“I might have to,” Paige insisted.
“What? No, no way.”
Christopher sounded determined, but Paige was just as determined, in her way. She wasn’t about to let her mother be killed.
“If you come with me, then you know Adam will kill my mother the moment he sees you.”
“We don’t know that for certain.”
Paige fixed him with a level look. “I know it, and I know Adam. You need to hang back.”
“And just let you walk into danger alone? That’s not going to happen. Facing down a serial killer isn’t your job, Paige.”
Paige offered him a faint smile. “Being face to face with Adam has been my job for a while now. He wants to talk, Christopher.”
“So what, you’re planning to talk down a man who has killed three people since breaking out of a secure mental hospital? He’ll kill you.”
Paige shook her head. “I don’t think that he will. Certainly not straight away. He wants something from me, so I go to him, and I talk to him. You can follow, and maybe the distraction will mean that he doesn’t see you, but if you come with me, my mother will die.”
Paige was more certain of that than she had been of anything else in her life. She couldn’t let Christopher come with her on this. The problem was that the only tool she had to stop him was words.
“I’ll be ok,” Paige told him. “I know what I’m doing with this.”
She did, or she thought she did, at least. Certainly, it was better than any of the alternatives. She could do this. She had to.
Christopher must have heard some of the confidence in her words, because he held up his hands. “All right. But I’m going to follow. And you’re going to take this.”
He took out his service weapon, handing it to her. Paige stared at it, and at him, in surprise.
“You want me to take your gun? But you’ll need it. And besides, I’m pretty sure you’re not meant to just give someone your gun, Christopher. You’re an FBI agent.”
“And you’re the one who’s walking into a potentially deadly situation,” Christopher replied. “I don’t care if I lose my job over this. My weapon does no good if it’s a hundred yards back, with me. With you, it might give you a chance. And if it comes to taking Riker down, I can do that hand to hand if I have to.”
“Christopher-” Paige began, but the FBI agent was already shaking his head.
“No, this is not negotiable. Either you take the weapon, or you don’t go.”
There was no give in his voice, so Paige took the gun, tucking it into her waistband in the absence of a holster. She pulled her shirt down over it, hoping to hide its presence.
Christopher hugged her then. Paige was pretty sure that was something FBI agents didn’t normally do, either.
“Good luck,” he said.
“Thanks.”
Paige set off into the trees, finding her way by memory. Every step was another back along the path she’d taken as a girl, looking through the woods. A fallen tree she remembered had been cleared now, but a small mound was still there, and a cluster of rocks that had been balanced there by someone unknown years before. Step by step, Paige made her way to the small clearing where she had found her father’s body.
If it weren’t for the memories Paige had of the clearing, it would have been beautiful. A carpet of wildflowers filled it, with a single birch tree at the center, standing apart from the rest of the forest in a space of its own.
Adam stood there next to it, as calmly as if he had been waiting to meet a friend for coffee. He was wearing dark jeans and a hooded top, and a hunting knife rested almost casually in his right hand.
Paige’s mother stood bound to the tree, ropes holding her to it like some giant spider’s web. More ropes ran across her mouth, in a makeshift gag. Her eyes were open and she was still breathing, which made a flood of relief flow through Paige; but right then, she couldn’t relax. This was still a deadly situation.
“There you are, Paige,” Adam said. “We’ve been waiting for you. I trust you came alone? I’d hate to have to slit your mother’s throat and run because you didn’t.”
“I came alone,” Paige lied, hoping that Christopher was far enough back that Adam wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
“That’s good.” Adam smiled now, as he gestured to Paige’s mother. “I have a gift for you, Paige.”
“My mother isn’t a gift you can give me,” Paige replied.
“No, but her death is. I know how you must hate her, Paige, for what she did. For what she failed to do. She stood by while you were abused. She let it happen. The only reason she is still alive is because… well, I knew that you would want to tell her exactly what you really feel about her before we end this. Together.”