millimeter full automatics scattered on the roof and under the windows. Agents were flattened against the wall near the corner apartment on the second floor.

Jade reached behind his jeans and fondled his Sig Sauer-P226, 9 millimeter. Stopping power. A lot of firepower here and probably nothing to use it on, he thought.

"We waited for you to give the final countdown, Marlow," Travers said, handing him the megaphone.

Jade waved it off. He looked at the corner apartment, shaking his head.

Travers glanced at McGuire.

"All right," he said. "You take care of it."

She moved out slightly from her crouched position behind the car door.

"Probably not a bright idea to use a megaphone," Jade said. "Just a guess, but I'm assuming you don't want to come off like an authoritative asshole during negotiations."

"It seems like you don't even think he's in there, Marlow," Travers replied coolly.

"Good point," Jade said. "What the fuck." He gestured her forward.

"ATLASIA," she bellowed through the megaphone. "WE'VE GIVEN YOU AMPLE TIME TO RESPOND. IF WE DO NOT RECEIVE A SIGNAL FROM YOU IN SOME FORM, WE WILL TAKE THE HOUSE."

"What if the signal's a dead hostage, Travers?" Jade muttered under his breath, but she didn't hear him.

"WE'RE GIVING YOU A FIVE COUNT." She paused and ran her fingers over the top of her left ear, pushing the hair back off her cheek. Jade thought he could make out the scent of her perfume.

"… FOUR… THREE…" Travers looked nervously to McGuire, who nodded her on. "TWO…"

Jade stared at the pavement. Nothing made sense-the sixty-three-second phone call, the look of the shabby complex, the fact that the apartment was on the second floor.