confirmed that she had been summoned from an off-duty location. The photographs in the newspaper had presented the mayor’s daughter as quite an attractive woman, and Jack could now attest to the fact that the camera hadn’t lied.
Paulo asked, “How certain are we that Falcon has taken a hostage?”
“Very,” said Jack. “His name’s Theo Knight. He was riding with me when Falcon hijacked our car. The phone call came on Theo’s cell phone. Could be a woman in there, too.”
“I need more details,” said Paulo. “Who can bring me up to speed?”
Chavez gave him the rundown on police response thus far. Jack filled in everything from the carjacking to the call on Theo’s phone. Finally, they replayed the tape recording of Jack’s conversation with Falcon. For Jack, it was only a little less stressful the second time around. He was already starting to second-guess the things he’d said, and the way he’d said them, with Theo’s life in the balance.
Just as the tape finished, a helicopter cruised by so low that it stirred the cold night air around them. “Is that one of ours?” asked Paulo.
“Media,” said Chavez.
“We need them to back off.”
“No shit,” said Chavez.
Paulo looked up to the sky, which struck Jack as curious. He seemed to be responding to the sound and the wind. Paulo said, “Are you sure the telephone call came by cell?”
“Positive. Theo’s number came up on my display.”
“The crash may have taken out the phone lines. Chavez, you’ll need to check with the phone company. If there’s still phone ser vice to the motel, block out all calls except those coming from our communications vehicle. We don’t need him talking to some overactive journalist. By the way, has anyone contacted Building and Zoning yet?”
“Not yet,” said Chavez.
“We’ll want blueprints of the building. The more detailed, the better. Bearing walls versus nonbearing walls, crawl space, duct work, attic clearance. Have you located the water main?”
“We’re working on it,” said Chavez.
“Good. We may want to turn that off at some point. The same goes for electrical.”
“Any moron can see-” Chavez stopped himself, but he didn’t apologize for the slip. “The electricity is already out, at least in the room they’re in. The crash seems to have taken care of that.”
“Let’s not assume anything,” said Paulo. “I don’t want Falcon watching us on television, especially with these media choppers revealing our positions. So let’s get on it and cut the power as soon as possible. Is anyone else still inside the motel?”
Chavez said, “We went door-to-door as much as we could and evacuated the guests. Seems to be plenty of vacancy. We’ve accounted for sixteen guests. Some were already out on the street. They ran like hell when the car crashed into the building. I’m sure it must have sounded like a bomb going off.”
Paulo asked, “Was there anyone inside the motel room that Mr. Swyteck’s car crashed into?”
Jack felt a sudden chill. With all the commotion, he hadn’t yet stopped to consider the possibility of another victim crushed beneath his vehicle.
“We don’t know yet,” said Chavez.
“Is there a hotel manager or front-desk clerk we can ask?”
“Haven’t found him yet. It was pandemonium out here until traffic control cleaned things up.”
“Is there a guest registry in the front office?”
“Yeah, but about half of the guests we’ve talked to so far aren’t even listed on it. Some of these rooms seem to rent by the hour, if you know what I mean.”
Malloy interrupted, flashing an annoyed expression. “Excuse me, Sergeant Paulo. But exactly what is your role here?”
Alicia answered, “He has a history of negotiations with Falcon, going back almost two years. He’s here at the request of Chief Renfro.”
“You mean he’s going to be the lead negotiator?” said Malloy.
Paulo said, “I’m not trying to sound like a jerk, but would everyone please stop talking about me as if I weren’t here? I’m blind, not invisible.”
“Sorry,” said Alicia.
“To answer your question: No, I’m not going to be lead negotiator. I’ve agreed to get a dialogue started. But once that’s done, I’m out. You guys can take it from there.”
Jack said, “Sorry, but that won’t work. You heard the tape of the phone call. The only person Falcon wants to talk to is me, and he told me to talk to Vince Paulo if I needed help figuring out what he wants.”
Malloy said, “Let’s get something straight right now. A lawyer is not going to be our lead negotiator.”
“Then it has to be me and Paulo.”
An uneasy silence came over the group. It was impossible for Jack to read Paulo’s expression, the eyes hidden as they were behind dark glasses. Finally, Paulo said, “Let’s take it one step at a time. First thing we have to deal with is the demand. Tell me more about the money he wants.”
“He has cash in a safe deposit box in Nassau. He thinks I took it, but I didn’t. I left all but enough to cover his bail right where I found it, back in the Bahamas.”
“How much money are we talking about?”
Jack hesitated. His criminal defense lawyer instincts were kicking in, but the bottom line was that if this lawyer-client relationship hadn’t died with the carjacking, then it definitely took a backseat to the gun Falcon was holding to Theo’s head. “I counted exactly two hundred thousand originally. His bail was ten thousand.”
The cops exchanged glances. Chavez said what they all were thinking: “How on earth does a homeless guy have that kind of money in an offshore bank?”
“Probably not from washing windshields,” said Jack.
Paulo asked, “Any idea why he wants his money now?”
“No. He just wants it.”
“It doesn’t matter why,” said Malloy. “The director has made MDPD’s position on this crystal-clear. We don’t give money to hostage-takers. Period. You learn that in hostage negotiations one oh one.”
“All rules have exceptions,” said Paulo.
Jack said, “Are you saying that you want me to fly to the Bahamas and get the money?”
“How long would it take you?” asked Paulo.
“Are you serious?” said Jack.
“This isn’t going to end quickly, my friend. Last time out, Falcon tied up traffic on the Powell Bridge for almost four hours. It took close to six and a half hours the time before that. And those negotiations were without hostages. So how long would it take you?”
“Theo has a friend who operates a fleet of seaplanes out of Watson Island. If I told him that it was a matter of life and death, I’m sure he would have me there in an hour, if you can arrange clearance. But factor in the ground time, and that’s still four or five hours, round-trip. That’s assuming that I can find someone to let me into the bank in the middle of the night.”
“I have a contact at Interpol who can work with you on that. And the air clearance is no problem.”
Malloy chimed in again. “You can’t give this Falcon a suitcase full of cash.”
“What’s the downside?” said Paulo.
“It’s against the rules.”
“I’m still not hearing a downside,” said Paulo.
Jack was starting to like this guy.
Paulo said, “We have to build some goodwill. My last exchange with Falcon was when I talked him down from the lamppost on the Powell Bridge, only to have SWAT pounce all over him. I have to make up for that. If we can meet his first demand, we reestablish trust. Giving him cash-his own cash, mind you, not ours-isn’t like giving him ammunition.”
Malloy said, “If you give him money, then he’ll want ammo.”
Paulo said, “Last night, Falcon killed a woman and stuffed her in the trunk of an abandoned car that he calls home. So far tonight, he’s shot two police officers, one of them fatally. He has absolutely nothing to lose by killing
