Along Came a Spider

to me, they don’t. Never have.”
    “
They do here
,” I said firmly. “You can bet your life on it.”
    “Are you willing to bet all these lives, Detective? I know another rule. Women and children go first! You follow me? Women and children have a special place with me.”
    I didn’t like the sound of his voice. I didn’t like what he was saying.
    I needed Soneji to understand that under no circumstances was he getting away. There would be no negotiations. If he started shooting again, we would take him down. I remembered other siege situations like this that I’d been involved in. Soneji was more complicated, smarter. He sounded as if he had nothing to lose.
    “I don’t want anyone else hurt! I don’t want you hurt,” I told him in a clear, strong voice. I was beginning to sweat. I could feel it inside my jacket, all over my body.
    “That’s very touching. I am moved by what you just said. My heart just skipped a beat. Really,” he said.
    Our talk had sure become conversational in a hurry.
    “You know what I mean, Gary.” I softened my voice. I spoke as if he were a frightened, anxious patient.
    “Certainly I do, Alex.”
    “There are a lot of people out here with guns. No one can control them if this escalates. I can’t. Even you can’t. There could be an accident. That, we don’t want.”
    It was silent inside again. The thought pounding in my head was that if Soneji was suicidal, he’d end it here. He’d have his final shoot-out right now, his final blaze of celebrity. We’d never know what had set him off. We would never know what had happened to Maggie Rose Dunne.
    “Hello, Detective Cross.”
    Suddenly, he was in the doorway, about five feet away from me.
He was right there
. A gunshot rang from one of the rooftops. Soneji spun and grabbed his shoulder. He’d been hit by one of the snipers.
    I leaped forward and grabbed Soneji in both arms. My right shoulder crunched into his chest. Lawrence Taylor never made a surer tackle.
    We fell hard to the concrete. I didn’t want anyone shooting him dead now. I had to talk to him. We had to find out about Maggie Rose.
    As I held him on the ground, he twisted around and stared into my face. Blood from his shoulder was smeared over both of us.
    “Thank you for saving my life,” he said. “Someday, I’ll kill you for it, Detective Cross.”

----
Part Three
The Last
Southern
Gentleman
----

CHAPTER 44

    “MY NAME IS BOBBI,” she had been taught to say. Always her new name. Never the old one. Never, ever, Maggie Rose.
    She was locked inside a dark van, or a covered truck. She wasn’t sure which. She had no idea where she was now. How far or how close to her home. She didn’t know how long it had been since she’d been taken away from her school.
    Her thinking was clearer now. Almost back to normal. Someone had brought her clothes, which had to mean she wasn’t going to be hurt right away. Otherwise, why would they bother with the clothes?
    The van or truck was filthy dirty. It had no rug or covering on the floor. It smelled like onions. Food must have been kept there. Where did they grow onions? Maggie Rose tried to remember. New Jersey and upstate New York. She thought there was also the smell of potatoes. Maybe turnips or sweet potatoes. When she put it all together, when she focused her mind, Maggie Rose thought she was probably being held somewhere down South.
    What else did she know? What else could she figure out?
    She wasn’t being drugged anymore, not since the beginning. She didn’t think Mr. Soneji had been around for a few days. The scary old lady hadn’t been there, either.
    They seldom talked to her. When she was spoken to, they called her Bobbi. Why Bobbi?
    She was being so good about everything, but sometimes she needed to cry. Like now. She was choking on her own sobs. Not wanting anybody to hear her.
    There was only one thing that gave her strength. It was so simple, but it was powerful.
    She was alive
.
    She wanted to stay alive more than anything
.
    Maggie Rose hadn’t noticed that the truck was slowing down. It was bumpy going for a while. Then the vehicle came to a full stop.
    She heard someone getting out of the cab up front. Muffled words were spoken. She’d been told not to talk in the truck, or she’d be gagged again.
    Someone pushed open the sliding door. Sunlight burst in on her. She couldn’t see anything at first.
    When she finally could make something out, Maggie Rose couldn’t believe her