When Darkness Falls

by James Grippando

  “Might be a woman in there, too,” Jack added. “I heard a scream when Falcon went into the next room. Theo went in after her. That’s when the standoff started.”

  Malloy glanced toward the motel. Spotlights had been rigged up on the rooftop of the office building directly across the street. Two powerful beams of light cut through the night, one trained on the door to room 103; the other, on the demolished room 102 and Jack’s car. Malloy said, “That your vehicle?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How the hell-”

  The ring of Jack’s cell phone brought the conversation to an abrupt halt. Jack quickly checked the display. The number made his heart thump. He’d dialed Theo’s cell phone several times in the past half-hour, only to get no answer. Now, a call was coming back. “It’s Theo’s cell phone.”

  “Answer it,” said Chavez.

  “Wait,” said Malloy as he handed Jack a Dictaphone.

  Jack held it to his phone, pressed RECORD, and then hit the talk button. “Theo?”

  “Oh, that’s funny, Swyteck.”

  It was Falcon. Jack said, “Where’s Theo?”

  “He’s, uh…Let’s just say he can’t come to the phone right now.”

  “You son of a bitch. If you-”

  “Don’t bore me with threats, Swyteck.”

  Jack struggled to quell his anger. Self-control was the key to dealing with the clinically paranoid. Particularly when they were well armed. “All right, let’s both of us just take a deep breath here. If anybody’s hurt-you, Theo, anybody-let’s take care of him okay? Do you need a doctor?”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “I just want to make sure everyone’s okay, that’s all.”

  “Kiss my ass. I want to deal.”

  “Good. There’s a negotiator right here with me.”

  “I don’t want a negotiator. Tell the cops they can go to hell. Even Vince Paulo screwed me over on that bridge, and we go way back, long before he was blind.”

  “Could be different this time. You’re holding the cards now.”

  “Damn right I am. That’s why I’m giving you this chance. You got one shot to show me you’re the man.”

  “What do you want?”

  “You can start by returning the money you stole from me.”

  “I didn’t steal-”

  “Stop right there!” he shouted.

  Jack was silent. It was impossible to tell over the telephone, but Jack could almost see Falcon biting back his rage, fighting to keep control. Falcon’s voice lowered, but it was still tight with anger. “I don’t want no excuses. No denials. Bring me my money. That’s the demand. Got it?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “No. I said, ‘Do you got it?’”

  Jack hesitated. “I want to talk to Theo.”

  “No way.”

  “Tell me who else is in there with you.”

  There was a click on the line. It wasn’t a hang-up. It sounded more like the hammer cocking on Falcon’s pistol. “One more time, Swyteck: Do you got it?”

  Jack took the warning to heart. “Yeah. I got it.”

  “Good. As soon as the money’s here, we can talk about my other demands.”

  “What other demands?”

  “You’ll see. This is going to get very interesting.”

  “This is not a game, Falcon.”

  “Couldn’t agree more. This is very serious business.”

  “Then cut the crap. Tell me what you want.”

  “I got a better idea. Just ask Vince Paulo. He knows what I want. Problem is, I don’t trust him to give it to me no more. Which means it’s all on your shoulders. So bring me that money, and we can talk. But don’t take too long. The battery on your friend’s phone won’t last forever. And when it dies…” His voice trailed off, and the ensuing silence seemed interminable.

  “You still there?” said Jack.

  “Yeah. Come on, man. I’m waiting. Fill in the blank. When the battery dies…”

  Jack didn’t want to say it, but this wasn’t a fight worth picking. “Theo dies.”

  Falcon gave him a mirthless chuckle. “Wrong again, genius. Everybody dies.”

  The line disconnected. Jack stood frozen for a moment, thinking the kind of thoughts that were anything but helpful in a crisis of this magnitude. An hour earlier, he and Theo were on their way to South Beach. Now, one cop was dead, another was in the hospital, Theo was a hostage, and Falcon was calling the shots. Add to that the unidentified woman’s body in Falcon’s trunk, and it was almost too much to comprehend. Jack closed his flip phone and dabbed away a drop of blood from the bandaged wound at his temple.

  The crisis-team leaders were watching him, their expressions filled with anticipation. Sergeant Chavez said, “Well, what’s the word?”

  He looked at Chavez, then at the crisis-team leader from MDPD. “I think you’ve just been fired.”

  “Who’s fired?” said Chavez.

  “All of you,” he said, gesturing toward the SWAT vans. “Except for me and Vince Paulo.”

  chapter 20

  T ires screeched as a dark green sedan flew around the corner and entered the parking lot via the fast-food restaurant’s drive-thru exit. The brakes grabbed, and the front bumper nearly kissed the pavement as the car came to an abrupt halt just a few feet away from Jack.

  Sergeant Chavez was standing nearby, speaking to the traffic-control leader by radio. Jack couldn’t hear every word, but he gathered that media vans with satellite dishes were starting to back up at both the north and south barricades on Biscayne Boulevard. The fleet of television helicopters whirring overhead had grown from one to three, their bright white search lamps cutting through the clear night sky. Meanwhile, the tactical teams stood idle outside the SWAT van, drinking only decaffeinated coffee, careful not to get too stimulated.

  The moment the car door flew open, Jack recognized the mayor’s daughter from the recent photographs in the newspaper. The passenger door opened, and the man with the sunglasses and long white cane could only have been Vincent Paulo. As they approached, Jack noted the way Officer Mendoza guided her blind partner through unfamiliar territory, his hand resting in the crook of her elbow. She wasn’t steering him, nor had they locked arms like sweethearts, but Jack detected a level of comfort and familiarity between them, a certain naturalness to the physical contact.

  “Any word on McKenzie?” she asked the sergeant.

  Chavez cut his mike and said, “Took one in the belly. He’s in surgery now. We’re hoping for the best. I guess you heard about Lopez.”

  Her nod was slow and deliberate, conveying only sadness. Jack suddenly wished he were invisible, as if his status as Falcon’s lawyer placed him somewhere between the outsider at a family funeral and an accomplice to murder.

  “Any contact with the subject yet?” asked Paulo.

  Chavez cast a glance in Jack’s direction. “His lawyer just took a phone call.”

  “Where’s his lawyer?” asked Paulo.

  “I’m right here,” said Jack.

  Paulo turned at the sound of his voice, and they shook hands. Sergeant Malloy then introduced himself as the crisis-team leader from the Miami-Dade Police Department. The round of introductions ended with Jack facing Alicia.

  There was always a level of discomfort when meeting your client’s victim, even if she was, relatively speaking, one of the lucky ones. Her demeanor toward Jack was professional, however, no daggers in those big brown eyes. She was wearing a stylish cropped leather jacket, black slacks and sweater, and heels that left her shorter than Jack and Sergeant Paulo but a good two inches taller than Chavez. If any doubt remained, the perfume and makeup confirmed that she had been summoned from an off-duty location. The photographs in the newspaper had presented the mayor’s daughter as quite an attractive woman, and Jack could now attest to the fact that the camera hadn’t lied.

  Paulo asked, “How certain are we that Falcon has taken a hostage?”

  “Very,”
said Jack. “His name’s Theo Knight. He was riding with me when Falcon hijacked our car. The phone call came on Theo’s cell phone. Could be a woman in there, too.”

  “I need more details,” said Paulo. “Who can bring me up to speed?”

  Chavez gave him the rundown on police response thus far. Jack filled in everything from the carjacking to the call on Theo’s phone. Finally, they replayed the tape recording of Jack’s conversation with Falcon. For Jack, it was only a little less stressful the second time around. He was already starting to second-guess the things he’d said, and the way he’d said them, with Theo’s life in the balance.

  Just as the tape finished, a helicopter cruised by so low that it stirred the cold night air around them. “Is that one of ours?” asked Paulo.

  “Media,” said Chavez.

  “We need them to back off.”

  “No shit,” said Chavez.

  Paulo looked up to the sky, which struck Jack as curious. He seemed to be responding to the sound and the wind. Paulo said, “Are you sure the telephone call came by cell?”

  “Positive. Theo’s number came up on my display.”

  “The crash may have taken out the phone lines. Chavez, you’ll need to check with the phone company. If there’s still phone ser vice to the motel, block out all calls except those coming from our communications vehicle. We don’t need him talking to some overactive journalist. By the way, has anyone contacted Building and Zoning yet?”

  “Not yet,” said Chavez.

  “We’ll want blueprints of the building. The more detailed, the better. Bearing walls versus nonbearing walls, crawl space, duct work, attic clearance. Have you located the water main?”

  “We’re working on it,” said Chavez.

  “Good. We may want to turn that off at some point. The same goes for electrical.”

  “Any moron can see-” Chavez stopped himself, but he didn’t apologize for the slip. “The electricity is already out, at least in the room they’re in. The crash seems to have taken care of that.”

  “Let’s not assume anything,” said Paulo. “I don’t want Falcon watching us on television, especially with these media choppers revealing our positions. So let’s get on it and cut the power as soon as possible. Is anyone else still inside the motel?”

  Chavez said, “We went door-to-door as much as we could and evacuated the guests. Seems to be plenty of vacancy. We’ve accounted for sixteen guests. Some were already out on the street. They ran like hell when the car crashed into the building. I’m sure it must have sounded like a bomb going off.”

  Paulo asked, “Was there anyone inside the motel room that Mr. Swyteck’s car crashed into?”

  Jack felt a sudden chill. With all the commotion, he hadn’t yet stopped to consider the possibility of another victim crushed beneath his vehicle.

  “We don’t know yet,” said Chavez.

  “Is there a hotel manager or front-desk clerk we can ask?”

  “Haven’t found him yet. It was pandemonium out here until traffic control cleaned things up.”

  “Is there a guest registry in the front office?”

  “Yeah, but about half of the guests we’ve talked to so far aren’t even listed on it. Some of these rooms seem to rent by the hour, if you know what I mean.”

  Malloy interrupted, flashing an annoyed expression. “Excuse me, Sergeant Paulo. But exactly what is your role here?”

  Alicia answered, “He has a history of negotiations with Falcon, going back almost two years. He’s here at the request of Chief Renfro.”

  “You mean he’s going to be the lead negotiator?” said Malloy.

  Paulo said, “I’m not trying to sound like a jerk, but would everyone please stop talking about me as if I weren’t here? I’m blind, not invisible.”

  “Sorry,” said Alicia.

  “To answer your question: No, I’m not going to be lead negotiator. I’ve agreed to get a dialogue started. But once that’s done, I’m out. You guys can take it from there.”

  Jack said, “Sorry, but that won’t work. You heard the tape of the phone call. The only person Falcon wants to talk to is me, and he told me to talk to Vince Paulo if I needed help figuring out what he wants.”

  Malloy said, “Let’s get something straight right now. A lawyer is not going to be our lead negotiator.”

  “Then it has to be me and Paulo.”

  An uneasy silence came over the group. It was impossible for Jack to read Paulo’s expression, the eyes hidden as they were behind dark glasses. Finally, Paulo said, “Let’s take it one step at a time. First thing we have to deal with is the demand. Tell me more about the money he wants.”

  “He has cash in a safe deposit box in Nassau. He thinks I took it, but I didn’t. I left all but enough to cover his bail right where I found it, back in the Bahamas.”

  “How much money are we talking about?”

  Jack hesitated. His criminal defense lawyer instincts were kicking in, but the bottom line was that if this lawyer-client relationship hadn’t died with the carjacking, then it definitely took a backseat to the gun Falcon was holding to Theo’s head. “I counted exactly two hundred thousand originally. His bail was ten thousand.”

  The cops exchanged glances. Chavez said what they all were thinking: “How on earth does a homeless guy have that kind of money in an offshore bank?”

  “Probably not from washing windshields,” said Jack.

  Paulo asked, “Any idea why he wants his money now?”

  “No. He just wants it.”

  “It doesn’t matter why,” said Malloy. “The director has made MDPD’s position on this crystal-clear. We don’t give money to hostage-takers. Period. You learn that in hostage negotiations one oh one.”

  “All rules have exceptions,” said Paulo.

  Jack said, “Are you saying that you want me to fly to the Bahamas and get the money?”

  “How long would it take you?” asked Paulo.

  “Are you serious?” said Jack.

  “This isn’t going to end quickly, my friend. Last time out, Falcon tied up traffic on the Powell Bridge for almost four hours. It took close to six and a half hours the time before that. And those negotiations were without hostages. So how long would it take you?”

  “Theo has a friend who operates a fleet of seaplanes out of Watson Island. If I told him that it was a matter of life and death, I’m sure he would have me there in an hour, if you can arrange clearance. But factor in the ground time, and that’s still four or five hours, round-trip. That’s assuming that I can find someone to let me into the bank in the middle of the night.”

  “I have a contact at Interpol who can work with you on that. And the air clearance is no problem.”

  Malloy chimed in again. “You can’t give this Falcon a suitcase full of cash.”

  “What’s the downside?” said Paulo.

  “It’s against the rules.”

  “I’m still not hearing a downside,” said Paulo.

  Jack was starting to like this guy.

  Paulo said, “We have to build some goodwill. My last exchange with Falcon was when I talked him down from the lamppost on the Powell Bridge, only to have SWAT pounce all over him. I have to make up for that. If we can meet his first demand, we reestablish trust. Giving him cash-his own cash, mind you, not ours-isn’t like giving him ammunition.”

  Malloy said, “If you give him money, then he’ll want ammo.”

  Paulo said, “Last night, Falcon killed a woman and stuffed her in the trunk of an abandoned car that he calls home. So far tonight, he’s shot two police officers, one of them fatally. He has absolutely nothing to lose by killing again. If we can buy back a hostage with his own money, I say that’s a good deal.”

  Jack said, “So you want me to go?”

  “You mean you’re still here?” said Paulo.

  Jack was definitely starting to like this guy.

  chapter 21

  W all ’em up, wall ’em up, wall ’ em up.” Falcon had be
en repeating the same words, over and over again, for at least fifteen minutes. It was driving Theo crazy, but he held his tongue.

  With Theo’s help, Falcon had turned the room into a makeshift fortress. Anyone coming through the front door would have to pass through a mountain of furniture to reach the hostages. The entire room had been cleaned out, except for the television. There was a crack of light at the edge of the wall and along the top of the window. The drapes were so old and worn that, in spots, the lining had lost its blackout quality. The room brightened every few seconds as the intermittent swirl of police lights seeped in from the parking lot. Falcon had tried the light switch, but they were obviously without electricity. That didn’t stop him from pushing the on-off button on the TV every few minutes, determined to get a picture.

  “Can’t you see that the power’s out,” said Theo.

  “Shut up!”

  Judging from the number of sirens blaring in the past twenty minutes, Theo figured that an army of police had taken up positions outside the motel. He was pretty sure that he’d heard helicopters as well, though he had no way of knowing if they were part of a tactical team or the media. As best he could tell, the police were regrouping. The gunfight was over. It was time to negotiate. Theo hoped that Falcon was lucid enough to realize that police didn’t deal for dead hostages.

  Falcon walked to the corner near the window. Minutes earlier, he’d broken through the glass and fired off two quick shots from that same position. He seemed to have a view of the parking lot from that vantage point.

  “I can’t breathe,” the woman hostage said. She was seated on the floor with her back to the wall, her hands tied behind her waist, and a pillowcase over her head. It was cold outside, and the room was comfortably cool. Even in the dim lighting, however, Theo’s eyes had adjusted well enough for him to see the tiny beads of sweat glistening on her arms, physical manifestation of her fear and panic.

  Falcon started mumbling to himself again. “Wall ’em up, wall ’em up, wall ’em up.”

  Theo’s hands were tied, but his head was uncovered. Falcon appeared to be on a mission to find another pillowcase somewhere in the pile of furniture. “Wall ’em up” seemed to be his way of saying that the hostages should be hooded and blindfolded.