Page 38 of Every Last One
“It’s also possible they want the hospital to do something that takes the approval of a committee, not just one person,” Brice said.
“Sure, but we have nothing but theories.” Sandra turned to Neal. “I’m with you. I think it’s time we reach out to the assistants and family members of everyone in that room and see if any of them have had any threats made against them recently or if any complaints have been lodged against them. I’d put priority on Beal.”
Neal was nodding. “I’ll get officers dispatched to the offices and homes of these people ASAP.”
“Dr. Beal’s husband might be harder to pin down.” Brice pointed at the screen of his laptop, where he had the background pulled on a Wyatt Beal, along with his driver’s license photo. “He’s a high-profile defense lawyer with a downtown firm.”
He was a handsome man too, judging by what Sandra was seeing. And the only reason he probably hadn’t called in was because his work was keeping him busy and away from the news.
“Someone will track him down and have a chat,” Neal said and took out his phone.
The door to the vehicle opened, and Kreiger came inside. “ERT has eyes on the boardroom windows, but all the blinds are shut. Snipers are on standby until we give our word.”
What he meant was when he gavehisword. The true lingo of a shot caller shining through.
“Vos got in touch with the armed woman from the eighth floor,” Monica said.
Kreiger leveled his gaze at Sandra. “Did she agree to surrender?”
“She’s talking,” Sandra responded.
“That’s anoto surrendering then.” If Kreiger was going to say more, he was interrupted by the phone ringing at Gibson’s workstation.
Kreiger walked over to Gibson just as the intelligence officer spun. The back of his chair banged against the lieutenant’s side.
“Son of a— Watch what you’re doing,” Kreiger cussed.
Gibson snapped his mouth shut, grimaced, waited a few beats before speaking. “I just received a call from the on-duty supervisor with nine-one-one dispatch. We already knew that calls have been flooding in, but they’ve gathered some conclusive information. By piecing together all accounts, there are four assailants with one positioned on floors two, four, six, and eight. Two are men, and two are women.”
“So why not every floor?” Brice asked, looking at Sandra.
It was a valid question, and without the ability to read minds it was impossible to know the answer. “I don’t know. It could be they wanted to be spread out, but didn’t have enough people to cover each floor.”
“Or there’s something special about those floors.” Brice narrowed his eyes as he asked this question, and then turned to Luis. “We know about the fourth and sixth.”
Critical heart and brain patients on the fourth. The server room for the hospital system on the sixth…
“The second is orthopedics, spine and pain center, rehabilitation, and maternity,” Luis said. “I already told you what’s on the eighth.”
“They picked these locations strategically,” she concluded. “The eighth for the board meeting, the sixth for shutting down communication, and the second and fourth to use influence over us. With critical patients and newborns within reach, they’d feel untouchable.”
“There was definitely a lot of planning put into today,” Neal said. “Video surveillance was the only thing they seemed to have overlooked. They must not have known it was serviced outside of the hospital, or figured with the system virus, it would be knocked out.”
Sandra could think of another reason. “Or they’re not afraid of having their faces on camera.”
“They don’t have criminal records,” Brice said, rounding out her thought. “They wouldn’t be in any facial recognition database.”
“Exactly,” Sandra agreed. “I’d like to add that despite what they’ve done here, I don’t think we’re looking at professionals. There would be someone on each floor, maybe more than one in that case. It would guarantee full coverage. Honestly, I think the gunmen on the other floors are nothing but a distraction or insurance that the shot caller gets left alone in the boardroom.”
“That could make sense,” Monica piped up from her desk.
Sandra turned to look at her. “Then her cohorts raise the alarm after she’s in that boardroom.”
“All right, let’s say all this is the case, how does any of this help us?” Kreiger added.
Faced with that direct question, Sandra had an immediate answer. “It tells me that the woman hostage taker in that boardroom isn’t just the shot caller, but she’s the most invested and has the most at stake. She’s not letting anyone else take care of the main job. That makes the others more vulnerable.”
“That guy you spoke to on the fourth didn’t sound vulnerable to me.” Kreiger perched his hands on his hips.
