I watched the way the lead man in the Hawaiian shirt stood, his weight balanced and shoulders loose and hands visible but not raised in surrender.
It was the posture of someone who knew how to negotiate, who understood that presenting yourself as harmless was the first step in getting what you wanted, who had done this before and knew exactly how it would play out.
Behind him, the other two men mirrored his stance with just enough variation to avoid looking rehearsed, and the families stayed back in their assigned positions, quiet and patient and ready to play their roles when the moment came.
