Silent Night Standoff. Susan Sleeman

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СКАЧАТЬ As Logan climbed over the barricade, the sniper took off across the street to get into position for a kill shot should it become necessary. Marsh stepped to another team member settling a small orange case on a small robot. Likely a negotiator—an additional negotiator, since Logan had heard that another one was already in the building. The man didn’t rush, but moved with purpose and double-checked each step. Obviously not his first hostage standoff.

      The case held a phone connected by a long cable to the command truck and would provide direct communications to the robbers. If the team could get them to take the phone. That was a big if as they wouldn’t need a throw phone if the robbers had answered the bank phone or kept in touch on the inside negotiator’s cell.

      As Logan approached, he searched for the bomb expert and the EMT who rounded out the team of six. He found neither and assumed they were in the truck. He headed straight for Marsh.

      Marsh looked up, his eyes narrowing.

      Logan flashed his badge. “I hear you have a team member inside.”

      Marsh’s brows shot toward his thick black hair. “This is your concern, why?”

      “Bank robbery.” Logan knew his response was lame, but the bureau’s jurisdiction over bank robberies was his only way into the action. He hoped Marsh played nice and let him participate in the negotiations.

      “The investigation is all yours.” Marsh made strong eye contact. “After my team resolves the standoff. Until then, you stand down.”

      The lieutenant’s rebuff should have angered Logan. Instead, he respected the guy for standing up to an agent. But Logan had no intention of sitting back. Of letting the locals do their thing when his future promotion at the FBI depended on him arresting Bonnie and Clyde. A promotion that should win him the first hint of respect in his demanding father’s eyes.

      “I’m not asking to take charge of the standoff,” Logan said. “But our agency has been tailing this pair for months now. My information could be invaluable in your efforts here.”

      “Fine,” Marsh said. “Speak only when asked and you can stay.”

       Right. Real team player.

      Schooling himself not to get mad, Logan followed Marsh to the mobile command center. The negotiator climbed the stairs after Marsh and Logan trailed them onboard the state-of-the-art truck.

      “Everybody,” March called out as he stepped to a communications suite holding three monitors, “the suit is Special Agent Hunter. He’s heading up the bureau’s investigation into Bonnie and Clyde.”

      Marsh snapped on a headset, then clamped a hand on the shoulder of a scrawny young man who sat behind a computer watching a live feed of the bank’s exterior from the truck’s rooftop camera.

      “Where’re we at, Darryl?” Marsh asked.

      Darryl didn’t look up from his keyboard. “Should be tapped into the bank security feed in a few seconds.”

      As Marsh stared over Darryl’s shoulder, Logan quickly assessed the team. The negotiator had stopped next to a control station for deploying robots, where a muscle-bound guy sat tapping his foot. The bombs guy, Logan suspected. A woman he assumed was the EMT checked supplies in the medical bay that formed the back of the truck. Everyone was somber and intense.

      “Okay, people.” Marsh turned to the group as he glanced at his watch. “We’re hitting the ten-minute mark since the call came in. Every second brings us closer to the outcome we’re hoping to avoid. Based on the robbers’ prior behavior, there’s a good chance of casualties here. Brady’s in place and ready to take the shot if necessary.”

      The sense of fear for their team member in the hands of two unpredictable and armed robbers hung in the air, and the mood darkened even more.

      “We’re in,” Darryl announced, drawing everyone’s attention. “Let me dial in on the action.” He clicked a few keys. Suddenly the screens lit with live footage from the bank’s interior.

      Logan focused on the monitor. Clyde flashed onto the screen, holding the negotiator at gunpoint. Logan’s mouth went dry, and his pulse skipped a beat.

      “Skyler? The negotiator inside is Skyler Brennan?” His strangled cry brought all eyes toward him.

      “You know Skyler?”

      Know her? He’d dated her for a year and had nearly let himself forget his goals and fall in love with her.

      “You’re her suit?” the EMT asked. “The one who dumped her?”

      Logan didn’t know how to answer, so he said nothing.

      “Darcie?” Marsh asked.

      “He dated Skyler before she joined the squad. Chose his career over her and moved away for the job. Guess he’s back now.” Darcie’s acerbic tone conveyed what she thought of him.

      She kept watching him, so he turned his attention back to the screen. As he focused on Skyler’s brave face, his pulse beat triple time. She looked the same. Short, curvy with red hair. She had a sweet girl-next-door face devoid of any makeup. Her hair was currently secured in two small pigtails that gave her a pixie look.

      Vulnerable. The word shot into his brain as a chill iced him over. She’d been training for a position like this when he’d met her, but as a woman in a largely male field, and with only three years as a detective under her belt, he never really thought she’d get the job. Or maybe the real issue was he’d avoided thinking about the danger a negotiator’s job involved to keep his fears at bay.

      She didn’t act afraid. She appeared calm and in control, her attention fixed on Clyde, who had his gun sighted on her.

      It seemed as if the room collectively drew in, then held a breath, waiting for their sniper to take Clyde out. No response. No crack of a rifle disturbing the peace.

      “Can’t you people do something?” Logan asked, surprised that his voice was as panicked as a scared little girl. “Clyde’s not averse to killing.”

      Marsh eyed him. “Skyler knows to give us a signal if she’s in danger.”

      Or not. “She’s not a negotiator now. She’s a hostage just like the others. She might have sound training, but the stress she’s under means she’s not 100 percent in there.”

      “I’ve got it covered,” Marsh said calmly. “If I think lives are in danger, I won’t wait for Skyler’s signal. I’ll give the go-ahead for Brady to fire.”

      Logan appreciated Marsh’s calm approach and his willingness to step in if Skyler faltered, but it did nothing to relieve Logan’s helpless feeling. He wanted to control the team. Make them act when seeing one of their own in danger didn’t seem to faze them.

      The atmosphere was tense, the space closing in on him, the air disappearing, and they just stood. Calmly. Watching it happen. A necessary trait for a squad called to respond to all sorts of emergencies, but Logan wouldn’t—couldn’t—do the same thing.

      Not now. Not when Skyler’s life was on the line.

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