Strategic Moves

SIX

Stone got back to his office a little after five and went through the messages Joan had put on his desk before she left for the day. Dino had called and so, to his astonishment, had Peter Collins of Jack Gunn Investments.

Stone didn’t know Peter Collins. Just for the hell of it he dialed the number. It rang seven times before it was picked up.

“Hello?” a hoarse male voice said.

“This is Stone Barrington. I’m returning Peter Collins’s call. Who is this?”

“This is Peter Collins.”

“What can I do for you, Mr. Collins?”

“I need an attorney to represent me in a multiple-count criminal action,” Collins said.

“Are you still holding hostages there, Mr. Collins?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

“Four.”

“What are their names?”

Collins told him, and Stone wrote them down.

“How many are injured?”

“Just one. I accidentally shot him in the leg while herding everybody into my office.”

“Where in the leg?”

“Left, outside thigh.”

“So you missed the femoral artery?”

“Yes. He’s been given first aid and is alert and talking.”

“Good. Mr. Collins, I can’t represent you in the criminal action because I’m corporate counsel to one of your clients, Strategic Services.”

“I didn’t know that,” Collins said.

“I was appointed only yesterday. What I can do for you is represent you in your talks with the police hostage negotiator and make sure you’re dealt with nonviolently and that your rights are not violated. Then I can recommend an attorney to represent you in your legal difficulties. I assume that these multiple charges are related to your work and the taking of the four hostages. Is that correct?”

“That’s correct.”

“All right. Are you willing to give yourself up?”

“Yes, but I have conditions.”

“What are they?”

“One: that nobody shoots me. Two: that I’m not led out of the building handcuffed, and that I leave the building through the garage, sitting in the right front seat of a police car. Three: that the wounded hostage is taken out of the building first, on a stretcher. Four: that no one asks me any questions until I’ve spoken in person with an attorney.”

“Is that it?”

“That’s it.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem, Mr. Collins.”

“Please call me Peter; I’m more comfortable with that.”

“Peter, I’m Stone. Can you remain near this phone?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll call you back in less than half an hour. If anything happens in the meantime that worries you, you can call me back on the same number you called before.”

“All right.”

“Just be calm, and don’t talk to the police or anyone else until I call you back.”

“All right. You can hang up now.”

“Thanks.” Stone hung up and called Dino.

“Bacchetti.”

“It’s Stone.”

“Dinner tonight?”

“I think so, but first I have to get you to patch me through to the hostage negotiator who’s handling the thing at Jack Gunn Investments.”

“Why?”

“Because the guy who’s holding the hostages called me and asked me to represent him in the negotiations.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I am kidding you not.”

“Hang on.” Dino put him on hold for about a minute, then came back. “All right, he’s on the line. His name is Hank Willard, Lieutenant.”

“Hello, Hank?”

“Yes, Stone. Dino has told me who you are. What can you tell me?”

“Peter Collins wants to give himself up. He has conditions, but I don’t think you’re going to have a problem with them.”

“What are they?”

Stone read from his notes.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. How are you going to handle it?”

“You have any suggestions?”

“Yes. First I’d send a stretcher and a couple of unarmed EMTs who are not cops up there and take the wounded man away. By the way, Collins says the wounding was an accident, completely non-intentional.”

“I can do that.”

“Then I think you should allow Collins to leave his gun in a desk drawer, lock it, and take an elevator down to the garage without a sniper taking him out.”

“Okay, done.”

“Remember, no cuffs. It’s my guess that Collins wants to leave this way so that he won’t be seen on television doing the perp walk.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“If you treat the guy respectfully, then I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with him. You need to brief the other officers in the car on that. In fact, I suggest that you meet Collins alone when he gets off the elevator, and that you put him in the front seat and get into the back. When you get him to the station, walk him in without cuffs and put him into an interrogation room and give him something to eat and drink while he waits for his lawyer.”

“Okay.”

“I am of the impression that he wants to talk to you, but only with an attorney present.”

“Who’s his attorney?”

“I have to make a couple more calls before I can tell you that.”

“Okay.”

“Wait for me to call you back before you send the EMTs upstairs. Collins says the guy is stable and not bleeding.”

“I’ll give you half an hour, Stone, no more.”

“Done. Where are you taking him?”

“The Seventeenth Precinct, on East Fifty-first Street.”

Stone hung up and called Peter Collins back.

“Hello?”

“It’s Stone. The police are willing to meet all your conditions. The hostage negotiator, Lieutenant Hank Willard, is going to escort you to the police station, and you won’t be seen on TV as a criminal. I suggest you make yourself presentable, suit and tie.”

“All right. When do we start?”

“I have to get your attorney lined up, then I’ll call you back.”

“All right.”

Stone hung up and opened his address book to the page of lawyers’ numbers he kept handy. It took him only a moment to settle on Milton Levine. Levine was short, bespectacled, and balding, and he did not look like a corporate legal eagle. He dialed his direct number.

“Who is this; tell me fast.”

“It’s Stone Barrington, Milt. Shut up and listen.”

“I’m listening; talk.”

“You know about the hostage situation in that Park Avenue office building?”

“Yeah.”

“I’d like you to represent the hostage holder, whose name is Peter Collins.” Stone gave him the rundown on Collins’s demands and Hank Willard’s acceptance of them.

“So you’ve done everything. What’s left for me?”

“Get your ass over to the Seventeenth Precinct on East Fifty-first, listen to the man and represent him. You’ll know better than I how to handle it.”

“When?”

“Right now.”

“Shit. I had a hot date for drinks.”

“This shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours; push it back to dinner.”

“Good thinking. Bye.” Levine hung up.

Stone called Peter Collins.

“Hello?”

“Everything okay there?”

“Yes.”

“Your attorney’s name is Milton Levine. Call him Milt. He doesn’t look the part but he’s as smart as they come, and he’ll do good by you. He’s going to meet you at the police station.”

“All right.”

“Now, we’re going to set this in motion. First, the EMTs will come and take the injured man away. Then you lock your gun in your desk or your safe and take the elevator to the garage. Hank Willard will meet you there and escort you to the station. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Remember, as soon as the EMTs have taken the wounded man away, you lock up the gun and leave. The police will come after you’ve gone and take the hostages out.”

“Thank you, Stone. I’m grateful for your help.”

“Good luck, Peter.”

Stone hung up and called Hank Willard. “We’re on,” he said. “Collins’s attorney is Milton Levine. Go.”

“We’re going,” Willard said. “Thanks for your help.” He hung up.

Stone hung up and breathed a sigh of relief.