First Decker had to take off his bomber jacket and strip down to his vest. Then Banks told Decker to take off his shoes, show his ankles, and turn his pants pockets inside out. He managed to sneak a glance at his illuminated watch. It was almost five in the morning. The sun would be up within the hour.

Banks said, “I’m taking the bitch down to the lobby. I’ll tell you when you can come in.”

“You’ve got it.” He waited over the line as he heard a female voice plead for her life. She was sobbing and mewing and Decker wished she would just shut up. He didn’t want Banks to become unnerved. Finally, Rudy’s voice came through his cell. “You can come in. Do it slowly.”

Decker inched his way into the dark lobby. As his eyes adjusted, he saw the woman first, then the gun at her head, then someone taller in back. Curly dark hair with burning eyes. A square chin and high cheekbones. The same Rudy Banks he had seen on the Web, but with the look of a feral animal.

Rudy talked softly. His voice was surprisingly calm. “I just thought of something. If you’re in back of me, what’s stopping you from jumping me?”

“I won’t jump you. But if that plan makes you nervous, let the girl go and put the gun to my head.”

“Hard to do when you’re wearing a helmet.”

“I’m not going to take off the helmet. Let me repeat. You have the gun. I am unarmed.”

“You’re a big man. As soon as I let her go, you’re going for my gun.”

“If I was going to charge you, I would have come in with ten sharpshooters. I also know what it feels like to be shot. I’m not anxious to experience it again.”

“You’ve been shot before?”

“Twice.” Decker waited to hear his next move.

No one spoke for what seemed like eternity. Rudy weighed his options.

“I’m not going to let go of the girl. She’s the only protection I have against getting my head blown off.”

Decker tried to be as calm as he could. He didn’t know which girl Rudy had in his clutches. Not that it mattered. All Decker saw was the terror plastered across a frightened child. “Do whatever you want. For what it’s worth, I think it’s better for you if you let her go. Less chance for something getting fucked up. But you’re the boss.”

“Fucking A right about that.”

Decker’s mind was racing with a single thought: how to get the gun away from the girl’s head without either of them getting shot. If Banks got shot, while that wasn’t ideal, Decker could certainly live with that. He could make out the girl’s eyes—dilated and awash in fear. “What’s next, boss?”