"So what's the plan? Have you got a plan?"
Galloway had brought Ronnie Davison's father up to speed. Checking his wristwatch, he'd added, "Fifty-seven minutes ago, he gave us an hour to persuade Mr. Dendy to leave them alone. They want his word that he won't interfere in their lives, that he won't give away their baby.
That-"
"Give away the baby?" Davison had looked at Dendy with patent dismay. "You threatened to give away their baby?" His disdainful expression spoke volumes. Shaking his head sadly, he'd turned back to Galloway. "What can I do?"
"Understand, Mr. Davison, that Ronnie will face criminal charges."
"I reckon he knows that."
"But the sooner he releases those hostages and surrenders, the better off he's going to be. So far no one's been hurt. Not seriously anyway. I'd like to keep it that way, for Ronnie's sake, as well as the others."
"He won't be hurt?"
"You have my word on that."
"Tell me what to do."
That conversation had resulted in Cole Davison placing a call to the store just as the deadline expired.
"Dad!" Ronnie exclaimed. "Where're you calling from?"
Tiel and Doc moved forward and listened carefully to what Ronnie was saying into the telephone. Judging by his reaction, he hadn't expected the call to be from his father.
From what Gully had told her earlier, Tiel knew the two were close. She imagined Ronnie was feeling a mix of shame and embarrassment, as any child experiences when caught red-handed doing something wrong by a parent he respects. Perhaps Mr. Davison could impress upon his son the trouble he was in and influence him to end the standoff.
"No, Dad, Sabra's doing okay. You know how I feel about her. I wouldn't've done anything to hurt her. Yeah, I know she should be in a hospital, but-"
"Tell him I'm not leaving you," Sabra called to him.
"It's not just me, Dad. Sabra says she won't go." As he listened, his eyes cut to Sabra and the baby. "She seems to be doing okay too. Ms. McCoy and Doc have been taking care of them. Yeah, I know it's serious."
The young man's features were taut with concentration.
Tiel looked around at her fellow hostages. All, including the Mexican men, who didn't even understand the language, were still, silent, and alert.
Doc felt her gaze when it moved to him. He raised his shoulders in a small shrug, then returned his attention to Ronnie, who was gripping the receiver so tightly his knuckles had turned white. His forehead was beaded with sweat. His fingers nervously flexed and contracted around the pistol grip.
"Mr. Galloway seems like a decent man to me too, Dad.
But it doesn't really matter what he says or guarantees. It's not the authorities we're running from. It's Mr. Dendy.
We aren't going to give up our baby and have strangers adopt her. Yes he would!" the boy stressed in a voice that cracked with emotion. "He would."
"They don't know him," Sabra said, her voice as ragged as Ronnie's.
"Dad, I love you," Ronnie said into the receiver. "And I'm sorry if I've made you ashamed of me. But I can't give up. Not until Mr. Dendy promises to let Sabra keep the baby."
Whatever Ronnie was hearing made him shake his head and smile at Sabra sadly. "Then there's something you, Mr. Dendy, the FBI, and everybody else ought to know, Dad. We-Sabra and I-made a pact before we left Fort Worth."
Tiel's chest constricted. "Oh, no."
"We don't want to live apart. I think you know what that means, Dad. If Mr. Dendy won't give up his control of our lives, our future, we don't want a future."
"Ah, Jesus." Doc dragged his hand down his face.
"Yes, Dad, I do," the boy insisted. He was looking at Sabra, who nodded her head solemnly. "We won't live without each other. You tell that to Mr. Dendy and Mr. Galloway.
If they don't let us leave and go our own way, nobody leaves here alive."
He hung up quickly. No one moved or said anything for several moments. Then, as though on cue, everyone began talking at once. Donna started to wail. Agent Cain kept up a litany of "You'll never get away with this." Vern professed his love for Gladys, while she begged Ronnie to think about his baby.
It was her statement that Ronnie addressed. "My dad will take Katherine and raise her like his own. He won't let Mr. Dendy get his hands on her."
"We decided all this ahead of time," Sabra said. "Last night."
"You can't mean it," Tiel said to her. "You can't."
"We do. It's the only way they'll understand how we feel about each other."
Tiel knelt down beside her. "Sabra, suicide isn't a viable way to make a point or win an argument. Think of your baby. She would never know you. Or Ronnie."
"She would never know us anyway. Not if my daddy had his way."
Tiel stood up and moved to stand beside Doc, who was making similarly urgent appeals to Ronnie. "To take that many lives, Sabra's life, you'd only be validating Dendy's low opinion of you. You've got to play smarter than him, Ronnie."
"No," the boy said stubbornly.
"Is that the legacy you want to leave your daughter?"
"We've thought about this for a long time," Ronnie said. "We gave Mr. Dendy an opportunity to accept us, and he refused. This is the only way out for us. I meant what I said. Sabra and I would rather die-"
"I don't think they're convinced."
"Huh?" He looked at Tiel, who had interrupted him.
Doc also turned to her, equally surprised by her statement.
"I bet they think you're bluffing."
An idea had first occurred to her earlier, when Ronnie was trying to convince Galloway that all the hostages were safe, including Agent Cain. She'd temporarily shelved the notion while assisting Sabra with the breast-feeding. Now it took another foothold in her mind and was expanding even as she vocalized it.
"For them to feel the impact of your decision, they need to understand how serious you are."
"I've told them," Ronnie said.
"But seeing is believing."
"What are you suggesting?" This from Doc.
"There's media out there. I'm sure a camera crew from my station is among them. Let's get a cameraman in here to record you." The boy was listening. She drove home her point. "We see how earnest you are," she said, indicating the others. "But it's impossible to convey your sincerity over the telephone. If Galloway could see you when you speak, see that Sabra is in total agreement, then I think he, your father, and Mr. Dendy would give more credence to what you're saying."
"You mean I'd be on TV?" Donna asked, sounding pleased at the prospect.
Ronnie's lower lip was getting brutalized by his upper teeth. "Sabra, what do you think?"
"I don't know," she said with uncertainty.
"Another thing," Tiel argued, "if Mr. Dendy could see his granddaughter, he might back down altogether. You claim to be more afraid of him than you are of the FBI."
"We are. He's a lot more ruthless."
"But he's a human being. Video pictures of Katherine would be powerfully persuasive. Up till now she's been just 'the baby,' a symbol of your rebellion against him. A video would make her real to him, cause him to rethink his position. And with your father and Agent Galloway working on him, I believe he would weaken and capitulate."
"Agent Galloway is not going to compromise on the Bureau's policy." Cain might just as well have saved his breath because no one heeded him or his comment.
"What do you say?" Tiel asked. "Isn't it worth a try? You don't want to kill us, Ronnie. And you don't want to kill Sabra and yourself, either. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem."