Gregg Hurwitz - The Tower

"You have a death wish, Marlow?" the agent next to Jade asked.

" 'Want,' " Jade replied. "I prefer 'death want.' "

"How the hell are we gonna get press to comply?" McGuire asked.

"I don't know. That's your job. Why don't you run a check and see if any TV field reporters have fathers or relatives on the force? Press tend to be independent, so if we want someone to cooperate, we gotta cross their loyalties or trade an exclusive."

McGuire scribbled notes furiously. He finally stopped and looked up. "That it?" he asked.

"Badge. Where's my badge?" Jade asked.

Travers set her briefcase on the table and snapped the locks open. She pulled out a badge and looked at it. Sighing deeply, she slid it down the long table to Jade, who caught it as it flew off the end.

Jade checked it. His full name, "temporary" nowhere in sight. He slid it into his back pocket, where it bulged uncomfortably.

McGuire stood to leave.

"His parents live in San Jose. Have you set up twenty-four-hour surveillance on them?" Jade asked.

"The minute we heard about the break," Travers said. McGuire sat back down. "But we'd like you to go down and talk to them."

"Obviously. I'll go later. I'm heading to the Tower after this meeting."

"Well, we'll certainly miss your company at lunch. Mr. Marlow, you have-"

"Excuse me. It's ex-Agent Marlow."

"Oh for fuck's sake!" McGuire yelled, pivoting around in his chair. "You two stop it. We don't have time for this shit. See them tomorrow. I thought Trav-"

"Thanks, I'll go alone," Jade interrupted.

After a moment of icy silence, Travers continued. "Mr. Marlow, you have the manuscripts and tapes from the prison's psychiatric department to study. Unfortunately, we can't get access to reports from any private psychologists Atlasia may have seen before he was imprisoned."

"We'll see about that," Jade said.

"Did he have any relationships with other prisoners who may currently be free?" Fredericks asked.

"None of any significance," Travers and Jade replied at the same time. They glanced at each other.

Travers continued, "There are very few prisoners who have received parole from the kinds of jails Atlasia has been in for the last six years. The few who have been paroled didn't overlap with him very much at all."

Jade paused and ran his thumb across his bottom lip. "This kid's a reject. He had no visitors at Maingate or at the two jails before that. No friends, no family, nothing. He spent half his time in solitary. Clearly, he doesn't like people much."

"Funny, ex-Agent Marlow," Travers said, "that's just what some people would say about you."

The first briefing had gone well, Jade thought. The agents seemed willing to give him access to the materials he needed. In the past, whenever they'd hired him, the FBI had tried to exert control, but evidently he had earned their trust.

For much of the ride to Maingate, Jade thought about Agent Travers. He found her severity amusing, and once he got out on the highway, he actually laughed out loud. His laugh came in three descendent atonal notes. He didn't laugh much, but when he did, it was always the same. Travers had a quick mouth and a caustic wit that rivaled his own. And clearly, she could get extremely pissed off in a hurry. A few times, Jade had seen her clamp down her teeth to hold her temper inside.

Maingate was in disarray when he arrived. Men with equipment ran back and forth through the front gates, barking instructions. Trucks drove down to the shore where there were several large cranes. Two guards armed with Win Mag. 300s paced the top of a small guard tower. Extra prison-security officers oversaw the operations, their bright-blue jackets standing out against the colorless prison.

Jade glanced at the Tower and saw men scurrying over it like ants. A black security guard ran by him, yelling into his walkie-talkie. Jade reached out and touched him softly on the arm.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm looking for Walker Banks."

"That's good to know."

"I'm Jade Marlow."

"Oh shit. Damn. Sorry. Warden's tied up right now on the Tower. We'll have to run you out on a boat."

Four more security guards walked by briskly, their sleeves whistling against their sides. "What's all the panic?" Jade asked.

"Looks like we're evacuating the prisoners. Too much activity. Trucks and equipment all coming and going."

Two white buses with thick bars across the windows pulled in. "Looks like a big operation," Jade said. "You moving 'em in small groups?"

The guard smiled. "Just ten at a time. We got over two hundred men to clear out of here. Not exactly juvenile delinquents, either. It's a big job." He looked over at Jade. "Even for you, I'd imagine."

"I'd imagine," Jade said dryly.

A sudden blast sent Jade into an instinctive crouch, his pistol drawn and at the ready.

"Hey, relax, man," the guard said. "They're just blasting out some of the rock to get the cranes through."

The ride out to the Tower was bumpier than Jade had thought it would be. The speedboat flicked over the water's surface like a skipped rock, and by the time they reached the ladder leading up the Tower, his clothes were soaked.

The guard pulled in close, and Jade had to make the transition from the boat straight to the steel ladder. There was no true dock, only a thick rubber strip for the boat to bump against. Jade clung to the ladder as the boat sped away. He felt very alone hanging above the ocean on two steel rails. For the first time, he realized how desolate the Tower really was. He surveyed the water stretching around him, then began the long climb to the top.

The frenzy at Maingate was nothing compared to the activity on top of the Tower. Divers were geared up in wet suits and tanks, dangling their flippers in the water that filled the Hole. An FBI team had been there since shortly after Allander's break was discovered.

Won't do much good, Jade thought. Already know who, what, and when. There was nothing new they'd discover about the scene of the crime-they'd created it. Won't tell them anything about what Allander's doing now.

A short, burly man charged around barking orders. A cigar was wedged in the side of his mouth almost parallel with the line of his molars. Sweat and moisture from the sea air dotted his bald head.

Jade walked over to him, noticing that his soggy cigar had long since gone out. Still, between barking out commands, the man chewed it with vigor.

"Walker Banks," Jade said.

"Marlow. Jesus fuck, what took you?"

"I just got the job seven hours ago."

"What took them?"

"The FBI, Warden. Moving at the speed of bureaucracy."

"No shit. I got a stack of papers on my desk could sink the Titanic."

"The Titanic is sunk."

"My point, Marlow. My point."

One of the divers surfaced, his arms looped underneath those of a corpse.

Walker pulled the cigar out of his mouth and stabbed it at the body. "Mills Benedick. Smells like a Tijuana whore."

Jade grimaced.

"On one of his good days, I mean," Walker said.

Another diver pulled Mills from the Hole by his hairy arms and flopped him on his stomach. Mills's hair stood out against his pale blue flesh. His naked back was humped like a buffalo's.

"Must be fun getting the cells unlocked underwater," Jade said. "Then pulling the bodies up."

"You shoulda seen the first ones, Marlow." Walker circled his head and shoulders with his damp cigar. "Head trauma from the force of the water." He shook his head.

"Look, Warden, I know you're tired-"

"Marlow, the past forty-three hours have been a bigger pain in the ass than hemorrhoids. I got two guards dead. I got sixteen prisoners drowned, one in lockdown, and one on the loose. Not to mention the fact that I'm gonna lose my standing at the Warden Hall of Fame. So yes, I'm fuckin' tired."