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  password for the job they had been working on. The one that landed Brad in prison. They were burned into her memory from ten years ago, but they stood out like neon lights in the window of a bar. Jen was terrified.

  She hit the speed dial number one to call Terri, forgetting that it was way before five a.m. The sleepy voice that answered soothed her frazzled nerves a little.

  “Jen, sweetie, what time is it?”

  Jen pulled the phone away to look at the time and winced.

  “Um, it’s four twenty. Sorry to wake you.” She felt instantly bad for blowing Terri out of bed this early, but it couldn’t be avoided. “I need your help.” Before Terri could even get an answering question out, Jen launched into an explanation. “It’s him, Terri. I know it’s him.”

  “Who? Jen, what are you talking about?”

  “Brad. It’s him. I don’t care what the parole guy in Ann Arbor keeps telling you, this is Brad. He’s killing people and it’s all for my benefit.”

  She was almost hysterical, but Terri’s little shushing noises and calm voice brought her back to Earth. “It can’t be. He’s being supervised.”

  “I don’t care.” Jen was back to hysterical. “It’s him. I can prove it.”

  Terri sounded a little more awake. “Sweetie, calm down. Tell me what happened.”

  Jen took a long breath to calm herself down. “Okay, I was asleep. Well, no duh, it’s four twenty in the morning. Anyway, my phone buzzed. I thought it was a call at first, but it turned out to be a text message. A string of numbers. I didn’t recognize them at first, but now I know.”

  “What were the numbers?”

  Jen didn’t even have to look at her phone to recall the string of digits. “Thirty-six, eighty-nine—”

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  Terri provided the next one. “Forty-three.”

  “Yes, and seventeen. Terri, how do you know about this?”

  Terri sighed and tried to explain. “We’ve seen these numbers. A little artistic touch left by the gunman.”

  “Artistic touch? What the fuck are you talking about?”

  Jen was getting really agitated again. She paced the floor in the kitchen like a tiger in a cage. “And if you knew about this, why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Sweetie, calm down. Let’s just say that we found these numbers at each crime scene. We had no idea what they meant, so we kept it out of the public information. I couldn’t tell you.”“Oh, jeez, Terri. That’s crazy. You could have told me this right away and you and Bobby wouldn’t have been banging your heads against the wall for all this time.”

  “Jen, I’m sorry. It’s my job and that’s what the Bureau decided was appropriate.” Jen was starting to calm down a little. “Since we didn’t know what the numbers meant, we had to keep them confidential just so no one decided to copycat anything. It would have screwed up the sequence, and we needed it intact to learn what it meant. I’ve got half the cryptologists in the Bureau working on this.” Terri sounded apologetic. “I didn’t want to keep things from you, but it looked like Brad was in the clear, so we didn’t pursue him.”

  “Great. Just fucking great.” Jen slid down the front of her kitchen cabinet to sit on the floor. “There’s only one number left. I’m sorry, Terri, I know this isn’t your fault, but—”

  “But my hands were tied. Jen, I can fix this. I’m up now. I’ll call Bobby and have him come get me and we’ll head to the office right now to see what we can find out from the police in Ann Arbor. Will you be all right until then?”

  Jen stayed tucked in her ball on the floor, as she sniffed and

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  wiped her nose with a dishtowel. “I don’t have much choice, do I?” Snickers was up and out of bed, waiting patiently to see what was going on.

  Terri’s calm voice answered, “No, I guess you don’t. Keep the phone close in case you need to call for help. Just hold tight and I’ll be in touch as soon as I can, even if I don’t know what’s going on. But I will find out, I promise you.”

  “I know you will. Call me soon, okay?” Jen didn’t want the phone call to end, because then she really would be alone.

  “And don’t forget that I love you.”

  “I know you do…I love you too. Now sit tight for a couple of hours and I’ll call you back. I have to go catch a bad guy.”

  Jen finally relented. “Okay, bye.” She closed the phone so Terri could go to work. She laughed weakly and directed her next comment to Snickers. “And now the ritual hiding begins.”

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  • 158 •

  On DangerOus grOunD

  Chapter twenty-One

  The ride to the office was almost silent. When Bobby had arrived to pick her up at the ungodly early hour, Terri had been agitated. She had bounded out the door as soon as he arrived, nearly knocking him back down her front steps. She had gone over Jen’s phone call again in a rush and answered all of Bobby’s questions before they climbed into the car. Now she sat, staring out the window of Bobby’s car into the darkness at nothing, but her mind was still racing. She ticked off the mental checklist of everything she had already done since Jen’s phone call. First was the call to Bobby, who may or may not have been alone when she called but dropped everything for her as he always did. She had already called the office to have them contact the Ann Arbor Police Department and pick this Davis guy up, but she had one more call to make—this one to Davis’s parole officer to find out if he knew about his parolee’s activities or if he simply had his head up his ass. Bobby just drove, giving her the time she needed to process and make sense of what needed to be done. As they pulled into a parking space, she had the door to the car open before he could slip the car into park. She was on a mission as she strode purposefully toward the building entrance. Bobby sprinted to catch up to her. “Terri, slow down.”

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  She kept right on walking. “You know as well as I do that we need to work fast here.” He caught her arm, so she stopped to breathe. “Bobby, we don’t know where he was calling from. For all I know, he’s in Harrisonburg by now. Jen said there was only one number left.” She shuddered at the thought. “We can slow down when I know where the phone call came from, okay?” Without waiting for his response, she took off again, determined to find answers as quickly as possible. Terri swiped her ID through the magnetic card reader at the entrance. She pushed the door hard enough for it to stay open for Bobby, but never slowed as she flashed her ID to the agent at the desk and strode toward the elevators. She pushed the button, but nothing happened. She punched it again, actually several more times, but still no elevator. “God dammit.” She turned hard to the left to use the stairs.

  The office was mostly empty, save for the two agents on staff for the night shift. They jumped as Terri stormed into the space and started barking orders, getting everyone on the phone with somebody. Stansfield jumped on the phone and called to get the status from the Ann Arbor police. They had already been told to dispatch a team of officers, armed and ready for resistance, to the apartment of Bradley Allen Davis. Stansfield had even gone as far as to suggest they send a SWAT team. Terri tossed the folder of information about the parole officer onto Bobby’s desk, pointing at it for emphasis. “Please call this asshole and find out—” She stopped to breathe when she saw the wide-eyed expression on his face. “Sorry, Bobby. I’m a little tense here.” One more calming breath. “Will you please call this…gentleman…and find out what is going on with Davis? I’d hate to rip his head off over the phone. Especially at six a.m.”

  Bobby took the folder with a quiet “Sure, Terri. No problem.”

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  The calm was temporary. Terri pointed to the last agent in the room, a new guy that she didn’t recognize. “Hey, newbie. Is there any coffee?” The poor guy
jumped and squeaked out a yes. “Please, will you get some for all of us? Thank you.”

  She was now satisfied that everyone was in place doing the right thing. Seemed like a good time to call and check on Jen. Before Terri could get her cell phone out of her pocket, the phone on her desk rang sharply. She practically dove on it, picked up the handset, and answered in her best composedagent voice. “Agent McKinnon.”

  The man’s voice on the other end was calm. “Agent Terri McKinnon? I believe you and I have some things to talk about.”

  “We do?”

  Terri heard the sharp inhalation on the other end. Cigarette, she recognized immediately.

  He continued, “Yes, Agent McKinnon, we do. Some of your friends came to call, but I really wasn’t prepared for company. I’d rather have a little chat with you. How about that?”

  She slid into her chair, perching on the edge, and thought for just a second before answering, “That sounds like a good idea. Mr. Davis, I presume.” She stayed as calm as possible but began gesturing wildly to get Bobby’s attention. Taking the largest red marker from the pencil cup on the desk, she slid her legal pad in front of her and scribbled TRACE THIS big enough so Bobby could see it without having to ask why. He looked up to see her pointing at the phone, so he ended his call to the parole officer without saying good-bye and dialed the switchboard to put a trace on the line. He gave her a thumbs-up that she returned as an okay sign, and she turned her attention back to the call. Davis was waiting patiently.

  “Agent McKinnon…Terri. May I call you Terri?”

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  “No, Mr. Davis, you may not. Why did you call me?”

  Terri’s heart pounded and her hand gripped the phone tightly. Cigarette again. “Well, then, Agent McKinnon, we’ll do this your way. I can only assume that you’ve got a trace on this line, but I’d like to assure you that this phone will be on the bottom of the Huron River before the trace finds it. But please, feel free to try.” He chuckled, obviously amused at his own ingenuity. “That is your job, after all.”

  Terri’s exasperation threatened to come through, but she maintained her calm demeanor and measured, clipped tones.

  “Yes, Mr. Davis, that is my job. But you still haven’t answered my question. Why do you think we need to talk?”

  She heard the lighter this time, a Zippo, as he lit another cigarette.

  “Well, I think that you and I just might have a mutual friend.” She cringed, waiting for the blow to land. “A cute little college professor named Jennifer Rosenberg. Have you met her yet?”

  Terri tried the dodge as she wrestled with her own panic.

  “Why would you think I know this person?”

  Inhalation again. “Because you are the agent in charge of the NoVaGenEx case, and I’d be willing to bet that you interviewed at least one person from the company. And since she’s close to you, geographically speaking of course, and she happened to attend college in my neck of the woods, I figured that you two might have met.”

  Terri continued the evasion. “Well, I’d have to check my notes, but—”

  “Oh, please, Agent McKinnon, let’s not do this. I know you’ve talked with her. I know you’ve had dinner with her.”

  Terri knew right then and there that he had her. It only got worse when he started quoting from Terri’s own e-mail. “I

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  miss watching you sleep, and wonder what you dream about. You’ve brought light back into my life.”

  Shit. He really had her. He knew, but she had to keep it together. “Regardless of what you think you know, what does this have to do with what you wanted from me?” She looked across to Bobby and shrugged, silently asking for the status of the trace on the phone. He shook his head and motioned with his hand for her to keep him talking.

  “I’m sure she told you all about me and my little, shall we say, side trip to Terre Haute. Right?” He waited long enough for dramatic pause, but not long enough for her to answer. “Never mind, I’m sure she did. I just wanted to return the favor. Maybe tell you a thing or two about our friend Dr. Rosenberg.”

  Terri continued to wait in silence. She figured that this was his show and he’d keep talking no matter what she said. He continued, drawing on the third cigarette of the conversation.

  “Did she hit on you first, Agent McKinnon? Show up to take you to lunch?” Terri gasped, unable to control the knee-jerk reaction.

  Davis chuckled. “Hmm, I guess by that reaction that she did. She does that, you know? Likes to hit on pretty girls, and you most certainly fall into that category.”

  Terri was dumbstruck, but pressed on. “Mr. Davis, again I see nothing here that we need to discuss. So if you—”

  His tone changed, became sharper, more aggressive. “She likes to stick her nose in where it doesn’t belong too. I taught her how to hack into banks, you know. Is she still playing with that little hobby? Or did you people figure out how to make it all go away again?”

  Terri was now fully enraged, but she resisted the urge to come to Jen’s defense. She wouldn’t give Davis the satisfaction.

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  He continued, a bit more settled this time, “Again, I just want to make sure you’re looking into all of the guilty parties here with your investigation. Leaving no stone unturned, as it were. Sometimes things are not always what they seem to be.” Terri noticed Bobby waving, indicating that they had the trace. He quickly scribbled MICHIGAN on the notepad, allowing her at least a second to relax.

  Not long, however, as Davis continued his rant. “Sorry to cut this short, but it has been a pleasure, Agent McKinnon. We’ll talk again soon. Please send my regards to Jennifer, okay? Thank you so much for your time, but I really need to say good-bye now. Have a wonderful day.” With that, the call was terminated.

  Terri hung up the phone and slumped forward in her chair, resting her head on the desk. She looked at Bobby to answer the concerned look on his face. “God, what an arrogant prick.”

  She turned enough to see the newbie agent standing next to her desk, holding a steaming Styrofoam cup of coffee in one shaking hand. Accepting the hot drink, she smiled her best smile and simply said thank you. It wasn’t even six fifteen and she was already worn out.

  “Bobby, where’s the Advil?”

  v

  Bradley sat in the rental car with his knit cap pulled low and a heavy scarf over his face, looking to all the world like a typical late February commuter in Michigan. After sitting patiently as what looked like most of the Ann Arbor Police Department screamed into the parking lot across the street, he made his phone call, fucked with the FBI, and watched most of the police, as well as the big guns of the SWAT team, leave

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  the parking lot. Laughing, he shook his head, tossed the phone out the window into the trash can, and pulled out onto Jackson Avenue. Two green lights later and he was on I-94 leaving Ann Arbor. He hoped it was forever.

  v

  Terri was finally able to relax a little. She had even managed a quiet apology to the newbie guy for demanding coffee. Things were working now. The police were there. She held no illusions that they would capture Davis. She knew full well that he was one step ahead of them. But he was still in Michigan, and that bought her several hours. There was still much to think about, but she put most of it aside long enough to call Jen. She must have been sitting with the phone in her hand. It only rang once before she answered.

  “Terri, oh thank God. What’s going on?”

  Terri left her desk and walked across the hallway and into the ladies’ room to find some privacy. Using her soft girlfriend voice, which was even calmer than her soft agent voice, she explained the entire situation. That the police were there now, that the parole officer was shocked at the events, and that she’d actually spoken with Davis. She heard a chuckle from the other end of the call.
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  “How many cigarettes did he smoke?”

  Terri laughed, slightly amazed that Jen could find humor even in the middle of this mess. “I counted three and we were on the phone for less than ten minutes. Maybe he’ll die of lung cancer before he can—” She stopped, fearful of letting too much information pass to Jen that would frighten her further.

  “Before he can what?”

  She took a breath. “Jen, as soon as you called earlier, I called the office to get the Ann Arbor police to go pick him up,

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  but he was waiting. He anticipated our move. I haven’t seen a report yet, but he couldn’t have called me if the police found him first. We do know that he is still in Michigan, so we still have a little time.”

  Terri heard the slight tremble in her voice as Jen asked,

  “Not much time, though, right?”

  “No, but we have people at the local airports with his photo and description. That leaves ground transportation as his only option, and that gives us at least twelve hours to work with, hopefully more.” She hoped that her tone was controlled enough to cover her anxiety about what they still didn’t know.

  “Uh-huh. And then what?”

  God, she was really starting to feel stupid as well as unarmed. “And then we talk to the police and see if they found anything in his apartment.” This was not the comfort she’d hoped to provide. “Based on that, Bobby and I draw up a plan for the boss, and maybe head down to your place.”

  Terri could hear Jen relax a little more after learning that she might have personal support. “You going to be the cavalry, Agent McKinnon? Come riding in here in your big black truck and save my skinny ass?” She paused for a second. “I like that idea. Well, certainly better than the one where a psycho whackjob comes riding in here in his Rent-a-Wreck and blows my brains out. I’ll definitely take what’s behind door number one, thank you.”

  Terri cringed as the “blows my brains out” idea struck home. She was also hearing enough of Jen’s patented false bravado to know that she was terrified. “Jen, I think you should probably try to go to school today. Do what you normally do. Stay in public places with people nearby. Keep the phone close and I’ll call as soon as I know anything else.” She hoped that would be enough. Lowering her voice, she hoped that she had