CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Paige sat with Christopher in his car, parked opposite George Riker's home, both of them trying to keep low and out of sight as they waited for Adam Riker to come to get his revenge on his uncle.
They weren't alone for this one. Christopher had called in a team from the FBI field office; they were out there too, in cars or on foot, waiting for the moment when Adam arrived, and they would strike, moving to arrest him.
"We need to take him down as soon as possible," Christopher said. "The moment he shows his face, we arrest him. We can't afford to let him get inside and risk turning this into a hostage situation."
It was a fine theory. Paige hoped that it would work out like that. If Adam showed up, she hoped that the FBI would be able to get to him before he could hurt anyone else. Not George Riker, and not her.
There was no sign of Adam yet, though. The sun had set by now. Paige checked her phone for the time and realized that she had been waiting there for hours.
"Is this what your work is usually like?" Paige asked.
"What? Sitting around waiting for a serial killer to show up?" Christopher replied, with a faint smile. “Not usually.”
Paige smiled too, relieving some of the tension that was getting to them, even though neither of them would ever admit it.
"Yeah. I have to say," Paige said. "This is really not quite what I expected. I kinda thought you'd be out there chasing killers all over the city. Not sitting still waiting for one."
"Well, yes," Christopher said. "Chases happen, but usually only if we get something wrong. It’s better if we contain them and don’t give them a chance to run.”
"I guess I was just thinking of the things I’d seen in cop shows,” Paige said. "I don't know. I guess the idea of the FBI is a little bit different from the reality."
"Really?" Christopher said, shaking his head. "It's not like that. We don't shoot all the bad guys, or save all the pretty girls, or take down all the serial killers in one-on-one battles that we barely survive. It's not like the movies."
Which was a pity in one way, because right then, Paige could have done with some action to alleviate the boredom of the stakeout. Her legs felt as though they’d fallen asleep an hour ago. What was she even doing on a stakeout? She was just a psych grad-student, not an FBI field agent.
Time wore on slowly with nothing to do but to sit and watch the house. The fact that doing so was literally the point of her being there didn’t make it easier. The neighborhood was quiet and peaceful, but the tension in the air was palpable. Paige hated to think of what George Riker's neighbors would think if they saw a bunch of suspicious-looking men hanging around, and called the cops, not realizing that the FBI was already there.
"Do you think he'll come?" Paige asked.
"I don't know," Christopher said. "This is your lead, Paige.”
That sounded too much as if he were distancing himself from the idea, at least until Christopher went on.
“But I trust your judgement. And if he does, we're going to be ready for it. You'll see."
There was very little to do, unless Paige counted watching the lights on Christopher's dashboard. She sat there, trying to persuade herself that sooner or later, Adam would show up.
He didn't. The neighborhood stayed quiet and dark, the only sounds the usual ones of nearby traffic. Even Christopher seemed to be getting twitchy, shifting in his seat as he waited for the action to come.
They both reacted as a call came through on his phone, the sound of it sudden against the silence of the car. Paige almost jumped with fright in her seat. Christopher answered instantly.
"What?" he barked, obviously not happy about being disturbed like that when they were meant to be lying in wait for Adam.
Paige could hear the voice of someone from FBI headquarters over the phone. It sounded as though they were speaking very quickly, but she couldn't understand what they were saying.
Christopher’s eyes flicked towards Paige as he continued the conversation. He looked uncertain as he kept going.
"Are you sure?" he said.
Paige wished that she could hear the other end of the conversation, but she wasn't going to get that chance.
“All right. We’ll be right over.”
Christopher hung up, then he shook his head, looking suddenly and utterly dejected.
"We're in the wrong place," he said. “We’ve brought the teams here for nothing.”