The man began to move again. Leah let him get a few more steps and calm himself down before she walked too. She reached under the towel and grasped the slide, then pulled to cycle it and put a round in the chamber.

She saw the man stop at the passenger side of the Audi. He leaned over the girl and craned his neck to see her face. Leah still couldn’t be sure it was Weiss, but she was sure she wasn’t going to let this man take the girl. As the man walked around the back of the convertible to reach the driver’s side, Leah began to run.

The man looked up and saw her, then stopped in place. His face contracted into an imitation of a sincere smile. “Oh, good,” he said. “I’m so glad you came along. This girl seems to need help. Do you think you could give me a hand with her?”

Leah kept going until she was about fifteen feet from him, which was when she was sure. This man was Albert Weiss. She stopped and said, “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know for sure. I think it’s probably alcohol. If you can help me get her into my car, I’ll drive her to the hospital and they’ll check her out.” While he was chattering, he reached in and got his hands under her arms, then lifted her.

“Don’t move her.”

“I’m pretty experienced with these things,” he said as he raised the girl to a vertical position.

“Put her down.”

He lifted the girl, holding her in front of him like a doll. One arm was across her body, and the other arm was under her neck. He began to walk backward toward his car, holding her up between them. “What are you talking about? You can’t leave an unconscious person lying there where her own vomit will block her airway.”

Leah let the towel drop from the silencer and aimed the pistol. “Put the girl down, Mr. Weiss.”

His eyes widened, and then narrowed. “Are you willing to shoot me?”

“Of course I am.”

“I can break her neck, kill her before you can—”

Leah fired, and the bullet went through Weiss’s forehead. He fell, his muscles limp, his limbs instantly deprived of strength. “Stupid,” she muttered. Any cop in the country would have taken the shot, and a criminal like him should have known it. Cops were all trained to take the shot, never to let the hostage taker decide.