Chapter 1
Brianne Parker didn't look like a bank robber or a murderer -- her
pleasantly plump baby face fooled everyone. But she knew that she was
ready to kill if she had to this morning. She would find out for sure at
ten minutes past eight.
The twenty-four-year-old woman wore khakis, a powder blue University of
Maryland windbreaker, and scuffed white Nike sneakers. None of the
early-morning commuters noticed her as she walked from her dented white
Acura to a thick stand of evergreen trees, where she hid.
She was outside the Citibank in Silver Spring, Maryland, just before
eight. The branch was scheduled to open in ninety seconds. She knew from
her talks with the Mastermind that it was a freestanding bank with two
drive-through lanes. It was surrounded by what he called big-box stores:
Target, PETsMART, Home Depot, Circuit City.
At eight o'clock on the dot, Brianne approached the bank from her hiding
place in the evergreens under a colorful billboard obnoxiously offering
McDonald's breakfast to the public. From that angle she couldn't be seen
by the female teller who was just opening the glass front door and had
momentarily stepped outside.
A few strides from the teller, she slipped on a rubbery President
Clinton mask, one of the most popular masks in America and probably the
one hardest to trace. She knew the bank teller's name, and she spoke it
clearly as she pulled out her gun and pressed it against the small of
the woman's back.
"Inside, Ms. Jeanne Galetta. Then turn around and lock the front
door again. We're going to see your boss, Mrs. Buccieri."
Her short speech at the entrance to the bank was scripted, word for
word, even the pauses. The Mastermind said it was crucial that a bank
robbery proceed in a specific order, almost by rote.
"I don't want to kill you, Jeanne. But I will if you don't do everything
I say, when I say it. It's your turn to talk now, darling. Do you
understand what I've just told you so far?"
Jeanne Galetta nodded her head of short brown hair so vigorously that
her wire-rimmed glasses nearly fell off. "Yes, I do. Please don't hurt
me," she gasped. She was in her late twenties, attractive in a suburban
sort of way, but her blue polyester pantsuit and sensible stack-heeled
shoes made her look older.
"The manager's office. Now, Ms. Jeanne. If I'm not out of here in
eight minutes, you will die. I'm serious. If I'm not out of here
in eight minutes, you and Mrs. Buccieri die. Don't think I won't do it
because I'm a woman. I will shoot you both like dogs."
Copyright © 2000 by James Patterson.
Alex Cross returns in a startling new thriller from #1 bestselling author James Patterson. This time, he faces the most vicious killer he has ever encountered: a control-obsessed maniac who calls himself the Mastermind.
James Patterson is the author of eight major national bestsellers in a row. These include Along Came a Spider, Kiss the Girls, Jack and Jill, Cat and Mouse, When the Wind Blows, Pop Goes the Weasel, and, in paperback, The Midnight Club and Black Friday. A past winner of the prestigious Edgar Award, Patterson lives in Florida and New York.
