Sincere apologies for the delay again, I've had a solid two week Easter Holiday of exam revision (yey me. -_-) with the big ones themselves happening as of May 12th so I'm currently going a little insane with stress and worry. On the bright side, it's 28days till my birthday so I'm also busy making celebration plans wooo! Although it might have to wait until after June 3rd…oh the joys of being an exam season baby! :'(
Just one more thing, as Mitzi is under the impression that I am secretly a boy, let me take this opportunity to heartily assure you all that I am a ear 19-year-old young woman with a big 'F' on my passport under 'Sex'. Just in case any of you were wondering along the same lines XD
But bless you Mitzi, Ich liebe dich auch! – hehe, I studied German at my secondary school so I know a little bit but not a lot :)
Moving on…bit of a busy one this chap and I had a few problems ironing out some parts so it will be interesting to see what you all make of it. *hurries off to hide in the airing cupboard*
Chapter Fourteen
Crouched down rather uncomfortably in the small space between wall and desk, he waited where he sat for as short a time as he dared. On the one hand wanting to make sure the office door was not going to reopen anytime soon, on the other not wanting to waste any time. He understood the point to John's words, that the terrorists had no reason to suspect he was in here so he should be safe. But he thought it sensible to be cautious all the same. What good would it do if he were caught?
So Dan Parker counted to ten and then slowly stood up, being careful not to make any noise, he ears straining for any sign of approaching footsteps. He could hear voices but the distance from him muffled them so he couldn't figure out the words.
Satisfied he was in the clear, he stood blinking for a few moments as an idea struck him. Frowning a little in thought he looked first to the door, then to the computer in front of him, and then back again. He had watched Virgil's older brother pull up the CCTV in mere seconds all by just hitting a few random keys in rapid succession. Was there a chance he'd be able to do the same, to establish what was going on around him? He had to try. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Virgil would have tried had he still been here.
Sitting somewhat nervously in the chair, he swallowed before knocking the mouse to awaken the screen before typing in his mom's password. She'd probably kill him when she found out he knew it…
Hang on, just whom was he kidding? What he was currently doing, a mere teenager attempting to hack into the national bank's security footage, was probably if not definitely illegal – way more serious and punishable than knowing his mom's computer password.
He shook his head. Serves her right though for being so damn predictable.
That thought sent a pang of guilt through him. She might not even be alive at the end of all of this. Closing his eyes and taking a steady breath, he sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening that she'd be all right. Virgil had mentioned seeing her earlier before he and John had been brought in here, but who knew what had happened since then. John had only been able to access the security footage of the bank, although now he though about it, maybe that had only been because they knew what the situation out there was.
He bit his lip. Was there any chance he could widen it to see the mall? Then he could look for her and see if she was okay, and John too as that was where he'd been taken. But he didn't want to risk it. John was a genius with this stuff, Dan wasn't.
The footage kicked back in at that point, still on the corner of the bank where the commander had been talking to some foreign guy before they'd taken John, and Dan thanked his lucky stars the older boy had left it on the screen.
Flexing his fingers a few times, he then proceeded to give the keyboard a few feeble swipes. The feeds changed and Dan, confidence growing, kept on going, taking notice that the entire interior of the building appeared to be deserted, other than for Virgil and Jeff Tracy in the safe room. Whatever voices he'd heard earlier, had now gone.
He could get out of there.
He stared at the door for a good long moment. All he had to do was walk over there, open the door and walk out. He banged his fists down in frustration. He wasn't going to run yet, if the place was empty he could get Virgil and his dad out too…
Dan ran his eyes over the key ring, over the three different keys attached to it. There was absolutely no hope of one of those fitting that safe room; the goons in black must have it. But his mom was the manager of this place; surely somewhere she'd have keys to every single room?
However every thought was driven out of his head when he looked up at the screen.
He had no idea what he'd done, but he'd somehow managed to obtain access to Closed-circuit television footage from outside the bank – from inside the mall itself. Slightly taken aback but smiling nonetheless, Dan studied the view carefully, disappointed to see there was only a view of the floor directly beneath the camera. Not wanting to mess around any more with the keyboard in case he lost the picture, he instead turned up the speakers to test if there was any audio, biting his lip half in the expectation of there being none, half in desperate hope. But he was lucky.
"Place your weapons on the ground and back off. Come any closer and Tracy's kid Blondie here, dies."
His heart was in his throat; it appeared the leader was engaging the police or whoever was outside – he could faintly make out the disco effect being cast on the floor by the flashing red and blue lights. At least he knew where John was, though from the sounds of it, he was far from safe.
Then there was an explosion of sound – a few screams, loud voices and hurried footsteps.
"Oh no you don't. You are staying with me. Close them!" the same voice shouted less than a minute later when the noise had died down. Dan gathered everyone held hostage had been let out except for John, who had apparently tried to make a run for it too.
Then, at the next voice that rang out, his blood ran cold and his stomach dropped.
"Let me go! What right do you have to keep me in here?"
Not John, Mom.
"You've been a fine actress so far tonight but you are staying here with the rest of us now. You're part of it too, don't go bailing on us now, Jane."
In shock, frustration and sheer desperation Dan slammed his fist down onto the keyboard, but regretted it instantly when he lost the audio and the picture. He leaned back, wrenching his hands through his hair. Mom was a part of this whole thing? No, he refused to believe it! What would she gain helping terrorists walk all over her workplace?
He needed to get that picture back. Needed to hear his mom explain herself. He ran his eyes frantically over the keyboard, as if hoping the ones he needed to press would magically jump out at him. Looking back at the screen again however he froze, eyes wide. The picture had changed again and the audio had gone, but what he saw made his hope of getting out of there burn that extra-bit brighter.
Scott Tracy was in the far back corner of the mall, tucked out of sight of the terrorists.
Dan took one glance at the determination on the eldest Tracy's face before swiping the keys into his hands and moving.
John was beginning to wonder just why he'd decided that tonight of all nights had been the time to break rules. It had been with good intentions and yet so far it had landed him and Virgil, and now even the rest of his family, into a pattern of consecutive nightmares.
If he'd just stayed put, where would they all be now? Virgil would be safe in his bedroom. Gordon and Alan would be long in the land of nod, and Scott…well, Scott would have hopefully have seen sense to apologise to his middle brother and everything would be fine. The two of them didn't argue often at all, but when they did they usually made it up to each other the same day.
Right now as he was being escorted roughly from the bank and towards the front of the crowd of hostages where Virgil had been made to call their father earlier, John prayed for something to happen. If he tried to run he'd be dead before he'd taken so much as a few steps.
So instead he allowed himself to be held at gunpoint by 'Eagle' as the military leader barked orders at his men to guard the exits and make sure no one got inside. When they appeared to be ready he gave a hand signal and just like that, the metal shutters before him slowly made their way upwards.
He had to blink a few times to rid his eyes of the lingering spots in his vision at the amount of bright flashing emergency lights outside. As his eyes adjusted he saw a swarm of armed police, their guns trained at the black-clad terrorists.
Eagle wasted no time. "Place your weapons on the ground and back off now!" He shouted at them. "Come any closer and Tracy's kid Blondie here, dies."
John stood stock still, willing himself not to struggle. It appeared the plan they had originally come in here with had been forcibly changed and they weren't prepared, the astronomer could tell through the slight desperation hinted in this guy's voice. They had lost their professional edge. This hadn't been part of the original plan and he was now improvising. That made him even more dangerous.
Somehow, he caught eye contact with Sheriff Winters and fixed him with a calm and steady gaze, silently communicating. The father of two continued to frown defiantly at him until he gave up, looking resignedly to the floor before ordering his own men to obey. Eagle must have given another hand signal as next thing he knew, people were rushing past him - couples, groups of friends, staff. John breathed a sigh of relief, if they were letting these go then surely the terrorists knew their time was nearly up.
The pressure on the side of this head from the gun was temporarily relieved when the guy made a grab for one of the members of the bank staff, keeping her from escaping. John saw out of the corner of his eye that it was Mrs Parker, Virgil's friend's mom who'd tried to protect his younger brother earlier.
"Oh no you don't. You are staying with me. Close them!" he roared.
John's stomach flipped and his shoulders sagged. She was involved, that was the only reason he could muster for him keeping her back.
"Let me go! What right do you have to keep me in here?"
"You've been a fine actress so far tonight but you are staying here with the rest of us now. You're part of it too, don't go bailing on us now, Jane."
John couldn't help but agree with him there despite everything that had occurred that night. Virgil had been so sure she'd been helping them, deliberately being cryptic in front of these men to protect her son. John had thought so too; it had seemed so clever, so logical in the scheme of things. So why…?
But his thoughts were cut off as she bit back, voice dripping with venom. "Take the damn mask off Tony, you're not fooling anyone anymore! You're still the same son of a bitch I married once!"
The shutters closed again with a clang that echoed around the near-deserted mall like a gunshot. The tense silence that followed was so loud John was surprised his eardrums didn't burst.
He was glad Dan wasn't seeing any of this.
A/N: Okay sooooo I'll just leave you to muse this over as I go hibernate. Laters!