Richard Stephenson - Collapse

“Kathy! Are you hearing this?”

“Yeah, Chief, what the hell is going on?”

“Kathy, the gunman on the second floor, what’s his radio ID?”

“Crap! I didn’t even think of that. Hold on a second. Too much radio traffic, get the guy to talk again and I can figure it out.”

Max keyed up his radio. “Who am I speaking with? What’s your name?”

“My name is none of your fucking business! Do you even care about the innocent man you shot, you c…”

“Kathy, whose radio is that?”

“Chief, that’s Elizabeth’s radio.”

Max hung up the phone and keyed up his radio. “Listen to me. We need to start talking this out. What is it that you want?”

“I want to get the fuck out of here alive is what I want! You assholes killed my brother and you’re gonna kill me, too!”

“Are you alone up there? Is anyone hurt? If you have anyone up there with you the thing to do is…”

“I ain’t got no one up here with me!”

“How did you get that radio then?”

“Fuck you, that’s how I got it.”

Max clenched his jaw and knocked over the stack of boxes in front of him. Where is Elizabeth? Is she dead? Is she a hostage? Time was getting away from him quickly. Whoever was lying out in the middle of the garage yard might be dead soon.

“County 6, 1-0”

“County 6, go ahead Chief”

“9-0 on scene?” Max hoped that the County Sheriff’s office used the same code for ambulance.

“10-4, they are standing by.”

“Listen to me on the second floor. It is important that we get those people out of the yard and to an emergency room.”

“Fuck that! My brother’s dead. The pig that shot him’s gonna die, too!”

“Listen to me. Your brother’s not moving, that doesn’t mean that he’s dead. There’s a chance that he can still be saved. Let us get him to a hospital and try to save his life while we still can!” Max hoped the second gunmen didn’t see his brother get shot in the head or this idea was going to fail quickly.

“OK, you’re right! Shit! You get them out of there, but I swear, if one person so much as looks up here towards me I’m gonna start shooting.”

“You have my word that no one will hurt you.”

“Hurry the fuck up.”

“County 6, you hear all of that?”

“10-4.”

“Go!”

Two county deputies quickly escorted paramedics out to the middle of the yard to collect the fallen. They were ushered out and the ambulance screamed away.

“Hey! Ambulance! Is my brother okay? Will he make it?”

For the love of God, please lie; don’t be stupid, Max thought.

One of the deputies responded. “He has a pulse. They’re attempting to revive him now; that’s all I know.”

“9-0, this is 1-0. Please identify the officer.”

“Standby.” The deputy riding with the fallen officer replied. “Uh, Chief. This doesn’t make sense.”

“Make some sense out of it.”

“Well, this officer doesn’t have a badge or credentials.”

“Check the wallet.”

“Standby. Uh, guy’s name is Tom Williams.”

Son of a bitch. This is getting too weird , thought Max. The deputy mayor? With the two gunfighters on their way to the hospital, it was now time to focus on finding Elizabeth.

“OK, your brother is getting help. Let’s start talking to each other and see if we can figure this out. Why don’t you come downstairs so we can talk face to face.”

“So I can get shot like my brother for no fucking reason? Don’t think so!”

“No one is going to shoot you, son, you have my word on that. Let’s start by you telling me your name. My name is Max.”

“I’m Randy. I swear my brother and I didn’t do anything. That asshole cop wouldn’t listen to us, thought we were trying to steal gas. Our car broke down a few blocks from here, and all we wanted was to borrow some tools. This is a garage for Christ’s sake!”

“Randy, I believe you.”

“Really? You mean it?”

“You hear the guy in the ambulance?”

“Yeah, your cop forgot his badge, so what?”

“The guy in the ambulance isn’t a cop, Randy.”

“What? No way! He was wearing a radio and had on the same jacket as everyone else. He had a gun and shot my brother.”

“Randy, I want you to listen to me. This is just as weird for you as it is for me. That man is the deputy mayor. I deputized him this morning to help us distribute the gas.”

“So he is a cop! You’re lying! You made him a cop this morning!”

“No, Randy, listen. I just needed some extra bodies to help out the officers. Each of the stations I set up has a uniformed officer in charge. No one is to do a thing without clearing with their team leader. I have no idea what led to your brother being shot.”

“I just told you what led to him being shot! That asshole kept telling us to leave and said we couldn’t have any gas. We were on our way out, and he drew down on my brother. We both put our hands up and the guy just started shooting!”

“Randy, I told you, I believe you. I need to ask you a question and it’s very important that you tell me the truth. Can you do that?”

“I guess.”

“Good. I need to know how you got that radio. It belongs to one of my uniformed officers. Randy, if the officer is with you, it is very important that you tell me the truth so we can figure this thing out. If you let any hostage go we can start figuring out how to end this.”

“Dude, I already told you I ain’t got no one up here with me!”

“OK, Randy. So tell me, how did you get the radio?”

“When that dude started shooting I ran up into this office. When I got here, I found a big belt on the desk that had a gun and a radio on it. No cop was here! I swear it! I just want to get out of here alive. I don’t want to take a cop hostage! That’s crazy! I’m a high school teacher, not a criminal!”

Maxwell thought long and hard, his gut was telling him that Randy was speaking the truth. What happened to Elizabeth? Why would she leave her duty belt on the desk?

She’s in the bathroom.

If the situation wasn’t so serious, Max would probably laugh. Elizabeth had tossed her belt on the desk and walked down the hall to the bathroom. She was a neat freak and would never take her duty belt off in the bathroom.

Why hadn’t she made a move on Randy? Granted, the man was armed and she was not, but she could easily get the drop on him and disarm him if she was careful. Hell, at the very least she could sneak into the office on the other side of the bathroom and climb out the window. What was she waiting for? Did she need a distraction? Wasn’t the storm outside loud enough? He could barely hear the radio over the blustering wind. Why would she stay on the second floor? What was keeping her there?

Roscoe.

Max had not seen Roscoe since he got to the garage. The man was in his late fifties and weighed three hundred fifty pounds. No way could he sneak out past Randy, let alone climb through a window and jump from the second floor.

“Randy, I want you to listen to me. The radio you’re talking on belongs to one of my officers. His name is Roscoe. He’s an old man who actually retired from the force a few years ago. He’s not in the best of shape and is probably more scared of you than you are of him. I gave him a job here at the garage so he can keep busy. I’m betting he was taking a dump when you came upstairs. Roscoe has a bad heart. I really need you to let him know it’s safe to come out. Just call out his name and tell him Chief Harris said it’s okay to come out. Better yet, I want you to walk down the hall and turn up the radio as loud as you can. I will tell him myself. Deal?”

“OK, man, but I swear if this guy does anything I don’t like it ain’t gonna be pretty.”