Miranda imagines the toy car, with a phone inside, zipping down the corridor far enough to film the hostages, and then coming back. With one of the killers in hot pursuit.

“But what if Amina’s not there?” she says. “We won’t know until we watch the video.” An idea bubbles up. “Does anyone have FaceTime or Skype on their phone? Because if we connected two phones, then we could use one phone to see what the other one sees. That way, it would be like we were actually in the car. And we won’t have to actually be able to see the car to drive it.”

It turns out everyone but Javier has one of the apps. And that when it comes down to it, no one really wants to be the one to risk losing their phone.

Eventually Grace volunteers her phone for the driver’s seat. “But what if they just shoot it?”

“It’s the same thing I said before,” Cole says. “If they start shooting, the cops are going to think everyone must be dying. And then they’ll storm in no matter what. That’s why they didn’t shoot Amina or Miranda’s friend. Right now it’s a hostage situation. They have demands and they want them met. They won’t want to screw that up just to shoot a toy car.”

“But what if my phone falls out?” She clutches it to her chest.

“We’ll put it in lengthwise so it’s more stable,” Cole reassures her. “And that way it’s less likely to hit the bottom of the gate if I have to go under it to make sure Amina’s really there.”

“If you have to go under it?” Javier echoes. “The remote-control car is my idea. I should drive it. I’ve played Grand Theft Auto a million times.”

Cole holds up a cautioning finger. “Before anyone does anything, someone has to get the car. And that means running across that open space as fast as possible and then coming back. And whoever risks doing that should get to drive the car.”

Javier looks down at his bandaged leg, then presses his lips together and nods. Miranda and Grace don’t argue with Cole’s plan.

Before he tries to retrieve the car, Miranda again lies belly down on the floor and slips out her phone, tilting it until she can see the two men with guns. They’re both still facing toward the hostages. One of them appears to be talking.