Page 63
CHAPTER 63
“ MOVE! COMING THROUGH! ”
Holmes was running at top speed through Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station, toward the Seventh Avenue exit, shoving slower-moving pedestrians aside. When he reached the plaza outside, he spotted a taxi queue at the curb. Travelers with backpacks and satchels were waiting in a ragged line. Holmes pulled his wallet from his pocket and waved his PI identification over his head as he ran. “Official business!” he shouted. He jumped into the first cab in line and slammed the door behind him.
The cabbie turned around and glared. “What the hell, buddy?”
“Silvercup Studios in Queens! Life or death! No questions! Go! ”
The cabbie pulled away from the curb with a gut-twisting lurch, cutting off a city bus and getting a chorus of honks from other cars. Holmes pulled an assortment of bills from his wallet and waved them in front of the Plexiglas partition. “I’ll pay you a hundred dollars for every ten miles over the speed limit you can go,” he said.
“You’re nuts if you think anyone’s even moving as fast as the speed limit in this traffic, let alone ten miles over,” the cabbie retorted. “Besides, I don’t need another suspended license!”
Holmes fastened his seat belt. “Don’t worry—I can fix that too! Let’s move!”
The driver gave him a wary look in the rearview mirror. “I’m gonna hold you to that,” he said. He made a hard turn on 34th Street and did his best to bull his way across town, making ample use of the bus lane and running two red lights along the way. He couldn’t do much in the single-file flow of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel except curse and tap his horn, but he earned his money on the east side of the river, blasting up 21st Street through Long Island City and Hunters Point, then zigzagging through side streets to dodge the police barricades as they got close to the studio site.
A block away from the big red Silvercup sign, two patrol cars and a SWAT van blocked the street. Holmes pounded on the partition. “Close enough! Stop here!” He pushed a bunch of bills through the slot, including three crisp hundreds. “See? Big fat tip and not one speeding ticket.”
“They got traffic cams, you know,” said the cabbie. “I could still get nailed.”
Holmes reached back into his pocket and stuffed a business card through the slot. “If they caught you, call me.”
He shoved the back door of the cab open and started running. One of the cops at the barricade held up a hand to warn him off, but Holmes held up his PI identification again and vaulted over the far edge of the barricade, heading for the riot of lights ahead. He was gambling that nobody would give chase or shoot him in the back.
He was sweaty and out of breath when he rounded the corner into the parking lot. The scene was chaos. SWAT teams with automatic rifles were positioned behind vehicles and on top of the building. News vans were parked at the edge of the action, with reporters and cameramen competing for the best angle. All attention seemed to be focused on a single red steel door.
“Brendan!”
Poe’s voice. Holmes spotted his partner at the edge of the scene, and Duff standing on the other side of a patrol car. Holmes pushed past a gaggle of plainclothes detectives, their badges dangling on lanyards over their street clothes, and made his way over to his partner.
“How was Delaware?” asked Poe.
“Clarifying,” said Holmes. “What’s going on?”
“Three baby girls. One female kidnapper.” Poe pointed to the door. “They’re holed up in that studio.”
Holmes looked around. “Why here?” he asked. “What is this place?”
“Film studio,” said Poe. “The babies were here to shoot a diaper commercial.”
Holmes peered over the top of the patrol car. Duff was standing in the open a few yards away, his tall frame looming over a man with a bullhorn.
“Negotiator?” asked Holmes.
Poe nodded again. “He’s been talking with her for the past half hour. No progress.”
The negotiator’s bullhorn was not currently in use. It was dangling by a strap over his shoulder. He was talking through a headset, wires hanging down his side. Duff had an earpiece too. Holmes started toward them. A cop grabbed him from behind. Holmes pounded his hand on the roof of the cop car. “Duff!” he shouted. The captain turned, yanked the earpiece out of his ear, and walked over.
He glared at Holmes. “Now you too?”
“What does she want?” asked Holmes.
“Not much,” said Duff tersely. “Just free passage to JFK with the babies, plus a private jet and a pilot and enough fuel to get across the Atlantic.”
“She’s improvising,” said Holmes. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Well, there’s no way in hell she’s getting any of it.”
“Any way to take her down?” asked Poe.
“We’re trying to get a camera inside,” said Duff. “But the place is built like a brick shithouse. Soundproofed and everything, for movies. We can’t use teargas or flash-bangs because of the babies.” He nodded toward the press vans. “Last thing we need on live TV is a bunch of stunned, deaf infants.”
On the other side of the car, the negotiator pressed his hand tight to his earpiece. He turned toward the captain with a grim expression. Duff jerked his head to call him over.
“Any movement?” Duff asked as the man neared.
The negotiator clicked off his comms device. “She’s giving us fifteen minutes to give them transport,” he said. “Or she’ll start killing the babies.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63 (Reading here)
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96