After Anna(117)

‘It wouldn’t have helped.’ Noah felt his back against the door.

‘I’m going to carve you like they carved him.’

Noah heard shouting behind him. Heavy footsteps filled the hallway outside. Orders were being barked. ‘Get me out of here!’ he called out, kicking the door.

Drover made his move, lunging at Noah with the knife.

Noah jumped out of the way, just missing the blade.

Suddenly the cell door flew open. The CERT team, or Corrections Emergency Response Team, burst inside. They charged in a phalanx at Drover in black riot helmets, protective eyewear, and heavy body armor.

Noah sprang aside. The lead CERT team member brandished a man-sized plastic shield, used it to shove Drover backwards, and pressed him to the floor while Drover struggled, yelling obscenities. The other CERT members disarmed and handcuffed Drover, armed with pepper-ball delivery-system guns. It took them only a matter of minutes to haul Drover to his feet and out of the cell, still hollering.

Noah wiped the blood from his brow, shaken, and Deputy Warden McLaughlin entered with another CO, his expression grim behind his glasses.

‘CO Jimenez, uncuff Dr Alderman,’ he ordered, turning to Noah. ‘Dr Alderman, any injuries besides that cut on your forehead?’

‘Maybe a broken rib, but I could have been killed.’ Noah tried to collect his thoughts. ‘You see what happened? I assume you spoke with my lawyer. I’m in danger in Graterford. You have to transfer me out of here.’

‘We’ll do you one better.’ Deputy Warden McLaughlin smiled. ‘You’re going to be a free man, Dr Alderman.’

‘What?’ Noah asked, bewildered. ‘How?’

‘Your lawyer got a call from your wife. She’s up in Maine with the FBI. They have a man named Konstantine Rogolyi in custody, and he confessed to the murder of Patti Tenderly on May 10. I just got off the phone with the assistant U.S. attorney in Philly, who confirmed the information.’

‘Really?’ Noah felt stunned. He had no idea what was going on. May 10 was the date of Anna’s murder, but he had never heard of Patti Tenderly. He wiped the blood from his face again.

‘Let’s get to the infirmary, doc.’ Deputy Warden McLaughlin put his hand on Noah’s shoulder.

‘But who’s Patti Tenderly? And what’s my wife doing in Maine? With the FBI?’

‘I’ll explain on the way.’





Chapter Eighty-four


Maggie, After

Maggie gripped the plastic handle in the backseat as the police cruiser sped through the woods at night. Two uniformed officers in bulletproof vests sat in the front seat, silent except when they communicated on a radio. She was in the middle of a paramilitary operation of law-enforcement personnel, police cruisers, SWAT vehicles, and ambulances. Authorities were converging from all directions, flooding the roads to a secluded farmhouse in Tipton, near the highway exit and two truck stops.

Maggie kept her face to the window, trying to see through the driving snow and the darkness. Her heart hammered away. Every muscle in her body tensed. They passed through woods and finally reached open pasture. Every mile brought her closer to Anna. She sensed they were getting closer, racing down a curving country road. They accelerated behind the five other police cruisers, like the caboose on a runaway train.

The cruiser veered around a curve, following the others. The police in the front seat talked faster into the radio. Maggie caught sight of a farmhouse in the distance, a bright spot in the darkness. The cruiser zoomed ahead and so did the others in the line ahead, their red taillights burning through the blackness. The sirens remained silent, the light bars off.

The farmhouse got closer and closer. A light shone on the front porch and from every room, and the front of the farmhouse looked like the Tenderlys’, but in back were four mobile homes, also with the lights on.

Maggie swallowed hard. It made her sick to think that Anna and the other girls were being trafficked out of those trailers. She was horrified that Anna was inside, but she prayed Anna was alive. Where there was life, there was hope.

The police cruiser raced to the farmhouse behind the others. Suddenly all of the cruisers slowed to a stop at the same moment, then parked on an angle to the right, spraying snow. Maggie’s cruiser was at the end of the line, about a hundred yards from the farmhouse.

The police in the front seat grabbed their long guns, jumped out of the cruiser, and knelt behind its open door, training their barrels on the farmhouse in the blowing snow. Police in the other cars were doing the same thing, and SWAT teams poured from boxy black vehicles in the front of the line, closest to the farmhouse.

Maggie’s heart thundered. She couldn’t see the farmhouse well enough. It was too far away and too dark. Flurries clung to the cruiser window. She rolled it down. Snowflakes blew into her face.

Even with the window down, the farmhouse was too far away for Maggie to see anything. It was too dark. Snow swirled everywhere. The porch light barely illuminated anything. She prayed silently. Any minute now, Anna could be rescued, taken hostage, or killed.

Maggie watched riveted as the SWAT team hustled to the farmhouse, splitting into three moving teams. One team broke down the front door with a metal ram and charged inside. A second and third team flanked the farmhouse, raced to the windows, and shattered them with their long guns.

Suddenly a fusillade of gunfire went off inside the farmhouse. The shots echoed through the snowy night. Light flashed in the windows.