Hamish enters, holding a familiar-looking piece of paper in his hands.He’s wearing latex gloves, but I have no idea how he got them so fast.Does he carry them around in his pocket, like a handkerchief?
I shake my head to clear my wild thoughts.
“It’s a letter,” Hamish reports.“He left it on the sink.”
Rex rises to look at it, but I stay seated.My nerves are raw.I don’t know why I had such a strong reaction to the stranger when I’m trained for these situations, but the man’s presence made me feel sick.
And then I realize that I’ve felt this way before.Long ago when I was a little girl, huddling under the covers, listening to the creak of the floorboards outside my bedroom.I sensed the Bondage Killer’s presence then as I do now.
“It’s from him, isn’t it?”I say right as Rex tells me, “It’s from the Bondage Killer.”
Hamish tilts the letter enough for me to see the opening line.Dear Swallow?—
I don’t want to look at it anymore.Not when I’m around so many strangers, exposed.
“Was it him?Was he here?”Rex demands.He’s facing Hamish, but I answer, “No, that wasn’t him.That was just a messenger.”
My second bodyguard appears.“He’s gone.He escaped through another exit and went through the kitchens and out the back door.”
Rex swears.
“But he dropped this.”They hand the badge to Rex, who holds it up so Hamish and I can see.“Ted Raider.”
“Ted,” I breathe.This must be the same Ted that Burgess told us about.
Rex grips the badge in his fist.“Got him.”
15
New Rome: Midnight.The bright lights of the city blot out the stars and the moon.The suburbs are quiet and sleepy, but in midtown, it’s as bustling as it is during the day.
A lone figure jogs away from a busy street and darts through a dark alleyway, running away from home to the soundtrack of sirens.He doesn’t know where to go, but he can’t go to his apartment.A man was waiting there for him.He’s lucky he got away.
And now he’s taking a shortcut to his favorite dive bar.He can hide out there.If he makes it.
There’s something sinister about the shadows.Or maybe it’s his own thoughts that color his surroundings.He’s been on edge ever since the messages for the detective started coming to him.
He didn’t mean to scare her earlier.He only wanted to give her the letter, as instructed.He knows why he was chosen—he has access as a member of the press.He doesn’t know what will happen to him if he doesn’t comply with the killer’s requests, but he doesn’t dare find out.
And now he can’t go home.He’s jumping at shadows, literally.He can’t shake the feeling of being watched.
The pressure builds until he can’t ignore it anymore.There’s someone behind him—he can sense it.
He whirls around.“Who’s there?”
But there’s no one following him.And if there was, what would he do?
Better to keep moving, so that’s what he does.
This is a mistake.If he looked up, he’d see a large shape rise from the roof and follow, stalking him from above.
The sound of motorcycles splits the night, and he freezes.A trio of bikes turn down the alleyway, blocking his exit.A street light illuminates two blond heads and one dark one.All three are wearing skull masks that cover the lower half of their faces.
“Ted Raider?”the closest one calls.The light glints on the silver skull ring he’s wearing as he raises his hands to show he’s unarmed.“We need to talk.”
Ted doesn’t wait to hear what they have to say.He turns and runs the other way.It’s stupid to try to outrun bikers, but they don’t follow, and he feels a little hope that he might escape his fate.
He’s almost to the middle of the alleyway when something explodes in front of him.There’s a flashbang of smoke, and he throws up his hands to ward off an attack, crying out.
