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Terri and I both tried to listen to the transmitter for any clues. It was silent at the moment.
Terri said in a low voice, “Do we knock and announce?”
“I don’t think we can risk what he might do. We need surprise on our side.” That’s when I stepped back and Terri knew exactly what I was going to do. Before I raised my leg to kick the door, Terri tried the handle quickly.
As soon as Terri shook her head, I kicked the door just to the right of the handle. The door and frame collapsed in on itself and I tumbled into the hotel room. Terri stepped through the ruin of the door right behind me with her gun up and sweeping the room.
I sprang to my feet, brushing a piece of broken door off my pant leg. I was frozen for a moment, staring across the room.
Chapter103
I STOOD NEARthe ruined doorway. The first thing I noticed was Allie Pritz sitting by the window, reaching into her purse. She stared at us in silence for a moment. My heart froze as I tried to figure out if she was okay. Then she sprang from the chair, burst into tears, and rushed toward me with her arms outstretched.
The father in me overwhelmed the cop with tactical sense. I wrapped my arms around the sobbing young woman.
She said, “I’m sorry. I panicked and didn’t push the GPS button until we were on the subway.”
I patted her back and said, “It’s okay.” I was about to ask her if she was hurt when the bathroom door burst open.
Standing in the doorway, his shirt untucked and only buttoned in the middle, stood Perry Martin. He filled virtually every inch of the doorway. It felt like almost no light got past him from the bathroom.
His deep voice said, “What the hell?”
Terri took a step back and kept her gun up and pointed at Martin.
I released Allie Pritz and pushed her behind me. Then I looked Perry Martin in the eye. This was what I’d been waiting for. Stopping a killer before he could strike again. But sometimes I forget there are other perspectives.
Perry Martin again said, “What the hell?” Then he stared at me. “I know you, don’t I?”
“NYPD.”
“Why are the cops here? Why did you kick in my door? We didn’t do anything wrong.”
Terri used a very reasonable voice to say, “Please step out of the bathroom.”
“Not until you tell me what the hell is going on.” His hands started to shake.
I could see the color in his face changing. Was it fear or anger? Sometimes the response wasn’t that different. It felt like it was dawning on the big football coach why we were here. He turned his head slowly to look at Allie, standing behind me.
Allie met his gaze and said, “You murdered my friends.” She was no longer scared. She was pissed off. Really pissed off. She stepped around me and tried to kick Martin. Then she hissed, “You’re gonna burn in hell for everything you’ve done.”
This was not the young woman we’d been dealing with the last few days.
I corralled Allie and shoved her behind me again. We would have enough problems with Martin if he decided to resist. Allie’s insults didn’t help.
Martin didn’t answer. Terri and I both realized time was running out. We’d seen it before. The reasonableness was about to disappear. I was afraid to see what was coming from a guy this size.
Terri said, “Down on your knees.”
“I don’t have a weapon. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Now Allie was crying and screamed, “You’re a murderer! You can’t do anything more wrong than that.”
I wanted to quiet Allie down and keep her from inciting a fight I didn’t want. But I couldn’t risk taking my eyes off Martin. That’s why I hadn’t drawn my pistol. Terri had hers on target. I might be needed to wrestle him and handcuff the giant football coach.
Martin said, “I know you. You were at the Wolfson Academy.”
I said, “Let’s not add to our problems. We can go to our office and see about working this out.”
