James Grippando - Born to Run

“Yes,” she said, her voice even weaker.

“I can hardly hear you,” said Andie. “Theo, take the phone off speaker and get back on the line.”

He switched off the speaker and spoke, just the two of them. “It’s me.”

“You think she understands?”

“I do,” said Theo. “She really wants to help these hostages.”

“Okay. Hold on.”

Theo listened as she dialed up the three-way call. The next thing he heard was Demetri’s voice on the line.

“You better not be stalling, Henning.”

“I have good news. We have Sofia. Would you like to speak to her now?”

Theo could almost feel the release of tension on the line. The change in Demetri’s tone was a complete emotional turnaround.

“Yes,” he said. “Put amore mio on the line.”

“Agent Knight,” said Andie. “Give her the phone.”

“Sofia?” said Demetri.

He had her on speakerphone, leaving him free to hold his pistol in one hand and the dead security guard’s gun in the other. Jack could hear both ends of the conversation, and he was close enough to Demetri to get a sense of what he was feeling as well. The hot spotlights above the set were taking their toll. Jack was sweating, and Demetri was having an even harder time with the heat, the back of his shirt stuck to his body with perspiration. Demetri looked upward to the catwalk. Jack subtly followed his gaze. The Greek was clearly on alert to a possible SWAT maneuver, but he was determined to talk to Sofia even as he kept watch.

“Demetri,” she said, her voice quaking over the speaker on the news desk. “I want you to put down your guns and give up.”

“I can’t do that, love.”

“Please.”

“ No. And don’t ask me to do that again. There’s work to be done here.”

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

He paused, and even though it probably didn’t come across on television, Jack was close enough to see him swallow the lump in his throat. Whether she was trying to push his emotional buttons or not, Sofia clearly had a hold on him.

“It’s all I got left,” he said.

“That’s not true.”

“It is,” he said. “From the day you left, I had nothing. Now I got something. And I’m going to use it.”

“I have it, too, Demetri. The same power. But you don’t see me using it. It’s wrong. You’re destroying a man’s life.”

“They destroyed our life!”

“This isn’t going to fix that.”

“Those bastards-”

He stopped himself and looked up. Something had drawn Demetri’s attention up to the darkest shadows in the catwalk, and it wasn’t just the paranoia of a stressed-out gunman. Jack had heard the noise, too.

Demetri climbed up on the news desk and redirected one of the suspended spotlights toward the newsroom. The beam of light swept over the maze of office cubicles and up into the catwalk.

“Are you sending someone in, Henning?”

“No, Demetri. There’s nothing going on.”

“I heard something. You heard it, too, Swyteck. Don’t lie. You heard that noise, didn’t you?”

Jack could have lied, but he didn’t want to antagonize him. “Buildings can make all kinds of sounds,” said Jack.

“Not like that one. They’re up to something.” He climbed down from the news desk and stepped closer to the speakerphone.

“Tell them to back off, Henning. Back off right now.”

Sofia said, “Please, Demetri. Just give up.”

“Stay on the line, love. We’ll talk. Just as soon as I deal with this pest.”

Andie muted the landline to the newsroom and dialed up Sergeant Figueroa on her other phone.

“Please don’t tell me that MDPD has a sniper in the catwalk.”

“All right, I won’t tell you,” said Figueroa.

“Damn it, Manny. Stop working against me.”

“Cool your jets. He couldn’t get a shot. Too many obstructions. We pulled him.”

“Are you redeploying him?”

“Are you telling me not to?”

“I’m asking for a little interagency cooperation,” said Andie. “One more rattle from anywhere up in that catwalk and we are going to have one ticked-off gunman on our hands.”

“One more reason to have a sniper in position.”

“We’ve got it covered.”

“Your tactical team has a shoot-to-kill order?”

“I said we’ve got it covered.”

Demetri was still studying the catwalk, even as he spoke. “Sofia, this might not play out the way I want it to tonight. But it will all turn out for the best.”

He looked at Jack and said, “Tell her, Swyteck.”

Jack withdrew. “Tell her what?”

“Tell her what we did about the money that’s coming.”

Jack took a moment. Demetri was giving him the opportunity to speak, maybe his last chance to take control of the situation. Jack had to make it count.

Demetri walked over and put the gun to Jack’s head. “Tell her!”

“Okay, no problem,” said Jack. He was waiting for Demetri to lower the gun, but it remained fixed against the back of Jack’s head.

“Sofia,” he said, “this is Jack Swyteck.”

“I know. I can see you on the TV.”

Demetri nudged Jack’s head forward with the gun. “Stop stalling.”

“Right,” said Jack. “I’m a lawyer, so Demetri asked me to help him make a will.”

“What for?”

“Just like everyone else, he wants to make sure that he has control over where his possessions go after he dies.”

“Demetri, stop this,” said Sofia. “It’s scaring me.”

“Love, just listen to this. Go ahead, Swyteck.”

The gun at the back of his head made it tough for Jack to think clearly, but a second chance to talk his way out of this mess would probably never come. He had to go for it.

“Demetri and I got to talking about what’s important to him,” said Jack, laying on a little schmaltz. “He wanted everything to go to you.”

The Greek seemed pleased with the way Jack had characterized it.

“Did you hear that, love?”

“You see,” said Jack, keeping himself involved, “a married man doesn’t even need a will for everything to go to his wife. But you two were divorced, so it’s different. If Demetri didn’t have a will, it might go to nobody. Or it might go to another heir. Maybe even an heir he didn’t know about. Do you understand what I’m saying, Sofia?”

She didn’t answer, and her silence told Jack that he was on to something-something that had been percolating in the back of his mind ever since Sofia had confided in him about the terrible night in Cyprus that had changed everything for her and Demetri.

“Love, did you hear what he said?” said Demetri.

Jack said, “Of course, none of this surprised me-”

“Enough, Swyteck.”

“-after what you told me about Demetri.”

Jack’s words hung in the air. He’d planted the seed, and he waited. Demetri bit.

“What did she say about me?”

Success. Jack almost smiled to himself, but that simply wasn’t possible with a loaded gun pointed at his brain.

“Sofia, do you remember what you told me?” said Jack.

She didn’t answer immediately, which again told Jack that he was on the right track.

“Yes,” she said finally, her voice laden with reluctance.

“We talked about that night in Cyprus,” said Jack. “We talked about what happened after those men threw Demetri off the building and came back into the apartment.”

“Don’t go into that,” said Demetri.

“Do you know what happened?” Jack asked him.

“Of course I know,” said Demetri. “I told you.”

“Sofia,” said Jack. “Demetri thinks he knows what happened after he was thrown off the building. Does he?”