Jacqueline Druga - Protocol One

“Who?”

“The kids.” She hit her cigarette again.

“They’re children.”

“They’re in on it.”

I faced Peter.

Hand behind his neck, he nodded. “They are.”

“What…” I threw up my hands. “Is going on. What is the situation?”

“OK,” Peter sat down. “When Tony was unable to get a hold of everyone, I switched the monitors to see what was going on. We weren’t monitoring the areas that were patrolled. By the time I saw, he was on his rampage and flew out.”

I pulled Joie close to my hip. “How many of them are in here?”

“Well…” Peter said. “There were ten remaining of the ones that arrived. Three are kids. Which left three women and four men.”

“Ok, that didn’t answer my question. Are the fire hall people here?”

“Yes.”

“How many are here?”

“Seven.”

“No. no.” Surely Peter was confused. I waved my hand. “How many broke in?”

“None.”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

“We had it all wrong.” Peter turned his chair to the monitors.

“We saw someone coming in.”

“We did,” Peter answered. “And I have been piecing together what happened and I think I have it down. Like I said we weren’t actively monitoring the areas we had patrolled. When Tony couldn’t reach Abe, I worried, when he couldn’t reach Ben, I pulled up this.” A few clicks on the keyboard and the image on monitor four switched to Ben holding up his hands. The person holding the gun on him was out of the picture.

“Who is that?” I asked.

Peter rewound. “No sound on replays.” He clicked. “Watch. This was before Abe even went up.” He forwarded it. “Now look.”

Stew, or as the others called him, Birthmark man because of the birthmark on his check approached Ben.

“Ben talks to him.” Peter narrated. “No problems. All is fine and then…”

I gasped in shock when Birthmark man pulled a gun on Ben. There was an exchange and the radio sailed to the ground. It looked as if Ben was going to get the better of the situation until another person entered the room wearing an arctic gear coat. His face was completely shielded, as he helped to overpower Ben. Birthmark man held him at gunpoint. “Who is that?”

“My guess… Lenny.”

“Lenny left,” I said.

“Yeah, after this… watch.”

As soon as Peter said that, the big man in the Arctic coat slipped out the blast doors and the doors closed leaving Ben under armed guard.

Peter swiveled his chair. “I went through the footage. Again, we only have four monitors and we use them wisely. One of them always shows the outside. We watched the outside of storage, never inside. When I pulled up that feed, that’s where I realized Lenny was hiding. He never left. He made us think he left. When he hid.”

“Why did he make us think he left? That makes no sense.”

“Yes, it does,” Peter said. “We think he leaves, we start focusing on what’s outside our home instead of inside. What you and I saw was Lenny heading to the hatch with a flashlight, because he knew Tony would send someone up that hatch. Focusing outside, keeps the focus off the others inside.”

“What happened to Abe?” I asked.

Peter switched the monitor. “Unfortunately, we lost him. He beheaded him.”

The image showed Abe’s remains.

“Don’t look.” I told Joie.

“Why?” she asked.

I threw out my hands.

Peter continued, “Lenny came down the hatch, dropped the arctic gear, and gathered the others.”

“I am completely lost. Where are the other fire hall people? The ones that stayed back.”

Nelly chuckled once. “What part of inside job aren’t you getting? There were never any people at the fire hall. That crew that came here… that was it. They had their story all together. They told us they hated Lenny. Made us think that Lenny left. When all along it was part of the plan to just over take the joint.”

Finally I understood. They were smarter than we gave them credit for. They led us to believe there was an outside force we had to watch out for, when all along, they were the ones.

“Not all,” I said.

“All,” Peter replied.

“The kids.”

“Crafty bastards,” Nelly griped. “I was chasing them. We get to the walkway and the strawberry blonde, Amanda, pulls out a gun. They kids freaking laugh and run to her. I was ready to give up when Peter here pulled me in this room.”

“I was watching,” Peter said.

“How many people have we lost?” I dreaded asking that.

“Just Abe,” Peter answered.

“Where’s Tony?”

“With the others.” Peter pulled up the monitor. “This is a live feed.”

The video showed the dining area. Tony was in a chair with his hands tied behind his back to a chair, as was Skyler, Ben and Craig. Melissa and Duke were not tied, but had guns pointed at them.

It was hard to make out, but it looked to me like Birth Mark man, the Breast Feeding mother and another man held them hostage.

“How did this happen?” I asked. “I mean… how? And how did three of them get all of our people under control?”

“First,” Peter explained. “When Tony arrived up at the bay, Ben was at gun point so Tony dropped the weapon. They could have turned it. But these sickos have Baby John at knife point.”

I looked to where he pointed and sure enough, the one man without a weapon, held the baby. The kids were running around freely in the room as if nothing was going on.

“We’re missing two and Spencer.” I said.

“Level Five. Agriculture,” Peter explained. “They left him to chase you. He raced down there. They have him now. But he’s armed. Always is. The weapon is in the back waist of his pants. He just is waiting for a chance.”

I brought my hand to my face and ran my fingers down in frustration. I noticed something happening in the dining area. “What are they saying? Can we hear?”

“Yeah,” Peter turned up the volume.

“Pipe down!” Birth mark man yelled at Skyler. “All of your distraction tactics are not gonna change things.”

“Then what are you waiting for!” Skyler blasted.

I saw the look on Tony’s face, he was thinking and he kept tossing warning glances at Skyler.

“We’re waiting on Lenny.”

“Where is he anyhow?” Meagan asked. “What the hell. We’re doing all his work.”

“Let him go. He’ll be here,” Birthmark man said. “He wanted to have a little fun with that one’s girlfriend.” He pointed at Tony.

Tony lost his cool and, hands tied, he raged forward, chair and all toward birthmark man. Before he could reach him, Melissa cold cocked him with the butt of the rifle, sending Tony flying back.

Joie watched and screamed.

Quickly, I covered her face. “Oh my God. He’s okay, baby, he’s okay.”

Joie whimpered against my shoulder.

“Where is Lenny?” Peter asked. “I lost him.”

“So did they,” I replied, “He’s dead. Joie and I took him out.”

“Wow. Good job, and good psychological game on them. They have no clue.”

“Okay. Okay.” I held up my hand. “Listen. This has to stop. We can stop this. We outnumber them.”

“They’re armed.” Peter argued.

“We still outnumber them. Spencer is not down, not yet, he’s on his way up and they’re moving slowly. He’s waiting on something, I can see. That’s why he’s moving slow.”

“He’s moving slow because he can’t breathe,” Peter explained. “He has pneumonia. Anna.”

“There has got to be a way. And we have to do something before they find out Lenny is dead.”

“I agree. But what are our options?”

“We take them.”

“Yes. Sure.” Calmly, Peter nodded. “We take them.” He stated. “How? How? We have you. Who, by the way, is the most qualified because you took out Lenny. After you is a child. We have me. I’m a science guy. We also have an aging, depressed, ailing cop, and a chain smoking seventy-five year old woman. We are not the Avengers here, Anna.”