Page 21 of Save Her Life

“Guess as long as you know, I don’t need to bring you up to speed.” She walked past him, ignoring his sneer, and some of the team whose mouths gaped open. She sat at her post and turned to Ray beside her. She had forty seconds left on the clock but called.

Gavin answered but didn’t say a word.

“I’ve spoken to my boss, Mr. McConnell.” She could feel Bowen listening to her every word.

“Huh. So you found out who I am.”

“Well, a colleague of mine did. You don’t have a record, Gavin. What do you say we end this peacefully now?”

“Right after a hundred grand goes to my girl and my freedom is assured. Those are my terms.”

“And as I said, I have spoken to my boss. We’re going to need a little more time to get the money together.”

“Bullshit. You’re the FBI. You have money.”

“That’s why we’re able to get it together, but these things take time. And…” She paused for dramatic effect. “My boss is being a stickler, truth be told. He wants your word that you’re prepared to surrender first.”

Silence.

Ray wrote,It feels like he’s not ready.

Sandra nodded, concluding the same. “I know that you want to leave so you can get to your daughter, Gavin, and I want to help you do that. How is your daughter? If she needs the meds urgently, let me get them to her.”

“No.”

“That’s fine. If you’re not ready to surrender just yet, give us a sign of good faith.”

“What do you want?”

“My boss would love the rest of those names, Gavin.” She waited out an ensuing silence.

Eventually, Gavin started to rattle off names and numbers. Richie was writing them down furiously. They had about five names when a phone rang in the background on Gavin’s end.

“Oh, shit! What the— No, I don’t want to talk to her.”

She had to guess it was someone calling his personal cellphone given how he’d responded. But Patrick told them Gavin didn’t have a number on his file. Though it was possible he had a prepaid phone, which weren’t catalogued the same. “Gavin, talk to me. Who is calling you?”

“It’s Karen. What the— Did you put her up to this? Did you tell her what I’m doing?”

The girlfriend calling held no advantage. Rather the opposite. He’d feel exposed as a failure to someone he’d likely rather impress. “You don’t need to talk to her, Gavin. Just don’t answer the?—”

“I’m doing this for our daughter!” Gavin roared.

There was gunfire. Then the line cut off.

“Shit, I knew it.” Bowen’s cheeks were a bright red as he shot to his feet. “We should have moved in hours ago. I’ve tried playing by your rules, Vos, letting you talk everything out, but that ends now. I’m going to get SWAT to move in.”

She was stunned.“Don’t do that.”

Bowen, who had taken steps toward the door, turned back around. “Why shouldn’t I? Are you going to contact your boss at the FBI again? Tattle on me?”

“This isn’t about us, LT. It’s about Gavin and his hostages,” Garrison put in.

“To hell, it isn’t.”

Sandra stood and walked over to the team coordinator. “I’m here because I was called in to help, but I report to the assistant director?—”

“La de da. And here to help?” Bowen spat. “We’re hours further along in this mess, and there’s a backslide. His fucking girlfriend calls on a phone that we didn’t even know existed.”

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