“Agent Cross has just arrived, Dennis. He’s being briefed now,” said Fescoe.

“Like hell he is. Get him on the hook. Don’t make me shoot in here. I’m getting close to creating a real problem. Get him now!”

Fescoe handed me the phone and I spoke into it. “Dennis, this is Alex Cross. I’m here. I did want to be briefed first.”

“This really Alex Cross?” Coulter asked, sounding surprised.

“Yeah, it’s me. I don’t know too many of the details. Except you say you’re being set up by Internal Affairs.”

“I don’t just say it, I am being set up. I can tell you why too. I’ll brief you. That way you’ll hear it straight.”

“All right,” I told him. “I’m on your side so far. I know you, Dennis. I don’t know Baltimore Internal Affairs.”

Coulter cut me off. “I want you to listen to me. Don’t talk. Just hear me out.”

“All right,” I said. “I’m listening.”

I sat down on the ground behind a Baltimore PD cruiser, and I got ready to listen to the armed man who was supposedly holding a dozen of his family members hostage. Jesus, I was back on the Job again.

“They want to kill me,” Dennis Coulter began. “The Baltimore PD has me in its crosshairs.”

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

POP!

I jumped. Someone had pulled open a can of soda and tapped me on the shoulder with it.

I looked up to see none other than Ned Mahoney, head of the Hostage Rescue Team at Quantico, handing me a Diet Coke, caffeine-free. I had taken a couple of classes from him during orientation. He knew his stuff—in the classroom, anyway.

“Welcome to my private hell,” I said. “What am I doing here, by the way?”

Mahoney winked and dropped down beside me.

“You’re a rising star, or maybe a risen star. You know the drill. Get him talking. Keep him talking,” said Mahoney. “We hear you’re real good at this.”

“So what are you doing here?” I asked.

“What do you think? Watching, studying your technique. You’re the director’s boy, right? He thinks you’re gifted.”

I took a sip of soda, then pressed the cold can to my forehead. Hell of an introduction to the FBI for the FNG.

“Dennis, who wants to kill you?” I spoke into the cell phone again. “Tell me all you can about what’s going on here. I also need to ask about your family. Is everybody all right in there?”

Coulter bristled. “Hey! Let’s not waste time on a lot of bullshit negotiation crap. I’m about to be executed. That’s what this is. Make no mistake. Look around you, man. It’s an execution.”