Takeover - Lisa Black [48]
“You’re breaking my heart. I love the ‘innocent girl’ part. You never even met the bitch, so how would you know how innocent she was?”
“Had you met her? Before today?”
Everyone in the room fell silent, waiting for this answer.
“We had an acquaintance of about, all told, ten minutes. With some people that’s enough.”
“This changes things, Lucas. You see that, don’t you? My boss is going to be a lot less inclined to deal with you if thinks you’re going to shoot people no matter what, for no reason.”
“Tell him to imagine how many I’ll shoot when I do have a reason.”
“I don’t understand you, Lucas. You stay so calm through this whole thing, you take over the lobby without spilling a drop, and then, without motive, you shoot a woman.”
“You don’t need to understand me, Chris. I understand you.”
“Then understand this: Before we go any further, I need your word that you won’t hurt anyone without giving me a chance to work with you on it first. No more surprises. If you are considering hurting someone, tell me about it first, and we can work it out. Can I have your word on that?”
“No.”
“They usually go for that,” Jason said.
Theresa had thought her stomach couldn’t sink any lower, and now she discovered she’d been wrong. She also wished Frank or Don were there with her. Or Paul. Especially Paul.
“No one out here is going to give you what you want if they think you’re going to shoot people anyway. You’re not giving us any incentive to work with you, is what I’m saying.”
“I understand that perfectly, Chris. So here’s your incentive: I want that car parked and running, with the keys in it, outside the door in twenty minutes, or I shoot another hostage. How about that for incentive? I bet that will work.”
“You can have the car, Lucas. You just can’t take a hostage away in it, that’s all.”
“And how are we supposed to get to the car without your snipers taking us out? You worked that one out, Chris?”
“If you leave that bank, just the two of you, no one is going to shoot you. I can one hundred percent assure you of that.”
“We can get in the car and drive away? And how far are we going to get?”
“That, I can’t answer. I can only handle what’s happening on this block of East Sixth.”
“Not good enough,” Lucas told him, and hung up.
Cavanaugh thought for a moment, then redialed.
“Now what?” Theresa asked Jason.
“He’ll keep talking to him. As cool as Lucas plays it, he’s got to be uptight or he wouldn’t have shot that woman. He needs a deal, he needs a way out, but he’s going to play hard to get so that he can look like a hero to Bobby and himself. Chris will just keep talking and talking until he wears him down.”
“My ex-husband used to do that. Especially when he wanted to buy something expensive.”
Jason laughed, startling her. She hadn’t meant it to be funny.
Frank appeared next to a matching set of Vital Records of Concord, Massachusetts and beckoned to Jason and Theresa. They followed him out of earshot to the glass-walled map room at the north corner of the building. Ms. Elliott or one of her staff had set up a second television next to a glossy blue globe; Assistant Chief Viancourt watched Channel 15’s coverage of the secretary of state luncheon. He sat on an antiqued wooden bench with two other men in suits, like overgrown boys in a class they hadn’t wanted to take.
“I’ve got the brother here.” Frank kept his voice low. “Bobby’s brother.”
“Here?” Jason asked. “You brought him here?”
“He’s the closest thing we’ve got to insight into these two guys. He doesn’t know Lucas, never heard of him. But he knows his brother. Can’t stand him either, but that’s not my problem.”
“Yes it is,” the young man insisted. “If he hates Bobby, the feeling’s probably mutual.”
“He can still talk to him,” Theresa said. “If Lucas will even put him on the phone.”
Jason shook his head so hard his tie shifted. “No, you