Chapter 11
'Turn around so I can see you!' yelled Pete Milville, voice impatient
Sara gently placed the phone down just out of sight, leaving the line open and hoping that Neal would figure things out quickly and relay any information he heard to the police. He was smart and he was resourceful and he would find a way to help them out of this mess, of that she was certain.
'Look, you have your loot, just go' she said, pointing to the bag overflowing with valuable art lying nearby
'Shut up!' he answered
'Pete, what are we gonna do? We're trapped in here' said Johnny, panic setting in
'You shut up too and let me think' Pete said to his baby brother
Johnny looked around, his eyes coming to rest on Lydia who was lying there, breathing roughly, clutching Sara's hand desperately. The woman was obviously in pain and he suddenly felt a jolt of sympathy for her situation.
'That lady's going to have her baby, Pete' he said, his voice shrill
'Look, Johnny, these two are our ticket out of here. The police aren't going to let anything happen to them so they're not going to be storming the place anytime soon' said Pete, trying to figure out an exit plan
'Do you think we killed him?' Johnny asked, upset
'Who? The guard? No' answered Pete with a strident laugh 'I got him in the shoulder'
They could hear a commotion up the hallway leading to the waiting area, sounded like a gurney being rolled in.
'By now, they know that the women are in here and it buys us some time to figure out what to do' said Pete
'Excuse me for interrupting, gentlemen – and I use the term loosely – but my friend here needs immediate medical help. Unless you want her to have the baby right here on the floor, you've got to let her go. I'll stay behind' said Sara
'Be quiet, lady. I decide who's going where and when' Pete said, pacing nervously around the room
'Can you at least put the gun down?' she pleaded, looking at Johnny
Pete gave his brother the signal to lower his firearm and the younger man let out a sigh of relief.
Lydia was panting loudly; the contractions were coming closer together and they were definitely more intense. Sara recognized the signs and was terrified that any minute, she would need to start to push. Although she'd given birth to two babies herself, she was by no means a card-carrying member of the Order of Midwives and she didn't care for a crash course. She continued to hold her friend's hand, feeling Lydia's nails digging into her skin. She had a fleeting thought for Neal, holding her hand while she gave birth to their two kids and suddenly understood the concern and helplessness he must have been feeling at the time. All she could do was to stay by her friend's side, stay positive and support her through the pain.
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A small group of men stood around Neal's phone as they listened to the goings-on a few feet away. Sara seemed to be doing an excellent job keeping everyone calm but Neal could see that Sam Jordan was about to jump out of his skin.
'You've got to get Lydia out of there' he whispered urgently, mindful that if he spoke too loudly his voice might be picked up by the two thieves inside the room
'It must be hot under those masks, huh?' they could hear Sara saying 'Aren't you two hot?'
Peter looked at Neal and gave him a knowing smile. Sara was trying to give them as much information as she could about the two men. From the conversation, they knew that there were two of them, one named Pete – the obvious leader – and the other Johnny, that they were both armed and that they were wearing balaclavas.
'Lady, you talk too much' said the first man whom they'd deduced from the conversation was named Pete
The men could hear Lydia's labored breathing through the phone and Sam's face scrunched up in sympathy at the sound of his wife suffering. Neal put a comforting hand on his shoulder in a show of solidarity and Sam looked up at him, his face contorted. Neal could only imagine how he would feel if Sara was the one in labor a few feet away and he couldn't be by her side to comfort her. It was bad enough to know that she was being held at gunpoint without the added stress of hearing her in the throes of labor.
He covered the handset so his voice couldn't be heard from inside and turned to Jones and Peter.
'Let me go in and try to talk them down' he pleaded, his face glistening from the pain which continued to radiate insistently from his stomach
Jones shook his head insistently. 'They've already got two hostages; I'm not sending in another one in' he whispered, adamant
Neal's mind wandered. There had to be something he could do; it wasn't the first time he'd walked into a hostage situation. He recalled the time he'd gone in to the loading dock at the Kent Hotel where armed thieves were holding Sara – of course he hadn't known at the time that Sara was the hostage, not until he walked in and realized in horror that his wife was being held at gunpoint, tied to a chair. He'd masqueraded as a maintenance guy in order to give the FBI ears on the situation and he'd managed to talk the thieves down. Of course, back then, he'd been working for the FBI but still, he couldn't stand by listening to Lydia's suffering and seeing the look of anguish on Sam's face and not do anything.
Jones and Peter exchanged looks. Neal was right on that score; establishing contact in this sort of situation was essential in order to negotiate some sort of settlement and have the hostages released unharmed. Peter watched as Jones reflected; he'd always had tremendous respect for the man but Clinton had always been his underling in the past. To see him in a leadership role was new for Peter and he watched with interest as Jones continued to work out the best way to deal with the delicate operation.
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'Sara, I'm scared' said Lydia, breathless between two walloping contractions
Sara sat next to her, with her friend's head on her lap, softly running her hand through her hair and holding on tightly to her hand.
'I know. It's going be okay. I'm not leaving you' whispered Sara, trying to sound reassuring
'What if the baby comes?' Lydia cried
'Shh, shh. Just breathe, okay. Let me take care of things; all you have to do is stay calm and think about your beautiful baby' said Sara, trying desperately to sound confident
Lydia was crying softly, tears running down her face and her breath hitched suddenly as another contraction hit, even stronger than the previous ones and she moaned and let out a scream.
'Pete, she's gonna have this baby!' Johnny screamed in alarm
'Johnny, shut the hell up and let me think' he screamed back
Realizing he had no choice but to negotiate a way out, he raised his gun and ordered Sara to stand up.
'You, not-pregnant lady, get up' he yelled as Sara looked nervously at Lydia
She didn't want to leave her friend's side even for a moment but the gun that was being waved in her face was enough of a motivation and she stood, her legs shaking, looking down at Lydia who seemed so small and vulnerable lying there on the floor.
'You walk down that hall and tell them I want to talk to somebody about getting out of here' he yelled, brandishing the gun and pointing her in the direction of the exit.
'...and remember I have a gun on your back, so no funny business' he added
Sara glanced over at Lydia one last time, crouching down to talk to her: 'I'll be right back, okay? Don't you have that baby until I get back' she said with a smile, touching her hair gently
Lydia whimpered in response, tears running down her face.
'Start walking, lady. I'm losing patience with you' said the man, his gun waving in Sara's face
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'They're sending Sara out' Jones announced as he continued to listen in on the other end of the phone line. He hurried over, positioning himself right by the end of the hallway leading to the inner room, out of sight of Pete Milville who stood at the other end, gun pointed at Sara.
Sara walked the ten or so steps towards the waiting room, slowly, purposefully, her legs unsteady as she moved. As she reached the end of the hallway, she got a glimpse into the waiting room and her eyes immediately went to Neal, whom she was stunned yet thrilled to see standing there, holding his phone and she realized that they had heard everything that had been said in the inner sanctum since she'd dialed his number. She became aware that there were almost a dozen people in the waiting room but her eyes remained glued on Neal who gave her a small smile of encouragement, willing himself to stay in place and not run over and just grab her.
'Tell them!' Pete Milville screamed behind her, his voice threatening
'They want you to send someone in to talk. No guns' she said, delivering the message with an even voice
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jones standing no more than two feet away to her right, out of sight, with his arm extended. All she had to do was take his hand and he would pull her to safety, away from the gun that was trained on her. She continued to look at Neal, silently communicating with him and he knew in that moment that she was not going to take that hand – she was going back in to be with Lydia and although he was terrified at the thought, he loved her even more for what she was about to do.
'Sara' Jones urged, his voice a whisper '... just take my hand'
She turned slowly in his direction and shook her head lightly, turning around in an almost robotic fashion and returning from where she'd come, back to the thugs, back to the danger, back to Lydia's side.
Neal closed his eyes, feeling the bile rising in his throat - he threw his phone at Peter and ran to the nearby washroom to empty his stomach.
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'See? I told you I'd be right back' said Sara, her voice controlled, as she resumed her earlier position by Lydia. She gently lifted the woman's head and placed it on her lap, smiling down encouragingly at her.
'Sara, I think the baby's coming' she said, crying
'Just keep breathing through the contractions. I'm going to have a look, okay?' said Sara, bravely as she stood to stand by her feet
She'd never been on the receiving end of childbirth but she'd given birth herself and she immediately recognized the imminent signs as she stared in disbelief at the baby's head beginning to crown.
'You' Sara said, authoritatively as she looked at Johnny 'go get some towels'
Johnny looked helplessly at his older brother who was slowly realizing that he had no control over the situation and Pete signaled his little brother to do as he'd been asked and get the towels from the small room where Sara and Lydia had been hiding. Pete continued to stand at the end of the hall, waiting for whoever was coming to negotiate with them, his gun drawn, ready for any dirty tricks by the police. His concentration was disrupted by a loud searing scream as Lydia shouted.
'Sara, Sara, I need to push!'
TBC
