Chapter four
“Are you sure that you want to do this? I know it’s only been a month and the wound is still fresh. I have requested the assignment and have been given the green light to set up across the street. I will be listening in and waiting for you to give me the code.” Solomon was going to be my right hand and I couldn’t say anything.
“This is what I do. There’s no reason to worry about me. I replayed the events of that night a month ago over and over again in my head trying to find something I could have done differently. I know it’s common for people to do that, but I think I know what needs to be done.” He looked at me skeptically, but then he was called away to take his place with his sniper rifle in his possession.
“I have him on the phone for you. We tried to get him to talk to anybody else, but he has vehemently denied our request. He has 20 hostages and five of them are kids on a field trip with their classmates. He’s getting increasingly agitated.” The Captain was waiting for me to jump into the deep end.
It was time to put my game face on and the hostages demanded I didn’t waver in my conviction to get them out safely.
I took the phone and prepared myself mentally for what had to be done
“It looks like you have been busy. We may as well dispense with the pleasantries. I have never believed in coincidences. Would you care to tell the class what I already know?” I was waiting with bated breath to hear him confirm my suspicions.
“I thought I had broken you, but imagine my surprise when you showed up unexpectedly for your first day back. I couldn’t in good conscience leave you to celebrate this milestone on your own. I could’ve gotten away, but I didn’t want to.” He was wound tighter than a $2.00 watch.
“We both know what you want. Don’t keep us in suspense.” I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and I wasn’t disappointed by the next words that came out of his mouth.
“I find myself being magnanimous. I will give you the five children and five other adults, but only if you agree to take their place. Shop around and you can’t get a better deal than that. I’m giving up half of my leverage for one chance to look you in your eyes. You have 1 minute to make your decision before I start killing one hostage every 5-minutes.” I had a feeling this was his endgame and I was prepared to play along.
“I don’t even need 10-seconds. Send them out and I will join you shortly.” It was a risky maneuver, but one I couldn’t pass up to keep the children from being made into unnecessary collateral damage.
“This is going to be fun. I’ve been waiting for this day for longer than you can imagine. I never thought it would happen. Seeing you fall into a pit of depression at the bottom of a liquor bottle was satisfying. This is what I really wanted.” Evan was sadistic and had no scruples when it came to the sanctity of human life.
I cut off communication and had people nattering in my ear about protocol and how I was going to make everything worse.
“I don’t need anyone of you second guessing my decisions. This is how it’s going to be. Get used to it. I trust that you will find a way to get me and the rest of the hostages out of there in one piece. If you have the shot, then damn well take it and don’t miss.” This last set of directions was for the unseen sniper on the roof across the street.
I walked with a sense of confidence to the threshold of the building. I saw the kids and five adults converging on the door in the lobby. The ceilings were huge and high enough that it would take somebody with an extensive ladder to wash the windows.
“Get behind the tape.” They followed my orders and the police corralled them to interview each one separately to determine the next course of action.
I stepped through the door and was immediately hit by the building’s air conditioning on full blast.
“I have 10 reasons why this has to work.” I changed the channel and waited for Solomon to verify he had gotten my message.
“I’m here, but it’s not going to take them very long to figure out we changed channels. Make this quick.” His tone of voice was of a professional sniper ready to send his target to their maker.
“I know this isn’t the ideal time, but I have to tell you something. I’ve never forgotten you and I was given something precious from that night. I’m going to have your child. I thought you should know and maybe this news will change the way you are going to address this issue. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It was wrong and I know it.” The silence was punctuated by a sigh of resignation.
“I have to question the reason why you would tell me this right now. We can talk about it when you are safely away from that maniac. Please be careful. You’re carrying precious cargo. I don’t want to think about the worst case scenario.” I saw Evan at the top of the stairs hiding behind a young woman in a green dress that left very little to the imagination.
“Come on and I don’t have all day. Take out your earpiece and drop it on the floor. Stomp on it until it’s in little bitty pieces.” I did what he told me to do and I walked up the stairs to find him wearing a bomb vest with the master switch in his hand.
“I had a feeling you didn’t have any designs on getting out of here. This is your last stand and you want me here to witness it.” He was purposely staying away from the windows avoiding the possibility of being cut down before his plans could be realized.
“This is a unique design of my own making. It’s wired to my heart. I die and the bomb goes off taking this building and everybody in it with it. There’s no doubt both of us are going to die here today, but not until I say what is on my mind.” He backed away with the hostage in front of him.
The woman was terrified and I was worried she was going to have a wardrobe malfunction. The dress wasn’t made for her melons trying to bust out from over the top of the plunging neckline.
“I can’t let you do this.” He looked surprised and even more so when I pulled the hostage out of his arms.
“I don’t know what you are trying to prove, but this doesn’t change anything.” The one thing it did change for me was that one more hostage was not going to be in the blast radius.
“I lived with the regret of watching you kill that teenage boy in front of my eyes. That day changed me on a molecular level. I lost sight of what was really important. I became disenfranchised by the system. I had to crawl before I was able to walk. I found a support system in the most unlikely of places.” Keeping him talking gave Solomon a chance to get a bead on him.
“You thought you had me ready to give up, but I had no intention of ever letting that kid live. It didn’t matter what you did or how much you tried to empathize with my cause. I needed his death to keep you preoccupied long enough so that I could make my escape.” I was seeing everything with fresh eyes.
I should have known that he was playing me from the very beginning. I had to fall to find the woman I didn’t recognize looking at me in the mirror, but in the end, it didn’t even matter.
The other hostages were the only thing that mattered. I did have another life depending on me to walk out free and clear of his madness. He didn’t know a mother’s bond to her child was the strongest one. This compelled me to do something stupid and reckless for the sake of catching him off guard.
“I don’t think you understand how much it changed me. I can’t let this continue for one moment longer. I have something to live for even if you don’t. It means that I’m capable of just about anything.” I was watching his reaction and he seemed amused.
“It’s probably better I just push this switch and end it all. I can’t do it. I’m enjoying this on a level I don’t even understand. Seeing you standing there defiantly with your arms crossed is laughable. It’s not like you can do anything to stop the sands of the hourglass. There are only a few grains left. What can you possibly do to change the outcome? Nothing is what you’re going to do. You are as ineffectual as they are at putting me behind bars for the rest of my life.” I was driven to make a final play, but I had no idea how I was going to wipe the smug look off of his face.
“You make it sound like I’m helpless to do anything. I dare to refute that statement. It’s not good to leave me with very little options on the table. It makes me desperate. Desperate people can resort to immeasurable measures to survive.” I was readying myself and I could only hope Solomon could understand my sacrifice.
“There’s no play left. I have you in check. One last move and it’s checkmate.” I made a resolution and I was going to contribute to my child’s safety by doing something, not in the rulebook.
I attacked him with the tactical training I didn’t get a chance to use the first time. I cut off the air supply into his lungs by striking his windpipe. He dropped the switch and had both hands around his throat.
He looked at me with surprise and I was going to use that element against him. I had to be very careful not to disturb the explosives strapped to his body. There was a sudden clarity in his eyes. I would’ve gone along had he not exposed his plan to kill the both of us. I had one chance and I was going to make the most of it.
“You are… definitely full of surprises.” His voice was hoarse, but he managed to produce a long menacing knife.
The sound of the glass breaking from the bullet from Solomon’s sniper nest had him pitching over the railing and dropping like a sack of cement to the floor below. I went downstairs blinded by rage and panic to get to him before he was able to press the switch to send us both to hell.
He was gasping and sputtering blood with his thumb pressing the invisible switch that wasn’t there. He was grinning like an idiot and it dawned on me he didn’t have to reach out to kill the both of us.
“I win.” Two words had never had that much meaning behind them before.
He was breathing shallowly. I picked up the knife and showed him the steel of the blade. I lifted it above my head with both hands and then I was struck with an idea.
I used the pointed end of the knife to cut the shirt he was wearing wide open to see the electrodes taped to his chest. I lifted my white blouse and took them off of him before he could take his last breath.
I pressed the electrodes to my chest and sat down waiting for the inevitable. I closed my eyes and was prepared to leave this mortal coil behind.