CHAPTER TEN
Adam guessed that another man in his position might have spent his time hiding from the authorities. A man who had just broken out of a secure psychiatric institution ought to be hiding, ought to be running, trying to get to a border. He'd heard about plans like that from the men in there: that if they could just get to a country with no extradition treaty, they could live out their lives untouched by the police, or even continue with their various little... interests.
Adam thought that they all thought too small. That they misunderstood what life would be like, if they ever succeeded in leaving.
No, there were some things that could not be avoided. It was hard to stay free forever. That was why it was vital to make the most of the time that one did have on the outside.
Because of that, Adam wasn’t hiding. Instead, he was currently stalking Sara Langdon, keeping well back from her in the streets of Washington D.C., making sure that she didn't catch sight of him. Adam kept his face hidden under a hooded shirt and behind dark glasses, but even so, he was sure that she would recognize him if he got too close. She knew him far too well to be fooled by a disguise.
She looked very different from how he remembered her, tall and elegant, dressed in a dark skirt, blouse and jacket. Her hair was long and black and her eyes looking big behind the glasses she wore. She was just as perfect as always, but now she looked carefully put together, utterly in control of everything around her, rather than wild and chaotic.
Adam had to hang back, not being able to follow her as closely as he would like because of the risk of being spotted. It was easier when he was just another face in the crowd, but today, there weren’t enough people on the streets for that to work. He knew where she was going, though. She was going to her office, a small place just up from Constitution Avenue that she used for her work. It was her pride and joy, and he could tell that she loved it.
The way she'd once pretended to love him.
He could approach her now. Could just walk up and do what he intended in the street. That would be too quick, though. Too easy.
She had been like that ever since she was a teenager. She'd been one of the strongest girls in their school, but she'd never taken a backward step from anyone, never backed down from a fight. He’d once seen her threaten to stab a bully. That was why he'd liked her so much.
She'd made his life more complicated, but he had never regretted it at the time. It had felt as though she was the first person that Adam could truly be himself around. He'd hurt her, of course, but never too much. She’d even pretended to enjoy it. She’d been there with him to commit small crimes, the kind of things that could only draw a couple like them closer together.
He'd never wanted to kill her.
Until she disappeared from his life without a backward glance.
Even then, he'd let her live. She was too special to kill. There was too much of a connection between them. He'd killed others in her place to assuage the feelings, just as he'd killed to deal with everything in his past. But he'd let her live, watching from a distance.
She'd been his everything. She’d been the one he had a special connection with.
Now, she wasn't, and Sara Langdon was going to die.
Not here, though.
He had no doubt that if he tried to approach her now, she would be ready for him. She'd probably have a pocket full of pepper spray and a knife hidden somewhere under that suit, even if this was some new, neater version of her. She'd have her keys between her fingers. She would be ready to fight, the way she always had been.
This wasn't the place, so he kept following her from a distance, making sure that she didn't see him.
Sara was getting close to her office building now. Adam watched her go inside, and then he waited for a minute, letting himself get as close as he could to the building. He checked for cameras before he moved, though, making certain that his face wouldn’t be spotted.
He didn't want to be caught, after all.
He moved when he was sure there were no cameras looking his way. The door to the office building was locked, and there was an intercom system. He would be able to get around that when the time came. Adam knew the layout of the building that Sara worked out of. He'd scoped it out a few weeks before, using the internet access he wasn't meant to have back at the institution. He'd plotted out his way in, but wanted to check things on the ground.
Adam had learned the hard way to be careful about these things.
So he sat opposite the building, watching people come and go. It was an office building, with plenty of people moving in and out. It was obviously too busy right now, but later in the evening, it would be quiet. Sara had always been a night owl, and Adam was willing to bet that she worked late now. Then he could take his time with her.
So he waited, sitting on a bench on the opposite side of the street. Going into a bookstore so that he could buy a book to pretend to read as the day wore on, so that no one would grow too suspicious about him just sitting there. He caught sight of a few people heading for the entrance, and the building's ground floor restaurant.
He sat there, making notes about who was coming in and when. He had to get this right. Sara was dangerous. She knew him. She would be watching for him.
While he waited, he pulled out a bottle of water from his bag, took a swig, and looked at his watch. He had plenty of time.If he’d judged her right, Sara was likely to be in the office late into the evening, long after everyone else there had left.
That would be the moment that he struck.
While he waited, Adam found himself thinking about Paige King, the psychologist who had spent so much time talking to him back in the institution and trying to understand him.
She really thought that she'd found out the truth of him, asking him questions day after day. She'd gotten a whole thesis out of it, after all. An impressive amount to write, based on what he’d told her.