The Tower

Jade ran his thumb across his bottom lip over and over, feeling it push softly to the side. "A house. Deserted, empty, or hostages. No, no hostages. Wouldn't want to leave them."

"He could've broken in, killed a family," Travers said.

Jade was struck with a sudden, horrible thought. What if Allander had used his pistol? The Glock that he'd stolen from the back counter. Jade had not yet told anyone about it. He was hoping to keep it his and Allander's little secret, at least until it became relevant.

At least he hasn't used it yet, he thought. At least not yet.

He nodded. "Could be. The average response time for SFPD to this site is sixteen and a half minutes. He would've known that we'd radio in after he called us. He probably even timed his call by it. And this is a bad neighborhood to make an escape by foot. Too open, way too open. He came here in a car, left in a car. And he would've wanted to be back to his base by the time police arrived here, even before to beat the roadblocks. I'd say he'd want to be back to his base in fifteen minutes."

Jade ran to the kitchen desk and yanked the drawers out, emptying them on the floor. He sank to his knees and dug through the papers, finally pulling out a map of San Francisco. He returned to the kitchen table and cleared it with a sweep of his arm. His glass shattered on the floor, and the salt and pepper shakers rolled in arcs on the linoleum.

Travers closed her eyes and bit her lip. Wotan had come down on her hard for bailing out of the movie theater operation. He had made it clear that she was to provide support for all of Jade's plans, no matter how much she disagreed with them. She breathed deeply as she surveyed the mess in the kitchen, and forced herself not to comment.

Jade unfolded the map on the table, spreading it out before him. He walked back over and grabbed a thick black marker from the pile he'd left on the floor.

"Okay. We're here." He circled the location of McGuire's house. "Fifteen minutes by car could put him anywhere from…" His voice trailed off as he sketched an approximate circle on the map with the black marker.

The circle stretched down to San Francisco State and out to Van Ness in the east. He didn't want to push the perimeter too far downtown because the traffic would have slowed Allander. The top of the circle ran up to Presidio Heights, and to the west it covered the ocean coast.

"I want a full listing of all incidents in this area in the last week. Break-ins, homicides, stolen cars, anything," he said.

"That's a big circle, Jade," Travers said skeptically.

"It's a start. Put a couple of your desk jockeys on it pronto. Call it in now."

As he headed out, he heard Travers pick up the phone.

Spring was giving way to summer, and the late-morning heat was fierce and steady. Jade pulled into his garage. He wiped the sweat from his cheek as he got out of his car, immediately stumbling over something in the garage.

He looked down and saw a growing pool of black paint spreading at his feet. As the familiar smell rose to his nostrils, he swore loudly. After touching up his bookshelves the other night, he'd forgotten to put the paint away.

He bent over to pick up the bucket and felt a burn in his throat. He backed up, coughing. The shit they put in this stuff, he thought. Not exactly meant for breathing.

He snapped his fingers twice, ran into the house, and grabbed the phone. "Forensics. Yeah, yeah. This is Marlow. I need someone on the McGuire house from this afternoon."

He waited, his knee jackhammering up and down. Finally one of the agents got on the line.

"Yeah. Marlow here. I have a question for you about the lead particles you picked up at McGuire's. Were they pigmented?"

The forensics agent sounded surprised. "Why yes. They were dark green. How'd you know?"

"They're paint scrapings, probably from a house being remodeled. Dark green-must be exterior paint. If someone sanded it off, the lead would probably settle separately since it's heavier."

"But they haven't used lead in paint for over twenty years."

"Twenty, huh?" Jade said, scribbling down the number on a piece of paper. "I figured it was somewhere around there. Thanks."

He hung up and called Tony.

"Whaddya want, kid? Always calling me for something."

"Tony. I need you."

"Well, I never would have thought-"

"Not now. I need you to use your force for some legwork." Jade paused. "It's kind of shit work."

"Well, I appreciate your thinking of me."

"I got Atlasia nailed down to an area of San Francisco. I think he's in a house that's undergoing a major remodel. The house is at least twenty years old, and it used to be painted dark green." He told Tony the rough bearings of the circle he'd drawn around the map he'd taken from McGuire's house.

"Well, kid, you know I got the men and the time, but there's no fucking way we can search an area of SF that big just based on a remodel and a house color. What the fuck?"