“See, that’s just it. As I believe Bobby and I have made clear, we are not going to trust cops, ever, ever, ever. You’re not going to negotiate us around that, Chris, do you understand? You fail. Period.”
Cavanaugh’s voice grew hard. The word “fail” had a rejuvenating effect on him. “I don’t get this, Lucas. You told me who you were, you told me what you wanted, you sent Jessica upstairs, and we let her come back. We worked together on the money shipment. Now we get to the most critical part of the day and you won’t tell me what you want?”
“I don’t believe you care what I want.”
“If you try to leave with hostages, they’ll kill you. You’ll be giving them no choice. I know you’re intelligent enough to see that.”
“I’m intelligent enough to know that your goals and my goals have never coincided. Y’all gave me the money figuring you’d get it back after we die, and we’ll die if we put these guns down. I know it. Bobby knows it. So stop wasting your breath and my time.”
He hung up.
Cavanaugh dropped the receiver into place with a clatter. “I just don’t get this guy.” He sounded almost plaintive for a moment.
“What’s he going to do?” Patrick asked, feeling worse than Cavanaugh sounded. “Keeping hostages with him is the only way to get to that car. He has no choice.”
“I know that. What makes it worse is that Theresa is an obvious choice for him. He thinks we’ll place more value on her life than on a stranger’s.”
Jason returned from the direction of the command center. “Lau-ra’s plane finally landed. She’ll be here in ten.”
“Fifteen,” Cavanaugh said, dialing the phone. “She exaggerates. I need to stall them, to let SRT figure out how to get a hook on that car. And we’ve only got one card to play… Lucas? May I speak to Bobby, please? There’s a loose end I’d like to tie up.”
Eric Moyers, Patrick thought.
“Is this about his brother again?”
“I want to show you I can be trusted, that I have told you the truth every minute of this day, and that if I tell you you won’t be harmed, you won’t be. I can prove I didn’t lie about Bobby’s brother. Will you at least give me the chance to do that?”
“No.”
“What about Bobby? It’s his brother, the last of his family. Shouldn’t he be the one to make this decision?”
The phone gave a snapping sound, which led to a low hum. Lucas had switched to speakerphone; they heard his retreating voice as he changed places with his partner. “He wants to talk to you about your brother. I don’t know, just talk to him. I want to check out the street anyway.”
Patrick said, “I thought you never-”
Cavanaugh covered the receiver while he answered him. “Use the family? This is different. I don’t expect the sight of his next of kin to fill Bobby with remorse. But I do expect it to convince him that he has based all his actions today on erroneous assumptions. If one crumbles, they all may, including his assumption that getting away scot-free is a possibility.”
Patrick dropped it. “If Lucas doesn’t want to talk to us, why does he keep picking up the phone?”
“Because deep down he wants me to find a solution for him, to find a way to make this come out all right. He’s a little boy who started out to steal an apple and instead set fire to the orchard, and now he’s scared. Most of these guys are like that.”
Patrick wasn’t so sure. Lucas seemed like the least frightened guy on East Sixth, and Cavanaugh needed a reason to keep the reins from the imminent Laura. She would only be secondary anyway-but maybe that was still too much for Cavanaugh. It didn’t matter, really. They had to do something. Maybe this would drive a wedge between the two robbers.
The monitor showed Bobby’s approach. In the background Theresa seemed to be conversing with Jessica Ludlow. Be careful, Patrick silently warned her. She should stop trying to investigate and keep her head down.
The other half of the criminal team spoke into the phone. “What?”
“Family seems to be the most important thing to you,” Cavanaugh told him. “Is connecting with the last member of your family more important than robbing a bank?”
“I don’t get you.”
“I’m saying if I can produce your brother, not just on the phone but let you see him, would you put down your weapon and end this day peacefully?”
“If you can bring the dead back to life, Cavanaugh, I’ll do anything you say.”
“I’m serious, Bobby. This is a real deal we’re making here. I can only hold up my end if I can trust you to hold up yours.”
“There’s just one problem,” Bobby said. “I know you’re lying.”
“I’ll bring him down, and we’ll stand in the doorway, across the street at the library building.”
Bobby’s derisive snort exploded over the wires. “I sure hope this guy you’ve got looks more like my brother than he sounds, or you’ll have to stand in the next county to convince me.”
Cavanaugh paused, his finger off the “talk” button.
“You’re not going to have us walk Eric Moyers across the street?” Jason whispered. “That’s against the rules.”
“We’re not going to hand him over, just let his brother see him. We can break Bobby, and we have to… Okay, Bobby, we can make this work. I can let you converse with your brother if that will satisfy you that I’m telling the truth. But what are you going to do for me?”
They heard-and saw, on the monitor-Bobby turn from the phone and explain the situation to Lucas.
Lucas sounded more strained than ever. “Give up? Are you nuts?”
“If it’s not him, we can waste ’em. But if it is-if he’s really still alive-then I don’t want to die, man.”
“What?”
They heard a clunk as Bobby dropped the phone. He moved across the tile and joined Lucas for what appeared to be a heated talk. They both stood at the corner to the entranceway.
“Snipers! ” Cavanaugh barked into his radio. “Green light! ” Meaning they were far enough from the hostages-take the shot.
“Negative. Out of range.” One or both were sufficiently hidden by the teller cages.
“Damn.”
The two conversed with a number of hand gestures but only an audible word here or there.
Cavanaugh next contacted Mulvaney. “Can we turn up the volume on those mikes? We really need to hear what they’re saying.”
“If we could,” the captain’s voice drawled over the radio, “don’t you think we would have hours ago?”
“True, sorry.” Cavanaugh set the radio down. “They’re keeping their voices low. They don’t want the hostages to hear.”
“What’s the plan?” Jason asked. He seemed truly worried, which didn’t make Patrick feel any better.
“They’re going to make a run for it. At least debating this issue will delay them a bit. It also seems to be breaking down the part-nership-best-case scenario, they get in a fight and shoot each other.” Cavanaugh tilted his head back, drained another bottle of water. “Second best, I can make this deal with Bobby and they give up. No one else gets hurt.”
Patrick tried to loosen his tie, only to realize he had removed it hours before. “Lucas didn’t come this far just to make Bobby feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”
“But it gives him an out. He’s got to know by now that he isn’t going to drive the Mercedes into the sunset with a trunkful of cash. Giving up for the sake of his buddy is a much different animal than giving up to save his skin.”
“Altruism has drama,” Patrick agreed, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that Cavanaugh might be drawing the conclusions he preferred.
“It all depends on what’s going on in Lucas Parrish’s mind,” Cavanaugh said, as if he’d read Patrick’s.