Patterson, James - Alex Cross 14 - Cross Country

“Turn here for the Mainland Bridge. It's the best way, Alex. We'll go through Benin.”

“Hold on tight, brace yourself!”

“It's too late for that, way too late.”

I took the turn-without slowing down. We came out onto a wide boulevard lined with low-slung stucco shops, open lots, and old dusty cars and trucks. A freestanding billboard advertised Grace of Light Church, with an illustration of a woman in a choir robe, eyes on the sky and arms open to God.

But it certainly wasn't God that I heard next.

It was the deafening chop of a helicopter, loud and very close to the roof of the Escort.

They'd found us already.

They were on top of us, right over our heads.

“It's the police!” said Adanne. “They'll kill us, Alex. I know things they don't want in any newspaper.”

Cross Country

Chapter 107

I CRANED MY neck to see what was up, literally. The small bird with white struts was almost directly overhead. There were no police markings, and the low altitude was another bad sign.

The pilot was being increasingly reckless and didn't seem to care about the safety of people down on the street, or about his own well-being, for that matter.

The Mainland Bridge was still a mile or so off. I scanned the area for any kind of cover-parking garage, construction site. There was nothing obvious, nowhere for us to hide from the helicopter.

What was worse, within a few blocks I saw lights in my mirror-red-and-blue spinners, at least three cruisers moving very fast, gaining on us.

“Shit! That's definitely police.”

“I'm serious, Alex. They'll kill us if they catch us. I'm not being paranoid.”

“I believe you. But why, Adanne?”

“Alex, I know terrible things. I'm writing a story about it. I have to tell somebody what I found out.”

“Tell me,” I said.

In the next frantic few minutes, that's what Adanne did; she told me secrets that she hadn't shared before. One of the secrets was that Ellie Cox had visited her in Lagos. They had shared sources and information. They had talked about Abidemi Sowande-the Tiger. And the group that he worked for.

“Alex, he is one of the most dangerous mercenaries in the world.”

I sped up and weaved through the traffic as best I could. But when I checked the mirror again, the police cars were still close. I was a little numb from hearing what Adanne knew about the Tiger and so much more. I still couldn't believe that she and Ellie had met.

Suddenly Adanne grabbed my arm. “Alex!” she shouted. “There!”

A police car had hopped the curb from a vacant lot on the left and was pulling across our path right now.

I jammed down on the brakes - too late.

The Escort skidded and caught the cruiser broadside.

Our front end folded right in on itself, as if it were made of molding clay. No wonder Ford was losing market share.

My chest hit the steering column hard, and I saw Adanne's head smack the windshield.

Already the other police cruiser was right behind us, siren screeching, spinners going like crazy.

“Adanne?” I sat her up and saw that her forehead was swabbed in red. She raised her eyebrows and blinked several times.

“You all right?” I asked.

“I think so. Don't tell them anything, Alex. More people will die. Don't tell them a thing I told you. Do you promise? Alex?”

Cross Country

Chapter 108

BLUE-UNIFORMED COPS WERE running up on either side of our car. When they threw open the doors and grabbed at us, Adanne came out easily. I was a lot more work for them.

When I was finally pulled from the front seat, I came up swinging, crunching a straight right fist into somebody's chin. It felt good.

Then two of them flung me down hard onto the pavement. That didn't feel so good. Something popped in my shoulder.

Jesus!

My arm flew up reflexively, and a wave of pain crashed over me, even as I felt the joint slip back into place. I wasn't sure if I could move the arm again, though. How could I fight them now?

The police were yelling on all sides, at least four of them screaming in a mishmash of languages I couldn't understand.

Then one of them fired his service revolver into the air to make his point crystal clear.

Adanne was shouting too. “I'm with the Guardianl I'm a reporter. Press!”

I could see under the car to where she was lying facedown on the other side. There were pairs of black shoes moving all around her. Then a pistol was pointed at her head.

But that didn't stop her from yelling at them. “Adanne Tansi! I'm with the Guardian]”

She shouted it over and over, not just for them, but for anyone who could hear in the neighborhood. We had already stopped traffic on both sides of the street.

With any luck, Adanne had just gone from anonymous suspect to known entity. It was a good move - especially given her state of mind after what had happened at her parents' house.

I saw two of the cops who were standing over me exchange a look. One reached down to pull my hands back and cuff me. When he did, my shoulder felt like it was being torn in half.

Then I was punched and kicked in the small of the back. Everything was getting hazy and surreal again in a hurry. I couldn't let myself black out.

“Alex!” Adanne's voice came again. “Alex! I'm over here! Alex!”

I turned my head to look for her. The heel of a shoe came down on my cheek and temple. But I saw her anyway. The police were dragging her away. Past a standard cruiser-to an unmarked black sedan.

Going where?

“She's with the Guardlan!” I yelled at the top of my voice. “She's with the Guardian! She's press!”

Adanne kicked and twisted, and I tried to roll the two cops off my back.

But it was too little too late. Adanne was still shouting when they stuffed her into the black sedan, slammed the door, and drove off in a hurry.

Cross Country

Chapter 109

A FEVERED VOICE inside my head was screaming for me to help Adanne, but I knew I should think things through before I tried anything.

I had no idea, and no way to find out, if the car they had put me in was following Adanne's. I was in a police unit, though. Small and cramped by DC standards. Smelling strongly of tobacco and sweat and somebody's urine. Were these men policemen?

I sat sideways on a ripped vinyl seat in back. My hands were cuffed, and a rusted metal security grate was a few inches from my face. My shoulder throbbed and I was afraid it was broken. But that was the least of my worries right now. What I cared about most was Adanne and what was happening to her.

“Where did they take her?” I asked. The two uniforms in front wouldn't even turn to look at me. I couldn't provoke them.

“Talk to me. Tell me where we're going,” I demanded to know.

Then I saw for myself, and it couldn't have been any worse.

The first thing I recognized was the signpost at the turn-off for Kirikiri. Then the familiar concrete walls and razor wire crisscrossing the top.

Oh hell, no.

I felt like I'd fallen into some kind of hell on earth. Going in here the first time had been bad enough, but heading back when I knew what to expect?

It took the two cops and two more prison guards to get me out of the car and inside the jail.

I thought they would drag me up to the wards-but we went down instead. Down couldn't be good. Where was Adanne? Was she here too?

My feet bumped over stone steps, then onto the compacted dirt floor of a barely lit corridor. It looked and smelled like the cell block upstairs, but when we passed through one of the reinforced steel doors, I saw they all opened onto the same enormous space.