Amanda was off the radio. She told Will, ‘Laslo just left the mall. He moved the car to the Ritz-Carlton. He’s parked in the valet lane. This is about to happen.’
Deshawn said, ‘He’ll leave out the Nordstrom side to get to the Ritz.’
‘I’ll let SWAT know.’ Amanda gave Will the radio, then headed toward the door. ‘Faith is on her way up. I’ll take my place. Will, be ready to move wherever you’re needed. Belt and suspenders.’
Deshawn picked up a desk phone. He told Will, ‘I’ll tell Nordstrom security we think they’re going to see some action.’
Will watched the monitors. The security office was right outside a single escalator that led to the top floor. Amanda held on to the handrail as she climbed. Like Reuben, she was in disguise, dressed in a pastel-blue tracksuit and white T-shirt that she had picked up at one of the stores. Her big purse was empty except for her revolver and three speedloaders. She was wearing glasses. A floppy white old-lady hat was on her head. Like everyone else on the team, she wore an earbud that worked as a two-way radio, picking up her speech through a vibration in her jaw.
Instead of walking toward Reuben, she sat down at one of the tables outside Belk, about sixty feet away. She kept her back to him. Phil Brauer, one of the agents from the chase cars, was already at the table with two cups of coffee. They blended in well, passing for an old retired couple with time on their hands.
Amanda said, ‘We’re in place.’
Deshawn asked Will, ‘You sure we don’t just clean this place out?’
‘It’ll tip her off.’
‘That’s a big risk.’
‘We’ve got someone inside the Legoland, another at the theater. We’ll lock down everything the moment there’s any sign of trouble.’
‘What about the pedestrians?’ He pointed to the monitor showing the food court. ‘There’s at least a dozen people there.’
Will had counted nine, including a table of four young mothers with babies in strollers. Amanda had placed herself between the women and Reuben Figaroa. ‘If we don’t get this kid today, then the woman who has him will trick him out to the nearest pedophile.’
‘Jesus.’ Deshawn let that sink in. ‘What’s your plan if she tries to run off with the kid, takes him hostage or something?’
Will tapped the rifle on his shoulder.
‘Jesus.’
Faith entered the room. She was wearing the black suit she kept in the trunk of her car instead of her usual GBI blue shirt and khakis. Her gun was on her hip. She nodded at Deshawn, asking Will, ‘What’ve we got?’
‘Amanda is here with Brauer. She put herself between Reuben and this table.’ He pointed to the four young mothers. They were laughing. One of them was feeding her baby. Another was on her phone.
Faith said, ‘They can take cover inside the Belk if they need to.’
Will said, ‘We’ve got one of our guys inside Legoland. Store security knows to bring down the gate if there’s trouble. They’ve been keeping the kids to the back where there’s a birthday party. The gift store is at the front so there aren’t a lot of potential problems there. Same with the movie theater. The cartoon lets out at noon, but we’ve got APD inside, behind the concession stand and at the mall exit, ready to lock them in place.’ He showed her the map on the wall. ‘We’ve got the escalators covered here, here, here and here.’ He pointed to the corresponding areas. ‘Laslo is parked across the street from here. SWAT is outside.’
‘They’re good. I didn’t see them.’
‘We gave all the store managers Souza’s booking photo. They’ve been told not to approach her. We didn’t want to pass the photo to the clerks and start a lot of chatter.’
‘She’s not going to look like her booking photo.’
‘It’s all we have.’
Faith stared at Reuben Figaroa. ‘I don’t like that duffel bag. Even with a million bucks in cash, it doesn’t need to be that big.’
Will followed her gaze to the monitors. Reuben was still sitting at the table staring at his laptop. ‘We had one of our guys sitting near him, but Reuben got spooked, so we had to pull back.’
‘He couldn’t tell what was in the bag?’
‘No, but Reuben’s been looking at pictures of the wife and kid on the laptop, scrolling through them over and over again.’
‘Who’s that?’
Will looked at the big monitor. A young woman was walking toward Reuben. She sat down three tables away. Her head was bent toward her phone. White earbuds disappeared into her hair. She was wearing what most of the other mothers were wearing, some variation on a gym outfit.
Reuben stared at the woman for a long while before turning back to his laptop.
Faith said, ‘Her shoes are wrong.’
Will looked at the red shoes. They were slip-ons. ‘You mean because she’s not wearing sneakers?’
‘A woman who can sit around a mall on a Wednesday morning in her workout clothes doesn’t buy her shoes at Walmart.’ She added, ‘Also, why is she here if she isn’t with a kid?’
Will studied the other women on the periphery of the food court. Invariably they had some form of child attached to them, whether they were holding a baby or dragging a toddler away from Legoland.
Deshawn said, ‘It’s eleven twenty-eight.’
‘Green jacket.’ Faith stepped closer to the monitors. ‘That’s a woman, right?’
An androgynous-looking woman was waiting outside the elevator on the first level. She was wearing dark sunglasses and a Braves baseball cap with the brim pulled low. Her jeans were dark blue. The dark green jacket was zipped almost to her neck. Her hands were tucked into the pockets.
Deshawn said, ‘She doesn’t work here. At least not so that I’ve noticed.’
‘Is that Souza?’ Faith asked. ‘She could have the kid somewhere else, maybe in a car downstairs.’
A second location. The worst of the worst-case scenarios.
Will got on the radio. ‘We need a quiet sweep of the garage. Check for Anthony in a parked car.’
The woman pressed the elevator button again. Her hand went back into her jacket pocket. There was something furtive to her movements. She was clearly nervous.
Will clicked on the radio again. He told Amanda, ‘We might have someone in the elevator. Green jacket. Stand by.’
‘Ten-four,’ Amanda said.
‘She doesn’t look young, right?’ Faith practically had her nose touching the monitor. ‘The way she carries herself. She’s not talking on her phone or listening to music. It’s too hot for that jacket.’
Deshawn said, ‘We’ll see her face when she gets on the elevator.’
The doors slid open. Green Jacket didn’t look up as she got on. She kept her head down, hands still tucked deep into her pockets. The doors started to close, but her arm shot out, stopping it.
‘Shit,’ Faith said. Yet another woman was getting onto the elevator. Tall, blonde ponytail, dressed in a V-necked T-shirt and running shorts. She was trying to wrangle a two-seater baby stroller onto the elevator. An infant was in the front seat. A little girl dressed like a character from the Lego movie slept in the back.
‘I don’t like this,’ Faith said. ‘That’s two kids. Two hostages.’
As they watched, Green Jacket leaned down, gripping the front of the stroller and pulling it onto the elevator. There was an exchange of pleasantries before the doors closed. They silently rode up to the third level.
‘She’s still not looking at the camera,’ Faith said. ‘Nobody keeps their head down all of the time like that.’
Will held the radio to his mouth. ‘Green Jacket, getting off the elevator.’
Phil Brauer stood up from the table. He threw away his coffee cup in the trashcan. Green Jacket helped the blonde maneuver the stroller out of the elevator, then walked toward the movie theater. Brauer sat down at another table. He put his phone to his ear. Will heard the man’s voice on the radio. ‘Can’t tell with the hat. She’s got dark hair. Looks about the right age.’
They all leaned closer to the screens. Green Jacket stood in front of the box office. She looked up at the board that showed the movie times.
‘Is it her?’ Faith asked. ‘I can’t—’
‘Contact,’ Amanda said.
Reuben Figaroa was standing up.
The blonde with the tandem stroller stood on the other side of his table.