Takeover - Lisa Black [99]
Unless he had never intended to escape.
“But Mark insisted. He insisted on a lot of things. He assumed because I was born in Georgia that I was some sort of barefoot high school dropout.” She measured out a spoonful of cherry-flavored cough syrup for Ethan to take and rubbed his back. “It’s okay, honey. We’ll see Daddy again soon. Do you want another fruit roll?”
“I can’t believe this. He’s going to come here!” Theresa exclaimed softly.
“Who?” Jessica Ludlow asked.
“The hostage negotiator. He’s going to walk Bobby’s brother over here. I can’t believe that.”
“Why not?”
“They’re not supposed to get involved—the negotiators, I mean. They always stay on the phone. He’s not supposed to put anyone at risk, even himself, and definitely not a civilian like Bobby’s brother.” According to his book’s table of contents, Cavanaugh had devoted an entire chapter to the topic of acceptable risk. Had he become desperate for a solution? Or did he know something she didn’t, such as when the explosives were due to go off—and that the answer was soon.
The younger woman pulled her child closer, letting him smear her sleeve with his thin sheet of strawberry gel. “Is something bad going to happen?”
Theresa tried to sound more positive for the girl’s sake. “No, it will work. Cavanaugh must believe it can save us or he wouldn’t do it.” The man had his record to think about.
“They’re going to give up?” Jessica asked.
“Only Bobby. Lucas isn’t the type to give up.” But he was the type to cut his losses. Perhaps he realized that he couldn’t fight Bobby and the cops both and so gave in to his partner’s wishes. “I wonder what they’ll do about the car.”
“What about it?”
“It’s Bobby’s car, and he made a pretty big deal about it. But Lucas will need it to escape.” She also wondered what they would do about the explosives.
“What did you say, Theresa?” Lucas’s voice cut through the air like a deadly missile. “I don’t like being discussed behind my back.”
“You said you’d release four people when Bobby leaves. Let Jessica and the baby be among them.”
“What about me?” Missy asked. “I have a baby, too.”
Lucas stood in front of Theresa, giving her the considering look she had learned to recognize. “Interesting, Theresa. You don’t ask for yourself, only for someone else. Very altruistic.”
Brad said, “What is this, women and children first? What kind of last-millennium shit is that?”
Lucas pivoted so that the barrel of the automatic rifle pointed at Brad. “You’re not much of a gentleman, are you, Brad?”
“Why does a kid have more of a right to life than an adult? Or some bitch more than me?”
How do you decide who lives and who dies? Had Cavanaugh decided? Had his answer prompted this new strategy?
“Let me go.” Brad would not give up, and, Theresa admitted to herself, why should he? “Just. Let. Me. Go.”
Lucas raised his hand. “How many people think I should ship Brad out of here if only so we won’t have to listen to him whine anymore?”
No one moved. The other people in the lobby had been through too much that day to joke about anything.
“Then listen up. You’re all staying. I’m going to get rid of the three goons tied to the teller cages over there, bless their little hearts.” He gestured toward the three security guards. “They’re going to suffocate if they can’t lower their arms soon anyway. And Theresa.”
She started. “Why me?”
“I have my reasons. You can thank me later.” He reached down and, with a grip like a screw clamp, pulled her to her feet in one motion. “But I need your help on something first.”
Brad continued to protest. “Come on!”
“Stop whining, Brad. And don’t nobody think that you can use this as a diversion. You move out of line, you get shot.”
Theresa couldn’t guess Lucas’s reasoning. He seemed to want to remove all law-enforcement personnel from the room. Did he think they—three trussed-up security guards and a science nerd—could overpower him, once left without Bobby?