Hostage

Someone was in the room.

His father's desk was a great oak monster, heavy and ancient and as big as a boat (his dad jokingly called it the Lexington, after the aircraft carrier). It sat on curvy legs that left a small gap between the desk and the floor. Thomas saw feet. He thought it was Mars, but he couldn't be sure.

The feet went to the window.

Thomas heard the shutters snap open. Light from outside poured into the room. The shutters snapped closed.

The feet stayed at the shutters. Thomas imagined he must be peeking through the cracks.

De

'What in hell's going on out there?'

It was Mars in the room. He stood at the shutters without moving.

'Goddamnit, Mars!'

The feet stepped away from the window, but Mars didn't leave. The feet turned toward the desk. Thomas tried to squeeze himself smaller. He hugged his legs so tight that his arms hurt.

The feet took a step toward the desk.

'Mars! What the fuck are they doin'?'

The feet walked to the end of the desk. Thomas tried to close his eyes; he tried to look away, but he couldn't. He watched the feet as if they were snakes.

'Mars!'

The feet turned and left. Thomas followed them with his ears, down the hall, away, gone.

Thomas scrambled from under the desk and went to the door. He peeked down the hall, then ran across to the den.

He heard Chief Talley talking over the public address system as he pushed into the wine cellar, climbed the racks, and found the safety of the crawl space.

Talley knew that Rooney and the others would be panicked. They would believe that Talley had launched a breach and De

'Is he still in the kitchen?'

Hobbs was peering through the night-vision scope.

'Yeah, him and the girl. He's trying to see us, but he can't see past the lights. The big one went down the hall. I don't see the brother.'

Talley keyed the portable P.A.

'We are not breaching the house, De

Martin and Hicks hustled toward him through the shadows. Martin wasn't happy.

'What face-to-face? We didn't discuss that.'

'I'm going out.'

Talley dropped the P.A. and heaved himself over the wall before she could say anything more. He wanted to draw Rooney's attention away from the front of the house even if it meant offering himself up to do it.

Martin's voice followed him over the wall.

'Damnit, Talley, all you'll do is make yourself a target.'

Talley walked to the edge of the pool and raised his voice.

'I'm unarmed. I'm not going to strip for you this time, so take my word for it. I'm unarmed, and I'm coming alone.'

Talley held his hands out from his sides, open palms forward, and walked toward the house along the side of the pool. A dark raft floated effortlessly on the water. A towel was spread on the deck, the radio that had played earlier silent, its batteries dead.

He reached the end of the pool nearest the house and stopped. A flashlight lay on the kitchen floor, its beam cutting a white slash that bounced off the counters. Talley raised his hands higher. Again, the bright lights behind him cast his shadow toward the house. It looked like a crucifix.

'Come out, De

De

'You're fucking crazy!'

'No, De

Talley walked closer.

'No one's going to hurt you. Not unless you hurt those kids.'

Talley stopped outside the French doors. He could see De

'I'm standing here, De

Talley heard them talking, De

De

'No one here but me, De

De

Talley smiled, but Rooney didn't smile back.

'How ya doin', De

'Had better days.'

'This has been a long one, I'll hand you that.'

De

'You got a sniper out there, go

'If you tried to grab me, they probably would. Otherwise, no. We could have shot you from the wall if we wanted to do that.'

De

'Can I come out there, closer to you?'

'Sure. It's all right.'

De

'Good to be outside.'

'I guess.'

Talley said, 'I'm going to lower my arms, okay?'

'Sure.'

Talley could see Kevin still with the girl in the kitchen and Krupchek still in the hall. The boy was inside somewhere, getting the disks. Talley hoped it wouldn't take long.

Talley said, 'We've been at this a long time now. What are you waiting for?'

'Would you be in a hurry to go to prison for the rest of your life?'

'I'd be doing everything I can to get the best deal possible. I'd let these people go, I'd cooperate, I'd let a lawyer do my talking. I'd be smart enough to realize that I'm surrounded by police officers and I'm not getting out of here except through their good graces.'

'I want that helicopter.'

Talley shook his head.

'It's what I said before, where's it going to land? I can't give you a helicopter. That's not going to happen.'

'Then a car. I want a car to take me to Mexico, a car and an escort and a free pass south of the border.'

'We've been through that.'

Rooney seemed to be working himself up to something. He waved his arm in a flash of anger.

'Then what fuckin' good are you?'

'I'm trying to save your life.'

De

'Are you a rich man?'

Talley didn't answer. He didn't know where Rooney was taking this. He had learned to let them get wherever they were going on their own.

Rooney patted his pocket.

'Can I reach in here, show you something?'

Talley nodded.

Rooney stepped closer. Talley couldn't make out what Rooney took from his pocket at first, but then he saw that it was money. Rooney seemed to be trying to shield it so that only Talley could see.

'That's fifty one-hundred-dollar bills, Chief. Five thousand dollars. I got a whole suitcase of this stuff in the house.'