Thomas Cook - Taken

Mary could see her racing toward a break in the trees and into the speeding traffic beyond the woods where… the air suddenly congealed and she felt as if she were moving through a thick invisible gelatin, Wakeman lurching ponderously at her side, encased in the suffocating air, everything slowing as if some mysterious force had been drained from the earth, leaving nothing free to move save the little girl she could still see darting deerlike and unencumbered through the otherwise numb and exhausted realm of earth.

Charlie lay on the sofa in Dr. Penzler’s office, grimacing in pain as Lisa applied the tourniquet. He stared at the others herded together around him, pale with fright, watching as Ray paced back and forth before them.

“He needs a hospital,” Lisa said.

Ray shook his head. “I need to talk to the FBI.” He picked a cell phone from one of the pile he’d taken from the group and tossed it to Dr. Penzler. “Call the FBI. Tell them that I’m armed and that I’m going to have to start shooting people if my demands aren’t met.”

“What are your demands?” Dr. Penzler asked.

“Tell them that I want to speak to someone in charge,” Ray answered. “The extraterrestrial project. I want to talk to whoever’s in charge of that. I want him here, in this room, so I can look in his eyes.”

Dr. Penzler opened the phone.

Suddenly the door burst open and all eyes turned toward where a little girl stood breathlessly.

“Allie,” Lisa said.

Ray moved the pistol, directing Allie to join the others. Then he looked at Dr. Penzler. “Make the call,” he said.

Dr. Penzler dialed a number, then said. “This is Harriet Penzler. I’m a psychologist in Seattle, Washington. Yes. Yes. This is very urgent. I have a patient who… well… who has to speak to whomever is in charge of the extraterrestrial project. Yes, that’s what I said. Yes, and this is no joke.” Dr. Penzler waited a moment, then returned to the phone. “And there are hostages,” she said, her voice now very grave. “Seven adults.” Her eyes swept over to Allie, settled upon her a moment, then returned to the phone. “And… one… little girl.” She returned her gaze to Allie as she listened. “Yes,” she said. “That’s right… exactly.”

“All right, I’m here,” Mary said as she stepped into Dr. Penzler’s office a few minutes later. She lifted her arms to show that she was unarmed. “Are you the one who asked for the FBI?” she asked, her eyes locked on Ray.

“Yeah,” Ray said.

“I’m here. You can talk to me.”

“Did anyone explain to you what this was all about?” Ray asked.

“Man in therapist’s office holding eight hostages… demands FBI agent.”

“I asked for someone from the FBI extraterrestrial project.”

“You mean like X-Files?” Mary asked. She smiled. “I’m the person you want to see.”

Ray glared at her. “I want the FBI to go public,” he said. “I want the FBI to tell us everything it knows about…”

“I’m sure everyone here would agree,” Mary said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to… go public.” She glanced at the other hostages one by one until her gaze finally settled on Allie. “Give me the little girl and I’ll do what I can for you.”

Allie looked at Mary closely. “She was in the park,” she said to Lisa. “She tried to grab me.”

Mary’s eyes swept back to Ray. “Let the little girl come with me,” she said.

Ray strode across the room, yanked Allie from Lisa’s grasp and put the pistol to the child’s head. “I’ve got something you want, don’t I?” he said to Mary. His eyes narrowed menacingly. “Well, you’ll never get her,” he added as he drew the gun away and let Allie go. “She’s staying with her mother.” He smiled. “Now get out!”

Mary eased herself from the room, then quickly made her way across the street to where she found her father, the building’s blueprints spread out on a table in front of him.

“What’s the situation?” Eric asked.

“He’s going to kill the girl if we don’t tell the whole world that we’re not alone.”

“You two were going to pick her up. This was supposed to be easy.”

Mary ignored the accusatory tone in her father’s voice. “We have to make sure that little girl doesn’t get hurt.” She glanced over to where a gas company truck rested at the curb, the snipers she’d already put into position now taking aim, awaiting her signal.

“No one’s getting killed here today,” Eric warned her, his eyes now on the same snipers.

Mary nodded, and suddenly, the snipers fired, smashing through the windows of Dr. Penzler’s office.

For a moment, there was silence, then the phone rang, and Mary quickly picked it up.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!”

It was Ray, and he was screaming.

“It was a miscommunication,” Mary told him urgently. “It won’t happen again.”

“YOU’RE DAMNED RIGHT IT WON’T! NEXT TIME ANYTHING LIKE THAT HAPPENS, THE LITTLE GIRL IS COMING OUT THE WINDOW WITH A BULLET IN HER HEAD!”

Mary put down the phone, and stared at the window of Dr. Penzler’s office, where Ray now stood, Allie held like a body shield in front of him, angrily repeating his demands.

“He’s going to kill her,” Mary said. “The proof. We can’t let that happen.”

“I will not be a party to any more killing,” Eric said firmly. “I’m done with that.”

“I don’t think you are, Dad,” Mary said darkly. “You know who’s in there, right? Besides the little girl, I mean. Her mother… and her father. That means he knows. That’s a lot of information in the hands of two people who have had some very bad experiences with us over the years.” She returned her gaze to the shattered window. “They have to go. And Dr. Penzler, too. I can’t risk a leak. Allie’s too important.” She shook her head. “None of the others matter anymore. It’s all about Allie.”

“You are not in charge here, Mary,” Eric reminded her. “I am. Take a step. Calm down.”

Mary smiled, but her eyes remained cold. “I’m sorry,” she said. “You’re right.”

Eric stared at her warily. “On your way out, tell your personal gunmen that their services will no longer be required.”

Mary stiffened like a soldier called to attention. “Yes, Dad,” she said as she left the room.

Allie looked softly into Ray’s tormented eyes.

“It’s easier, isn’t it, Mr. Morrison,” she asked. “Blaming it on them.”

Ray sucked in an exhausted breath. “What?”

“It’s easier to say that ‘they’ did it to you,” Allie answered. “That ‘they’ came down and took you.”

Ray’s fingers tightened around the pistol grip. “Shut up.”

“It’s a whole lot scarier when the monsters are us,” Allie continued.

“I told you to shut up,” Ray said.

“Nothing you do is going to change what happened, Mr. Morrison.”

“And what was that?” Ray challenged her.

“That man in the woods when you were eight,” Allie answered. “The one who took you in the shed. He wasn’t from another planet. He was just mean and crazy.”

Ray leaped to his feet. “Shut up!”

“You’re just going to hurt a lot more people, that’s all.”

Ray lowered the pistol, his hand shaking, but his face curiously serene, as if he’d lived the life of one condemned, but whose death sentence had suddenly been lifted. He looked at Allie without fear or malice. “What should I do now?” he asked.

Allie smiled quietly. “I think you already know.”

Mary eased back behind the gas truck as the door to Dr. Penzler’s building opened.

“They’re coming out,” she said. “The girl said she’d come with us.”