Double Cross

Chapter 104

THE WORST IS YET TO COME! Kyle remembered the catchphrase from a long time ago, from before he was captured by Alex Cross. He had just murdered a most disrespectful crime reporter from the Washington Post and the arrogant fucker’s wife as well. He had planned to outdo the great minds of his time-Gary Soneji; Geoffrey Shafer; Casanova, whom he had worked with as a coauthor, so to speak. Most of all, most important to him, Kyle planned to top himself-to grow, to evolve, to achieve greatness in his field, to follow his dream.

Suddenly, he remembered something else, something very painful from the time of his arrest. Alex Cross had knocked out his two front teeth! That’s how he had looked when he was finally captured. In photographs that appeared in newspapers and magazines all over the world. On every single TV broadcast.

The Mastermind!

Toothless.

Like some kind of bloody fool.

Like a street person, a derelict.

And that woman! She had mocked him publicly too. Said to his face that he would never see the sun again. Boasted and bragged about it in front of all kinds of witnesses. She had even written a turgid book that the equally uninspired Washington Post had hailed as a “masterpiece on criminal justice.”

So this dreary redbrick Colonial was where Judge Nina Wolff lived in the City of Fairfax. The wages of sanctimony weren’t worth so much, were they?

Kyle began to walk toward the house-and as he did, he took out a small canister. He started to shake it furiously. He was furious, and he had every damn right to be. Judge Nina Wolff had taken four years of his life.

No doubt about it anymore-it was his time now.

DCAK was yesterday’s news.

Starting.

Right.

Now.

He was the man again.

Just him.

He aimed the canister and wrote his message.

Chapter 105

MONNIE DONNELLEY, a research analyst and a good friend out at Quantico, was the one who called me- probably because Monnie knew I was close to Judge Nina Wolff. The two of us had worked together at the time of Kyle Craig’s trial. Then I had helped with her book. Nina was the doting mother of three teenage girls; her husband, George, was sweet-natured but also funny enough to do stand-up comedy. George was the perfect match for the sober-looking judge.

And now-this outrage, this abomination at their home. Of course, I knew who Nina Wolff’s killer had to be, though I almost wanted to be wrong. I figured there was a slim possibility it could have been DCAK rather than Kyle Craig who had killed the judge, but that was a stretch of the imagination.

I arrived out in the City of Fairfax at two in the morning. I found dozens of cars and vans and trucks, most with garish lights revolving on the tops of their roofs. The suburban neighborhood was up too-every house I passed, just about every window was glowing brilliantly, like fearful, vigilant eyes.

So sad-a neighborhood like this. Peaceful and pretty. People just trying to live their lives with some kind of harmony and dignity. Was that too much to ask? Apparently it was.

I climbed out of the R350 at the end of a cul-de-sac, and I started to walk. Then I began to jog, probably because I needed to run. Maybe I even wanted to run away-in some saner part of my brain-but I was moving toward the Wolff house, just like I always did, drawn to danger, to chaos, to death and disaster.

Suddenly I stopped. A chill knifed through me. I hadn’t even gotten to the house, but I had the first awful image. It was right before my eyes.

He’d known I would come here and see it myself, hadn’t he?

A bright-red X was painted on top of the Wolffs’ car, a black S-Class Mercedes.

A second red X was painted across the front door, almost top to bottom.

Except I knew they weren’t Xs. They were crosses! And they were meant just for me.

The press was shouting questions from behind the police lines and also taking countless photographs of the house and car. It was all a blur for me right then.

“It’s DCAK, isn’t it?” I heard. “What’s he doing out here in Virginia? Is he going wide?”

No, I thought, but I kept it to myself. Kyle Craig isn’t going wide. Actually, he’s homing in now. And he has his target all picked out.

No-his targets. Kyle always did think big.

Chapter 106

KYLE HAD SPARED George Wolff and the three children, and I wondered why. Maybe because he was so focused now. He’d wanted Judge Nina Wolff… and only her. So what would he do next? And how long would I have to wait before he appeared on my doorstep? Or maybe inside the house?

My eight o’clock session that morning was with Sandy Quinlan. But she didn’t show up. Which only helped to make me more uncomfortable about everything that was going on. Now my practice was blowing up too, going to hell before my eyes.

I was also concerned. Sandy had never missed before, so I waited in the office until past nine. Then, Anthony Demao didn’t come to his session either. What was going on with those two? Were they together now? What else could go wrong today?

I waited as long as I could, then called Bree to tell her I was on my way to pick her up. We were heading off later that afternoon to Montana via Denver to check out Tyler Bell’s cabin. It was something we felt we had to do. See his place firsthand, go through whatever he’d left there.

As I was leaving my building, I nearly bumped into Sandy Quinlan. She was standing outside the front door on the sidewalk. Sandy was dressed all in black, covered with sweat, and out of breath.

“ Sandy, what’s going on?” I asked, trying to keep my composure. “Where were you today?”

“Oh, Dr. Cross. I was afraid I’d miss you. I’m sorry I didn’t call.” She squinted up at me and motioned me over to the curb. “I had to come tell you… I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?” I asked.

“Going back to Michigan. I don’t belong here in Washington, and frankly I came for the wrong reason. I mean, even if I did meet someone, what’s the point if I hate the city, right?”

“ Sandy, can we schedule one more appointment before you go? First thing on Monday?” I asked. “I’m traveling, or I’d see you over the weekend.”

She smiled, looking as confident as I’d ever seen her. Then she shook her head. “I just came to say good-bye, Dr. Cross. My mind’s all made up. I know what I have to do.”