Closer still, and it was Soneji.
He was giving the lens the same quarter profile we’d seen in the still image that Gary’s Girl posted on the website forum, the one where his eye and the corner of his mouth conspired to leer right at me.
But this time Soneji spoke.
In that cracking, hoarse voice I’d heard earlier that day in the pine barrens, Soneji said, “You’re not safe in the trees, Cross. You’re not safe in your own home. The Soneji are everywhere!”
Then he threw his head back, and barked and brayed his laughter before the screen froze. A title appeared below: www.thesoneji.net.
“What’s that, Dad?” Ali asked, upset.
I stormed to the screen, followed the cord to its power source, and tore it violently out of the wall.
“Alex?” Bree said. “What’s going on?”
I looked at Ali. “Was that Walking Dead episode streaming from Netflix?”
“Yes.”
Yanking out my cell phone, I looked to Bree and said, “Soneji hacked into our internet feed.”
“I’ll shut the router down,” Bree said.
“No, don’t,” I said. I scrolled through my recent calls and hit Call. “I have a feeling it will be better if the link’s still active.”
The phone picked up. “Yes?”
“This is Alex Cross,” I said. “How fast can you get to my house?”
Forty minutes later, as we were finishing up Nana Mama’s roast chicken masterpiece, and fighting over who was going to get the last wing and who the last sweet potato fries, there was a sharp knock at our side door.
“I’ll get it,” I said, put my napkin down, and went out into the great room and unlocked the door that led to the side yard and the alley behind our place.
I did not turn on the light, just opened it quickly and let our visitors inside. The first was Ned Mahoney, my former partner at the FBI. The second was Special Agent Henna Batra of the Bureau’s cybercrime unit.
“Who’s making sure you’re safe in your own home?” Mahoney asked once I’d closed the door.
“Metro in unmarked cars, both ends of the block,” I said.
“Soneji’s still the type to try.”
“I know,” I said. “But I think we’re good.”
“I’m still unclear why you wanted me here, Dr. Cross,” Agent Batra said.
“I think Soneji or The Soneji may have made a mistake,” I said. “If I’m right, they left a digital trail inside my house, or on our network, anyway.”
Chapter 25
I got to GW Medical Center early the following morning with my children’s howls ringing in my head. Special Agent Batra had taken every computer and phone in the house to Quantico. She’d promised to work as fast as she could, but it was like they’d lost their right hands when the phones were taken away.
I kind of felt the same way walking to Sampson’s room, and decided to buy a cheap phone afterward. I was happy to find John sitting up and drinking through a straw.
Billie hadn’t arrived yet, so I’d gotten to sit with him awhile, and brought him up to date on all that had occurred the prior day. Though his eyes tended to drift off me, he seemed to understand much of what I was saying.
“If anyone can find this guy, it’s Batra,” I said. “I’ve never seen anyone like her before.”
John’s eyes softened and he smiled. He tried to say something and couldn’t. You could see how frustrating it was.