Chapter 40
FORTY
Sandra’s eye was drawn to the video screen and the two undercover officers moving in to play their parts.
The reporter and cameraman. She glanced at the timer on her phone.
One minute and forty seconds remaining of that hour Ryan had stipulated.
She drank the rest of her coffee and popped in an earbud that was connected to the vehicle’s comms. “Here goes,” she said before leaving.
Sandra stepped outside the command vehicle ready to bring this thing to a close. Even if it meant moving forward with the reporter ploy. She just hoped that Kreiger would stay true to his word and hold off the snipers from taking a shot.
She tapped on her headset to call Ryan. After he answered, she said, “Ryan? Do you see us?” True to Kreiger’s word, the ERT officers chosen for this ruse looked like the real deal between their clothing and the camera hoisted over the man’s shoulder.
There was also a show made of their arrival and getting them into position.
“I do.”
“Then I’ll talk you through this. Come out with your arms, and the two guns you have, raised in the air. Then set them on the ground and step back twenty steps. Do you understand?”
“Yes. You want me unarmed and vulnerable, but that’s not how it’s going to work.” Ryan hung up and soon came into view.
He had his arm around a young boy’s neck. Brayden.
Sandra’s heart pounded. Okay, this wasn’t good.
There were so many ways this could flip sideways, she’d lose track if she tried to count them all.
Snipers were set up awaiting word. The undercover cops were carrying concealed weapons.
Not to mention all of the armed officers in the area, some of whom might be rookies and trigger happy.
Sandra’s own Glock 19 was nestled comfortably in her holster, but she certainly had no desire to use it.
“Ryan!” she cried out. “Agent Vos.” She made a dramatic show of pointing at the FBI logo on her vest as she walked closer to the gate.
“Sandra.” Ryan helped bridge the distance between them.
He said her name as if he were greeting an old friend.
It was unsettling considering the circumstances.
“The reporter is ready to go.” She gestured behind her at the undercover officers without taking her eyes off Ryan.
She got in a look at Brayden too. The kid was trembling and heaving for breath.
Him being out here, in such a vulnerable state, worked on her nerves, but she refused to let Ryan see that.
She felt she had to acknowledge his presence, though, or Ryan might feel unheard and unseen. “Is this Brayden?” she asked Ryan.
“Yes. And he’s here to protect me.”
“You’re scared. I can understand that. Being in the spotlight can be intimidating.”
“Having guns aimed on me is.” Ryan made a show of looking around. “I know they’re out there.”
While the snipers were tucked away out of sight, their presence was tangible. “You have my word you and Brayden are safe.” As she said that latter bit, she made a point of making eye contact with the kid. She’d throw herself over him to protect him if it became necessary.
Ryan’s gaze fell to her Glock. “You have a gun.”
“I do. But it’s holstered. It’s of no threat to you.” Sandra held up her hands to further stress her words. “Where are your guns, Ryan?” It would do no good to point out that surrendering them had been part of the deal.
“I left them in the house.”
The offering came too fast, and paired with his comment about being vulnerable earlier, Sandra wasn’t buying a word of what he said.
Why would he leave the guns inside with Ashley and the teenage girl?
Presumably, he planned to return there after the interview, and that would put him at risk.
“The guns are in the house? That’s good, Ryan. Shall we do the interview?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll just need to open the gates—”
“No. I’m staying right here, on this side.”
“That wasn’t the deal.” More like an understanding than a deal but… She’d failed to specify the newscast was going to be filmed outside of the gate.
“Things have changed.” Ryan strengthened his hold on Brayden, and the kid cried out.
“Help me!”
His desperation sliced Sandra’s heart. Thoughts of her twin brother, Sam, wedged in, unwelcomed. “Ryan, you’re scaring him.”
“Too bad.”
“You scare him, you can bet you’re scaring them.” She jacked a thumb over her shoulder to indicate the undercover officers, though Ryan would see them as a reporter and her cameraman. “We assured them of their safety because you told me they would be safe. Was I wrong to trust you?”
“No. No, you can trust me. I can’t trust anyone else.”
“Ryan, listen to me. You can trust me. I’ll help you through this. Will you come to this side of the gate for the interview?”
Seconds ticked off in silence.
Eventually, Ryan nodded.
“You turned off the ability to open the gates from the gatehouse though. Do you need me to call Ashley Hanson?”
Ryan nodded, and she called the house and made the request. As the wrought-iron gates swung back, Ryan moved his way through with Brayden.
The kid’s steps were hesitant, and Sandra could only imagine how terrified he was. “While you talk to the reporters, Brayden can stand to the side with me.” She put that out there as if she were doing Ryan a favor, so that he could focus on what he had to do.
Ryan shook his head. “No, he stays with me.”
“Okay, whatever you wish.” She walked back toward the undercover officers. “This is Emilia Rose and her cameraman, Tyler Carson.” Sandra told him what station they were with again. “Ms. Rose, this is Ryan Crawford. He’s why you’re here today.”
“The world deserves to hear the truth about the Hansons,” Ryan rushed out.
Brayden’s cheeks were a bright red, making it hard for Sandra to pry her eyes from him. Is he still breathing? But she saw his chest rising and falling.
“We’re here to help you with that,” Emilia told him. “If you just want to stand a bit more to your right.”
“I’m not moving. You film from where I stand.”
The plan had been to get Ryan positioned more to the right to make it easier for officers to move in from the sidelines when an opportunity permitted.
But nothing was going according to plan.
This was something Sandra had feared all along, but forward was the only way through this to bring the situation to an end.
Ideally, a peaceful one. What gnawed the most was he likely had two guns on his person, and for now there was nothing they could do about it.
“Yes, okay, that’s fine,” Emilia said. “It’s just where the sun is in the sky behind you—”
“I’m staying put,” Ryan seethed.
Emilia held up a hand. “We’ll get started then. Are you ready?”
“I am.”
Emilia turned her back on Ryan and spoke for the camera.
“This is Emilia Rose, reporting live from outside the residence belonging to Edward Hanson, sole heir of late billionaire Timothy Hanson. Timothy left a legacy of prioritizing family values. His generational company, Hanson Property Development Inc., founded its brand on ‘Building homes, not houses, since 1941.’ But we’re here today because shocking information has come to light.
This is Ryan Crawford”—Emilia turned and gestured at him—“and he’s here with the real story about Timothy Hanson. Please, Ryan, tell us more.”
Ryan’s eyes flicked to Sandra, before settling in the direction of the camera. “Timothy Hanson was a killer and a rapist.”
It was just as they had suspected, but to hear it put into words soured Sandra’s gut. What horror Ryan and his mother had been through at the hands of someone they should have been able to trust. For Susan, her boss. For a son, his father.
“That’s a strong allegation to make,” Emilia said, playing investigative reporter. “Can you back up such a claim?”
“He had my mother killed, and he tried to kill me too. Thirty-three years ago, she died in a fatal car crash. He must have paid off the police, and the truth has been buried all these years. But it’s time the truth surfaced.”
At least this wasn’t a real broadcast, or Sandra would be catching shit for the derogatory comment hurled at the MPD.
As Sandra listened to Ryan talk, she was seeking any wedge that would allow her to move in and apprehend him.
She wouldn’t be the only one contemplating the same thing.
But as long as Brayden remained tucked into Ryan’s side, there was no way anyone was making a move.
“Do you have proof of these allegations for our viewers?”
“The police have proof.” Ryan gestured at Sandra, catching her off guard.
The undercover officer swung the camera toward her, and Emilia faced her. “Is that right?”
“The investigation into Susan Crawford’s accident has been reopened, and several things have flagged for the detective working the case.”
“Just tell her,” Ryan shouted.
“There appears to have been a cover-up. Officers looked the other way, and eyewitness testimonies were tampered with. The evidence is leading back to Timothy Hanson’s door.
” By the time she finished speaking, Ryan was nodding.
His shoulders had lowered. The weight he’d been carrying had melted away.
“Wow, that is incredible. Ryan, who is that young man with you?”
“My name is Brayden Hanson,” the boy said on his own behalf.
Ryan tugged him tighter. “Timothy’s DNA is in his blood, in his father’s. This boy will only follow in the examples of those who came before him. How could he know any better?”
Sandra had an inkling that question reflected Ryan’s life situation. He’d been raised by an alcoholic aunt and had become one himself. He had to also realize that the blood of the man he despised, that triggered today’s events, was running in his veins too.
“Yes, while I like to think we all choose for ourselves who or what we’re going to be,” Emilia said. “And what do you want to be, young man?”