suggested a real time chat. If it spooked him and he terminated all email contact, they might lose their only route of communication at a time when information was critical.
'Come on you prick, bite,' Mac murmured. He rocked in his seat, his body so tense he vibrated. God, he wanted this guy.
Cam looked at Blair, who sat with her hands poised on the keyboard, focused and intent. Cam clenched her fists and shoved her hands into her pockets, torn between wanting him to answer and wishing he would disappear into the amorphous world of cyberspace.
Felicia Davis calmly readied the back-up drives and prepared yet another worm to launch. 'One of these times I'll get you,' she said under her breath. He was out there, not so very far away, she could feel him on the line. Her fingers raced on the keys with the speed and sixth sense of an expert cracker.
Blair waited. She knew what none of the others understood. Thiswas about her - it had always been about her. Shewas the woman the cameras captured and the newspapers wrote about, just as she was the woman who painted late into the still night, and the woman who trembled helplessly in Cameron Roberts' arms. He simply wanted the woman that the world had made its own.
She breathed out slowly as the lines appeared.
A001-at-worldnet.com: Go tohttp://www.privatetalk.com/ , the game room. NYC1112-at-freemail.com: How will I find you? A001-at-worldnet.com: Don't worry. I'll find you.
Blair didn't hesitate. She typed quickly,I'll be waiting.
05:45
Lindsey Ryan sat alone in the conference room, a can of soda by her right hand, and stacks of papers and folders scattered around her. She was leaning her head in her left palm, staring at a computer printout. She jumped at the sound of the deep quiet voice from behind her.
'What do you think?'
Lindsey looked up as Cam approached, noticing the very fine lines of stress around her eyes. Other than that small sign, she didn't appear to have a concern in the world. Except that Lindsey knew that she hadn't slept more than an hour or two in the last three days, unless she did it with her eyes open. She was rarely out of the command center.
'I think he's crazy as a loon.'
Cam smiled grimly. 'Will he show?'
Ryan sighed, and looked back at the critical portion of the transcript for the hundredth time.
A001-at-worldnet.com: Why won't you believe me? NYC1112-at-freemail.com:: About what? A001-at- worldnet.com: That I worship you. You're all I care about. NYC1112-at-freemail.com:: Maybe because you're killing people and threatening my friends. A001-at-worldnet.com: You don't leave me any choice. You ignore me. NYC1112-at-freemail.com::I'm not ignoring you now. A001-at-worldnet.com: This isn't enough. NYC1112-at- freemail.com:: What do you want? A001-at-worldnet.com: I want to see you. I want to make you understand. NYC1112-at-freemail.com:: Do you really love me? A001-at-worldnet.com: I live for you. NYC1112-at-freemail.com:: If I come, will you stop the killing? A001-at-worldnet.com: Yes. NYC1112-at-freemail.com:: Do you promise? A001- at-worldnet.com: I have been patient long enough. You know what I'll do if you deny me.
Lindsey pointed to the last line. 'Here's the problem part. Until this point, he's negotiating. But the minute Egret questions him, which, by the way, I'm glad she did - it's in character for her - he reverts to threats.'
Cam's stomach clenched. 'Is he threateningher ?'
Lindsey hesitated. 'Probably. Yes - I think yes. He's had his fill of substitutes, I think. He wants her and no one else. If he can't have her now, I'd say that she'll become his target, and he won't stop until you catch him.'
Cam pulled out the chair next to her and sat, rubbing her eyes. 'What does that mean for the operation? Will he show?'
'He's highly intelligent, so he must suspect a trap. On the other hand, he's arrogant and believes that he can't be caught. It depends on the balance between his ability to think rationally and his need to see her - to touch her - in the flesh. By now he must be wild for her. So - maybe.'
'I need better than 'maybe', Ryan,' Cam said quietly. 'I've got an agent going into that meet alone. And I've got Egret locked up in here and I can't keep her here forever.' She repeated, 'Will he be there?'
Lindsey considered the image of the man she had formed in her mind after spending dozens of hours reading his messages to Blair Powell. He was completely and totally obsessed with her, and he spent every second of every day thinking about her. He fantasized about her returning his affections, about her fulfilling his needs; he had built an elaborate delusional system with her as his psychosexual center; he had resorted to violence to make her recognize his desires.
'He'll be there.'
Cam stood, satisfied. They had less than a day to prepare, and even though Doyle was coordinating the teams, she was reviewing everything herself. Ellen Grant was going in with every bit of protection Cam could give her.
'Why is he doing this?' Cam asked finally. 'He must know we'll be all over that place.'
Lindsey shrugged. 'Ms. Powell assured him that she would not reveal their plans. Heneeds to believe that, because he needs to believe that she desires him, the way he desires her. The rational part of him will be suspicious, but the psychotic part desperately needs to believe that she is coming to him out of mutual love and desire.'
'What if he discovers that she betrayed him?'
Lindsey Ryan said quietly, 'Then he'll kill her, or anyone we send in her place.'
