Facing a particularly vicious breed of killer in his latest investigation, Alex Cross finds his family targeted by the vengeful Mastermind, a situation that is complicated by tension in his relationship with his girlfriend Christine and his daughter Jannie's unexplained seizures. Simultaneous.

Roses Are Red

By James Patterson

Warner Adult

Copyright © 2000 James Patterson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9781570429224

Chapter One

Brianne Parker didn't look like a bank robber or a murderer - herpleasantly plump baby face fooled everyone. But she knew that shewas ready to kill if she had to this morning. She would find out forsure at ten minutes past eight.

The twenty-four-year-old woman wore khakis, a powder blue Universityof Maryland windbreaker, and scuffed white Nike sneakers. None ofthe early-morning commuters noticed her as she walked from herdented white Acura to a thick stand of evergreen trees, where shehid.

She was outside the Citibank in Silver Spring, Maryland, just beforeeight. The branch was scheduled to open in ninety seconds. She knewfrom her talks with the Mastermind that it was a freestanding bankwith two drive-through lanes. It was surrounded by what he calledbig-box stores: Target, PETsMART, Home Depot, Circuit City.

At eight o'clock on the dot, Brianne approached the bank from herhiding place in the evergreens under a colorful billboardobnoxiously offering McDonald's breakfast to the public. From thatangle she couldn't be seen by the female teller who was just openingthe glass front door and had momentarily stepped outside.

A few strides from the teller, she slipped on a rubbery PresidentClinton mask, one of the most popular masks in America and probablythe one hardest to trace. She knew the bank teller's name, and shespoke it clearly as she pulled out her gun and pressed it againstthe small of the woman's back.

"Inside, Ms. Jeanne Galetta. Then turn around and lock the frontdoor again. We're going to see your boss, Mrs. Buccieri."

Her short speech at the entrance to the bank was scripted, word forword, even the pauses. The Mastermind said it was crucial that abank robbery proceed in a specific order, almost by rote.

"I don't want to kill you, Jeanne. But I will if you don't doeverything 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 vigorouslythat her wire-rimmed glasses nearly fell off. "Yes, I do. Pleasedon't hurt me," she gasped. She was in her late twenties, attractivein a suburban sort of way, but her blue polyester pantsuit andsensible stack-heeled shoes made her look older.

"The manager's office. Now, Ms. Jeanne. If I'm not out of here ineight minutes, you will die. I'm serious. If I'm not out of here ineight minutes, you and Mrs. Buccieri die. Don't think I won't do itbecause I'm a woman. I will shoot you both like dogs."

Continues...

Excerpted from Roses Are Redby James Patterson Copyright © 2000 by James Patterson. Excerpted by permission.
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