“Yes, Detective Cassidy, justice. It’s all we live for. Literally. A life for four lives.”
Cassidy let the silence stretch. Frank was watching me. I took his uninjured hand, squeezed it lightly. He held on.
“Ms. Kelly knows the man’s name,” Bret said.
“She tell you that?”
“Not directly, no. But — just a moment—”
I could hear Cassidy shouting, though. “Stop that man! Stop him!”
“No, Detective Cassidy!” Bret said. “Tell your men to stay back! I don’t want the others to be hurt.”
“Hold on,” Cassidy said. We could hear Bredloe’s voice over a bullhorn, saying, “Officer, halt where you are. That’s an order! You are compromising negotiations and placing others’ lives in danger. Halt!”
“Are you sure it’s him?” Bret asked Samuel over the headset, turning on a television monitor. A street-level view of the area in front of the theater came on the screen. A man in a SWAT uniform was crossing the street with his hands up. Bret said, “I wish we could hear him talk.”
Just then the man shouted, “Bret! Samuel! I’m the one you want.”
“Who is that?” Frank said.
Over the headset Bret said, “Yes, just that one door.” He moved to the phone, then said, “Detective Cassidy! Use your bullhorn. Tell that man to enter by the center door only. No other door. And no other officers.”
“I can’t allow that, Bret. We don’t know that this man is the one you want. People often confess to crimes they didn’t commit, out of some mistaken sense of—”
“He’ll blow every one of us to hell and gone, sir, if you don’t do exactly as we say. Some of your men will die, too. Samuel and I don’t care about ourselves, but the Harrimans deserve better. Hurry, Detective Cassidy, he’s getting closer.”
But it was Bredloe’s voice that made the announcement, even as I heard Cassidy say, “Captain, don’t—”
“We’ll call back soon,” Bret said, hanging up. “Excuse me,” he said to us, and hurried up the stairs. He paused at the door and tossed down a key. “Just in case,” he said with a smile.
“Bret!” I called after him, but he paid no attention.
“Who is it?” Frank asked again.
“Nathan Cook,” I said, picking up the key. I took a guess and tried them on the manacles on Frank’s ankles. The locks opened.
“Cookie?” he said in disbelief, staring at the monitor, rubbing his ankles.
“Yes. Frank, I know he was your father’s friend, but I don’t trust him. I don’t know what he’s up to now, but it’s bound to be some trick.”
“You’re sure he’s the one?”
“Yes.”
Frank looked at the monitor, then back at me. “Let’s go,” he said, and shouted, “Bret, wait!” as he began to run up the stairs.
Bret entered the lobby just ahead of us, ignoring our repeated shouts.
When we burst through the doors Samuel was smiling, holding a gun on Nathan Cook, whose hands were held high.
Cook was also smiling, until he saw Frank. “Ah, Frank,” he said. “I don’t suppose you’ll ever forgive me — but I see you probably don’t even know what this is about.”
“I know,” Frank said quietly.
Until that moment, perhaps he hadn’t really believed that Nathan Cook was the man Hocus sought. But there was unmistakable fury in him now.
Cook raised a brow. “Yes, I guess you do.”
“It’s him all right,” Samuel said. “His name is Nathan Cook.”
“Are the doors rearmed?” Bret asked nervously.
Samuel nodded.
Bret moved to a phone near the box office. He picked it up. “Detective Cassidy? Nathan Cook has turned himself over to us. We’ve rearmed the doors. We’ll release Detective Harriman and Ms. Kelly to you just as soon as we have Mr. Cook safely in custody.”
“I can’t tell you how I’ve waited for this to be resolved,” Cook said.
“We waited first, remember?” Samuel said. “Powell got tired of waiting for you.”
“Yes, I’m sorry,” Cook said, which caused Samuel to laugh. He ignored the laughter and went on. “I didn’t mean to take so long. It was daylight when I found the turnout, and I had to wait for darkness, and then for traffic to die down. I never expected Powell to become so violent.”
Samuel laughed again.
“Drug dealing, Cookie?” Frank said. “My father would have strangled you with his bare hands.”
“It wasn’t serious dealing, Frank. I just wanted to make a point. The morons in Vice never should have
