Chapter 16 - The Wrong Door

Maya refused the exchange. "A hostage-taker doesn't get to choose his witnesses or his evidence," she said. "And we are not sending you in there."

Instead, trained negotiators called Sloane while a rescue team approached the maintenance station. I waited inside the command vehicle with Atlas curled beneath my chair. The original card remained sealed in federal custody.

Sloane demanded proof the dog was nearby. Maya allowed a short video of Atlas beside me, with no view of our location. Sloane laughed when he saw it.

"Still following orders, Nora?"

"Not yours," I said.

Aerial cameras showed movement in the station, but the rescue team found the main workshop empty. Fresh footprints led to a locked basement door. A voice behind it cried for help.

"Too easy," I murmured.

Atlas stood, nostrils working. His ears turned toward the drainage culvert outside the command vehicle. He gave three short barks, paused, and barked once more.

I looked at Maya. "That's his live-person alert. Somebody's in the drainage line."

She dispatched officers to check the culvert rather than send me forward. A camera lowered through a grate showed Dr. Lane bound in a narrow maintenance passage. The cries from the basement were coming from a recorded speaker.

"He's drawing the team to the wrong door," Maya said into her radio. "Hold entry. Locate the rear exit."

Officers moved along the drainage channel. A figure emerged from a side hatch and fired toward the lights. The rescue team returned fire from cover. Atlas flinched at the reports and pressed against my knee. I kept my hand on his collar.

"You're safe. I'm here."

The radio burst with overlapping voices. "Suspect down! Weapon secured! Hostage located!"

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Then another voice, urgent and sharp: "We have a second armed man moving toward command."

Before anyone could close the vehicle door, a shadow crossed the windshield. The glass shattered, and Atlas launched himself between me and the gun.