Jerry. You should've been able to run away together and be happy."
"The fuck you care."
His voice was calmer, and she nodded at Vince. "I guess, well, I guess I've dreamed of having what you and Angela had. You know things weren't good for me and Roy. He never loved me the way I think you loved Angela."
"She was my goddamn life. If I'd taken that shot, we'd both still have a life. You saved the men who murdered her, but you didn't save her."
"I failed her. I failed you. You want to hurt me, I understand that, I understand why. But how does what you're doing now balance the scales?"
"They can't be balanced, you fucking cunt. Maybe I'll shoot this asshole Arnie between the eyes. Does that balance the scales for you?"
She picked up the water now, but only to rub the cold bottle over her forehead. "Killing him isn't going to hurt me, Jerry."
"I want you to beg me not to, like you did with Roy. Hear that!
Hear that?" he shouted as someone screamed. "I've got my gun pressed dead center of his forehead. You beg me not to pull the trigger."
"Why would I, Jerry, after what he did to me? After I thought about doing it myself if I could."
"You know what they'll say about you if I do it?"
"Yeah. They'll say maybe I didn't try hard enough, maybe I didn't put myself into this because, underneath, I wanted him to die. I wanted him to die hard. But you know, Jerry, I don't care what they say about me. You pull the trigger, he's gone, and it changes the situation out here. It takes a lot of the weight off me. You know how it works. You do a hostage, Tactical steps it up. So you want to pull the trigger? I don't lose a thing. Is that what you want, Jerry?"
"Wait and see."
He cut off the line, and Phoebe dropped her head in her hands. "Jesus, Lieutenant," Vince managed. "You gave him permission to kill a hostage."
"Which is why he won't." Please God, don't let her be wrong. "If I'd asked him, begged him, not to do it, he'd have done it. And he'd strap the rig on one of the others."
She pushed to her feet when Sergeant Meeks burst in. "You think I didn't hear that? You think I didn't hear you invite him to kill my boy?" He lunged at her. It took Sykes, Vince and Duncan to put him down, hold him down while he cursed at her. "My boy's in there because of you. If he dies it's because of you."
"He's not in there because of me, but if he dies, yes, that's mine. Get him out. Get him out of here."
"When are you going to talk to him about the hostages?" Phin grabbed her arm. "Why don't you give him something, give him something so he'll let the women go."
"I can't-"
"My wife, my mother are in there. For God's sake, for God's sake, you need to get them the hell out."
"I'm going to get them out." She couldn't allow herself to see them-Ma Bee's dark, steady eyes, Loo's slow, sultry smile. "I'm going to call him back, and we're going to work at this until everyone's out. Phin, you have to stay calm. If you can't, I'll have to have you removed. I'm sorry." She looked from him to Duncan now. "I'm sorry."
"You'll get them out." Duncan reached out so their fingertips touched. "You'll get them out. Phin, your sister's out there now, and the rest of your family's coming. You should go out, be with them."
"I have to know what's happening." Crumbling, Phin covered his face with his hands. "I have to know something."
"I'll come out and tell you," Duncan assured him, then turned to Phoebe.
"Yes, that's fine. Go out with your family, Phin, let them know your mother and Loo aren't hurt. We'll keep you informed." She signaled to an officer. "Escort Mr. Hector to his family. If he needs to come back in, he should be escorted back in. All right?" She rubbed her hands up and down Phin's arms, felt the muscles quivering. "You go, help your family. I'm going to help your mother and Loo."
"I can't lose them, Phoebe."
"We won't lose them. Go on now."
"How am I supposed to feel?" Duncan said as Phin went out. "They were meeting me in there."
"He's responsible. And I'm responsible for getting them out." And that's what he'd wanted all along, she knew. Everything else had been building to this.
Showdown.
"Can I get some coffee in here?" Phoebe called out as she rubbed at the tension at the back of her neck. "And more water? Duncan, I have to ask you not to tell Phin anything I don't clear you to tell him."
"I got that. What can I do to help?"
"Listen. You're good at listening." She looked up at the board Sykes had posted. "His emotions are all over the scale. That's typical for this first stage. He wants the negotiation, that's our advantage. He doesn't want to come out of it, so that's his. I'm not calling him back." She turned toward Vince. "He knows how to reach me, he knows how it works. Action, right? He likes to take action, make the moves?"
"Yeah."
"It gives him more of a sense of control, of authority, if he makes the next contact. Let's give him that. Let's wait."
"Got the credit card report," Liz strode up quickly. "Five-thousanddollar charge, Mark D, two weeks before the bank robbery. He made the minimum payments on it until he went south."
"Bought her a ring in there, that's what he did." Phoebe pushed through her notes. "Got the property list, the personal effects. She had diamond-yellow-gold band-ring on her person. White-gold diamondcrusted wedding band in her purse. Not on her finger. She was wearing
Walken's ring when she died. Bastard Brentine. He knew it. Maybe not before her death, but he damn well knew what had been going on when he got her effects. And he stonewalls us."
She scribbled, highlighted, circled. How could she use it? Should she? Time would tell.
"He thinks he knows me, but he doesn't. I know him. And you know him," she said to Vince. "A lot of the men out there with guns pointed at that building know him. He wants to work me, but we'll be working him. He won't allow himself to relate to any of the hostages. They have to remain meaningless to him so he can do what he means to do."
"What does he mean to do?" Duncan asked.
"Kill them all. Kill himself and all of them."
"Oh Jesus God."
"To strike at me, personally and professionally. How can I ever do this again if I fail to save those people? How can I live with it? That's what he thinks."
Pacing in front of the situation board, she stared at the phone, willing it to ring. "The press and public opinion will rip me to pieces. That's what he knows. The connection between him and me will be made known, and the bank incident will be picked over again. I'll be disgraced, and useless as a negotiator, and I'll pay, finally pay, for causing his lover's death. That's what he thinks. And he'll die, in a spectacular and symbolic way. I'll have killed him, just like I killed her. That's what he wants most of all."
She turned to look at the clock. "We're not going to give him what he wants."
"Offer him a trade. He knows about us. Offer to trade me for two of the women. For Ma and Loo. I'm a bigger win for him, and then-"
"He wouldn't take it. And neither I nor the commander could allow it, Duncan."
But he would give it, she thought. He would risk himself for love. "Duncan." She spoke softly, so he could hear her heart under the words. "I know what they mean to you. I know what you're feeling." And it was killing her.
She turned as the phone rang. "All right. Here we go. Hello, Jerry." Inside the bank, Ma patted the hand of the woman beside her. "Stop crying now."
"He's going to kill us. He's-"