and opened the vents on the prisoners. He also disabled the pumps. Hackett was a very experienced guard, so this guy's dangerous as hell. He collapsed Hackett's windpipe, probably by stepping on it after knocking him down.
'We'll have the complete forensics back from pathology tomorrow. He cut the location sensor out of his finger using surgical equipment from the guard station. He also stole some supplies from the Tower, but we accounted for everything on the speedboat.'
The agent beside Jade leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. 'Great,' he said. 'So where are you set up?'
'We have roadblocks on every road leaving the coast, and we're keeping local law-enforcement officials on lookout in every town within thirty miles of the Tower. If that net's not large enough to catch him, then he's already slipped through anything we can throw up.'
'Are we definitely ruling out the possibility that he had outside help?' Fredericks asked, finally recovered from being reprimanded.
'Well-' Travers began, but Jade interrupted her.
'Yes,' he said shortly. The clock was ticking. He wanted to cut through the shit.
Travers looked over at him angrily before continuing in a calm voice. 'There's no outside contact from within the Tower, so it would've been nearly impossible to coordinate, and if Atlasia had any outside help they would've probably met him where he cut the gate.'
McGuire rose from his chair at the head of the table. 'As all of you probably already know, Mr. Marlow here has been brought in to profile and track Atlasia. Obviously, I expect you to cooperate fully with him.'
He looked over at Jade. 'I assume you have a few things you'd like to say.'
'Just a few.' Jade leaned back in his chair. 'What you're doing is chasing, which is fine. What I've gotta do is turn the tables. He's too smart. Forget the roadblocks. If he's had this much time, it's too late. It's been over forty hours since the break. To snare him, we have to make him come to us.'
A few of the agents looked at each other.
'Well, then I'll just cancel the whole operation, Marlow,' Travers said. 'Maybe we could send him a polite telegram asking him to turn himself in.'
Jade laughed. 'He broke through seven levels of security with no tools except his own mind,' he said. His voice lowered to a snarl. 'Seven. Count them.' As he listed them, he ticked them off on his fingers. 'One, his cell door. Two, Greener. Three, getting up the Hole. Four, Hackett. Five, getting off the Tower. Six, the fence. Seven, the ocean.
'He killed Hackett, who was good at what he did: containment. Hackett was larger, stronger, and armed. Atlasia knew he would've ripped him apart. So he took him up here.' Jade tapped his temple. 'Must've got behind him.
'Basically, he escaped from a goddamn security safe and killed a master guard to do it. Forgive me if I'm not optimistic about Joe Cop scratching his crotch and sitting out on the road waiting for him to drive by.'
Travers's face was white. 'It's a little more complicated than that, Mr. Marlow,' she said, punching her words angrily.
'What are you going to do, look around to see if he dropped a matchbook? We don't have time for this, Travers. Why don't you sit down and listen? This is what I do.'
Travers started to speak but McGuire shot her a sideways look and she closed her mouth.
'We gotta go proactive,' Jade continued. 'Starting tomorrow, I want you to organize discussion groups for the nearby communities. To talk about their fears and concerns.'
'That's all well and good,' the agent in the back said, 'but we don't exactly have time to console the community right now.'
'I couldn't care less about the community,' Jade said. 'Atlasia's a megalomaniac. Nothing would be more attractive to him than a big group of people talking about him. Admittedly, it's a long shot-he's on the run and he doesn't have a base yet-but it's worth a try to see if we can lure him in.
'Second, I want my face all over the press. As fast and as much as possible.'
'What was that about megalomania, Marlow?' Travers asked.
Jade ignored her and continued. 'I need to be painted as a supercop. The best of the best. It shouldn't be too hard. Throw my record around, my credentials. I want to challenge him to contact me. We have to feed him all the information. I want my house on the news, my address, my phone number. No, scratch that. No phone number-I don't want any weeping mothers calling me. I'll leave it listed. But I want my location advertised.'
'You have a death wish, Marlow?' the agent next to Jade asked.
' 'Want,' ' Jade replied. 'I prefer 'death want.' '
'How the hell are we gonna get press to comply?' McGuire asked.
'I don't know. That's your job. Why don't you run a check and see if any TV field reporters have fathers or relatives on the force? Press tend to be independent, so if we want someone to cooperate, we gotta cross their loyalties or trade an exclusive.'
McGuire scribbled notes furiously. He finally stopped and looked up. 'That it?' he asked.
'Badge. Where's my badge?' Jade asked.
Travers set her briefcase on the table and snapped the locks open. She pulled out a badge and looked at it. Sighing deeply, she slid it down the long table to Jade, who caught it as it flew off the end.
Jade checked it. His full name, 'temporary' nowhere in sight. He slid it into his back pocket, where it bulged uncomfortably.
McGuire stood to leave.
'His parents live in San Jose. Have you set up twenty-four-hour surveillance on them?' Jade asked.
'The minute we heard about the break,' Travers said. McGuire sat back down. 'But we'd like you to go down and talk to them.'
'Obviously. I'll go later. I'm heading to the Tower after this meeting.'
'Well, we'll certainly miss your company at lunch. Mr. Marlow, you have-'
'Excuse me. It's ex-Agent Marlow.'
'Oh for fuck's sake!' McGuire yelled, pivoting around in his chair. 'You two stop it. We don't have time for this shit. See them tomorrow. I thought Trav-'
'Thanks, I'll go alone,' Jade interrupted.
After a moment of icy silence, Travers continued. 'Mr. Marlow, you have the manuscripts and tapes from the prison's psychiatric department to study. Unfortunately, we can't get access to reports from any private psychologists Atlasia may have seen before he was imprisoned.'
'We'll see about that,' Jade said.
'Did he have any relationships with other prisoners who may currently be free?' Fredericks asked.
'None of any significance,' Travers and Jade replied at the same time. They glanced at each other.
Travers continued, 'There are very few prisoners who have received parole from the kinds of jails Atlasia has been in for the last six years. The few who have been paroled didn't overlap with him very much at all.'
Jade paused and ran his thumb across his bottom lip. 'This kid's a reject. He had no visitors at Maingate or at the two jails before that. No friends, no family, nothing. He spent half his time in solitary. Clearly, he doesn't like people much.'
'Funny, ex-Agent Marlow,' Travers said, 'that's just what some people would say about you.'
Chapter 21
The first briefing had gone well, Jade thought. The agents seemed willing to give him access to the materials he needed. In the past, whenever they'd hired him, the FBI had tried to exert control, but evidently he had earned their trust.
For much of the ride to Maingate, Jade thought about Agent Travers. He found her severity amusing, and once he got out on the highway, he actually laughed out loud. His laugh came in three descendent atonal notes. He didn't laugh much, but when he did, it was always the same. Travers had a quick mouth and a caustic wit that rivaled his own. And clearly, she could get extremely pissed off in a hurry. A few times, Jade had seen her clamp
