FBI: HOW DO YOU KNOW?
CIPHER: I SEE ALL.
“Interesting turn of phrase,” Kent said. “He could be referring to his precrime planning.”
“See if you can get him to talk about his process,” Wade said. “How he targets his victims.”
FBI: SO YOU WATCH FIRST?
CIPHER: I AM ALWAYS WATCHING.
“Stalking behavior,” Wade muttered, scribbling furiously on his notepad. “Victim selection is important to him. Part of the game, in his mind.”
“Go deeper,” Kent said. “More about his methodology.”
FBI: HOW DO YOU CHOOSE?
CIPHER: THEY MUST BE PUNISHED.
Sensing this phrasing was important, she stopped. Sure enough, Kent and Wade began debating potential underlying meanings of the phrase.
Kent studied the screen as if literally and figuratively reading between the lines. “His language distances himself a bit. He doesn’t say ‘I punish them,’ but ‘they must be punished.’ He is either uncomfortable with what he does or he feels separate and above it all.”
“It’s the latter,” Wade said decisively. “Like a god condemning sinners, those who are unworthy.”
A thought occurred to her. “A god also sees all.” She pointed at the previous messages. “And punishes.”
“Go with that,” Wade said, “but make it personal to you.”
FBI: WHAT ABOUT ME? WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE PUNISHMENT?
CIPHER: U WERE A SPECIAL CASE.
“We have to know how he singled you out,” Kent said. “That, more than anything else, can point us toward his identity.”
FBI: HOW SO?
CIPHER: MY TURN TO ASK A QUESTION.
She waited through a brief pause, then a new message appeared.
CIPHER: R U FUCKING ANYONE?
“Redirection,” Wade said. “We got too close.”
Kent’s cool tone ratcheted up a notch. “He’s switched to obscenities, trying to shock you. His next communication will be a highly personal attack.”
She had no intention of playing his mind games.
FBI: NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS.
CIPHER: I’LL TAKE THAT AS A NO. IS IT BECAUSE OF ME?
“He feels possessive of you,” Wade said. “He wants to be the only man you think about.”
“I agree,” Kent said. “He’s jealous.”
The thought made her ill. “I won’t talk to him about my sex life.” She stopped herself before adding or lack thereof.
Wade and Kent were throwing out suggestions about how to get the conversation back on track when another message popped up on the screen.
CIPHER: UR TAKING A LONG TIME 2 RESPOND, WARRIOR GIRL. HAVE I UPSET U, OR IS THAT WASHED UP MIND HUNTER UR WORKING W/ TRYING TO COME UP W/ A RESPONSE?
Wade reddened. “He’s seen me on the news and must have googled my name.”
It wouldn’t have taken much searching for Dr. Jeffrey Wade’s background to come up. He had been well known even before the extensive media coverage of the Chandra Brown case.
“We can use this,” Kent said.
Breck’s hand appeared above her screen making a twirling motion, encouraging them to continue. Nina typed in something to keep the exchange going.
FBI: I SPEAK FOR MYSELF.
CIPHER: HOW MANY OTHERS R IN THE ROOM W/ U RIGHT NOW, NINA? I WANT U ALONE.
“Now he’s using your first name,” Kent said. “Getting intimate. Go with it.”
She had an idea about what to say next. It would probably make everyone around her, especially Wade, furious. But it might save a girl’s life.
FBI: THEN COME AND GET ME.
Kent swore.
Wade’s jaw tightened. “What the hell are you doing, Guerrera?”
CIPHER: I WILL, WARRIOR GIRL, BUT AT A TIME & PLACE OF MY CHOOSING.
She ignored the two men barking instructions into her ears and sent back a quick reply.
FBI: NOW IS GOOD.
CIPHER: FEELING BRAVE, LITTLE ONE? I’LL HAVE U BEGGING LIKE U DID BEFORE. DO UR FBI FRIENDS KNOW HOW MUCH U CRIED & PLEADED & SCREAMED? THEY WILL SEE THE REAL U SOON.
Wade had gone silent. Nina had the feeling he wasn’t only analyzing the Cipher’s responses but hers as well. She deliberately turned away from him to address Kent. “What’s he talking about?”
“His language is indicative of manipulation,” Kent said. “He wants you back in the state of fear where he put you before. In his mind, that connects you to him. It allows him to exert control over you without even touching you. He doesn’t have to be anywhere near you to make you think about him, which is essential to him because he thinks about you all the time.”
Nina gave him a humorless smile before turning back to the screen.
FBI: FINE, LEAVE THE OTHERS ALONE. THIS IS BETWEEN US.
CIPHER: IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN. IT STARTS AND ENDS W/ U, NINA.
FBI: THEN LET’S END IT NOW. JUST THE TWO OF US. NOBODY ELSE NEEDS TO GET HURT.
Everyone stopped talking. She knew scores of monitors were following their exchange throughout the building. Buxton’s included.
CIPHER: GOODBYE, WARRIOR GIRL . . . FOR NOW.
He made no more responses to any of her comments.
Buxton had come out of his office. He made a beeline for Breck’s workstation. “Did you locate him?”
She shook her head, eyes lowered. “He’s bouncing through so many servers . . . I haven’t seen anything like it outside of terrorist cell communications, and even most of them don’t have that many redundancies. This guy has a tech background, or he’s done a ton of research.”
“You’re still prepared to stop him?” Buxton asked.
Breck’s head lifted, her delicate features set in determined lines. “It’ll take a few minutes, but yes. We’ve already gotten agreements from most social media platforms. They’ll shut his profiles down at our request since he’s using them to publicize his murders. We’ve told them to hold off for investigative reasons, but I can ask them to pull the plug anytime you want.”
“Let’s keep that option open for the time being,” Buxton said. “Right now, it’s our only way to communicate with him directly.” He rounded on Nina. “Speaking of which, what the hell was that?”
His conversation with Breck had bought her time to come up with a way to mitigate the damage. She gave him the most honest answer she could. “My attempt to keep him from killing another girl in the next twenty-four hours.”
The reminder of their timetable and what was at stake dulled the sharp edge of his tone. “You were supposed to follow the coaching, Agent Guerrera.”
Kent cleared his throat. “The Cipher’s responses did provide new insight, sir.”
She threw him a grateful look, but the reproach in Kent’s expression told her he wasn’t pleased with her tactics any more than their boss had been.
Buxton glanced at Kent. “What did you come up with?”
“I’ll review a copy of the exchange again and look for any matches in our database for some of his more distinctive speech patterns. For now, I can tell you he’s highly intelligent, educated, and idiosyncratic with his language. He may have some OCD tendencies in his professional or personal life. He’s highly structured and methodical.” He paused. “And he’s got one hell of a god complex.”