Noah nodded. “If you tell me the truth, I promise visitation rights for your daughter.”
“Just once. To tell her I love her. And to tell her about her father.” She glanced at Peter, then closed her eyes. “Kip was here earlier today. He wanted me to tell him when Peter got home, but I followed Peter from the subway station to warn him. When I saw Rogan, I panicked. I knew I had to steer Peter away from his apartment.
“I told Kip afterward that Rogan already made contact and I tried to take Peter out myself. He was angry because he wanted to do it. He told me to watch the apartment, and he was baiting the trap.”
“What trap?” Noah demanded.
“I don’t know. Just that he knew how to get Peter out of hiding.”
They all looked at Peter.
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Sean swore. “Charlie.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed. “There’s no answer.”
Noah said, “I’ll have the Bureau contact the Syracuse police.”
“My plane is ten minutes away,” Sean said.
“I’m going,” Peter said.
“No,” Lucy and Noah said simultaneously.
“I’m not a prisoner, am I? Charlie is my only friend. He’s the only one who believed me. He’s the only one I trust. And I put him in danger by having him keep my secret.”
Lucy said, “Alexis put him in danger by mirroring my computer. That’s the only way they found out about how he helped you.”
Peter turned to Alexis and shook his head. “I forgive you, because if I don’t, I’ll be full of the same hate you are. But if anything happens to Charlie or his wife, I hope you get the death penalty, because you’re no better, no more noble, than the men who killed Rachel and Cami.” And he turned away.
They went down the stairs to the main floor, staying inside the small lobby until Joe DeLucca opened the door. “We’re clear, but keep moving.”
He walked in front of them, looking both ways. The passenger door opened and an agent got out. He showed Noah his credentials and opened the back door. Another agent got out and assisted Alexis inside. The two agents got back in and the car left.
“One down,” Joe said.
“Change of plans,” Noah said. “We’re going to Syracuse.”
Before he could explain, Sean came limping down the stairs. “I have Charlie Mead on the phone,” he said, and put the phone on speaker.
“Charlie, I have Agent Armstrong here.”
“I walked right into it. I’m sorry, Rogan.”
“Where are you?”
Another voice came on the phone. “I’ll exchange the cop for my sister and Peter McMahon.”
“I can’t do that,” Noah said. He mouthed to Sean, Are you tracing this call?
Sean nodded.
“Then the cop dies. And I’ll kill another cop every day until my sister is free and Peter is dead.”
“I have to talk to my boss,” Noah said.
“You have thirty minutes.”
“Where are you?”
“Exactly fourteen minutes away.” He hung up.
“Trace it, Rogan.” Noah handed him back the phone, then called for more backup.
DeLucca called to his men, “I need two men on each entrance, two men inside searching from the ground floor up. Call for all available units, but be on alert. We’ll be moving.”
“Are you calling back the team with Alexis?” Lucy asked.
“No. I can’t risk it. Mead is a cop; he knows we’re not going to trade a cop killer for him. We have to find the location.”
They went back upstairs. “Fourteen minutes away,” Noah said to Peter. “What’s fourteen minutes?”
Lucy got on her phone and brought up a map of New York City. She showed it to Peter. “He has Charlie Mead. What’s fourteen minutes from here?”
“I-I don’t know. Depends on traffic. Could be lower Manhattan, or—” He frowned. “My subway ride in the morning is about that long. The school.”
“That’s it,” Sean said. “I couldn’t complete the trace, but I narrowed it to a five-mile area in Brooklyn. The school is in the circle.” He typed rapidly. “I’m trying to get a lock on Charlie’s cell phone.”
“Wouldn’t he have turned it off?”
“Possibly, except he wants us to find him. That’s why he gave us the clue.”
Lucy said, “We have to be extremely cautious. He’s not just after Peter. He’ll kill anyone. He has no remorse, no real plan anymore.”
DeLucca said, “My guys are mobilized. I told them to keep a wide perimeter around the school, no lights or sirens.”
“I’m going with you,” Peter said. “Charlie is here because of me. I’m not abandoning him.”