M Sellars - Love Is The Bond

“Looks like you let us do most of the legwork.”

“Of course. It was the most efficient way to handle the situation.”

“Fuckin’ Feebs,” Ben muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

Without missing a beat, Drew replied, “Fuckin’ cops,” then turned his attention back to me. “What about Mister Lewis? It would be a really good thing if you could tell me that she is not holding him hostage.”

I didn’t reply. I wasn’t entirely sure what to say.

“Mister Gant?” Drew pressed.

Ben reached up and started working the muscles on the back of his neck as he announced, “Look, the thing is we don’t know his condition for sure.”

“Condition?”

“Dammit,” my friend muttered then looked up to the FBI agent and blurted, “Look, we haven’t told anyone this yet, so don’t go off half-cocked… Felicity told Rowan she thinks he’s dead.”

Drew looked at the ground and shook his head then cast a glance at the other officers on the scene. Looking back up at us, he gave Ben a nod. “Probably good you kept that to yourself, considering… So… Did she use Agent Mandalay’s weapon?”

“We don’t know,” Ben replied. “Truth is we don’t even know if he’s really dead. Remember, she said she thinks he’s dead.”

“But if she shot him,” Drew offered, leaving the conclusion unspoken.

“Like I said, we don’t know.”

“Then what makes her think he’s dead?”

“Don’t know.”

“Have you asked her?”

“No. She’s been a bit hysterical,” I offered before Ben could answer.

He thrust his chin toward the phone. “Then ask her.”

“I don’t think…” I started.

“Mister Gant, please ask her. Trust me. I’m just trying to help.”

I sighed heavily then twisted the phone back to my mouth. “Felicity?”

“Y-y-yes…”

“I need to ask you a question, sweetheart,” I said, continuing my prolific use of endearments as a tool to keep her connected with me.

“I-I… I thought you were here…” she murmured. “Where are you?”

“I am, honey. Now I need you to answer something for me.”

“W-w-what?”

“The man in the room…”

The moment I said the words, her whimpering increased, and I could hear her breathing become more rapid.

“Honey… Calm down…” I tried to soothe her. “I just need you to tell me something.”

“W-w-what?” she whined.

I closed my eyes and tried to ground the sudden panic that was welling up from my stomach, but I knew that it was no use. My wife’s emotional pain was now expanding beyond the bounds of the room, and I was caught up in its wake. After a long pause, I sighed and mumbled, “Nothing. Nothing. Just stay where you are right now.”

“W-w-why? I thought you were here… Where are you?”

“I am, honey, I am… Just hold on. I’ll see you soon.”

“Mister Gant…” Drew began.

“Forget it,” I returned with a hard shake of my head. “I’m not going to ask her. She’s distraught and confused enough as it is. I know you don’t believe what’s happened, but I do, and I’m telling you she can’t answer this question right now.”

He stared back at me with a grim frown slashed across the lower half of his face. I was fully expecting him to launch into an authoritative diatribe telling me to ask her or else, but after a moment he simply nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “I understand. Let me ask you this. Do you think she will come out and surrender?”

“Probably,” I said with a nod of my head. “But I’m not going to ask her to do that with all this firepower pointed at her.”

“I’m working on that,” he replied.

“Yeah, and it looks like you won that round,” Ben announced.

“What?”

My friend nodded past him and he turned. I was already looking in that direction but only now took notice that some of the cars on the parking lot were beginning to move. As I watched, it didn’t escape my attention that while there were still flak-vested officers running about, the bulk of their activity involved stowing weaponry and backing off.

Arthur McCann was stomping toward us with an angry gait, his form silhouetted off and on by the flash of headlights and light bars as vehicles whipped around one another. We stood waiting for him until he came to a halt in front of us and planted his hands on his hips once again.

“Okay, Agent Drew, the scene is apparently yours,” McCann spat.

“Thank you, Sheriff,” Drew replied. “I appreciate your cooperation.”

“Yes, well I seriously doubt that you’re going to appreciate this,” he shot back. “Your SAC agreed with me that Mister Gant is to be removed from the scene immediately.”

“Okay,” Drew said with a nod. “That’s fine.”

McCann fell speechless for a moment as he stared at him, obviously taken aback by the young man’s unfettered agreement.

“Good,” he finally said.

“Anything else?” Drew asked.

“Not that would interest you,” the sheriff replied then turned his attention to Ben. “But, you might want to know, Detective Storm, that I’ve filed a formal complaint against you with both the Major Case Squad commander and Saint Louis City Homicide.”

Ben glared back at him and shook his head as he replied, “Join the fuckin’ club, McCann. Join the fuckin’ club.”

“Honey, I’m going to hand the phone over to Ben,” I said, speaking up to be heard over the thudding echoes of the news helicopters above. They were hovering far closer than I would have liked, but there was little I could do about it other than try to ignore them.

“Okay,” Felicity whimpered in return, her voice barely audible.

The contingent of officers had dutifully backed off as they had been ordered, but the tension among their ranks was still running at full bore. The fact that in a handful of heartbeats I was going to be sent back to mill about among them did little to allay my own anxiety.

“I love you,” I said then listened to her faint response before I pulled the cell away from my ear.

I stood there staring at the device for a long moment before hesitantly holding it out toward Ben. I couldn’t help but see what I was doing as surrendering my only physically tangible connection to my wife. In a very real sense, it made me feel as though I was abandoning her.

My friend gave me an understanding nod as he took the phone from me and placed it up to his own ear.

“Heya, Firehair,” he said in as soothing a tone as he could muster under the circumstances.

After he stood listening for a moment, he spoke again, “Yeah, I know… It’s all gonna be over soon… Well, that’s because you’ve done some things that aren’t so good… Yes… Yes, I’m afraid so… I know… That’s why I’m here… Now, listen carefully. I need ta’ tell ya’ how we’re gonna handle this…”

Detective Ackman took me by the arm and started leading me back toward the barrier of vehicles. I didn’t resist, instead I simply trudged along on autopilot as I twisted my head and continued looking back at Ben.

“Don’t worry, Mister Gant,” he said to me. “We’re going to take care of her.”

“This has gotten completely out of hand,” I managed to reply.

“Yeah, it has,” he agreed. “But we’re trying to fix that.”

“You should just let me go in there.”

“We can’t do that.”

“I know… But, you still should.”

“Listen, Mister Gant,” he began. “You need to understand that your wife is going to be arrested.”

“I know that.”

“I mean she is going to be arrested right now,” he stressed. “When she comes out, she is going to be cuffed immediately.”