“You’re not trained—” Charlotte snapped.
“I can get Gino’s attention for a few minutes, trust me. It might be enough.”
“How?” Dominic asked, pinning her with a razor-sharp gaze.
“Gino-the-snake is how I got this scar.” Ava touched her brow. “He murdered my father and left me for dead. I testified and helped put the sonofabitch away in here.”
Dominic’s blue eyes held a glint of anger but also of opportunity.
“I might get his attention long enough to get him away from the warden for a few minutes.”
“Stalling for time is the best we can do,” Eban agreed. “We have nothing to lose at this point.”
Tension stretched around the room.
“Put her on.” Dominic nodded. “Make sure there’s a note in the file that the warden is seconds from being raped by Gino Gerbachi.” He looked at her critically. “This might be crazy enough to buy us some time. Do your worst, Ava. Give it all you’re got. We need to shock this guy out of his current mindset. Shake him to his foundations. I’ll be right by your side to coach you through it.”
Ava sat and took the headset from Eban. Charlotte thrust a list of talking points in front of her. Ava took the list, but it wouldn’t help. It was hard to bargain with psychopaths even for experts. She was just a rookie agent with a big mouth.
She looked at the monitor, adjusted the mic so it sat below her lips. “Well, if it isn’t old Gino-the-snake. I can see now why they call you snake, big boy.” She emphasized her Greek accent to sound more like her mother. “I just wonder how the rest of the family knew you were such a big dick?”
Charlotte’s mouth fell open, but Dominic was staring at her with intense concentration.
Gino froze in the act of jacking his dick into hardness and both he and Frank were staring around in astonishment.
“What? You thought we couldn’t see what was going on in there? You haven’t learned by now that the Feds like drilling holes in walls and light sockets? Isn’t that what put you in here in the first place, Gino?” She was taunting the man and knew that wasn’t how negotiators worked, but they were past the time for tact.
“Oh, no, wait, it was that kid, right? That little Greek girl you got too sloppy to kill.”
Gino was standing stock-still in the middle of the kitchen listening to her with rapt attention. Jaws were clenched. Eyes small and beady. He finally put his dick away which was a relief. No one wanted that thing out in the open.
Frank let go of the warden and climbed off the counter. The woman curled into a ball and lay there naked in the fetal position. Ava wanted her off that countertop onto the floor where she’d be safer from crossfire should HRT burst in.
The sound of a helicopter flying overhead and landing could be clearly heard throughout the facility. That got Frank and Gino’s attention.
Suddenly Milo, the convicted serial killer, who until that moment had looked like he was unconscious or dead, rolled onto his side and slowly climbed to his feet. The other hostage-takers didn’t appear to notice.
“You remember her name, Gino? The little girl whose father you shot like a dog because he wouldn’t let you steal his hard-earned money?”
“Emily.” He squinted as he scanned the room, looking for the camera, looking for her.
“Emmeleia, jackass. She cleaned your clock in court. Had the jurors weeping in their seats.” He picked up a large knife.
Ava could almost see him vibrate with fury. She’d be lying if she said it didn’t feel good to mess with him. “You ever wonder what happened to little Emmeleia, Gino?”
“I’m gonna find you and gut you and fuck you until you bleed.”
“Well, if you gut me first, it’s definitely gonna get messy.”
“And I’m gonna gut your mother and your sister and little brother.”
She made a tutting sound even though inside she was numb with horror at the thought. That’s how these guys won, by being more violent than anyone else. Brutal. Unfeeling. Psychopaths. Didn’t matter how much money they had, they were monsters beneath the nice suits and expensive ties. Mobsters were animals and needed to be kept in cages.
But he wouldn’t track them down. No links to them existed in her files. They were safe. She laughed. “You’ll have to get out of prison for that, and you’re too stupid. You’re gonna miss your chance because it took you so long to get it up. Need a little blue pill, Gino? To put some pep in your prick?”
Gino walked over and dragged the cook to his feet by his hair. The cook cried out in what had to be excruciating pain. Gino held the knife to the man’s throat.
Ava held her breath. Dominic squeezed her shoulder in warning. They both worried she’d gone too far.
“We’re going out into the yard now, and that chopper better be waiting.” Gino sneered.
Dominic pointed to a line on the sheet.
“If anyone hurts the hostages the deal is off,” Ava said. Cold sweat slid down her back. She had never been in a situation this intense before. Even facing down Jimmy Taylor last week had been less stressful than this—because other people’s lives were on the line here, she realized.
It was easier to risk your own life than barter for the lives of others.
She wouldn’t want this job for all the money in the world.
Everyone in the negotiation room was wired and on edge. She glanced behind her to see the tactical and incident commanders staring holes in her through the window.
She turned back to the monitor. Gino had chosen the cook to be his shield as he was the biggest person in the room. It showed what a coward the man was.
Snake, indeed.
Frank picked another hostage, and they hovered near the exit into the yard.
Helicopter rotors could be easily heard in the distance.
“Is the chopper there yet?” Gino yelled.