[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
with exactly what she needed. She opened the link and went straight to the Web
site.
On screen, a pitch-black background transformed itself into impenetrable
night sky with flashes of lightning and a blanket of twinkling stars. To one
side, a dead, leafless tree shivered. The vacant eyes of two orange pumpkins
flashed back and forth from white to black. A creepy old Victorian-style house
soon took center stage, the doors and windows of irregular shapes, as if the
whole structure were in danger of collapsing at any moment. A black bat
fluttered in the wind, between the house and the old tree. And in bright
orange letters, the title appeared against the black sky.
La Covacha de la Bruja Cachavacha.
Finally, in a high-pitched, scary voice that still gave Alicia the shivers,
the witch la bruja said, Bienvenidos a mi casa.
Welcome to my house.
This witch was no Elizabeth Montgomery or Nicole Kidman. Her orange hair and
pointy hat made her scary enough, and she was plenty ugly, with a big, long
nose and missing teeth. For a cartoon character, particularly one created for
children, she was unusually macabre. The thing that Alicia remembered most
about her, and the very thing that had lured her back to her old bedroom, was
the strange magic this witch possessed.
She had the power to make people disappear.
Alicia was still looking at the computer screen, this modern-day window to
her childhood, but she was no longer really focused. She was thinking more
about Falcon s words be sure to ask about the witch and about his apparent
obsession with the disappeared. She had yet to sort it out and think it
through completely, but there was enough to make Alicia wonder.
How does that creep know anything about my childhood?
chapter 46
Jack needed some straight talk from Sergeant Paulo.
On paper, the line between good and evil seemed easy to draw in a hostage
situation: hostage-taker, bad; hostage-negotiator, good. In Jack s mind,
however, the line was starting to blur. It wasn t Paulo who was causing the
confusion as much as the people around him, both on and off the scene. The
mayor was sending mixed messages about his support for Paulo as lead
Page 146
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
negotiator. His bodyguard s appearance at the river on the night of the murder
remained unexplained. By nature, SWAT leaders were bursting with confidence,
but Sergeant Chavez was becoming so arrogant that he seemed to have his own
agenda. At times, even Alicia sent out confusing signals. For Jack, the
interpersonal dynamic was starting to resemble a complicated trial in which he
represented one of several co-defendants, where everyone professed to stand
together at the outset, but where ultimate survival depended on covering your
back in dagger-proof armor. Things were nowhere near that extreme not yet,
anyway but Jack still found himself trying to figure out who could be trusted
to act in the best interest of Theo and the other hostages.
He chose Sergeant Paulo.
Alicia was away when Jack returned to the mobile command center. Paulo was
giving himself a quick shave with an electric razor. Another member of the
crisis team was seated beside him, but he was more than willing to take a
short break when Jack asked for a few minutes alone with Paulo. The door
closed as the officer left the command center. Paulo switched off his razor,
and the ball was in Jack s court.
I need to know the plan, said Jack. The whole plan.
To Jack s mild surprise, Paulo skipped the police doubletalk. Falcon is
going down, he said.
I m sure that if it comes to that, no one will blame you.
It s no longer just an option. You wanted to know the plan; that is the
plan. They ve made their decision.
It was interesting that Paulo put it in terms of a decisionthey ve made.
SWAT is going in? said Jack.
They want to try a sniper shot first.
How do they plan to set it up?
That s my job our job, actually, to the extent that you ll be doing at least
part of the talking.
What am I supposed to tell him? Hey, Falcon, would you mind stepping closer
to the window please? Good. Head up a little. That s it.Now hold it.
Ideally we ll come up with a ruse to make him open the door and provide a
clean shot. Drawing him to the window and somehow getting him to reveal
himself is a possibility, but it s not the preferred method. Even a trained
marksman loses some degree of accuracy when shooting through a pane of glass.
What s the difference? It s clear glass, not a Coke bottle.
It can still affect the bullet s trajectory, depending on distance and
angles. And it s been looking like rain all day. If it comes, that s another
issue. Even in clear weather, the safest assumption when shooting through a
window is that the first shot will miss. But now that they have a green light,
our snipers don t need more than a split second to get off a second shot.
Jack considered his response. He wanted this standoff to end as quickly as
possible, but up until now he d at least held out some hope that Falcon would
put down his gun and surrender. Negotiating with the sole objective of putting
a bullet in a man s head changed the tenor of things. When was this decision
Page 147
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
made?
I was just told about it five minutes ago.
Something in Paulo s voice conveyed that the question wasn t being answered
directly. But when was it made? said Jack.
Sometime after we found out about the injured hostage, is what they tell
me.
Jack still sensed some equivocation. This was no time to let anything slide,
even at the risk of offending. Do you believe what they re telling you?
There was silence, and if Vince had been a sighted person, Jack sensed that
they would have exchanged one of those long, ambiguous stares in which two
equally cautious men size each other up and decide how much honesty their
evolving relationship can handle. Strange, but Jack had the feeling that Paulo
was doing exactly that, albeit on some level that didn t depend on sight.
Paulo said, I m a suspicious man. It s my nature.
So you have some questions in your mind.
Sure I do.
Do you ever wonder about the real objective here? said Jack.
I have only one objective, and that s to get these folks out alive.
Does it matter to you if Falcon lives or dies?
Of course it matters. But the safety of the hostages is paramount.
Honesty. That was all Jack wanted. Can we cut the bullshit?
Paulo s expression changed, as if he d suddenly realized he was talking in
platitudes. Yeah, sure.
Jack had a theory, but he wasn t quite sure how to present it. He took an
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]