“Hello, Johnny.”
“Well, this is some sort of miracle! Praise the Lord!”
“How are you doing?”
“No, babe, how are you doing? Where you been?”
“Let’s talk.”
“Not with all the feds listening in. How you doing, Maxson?”
Steve looked at Maxson, who was listening on a headset. Max-son shrugged.
“What I say’s confidential,” Johnny said. “So come on up and we’ll talk in person.”
Maxson shook his head.
“I don’t know if they’ll let me,” Steve said.
“Sure they will,” Johnny said. “Maxson’s my bud. Tell him I’ll let two of the ladies go just so I can talk to you.”
“Sienna,” Steve said. “Let her go.”
Maxson looked like he would bust a vein in his forehead.
“Have ’em call me back in five minutes with an answer,” Johnny said. “In five minutes the deal’s off the table.”
Click.
“Absolutely not,” Issler said.
“Two hostages,” Steve said. “That’s a pretty good trade for some talk.”
“How do you know it’s just going to be talk? How do you know you’ll even come back?”
“It’s worth a try,” Steve said.
Issler and Maxson exchanged looks.
Steve caught something there. “You’re going in, aren’t you?”
Issler said nothing.
“Call him back,” Steve said. “Tell him I’m coming up.”
“No — ”
“I’m talking as his lawyer. He still has the right to counsel. Now you don’t want to be violating any constitutional rights, do you?”
“You’re not seriously — ”
“I am seriously.”
Issler said, “Wait here.”
The wait felt like an hour. When Issler came back he said, “You talk at the gate. You bring the two hostages back with you. Then we talk about the next step.”
“That’s the deal?”
“That’s it. Are you clear?”
“Clear.”
Issler handed Steve a phone. “Press and hold 2. That comes to me. How do you feel?”
“I didn’t know you cared.”
“You don’t know me very well, Mr. Conroy.”