minutes to either going back on the air or killing his first hostage. Shannon leaned closer, and slowly Jack worked his jaw deep into Shannon’s big hair. It was sticky with a television dosage of extra-hold hair spray, and it smelled of tangerines or some other citrus-scented shampoo. Jack kept one eye on Demetri, who was across the set and sitting by the phone with Andie on speaker. The volume was high enough for Jack to hear her voice.
“Keep talking to me, Demetri,” said Andie.
Jack felt the metal file against his chin. He tightened his jaw and tried to slide it out, but it didn’t budge.
“Can’t get it,” he whispered, and in that same instant, he wondered what he would do with it even if he got it. Cut himself loose-and then what? Strangle Demetri with his bare hands? Sneak up and slice open the jugular? Jab it into his eye orbit? Shove it into his ear? Those were bizarre thoughts for a lawyer to have, especially when up against a seasoned killer who had barely lost a step despite his age and injuries.
“Use your teeth,” Shannon whispered.
Jack tucked his jaw and tried to clench it, but Shannon had buried it so securely that not even a badger could have chewed it loose. Jack went for the lion-sized bite.
“Ow!” said Shannon, as the nail file fell to the floor behind her.
“Swyteck!” shouted Demetri.
Jack started, his heart pounding, and Shannon jerked away from him.
“How much time is left?” Demetri said.
Jack could breathe again. For a moment, he’d thought Demetri had noticed that they were plotting something. Jack checked the clock on the wall.
“Eight minutes,” said Jack.
“Liar,” said Demetri, and then he addressed Andie on the speakerphone. “By my count, you’re down to six minutes to get me back on the air, Henning.”
“We might need more time,” said Andie.
“You’re not gonna get it.”
“Saying things like that only makes it harder for me to keep the SWAT out of this.”
“That’s why you get paid the big bucks,” said Demetri.
Jack felt the nail file sticking him in the thumb. Shannon had it in her hands behind her back and passed it to him. Jack grasped it and worked it around in his fingers until the tip pointed to the knotted cord that bound his wrists.
Andie was still talking on the speakerphone. “You have to keep working with me, Demetri. It would help matters on this end if I could hear the hostages’ voices.”
“You just heard your boyfriend. We’re on speaker.”
“You must be too far away from him. I couldn’t pick up his voice. That makes everyone on this end of the line nervous. They wonder if the hostages are okay. Come on, Demetri. Work with me. I’m busting my butt over here trying to get you back on the air. The least you can do is let me hear their voices.”
Jack worked faster, jabbing the nail file at the knot.
Demetri said nothing, thinking. Then he rose and walked toward the hostages, the phone wire trailing behind him. Fully extended, it was plenty long to reach across the set.
Jack’s heart sank. He knew what Andie was doing, but her timing wasn’t good.
Demetri put the phone on the news desk and said, “I’ll give you one hostage a minute for the next three minutes. Ladies first. Say something, news lady.”
Shannon looked up, as if caught off guard.
“Come on,” said Demetri. “I know you bubbleheads like a script, but we don’t have one. Say whatever you want.”
“I love you, Jeff,” she said.
“Aww, isn’t that sweet?” said Demetri. “Will Jack Swyteck say the same to his girlfriend? Will Agent Henning think he’s just being a copycat if he does? Will she think he’s a schmuck if he doesn’t? We’ll find out in exactly sixty seconds. Damn, this is good television. Turn the fucking cameras on!”
Andie read the handwritten message from Guy Schwartz in front of her:
Andie worried that her supervisor might be right.
“Demetri, I know it’s late, and you must be getting tired. Maybe even a little punchy. But this is no time to lose focus. This isn’t a game. Don’t act as if it is.”
“Are you lecturing me?”
“I just want us to keep working together, Demetri.”
“You keep saying that. Is that the only line they teach you at hostage negotiation school? And stop saying my name over and over again, like we’re a couple of old drinking buddies. Do they teach you to do that, too?”
Andie checked the text message on the computer screen in front of her. It was from the SWAT unit leader.
Andie spoke into her headset. “Isn’t it about time to hear from another hostage, Demetri?”
“I told you to stop saying my name!”
“I need to hear from another hostage,” she said as she typed out a response to SWAT:
Demetri said, “I’m not giving you another hostage.”
“That’s not smart,” said Andie. “We had a deal.”
“No,” he said. “A deal is where I give you something, and you give me something in return. I already let you hear from the anchorwoman. Now get me back on the air.”
She checked another computer message, this time from the technical unit, which was working to restore the
“Demetri, I need more time to get you back on the air,” said Andie.
“You’ve got four minutes, by my clock.”
“Give me ten, and I’ll send in food.”
“Not hungry.”
“You must be.”
“I said
“Demetri, be reasonable.”
“Three minutes and counting down,” he said.
Another message from SWAT:
“False deadlines are a bad idea, Demetri.”
“This one isn’t false. I’m putting the gun to your boyfriend’s pretty head right now.”
That made her throat tighten. A SWAT breach now would be a disaster, but she put that out of her head and forced herself to negotiate.
“Deal with me, Demetri.”
“Make me another offer,” he said.
“I won’t bid against myself. Take the food, give me ten minutes.”
“You need to do better than food.”
“How much better?”
“I want to talk to the president.”
“What?”
SWAT messaged her again:
Demetri said, “I saw Air Force One on TV. I know he’s at the airport. I want to talk to him.”
“That’s not going to happen,” she said.
“Tic-toc,” said Demetri.
