Takeover - Lisa Black [95]
“See, that’s just it. As I believe Bobby and I have made clear, we are not going to trust cops, ever, ever, ever. You’re not going to negotiate us around that, Chris, do you understand? You fail. Period.”
Cavanaugh’s voice grew hard. The word “fail” had a rejuvenating effect on him. “I don’t get this, Lucas. You told me who you were, you told me what you wanted, you sent Jessica upstairs, and we let her come back. We worked together on the money shipment. Now we get to the most critical part of the day and you won’t tell me what you want?”
“I don’t believe you care what I want.”
“If you try to leave with hostages, they’ll kill you. You’ll be giving them no choice. I know you’re intelligent enough to see that.”
“I’m intelligent enough to know that your goals and my goals have never coincided. Y’all gave me the money figuring you’d get it back after we die, and we’ll die if we put these guns down. I know it. Bobby knows it. So stop wasting your breath and my time.”
He hung up.
Cavanaugh dropped the receiver into place with a clatter. “I just don’t get this guy.” He sounded almost plaintive for a moment.
“What’s he going to do?” Patrick asked, feeling worse than Cavanaugh sounded. “Keeping hostages with him is the only way to get to that car. He has no choice.”
“I know that. What makes it worse is that Theresa is an obvious choice for him. He thinks we’ll place more value on her life than on a stranger’s.”
Jason returned from the direction of the command center. “Laura’s plane finally landed. She’ll be here in ten.”
“Fifteen,” Cavanaugh said, dialing the phone. “She exaggerates. I need to stall them, to let SRT figure out how to get a hook on that car. And we’ve only got one card to play…. Lucas? May I speak to Bobby, please? There’s a loose end I’d like to tie up.”
Eric Moyers, Patrick thought.
“Is this about his brother again?”
“I want to show you I can be trusted, that I have told you the truth every minute of this day, and that if I tell you you won’t be harmed, you won’t be. I can prove I didn’t lie about Bobby’s brother. Will you at least give me the chance to do that?”
“No.”
“What about Bobby? It’s his brother, the last of his family. Shouldn’t he be the one to make this decision?”
The phone gave a snapping sound, which led to a low hum. Lucas had switched to speakerphone; they heard his retreating voice as he changed places with his partner. “He wants to talk to you about your brother. I don’t know, just talk to him. I want to check out the street anyway.”
Patrick said, “I thought you never—”
Cavanaugh covered the receiver while he answered him. “Use the family? This is different. I don’t expect the sight of his next of kin to fill Bobby with remorse. But I do expect it to convince him that he has based all his actions today on erroneous assumptions. If one crumbles, they all may, including his assumption that getting away scot-free is a possibility.”
Patrick dropped it. “If Lucas doesn’t want to talk to us, why does he keep picking up the phone?”
“Because deep down he wants me to find a solution for him, to find a way to make this come out all right. He’s a little boy who started out to steal an apple and instead set fire to the orchard, and now he’s scared. Most of these guys are like that.”
Patrick wasn’t so sure. Lucas seemed like the least frightened guy on East Sixth, and Cavanaugh needed a reason to keep the reins from the imminent Laura. She would only be secondary anyway—but maybe that was still too much for Cavanaugh. It didn’t matter, really. They had to do something. Maybe this would drive a wedge between the two robbers.
The monitor showed Bobby’s approach. In the background Theresa seemed to be conversing with Jessica Ludlow. Be careful, Patrick silently warned her. She should stop trying to investigate and keep her head down.
The other half of the criminal team spoke into the phone. “What?”
“Family seems to be the most important thing to you,” Cavanaugh told him. “Is connecting