Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Sandra had tried reaching Ryan several times, but he wasn’t picking up.
At the sound of gunfire and screaming, Sandra’s mind flashed to the past and how her twin brother, Sam, had died in a hostage negotiation from a gunshot wound.
The negotiator had failed to talk the hostage taker down in time for Sam to get the medical attention he needed.
It was that nightmare that set her career course and made her determined to use this job to save lives.
She pinched the St. Michael pendant hanging from the silver chain around her neck.
It had been her father’s, then her brother’s…
She wore it all the time to be closer to them, even to her birth mother.
“What the hell is going on, Vos?” Kreiger exclaimed. “Did this guy give you any indication he was a hair’s breadth from pulling the trigger?”
Sandra resented the implication this development was somehow her fault. “He was in an agitated state during the last call, that’s all I can say. He’s threatened before, but—”
“He’s taken it further now. We should move in before it’s too late. If it isn’t already. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you about the X scratched over Edward Hanson’s face. I’m not just going to stand around and continue to do nothing.” Kreiger lunged for the door.
“Just a minute,” she said.
He ignored her and pushed through to outside. Sandra set her headset on the hook at her workstation and followed him.
“Hold up,” she called out.
Kreiger spun, leveling a glare at her. “I’m not listening, Vos. Whatever you have to say—”
“I know about that family,” she blurted out. “The ones that lost their lives in a crisis incident years ago that was under your command.”
Kreiger’s face hardened, and he said nothing.
“We all have cases that haunt us. It comes with the job, though that’s little help when facing the reality of the aftermath. For you, it was a family of four being shot by a gunman before taking his own life.”
“I know what happened.”
“There was nothing you could have done differently to change the result. The gunman had a suicide letter in his pocket.” Sandra spoke slowly and with consideration.
She’d learned the basics from Brice, who had heard them from Neal during the standoff at Founders.
The additional details of the story were filled in when she looked up the case in the days following.
Kreiger clenched his jaw and stared in the distance. “We should have moved in. The signs were there.”
She could point out he was only human or that there was no point in dwelling on the past when it couldn’t be changed. Both would be patronizing. Instead, she went with, “I thought the letter wasn’t found until after it was all over.”
“The point is I trusted the negotiator to read the situation. I knew in my gut that I needed to send ERT in, but I didn’t.” Kreiger thumped a fist against his chest. “That’s on me.”
Sandra held the ensuing silence for a bit of time before speaking. “I’m not saying don’t trust your gut, but even if ERT had rushed in there, it could have turned out the same way. There’s no way to know.”
“Give me one good reason to stand down now, here today.” His eyes met hers, challenging her.
She didn’t miss the irony in how she’d just been coaching Kreiger about the past haunting the present, and she found herself in the same position.
Someone inside could be bleeding out, like her brother had.
Sandra’s decision to keep talking might kill a person.
But she couldn’t let herself be at the mercy of the past. She had to keep focus on the here and now.
“At least let me find out what happened in there.”
“Kind of hard for you to do when he won’t answer the phone.”
“He will. Eventually, he will,” she repeated.
Kreiger kicked the toe of his right shoe into the pavement. “Fine.”
“Meaning that you’ll stand down for now?” There was so much to consider before breaching a hostage situation. It was rarely ever a clear extraction without cost.
“For now.” He lit up a cigarette, and she returned to the command vehicle.
Everyone looked at her when she opened the door and walked to her workstation. “I’m going to try calling again.”
No one said a word. The air was thick with stress and apprehension, as they put on their headsets.
The line rang several times before Ryan’s voice came on the line.
“What do you want?” Snapping and curt.
“This isn’t about what I want, Ryan.” She needed to ground him, recenter things so that he saw her as being there for him, not out for her own agenda.
There was silence on the other end except for some crying and sniffling in the background.
“We heard gunfire out here,” she said, proceeding cautiously. “Is everyone—”
“Everyone is fine.”
“He’s lying!” a woman cried out.
Sandra guessed it was Ashley Hanson.
“Don’t listen to her,” Ryan hissed. “You can’t kill the devil.”
Sandra made brief eye contact with Donny. “And who is the devil?”
“The Hansons!”
Sandra took her time responding, hoping the pause might dampen his rage. While the seconds ticked off, she analyzed what he’d told her between the lines. “Is one of the Hansons injured?” She used a calm tone, removed all judgment, phrasing it as if the injury wasn’t his fault.
“He’ll be fine.”
Donny wrote on the page, Either the boy or Edward…
“Who will be fine, Ryan?” Sandra looked up at the ceiling of the vehicle and held her breath for his reply.
“My dear half-brother.”
A man’s voice said, “I’m not your—”
“Shut up! Or I swear to God I’ll shoot you again! Why can’t you just show me some respect?” Ryan asked, clearly not talking to her but to Edward.
“If Edward was shot, Ryan, this doesn’t need to get any worse. Send him out, so he can get the help he needs.”
The span of following silence had Sandra’s ears ringing.
Eventually, she broke it. “Ryan, we are doing what you asked. We’re looking into your mother’s crash. We started on that without anything in return. But now my boss—”
“No. He’s not going anywhere. Whatever happens here today, he deserves it for keeping his father’s secrets!”
Donny wrote, Is there more we don’t know about?
Sandra shrugged. “What secrets, Ryan? Will you tell me?”
“Where are the news networks? I don’t see any out there.”
His question took her somewhat off guard, but before she could respond, he spoke again.
“I’m ready to go to the world. Do it myself. It’s the only way things get done anyway.”
He was losing the thread. How could he just dismiss what happened in there and circle back to his game plan? All while a man’s life hung in the balance? “I’ve done everything you’ve asked, Ryan.”
“Keep looking. That’s your job out there. Do what wasn’t done all those years ago, but I also want a press conference right here inside the house.”
“How am I supposed to make that happen?” Flipping the problem back to him to solve might help him realize the absurdity of his request.
“You get news reporters here, and I’m going to make my statement to the world.”
“I’m familiar with what a press conference is, Ryan, but—”
“No buts. You’re going to make it happen.”
Sandra glanced at those in the vehicle. There was no way they could send people inside to become additional hostages. “I just don’t see how I—”
“All you need to do is call the networks, mention the beloved Hanson name, and they’ll come running.”
Sandra admitted it would be a strong lure. It was a miracle the uniformed officers were keeping them at bay, as it was. “Ryan, I can go to my boss about this, but I already know what he’s going to say.”
“What?”
It was encouraging that he’d asked and hadn’t made another threat of violence. “You’ll need to do something for us first.”
“I’m not letting Edward go.”
“I hear you, Ryan, I do. But there are people out here making arguments for moving in and bringing this to an end with force. I’ve stood up for you, fought for you.
Trust me, I’m on your side.” She had learned to talk convincingly over the years while sinking into the HT’s shoes as if she were them.
“I’m even willing to go to my boss about organizing the press conference. ”
“Good, good.”
With Ryan assured and calmer again, it felt like a suitable time to revisit her ask. “Would you just do one thing for me?” She paced her response, endeavored to make what she was going to request seem like it would be of small consequence.
“What?” he asked eventually.
Ideally, Edward would be released for medical attention, but Ryan had made it clear that wasn’t going to happen.
To bring that up again would not only offend him, he wouldn’t feel heard.
That was even worse. All the effort she had put into building up trust between them would be wiped out in an instant.
She’d also risk shutting down communication altogether.
“There’s no way around this, Ryan. You need to release a hostage.
That’s the only way my boss will go for it.
The only way,” she emphasized. “Will you release the boy, Ryan? Brayden is only nine years old.” She used his name and age to humanize him.
And surely, Ryan didn’t hold the kid accountable for what happened to his mother.
He was the youngest life at risk. If she could get Ryan to agree, that would be a huge step forward.
“No way is any Hanson leaving my sight.”
Sandra didn’t respond, deciding to play the power of silence to gain the upper hand in this exchange.
“I will let the security guy go.”
Donny nodded beside her. She understood it was a victory, just not the one she’d have relished the most. “Ryan, I’m pleased to hear that. You let Abram go, then I’ll talk to my boss about bringing in the press for your story.”
“Okay, but it needs to be televised and broadcast live, so I know my message is getting out there.”