Chapter 45
FORTY-FIVE
Sandra had her strategy mapped out in her head but didn’t attach herself to how it would pan out in its minutiae.
It was certainly unorthodox from one standpoint, but negotiation always had to take into consideration what was important to the hostage taker.
“I’m going to call Mindy using her husband’s cell phone, and I’ll do it on speaker.
” She’d given that part some thought. At least others could weigh in afterward if they picked up on something she might miss.
“So hush, everyone,” Neal told the group.
She nudged her head toward Brice and called Mindy’s cell phone number. Mindy answered on the second ring.
“Dylan?”
“It’s actually Sandra Vos.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Alaya is such a beautiful name,” Sandra said, the intent at this point to throw her off again.
“Ah, thank you.”
It worked… “It almost sounds ethereal and magical.”
“What does that matter? That’s not who I am.”
“Not who you are?”
“No, I’m dying, which you must know if you have Dylan’s phone. You spoke with him.”
“We did.”
“Then you know I’m dying.”
“There are treatment options.”
“For the rich, or if I was magical…”
“What would you do if you were magical?”
There was silence.
Sandra was quick to step in. “You seem magical to me, Alaya. You beat cancer, and that makes you a survivor. That’s magical,” she stressed.
“But it’s back. I can’t fight anymore. I just can’t. And Dyl and I… we can’t afford it. We have no more money to give these leeches!” she roared.
There was no sound in the room behind her, which concerned Sandra, but she had to stay the course. Using a soft voice, she said, “Your husband loves you, Alaya. He says you’ll figure things out.”
“He’s naive. He’s always been a pie-in-the-sky dreamer. There’s no way we can figure this out. We don’t have money trees in the backyard. My husband and I are one buck away from claiming bankruptcy. I told him he’s better off without me. He just needs to move on and forget all about me.”
“You sound desperate and like you can’t see a way out.”
“I don’t.”
“Let me help you see there is one. Just surrender peacefully. No one else needs to get hurt.”
“No, I can’t. Dylan needs me to do this.”
“He loves you and said you can work this out,” Sandra repeated.
“It’s too late. Look where I am, what I’ve done.”
“There’s nothing you can’t walk away from, Alaya.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“It sounded to me like you chose that name for yourself. You don’t want me to call you that anymore?”
“No.”
“Meditation is soothing to the mind, body, and spirit.” Again, Sandra veered some. “Do you still enjoy it?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“After learning how you chose the name, I looked up the meaning of Alaya.” She did this quickly while preparing for the phone call.
“Did you know its origins are in ancient Sanskrit meaning ‘abode’ and ‘dwell’ but that it also has a connection to a Buddhist term that means ‘storehouse consciousness.’ Or where higher consciousness or universal wisdom dwells? That just blows me away. And you chose that name. Magical.”
“It came to me.”
Brice nodded at Sandra.
“Again, just wow. How transcendent and spiritual.”
There were a few beats of silence. “This isn’t who I am normally. A person who holds people at gunpoint and makes demands.”
Sandra’s posture relaxed, feeling like she’d finally broken through the woman’s barricade. She’d shown that she was tuned into her real person. She’d listened to her and molded the conversation to fit her. “It sounds like life has just been rough lately.”
“Try for the last few years, but I’m doing this for a higher purpose. For Dyl. I want these fat cats to write off my medical debt. I don’t even care about future treatment. I can’t go through it again. I just want to die in peace.”
Kreiger scowled, and Sandra felt he was willing to honor her request.
“Is that what Alaya wants for you?” Sandra had managed a lot of negotiations, and this wasn’t the first time spiritual things came up.
Silence.
“Dylan doesn’t want to lose you,” Sandra said. “He wants you to come out safe and sound so that you can face the future together.”
“What future? Even if I got more treatment and beat the cancer, we can’t afford a roof over our heads.”
“Your higher self, Alaya, knows that you will always be provided for.” Sandra debated whether to further point out that higher-self thinking wasn’t rooted in or concerned with matters in the material world such as money. She decided against pushing it.
“Haven’t you read any of those books on the Law of Attraction and manifestation?
You can’t just sit back and wait for things to magically fall into your lap.
You must do something, take action. And that’s what I’m trying to do, but they refuse to write off my debt.
I tell you what… You get me two hundred and fifty thousand, and I’ll walk away. Surrender peacefully.”
Sandra glanced at Brice, who was looking back at her. That amount just covered her debt, not what the others owed, and there wasn’t an allowance for her future treatment. She either figured the government would cover it while she was in prison, or she planned to die. “Is that all?”
“Yes, and make it quick. One hour from now, and you bring me that money yourself.”
Face-to-face negotiations statistically ended badly. “What about a money transfer? I’m sure there’s a computer in there? You can log on to your banking and see it there?”
“No way. You act like you’re on my side, but you put the money in there, I see it, I surrender, and then you take the money back. The only way I’m coming out is when you hand me cold, hard cash and I give it to these fat cats.”
“Let me see what I can do, Alaya—”
“Stop calling me that!”
Any leverage Sandra had from the spiritual angle was over. “All right, Mindy. But you will need to do something for me. A sign of good faith. Otherwise I can tell you right now my boss won’t go for it.” One of the first laws in negotiation was there had to be a give and take to balance the scales.
“Okay, what?”
“Two people were shot on the fourth floor and need surgery. You want the money, then you need to work with me.” Sandra left it there, the silence making the earlier implication clear.
“Tell me what to do.”
“Are you still in contact with your team? Maybe through the walkie-talkies?” That would be the only way they could communicate as the others weren’t answering their cell phones or picking up at the nurses’ stations. Tom Sparling couldn’t answer, but Mindy didn’t know that.
“We still have them.”
“Good. You’re going to tell them to surrender, that you’ve worked out a deal.”
Silence for a few beats. “Though you know, don’t you? That the two hundred and fifty thousand is just what I owe. That’s why you asked if I wanted more. I just want Dyl to be okay. They’ll think I’m getting all our debts forgiven.”
“What you tell them is up to you.” Sandra couldn’t condone the fact that Mindy had no intention of following through on the team’s original plan.
If she said something like the others don’t need to know, it would paint her as disingenuous and untrustworthy in Mindy’s eyes. That was the last thing she needed.
“Okay.”
“Now, the elevators and stairs are locked down, so they can’t just see themselves out of the hospital. You need to tell them that officers will be coming to them, and they are to surrender peacefully. You understand all that?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, great. I’ll need the frequency so I can hear you tell them this, so we know when it’s safe to move in.”
A few seconds and then Mindy shared that frequency. “But what if they want proof the money is also coming through for them?”
“I’m not sure what you expect me to do about that.” Sandra flipped this problem back to Mindy for her to solve. Often it worked for the person requesting something to see their demand wasn’t feasible.
“What do I…? I don’t know.”
“Just tell them you made a deal. They came here with you today, so they obviously trust you.”
“Okay, fine, I’ll do it.”
“Good.”
“One hour from now. I won’t forget or lose track of time.”
“Neither will I.” Sandra set a timer on her phone. “But I’ll call you once I’ve heard the others agree to surrender and have the money. I’ll be calling from my phone.”
“Okay.” With that, Mindy clicked off.
“Holy hell.” Brice rubbed his forehead and bulged his eyes. “Great job, but I’m sure you considered that Tom Sparling is likely still out cold. And if he isn’t, he’s going to tell her he’s locked in a storage room.”
“I’m counting on the guy still being down for the count,” Sandra admitted. “Gibson?”
“On it, don’t you worry.” He fiddled around with the radio scanner.
Sandra continued. “Hopefully, ‘keeping the chatter to a minimum’ will prevent her from freaking out when Tom Sparling doesn’t respond to the request to surrender.”
“Let’s hope so. I’m guessing you have the rest of this worked out too?” Brice asked her.
“You know me so well.” Which was only true more recently. Before Olivia’s kidnapping, Sandra kept her walls up.
Gibson stood to make some notes on the markerboard, and Monica was finishing up the transcript.
“Gibson, did the Fat Cats site ever respond to the warrant for their user info?” she asked him.
“No, they’re delaying and hiding behind their lawyers,” Gibson said. “But we have our hostage takers’ names so I haven’t pushed it.”
Sandra turned to Brice. “And your efforts to shut them down? They clearly radicalize their members the way Mindy keeps dispensing with ‘fat cats’ all the time. It’s almost like she’s giving them credit.”
“I’ll see this through, don’t you worry,” Brice told her. “You know these things don’t happen quickly, though.”
Which is too bad…
Monica looked up from her work. “I need to say something, or it will gnaw on me. Mindy said you can’t just sit back and wait for the universe to deliver.
I agree you need to work toward your goals, sure, but it’s not anyone’s job to figure out how everything comes together. The universe decides that.”
Gibson groaned. Brice took his headset off, not giving any impression he’d heard Monica. Neal brewed himself a cup of coffee.
“I heard that.” Sandra offered Monica a kind smile.
“Okay, so let’s say Mindy convinces the others to surrender,” Neal started, after stirring a sugar packet into his cup. “Where are you getting two hundred and fifty grand in cash?”
“Leave that with me.” She’d be going to her boss, AD Elwood Rowe.
“Gladly.” Neal tossed the stir stick and sipped his coffee.
Now Sandra’s mind was working to untangle what Mindy would do once the money was handed to her. The million ways walking in there with a load of cash could go wrong…
“And she’s only out for herself,” Gibson put in. “I’m sure none of you missed that.”
“She just used the others to get herself in the door,” Neal said.
“More like to cover her ass.” Brice got up and made himself a coffee.
The door swung open, and Kreiger came inside. He jacked a thumb over his shoulder. “Did I just see the shot caller’s husband being escorted away with an officer? Shouldn’t you get him on the phone?”
“It’s not the best move in this case,” Brice told him.
Kreiger massaged his forehead and squinted like he had a headache. “I’m going to need more.”
“She’s doing all of this for him,” Sandra began. “So even if he told her not to, she’s in too deep and she knows it. This would only have her feeling more desperate, and we all know what people do when they feel desperate.”
“This.” Kreiger flailed an arm. “Storm into a hospital with guns. But I suppose you’re telling me we’re just going to keep standing around?”
Sandra smiled at Kreiger, more than happy to reveal her plan. “Not exactly.”