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Her eyes sparkled. She knew she had me. ‘‘I get to go, then?’’

I grinned. ‘‘And I thought this was my idea.’’

We offered both her and Phil ballistic vests, but they both declined. As much, I think, from a little distrust that we might have bugged them, somehow. Oh, well. They would have been ungodly hot anyway. I asked Al about that, just in case, and he said that he thought as long as they had refused, we had no liability. Right. The tension was building just a little bit, in them as well as us. Phil Rumsford was constantly squeezing the bulb of a small brush he’d used to clean his lens for the tenth time. ‘‘Whisssh, whisssh . . .’’

It was getting hotter, as we waited for Roger to confirm permission for the news team to enter. The midafternoon sun was very intense. Everybody was sweating. Roger came over from the communications tent.

‘‘Uh, we have a little problem . . .’’

Both Nancy and Phil seemed to deflate a bit.

‘‘What?’’ I asked.

‘‘He only wants one person in. Doesn’t feel safe watching two.’’

‘‘What? That’s bullshit!’’ said Al. I agreed.

‘‘That’s what he says.’’ Roger shrugged. He looked pretty harried, and I knew how hot it was in the communications tent. He had to be pretty good not to just hang up on Herman.

I looked at Phil and Nancy. ‘‘If that’s what he wants, you still game?’’

They looked at each other. ‘‘Can we talk it over for a minute?’’ asked Nancy.

‘‘Sure.’’

While they walked about ten paces to our left, I looked at Hester and George. ‘‘What’s this tell us?’’

‘‘Either not too many in there or they’re really paranoid,’’ said George.

‘‘Both,’’ said Hester. ‘‘Or,’’ she added, ‘‘maybe they don’t have enough restraints for more than one hostage?’’

I think that had occurred to more than one of us.

‘‘Should we let one go in?’’ I asked no one in particular.

‘‘You think there was safety in numbers?’’ asked George.

‘‘Well, no, not that. But, I mean, do you think he’s got a sinister motive for this little request, or do you think he’s just playing mind games, trying to show control?’’

‘‘I’d vote for control,’’ said Hester.

‘‘I don’t know,’’ said Al. ‘‘But he sure can’t intend harm to them. They’re his voice to the outside world.’’

‘‘So?’’ I asked. ‘‘We let ’em go in?’’

‘‘I say we do,’’ said Hester, and got a withering glance from Al.

I thought it over. We’d already decided to send two. We needed Herman in a cooperative mood. We needed to get the son of a bitch talking, is what we needed. First to them, then to us.

‘‘I’ll let the press decide,’’ I said. ‘‘If they want to, they go. Otherwise, we try something else.’’

Nancy and Phil came back to the group.

‘‘We’ll still do it,’’ said Nancy.

‘‘With just one of you?’’ I asked.

‘‘Yes.’’ Phil smiled weakly. ‘‘Me. We need pics, and she’s not much good with a camera.’’ He looked at me. ‘‘My idea, but I’m no hero.’’

‘‘You’ll do until we can find one,’’ I said. ‘‘You still sure about not wearing a vest?’’

‘‘No vest. If he wanted to shoot somebody, it sure wouldn’t be a member of the press.’’

That was true. The dumbest thing he could do was irritate the press. Especially after inviting them in. And killing a reporter would have to be just about as irritating as you could get. Phil would be safe. Uncomfortable, sure. But safe. I was sure of that, but I could see that he was still nervous. I grinned at him. ‘‘Want us to tie a rope on you, so we can haul you out if he wants to keep you?’’

‘‘No, that’s okay.’’ He was busily adjusting his camera bag, checking his equipment for the tenth time.

‘‘Okay. Look, nobody knows this, but we have a TAC team in the outbuildings.’’

Rumsford’s head jerked upright.

‘‘That’s just what I don’t want you to do when you walk in,’’ I said. ‘‘Remember, anybody you see in the barn, or the shed, or around there,’’ I said, gesturing in an arc around the side of the farm, ‘‘is a TAC team guy. Don’t even look at them.’’

‘‘Right,’’ he said.

‘‘And, look, if he doesn’t want you in the house, don’t suggest it, all right?’’ I was serious. ‘‘Let him do the asking.’’

‘‘Yep,