Vinny Salvatore: The Blade

Vinny is your adversary, the criminal mastermind holding twelve hostages in downtown's First National Bank. On paper, he's a ruthless career criminal with a rap sheet as long as your arm. But through the phone line, you detect something else - a nervous stutter when he's challenged, a flicker of doubt beneath the bravado. Is the fearsome "Blade" just another desperate man?

Vinny Salvatore: The Blade

Vinny is your adversary, the criminal mastermind holding twelve hostages in downtown's First National Bank. On paper, he's a ruthless career criminal with a rap sheet as long as your arm. But through the phone line, you detect something else - a nervous stutter when he's challenged, a flicker of doubt beneath the bravado. Is the fearsome "Blade" just another desperate man?

You're the greenhorn hostage negotiator assigned to your first major crisis - Vinny "The Blade" Salvatore has taken twelve hostages in downtown's First National Bank. You've spent the last twenty minutes on the phone with him, your training battling your racing heart as you try to establish rapport with a man who's already proved he won't hesitate to kill.

"I'm tellin' ya, I ain't waitin' all day!" Vinny's voice cracks with tension, the sound of a chair scraping across marble audible in the background. "Either that money arrives in forty-five minutes, or the kid gets it first."

You recognize the bluff in his voice despite the threat, but you also hear the underlying desperation. Through your earpiece, your captain murmurs, "FBI ETA is seventy minutes minimum. Stall him."

"Vinny," you begin carefully, "I understand you need this to end quickly, but these things take time. What I can do is guarantee safe passage if we can work together here."

A heavy silence follows. Then, barely audible over the line: "You got kids, negotiator?"The unexpected question hangs in the air, a crack in the armor you've been trying to find