Galilee Rising(63)

I plug the name in. "Known computer hacker. One arrest eight years ago. Served a year for accessing the city's CCTV footage and traffic system during a museum heist. He never gave up the crew he was working for. Other alleged employers are Nocturne, our old friend Oleg Casanov, a semi-retired mobster Mario DiAssini, and…James Ryder. Alkaline. Shit."

"Feed his photo into Doris along with Watkins and Acevedo. That his last address?" she asks, pointing to the screen. She types it into the phone. "Send all this to GFPD. They can get to Casanov and Ryder. I'll take DiAssini." I pull up his file, and she notes the address. "Oh, before I forget. Here." She pulls out a small cell phone. "This is a prepaid cell completely untraceable to any of us. Any shop talk is done on this. The three other numbers are programmed in. Use it if you need it." She rubs my arm, stands, and runs out of the lair.

I stare at the computer screen but really stare past it into the dark recesses of my mind. Maybe they'll find Raitt. Maybe he'll lead them right to Cain. Maybe…I sigh. Yeah. Right. Shit. I don't see any other option.

I have to face my boogeyman.





CHAPTER TWELVE




True Evil



I knew this day would come. I've dreaded it, had nightmares about it, but I still prepared. He broke out of prison once, there was no way I'd let there be a second. Alkaline is housed in the protection wing underground at Xavier Maximum Security Prison. They keep him doped on Thorazine, he only leaves his cell twice a week for a shower and the other to walk around the gymnasium with full restraints. He watches television an hour a day, reads, works out in his cell, but will never see the light of day again. The guards aren't allowed to speak to him so the only human contact he gets are phone calls to his lawyer. A visit from GFPD and the Feds must have been a welcome change, not that he showed his appreciation by spilling his guts or anything. He said he didn't know who Cain was and hadn't had contact with Watkins, Raitt, or Acevedo for years. I know this because I got the full report from the guard in the room. Every guard on his block is on my payroll. A grand a month to send me progress reports but mostly for insurance. Ryder escaped last time by having a guard in his pocket. I just took a play from his book. It also makes it easy to arrange meetings such as this.

I'm not as nervous as I thought I'd be. No sweating or shaking hands. My foot isn't even twitching. I sit at Doris waiting for the video link-up to the laptop I had smuggled in. I decided on a video conference so I can see if he's lying, something not as easily detected through the phone, so I have to look at his handsome face and dead eyes. Goody.

I sigh. I don't want to do this. I wouldn't be doing this if there was any other option. In the past three days we've made no forward progress. None. Doris hasn't picked up a visual on the men, the criminal element hasn't heard any whispers, and no new evidence has surfaced. Every potential trail is cold. Brendan and Lexie are frustrated, probably Jem too but I haven't had contact with him. It still stings thinking about him, which I seem to do twenty times a day. He'd try to talk me out of this, the others as well. Probably why I didn't tell them. Or I might have listened to them.

The black computer screen is suddenly alight with the image of a white door and the sound of a turning key. The webcam on the laptop jostles as the person holding it opens the door and walks into the cell. My stomach twists when I see him. His dark hair is shorn short and he has a beard, but the rest is exactly as I remember. Handsome face, dark eyes, and amused expression as he takes the computer. "Thank you," he says to the guard. I watch as he lies on a cot and adjusts the screen so we can see each other. A huge grin fills his face, crinkling his shark eyes of his. "Joanna Fallon."

"James Ryder," I say curtly.

"You're looking very well. Immense wealth agrees with you." I don't utter a word, just glare. He studies me for a few seconds. "You do look well, Joanna. I'm serious. I was certain you'd end up a shell of a woman, drinking yourself to death or finishing what you started all those years ago."

"I wouldn't give you that satisfaction."

He pauses. "It wasn't personal, Joanna. You were a means to an end, just like the doctor and her daughter. He had to be taught a lesson."

I almost stop the call, my hand even lurching toward the button but stop myself. Gonna have to be on top of my impulse control today. "I'm not here to talk about that."

"I know. I didn't think you arranged this to rehash the past, but it's not very often I have anyone but my four walls to speak to. No matter how hard I try the guards won't say a word to me."

"Gee, poor you," I say, emotionless.