Hostage

Mars said, 'What's taking so long?'

'I'm ready.'

'Hang on.'

Mars went to the refrigerator and pulled it open. He took out a beer, twisted off the cap, and drank. He took a second bottle and tipped it toward her.

'You want one?'

'I don't drink beer.'

'Mommy won't know. You can do anything you want right now, and Mommy won't know.'

'I want to go back to my father.'

She followed him back to the office, where Mars gave the second beer to Dennis at the shutters. Jennifer joined Thomas at their father beside the desk. She scooped ice from the bowl into the washcloth, then made an ice pack and pressed it to her father's wound. She cringed when he moaned.

Thomas edged closer and spoke so softly that she could barely hear him.

'What's going to happen?'

Mars's voice cut across the room.

'Shut up!'

Mars was staring at her. Slowly, his gaze moved down along the lines of her body. She flushed again, forcing herself to concentrate on her father. She knew he was playing with her, just as he had before.

The phone rang.

Everyone in the room looked at the phone, but no one moved. The ringing grew louder and more insistent.

Dennis said, 'Jesus Christ!'

He stalked to the desk and scooped up the phone, but the ringing continued.

'What the fuck is this? Why won't it stop?'

Thomas said, 'It has more than one line. Press the blinking light.'

Dennis stabbed the blinking light, then slammed down the phone. The ringing stopped.

Dennis went back to the shutters, grumbling about rich people having more than one line.

The phone rang again.

'Fuck!'

The public address voice from the street echoed through the house.

'Answer the phone, Dennis Rooney. It's the police.'

TALLEY

Hunkered behind the front wheel of his radio car, Talley listened to the ringing in his ear as a helicopter appeared. It spiraled down for a closer look until Talley could see that it was from one of the Los Angeles television stations. They would have heard about Kim and Welch by monitoring police frequencies. If the helicopters were here, the vans and reporters would be close behind. Talley covered the phone and twisted around to see Jorgenson.

'Where are the Sheriffs?'

'Inbound, Chief.'

'Get back on the horn and request air cover. Tell them we have news choppers coming in.'

The phone inside the house was still ringing. Talley thought, Answer the phone, you sonofabitch.

'Tell Sarah to call the phone company. Get a list of all the lines to the house and have them blocked except through my cell number. I don't want these guys talking with anyone on the outside except for us.'

'Okay.'

Talley was still giving orders when the phone stopped ringing and a male voice answered.

'Hello?'

Talley waved Jorgenson quiet, then took a breath to center himself. He did not want his voice to reveal his fear.

'Is this Dennis Rooney?'

'Who are you!'

'My name is Jeff Talley. I'm with the Bristo Police Department, out here behind the car in front of you. Is this Dennis Rooney?'

Talley specifically did not identify himself as the chief of police. He wanted to appear to have a certain degree of power, but he also did not want to be seen as the final authority. The negotiator was always the man in the middle. If Rooney made demands, Talley wanted to be able to stall by telling him that he had to check with his boss. That way Talley remained the good guy. He could build a bond with Rooney through their mutual adversity.

'That cop was going for his gun. That Chinaman pulled a gun, too. No one wanted to shoot him. It was an accident.'

'Is this Dennis Rooney? I want to know with whom I'm speaking.'

'Yeah. I'm Rooney.'

Talley felt himself relaxing. Rooney wasn't a raving lunatic; he didn't start off by screaming that he was going to murder everyone in the house.

Talley made his voice firm, but relaxed.

'Well, Dennis, I need to know whether or not anyone in there needs a doctor. There was an awful lot of shooting.'

'We're cool.'

'We can send in a doctor, if you need it.'

'I said we're cool. Aren't you listening?'

Rooney's voice was strained and emotional. Talley expected that.

'Everyone out here is concerned about who's in there with you, Dennis, and how they're doing. Do you have some people in there with you?'

Rooney didn't answer. Talley could hear breathing, then a muffled sound as if Rooney had covered the phone. He would be thinking it through. Talley knew that thinking things through logically would be hard for Rooney during these next few minutes. Rooney would be pumping on adrenaline, frantic, and scared. Finally, he came back on the line.

'I got this family. That isn't kidnapping, is it? I mean, they were already here. We didn't grab'm and take'm someplace.'

Rooney's answer was a good sign; by showing concern for the future, he revealed that he did not want to die and feared the consequences of his actions.

'Can you identify them for me, Dennis?'

'You don't need to know that. I've told you enough.'

Talley let that slide. The Sheriff's negotiator could press for their names later.

'Okay, you're not going to tell me their names right now. I hear that. Will you at least tell me how they're doing?'

'They're fine.'

'How about your two friends? You don't have a man dying on you, do you?'

'They're fine.'

Talley had gotten Rooney to admit that all three gunmen were in the house. He muted the phone and turned to Jorgenson.

'All three subjects are in the house. Tell Larry to call off the house-to-house.'

'Rog.'

Jorgenson radioed his call as Talley returned to Rooney.

Overhead, a second helicopter joined the first and positioned itself in a hover. Another news crew.

Talley said, 'Okay, Dennis, I want to explain your situation.'

Rooney interupted him.

'You been asking me questions, now I've got a question. I didn't shoot that Chinaman. He pulled a gun and we were wrestling and his own gun went off. That Chinaman shot himself.'

'I understand, Dennis. There'll probably be a security camera. We'll be able to see what happened.'

'The gun just went off, is what I'm saying. It went off and we ran and that's what happened.'

'Okay.'

'So what I want to know is, that Chinaman, is he okay?'

'Mr. Kim didn't make it, Dennis. He died.'

Rooney didn't respond, but Talley knew that images of shooting his way out and possibly even of suicide would be kaleidoscoping through his head. Talley had to give him a vent for the pressure.

'I won't lie to you, Dennis; you guys are in trouble. But if what you said about the struggle is true, that could be a mitigating circumstance. Don't make things worse than they already are. We can still work our way out of this.'

Kim having pulled a gun would mitigate nothing. Under California law, any death occurring during the commission of a felony was murder, but Talley needed to give Rooney some measure of hope. It did.

Rooney said, 'What about the police officer? He went for his gun, too.'