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.Pick up, damn it.Thephone went to the answering machine.Mac hung up and redialed.And again.Finally the line clicked open. Yeah? LIFE LESSONS 233 No one wants to hurt Ron, Mac said calmly. He s fine.Weneed to talk to you. Who are you? the kid said suspiciously. My name is Mac.I m with the police outside. Go away! Brad said. Let my brother go and you all just goaway, or Mr.Hart will be really dead. You know we can t do that. Mac tried to keep his voice assoothing as possible. Let s all just calm down now.Would youlike to talk to your brother? Talk to Ron? Yeah. Mac made a circling gesture at Oliver, who went tocollect Ronald. I m going to call you back in one minute and youcan talk to Ron. He hung up before Brad could.He tried hardto remember things from the brief course he d had in negotiatingwith suspects.This was not his area of expertise, damn it.Getthem used to answering the phone, get them to accept smallfavors and try to get return concessions.His brain was spinningon tangents, things he could say.Oliver brought Ronald up besidehim in the shelter of the car. I m going to let you talk briefly to Brad, he told Ron. Youjust tell him you re fine, and that he should surrender to the policeand not hurt anyone else.No other advice, no other questions orcomments.Do you understand? Yes, Ron said weakly.Mac dialed the phone again and it was picked up on the firstring. Ronny? Brad s voice was like a little boy s for a moment. It s Mac, he said. I ll put Ron on for you. He passed thephone over. Brad, it s Ron, the man said. I m here. What do I do, Ronny? Brad s voice said plaintively. It s allgone to shit.234 Kaje Harper Don t hurt anybody, Ron said. You should give up to thepolice so they don t kill you. Mac winced at that. I can t! Brad wailed. It s too late.Ron, get me out of here. You should give yourself up, Ron repeated. No! Brad shouted. I m never giving up.They have to dowhat I say or else I m killing everybody.You re just like the restof them.You all want me dead.Fuck you, Ron!Mac grabbed back the phone. Calm down, Brad, he urged. We didn t hurt your brother, and we won t hurt you if youcooperate. You can t hurt me, Brad said wildly. I have lots of gunsand if you come in here I ll kill you all. He hung up.Mac lookedat the receiver, dial tone buzzing. Damn, he said, much more mildly than he felt.He lookedat Ronald. That wasn t very rational.Do you think your brotheris taking drugs as well as selling them? I don t know. The man stared back for a moment thenlooked down. Yeah, maybe.You ve seen him.I m betting he sdoing steroids at least.Maybe other shit too. Could he be tweaking? Aggression, paranoia, andirrationality were common in people high on crystal. I thought he was too smart for that, Ronald said. Hell, Ithought he was too smart for any of this.I don t know. Does he sell meth? No, Ron said, and then glanced up quickly, flushing. Imean, I don t know.Yeah, right, Mac thought. He said he has lots of guns. Oliver put in. Is that true? I don t know.He had a gun when he arrived. Do you have any others in the house? Mac asked. Well there are a couple of deer rifles and a shotgun thatwere my uncle s.And I have a Glock, for protection, you know, LIFE LESSONS 235because I work nights.Well, and a.38.Shit. And he knows where they are? There s ammunition? I guess, Ron admitted. I didn t hide them or anything. Great, Mac said. I d call that lots of guns.Okay.We llsend you on back behind us to sit in one of the cars safe andsound.If your brother needs to talk to you again we ll come getyou. Oliver pulled the man away by the arm, keeping low, andhanded him over to another officer.A moment later Oliver wasback with Mac. Got any ideas? Mac asked. My idea is that you should talk to him again. Thanks. Mac dialed the phone.Brad picked up after three rings. What? Look, no one s going to come rushing in there, Mac said. I just want to talk to you, find out what you want, tell you whatwe want. Like what? Like& are you hungry? Maybe we could send out for pizzafor you. Yeah, I don t think so.You d shoot me when I came out toget it. We could get it in to you.Are you hungry? No, Brad said flatly. What do you want that I could get for you, to make thingseasier here? Mac asked. I want you to move all the cars so I can drive out in theCorvette.And I want some money, a lot of money, then you letme go, and when I m far away from here, I ll let Mr.Hart go. You know I can t do that, Brad, Mac said quietly. My chiefwould never let me turn you loose. Then we re all going to die. Wait, Brad! Mac said hurriedly. Don t hang up.Let s talk236 Kaje Harperabout this.Where would you go in the Corvette? I don t know.Maybe Vegas. You like to gamble? Maybe. Brad laughed. I ve never been to Vegas. What else do you like? Mac was grasping at straws. Hey,I could get you a bunch of scratch-off tickets [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]