Along Came a Spider

The 2001 American psychological thriller directed by Lee Tamahori, with a screenplay by Marc Moss, is based on the novel of the same name by James Patterson. Serving as a sequel to the 1997 film "Kiss the Girls," it is the second installment in the Alex Cross series. After the tragic death of his partner during a failed operation, detective and psychologist Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) retires. However, he returns to investigation when Megan Rose (Mika Boorem), the daughter of a senator, is kidnapped from her private school. The abductor is computer science teacher Gary Soneji (Michael Wincott), who seeks notoriety akin to the "Crime of the Century"—the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's son. Cross teams up with Secret Service agent Jezzie Flannigan (Monica Potter) to solve the case. As the investigation unfolds, they discover that Megan's abduction is part of a larger scheme involving an attempt to kidnap the Russian president's son, Dimitri Starodubov. After thwarting this plan, Cross receives a ransom demand for $10 million in diamonds. He soon realizes that Soneji is not behind the extortion; the true masterminds are Flannigan and her accomplice Ben Devine. Cross tracks Flannigan to a remote farmhouse, where she has killed Devine and plans to eliminate Megan. In a critical moment, Cross rescues the girl and kills Flannigan, reuniting Megan with her parents.