I need to get that hat.
And I will.
I will get it tonight with the knowledge I got from Hedda.
I dry myself and then walk over to my drawer with the functional wear. Grab some clothes, pack a backpack with ropes, a harness, lockpicking tools, and everything else I might need, including a gun.
I grab a brand-new burner phone, the card, and dial the number.
“It’s me, Avery,” I say. “I’m ready to collect.”
“Yes,” answers the woman. The woman whose ass I once saved and who gave me the number, and thereby became a loose acquaintance over the years. “What do you need?”
“I need to break into 26 Federal Plaza. Tonight.”
A moment of silence.
“How?”
“Landline blackout, timed at exactly 11:43,” I say, glancing at my watch. “Can you do that?”
“What level are you aiming for?”
“23rd floor,” I say.
“I can blackout the entire area for fifteen minutes,” she says. “If you get the chance, Operation Blue Reef, Evidence Number 14.”
“Understood,” I say, and we hang up.
My mind is quiet and focused.
I am going to get the hat.
And then, I am going to get my revenge on Hedda for what she has done.
I have never killed.
Never felt any desire to.
But I am going to kill Hedda.
And if it is the last thing I do.
4
REID
PLAYLIST: SHADOW – LIVINGSTON
It is late at night, and my office is the only one with the light on. I am on the phone with a dear friend of mine, who is a researcher at Columbia and works on a predictive model for criminal behavior.
“You can give me whatever you have, I’ll run it through the test environment, but don’t expect too much,” says Jane.
“Didn’t you have some sort of breakthrough?”
“Yes and no,” she says. “It’s hard to validate what has not yet happened, but your case might be perfect, because there is a lot of data available on her. We’ll see. Give us a week or two.”
“Thanks,” I say. “I owe you one.”
