Robert Crais - Hostage

Talley leaned closer, his voice raspy.

“He’s going to kill you, you sonofabitch.”

Klaus came back into the room.

“That’s enough.”

“Let me speak to him a few more minutes.”

“I said, That’s enough.’”

Talley posted the guards, then left. He drove again with the windows down, frustrated and angry. He punched at the steering wheel and shouted. He wanted to race back to the house; he didn’t want to go back to the house. He wanted to crash through doors and keep crashing until he found Amanda and Jane. It was impotent rage. He pulled the Nokia from his pocket and set it on the seat. He knew it would ring. He knew the Watchman would call. He had no other choice.

It rang.

Talley swerved to the shoulder of the road. He was in the middle of nowhere, on the stretch of highway between Canyon Country and Bristo, nothing but rocks and road and truckers trying to make it to Palmdale before dawn. Talley skidded to a stop and answered the call, the Watchman shouting before Talley spoke.

“You fucked up, you dumb fucking cop, you fucked up bad!”

Talley was shouting back, shouting over the Watchman’s words.

“No, YOU fucked up, you sonofabitch! Do you think I’m going to let you just murder someone?!”

“You wanna hear them scream? That it? You want a blowtorch on your daughter’s pretty face?!”

Talley punched the dash over and over, never felt the blows.

“I got YOU, you motherfucker! I got YOU! You touch them, you harm one fucking hair, and I’ll go in that house right fucking now, I’ll get those disks, and I’ll see what’s on them. You want them in the newspaper? You want the real FBI to have’m? I don’t think you want that, you COCKSUCKING-MOTHERFUCKER! And I’ve got Smith! Don’t you fucking forget that! I’ve got Smith!”

Talley’s hands shook with rage. It was the way he felt in the minutes after a SWAT entry when shots had been fired, his blood running so hot that only more blood could cool it.

When the Watchman spoke again, his voice was measured.

“I guess we each have something the other wants.”

Talley forced himself to be calm. He had bought himself time.

“Remember that. You fucking remember that.”

“All right. You have a guard on Smith. Fair enough. We’ll deal with Smith when we deal with Smith. Right now we want our property.”

“Not one fucking hair. One hair and you bastards are mine.”

“We’re off that, Talley. Move on. You still have to make sure that I get those disks. If I don’t, more than hair will be harmed.”

“So what’s next?”

“My people are good to go. You know who I mean?”

“The FBI.”

“Six in two vans. If there’s any fuckup, if you do anything other than what I tell you to do, you’ll get your family back in the mail.”

“I’m doing what I can, goddamnit. Tell me what you want.”

“Whatever they say they need, you give it to them. Whatever they want you to do, you do it. Remember, Talley, I get those disks, you get your family.”

“Jesus, man, we can’t have an assassination squad out here. The neighborhood is full of professional police officers. They’re not stupid.”

“I’m not stupid, either, Talley. My guys know how to walk the walk and talk the talk. They will behave in a professional manner. Use the Sheriffs for your perimeter, but have their tactical team stand down. My guy, the team leader, he’ll cover that with the Sheriffs. They were in the area on a joint training mission with the Customs Service and the U.S. Marshals. They called you, offered their assistance, and you accepted.”

Talley knew that Martin would never buy that. He saw the whole thing blowing up in his face.

“No one will believe that. Why would I accept with the Sheriffs already here?”

“Because the Feds told you that Walter Smith is part of their witness protection program.”

“Is he?”

“Don’t be stupid, Talley. My man will cover it with the Sheriffs when he gets there. He knows what to say so they’ll go along. Do you want to hear your wife again?”

“Yes.”

The line was empty for a time, then Talley heard voices, and then Jane screamed.

“Jane?!”

Talley clutched the phone with both hands. He shouted, forgetting where he was, what he was doing.

“JANE!”

The Watchman came back on the line.

“You heard her, Talley. Now take care of my people and get them set up.”

The line went dead. Talley was left shaking and sweating. He pressed star 69, trying to call back, but nothing happened. Jane was gone. The Watchman was gone. Talley shook so badly he felt drunk. He got himself together. He put away the phone. He drove back to the house.

Saturday, 12:03 A.M.

DENNIS

When Dennis went back into the house, Mars didn’t say anything, but Kevin started on him right away.

“What did he say? Did he offer a deal?”

Dennis felt dull; not desperate anymore, or even very frightened. He was confused. He didn’t understand how Talley could turn down so much money unless Talley didn’t believe him. Maybe Talley thought he was lying about how much money was in the house just as Talley had lied to him about the house belonging to mobsters.

“What happened , Dennis? Did he give us an ultimatum?”

The girl was on her hands and knees on the kitchen floor, staring at him.

“Is your old man in the mob?”

“What are you talking about?”

He could tell that the girl didn’t know a goddamned thing. It was all stupid. He was stupid just for asking.

“Mars. Get her out of here. Take her back to her room.”

Dennis went to the office for the vodka, then brought it to the den, drinking on the way. The lights came on as he dropped onto the thick leather couch.

Kevin stopped in the door.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?”

“I shouldn’t have told him about the money. Now he’s gonna keep it all for himself.”

“He said that?”

“I tried to cut him in. What the fuck, it’s a lot of cash, I thought we could buy our way out. See, that was my mistake. Once I told him how much money we had, he probably started thinking he could keep it for himself. Fuck that. If we don’t escape, I’m telling everybody. All three of us will tell them about the cash, so if Talley tries to keep it they’ll nail his ass.”

Dennis pulled deeper at the bottle, his mouth numb to it, angry at that bastard, Talley, for stealing his money.

“He’s gonna kill us, Kev. We’re fucked.”

“That’s crazy. He’s not going to kill us.”

Kevin was so fuckin’ stupid.

“He’s got to kill us, you idiot. He can’t let us tell people about the money. The only way he can keep it is if nobody knows about it. He’s probably gonna cap all three of us before they even read our rights. He’s probably plannin’ how to do it right now.”

Kevin came over and stood by the couch, crowding him.

“It’s over, Dennis. We have to give up.”

“Fuck it’s over! That money is mine!”

Dennis felt his anger building, and drank more of the vodka. That had always been Kevin’s role in life, to hold him back, dragging behind him like an anchor, keeping him down.

Kevin stepped closer.

“You’re going to get us all killed for that money. Talley’s not playing games. The cops are going to get tired of waiting for us to give up, then we’ll all be fuckin’ killed!”

Dennis raised the bottle, and shrugged.

“Then we might as well die rich.”

“No!”

Kevin slapped the bottle from his hand, and then Dennis was off the couch. Dennis felt out of himself, his head a red blur of rage and frustration. He shoved Kevin over the coffee table and followed him down. Kevin grunted with the impact and tried to cover his face, but Dennis held him with his left hand and punched with his right, hitting his brother again and again.