M Sellars - The Law Of Three

I had to lean from side to side as I inspected the scene before me because for some reason, Agent Kavanaugh had placed herself between the structure and me. I was at once reassured and at the same time annoyed by what I considered to be an inexplicably overprotective gesture.

“You tell them not to even think about coming in here, or she’s dead” came Eldon’s frantic response from the earpiece. “I know every move they make. Do you hear me?”

“I think we all do.” I gave a terse response.

He didn’t even acknowledge my comment, moving straight into a demand instead. “Where have you been?”

“On my way here,” I responded. “Why? Are you getting lonely?”

“Shut up, Gant,” he spat. “Just shut up!”

“Fine,” I answered. “I really didn’t want to talk to you anyway.”

I loosened my grip on the handset, keeping it to my ear, but allowing the talk button to release, effectively muting my side of the conversation.

“Gant!” his screaming voice issued from the earpiece. “Don’t you hang up on me, Gant!”

I took a moment to gaze up and down the street. The semicircle of squad cars I’d seen on the television earlier had now been rearranged into a strategic perimeter. I immediately spotted police officers from at least two departments, not counting the highway patrol. That isn’t even to mention the FBI agents that were clustered around me.

Paramedics were already on the scene, preparing for the worst or maybe even the best. Who could say? I guess it just depended upon which side of the fence you were standing on. At any rate, I noticed that at the moment, one of them was closely inspecting Ben’s injured hand.

“GANT!” Eldon screamed again.

I continued holding the handset but simply listened. My fingers would tend to twitch as he spoke, and an angry retort was caught somewhere in the middle of my vocal chords. I consciously forced myself to remain quiet and several times found myself willing my fingers to loosen before they could connect with the switch.

Several steps to my right I saw a small group of plainclothes officers. I assumed them to be detectives attached to the Major Case Squad; primarily because at the center of the huddle was Lieutenant Albright giving instructions with animated thrusts of her hands. They were close enough for me to hear her talking but too far away for anything to be intelligible. As I stared at the clutch of officers, Albright’s gaze met mine. She paused and frowned severely, fixing me with the proverbial look that could kill. After a pair of seconds, she looked away and continued her briefing.

“Gant!” Porter’s voice came again. “I know you’re there! Gant!”

I kept waiting. I was banking on the fact that his attention would focus directly on me and that he would forget about Star. As long as he was ignoring her, he wasn’t hurting her. At least, that was my simplistic theory.

I could feel the tension rapidly increasing around me. Some of it was mine, but the majority was coming from the lead hostage negotiator and his team. They couldn’t say that they hadn’t been warned. For all intents and purposes, they knew what I was going to do once I got on the phone-even if my current ploy was somewhat off my previously traveled path. Still, I had to give them credit for their level of patience. Even with the mounting pressure, no one jumped the gun, and they let me continue playing it out my way.

I’m sure they were all speculating on whether or not I knew what I was doing, and if I had to guess, I would bet that someone was standing by to pull the plug on me at any moment. What I wasn’t about to tell them though, was that I was dwelling on that very same issue myself. I was making this up as I went along, and my imagination was getting very weary, very fast.

“Goddammit, Gant! I’ll kill her! I will!”

I looked up at the building once again. I didn’t know if he was watching me at the moment, but based on the earlier exchange between him and Agent McCoy, I gathered he was able to see me if he wanted to. For me, the facade was a visual connection, so I continued to scan the boarded-over windows in search of his face.

I slowly depressed the talk button and then began speaking. “Goddammit? Did I hear you right? My, my, my, Eldon. Taking your Lord’s name in vain?”

“Don’t push me, Gant!” he shot back.

“Isn’t there a commandment about that or something, Eldon? You know what? I think there is. Seems to me it goes: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.”

“Don’t you dare pass judgment on ME, Gant.”

“Why not?” I asked with mock surprise. “Turn about fair play, Eldon.”

“Goddammit, Gant! I said…”

“Again, Eldon?” I cut him off. “What happened? Don’t tell me that somehow the devil got behind you.”

“I told you I’ll kill her!”

“Yeah, you keep saying that,” I spat. “So what’s stopping you?”

“I will, Gant! I’ll do it!”

“You talk a good game, but I don’t think so, Eldon. Not this time, and let me tell you why.” I continued with my explanation, ignoring his insistent commentary. “You need Millicent. You need Millicent to get to me. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it, Eldon?”

I waited for him to reply and heard only labored breathing at the other end, so I pressed forward.

“See,” I told him. “What you really want is to kill me, not her. We both know that. Hell, everyone here knows that. You’ve made no secret of it. But there’s something else we both know: if you kill Millicent, about two seconds later a team of heavily armed SWAT guys is going to screw up your little world.

“If that happens, Eldon, it’s all over. There’s no way you’ll ever get to me. How do you think your God is going to feel about that?”

“My God is a compassionate God,” he snarled.

“No, Eldon,” I countered. “I’ve read your book. I know what it says. Your God is a vengeful God.”

“Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live, Gant,” he finally replied. “And she’s a Witch. She must be punished for her sins.”

“Are you still stuck on that?” I admonished. “You know, when I read that particular passage, there was a lot more to it than that. Are you using some kind of abridged edition?”

“Vengeance is mine,” he returned.

“Saith the Lord, Eldon,” I came back immediately. “Let’s get the quote right if you are going to use it. Or, is it maybe that you’re trying to tell me that YOU are the Lord? If you are, then I think we are talking about a major sin here. Hubris, idolatry, the whole nine yards.”

A quiet lull followed my observation, and I listened closely to the sounds coming from the handset. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was hearing at first. As the noise began, it sounded like sobbing, but after a moment, it inched up in volume and started taking on the properties of a throaty chuckle.

“Glad you find this all so entertaining, Eldon,” I chided.

“You’re good, Gant.” Porter finally eked out the words through the insane laugh. “I’ll give you that, you’re really good. But I’m not fooled. Maybe a man without true faith would have fallen for your lies but not me.”

“Well, Eldon,” I answered in a pseudo-friendly tone. “You know how it is. Satan has an agenda, and he expects me to keep it.”

“Don’t mock me, Gant.”

“Who says I’m mocking you, Eldon? You’re the one who keeps telling me that I’m doing Satan’s bidding.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do I?”

“Stop trying to mess with my mind, Gant.” He hardened his voice. “It won’t work. You know my path is clear, and nothing you say can shake my belief.”

“Fine,” I replied. “You’re right, let’s just quit screwing around.”