Hostage

'Bristo is an incorporated township up by Canyon Country. They have their own police force, something like ten, fifteen guys. We're talking a pimple on LA's ass.'

Tuzee shook his head.

'That doesn't help us. If the locals can't handle this, they'll call in the Sheriffs or maybe even the Feds. That's all we need, the Feebs rolling in. Either way, there'll be more than a few hick cops to deal with.'

'That's true, Phil, but it will all be processed back through the Bristo PD office because it's their jurisdiction. They've got a chief of police up there. It's his crime scene even if he turns over control.'

So

'This chief, what's his name?'

Salvetti glanced at his notes.

'Talley. I saw him being interviewed.'

The television shifted its shot to show three cops hunkered behind a patrol car. One of them was pointing to the side of the house like he was giving orders. So

'Put our people on the scene. When the Feds and Sheriffs come in, I want to know who's ru

If they had experience working Organized Crime, he would have to be careful who he deployed to the area.

'It's already happening, So

Benza nodded.

'I want to know everything that comes out of that house. I want to know about the three turds who started this mess. That bastard Smith might start talking just to cut a break for himself or his family. He might let them in on everything.'

'He knows better than that.'

'I want to know it, Phil.'

'I'm on it. We'll know.'

So

'I want to know about this guy Talley. Find out everything there is to know about him, and every way we can hurt him. By the end of the day, I want to own him.'

'We'll own him, So

'We better.'

PART TWO. THE FLY

CHAPTER 6

Friday, 6:17 P.M.

Two of Talley's night-shift duty officers, Fred Cooper and Joycelyn Frost, rolled up in their personal cars. Cooper was breathless, as if he had run from his home in Lancaster, and Frost hadn't even taken the time to change into her uniform; she had strapped her vest and Sam Browne over a sleeveless cotton top and baggy shorts that showed off legs as pale as bread dough. They joined Campbell and Anders in the street.

Talley sat motionless in his car.

When Talley rolled to a barricade-hostage situation with SWAT, his crisis team had included a tactical team, a negotiating team, a traffic control team, a communications team, and the supervisors to coordinate their actions. The negotiating team alone included a team supervisor, an intelligence officer to gather facts and conduct interviews, a primary negotiator to deal with the subject, a secondary negotiator to assist the primary by taking notes and maintaining records, and a staff psychologist to evaluate the subject's personality and recommend negotiating techniques. Now Talley had only himself and a handful of untrained officers.

He closed his eyes.

Talley knew that he was in the begi

Sarah called him over his radio.

'Chief?'

'Go, Sarah.'

'Mikkelson and Dreyer got the security tape from the minimart. They said you can see these guys plain as a zit on your nose.'

'They inbound?'

'Five out. Maybe less.'

Talley felt himself relax as he thought about the tape; it was something concrete and focused. Seeing De

His four officers were staring at him. Waiting.

Talley climbed out of his car and walked up the street. Metzger had a look on her face, the expression saying it was about goddamned time.

They needed a house in which to view the tape. Talley set Metzger to that, then divided more tasks among the others: Someone had to find out if the Smiths had relatives in the area, and, if so, notify them; also, they had to locate Mrs. Smith in Florida. The Sheriffs would need a floor plan of the Smith house and information on any security systems that were involved; if none were available from the permit office, neighbors should sketch the layout from memory. The same neighbors would be questioned to learn if any of the Smiths required life-sustaining medications.

Talley began to grow comfortable with the familiarity of the job. It was something that he'd done before, and he had done it well until it killed him.

By the time Talley finished assigning the preliminary tasks, Mikkelson and Dreyer had arrived with the tape. He met them at a large Mediterrean home owned by a bright sturdy woman who originally hailed from Brazil. Mrs. Peña. Talley identified himself as the chief of police and thanked her for her cooperation. She led them to the television in a large family room, where she showed them how to work the VCR. Mikkelson loaded the videotape.

'We watched the tape at Kim's to make sure we had something. I left it cued up.'

'Did you pull up anything on Rooney from traffic or warrants?'

'Yes, sir.'

Dreyer opened his citation pad. Talley saw that notes had been scrawled across the face of a citation, probably while they were driving.

'De

'Any history of violent crimes?'

'Nothing in the record but what I said.'

'When we're done here, I want you to talk to their landlord. Guys like this are always behind on the rent or making too much noise, so the landlord has probably had to jam them. I want to know how they reacted. Find out if they threatened him or flashed a weapon or rolled over and made nice.'

Talley knew that a subject's past behavior was a good predictor of future behavior: People who had used violence and intimidation in the past could be expected to react with violence and threats in the future. That was how they dealt with stress.

'Find out from the landlord if they have jobs. If they work, ask their employers to come talk to me.'

'Got it.'

Mikkelson stepped away from the VCR.

'We're ready, Chief.'

'Let's see it.'

The screen flickered as the tape engaged. The bright color image of a daytime Spanish-language soap opera was replaced by the soundless black-and-white security picture of Junior Kim's minimart. The camera angle revealed that the camera was mounted above and to the right of the cash register, showing Junior Kim and a small portion of the clerk's area behind the counter. The counter angled up the left side of the frame, the first aisle angled along the right. The camera gave a partial view of the rest of the store. Small white numbers filled a time-count window in the lower right of the screen.