A/N Ahh. My new Standoff story. This is darker and a bit more dramatic than my previous two. I thought my series needed some drama in it so i decided to write this. Tell me what you think.
Disclaimer: Standoff is property of FOX. I own Richard Langer.
Richard Langer walked down the corridor of the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit headquarters searching for someone to point him in the right direction. He noticed a dark haired lady walking towards him with a stack of papers in her hands.
"Excuse me?" he asked politely. "I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of Cheryl Carrera?" he asked.
"Well you've come to the right person" she said sticking out her hand to shake his.
"You're Cheryl?" he asked.
"Yes" she laughed "And you must be Agent Langer?"
"Please, call me Richard"
"Okay then Richard, I guess you know why you're here" she said walking with him into the office.
"A guy's taking people across town hostage and then halfway through the negotiations disappears without warning or any trace of how or where he got to. Police have dubbed him the Magician because of his disappearances" he explained.
"Exactly" said Cheryl.
"Just tell me on thing?" asked Richard "I thought we nailed this guy?"
"So did I" sighed Cheryl, thinking back to the case 7 years ago "But this new guy has got the detail's down pat. He knows things that not even I new because only the officer's working the case did"
"So do you think he's the real thing or a copy cat?"
"We don't know. That's why I called you in to assist us with details and help us decide if we have a new killer or the same one on our hands"
"Okay" nodded Richard "Where do you want me to start?" he asked rubbing his hands together.
Cheryl lead him towards the desk's "Frank, Duff, Lia. Over here" she instructed. "I'd like you three to met Richard Langer. He was the lead officer on the 'Magician' case 7 years ago. I've called him in to assist us. Richard this is Frank, Duff and Lia" she introduced.
"So are you guy's negotiators?" asked Richard shaking each of their hand's in turn.
"Na" responded Frank. "Duff and I work tactical and Lia works in IT" he explained.
"Where are Matt and Emily?" asked Cheryl, noting the two absent negotiators.
"Matt called in before. Apparently they slept in but will be here soon" grinned Frank.
"Of course they did" muttered Cheryl. "What was Matt's excuse this time?" she asked.
"Why don't you ask them?" suggested Duff, noticing the two FBI agent's walking briskly towards the group.
"Sorry we're late" apologised Matt, putting his bag down on his desk.
"Richard I'd like you to meet Matt and Emily, our two negotiators" introduced Cheryl while sending Matt a glare informing him that they would discuss things later. Matt put his hand out to shake but Richard didn't notice. He was staring past Matt's shoulder in surprise causing the group to look over as well at Emily standing rigid next to her desk. Her hand was still lying against the folders she had put down a second ago but the rest of her was stock still. She wore the same surprised expression that Richard was except hers was awash with fear. Richard put his hand up slowly to wave. Her eyes followed the path of his hand and her cheeks burned, remembering all to well the last time they had done that.
"Hey Emily" he greeted, breaking her out of her thought's.
"Hi" she whispered. Suddenly she bolted out of the office's muttering about the amount of paperwork she had to get done.
"You two know each other?" asked Lia, noting her friend's sudden, strange departure.
"Yeah" nodded Richard "We actually went out for about a year" he added, smiling shyly.
"Oh" Matt exclaimed turning to look at him.
"I'm going to go make sure she's okay" suggested Richard before following the path Emily had taken a few seconds earlier.
He found her in her classroom a little later.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Oh" exclaimed Emily jumping in surprise. Richard started walking towards her and she shrank back against the wall. He could see her eyes darting around to the door, praying someone would interrupt them. "Emily" he warned, laying a hand on her arm.
"Don't even think about it" he whispered.
She nodded slowly in agreement. He leaned his head in dangerously close to her. "I need you to promise me something" he told her, still whispering.
"Promise me that no one will find out about us, okay" he continued.
"Yes" she breathed out.
"Promise?" he asked, squeezing tighter on her arm.
"Yes" she cried in a whisper.
"Okay then" he whispered in he ear. He leaned back, smiling gently at her and tucking a stray lock of her hair behind her ears before pushing her to the ground. He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, shooting her a smile through the glass panelling.
Emily curled up against the wall cradling her arm against her. There was a large hand shaped bruise beginning to form. She let the tears run freely down her face as she lay there, feeling defeated for the first time in years.
