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“Start by not making it worse for yourself,” I said. “Two police officers have been wounded and a hostage killed.”
“That’s not on me,” Le said. “Some cop shot her.”
I wasn’t going to quibble and point out that he’d shoved her into the line of fire with a weapon in her hand; I needed to keep him talking, establish rapport.
“You’re a hell of a motorcycle rider,” I said. “Saw you in action at Eden Center a while back.”
Le chuckled. “You never saw anyone pull that kind of shit before.”
“Never,” I said. “You are a rare talent. Now, how are we going to keep you, and your talent, from dying today?”
During a long pause I heard him snorting meth or coke or both. Then he said, “I dunno, Alex. You tell me.”
“How about you show me you can be trusted?” I said. “Let us retrieve our wounded officer.”
“What’s in that for me?” Le said.
I said, “We’re in this together.”
“Give me a fucking break,” he said. “We’re not together. We’re traveling different roads.”
“Different roads that are at an intersection. I’m trying to prevent a crash that you would not survive. Is that what you want too?”
He didn’t say anything for almost a minute.
“Mr. Le?” I said.
When Le spoke, his voice was softer, more thoughtful. “I figured things would turn out different for me.”
“What was your dream? Everyone’s got one.”
Le laughed. “X Games, man.”
“On the motorcycle?”
“That’s it,” Le said. “All I thought about. All I did.”
“When did you let the dream die?”
“I crashed too much and needed something strong enough to get through the pain,” he said. “Going into the business of killing pain just made sense.”
Le was smart, articulate, and self-aware. No wonder he’d been able to build a small empire.
“Can we come for Officer Parks? Things will go worse for you if he dies.”
Le thought about that and then said, “Do it. We won’t shoot.”
Chapter
44
“Thank you, Mr. Le,” I said. “We appreciate it.”
I muted my phone and said to Bree and Fuller, “Get me EMTs. I’m going across with them. I’ll keep him talking until Parks is clear.”
“I don’t like it,” Fuller said.
“Neither do I,” Bree said.
