"Positive" was the officer's reply. "We got a good look before he started shooting."
"Okay. You got a shot?"
"Probably through the door."
"No, don't shoot blind. Go for position. But only if you've got cover all the way."
"Roger."
She saw the men move to a flanking position. A moment later one of the officers said, "I've got a shot to kill. Should I take it?"
"Stand by." Then she shouted, "You in the car. With the rifle. You have ten seconds or we'll open fire. Drop your weapon. You understand?" She repeated this in Spanish.
"Fuck you."
Which she took to be affirmative.
"Ten seconds," she shouted. "We're counting."
To the two officers she radioed, "Give him twenty. Then you're green-lighted."
At close to the ten-second mark, the man dropped the rifle and stood up, hands in the air. "No shoot, no shoot!"
"Keep those hands straight up in the air. Walk toward the corner of the building here. If you lower your hands you will be shot."
When he got to the corner Wilkins cuffed and searched him. Sachs remained crouched down. She said to the suspect, "The guy inside. Your buddy. Who is he?"
"I don't gotta tell you--"
"Yeah, you do gotta. Because if we take him out, which we are going to do, you'll go down for felony murder. Now, is that man in there worth forty-five years in Ossining?"
The man sighed.
"Come on," she snapped. "Name, address, family, what he likes for dinner, what's his mother's first name, he have relatives in the system--you can think of all kinds of real helpful stuff about him, I'll bet."
He sighed and started to talk; Sachs scribbled down the details.
Her Motorola crackled. The hostage negotiator and the ESU team had just showed up in front of the building. She handed her notes to Wilkins. "Get those to the negotiator."
She read the rifleman his rights, thinking, Had she handled the situation the best way she could? Had she endangered lives unnecessarily? Should she have checked on the wounded officer herself?
Five minutes later, the supervising captain walked around the corner of the building. He smiled. "The H-T released the woman. No injuries. We've got three collared. The wounded officer'll be okay. Just a scratch."
A policewoman with short blonde hair poking out from under her regulation hat joined them. "Hey, check it out. We got a bonus." She held up a large Baggie full of white powder and another containing pipes and other drug paraphernalia.
As the captain looked it over, nodding with approval, Sachs asked, "That was in their car?"
"Naw. I found it in a Ford across the street. I was interviewing the owner as a witness and he started sweating and looking all nervous so I searched his car."
"Where was it parked?" Sachs asked.
"In his garage."
"Did you call in a warrant?"
"No. Like I say, he was acting nervous and I could see a corner of the bag from the sidewalk. That's probable cause."
"Nope." Sachs was shaking her head. "It's an illegal search."