Hostage

The boy was excited. He was a boy. He didn't understand risk.

'Your dad has a couple of computer disks. I'm not sure, but they're probably on his desk or in his briefcase. He was probably working with them today. They're called Zip disks. You know what that is?'

Thomas made a derisive snort.

'I've had a Zip drive for years, Chief. Jeez. Zip disks are big and thick. They hold more information than regular disks.'

'These disks are labeled disk one and disk two. When you're downstairs in the office again, could you get to your dad's desk? Could you find those disks and try to see whose files they are?'

'No, they wouldn't let me go to the desk. Dennis makes me sit on the floor.'

The slim hope that Talley had felt only moments before withered. Then Thomas went on.

'But I might be able to sneak into the office if they're not around. Then I could just swipe the disks and open them on my computer up here in my room.'

'I thought they locked you in your room.'

'They do, but I can get out.'

'You can?'

Talley listened as Thomas described being able to move through the crawl space in the eaves and attic, and how he was able to emerge in different parts of the house through access hatches.

'Thomas, could you get to his office that way, through the crawl space?'

'Not into his office, but I can get into the den. There's a service door in the wine cellar behind the bar. It's right across from my dad's office. My mom says she can always tell when he sneaks across one time too many.'

Talley's hope surfaced again, but it was dampened by the knowledge that he could not allow this child to risk his life.

'That sounds too dangerous.'

'It won't be if they don't see me. Mars spends most of his time in the office, but Kevin is back by the French doors. Dennis walks around a lot. He stays in the safety room sometimes, the one where all the monitors are. But once I'm in the den, all I have to do is sneak across the entry and go to my dad's desk. That wouldn't take any time at all.'

Talley thought it through, trying not to let the need he felt cloud his judgment. He would have to get all three subjects away from that area of the house. He would have to blind the cameras in case one or all of the subjects were in the safety room with the monitors.

'If I could get Rooney and the others away from the office, do you think you could get the disks without being caught?'

'No problemo.'

'Could you do it in the dark?'

'I do stuff like that almost every night.'

Thomas laughed when he said it. Talley didn't laugh. He was supposed to help this child; now he wanted this child to help him. He felt as much a hostage as Thomas or Jane, and hoped that he could forgive himself for what he was about to do.

'All right, son. Let's figure this out.'

The night air was so clear that the houses and cars and cops in the street all seemed etched in glass. House lights, street lamps, and the red flares of cigarettes were hard sharp points of glare; overhead, the helicopters floated against the star field like nighthawks balanced on the sky, waiting for something to die. Talley checked his watch and knew the Watchman would call again soon. Thomas was still up in his room and the sister was still cooking, but that could change at any moment. Talley didn't have much time.

Talley found Jorgenson and brought him to the Department of Water and Power truck. The DWP technician, a young guy with a shaved head and a braided chin beard, was stretched across the bench seat of his truck, sleeping. Talley shook his foot.

'Can you cut the power to the house?'

The service tech rubbed at his face, blotchy with sleep.

'I could do that, yeah. Good to go.'

'Not now. You turn it off, that means all the power in the house goes off, not just in part of the house?'

Talley couldn't afford a mistake, and neither could Thomas.

The tech slid out of his truck. The manhole was open. A short aluminum fence circled it as a warning.

'Not just the one house, the entire cul-de-sac. I control the branch line from here. I cut the juice, it's all going dead. If I set up there in the cul-de-sac I could cut it just to a single house, but they told me out here.'

'Out here is fine. How long does that take, to cut the power?'

'On-off, like flipping a switch.'

'The phones won't be affected?'

'I got nothin' to do with that.'

Talley left Jorgenson with the technician, then radioed Martin to have Hicks and Maddox meet him at the command van. Martin answered stiffly.

'Listen, I appreciate that you talked Rooney into releasing Mr. Smith, but then you walked away without a word. You want command, you have to stay available. We might have needed to clear an action, but you weren't here.'

Talley felt defensive, but also resentful that she was calling him on this and wasting time.

'I didn't walk away. I was with Maddox and Ellison, and then I made some calls.'

He didn't tell her that he had spoken with Thomas.