Carter nodded, and moving quickly back out the door, he retrieved a fire extinguisher from Taz and said, “I’ll handle him. You just find the others. They have to be hiding here somewhere. Is there access to the roof or a crawl space? Tear down the walls if you have to.”

“We’re on it, but I say you distract the one in the office. And while you’re spraying the extinguisher, I’ll use that as cover and take a shot.”

“No,” Carter said. “He’s just a scared kid. I can talk him out. Nobody has to die here.”

“It’s a mistake, but your funeral, boss.”

“You just find the big man … And get officers to set up a perimeter and road blocks.”

“There’s no way they slipped past us.”

“Then find them, sergeant.”

Carter ran back into the inferno and sprayed out every bit of the fire-smothering foam, quenching the flames.

With the fire out, Carter dropped the extinguisher and took a moment to calm his own breathing and heart rate. He’d be no good to that frightened young woman if his old ticker gave out on him before he could get a handle on this mess.

He kept his hands in the air and tried to seem as nonthreatening as possible. “Don’t you think this has gone far enough, son?” he said.

The young black man’s skin looked ashen, and his eyes were barely open. “I’m almost gone anyway. What’s … matter. Crazy … stabbed me.”

“This doesn’t have to be the end. So far, no one’s dead. You can still come out of this, especially if you help us catch your friends.”

The young man laughed, but it turned into a gurgling cough. “Friends? Nah … Used me. I don’t know where …”

“What’s your name, son?”

“Lamar.”

“Walk out of here with me, Lamar. I know they used you. I’m sure that if you cooperate, we can work out some kind of deal. This doesn’t have to be the end of the line, Lamar. I can see a light at the end of your tunnel.”

“I … dying. I know it. Seen it before … Already gone.”

“We can get you patched up. There’s a whole army of paramedics and doctors right outside. Give me the gun and let her go. We’ll bring in a stretcher. This is just a bump in your road, kid. You have an entire life still ahead of you.”

Tears overtook Lamar’s eyes, and the arm holding the gun began to relax. Then Lamar dropped the pistol to the black and white tile and quickly stuck a hand under his shirt.

Carter instantly knew what the young man was reaching for, but he was powerless to do anything about it.

Lamar held a small cylinder made to fit in the palm of a person’s hand. A yellow button sat atop the small cylinder, and a coil of wires trailed out from its bottom, the wires leading back under Lamar’s shirt and connecting to the explosive vest that the kid had shown him earlier.