Ralph was inside the SWAT van when the phone rang. He picked up the receiver, listened, then announced through the radio to the team, “Do not fire! I repeat, do not fire! Whatever happens, hold your fire! He’s coming out.”
Nods of acknowledgment, but everyone kept their guns trained on the bank’s entrance just the same.
But it didn’t open.
Stillness.
A moment passed.
Then another.
Time stretched thin.
And then the sharp sound of a gunshot rang from inside the building and cracked through the wire-tight surface of the day.
“Hold your fire!” Ralph yelled again.
Just one shot. That was it. Then all was still.
The line had gone dead. Ralph punched in the bank’s number. Pat answered, his voice soft, grim. “Radar’s dead. The hostages are okay. Tell SWAT to lower their weapons. I’m coming out.”