Chapter 28 #2
Ideally, the negotiators would convince the teen to give up his hostage. But that meant he needed to answer the phone again.
The suspect grabbed his knife and stomped out of sight. Max switched to the other window and watched him move into the closet. “Red-one. Suspect has picked up knife and moved out of sight into closet.”
Max waited, his scope trained on the open closet door.
“Get out of there,” he murmured. “Let me see what you’re doing.”
Don’t hurt the girl.
The teen reappeared.
“Red-one,” Max said rapidly. “Suspect has a pistol and has pulled the hostage out of the closet, making her sit on the bed. I don’t know where the knife is now.”
The hostage looked younger than her twelve years, her face blotchy and wet with tears. She was in shorts and a tank top, her blonde hair loose around her face. “Hostage appears unharmed,” said Max. He scrambled to remember her name.
Eleanor.
A deep calm had settled over Max when he’d first looked through his scope, and his heart rate and breathing were as steady now as if he were reading a book.
This was his job. He was the sole pair of eyes on the suspect, but he knew a team of officers was right outside that bedroom door, ready to burst in if the situation escalated or to step back if the teen surrendered.
Eleanor stood and defiantly headed to the door. She grabbed the nightstand to move it out of the way, but the teen pointed the gun at her head, his index finger not on the trigger, but lined up along the frame.
He’s indexing.
The girl stopped and slowly inched back onto the bed as the suspect lowered the weapon.
“Suspect drew on the hostage,” said Max, and he relayed the rest of what he’d just seen.
He didn’t believe the teen had intended to shoot the girl. At least, not at that moment. Max knew that the suspect had been trained on gun use, and the position of his index finger had made Max pause.
“Red-one, you are cleared to act,” said the commander.
Max inhaled deeply. “Copy.”
The decision is in my hands.
Max could have taken the shot when the suspect pointed the gun at his cousin. It would have been considered a good shoot in the eyes of law enforcement, but he’d watched Jacob’s facial expression and the placement of his finger. And made a split-second decision not to fire.
What if someone dies because I waited?
It was the catch-22 of his job. By waiting to fire, he’d preserved the suspect’s life.
But had preserving the suspect condemned someone else?
Sweat ran from his temples, and he was damp everywhere under his clothing.
He wiped his upper lip and checked the time.
He’d been in place for forty-five minutes, watching the suspect rant as he paced in the room.
The teen finally picked up the negotiator’s phone again and answered, never taking his gaze from his cousin, the pistol still in his hand, his index finger positioned along the frame.
“C’mon,” Max whispered. “Listen to the negotiators.” He knew the officers were telling the suspect that he hadn’t done anything bad yet and that hurting his cousin would be an action he couldn’t reverse. If the teen stopped now and came out, everything could be worked out.
He knew the negotiators wouldn’t bring up the possibly fatal attack on his mother.
The suspect handed the phone to his cousin, who spoke into the receiver.
“The girl says that Jacob has sworn to kill her,” said the commander.
Max watched Jacob’s lips move.
“And that he’ll shoot any officer that he sees after that.”
Fucking A. That poor girl.
The suspect twitched and quickly spun toward the bedroom door. Max suspected the officers outside the door had made some sort of noise or demand.
The teen grabbed the phone away from Eleanor and hurled it out the broken window. She lunged from the bed after the phone but halted at the window, watching the phone hit the grass.
Behind her, Jacob froze, the pistol hanging at his side, his gaze locked on Max.
Through his scope, Max saw Jacob’s eyes widen as he took in the large rifle pointed directly at him.
The teen grabbed his cousin and yanked her in front of him as a human shield, clamping his arm across her chest and pinning her arms.
Fuck. Did I wait too long again?
Eleanor also spotted Max and started to scream, the teen yelling in her ear to shut up.
Jacob made lurching, rough movements, keeping Eleanor between himself and Max as he backed away from the window.
The officers outside the door must have reacted to her screams because he abruptly pointed his gun at the bedroom door.
“Weapon is aimed at the bedroom door!” said Max. “He threw the phone out the window and spotted me. He’s using Eleanor as a shield. He’s escalating.”
The negotiators can no longer help.
Max stayed calm as the tension rose in the bedroom.
Jacob waved his gun and shouted toward the door.
Eleanor couldn’t peel her cousin’s arms off her chest, so she scratched him, infuriating and distracting him.
Max’s aim stayed on the suspect, but Eleanor’s blonde hair and face kept moving through his crosshairs.
Her eyes were green.
Jacob kept his head behind hers as he yanked her from one side to the other, trying to watch Max and the door. He swung the gun from the door to his cousin’s temple and then back and forth several times. “I’ll kill her! I’ll kill her!”
Max watched it play out through his scope, feeling time slow down and sensing a tipping point approaching. The point where the teen would finally act. Where he would decide he had no other choice. Jacob’s eyes were full of anger, his teeth bared as he shouted over Eleanor’s screams.
Jacob whirled his cousin toward Max, her green gaze aimed straight into his scope. The teen raised the weapon and ground it into the girl’s cheek, and she jerked her head away from the gun, leaving Jacob in the crosshairs.
His finger’s on the trigger.
Max took his shot.
Jacob dropped to the floor, taking Eleanor with him. Blood poured from his eye.
“Red-one. Suspect is down,” Max said into his mic as he watched the girl roll away and stare at her cousin in horror. The back of Jacob’s head had exploded from the power of Max’s rifle.
Eleanor’s okay.
The bedroom door flew open, knocking the nightstand table onto its side, and helmeted officers flowed in, weapons leading, clearing all corners. One grabbed Eleanor and hustled her out the door as the others cleared the closet and bathroom.
Jacob lay motionless.
Two officers knelt next to him and started CPR.
Max knew there was no point.