She was still mulling over the mystery at home that night when Tripp called everyone to the kitchen to eat the dinner he’d prepared. Zira had just sat down to a steaming, aromatic plate of roasted chicken and vegetables when her CyberLink chimed. Hoping it was a response from Cedric, she glanced at the display and was surprised to see an incoming call from Alma instead. She stood and walked down the hall to answer it. “Hello?”
“Get your team together and go grab some gear from headquarters. I’m going to send you an address, and I want you all to meet me there as soon as possible.”
“What’s going on?”
“We’ve got a couple hundred hostages captured during a play at a performing arts theater downtown. I’m calling everyone in.”
“PRM?”
“Looks that way. We’re still getting the details. I’ll fill you all in when you arrive.”
She was already striding the last few steps back to the kitchen. “We’ll be there soon.”
The others all looked up from their meal as she approached. “What was that about?” Tripp asked.
Zira grabbed her plate from the table and headed for the door. “Looks like we’ll have to eat in the car. Duty calls.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Half an hour later, Zira and the rest of her team pulled up to a busy crime scene in the SIO van they’d loaded their equipment into at headquarters. Josefina was overriding the safety lock to open the door before the tires even stopped rolling. She jumped out and began pushing through people to get to a cluster of cars and flashing lights that seemed to be the central point of operations.
“Hey!” Zira called after her, but Josefina just kept going. She’d seemed on-edge ever since they met up at the office; it wasn’t at all like her, but Zira had attributed it to stress about the high-stakes situation they were being called into. Now she wondered if there might be something more to the other woman’s agitation. She turned to the others as the van maneuvered itself between two other SIO vehicles to park. “Does anyone know what’s going on with her?”
They all shook their heads. One by one, they exited the van and grabbed their things. In her hurry to get out, Josefina had left her gear behind, so Zira carried it with her as she led her group to a place where other SIO teams seemed to be gathering.
Dodge immediately found Celeste among them and waved her over. “Do you know what’s going on here?” he asked.
She shook her head, rustling the numerous dark braids that hung around her face. “We just got here. They haven’t told us anything yet.”
One of her teammates shouted her name. As she turned to walk away, Dodge called out to her. “Just be careful, okay?”
She nodded and gave him a thumbs-up in answer.
As Zira looked around the area for Josefina, she spotted Alma standing between two police cars with a three-dimensional projection of the building’s layout hovering over her wrist. She pointed out areas around the building to another SIO team leader standing beside her before he went to rejoin the rest of his team. Then she caught Zira’s gaze and beckoned her over. Zira went, but before they could even say a word to each other, Josefina ducked through a trio of nearby police officers and hurried to Alma’s side.
“Necesito hablar contigo,” she said.
Alma shook her head. “Zira will give your team instructions in a minute.”
“Está importante.”
The insistence in her voice finally forced Alma to look at her. “¿Qué es?”
Josefina walked a few yards away from the rest of the crowd. Alma sighed and cast Zira an apologetic look over her shoulder as she followed.
While she waited, Zira looked around in an effort to better assess the situation. The theater across the street was an old building situated among several businesses that had all been renovated and modernized to various degrees. Someone—presumably the hostage-takers—had covered the windows and glass doors to prevent anyone from seeing inside. Two SIO teams were already posted near the entrance, one to each side. They held their guns at the ready to shoot as soon as they received the order, but it might still be a long wait.
“Hey!” Zira grabbed the arm of a passing police officer. “I’m with SIO. Can you tell me what’s going on here?”
He looked confused and uncertain as he glanced back at Alma.
“She’s busy. Just give me the basics.”
The man nodded. “The hostage-takers are claiming to be PRM. We have reports of similar situations in San Francisco, St. Louis, Cleveland, all over the country. They sent out a list of demands a few minutes ago, but I don’t know what’s on it.”
She released the officer’s arm, and he continued on his way. Behind her, familiar voices rose above the rest of the noise, and she turned to see Alma and Josefina arguing vehemently in Spanish. She went to them. “What’s the problem?”
Alma pursed her lips and held a hand up to silence the other woman. “Josefina’s going to have to sit this one out.”
“No! I’m not just going to sit here like some helpless old woman and wait for the rest of you to figure this out. My kids are in there! I have to do something.”
Zira sucked in a breath. How had she not known that Josefina was a mother? The former cop had always maintained clear boundaries between her work and her personal life, but it still felt like something she should have known before now. Maybe she needed to put more effort into building relationships with the people who worked under her.
Now wasn’t the time to dwell on her shortcomings as a team leader, though. The fact that Josefina’s children were in danger complicated things, and Zira could see why Alma thought it might be best for her to stay out of this particular operation. On the other hand, she understood Josefina’s position all too well. She remembered how helpless she’d felt when Jared was being held prisoner in the compound and Chase had refused to let her do anything about it, then tried to imagine that feeling tenfold. That must be something like what Josefina was feeling now.
“We’re already down a man without Cedric,” she said. “We need her.”
Alma shook her head. “Absolutely not.”
“I only told you because I thought it was the right thing to do,” Josefina spat. “Not so you could kick me to the sidelines.”
“I’m sorry, but we can’t expect you to remain clear-headed at a time like this.”
“Why not?” Zira asked. “She was a cop before, right? Like you. And a firefighter before that. If anyone on my team knows how to keep a clear head in high-pressure situations, it’s her. She can handle it.”
Josefina crossed her arms. “I can.”
“We’re wasting time arguing,” Zira went on. “If it was Javier in there, or Chase, or Tripp, would you be willing to just sit out here and wait?”
Alma sighed and muttered something under her breath, then threw her hands up in surrender. “Fine. But the second you start questioning orders or otherwise interfering in this operation, I’ll have you escorted to the other side of the barricade.”
Zira passed Josefina her gear with a stern look. “Do not make me regret this.”
“I won’t. Thank you.” She began strapping on her vest as she went to join the rest of their team.
Alma moved closer to Zira and pulled up a bird’s-eye view of the theater and the surrounding area on her CL. “This is such a mess. Did you hear about the other cities?”
“Yeah. How many hostages?”
“Altogether? We’re still trying to figure that out. They’re claiming to have over two hundred here, though.”
“Are you sure they don’t just want us to think this is worse than it actually is?”
Alma shook her head. “We called the theater manager at home and had her look up ticket sales for tonight. Two hundred is a pretty accurate count. What we’re not sure of is how many of them there are. We’re hoping the hostage negotiator can get us more information.”
“Do we at least know what they want?”
“Oh, nothing too outrageous.
Get rid of the Republic, have Chase turn himself over as a rebel and a traitor, reestablish the PEACE Project. You know, simple things.”
Zira rolled her eyes. “Oh, is that all? We’ll be out of here before midnight.”
“Ojalá que fuera tan fácil,” Alma muttered. She pointed to the layout on her CL. “Anyway, I want a few more snipers on top of these buildings. You and Jared should take this spot, right across from the front entrance. You can divide the others up however you want. Just do me a favor and put Josefina with someone who can prevent her from doing anything stupid.”
“I’ll have her stay on the ground and run communications with Tripp.” Getting frequent updates about the situation would probably make her feel better. Or worse, depending on what happened. But she liked the idea of sending her up to a rooftop with a rifle even less. If Josefina had a chance to take an unauthorized shot at one of the people holding her children hostage, she just might take it. Zira didn’t think she would jeopardize the operation by acting against orders, but she wasn’t willing to take the risk.
“We’ll go get set up,” she said to Alma. “Good luck down here.”
“Thanks. I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”
* * *
“Really though, what do you think is taking them so long?”
Dodge’s voice was low and clear in Zira’s earpiece as she lay flat on her stomach next to Jared, both of them poised behind the scopes of their rifles as they looked out over the theater entrance. It was the second time Dodge had asked the question in the past hour. He and Salim were set up on the roof of a building on the adjacent street, and Nova was alone in an upper level of the building next to theirs, keeping an eye on one of the rear exits.
The hostage negotiator had arrived almost three hours ago and had presumably been busy discussing terms and options with the PRM since then. The fact that she had to coordinate with multiple other sites where the same scene was playing out made the whole process take even longer. Nothing had changed except for the increasing stiffness in Zira’s body, but she held her position and continued to keep a watchful eye on the theater’s entrance through the ring of her scope.
“It’s a hostage negotiation, Dodge,” Salim reminded his companion. “Not a discussion about what to order for dinner.”
Dodge sighed longingly. “Dinner. Mine’s still sitting on the table where I left it. Hey, if we all make it out of this one alive, we are going to go get pancakes or something, right? Like last time. We should just make it a tradition.”
“Only if you’re buying,” Zira said. “I can’t afford to try and fill that void you call a stomach again.”
Dodge chuckled. “Deal.”
She shook her head and glanced over at Jared. He grinned, but maintained perfect concentration on the door below.
Zira shut off the speaker that allowed the rest of her team to hear her through her CL. “You good for a minute?” she asked Jared. “I could use a stretch.”
“Go ahead.”
She rolled over onto her back, extended her aching limbs, and shook out her hands. Her neck cracked a few times as she arched her spine and touched her ears to her shoulders. Then she lay still and stared up at the half moon overhead. “Seriously though, how long is this going to take?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he replied.
She sighed. “This is a disaster. They must have thousands of hostages all across the country, and everything they’re asking for is impossible. How are we supposed to negotiate anything with them?”
“Maybe it’s not about their demands being met.”
“Okay, so what’s it about, then? Sending a message?”
“Maybe.”
What message could possibly be so important that they’d go to all the trouble of coordinating something this big? She recalled Cedric’s last report. This had to be the scheme the PRM had been planning so secretively, but if their ultimate goal was for the Republic to agree to their demands, it wasn’t a very good plan. Surely they knew that.
There had to be some ulterior motive. Not knowing what it was irked Zira like a fly buzzing just out of her reach. She rolled back onto her stomach and repositioned herself behind her rifle.
“Maybe they just want to make the Republic look weak,” Jared said. “Maybe they’re trying to prove we can’t protect people the way the Project did.”
She had to hold back a smile at his use of the word ‘we.’ Even the way he’d mentioned the Project made it sound like something that wasn’t a part of him. Not anymore. “I guess that would help them justify the need to restore the Project,” she said.
“Or it will backfire in their face. They’re making us look incompetent, but they’re hurting innocent people in the process.”
Tripp’s voice came through her earpiece before she could respond to Jared’s comment. “Hey guys, I’ve got an update for you.”
Finally, something was happening. She turned her speaker back on. “Go ahead.”
“They’ve reached an agreement. They’re going to let everyone go.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What, just like that?”
“Oh good,” Dodge said. “They finally grew brains and realized what a ridiculous plan this was to begin with.”
Zira doubted that. This part of the plan—the part they were seeing—was ridiculous. So much so that they would have known it wouldn’t work before they even started. What were they really up to?
They could worry about that later. Right now, the priority had to be getting everyone out of the theater safely. “What do you need us to do?” she asked.
There was a pause, then Alma’s voice came over their comms to finish giving them instructions. “The PRM is going to start sending people out in groups,” she said. “They’ve been instructed to send them through the front door only. Dodge, Salim, Nova, watch those other exits and make sure no one tries to slip out that way. Tripp will link you in to communications for the ground teams covering those areas so you can be their eyes from above. Zira and Jared, we need you to keep an eye on that front entrance. Some of the hostage-takers may be among the groups exiting the theater. They may have explosives or weapons, and they may still intend to cause some real damage here tonight. Don’t let them. Alert the ground teams if you see anything suspicious. You’re clear to take a shot if you feel it’s necessary and can do so without hitting an innocent bystander.”
Tripp took over again. “I’ll patch you all in to the proper ground team comm channels now.”
The line went silent. Zira scanned the front end of the building for any signs of movement, but even the SIO teams posted outside the entrance remained completely still. She turned her attention back to the doors and waited for them to open.
“Zira? Jared?” Tripp said. “You still there?”
“Still here,” she replied.
“Good. Listen, before I transfer you to the other channel, there’s something I need to tell you both.” The tense edge in his voice hadn’t been there just seconds before.
“What is it?”
“About an hour ago, we got news about a prison riot in the North Atlantic region. I was too focused on all this to think much of it at the time, but I just got some more details. It was Ryku’s prison. They’re still trying to account for everyone.”
Ice ran down Zira’s spine as her heart froze inside her chest. She glanced over at Jared. He looked right back at her, and in the instant their eyes met, they communicated the exact same thought. This was the ulterior motive behind the hostage crisis. The PRM—or more likely, the True PRM—had orchestrated all of this, across the entire country, just to divert attention away from their real objective. All along, the plan had been to free Ryku from prison.
“Say something,” said Tripp. “Tell me not to panic. Tell me it’s going to be okay. Anything.”
“Don’t panic.” She shifted her focus back to the view through her scope. Still no activity on the ground.
He waited a few seconds. “You forgot the par
t where you say everything’s going to be okay.”
Zira hesitated. She didn’t want to tell him something she didn’t believe to be entirely true. She hoped everything would be okay, but her racing pulse and barely-controlled breathing made her feel exactly the opposite. Instinctively, she turned back to Jared, searching his face for reassurance. His mouth was set in a thin line, but he didn’t look scared. Just angry.
“Everything is going to be okay,” he said. He gave Zira one last, pointed look, then put his eye back to the scope of his rifle. “He’s working with the PRM. When we take down the PRM, we’ll take him down, too.”
“Sure,” Tripp said. “As long as he doesn’t take us down first.”
“He won’t. He’s tried to kill you two before, and he would have killed me if he’d had a little more time. But we’re still here. We’re survivors. We’ll survive whatever he decides to throw at us next. But right now, we need to focus on this, because there are still people in there who need our help.”
“Okay,” Tripp said softly. He let out a long breath. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Jared nodded and fit his rifle more snugly against his shoulder. “Damn right it is.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
First thing the next morning at SIO headquarters, Alma gathered everyone together for a full debriefing on the hostage crisis. She tried to maintain a professional decorum, but Jared could see her frustration in the deep crease between her eyebrows and the way her fingers clenched and unclenched into fists at her side. It was the same frustration that lay curled up in his own stomach, cold and heavy and immovable. They’d all been duped, but Jared felt a sense of personal responsibility for not catching on to the PRM’s true intentions sooner.
The whole reason he’d been allowed to work for SIO rather than doing time in prison was because he was supposed to provide valuable insight into what Ryku might be thinking or planning. But he hadn’t seen it coming. He’d felt uneasy about the PRM’s actions, and as he and Zira had discussed on the rooftop, parts of their plan to take hostages hadn’t made much sense. But he hadn’t suspected the hostages were a distraction for something else. He should have been more suspicious. He should have asked himself what Ryku’s role in all of this was. Now it was too late.
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