Hot silence, then, “I wanted to see if the sucker still worked. It belonged to my granddad, and he always said his old Colt wouldn’t fail me.” He laughed, a manic laugh. “He was right.”
“Are you ready to talk to me again, let us resolve this situation so no one gets hurt?”
“You sound like one of those idiot shrinks at Red Onion, the brainless dicks. You want me to pour out my guts to you, keep me busy so you can get cops in here before I kill these cockroaches. Ain’t going to happen. I’m running this show.” He muttered to himself, then said, his voice calmer, “I’ve made up my mind. I want out of this place, it stinks like antiseptic. I want fifty thousand dollars and a helicopter here in thirty minutes or you’ll have three dead folk, none of them worth anything to me, but maybe something to you. Move it, bitch, or you’ll hear three gunshots, not one. Hey, sweet Jenny, they want to know you’re all right. Do you want to say hi to hubby?”
They heard a young woman’s fierce voice clearly over Eliza’s cell. “You’re crazy up in your head, you know that? My hubby will twist your skinny neck off and stuff your brains down your pants. That wall is thin, only a painted wallboard partition, what with us dividing up the one exam room into two, so he’ll hear you if you try anything with me.”
They heard him hiss out curses, fast and loud as a machine gun, but nothing else. No gunshots.
Savich grinned like a bandit. Thank you, Jenny.
“That’s my girl,” Eliza whispered to Collette. “Guts and grit.” She said calmly into the cell in her negotiator voice, “Gary, we can get the money, but you know it takes time to get a helicopter here, has to fly in from Andrews Air Force Base.”
“Don’t you lie to me.”
“No, Gary, I’m not lying. I need at least an hour to get the helicopter here.”
They heard him arguing with himself, then, “Forty minutes and that’s it. I’ll shoot these bozos or maybe stab young Jenny in her belly with one of the doctor’s scalpels here? Stick it in deep, then rip it out, you know? Let her watch her blood pour out through her fingers.
“I’m thinking I might take the boy cop with me, make sure none of his buddies lose it.” Duvall’s voice had gone from mocking and flat to colder than death.
Eliza said, her voice firm as a hanging judge, “No, you will not take Officer Janko with you. That’s non-negotiable. Look, Gary, I’ll call the authorities, see what we can do to speed them up. But let me make myself perfectly clear. If you kill any of the hostages, you won’t be leaving; you’ll be killed. You know that, don’t you?”
He hung up on her.
Eliza said, “He sounds high as a kite, but you can hear he’s getting desperate, and under it all, coldness and meanness. When he finds out there won’t be any helicopter, we’re going to have three dead hostages, three dead friends.”
Savich knew they’d reached critical mass. He said, “Eliza, when you dial up Duvall again, assure him the helicopter’s on its way. Remind him we’ll blow his head off if he kills any of the hostages.”
“But what—” Collette said.
Savich only shook his head. “Trust me. Eliza, do it.” She got a nod from Collette.
“I’m going to need a long rope.”
Marvin nodded and brought him one from the trunk of the Crown Vic.
Savich said, “Chief, please keep everyone here in place and see no one follows me, all right? Under no circumstances will you send the SWAT team or any of your people in after me. If Duvall makes himself visible, it’s important the SWAT team and your people don’t shoot him, unless there’s absolutely no choice. We need him to tell us who hired him to commit murder, and believe me, that’s not the end of it.” He smiled at Sherlock, whispered, “Here’s what I want you to do when I text you.”
They watched Dillon head toward the building, the coiled rope over his shoulder.
Collette said, “He saw something on the plans.” He shook his head. “Well, crap, a Fed hot dog. Take me, Lord, I’ve seen it all. Why the rope?”
Sherlock had an insane desire to laugh. Ruth said in a clear, certain voice, “Stick with this, Chief. Our boss is tougher than the old boots from your army days in the back of