AfterNet 01 - Good Cop Dead Cop

as he took the gun out of his right hand to wipe his sweaty palm on his pants. As he did so, he exposed it to view.
    Damn! There’s no magazine! And the hammer’s down!
    Munroe had to act quickly. He flew through the door so fast this time he didn’t even feel the stretching. He recited his turns, left, right, left, left and up two flights of stairs and past the SWAT officers flanking the stairwell. He looked wildly for his partner and found her talking to the lieutenant.
    Yamaguchi turned instinctively to her right when Munroe’s “voice” came through her ear buds.
    “I found the suspect. He doesn’t have a hostage. He’s at the far end of the station in the sub-basement. He’s got a .45 semi but there’s no magazine and the hammer’s down.”
    She turned back to the lieutenant. “Munroe found him. No hostage. Says he’s armed with a .45 automatic but that … there’s no mag and the hammer’s down.”
    “Tell him it’s the M1911. Tell him I don’t think this kid is the shooter. Maybe we have a chance we can get him out alive.”
    She relayed this and his description of the suspect. The lieutenant gave her a look that Munroe recognized — complete disbelief that she wasn’t making it all up. “Yeah, and I bet he’s a retired beekeeper and walks with a limp,” the lieutenant muttered.
    Munroe tried to ignore the terminal’s translation, even though the beekeeper gag impressed him. “Tell him the suspect is in a storeroom with one door. He’s got it covered. He’s hiding behind boxes. Cardboard boxes.”
    “How does he know this isn’t the shooter?” asked the lieutenant.
    “Lieutenant,” she said for herself, “the witnesses said there were two suspects — one large heavyset, one small and everyone agrees only one shot fired. The other suspect must be somewhere else.”
    The lieutenant nodded and used the microphone clipped to his lapel, probably to tell dispatch that the other suspect was still at large, although her terminal translated the lieutenant’s words for Munroe as “unintelligible speech.”
    The lieutenant turned and looked where he imagined Munroe must be and made himself larger. He’s trying to intimidate me. How funny. Yamaguchi shied away from the lieutenant’s body language and Munroe temporarily lost the field of her terminal.
    “… this kid who fired.” Munroe only caught the tail end of the lieutenant’s remarks as he reacquired the field, but he could guess the gist.
    “Because a scared kid who’s fired his gun isn’t going to eject the mag for some misguided attempt at gun safety.” She relayed this without his sarcasm, he noticed. Which was probably wise because he saw the lieutenant’s grimace relax.
    “I’ll go in ahead and confirm that he still doesn’t have a magazine and the hammer is down.” She relayed this and added her own comment, “I’ll have to go with your guys and relay for Munroe.”
    The lieutenant nodded and asked, “What’s the distance for a TASER?”
    She relayed for Munroe: “It’s too long. I make the room 10 by 20 and he’s at the far end. We’d want him to leave.”
    “Hard to get a shot in there anyway,” the lieutenant said to himself. “Tear gas?” The lieutenant was now beginning to ask questions as if Munroe was actually there.
    She relayed: “There’s a problem, the door opens the wrong way. Someone would have to get up close and you’d have to toss it in but you really wouldn’t expose yourself and the room would fill up fast.”
    “OK, Munroe, you’ll advance and lead us in. Gooch, you stay with …” — the lieutenant looked around — “… Jenkins. I’ll brief them and then we go in.”
    The lieutenant left them and she wandered away from the knot of men surrounding him. “Sounds like he’s actually starting to believe you exist,” she said.
    “Sounds like he’s starting to trust you, too,” Munroe replied.
    “Can we get this kid out alive?” she asked.
    “Don’t know. He’s pretty scared and he has an awfully big gun. It all depends on whether he still doesn’t have a mag and the hammer’s down.”
    “We should have a signal,” she said.
    “Right. Once I know it’s OK, I’ll say … OK, what should I say?”
    “You say … you say safe! That means we can try a TASER shot.”
    “OK, safe means it’s safe to go,” Munroe confirmed.
    “Talking to yourself again?” the lieutenant asked behind Yamaguchi’s ear. She turned to face him.
    “Yes … uh, I mean we have