Busted by Karin Slaughter

the heart of this after all.
    “Pete was supposed to get shot in the arm.”
    “With a shotgun? By a man who didn’t know how to use a shotgun?” No wonder Pete McClendon had stunk up the bathroom. Will’s stomach would’ve been upset, too. “Tell me what’s really going on here, Wayne. I know there’s more.”
    “She was two-timing me.”
    “Billie?”
    Walker watched him carefully. There was real fear in his eyes. Will was beginning to think death wasn’t the man’s biggest concern right now. He was either covering for the third man or he was covering for somebody else.
    Will asked, “Where is she?”
    Walker turned away. Guttural sounds came from his throat. Will wasn’t sure, but it sounded like he was crying.
    “Tell me where she is, Wayne. That’s the only way she stays safe.”
    Walker didn’t answer. Will guessed Billie had managed to tie him into knots. There was no other reason for him to protect her.
    “You were a teacher,” Will tried. “I know there’s good left in you.”
    Walker’s mouth opened in a sob. “Tell Terri …” He stopped to swallow. “Terri …”
    “Your daughter?” Will remembered. Walker had a twenty-year-old serving in Afghanistan.
    “Tell her …,” Walker began. “Tell her my last thoughts were about her.” He had to stop to breathe through the pain. “Promise me you’ll tell her that.”
    “I promise,” Will said. “But you can tell her yourself, Wayne. Let the doctors treat you. You’re not a bad guy. You just did a bad thing. You can make that right now.”
    “She’s a soldier,” Walker said. “I’ve always been proud of her.”
    “You can tell her that yourself.”
    Walker took a deep breath. His teeth started chattering again. Will thought he was having a seizure until the man mumbled, “Don’t hurt her.”
    Will thought he meant Terri, but then he realized Walker was still worried about Billie. “I have no intention of hurting her.” Will didn’t think prison would hurt Billie that much. “Let’s end this, Wayne. Tell me where she is. Maybe I’ll let you see her before you go.”
    “Please.” Tears streamed down Walker’s face. “I did everything you told me to.” His throat worked as he tried to swallow. “I’m begging you. Don’t hurt her.”
    “I won’t,” Will repeated, wondering where this was coming from. Maybe the fever had reached Walker’s brain. “I promise you, Wayne. I’ll do everything I can to keep Billie safe.”
    “No!” His lips smacked together. They were darker now, almost black. “They gother at the house. You gotta save her.”
    “What house?” Will leaned over the man. He wanted to shake him, but he was already shaking too much on his own. “Who has her, Wayne? Who has Billie?”
    “Not Billie,” he whispered. “Gloria.”

--5--
    Will sat in the mobile command center watching the GBI’s SWAT set up outside Gloria Pringle’s house. They couldn’t use Clayton County SWAT. According to Wayne Walker, Officer Pete McClendon was part of a ring of dirty cops who’d been robbing local businesses for the past year. There was no telling who else on the force was involved.
    The speakers inside the converted box van buzzed with a low static. A man’s voice said, “Team three, check.” Another answered, “Team one, check.”
    Will thought about the story he’d finally gotten off Wayne Walker.
    Four hostages were inside the two-story house: Gloria Pringle, her nineteen-year-old daughter, her twenty-year-old son, and the son’s nineteen-year-old girlfriend.
    They were being held by two masked men, all heavily armed, all ex-military. Wayne Walker had been very specific about the weapons inside the house. AKs. Fully automatic. Enough ammo to last through a long siege. Flash grenades. Explosives. Pipe bombs.
    And Billie had orchestrated it all.
    Will studied the bank of monitors inside the van. They showed real-time footage from the headcams the SWAT team wore. Two women checked inside Gloria