“She isn’t going anywhere,” Stone said.
“Okay,” Dino said into the radio, “tell them to shake their asses.”
“What do we do now?” Carpenter asked.
“Let me see if I can talk her out,” Stone said.
“Feel free,” Dino replied.
Stone moved closer to the door and rapped on it sharply. “Marie-Thérèse, it’s Stone Barrington.”
“Well, hi there, Stone,” her muffled voice came back. “What brings you to see me?”
“I want to get you out of here alive,” Stone said.
“Sounds good to me. How do we go about that?”
“It’s simple. You open the door, toss out your weapon, and walk out with your hands on your head. I guarantee you’ll be safe.”
“Carpenter’s out there, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she’s here.”
“Can you guarantee I’ll be safe from her? After the lie about the money transfer, I don’t trust her.”
“I sent the money!” Carpenter shouted. “It’s in your account!”
Stone motioned for her to be quiet. “Carpenter is not going to shoot you, but a SWAT team is on the way, and unless we get you out of there now, they’re going to be battering the door down, and anything could happen.”
“Well, we don’t want that, do we? All right, I’m coming out. Everybody stand away from the door.”
The three of them backed across the hallway and waited.
“We’re out of the way,” Stone said.
“Okay, here I come.”
The knob turned, and the door swung inward.
Stone blinked. A man stood there, a man so big that he filled the whole doorway. His fingers were interlaced across his belly, and from under his arms protruded two female feet, in heels. Marie-Thérèse peeked over his shoulder, an arm around his neck, and her pistol was against his temple.
“Giddyup,” she said, “but take it slow.”
The man moved slowly through the doorway.
“Just don’t turn your back on them,” Marie-Thérèse said.
Dino spoke up. “Hey, I know you, don’t I?” he said to the man. “Weren’t you a linebacker for the Jets a while back?”
“Yeah,” the man replied.
“Billy Franco, The Freezer!”
“Yeah, right, now could you just please do whatever it takes to get this lady offa my back and outa my life?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt this sports chat,” Marie-Thérèse said, “but we’re going to do a little dance now. Everybody is going to rotate counterclockwise until we’ve changed places.”
The three began moving in that direction, and Franco moved at the same time, until his back was to the opposite wall, and they were standing in the doorway of the room.