“Go fuck yourself, you dried-up old bitch.”
“All right. You’ve outspent your welcome.” Amanda told Faith, “Take her down to the prison ward. Get her some medical attention.”
“No!” Angie panicked. “Leave me up here. Handcuff me to Jo’s bed if you have to.”
Amanda tried again, “Where is Virginia Souza?”
“She’s not gonna hurt him. The father’s the highest bidder.” She had her arms crossed low on her belly. She was pressing into the wound, making the blood run. She tried again with Will. “There’s a video on that iPad. Something that’s worth a lot of money. Virginia knew I had it. She said she’d trade Anthony for the iPad. I was supposed to meet her yesterday morning, but she double-crossed me.”
He was still unmoved. “Virginia called Reuben Figaroa directly. That’s why you wanted me to intervene. I get Anthony back for you, and then what? You sell whatever is on the iPad?”
“I don’t give a shit about the money. You know that, baby.”
Amanda asked a third time, “Where is Virginia Souza?”
“You don’t think I’ve been looking for her?” Angie demanded. “She’s lying low. Not in her usual places. Nobody will tell me where she is. They’re scared of her. They should be.” Angie wiped her eyes again. She always saved her tears for herself. “You can’t trust her. She’s a cold bitch. She doesn’t care who gets hurt, especially kids.”
Sara chewed at the irony.
“There’s something else.” Faith asked Angie, “Why did you come here?”
“To say good-bye to Jo in case . . .” Angie looked out into the hall. “I kept waiting for the Amber Alert, but it didn’t come.”
Faith said, “Reuben won’t report him missing. He’s trying to handle it on his own.”
“I figured.” Angie took one of the tissues from her purse. “I was going to go to his house and shoot him in the head.”
The casual way she detailed her plan to murder a man sent a shiver of cold through Sara’s veins.
Angie blew her nose, wincing at the pain in her side. “Without Reuben, the iPad matters again. I could do what I was going to do in the first place. Trade the iPad for Anthony.”
“With Kip Kilpatrick?” Faith guessed.
Angie was still trying to get Will’s attention. He was deliberately looking away from her. She said, “I know I fucked this up, baby. I was just trying to help my daughter. She doesn’t even know who I am.”
Will’s face was stone. Angie had no idea what she had done to him. Sara’s only hope was that this newfound clarity would last longer than the crisis at hand.
Amanda’s phone rang. She listened for a beat, then told them, “Reuben Figaroa left his house. Laslo Zivcovik is in the car with him. They’re going West on Peachtree. Just crossed over Piedmont. We’ve got three cars on chase. The other stayed at the residence.”
Faith said, “He’s going away from downtown, toward the malls. Public place. Lots of people. That’s where I’d do an exchange.”
Amanda looked at her watch. “The mall just opened. There won’t be much of a crowd yet.”
Angie said, “He’s doing reconnaissance. That’s why he brought Laslo. Reuben is a control freak. He thinks his wife has been murdered. Somebody stole his son and is demanding money. This is why I wanted to go through Kip. I told Virginia that Reuben would shoot her in the head if he ever got the chance.”
Amanda said, “I don’t know how fast I can get SWAT there. The Buckhead precinct can do deep backup. We’ve got three agents in three cars. We’re at the end of rush hour. It’ll take an hour for us to get up to Buckhead. We can go lights and sirens part of the way but—”
Sara said, “There’s a helicopter on the roof.” She had flown in the air ambulance for emergency transports. “The Shepherd Spinal Center has a heliport. That’ll cut your travel time to fifteen minutes.”
“Perfect,” Amanda said. “Faith, handcuff Angie to the bed, get someone from APD to sit on her. Make sure they’re not connected to Collier. Will goes with me in the chopper. He’s the better shot and Reuben hasn’t seen his face.” She tossed her keys to Will. “My rifle is in the back of the car. The magazines are in the lockbox. Get my speed loader and a pack of ammo.”
Instinctively, Sara grabbed Will’s arm. This was happening too fast. Amanda was talking about shooting people. People shooting back. Sara didn’t want him to leave. She didn’t want to lose him.
Will cupped his hand to Sara’s face. “I’ll see you back home when this is over.”
Chapter Thirteen
Will studied the map on the wall inside the security offices at Phipps Plaza. There were a thousand ways the hand-off between Reuben Figaroa and Virginia Souza could spin out of control. Deshawn Watkins, the chief of security, outlined a few of them for Amanda.
“There are four possible points of approach directly into level three.” Deshawn pointed out three different escalators and the elevator that serviced all three levels inside the main atrium. “Then there’s another set of escalators if you go through the Belk department store. One up, one down. Then there’s this elevator here inside Belk, and another elevator here at the street entrance. None of the main elevators go to the parking garage except this one here and here.”
Amanda said, “So, we’re effectively inside a sieve.” She looked at her watch. They were assuming that the meet would take place on the hour or half hour. She told Will, “It’s eleven-sixteen. If we get past noon, we’re going to have to rethink this. There’s no telling how many people will turn up here for lunch.”
Deshawn said, “You’re talking most of the people who work in the stores, a lot more kids. This place is filled by twelve-thirty.”
Will rubbed his jaw as he studied the map on the wall. The layout was familiar. He’d been to Phipps with Sara more times than he would’ve liked. The mall was three levels, stacked like a wedding cake with the smaller top tier pushed to the front. There was a round, open atrium that ran through all three floors. The railings were glass with polished wood and gold handrails. The elevator had a glass back. Will couldn’t help but be reminded of Marcus Rippy’s nightclub, though the ambience was the exact opposite. The floors were sparkling clean. Skylights brought in ample sunshine.
Reuben Figaroa sat in the food court area on the third level, the same as he’d been the entire time. He had picked a good location to trade off his son. Or maybe Virginia Souza had chosen the spot. Even on a Tuesday, the top level was a mecca for preschool children. The Legoland Discovery Center hosted Toddler Time every Tuesday morning. The movie theater was running a cartoon marathon. Kids weren’t the only problem. There was a large, open food court with several fast-food restaurants. Scattered through the rest of the mall were elderly mall walkers and shoppers perusing the over one hundred stores.
If Will was going to trade off a kid for money, this is where he’d do it.
Then again, they didn’t know whether or not Reuben Figaroa meant to make a trade.
A public place. A controlling man who owned a lot of guns. A terrified little boy. A woman who had built her life around hurting kids.
This could go like clockwork or it could go like hell.
Will mentally walked through the best-case scenario: Souza walks into the mall with Anthony. The good guys scoop up the kid and return him to his father. Second best: Souza manages to give them the slip as she makes her way to the food court, she trades Anthony for the money, the good guys isolate her on the second level, then make an arrest.
Will didn’t want to think about the worst-case scenario, the one where Reuben, who didn’t mind hitting women, demanded payback. The one where Virginia Souza had a gun or a knife and a kid in her hands. The one where they went to a second location that there was no way to control.
Then there was Laslo.
Then there was the possibility that Souza had an accomplice.
As the Mama in charge, she had her pick of young girls who would do her bidding. Any one of them�
�any two or three of them—could be posing as one of the young mothers in the food court.
Souza’s girls were street savvy. They would know what a cop looked like. They could warn Souza. They would have her back if the trade went south. They were all as feral as Angie, hardened and mean and desperate to do whatever it took to protect their family.
Amanda said, “She won’t take the elevators. That’s not a quick getaway.”
“It wouldn’t make sense to go down to the parking garage.” Deshawn pointed to the map again, the glass elevator in the atrium. “She’d have to go down two levels, then this is the closest exit. But we can keep the elevators from going down to the garage if you want.”
“Do that.” Will told Amanda, “Reuben has the knee brace. He won’t be able to move fast.”
“Let’s hope it’s not Reuben we’re following out of this mall.” Amanda asked Deshawn, “How would you get out of here? Down the escalators to the second level, then what?”
“Level one is the only way out.” Deshawn was still at the map. “If we take out the parking garage, there are twelve street entrances. Three each at Belk, Saks, and Nordstrom. Then we’ve got two more entrances off of Monarch Court and one more entrance off the Avenue of the South. Either one can take you to Peachtree or the Interstate. I’d go this exit at the valet parking station.”
“Makes sense,” Amanda said. “Reuben’s car is parked in front of Saks. He takes a right, he’s in the car, then onto the interstate.”
“Or home,” Will said, but Amanda’s look told him that she didn’t think it was likely.
Her radio clicked. She walked to the other side of the room, checking in with the team. Twelve uniformed cops from the APD’s Buckhead precinct were scattered around the mall. SWAT was on the roof and staked out across the buildings on the corner. Mall security was keeping to its regular rounds so as not to raise suspicion. Three of the GBI agents from the chase cars outside Reuben’s house were spread out near the escalators. The fourth was trailing Laslo, who had been casing the mall for the last hour and a half.
Angie was right about Reuben Figaroa. He had come early to give himself a tactical advantage. Which was good, because it had given Amanda time to set up her people, too.
Will’s biggest concern was, had Virginia Souza done the same?
All they had to identify the woman by was her last booking photo, which had been taken four years ago. Her long, stringy brown hair and smeared makeup made her look like central casting’s idea of an old whore. If Souza was as smart as Angie said, she’d know that she couldn’t walk into Phipps Plaza looking like herself. The mall was too high-end for her to go unnoticed.
Deshawn said, “We can call in maintenance, maybe put up a barrier on that escalator, make it look like it’s broken down.”
Will said, “I’m worried that might tip him off.”
“He doesn’t look jumpy.”
“No,” Will said, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. A composed man was a man who had made up his mind.
They could detain Reuben. You didn’t need cause to do that. But then Souza might have a spotter who warned her off, and the next time they saw Anthony, he would be in a gutter or on the internet.
Will looked at the bank of high-definition monitors on the wall. The displays were in full color. There was no need to toggle through the different security cameras. There were sixteen screens. The largest monitor, the one in the center of the wall, showed Reuben Figaroa.
He was sitting at the back of the food court, one level up from where Will stood. The open atrium was at his shoulder. There was no way he could escape over the side. Even a basketball star couldn’t survive a three-story fall. Fortunately, the tables immediately around him were vacant. The other shoppers were keeping a wide berth. The mothers seemed especially suspicious of a man sitting alone in the place where they had brought their children.
Reuben had come incognito, a Falcons hat tight on his bald head. A laptop was on the table in front of him. He was slumped in the chair in an attempt to conceal his height. His mustache and goatee had grown into a full beard because he was one of those guys who needed to shave every four hours. He was wearing a black T-shirt and black jeans, not exactly combat gear, but close enough. A large duffel bag was at his feet. Because of the T-shirt, they knew he wasn’t wearing a gun, but the duffel bag was easily large enough to accommodate a rifle or an automatic machine gun or a handgun or all three.
Amanda was off the radio. She told Will, “Laslo just left the mall. He moved the car to the Ritz-Carlton. He’s parked in the valet lane. This is about to happen.”
Deshawn said, “He’ll leave out the Nordstrom side to get to the Ritz.”
“I’ll let SWAT know.” Amanda gave Will the radio, then headed toward the door. “Faith is on her way up. I’ll take my place. Will, be ready to move wherever you’re needed. Belt and suspenders.”
Deshawn picked up a desk phone. He told Will, “I’ll tell Nordstrom security we think they’re going to see some action.”
Will watched the monitors. The security office was right outside a single escalator that led to the top floor. Amanda held on to the handrail as she climbed. Like Reuben, she was in disguise, dressed in a pastel blue tracksuit and white T-shirt that she had picked up at one of the stores. Her big purse was empty except for her revolver and three speedloaders. She was wearing glasses. A floppy, white old lady hat was on her head. Like everyone else on the team, she wore an earbud that worked as a two-way radio, picking up her speech through a vibration in her jaw.
Instead of walking toward Reuben, she sat down at one of the tables outside Belk, about sixty feet away. She kept her back to him. Phil Brauer, one of the agents from the chase cars, was already at the table with two cups of coffee. They blended in well, passing for an old retired couple with time on their hands.
Amanda said, “We’re in place.”
Deshawn asked Will, “You sure we don’t just clean this place out?”
“It’ll tip her off.”
“That’s a big risk.”
“We’ve got someone inside the Legoland, another at the theater. We’ll lock down everything the moment there’s any sign of trouble.”
“What about the pedestrians?” He pointed to the monitor showing the food court. “There’s at least a dozen people there.”
Will had counted nine, including a table of four young mothers with babies in strollers. Amanda had placed herself between the women and Reuben Figaroa. “If we don’t get this kid today, then the woman who has him will trick him out to the nearest pedophile.”
“Jesus.” Deshawn let that sink in. “What’s your plan if she tries to run off with the kid, takes him hostage or something?”
Will tapped the rifle on his shoulder.
“Jesus.”
Faith entered the room. She was wearing the black suit she kept in the trunk of her car instead of her usual GBI blue shirt and kakis. Her gun was on her hip. She nodded at Deshawn, asking Will, “What’ve we got?”
“Amanda is here with Brauer. She put herself between Reuben and this table.” He pointed to the four young mothers. They were laughing. One of them was feeding her baby. Another was on her phone.
Faith said, “They can take cover inside the Belk if they need to.”
Will said, “We’ve got one of our guys inside Legoland. Store security knows to bring down the gate if there’s trouble. They’ve been keeping the kids to the back where there’s a birthday party. The gift store is at the front, so there aren’t a lot of potential problems there. Same with the movie theater. The cartoon lets out at noon, but we’ve got APD inside, behind the concession stand and at the mall exit, ready to lock them in place.” He showed her the map on the wall. “We’ve got the escalators covered here, here, here, and here.” He pointed to the corresponding area. “Laslo is parked across the street from here. SWAT is outside.”
“They’re good. I didn’t see them.”
“We gave all the store ma
nagers Souza’s booking photo. They’ve been told not to approach her. We didn’t want to pass the photo to the clerks and start a lot of chatter.”
“She’s not going to look like her booking photo.”
“It’s all we have.”
Faith stared at Reuben Figaroa. “I don’t like that duffel bag. Even with a million bucks in cash, it doesn’t need to be that big.”
Will followed her gaze to the monitors. Reuben was still sitting at the table, staring at his laptop. “We had one of our guys sitting near him, but Reuben got spooked, so we had to pull back.”
“He couldn’t tell what was in the bag?”
“No, but Reuben’s been looking at pictures of the wife and kid on the laptop, scrolling through them over and over again.”
“Who’s that?”
Will looked at the big monitor. A young woman was walking toward Reuben. She sat down three tables away. Her head was bent toward her phone. White earbuds disappeared into her hair. She was wearing what most of the other mothers were wearing, some variation on a gym outfit.
Reuben stared at the woman for a long while before turning back to his laptop.
Faith said, “Her shoes are wrong.”
Will looked at the red shoes. They were slip-ons. “You mean because she’s not wearing sneakers?”
“A woman who can sit around a mall on a Tuesday morning in her workout clothes doesn’t buy her shoes at Walmart.” She added, “Also, why is she here if she isn’t with a kid?”
Will studied the other women on the periphery of the food court. Invariably, they had some form of child attached to them, whether they were holding a baby or dragging a toddler away from the Legoland.
Deshawn said, “It’s eleven-twenty-eight.”
“Green jacket.” Faith stepped closer to the monitors. “That’s a woman, right?”
An androgynous-looking woman was waiting outside the elevator on the first level. She was wearing dark sunglasses and a Braves baseball cap with the brim pulled low. Her jeans were dark blue. The dark green jacket was zipped almost to her neck. Her hands were tucked into the pockets.
The Kept Woman Page 42