Page 30 of Every Last One
“That call I just took was from the hospital’s service provider for the internet and phone system. They’ve been able to get the works back up and running.” He pushed his glasses up his nose. “They were able to root out the virus and clean the system.They also locked it down remotely so it’s protected if they try to reinfect it.”
“So that means the phone lines inside are working again?” Sandra felt hope spark in her chest.
Luis smiled at her. “Absolutely.”
“What about the surveillance system? We have eyes inside yet?” Kreiger asked Luis.
“Still working on that.”
Sandra understood Kreiger’s hunger for more, but she was happy with what she had just received. Phones meant a way inside. “Luis, I need the number for the nurses’ station on the fourth floor.”
“One second…” A moment later Luis was reading the number off to her from his laptop.
Sandra punched in each digit as he said it.
The line rang, and rang, and rang. Just when she didn’t think anyone was going to answer, there was silence except for the sound of breathing. It was most likely the gunman. Anyone else would have rushed ahead asking for help. She pointed at her headset to signal to everyone that someone had picked up, though they were listening in. “This is Sandra with the FBI. Who am I talking to?”
“Mickey Mouse,” a man said.
Presumably, he was the man from the walkie-talkie, so the fact he was employing a sense of humor was unsettling given Gail’s statement of a shooting. “All right, Mickey, are you doing all right in there?”
“Peachy.”
“Glad to hear it. What about everyone else? Are they okay?”
“Yes.”
She prickled at the switch in his tone that went from light to dark. “Yes?” she parroted, hoping for an elaboration.
“That’s what I said.”
So much for that…“Maybe if I could talk to some of the people with you. Everyone must be scared in there.”
“Everyone is fine so far, but if you don’t leave me alone that will change.”
Brice wrote,Is he lying?
“Why does it have to change? We’re just talking.”
“No, we’re not! You need to leave me alone, or I will kill him, I promise you that.”
Only her training and years of experience kept her calm. “You will kill who, Mickey?”
The man let out a roar. “Stop calling me that.”
Sandra glanced over at Brice. It was the name he’d provided but the status quo had changed. If she were to guess, his threat toward her made the situation more real for him, possibly pushing him out of his comfort zone. But that was a dangerous assumption to make, as were any in the negotiation game. “My apologies. Who will you kill?”
“Jordon Maddox.”
The line went dead.
The vehicle went silent.
She took her headset off and set it on her desk. Brice turned to her, taking off his headset too.
“The guy’s a liar, and I can’t believe him when he says everyone is fine,” Kreiger said.
For once, she agreed with the lieutenant. There was something in the way Mickey articulated his threat. “‘Or I willkillhim.’ That sounds as if he did shoot someone but they’re not dead.” She could be reaching but she trusted her years of experience in reading people, detecting nuances.
