"Go," she said.

Darby felt the chain swinging in her hand as Jade's car backed up and shot down the street, one of the dark sedans following close behind. She lowered her head and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Her shoulders shook with sobs.

Jade raced up 280 all the way to San Francisco and cut across town to Sutro Heights. The FBI tail followed him all the way. He knew they'd wait to see the direction he was headed and then call in backup. Hopefully, he could have a few critical moments alone with Allander before they arrived.

Eventually he pulled off the main street and moved up winding roads into the hills. It was getting hard to keep the road in view as darkness set in, especially around the hairpin turns. He could no longer spot the tail behind him. He heard a helicopter somewhere in the distance, but its noise faded away.

The car almost got stuck on one embankment, the wheels turning listlessly in the dirt for a few seconds before catching and jerking the car ahead. The road cut back and forth up the hill in fierce crisscrosses. Jade strained, his head out the window, to look up, but couldn't see where he was headed.

Finally, he saw a green sign that indicated the turnoff for Taos Drive. Moving off the road, he drove to the mouth of a long driveway that led to a secluded house. The mailbox flashed the number 23 in gold letters.

The house was shaded by a small forest that crept into the front yard. Pulling over close to the main road, Jade got out of his car and gazed through the woods. He scanned the area slowly, his eyes straining to see through the leaves and branches. Waiting. Waiting for the slightest crack of a twig or crunch of a leaf. Somewhere, a stream moved against its banks, its melodic flow tickling Jade's ear. A soft roll of thunder issued from the distance.

As he looked, Jade turned in a full circle. When he'd returned to his starting position, he headed toward the house. He moved forward and sideways, never taking his eyes off the front door.

If Allander's here, he's watching me right now, Jade thought. And something told him that Allander was expecting him.

The chopping of a helicopter sounded overhead. It approached swiftly, its searchlight zooming across the landscape. It would pick up Jade's car and direct the backup. Anger swept over Jade. He wanted this one alone.

He walked boldly up the front walk to the house, then sprinted for the door. Clearing the three stairs, the small porch, and kicking down the door with a single flying leap, he landed beside the door, inside the foyer, balanced in a boxer's stance.

He stood motionless as the dust settled around the stark interior. The furniture covered with dust cloths and the rolled-up rugs leaning in the corners of the rooms made the house look like it belonged in a ghost town. Tools lay scattered about the floor.

A small mound of dirt was fanned in a semicircle at the base of the stairs. Jade walked over to it and pinched some in his fingers, raising it to his nose. Fertilizer. Probably tracked in during the landscaping makeover. He rose from his crouch and looked up the stairs.

Complete silence. Outside he heard another rumble of thunder, closer now.

Jade moved quickly, overturning the covered desks and chairs, smashing doors open and kicking through closets. He ran upstairs and sprinted from room to room. There were no signs of life.

Only the master bedroom remained to be searched; he looked down the length of the hallway at the closed door. With his Sig Sauer leading the way, Jade stalked toward it, cushioning the sound of his footsteps by walking toe to heel.

The door left its hinges entirely when he kicked it, crashing to the floor. The light from outside was fading rapidly, and much of the bedroom was cloaked in shadow.

An antique mirror stood in the corner of the room, next to an enormous maple wardrobe with intricately carved handles. Jade aimed his raised pistol at the wardrobe. He was ready. He approached it slowly.

His finger was white-knuckled against the trigger as he nosed the wardrobe door open. It swung outward on creaky hinges. He leaned back and fired once into the dark interior. A single wire hanger dangled from the bar, lit with the flash from Jade's shot. That was all.

The house was empty. It had all been a wild-goose chase. In his excitement, he had forgotten that the green paint and remodeled house only had been part of a theory, and that this had been one of only several possible houses.

Rage filled his body, and he spun to face the room. Catching his dim reflection in the mirror, he glared at himself-his hard, green eyes, his ineffective body.

Cursing, he hurled the pistol at his reflection. The mirror shattered and the wooden board behind it swung to the side like a window shutter, held there by two bent nails. As the mirror fell away in shards, it seemed that Jade's reflection still remained, his eyes peering back at him. Then the eyes blinked when his did not, and a smile crept across the face of Allander Atlasia.

56.

T H E element of surprise decidedly in his favor, Allander stepped through the shattered frame and pounced on Jade, pressing the point of a screwdriver to his throat. Jade swallowed roughly as the probing tool dug into his Adam's apple.

Allander smiled. After all this time, he and Jade were together. Here at the new house. His house. Allander felt a chill teasing his legs, and his t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es tightened. The dance had begun.

The noise of sirens outside escalated, and red-and-blue lights flashed through the window. Jade tried to talk, but the screwdriver was pressed so tightly against his windpipe that he only choked.

He looked into Allander's face, savoring the feeling of his flesh against his own. After so much distance and time, the two men were finally touching. The beat of Allander's heart pounded in Jade's ears, and for a moment, he could not distinguish it from his own.

"Not a movement, not a word," Allander hissed in his ear. "At last, Marlow, we're together. I know you've waited desperately for me to come out of hiding. Or should I say, out of repression."

Jade saw the dried blood covering one of Allander's knuckles where his shot had grazed him in the restaurant. There was another smudge of blood on Allander's cuff, but it was lighter, a cherry red. It looked like paint.

Jade struggled again to speak, twisting his neck until he could force out a few words. "Kill me if you're going to. Just don't waste my f.u.c.king time."

Allander eased the pressure from the screwdriver just enough for Jade to continue.

"You're done, Atlasia. We got cars, agents, 'copters. And you've got a f.u.c.kin' screwdriver."

"And your gun, Marlow. And your gun." Allander reached for the Glock tucked in his jeans.

The moment he moved, Jade seized the hand gripping the screwdriver and dropped all his weight off his feet. As he collapsed to the floor, he twisted Allander's hand across itself until he felt the elbow lock. Allander screamed in pain and swung the b.u.t.t of his pistol to the back of Jade's head, dropping him to the floor.

The death grip on his hand eased and Allander pulled it to freedom, sending the screwdriver skidding across the floorboards. In seconds, he was through the door and down the stairs.

Jade pushed himself up on all fours. The b.u.mp on his head was painful, but the skin wasn't split. He grabbed the pistol he had thrown through the shattered mirror and stumbled after Allander, gripping his head and banging forcefully into the door frame with his shoulder. The stairs and the floor below were quiet.

Walking unsteadily from room to room, Jade planted his hand on countertops and walls to support himself. He was familiar with this drill, the disappearance. He knew Allander had to be in the house somewhere, especially with the FBI barricade outside. He tried to focus, but saw only blurry images.

He had a haunting feeling that Allander had spared his life. It was the worst thing he could imagine-charity from a murderer. If Allander had wanted to kill him, he would probably have done it right away, sending the screwdriver through his neck to the handle and watching his blood spray the floor.

Jade's vision was getting worse. He knew he had to get some fresh air or he would pa.s.s out. He staggered over the flattened front door, blinded by the searchlights that covered the front yard. Most of them, at this moment, were angled directly into his eyes.

The clicking of gun hammers greeted Jade as he stumbled off the porch. Still gripping the back of his head, he shouted, "Relax! It's me, Marlow. He's pinned down on the property, so hold your positions." He walked behind the phalanx of cars. "I need to sit down a minute and then I'm going back in."

A tall agent stormed over and bent down like an umpire, hands on his knees. Jade recognized him as Fredericks; he'd last seen him at the meeting in the federal building. Evidently, he had replaced McGuire. "Until you bring me up to speed," Fredericks yelled, "you're not going anywhere, Marlow."

Jade reached over and grabbed Fredericks's tie, yanking his head forward. He tried to make his eyes focus as he spoke. His voice was low, calm, and surprisingly tired. "I don't think you should push me right now."

Fredericks stumbled back when Jade released his tie. "We will discuss this later, Marlow. I don't have the luxury right now." He backed off and pretended to busy himself by repositioning a few of the snipers.

A row of FBI agents dressed in black swept past Jade as they rolled into position. Same game as at the apartment. Agents around the house, on the roof ready to rappel. Snipers in the trees. There was no way out for him. Not this time.

Jade pulled himself to his feet. He checked his pistol, clicking the chamber and glancing down the hard shaft as he pointed it at the ground.

"Put on your condoms, gentlemen," he said. "We're going in."

As he turned to move, a shoulder blocked his path, striking him in the ribs. His eyes still on the ground, Jade noticed an ankle loosely wrapped in a bandage.

Jesus Christ, he thought. She must've tried to run with her ankles cuffed together.

He raised his eyes to Travers's. "If you don't get that thing looked at there'll be no more ballet lessons for you."

She snapped his head all the way to the side with a right to the cheek. The pain compounded that of the earlier blow to his head, tearing through his temples and forehead. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes to avoid showing how much it hurt. He made sure he loosened his features before he swung his head back to face her.

"It's too bad you don't-"

An explosion lit the house, sending gla.s.s and debris flying through the air. The agents flung themselves to the ground and ducked behind cars. Flames roared inside the first floor, quickly consuming the interior.

Jade fell to the ground near Travers. She covered her face and he rolled beside her, unwinding the bandage from around her ankle. As he ran for the front door, he yelled over his shoulder, "Ambulances, fire engines, backup for roadblocks. Get 'em here now."

Several agents had caught up with him by the time he'd reached the front doorway. He peered around the corner, backing quickly out of the way. Pressing Travers's bandage over his nose and mouth, he headed in.

When he entered the foyer, he realized that the blast hadn't reached far beyond the kitchen. He led the agents into the kitchen, shielding his face from the flames rising from the floor and table. A charred body sat at the table, completely engulfed in flames. The flesh was burning off the body, leaving only a darkened husk. The corpse was about Allander's size and build.

"Holy s.h.i.t," one of the agents yelled. He pointed to the pantry, where the door had been blown clear off the hinges. Three large metal drums sat dangerously near the flaming wall. GASOLINE was stenciled across them in red letters.

"Move 'em out," Jade yelled. "If they blow, they'll compromise the crime scene. Move 'em. Now!"

The agents ran forward and grabbed the barrels. They gasped for breath as they rolled them quickly out through the flaming kitchen.

"And tell the fire department it's a Cla.s.s B," Jade shouted after them.

He stepped forward and stared at the body, the flames singeing the collar of his shirt and curling the ends of the bandage he held across his face. The body seemed grotesquely casual, as if it had just finished eating breakfast. The flesh crackled beneath the flames.

Jade crouched and picked up a twisted piece of metal as Travers stumbled in.

She buried her face in her sleeve. "Jade, let's go. Get out of here."

Behind her, several firemen sprinted in with extinguishers. Clouds of smoke and Halon filled the air. One of the men doused the burning body with foam. There was no need for hoses.

Jade raised the piece of metal, looking at the flap of duct tape dangling from it. "Basic microwave bomb. Open jug of gas, roll of aluminum foil, tape the door shut. Douse the kitchen and body, set the timer, and boom."

"Looks like our boy went out with a bang," Travers said.

Jade followed Travers outside, his eyes troubled. The front yard was clogged with agents, cops, and firemen. People sprinted back and forth, screaming into radios. The first few media vans had pulled up, and the reporters were putting the finishing touches on their makeup while their crews readied the cameras. Three ambulances pulled into the driveway, sirens screaming.

Jade approached Fredericks, seizing him by the shoulders. "Get men throughout the house immediately to see what they can turn up. And I want the corpse to the lab to check dentals immediately."

Fredericks pushed Jade's hands roughly aside. "Relax, Marlow. We have the body."

"We have a body."

"If that's not Atlasia, you wanna tell me exactly how he slipped through the blast? Because I didn't see many gaps in our coverage here."

Jade glanced over at the gasoline barrels at the edge of the woods. The agents had thrown them well clear of the burning house. "We don't know that he didn't-" He noticed that the red lettering across one of the barrels was smeared. His stomach lurched as he remembered the red he'd seen on Allander's cuff-red that looked more like paint than blood.

The cl.u.s.ter of agents watched Jade as he took a few steps toward the barrels. "They're decoys," he said.

"What the h.e.l.l are you talking about, Marlow?" Fredericks said. "We've got the body."

"The barrels are decoys."

"No, sir," one of the younger agents said. "We rolled them out. He filled them only halfway, to leave room for the vapors and everything."

"They're not full of gasoline," Jade said.

"What do you mean? What else would be in there?"

"It doesn't matter, Marlow," Fredericks said. "We have the body."

Jade pulled his Sig Sauer from the back of his jeans and aimed it at a gasoline barrel. A female reporter screamed and three of the agents nearby leaped for cover, diving across the hood of a car. Jade fired and the bullet entered the barrel with a ping, sending a stream of liquid shooting into the air. He shot the barrel beside it and another fountain of water sprang up. When he shot the third barrel, there was nothing, just a dark hole.

Jade glared at Fredericks. "There's your f.u.c.kin' body," he said.

Jade turned and looked across the front yard. There were over thirty vehicles parked haphazardly from the street to the driveway, and dozens of people were running around. He watched helplessly as an ambulance and two fire trucks backed out of the driveway and drove away. In the confusion, Allander had probably crept from the gasoline barrel and hidden in one of the vehicles. He would be long gone by now.

Jade turned to face Fredericks, but Fredericks was still crouching in antic.i.p.ation of the gasoline explosion. Travers was standing behind him, so Jade addressed her, ticking off the points by bending back his fingers. "Hold all these vehicles and search them. Send out an APB to SFPD ASAP, have them set up roadblocks on all streets leading out of here. Call the fire department, hospitals that dispatched ambulances, and news stations and have them radio any vehicles that we already missed and direct them back here or to the nearest police station. Call the police stations so they're expecting them. Call headquarters and have them alert the agents at the Atlasias' house. I'm guessing the body in there is Steve Francis's parachuting buddy, so get that missing-persons list we talked about, interview the closest relative-scratch that-interview the friends of all males matching the demographic profile. Find out if any of them parachuted or knew Steve Francis." Jade and Travers both stared expectantly at his next finger, but he couldn't think of anything else. "Got it?"

"Yes," Travers said.

"Oh, and Travers?"

"Yeah?"

Jade touched his cheek gingerly. "Nice right." He turned and walked away.

Travers glanced down at the crouching agent. "You can stand up now, Fredericks."

When Jade reached the barrel lying on its side, he picked up the lid and saw that a handle had been soldered on the inside so that Allander could hold it shut while he was being rolled out to freedom. There was a small puddle on the ground beneath the lid; Allander had also put water inside his barrel so the agents would hear it sloshing around as they rolled him out.

Beside Jade, the other barrels still leaked water from the bullet holes. He cupped his hands in front of one of the streams, then brought them up to his face. No way Allander would have put explosive barrels on either side of himself.

Jade rose and hurled the lid at a nearby tree trunk. He had ordered them to move the barrels out. He had practically freed Allander himself.

Jade walked into the woods, cursing. Where would Allander go now? Back to Darby? After his failed attempt tonight, he'd know that security would be tighter. For the time being, Thomas and Darby were out of reach. Alex, the younger kid from the second house, was already safe, in witness protection.

Would Allander try to establish a new base? Leave the area? What were his aims? Jade rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. Allander was obsessive, obsessive about finishing what he'd started. That was why he'd returned to Darby after all these years. So many loose ends to tie up, Allander had said to Jade on the phone. Were there any other loose ends that needed to be tied up?

Jade searched his brain for anything he could have forgotten. Allander had to have weaknesses he could use to his advantage. What was it Jade had told Travers earlier? I thought about the emotion that most overwhelms him. That's his Achilles' heel. His jealousy. Who would Allander be jealous of?

Studying the leaves on the ground, Jade stepped between two trees and almost toppled over the edge of a cliff. He jumped back and gazed out across the forest below. The last hint of daylight shone from beyond the horizon, and highlighted the Tower against the backdrop of the sea.

Of course. Claude Rivers. Claude, who had already raped his mother, if only her corpse. Claude, the only survivor of Allander's rampage. Claudius, the fulfiller of Allander's desires. The other loose end.

Jade leaned over the edge of the cliff, peering along its curve. Its steepness lessened drastically to his left, and he thought he could make out a path zigzagging beneath the trees. A sudden concern washed through him regarding Claude Rivers and the guard on the Tower. He had no radio, and he'd lose too much time running back to the house and finding Travers or someone else to call over and warn the guard. He'd have to rush to the Tower himself.

He turned back into the forest and ran for the path, crashing through branches and leaves. Even if Travers realized that he had disappeared and called in a helicopter, he would lose it under the cover of the trees.