The Hostage: BookShots (Hotel Series) Read Online Free PDF

his oversized ego. ‘Peter, nobody can run this kind of operation the way you can. You’ve already established a dialogue. Wherever he was phoning from we know it wasn’t this lobby, which means it’s safe for you to make the call and start getting people evacuated.’
    ‘That always was your problem – looking for the easy option,’ said Savage. ‘Any one of these people could be involved. They might even be working in conjunction with our man on the phone.
    ‘I see it like this,’ he explained. ‘Our man kills Harlington on the thirty-eighth floor. Next thing we know, he’s stabbing your guy on the fourth floor. That sounds to me like he moves pretty quick. Who’s to say we aren’t dealing with more than one madman here? You’ve got to learn to take these things one step at a time, Roscoe. Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey – that’s the way to do things.’
    He turned away from Roscoe to repeat his instruction that nobody was to enter or leave the building without his personal say-so.
    Roscoe took a deep breath to control his anger.
    ‘Peter, this is a siege. We should be getting these people out of here. This isn’t a time for slowly, slowly.’
    Savage walked across to Roscoe and leant into him.
    ‘I’m not going to argue about this. At the very least these people are witnesses. Why would I let them walk outside to do a string of media interviews? Any one of them could be linked to Jackson Harlington’s murder. A business deal gone bad? He was a rich man, wasn’t he? Any one of these folk could have come here for revenge.’ He paused and looked around the lobby. ‘Nobody leaves this building.’
    ‘I can’t listen to you any more,’ said Roscoe, stepping away.
    But Savage refused to let him go.
    ‘When I say anyone here could have been involved, Roscoe, I’m including you. Any kind of security in this place to begin with, and I wouldn’t need to be here now to clean up your mess.’
    Roscoe’s long-running disdain for the inspector boiled suddenly to the surface. Turning quickly, he shaped to hit him. But before he had the chance to throw his punch, Anna stepped in, taking hold of his arm, telling him Savage wasn’t worth it. Roscoe watched Savage smirk, knowing he had let the serving officer get under his skin.
    ‘Let me ask you this, Savage,’ Roscoe said, leaning in towards his former colleague. ‘Do you have any idea how many ways there are in and out of this building? No? I can tell you. There are sixteen. You’ve got what, six, eight men? You can’t hope to secure a building of this size. We need to act now or Jackson Harlington’s killer will be gone.’
    Savage stepped back, intimidated as much by Roscoe’s superior thinking as by his superior physique.
    ‘Trust me, Roscoe, he’s still here. I spoke to him. I’m telling you, he’s going nowhere. And neither are you.’
    Roscoe accepted that the one thing Savage was probably right about was the fact the killer was still in the hotel. It was impossible to know where, but after stabbing Stanley he had made his choice to stay in the building.
    He looked across as the paramedics lifted Stanley onto a stretcher and prepared to wheel him out of the building. He turned to Savage.
    ‘Peter, this man needs to get to a hospital,’ he said. ‘If he’s to have any hope of recovery he can’t be held here a second longer.’
    Savage stared at Roscoe, bringing his hand to his mouth but saying nothing.
    Roscoe moved closer to him.
    ‘I said no one was to leave,’ repeated Savage.
    Another inch forward.
    ‘But okay, I’ll make an exception,’ said Savage. ‘He can go,’ he told the paramedics.
    ‘Thank you,’ spat Roscoe. ‘Always so humane.’
    ‘Don’t thank me, Roscoe. Your man looks like he’ll be dead by the time he reaches the emergency room.’
    Roscoe ignored Savage and ran towards the exit, stopping the paramedics before they wheeled Stanley out of the building.
    ‘Hang in there, Stanley,’ he said. ‘You’re