Page 11 of The Girl He Claimed

"Because Paige is finally in aposition to get information from him," Christopher supplied.

"So he ran to avoid talking toyou?" Sauer said. "Why not just refuse to answer yourquestions?"

Paige considered that. It wouldhave been the simplest thing for Adam to do, but it also didn't fit with who hewas.

"Adam Riker lies, and he likesto play games," Paige said. "But he sticks to the rules of his games.If he refused to answer my questions, it would signal the end of our game. Theend of the relationship he's tried to maintain with me. But if he escaped, itwould allow him to keep playing and to stay in control. He might think he hasnothing to lose by escaping, but I think he's wrong. He's running out of time, andhe knows it."

There was a moment of silence onthe other end of the line. Paige imagined her boss weighing her words, tryingto decide whether she was right or just grasping at straws.

"Okay, but how does thatconnect back to the Exsanguination Killer?"

Paige took a breath. This was thepart that made her heart beat a little faster and made her barely believe whatshe was about to say.

"I don't believe Adam couldescape alone. Last time, he had help from a guard, right?"

"A guard he killed,"Christopher agreed. "So this is someone else."

"Someone who has a vestedinterest in seeing him escape," Paige went on. "Someone within the StJust Institute. And we already know that he has met at least one person likehim there, because that's the information he was going to pass on to me."

Sauer fell silent for severalseconds. "You're saying that you believe the Exsanguination Killer helpedAdam Riker to escape?"

It was obvious that he understoodjust how big a deal that might be. Individually, each of the serial killers wasdangerous enough, but if they were somehow helping one another...

"We know that she's preparedto help Riker out," Christopher said. "And this... well, what if sheisn't a patient at the institute, but a member of its staff?"

That was what Paige was thinkingtoo. It would explain why Paige hadn't been able to identify a possible suspectthere other than Anne Dawson: she had only been looking at patient records. Itwould explain why Adam had met a female serial killer when male and femalepatients were typically kept apart. It explained a lot of things, but theworries it raised were far greater.

Sauer was silent for a moment."Alright, I see your point. But be careful, Paige. Riker is dangerous, andyou're dealing with a person who is known to manipulate others. Keep your guardup."

"We will, sir," Paigesaid, feeling a sense of relief that they had been given the green light topursue Adam. "Thank you."

"I'll send in backup ASAP, andcall through to the local cops to make it clear that the FBI is taking point onthis one, but you two need to get moving. Riker is a master at slipping underthe radar. Don't let him get away again. We all know how much damage he can doif he's out there."

He hung up, and Paige nodded,determined not to let Riker slip through her fingers again. She knew she had toact fast if she wanted to catch him.

"How do we do this?"Paige asked Christopher. "You were the one running the search the lasttime he escaped. How do we go about catching a serial killer who's on therun?"

Christopher rubbed his chin,thinking. "We start by retracing his steps through the institute. We needto know how he escaped and where he could be headed. He's a smart guy, but he'sstill human. He needs food, water, shelter. We track his movements and we'llfind him."

Paige hoped that would work, butshe was only too aware that wasn't how they'd found him last time. Last time,they'd only caught up to him because he had invited Paige to what Adam hadhoped would be the site of her mother's death.

"We need to work out whohelped him to escape," Paige said. "There's no body this time, so, isthere anyone obviously missing?"

If there was, that might give themthe identity of the Exsanguination Killer straight away.

Christopher nodded. "It seemslike a good place to start. I'll coordinate with the local cops. We'll get themto run the immediate physical searches on the surrounding area, just in casehe's close by."

"He wasn't last time,"Paige pointed out. Last time, Adam had gotten clear of the St Just Institute asquickly as he could.

"I know, but with Riker, wehave to be prepared for him to change his approach. He might hide close by justbecause that wasn't what he did last time."

Paige nodded. She knew as well asanyone just how unpredictable Adam could be.

Yet she didn't believe that theywould find Adam simply by sending out search parties or putting out an APB. Hewould be more careful than that. Yes, this escape had been sudden, but Paigedidn't doubt that he'd had plans in place before this. He'd just needed help toput his plan into practice.

The question was what his planwould be after that. Paige doubted that Adam simply intended to run. Thatwasn't who he was. He wasn't someone who would run to a non-extradition countryand disappear. He would start to kill again; it was just a question of when andwho.

She felt a sense of dread creepingup on her. She knew firsthand just how dangerous Adam Riker could be. Hermother had almost been one of his victims, and it was only through sheer luckthat Paige had managed to turn the tables on him.

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