Page 43 of Absent Reason

"What's your name?" she asked the young woman.

"Nicole," she replied. Amber could hear the fear there in her voice.

"Everything's going to be all right, Nicole," Amber said. "I'm with the FBI. We know about the puzzle. About what he's making you do."

Nicole looked both scared and relieved at that news.

"He said no cops. But I keep looking at the puzzle, and I can't see a way to solve it."

"It will be okay," Amber repeated. She didn't explain to the young woman the full horror of her situation: that there wasn't a solution to the Konigsberg bridge problem with seven bridges. Instead, Amber kept her tone soothing.

"You're going to wait here. There will be police officers along in a minute to take you to safety."

Amber looked around, trying to spot any sign of the killer lurking in the shadows. She knew that he had to be somewhere near the bridge so that he could attack his victims if they took a wrong step. He had to be able to see them. Did that mean that he could hear them as well?

Could he hear Amber now? Amber hoped so. She needed to persuade the killer not to run. She needed to persuade him to focus on her rather than Nicole. Amber raised her voice.

"My name is Amber Young. I'm an agent with the FBI, but more importantly, I'm a puzzler. I used to be the puzzles editor for the Washington News."

Amber hoped that would be enough to catch the killer's attention, but she kept going, just in case.

"I solved your problem, the one you helped Professor Arran to make. I solved all the other ones, the ones that he was trying to come up with to replace that problem. Impossibility is harder to come up with than you think."

Amber took a breath. "And I can solvethisproblem, too. You think you've come up with a trap, a mathematically impossible problem. Well, you're wrong. I have a solution."

She paused for a moment or two, still looking around into the night. She thought that she saw a flicker of movement there, somewhere in the dark, but it was impossible to pinpoint for sure. Maybe it was one of Chief Williams' officers waiting for the moment to come forward and collect Nicole.

Amber knew that she couldn't charge off after that shadow. That wasn't the way this was going to work. This wasn't about her hunting a killer in the dark. This was about her bringing him to her.

"So this is what's going to happen," Amber said. She held up the note the killer had sent. "In a minute, cops from the local PD are going to come to collect Nicole here. She's gone. You'll never get to her. Instead,I'mgoing to take on your puzzle. I'm going to walk the bridges. If I succeed, you hand yourself in. If I fail... well, we both know what happens if I fail."

Amber could feel the tightness of nerves running through her.

This was risky, even for someone as experienced as her. But she had to keep going. If there was any chance to catch this killer, she had to take it. She handed the note back to Nicole.

"Wait here with the officers, Nicole. They'll take you to safety."

Nicole nodded, her face still full of fear, but at least now she had a glimmer of hope. Amber took a step back and looked up at the bridge. It was a daunting sight. Seven bridges spanning the two shores of the river and the twin islands in between.

It was a classic mathematical problem and one that had been studied for centuries. But the problem was that there was no solution for seven bridges. It was impossible.

But Amber had a plan.

She took a deep breath, calmed her nerves, and began to walk towards the first bridge. She could feel the killer's eyes on her, watching her every move. She had to be careful not to make a mistake. One wrong move, and she would be his next victim.

As she walked across the first bridge, she felt the weight of the puzzle pressing down on her. But she kept going, trusting that she'd worked this out, that her plan would work.

The first bridge was the easy part. Now, Amber just had to remember everything she'd calculated. She'd worked out the path that she would take before she got here. She'd worked out every step of this.

Amber checked her watch. She only had around an hour before midnight. The terms of the puzzle said that she had to walk all seven bridges by then. Amber quickened her step.

The killer would be behind her somewhere, following, sticking to the shadows. Amber suspected that Simon would be somewhere further back still, following in Amber's wake, trying to spot any sign of the killer following her.

The quicker pace would make it harder for that killer to be careful. If he followed too close, Amber might spot him, and then... well, she had her gun by her side and all the training of the FBI academy ready to help her.

For now, though, there was no sign of him. Amber had to keep going, had to keep heading for the next bridge. She had to trust that the killer would be watching, waiting to see what she did, waiting for the moment when he would get to kill the FBI agent who had dared to take on his deadly test.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

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