"You're the news assignments editor, is that correct?"
"Going on half a century. And tonight I left my newsroom in the hands of a wet-behind-the-ears rookie with bleached hair and three silver hoops in his eyebrow, a smart-ass fresh out of UT with a degree in television." He snorted with derision at the presumption that broadcast journalism was something that could be learned at college.
"I rarely leave my post, Mr. Galloway. And never in the hands of incompetents. That I did so tonight should give you some indication of how much I think of Tiel McCoy.
So, no, sir, Mr. Galloway, my ass is a permanent fixture of this van until this business is over. You're Dendy, right?"
Suddenly he turned to the Fort Worth millionaire.
Dendy didn't deign to reply to so brusque a greeting.
'Just so you know," Gully told him, "if anything happens to Tiel, I'm gonna rip out your goddamn guts. My opinion, you're the cause of all this." Leaving Dendy to smolder in his wrath, Gully turned back to Galloway. "Now, what is it Tiel's after? Whatever it is, she gets."
"I've consented to her request of sending in a video cameraman."
"He's outside, geared up and raring to go."
"First, I need to lay down a few ground rules for this recording."
Gully's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Such as?"
"This tape must serve our purposes too."
Cole Davison stepped forward. "What purposes?"
"I want a view of the store's interior."
"What for?"
"This is a standoff, Mr. Davison. Hostages are being held at gunpoint. I need to know what's going on in there so I can respond accordingly."
"You promised me my son would not be hurt."
"He won't be. Nor will anyone else. Not if I can help it."
"Might freak out the boy if he thinks you're concentrating on the lay of the land instead of his message," Gully remarked.
"I want to know who is where inside that store." Galloway spoke with authority, quelling any further discussion on the matter. He didn't care who disliked it; that was a non-negotiable condition.
"That it?" Gully asked impatiently.
"That's it. I'll call Ms. McCoy now."
Gully motioned Galloway toward the telephone. "Get after it. If you're waiting on me, you're backing up."
Under other circumstances, Galloway would have laughed at the man's brazenness. But his voice was all business when he got through to Ronnie. "This is Agent
Galloway. Let me speak to Ms. McCoy."
"Are you going to let us do the video?"
"That's what I need to talk to her about. Put her on, please." Within a second, the newswoman was on the line.
"Ms. McCoy, your cameraman…"
"Kip," Gully supplied.
"Kip is standing by."
"Thank you, Mr. Galloway."
"We're not filming a documentary. I'm limiting this taping to five minutes. The clock starts as soon as the cameraman clears the door of the store. He will be so instructed."
"I think that will be agreeable. Ronnie and Sabra should be able to get their message across in that amount of time."
"I'm going to tell Kip to pan—"
"No, no," she interrupted quickly. "The baby's doing fine. I'll see to it that Kip gets close-ups of her."
"You're saying not to tape the interior of the store?"
"That's right. She's beautiful. Sleeping just now."
"I'm… uh…" Galloway wasn't sure what she was trying to communicate to him. After the Cain debacle, he couldn't afford any more mistakes.
"What's she saying?" Gully wanted to know.
"She doesn't want us to video the store's interior."
Then: "Ms. McCoy, I'm going to put you on speaker." He depressed the button.
"Tiel, it's Gully. How're you doing, kid?"
"Gully! You're here?"
"Can you believe it? Me, who never gets more than ten miles from the TV station, out here in jackrabbit country.
Mode of transportation was a helicopter. Noisiest goddamn contraption I've ever had the misfortune to fly in.
Wouldn't let me smoke during the flight. This entire day has sucked. How're you?"
"I'm all right."
"Soon as you're out of there, the margaritas are on me."
"I'll take you up on that."
"Galloway's confused. You don't want Kip to pan the store's interior?"
"That's right."
"Freak everybody out?"
"Possibly."
"Okay. How about a wide shot?"
"That's very important, yes."
"Got it. Wide shot, but nobody's aware of it. Pretend they're close-ups. Is that what you're saying?"
"I can always count on you, Gully. We'll be watching for
Kip." She hung up.
"You heard her," Gully said, heading for the door of the van to instruct the photographer waiting outside. "You'll get your interior shot, Mr. Galloway, but for whatever reason,
Tiel doesn't want everyone to know they're on camera."