Hunted

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Book: Read Hunted for Free Online
Authors: Karen Robards
Tags: Retail
receiver, she assumed to make sure that she wasn’t still pressing the talk button—she wasn’t, she released it whenever she finished speaking—and said into his radio, “I need information on a Hollis Bayard. Check the jails.”
    “Hope the little son of a bitch is worth it, because you just threw your life away for him,” Martin snarled at Ware at the same time.
    On the monitor, Caroline could see Ware’s face tighten, see the way his pistol nudged the back of her father’s head. Her heartbeat quickened. The last thing her father, or any of them, should be doing was antagonizing Ware. The situation spoke for itself: the man was armed, dangerous, and clearly capable of extreme violence.
    “If I go down, you’re going with me,” Ware told him. “Count on it.”
    “I’d appreciate it if you’d let me handle this, Superintendent,” Caroline said crisply.
    Eyes widening a little, her father sat taller in his chair: the ultimate control freak, it was obvious that he was surprised by, and not particularly appreciative of, her intervention. A sardonic laugh came from Ware.
    “That’s right, that’s your little girl on the other end of thatphone, isn’t it, Superintendent?” he said. “Play nice, and you two just might get to eat Christmas dinner together after all. Wouldn’t that be nice, Caroline?”
    “Yes,” Caroline replied, lying through her teeth. Of course they had no such plans: the last Christmas Day she’d spent with her father had been the one before her parents had split up. He’d gotten drunk as a skunk and had an angry explosion over something, and the evening had ended with her little sisters hiding in a closet and Caroline standing between her parents, threatening to call the cops— his cops—if he came one step closer to her weeping, cringing mother.
    Outside the family circle, nobody knew about that particular episode. Nobody ever had to know about that particular episode.
    That the superintendent’s first marriage had ended badly was common knowledge. The worst of the details were for the most part a shameful secret they all kept to themselves. Those details were also probably the reason she wasn’t a particular fan of the institution of marriage to this day.
    Love ’em and leave ’em: it might be a cliché, but that was how she conducted her love life. How she meant to keep on conducting her love life.
    Seizing the moment, going with another rule of hostage negotiation that was to humanize the victims, she added, “All the people in the room with you would like to go home to have Christmas dinner with their families, too, you know. Why don’t you let them go so they can?”
    Ware laughed. Implicit message: fat chance. “Cut the crap, Caroline. You know I’m not going to do that.”
    “I can’t believe you’re really this stupid,” Martin told Ware. “You’re digging your own damned grave.”
    Ware’s eyes narrowed. His lips thinned. “You don’t keep your mouth shut, Superintendent, somebody’s going to be digging yours.”
    Martin’s eyes flashed.
    “Detective, you want to tell me the name of the kid you want released from jail one more time?” Caroline said hurriedly before things could escalate. Her pulse raced and she found herself leaning toward the monitor as if she could somehow physically intervene between the two men. Much as she hated to admit it, the volatile combination of her father and Ware was unsettling her with its possibilities. If it escalated into violence, bad things could happen to all the hostages.
    Keep your head in the game, she ordered herself fiercely. By her count, seven innocent people lay on the carpet: five women, two men. Add her father, and there were eight hostages in all. They were depending on her for their lives.
    She did another quick visual sweep of the room as it suddenly hit her who she didn’t see: Jefferson Parish Sheriff B. J. Cardwell, Council Chairman Leo Joseph, and New Orleans’ mayor, Harlan Guthrie.
    They’d

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