"We need eyes!" Greg Parker yelled into his headset. He looked anxiously at the small brick building in front of him.
"Almost there!" Sam Braddock answered as he raced to the back of the building, keeping low among the trees. He held his tech bag in his hands as he ran, his legs crouched. There was only a ten foot gap between the trees and the building. He stopped, looked at the boarded windows, and moved forward, crouching low. He covered the ten feet quickly and sat on his butt next to a door, above him a window.
The building is an old utilities building that was abandoned after the power company found a larger building for their growing business. There are a few windows and the ones that exist were boarded shut long ago to keep out squatters. Once it had been abandoned, it was essentially left to the forest to reclaim. The city started growing miles away and it was forgotten.
Team One stood watch over the front door of the building. All of them anxious to get inside.
Sam took out a scope, a small camera mounted at the end of a flexible metal tube and attempted to feed it under the door. "The door's blocked. Finding another way." Sam whispered. His heart pounded and he struggled to get his emotions under control.
"Copy." Greg answered.
Sam turned his head sideways and up to check the window. He moved into a squatting position so he could see better. "Looks like there's a small opening in the bottom of the wood planks and a break in the window in the same corner. Stand by."
At that moment Kevin "Wordy" Wordsmith appeared from the tree line and ran to Sam, keeping low. "Do you think we can get a mic through there too?" Wordy dropped to his butt next to Sam, under the window and close to the other edge of the building.
"Maybe-" Sam was drowned out by shouting from inside, most of it was a female. He looked at Wordy panicked.
"Boss." Team leader Ed Lane projected an enormous amount of agitation, fear and anger with that one word.
"I know Eddie." Greg answered tensely. "Sam!"
Wordy pulled the communicator from his ear and handed it to Sam. Sam pulled tape from his bag and taped the earpiece to the end of the scope. He fed it behind the boards then stretched his head up so he could see the hole in the window.
"I don't CARE what they do!" The brunette screamed in Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlotti's face. "They will never ever keep me from you."
Jules Callaghan gasped as the image of Spike beaten and tied to a chair played on her monitor. She put an hand to her mouth as a small sob escaped.
#####4 days earlier####
"We're going in." Ed said softly into his headset as he motioned to Wordy, Jules, and Spike to advance. Lew had stayed in the truck to watch the live feed and give them information if they needed it. The four moved easily through the offices of the bank towards the lobby. When they reached the code locked door, Ed put up his hand for them to stop. Ed nodded to his left to Wordy who moved forward. Wordy took out the paper the branch manager had given them for the code. She had been at a meeting in the city when the robbery started and had been very willing to help them. Wordy punched in the code and the door clicked. "Line formation." Ed whispered still looking forward. He knew they'd hear him through the headset. Wordy slid in behind Ed followed by Jules then Spike. Ed pushed open the door and they moved forward. Once they were through the door, the teller counter was to their right. The gunman was standing about eight feet in front of them leaning on the table where the deposit and withdrawal slips were kept. Ed motioned to them again and they all took a knee behind a table the bank had set up with pamphlets and a display on their services. The display was curved at the bottom which left a hole for them to monitor the subject. It was a perfect hiding spot.
The subject, a young man of his early 20's with a black skull cap and Zorro mask over his face, was still talking on the phone to Sergeant Parker. It was not going well. "Look man, I don't care if you want a hostage released, I want my demands met! It's about me!" The man pointed the gun barrel to his chest for emphasis. He reached down towards the floor and pulled a beautiful brown-haired, blue-eyed woman to her feet by her hair. She started to cry softly when the man pointed the gun at her and forced the receiver to her face.
"Sierra one." Ed whispered. He's escalating damn it.
"I have the solution." Sam answered from his perch on the second floor balcony. He started sniper breathing to keep his heartbeat down and his aim steady.
"Tell Sargent Parker what I'm doing." The man tightened his grip on her hair.
"Please." She cried into the phone. "Help me. He has a gun to my face."
"Phillip Boudreaux." Ed commanded. He stood, guns up and pointed at the subject, followed by the team. They moved forward and fanned out in a diamond formation, knees bent, each had their gun up and ready.
Phillip dropped the phone and whirled around. The woman nearly fell but the subject's grip on her hair helped her keep her feet under her. It was too painful to do anything but follow him. "I'll kill her." He started to sweat.
"You don't want to do that. All right, let's slow this down a minute." Ed put one hand up and lowered his gun. He had complete confidence that his team had his back.
"Yes because the longer you take to get what I ask, the more hostages I kill." Phil's heart was beating even faster now, his eyes glossing over.
"Phil." Ed put the gun strap back over his shoulder and let his gun fall behind him.
"Not a good idea Ed." Wordy tightened his grip on his gun.
"I understand what you're going through." Ed said calmly. "You lost your job at the factory, your wife left and took the kids. That couldn't have been easy." He dropped his hand and stood in a non-threatening position.
"She- She'll come back when I get my money. We can start over." Phil started to shake. He didn't want to talk about this. Money is the answer. Money will fix everything. How did they know about it?
"Lew, I'm coming in." Greg put his phone down and ran to the truck. He opened the door and stepped inside, standing behind Lew watching the monitors. "That's good Eddie, he's de-escalating."
"This isn't the answer Phil." Ed inched closer to the man every time he looked away. He'd heard Greg, but couldn't acknowledge him. He kept his eyes on the subject. "Just put the gun down and you'll find another way. You don't want to put them through this." He stopped when he was a foot away.
"They 're already going through it!" Phil waved the gun. "That's it. Time's up." He put the gun back to the brunette's head.
"Phil. Stop. Listen to me. We can't have you do that. Put the gun down or we will have to kill you. Do you understand?" Ed put his hand back up. Reality check.
"You're stalling!" Phil's arm began to shake. "No." He shook his head."No. Give me my MONEY!"
"Scorpio." Greg called. Every time he had to say that word he felt bad. There was a little bit of failure every time he couldn't talk someone out of doing something drastic. That was the job though. Sacrifice the one for the good of the many.
The shot rang true, hitting the subject in the middle of his forehead. The blood spattered the side of the brunette's face and she screamed. She fell to the floor with Phil's body and lay there crying when Spike ran to her. Jules rushed forward and secured the subject. She quickly pushed the gun away from the body with her foot, keeping her gun on him. Lew and Wordy put their guns down and moved to the 10 hostages crowded together on the floor.
"Subject neutralized." Ed stood over the body shaking his head.
Sam sighed and looked up, already knowing what he'd see. He picked up his gun and bag and headed for the stairs. An SIU officer was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs when he got there. They would take him to SRU Headquarters and interview him about the shooting. He looked over and met eyes with Ed. Ed tipped his head up and down slightly. Sam nodded back. It was silent and mutual understanding. Per protocol, no one was allowed to speak to a subject officer, meaning an officer who had to use deadly force on the job.
The brunette clutched Spike to her, her hands like claws in his sleeves. "You're ok. It's over now." Spike soothed as he held the hysterical woman tightly until the sobs subsided slightly. She looked up into Spike's eyes, saw the compassion there and was grateful. Spike motioned to the medics when they rushed into the building. They took the woman from Spike, putting a blanket around her shoulders. He looked to his right and saw there was another brunette next to the first. She had her head down and looked as though she was trying to remember how to breathe.
"Hey." Spike slid on his knees over to the woman and put a hand on her back. "It's over."
"Ar- are you sure?" She kept her head down her shoulder length hair falling by her face.
Spike nodded. She was close to the action, he thought. Definitely freaked. "I'm Spike. What's your name?" He kept one hand on her back and leaned his head down to try to see her face better.
"Angelica." She looked up for the first time since the incident started, but was still staring at the floor. She finally dared to lift her eyes to the officers face and was startled by the bright smile he was giving her.
"What do you say we get out of here?" Spike smiled, stood and put his hands out to help her up.
Angelica took a deep breath and took his hands. Almost all of the hostages were outside, having been herded out by the other SRU officers. They stood milling around the three ambulances parked in succession near the doors to the building.
Once she was up Spike pointed to the paramedics coming into the building and then to her to indicate she needed to be checked out. "You'll be ok. They'll check you out to be sure, ok?" He patted her shoulder and looked into her eyes.
Angelica nodded her head to him and followed the medics to the ambulance.
####outside the bank####
He's amazing! That Roman nose, dark eyes and crooked smile. Check out that bod. She thought. God. Look at her fawning over him. Pathetic! He doesn't want you! Really? You think that damsel in distress act is going to work? Please! Spike is way too smart for that. For you. He isn't mine, but he will be! She smiled, turned from the ambulance and walked away. She made her way through the crowd and down the street.