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are you people doing?”
    “Well, Joe, we’re trying to resolve this situation in a peaceful manner. We want everyone out of there safely.”
    “How the hell did you find us?”
    “Joe, that doesn’t matter. Let’s stay focused here, okay? Try and fix this thing?”
    “Will my article run in the paper?”
    Gavin stared straight ahead. Above all, he always treated the HT with respect. Earning their trust would help end the standoff and that meant being honest and decent. He wouldn’t lie. Not yet, anyway. In a hostage situation, the first lie would come when he needed the HT to step in front of a window so the tactical team could get a clean shot.
    “Joe, we’ve received your article and sent it to the newspaper.”
    Perfect nonanswer.
    “What did you do to our cell phones? We need our phones.”
    “We’re trying to keep this situation under control. Look, Joe, you asked us not to call the authorities. We haven’t done that. If we handle this ourselves, we’ll all get what we want. How does that sound?”
    Step up here, pal. Between the casual, anger-free speech and constantly using his first name, he was completely priming this guy.
    “We want Jackson Spelling out of jail. He’s been wrongly convicted. He’s a great man and he’s being persecuted by our government.”
    Yeah, dumbass, because he tried to kill a judge. Gavin rolled his eyes and sat. Sometimes this job made him sick, but he had to connect with this guy. Make him think he understood his rage. “Right, Joe. I hear ya. I was with the Bureau for twelve years. Why do you think I moved to the private sector? All that bureaucratic bullshit, that’s why. The government, they want us all to be a bunch of puppets. Who needs that crap? Am I right?” He leaned back in the chair, jotted a note to himself.
    Joe stayed silent. Come on, idiot. Answer me so I can bury you.
    No answer.
    “Tell your men outside to back off. We’re leaving here.”
    Not gonna happen. If these people went mobile, they’d lose total control. And one thing Gavin never allowed was losing ground they’d already gained.
    “Joe, right now, we need to talk about getting everyone out of this mess. I’ve directed our men surrounding the property to stay put. As long as you do the same and continue talking to me, nobody gets hurt. Nobody is hurt, right?”
    “No. Nobody is hurt.”
    “Good, then we can end this thing right now. I get it, Joe. I know you want your guy freed, but I want you to do yourself a favor and walk out that front door.”
    “No.”
    A voice sounded in the background from the HT’s end, but Gavin couldn’t make it out. Then a muffling noise. Gavin motioned to Janet that Joe had placed his hand over the receiver. He made a note about the second person on the other end. Determining how many people were in that house would be his next task. Maybe he’d just lay it out there. He needed to keep this guy talking. Eventually, the boredom would wear him down and he’d give in.
    “Joe, how many people do you have in there with you?”
    The line went dead.
    Damn.
    Gavin went back to his notes. “We know there’s at least one other person. We also know he’s crapping his pants that we found them.”
    “For good reason,” Janet said. “What now?”
    “I need to keep him talking. If he’s talking, he’s not hurting Roxann. Best we can tell, he’s in charge so we’re dealing with the right person. What do we know about his family? Does he have a wife?”
    “His tax returns say he’s single but has one dependent.”
    “You got his tax returns?”
    She grinned. “I have a friend at the IRS.”
    “I love you people. Maybe he’s divorced. Or has a child from a previous relationship.”
    “He’s twenty-nine, so either one is viable. I’m working on information on the dependent. Also, Joe works at an accounting firm.”
    “We have a current address for him, right?”
    “Best that we can tell.”
    “Let’s get someone to visit his office and his house