Chapter 10: Heroes Vs. Hephaestus (Part 2)
Homicide Squad Room
LSPD South Central Station
Mission Row
2:15 PM
Harrison and Xander were busy at their desks, doing some follow-up background work on their murder suspect, Peter Hephaestus. Harrison was on his computer doing some internet research when he came upon something that he considered to be very noteworthy.
"Hey Adam?" Harrison inquired.
"Yeah?" Xander replied as he took a sip of his coffee from a Styrofoam 24/7 convenience store cup.
"I found something pretty interesting", Harrison said, "Do you know that the name 'Hephaestus' was actually the name as the ancient Greek god of fire?"
Xander smirked as he looked over Harrison's shoulder at the web page. "No shit", he said, "That's a pretty creepy coincidence there, bud."
In a very eerie bit of timing, Harrison's portable radio suddenly crackled to life.
"All units in the vicinity of the ULSA campus", a female dispatcher's voice said from the radio, "We have a Code Ten-Seventy. Fire alarm activation has been detected on the first floor of the Isaac Newton Science Building, Picture Perfect Drive, Richman. Los Santos FD and paramedics are in transit to the location at this time, over."
The two detectives exchanged vexed looks. "Talk about your creepy coincidences", Xander said before grabbing the radio and keying the mic. "Dispatch, this is Unit Twelve-B calling from South Central Homicide. Be advised, Unit Twelve-A and myself will be responding to the Ten-Seventy at the university. Please notify Captain Gilligan, Lieutenant Wong, and Chief Sacco and ask them to respond immediately. Possible wanted suspect on location at the university, over."
Isaac Newton Science Building
University of San Andreas at Los Santos
Picture Perfect Drive, Richman
2:25 PM
Harrison and Xander arrived at ULSA's Isaac Newton Science Building to find that two ambulances, several fire department vehicles, the LSPD's Tactical Unit, and the LSPD Bomb Squad had already arrived ahead of them. They were greeted by both Captain Gilligan and Lieutenant Wong as soon as they got out of their car. The somewhat faint but shrill ringing of the building's fire alarm could be heard.
"What's going on, guys?" Harrison asked.
"Campus security reported that one of their officers was down not long after Adam's alert call was received", Gilligan began explaining, "They also reported that an unauthorized subject had entered the front entrance of the science building here."
"Officer Michaels and Officer Gwendolyn were already here on campus when we arrived", Wong added, "They didn't catch any information about the intruder, but we have them closing off all entrances to the campus. Nobody comes in, nobody comes out until further notice."
"What's the deal with the fire alarm?" Xander asked.
"Campus security said that it started going off right after they were able to rescue the downed security guard", Gilligan said, "About a half dozen students evacuated in response, but security said that there's a whole class of students and their professor that are unaccounted for. It looks like there still inside."
"Okay", Harrison asked, "What do we know about the class?"
"Professor Leone's Environmental Biology class", Wong explained, "The professor's name is Dominic Leone. He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Biology and has been teaching here for about fifteen years. His class consists of about twelve students. It appears that your suspect has them hold up in their own classroom at the end of the hallway on the first floor."
"What's our tactical layout, Captain?" Harrison inquired.
"The building's front entrance is situated here on Picture Perfect Drive", Gilligan replied, "The rear entrance and exit both come out on Richman Drive. I've got Tactical Unit officers on standby at both places and I've got patrol officers holding vehicle traffic as far back as Mad Wayne Thunder Drive in Rockford Hills."
"Where's Chief Sacco?" Xander asked.
"He's stuck in traffic on the Del Perro Freeway", Wong said, "But he's on his way. He's designated Captain Gilligan and myself as the scene commanders for now."
After taking a brief moment to think, Harrison crossed back to their car, opened the trunk, removed his tactical vest, and put it on. "I'm going in there", he said in a very self-assured and matter-of-fact tone.
A now worried Xander looked to his partner. "Troy", he said, "Are you sure, man? I mean, the department has trained crisis negotiators."
Harrison removed his gun belt and handed it to Xander. "And where are they at the moment, Adam?" He asked, his tone indicating that there wasn't much time to waste.
"The nearest one is trying to talk down a guy threatening to jump from a construction crane in Pillbox Hill", Gilligan commented, "Again I ask, Detective. Are you absolutely sure you can do this?"
Harrison looked to Captain Gilligan and nodded with considerable confidence. "Yes ma'am", he replied, "I'm a former FBI agent who's been trained in Behavioral Analysis. I've done hostage negotiations before. With all due respect to our crisis negotiators, I'm as good a negotiator as you can get, right here and right now."
A very apprehensive Xander took Harrison's gun belt and nodded. "I say we trust Troy's instincts, Captain" he said to Gilligan.
Gilligan nodded. "Okay", she said.
"What are the facts so far?" Harrison asked.
"A suspect we believe to be Peter Hephaestus entered the building approximately twenty-five minutes ago after knocking out that guard with what appeared to be one of those big metal gas cans", Wong explained, "He apparently showed up carrying two of them in his arms. The students who were able to evacuate said that he managed to douse almost the entire hallway floor with gas."
"How is somebody able to get that much gasoline to begin with without arousing suspicion?" Xander asked.
"Based on the information we got while we were on the way here", Gilligan said, "Our guy apparently stole it. Two separate patrol units from both South Los Santos and Little Seoul responded to two Ten-Fifteen calls at gas stations in those areas."
"Ten-Fifteen", Harrison said, "as in 'Civilian Requiring Assistance'?"
"That's the one", Gilligan replied, "A suspect matching Peter's description was somehow able to break the locks on two gas pumps and siphon gas from the Limited Gasoline stations in both those neighborhoods. Suspect was gone by the time the officers showed up."
Having taken in all the information, Harrison sighed deeply and nodded. "Okay", he said, "Captain, I'm going to need your Tactical Unit guys to hold their positions for now. I'll have my radio with me, so if things get hairy, I'll call out 'Ten-Thirteen'."
"'Officer Needs Assistance'", Gilligan said, "Smart man. You going in through the back?"
"Yep", Harrison replied, "The professor's classroom is at the end of the hall closest to that particular door, I'm assuming."
Gilligan nodded. "It is", she said before briefly putting a hand on his shoulder. "Good luck, Detective. We'll be listening."
Harrison briefly turned, facing everybody who had congregated around the building, and nodded reassuringly. "I'll see you guys in a bit", he said, "Hopefully with some live hostages and a suspect in custody."
"Noted", Gilligan said before keying the mic on her radio. "Tac Commander-Zero-One to Tac Twenty-Four", she said into her radio, "Be advised, Detective Harrison's on his way to your position at this time. He's going inside to establish face-to-face negotiations with the HT. Please allow him to make entry. All other Tactical units, hold your positions, over."
"Copy that, Captain" Officer Zhao's voice replied from the radio a few seconds later.
After exhaling deeply, Harrison hustled to the side door of the science building, holding his portable radio in one hand. Tactical Unit Officer Rodney Zhao was standing just beside the door, clad in full tactical SWAT gear and aiming an MP5 submachine gun toward the closed door. To Harrison, the only indication that there was an actual human being inside all that sturdy-looking gear were Zhao's very defined almond-colored eyes that shown through a pair of tactical goggles.
Harrison very quietly pulled open the door and very stealthily made his way inside the building. Aside from the very eerie and obvious silence that blanketed the spacious first-floor hallway, a series of unintelligible hollers were heard coming from a solitary classroom at the end of the corridor. Additionally, the detective noted the presence of a veritable river of a beige-colored liquid covering the entire floor of the hallway, and the very discernably strong odor accompanying it identified it as gasoline.
Harrison just as stealthily hurried over to the classroom's door and very discreetly looked through the glass observation window in the middle of the door.
Peter Argus Hephaestus stood at the front of the classroom, babbling incoherently. Harrison noted the presence of the two aforementioned gasoline cans that were set up on the table in front of him. Meanwhile, his twelve hostages, which comprised of a very diverse group of collegian men and women as well as their older fiftyish professor, were tightly sequestered in one corner of the classroom.
Harrison opened the door and entered the classroom, his hands raised high to show the suspect that he was unarmed as a show of good faith.
With that, Hephaestus' gaze shot over to this sudden visitor, at which point he pointed to him with a lit lighter in his hand. "YOU!" he shouted, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"
In response, Harrison briefly gestured with his still-raised hands. "Peter?" he inquired, "I'm Detective Harrison with the Los Santos Police. You can call me 'Troy' if you'd like, okay?"
"How the hell do you know my name, Troy?" an agitated Hephaestus asked.
"Well," Harrison replied, "Why don't you let me come a little closer and I'll tell you how I know. I'm unarmed, I promise. I'm no threat to you or these people in here."
Hephaestus' eyes darted back and forth for a moment before he very reluctantly nodded. "Okay", he said, "Okay…but no tricks, okay? No tricks."
"You got it", Harrison said as he stepped further into the room, "No tricks." A small splash under his foot prompted the detective to momentarily look beneath him, at which point he realized that the floor of this room was also covered in gasoline.
"I know that your name is Peter Argus Hephaestus", Harrison continued, "You're twenty-one years old and you used to be a student here at ULSA. You work as a hauler for the recycling company. What I'd like to understand is why we're here right now. Why did you have to barge in here and scare all these people today, Peter?" He then discreetly held down the "Transmit" button on his radio so that everybody outside could overhear the exchange between them.
"They have to know", Hephaestus said.
"What is it they have to know?" Harrison asked.
"I didn't want to be here", Hephaestus replied, the regret very evident in his voice. "I didn't want to be a Molecular Biologist like my father", he continued, "I wanted to make fireworks for a living. They're beautiful."
Sensing the discombobulated way of thinking that his suspect had, Harrison nodded agreeably. "Okay, Peter" he said, "I get it, man. Everybody should spread their wings and take their own path eventually. I mean, look at me. Everybody thought that I'd end up being a nurse like my mom or painting houses like my dad. But I went to college and got into law enforcement."
"Because you wanted to help people, right?" Hephaestus said.
"Yeah", Harrison said.
"I want to help people, too" Hephaestus replied.
"Okay", Harrison said, "But that begs the question. How did setting those bucket bombs off at City Hall and the GQ Postal office help people, Peter?"
"It was my way of letting them know", Hephaestus explained, "Letting them know that they aren't safe anywhere. If they knew that, things could change for the better."
At this point, Harrison took advantage of the fact that his suspect was starting to let his guard down. He stepped even closer to Hephaestus to the point where he was only standing a few feet away. "Now that you've explained that", Harrison said in a softer tone, "I need to know some other things, Peter. Why did you hurt that GQ Postal driver, man? His name was Jonah Zebedee. He was fifty-two years old with a wife and two teenage sons. Why did you hurt him? What did he do to you?"
"I had one last bomb to set", Hephaestus began to explain, "It was going to be right here, right in this room. They shouldn't have kicked me out of here. I needed to teach them a lesson."
"But your package containing the five-gallon bucket was late, right?" Harrison asked.
"Yes", Hephaestus said, "I needed it. My message was important. I saw the truck circling the neighborhood until it stopped at the Chili House. My plan was to just jump in the truck, grab my package and walk away. But he got in my way. I didn't mean to hurt him…I didn't mean to hurt him."
In an instant, Harrison seized the moment and snatched the lit lighter out of Hephaestus' hand, grabbed him by the arm, and spun him around, pinning him to the top of the table with his body weight. "NO!" Hephaestus screamed, "NOOOO!"
Harrison removed his handcuffs and secured them onto his suspect's wrists before turning his attention to the hostages. "Everybody can get up!" he said in a tone that was equal parts commanding and reassuring, "Go out the door I came in, but be careful. There are police officers waiting by the back door."
Still holding a struggling Hephaestus, Harrison grabbed his still-transmitting radio with one hand and spoke into it. "This is Unit Twelve-A calling Tac-Commander-Zero-One", he said into the radio, "Captain, you there?"
"I read you loud and clear, Detective", Gilligan replied.
"Be advised", Harrison said into the radio, "I have the HT detained at this time. I have twelve friendlies exiting the building through the rear door. I need LSFD inside the building ASAP. The suspect covered the entire hallway floor and the floor of this room with gas."
"Copy all that, Detective" Gilligan replied from the radio, "Great job."
Harrison sighed deeply before replying. "Ten-Four, Cap" he said into the radio, "Thank you, ma'am. I'll be out with the suspect in just a minute. Unit Twelve-A out."
The detective then stood Hephaestus up. "Peter Argus Hephaestus", Harrison began, "You're under arrest for the murder of Jonah Zebedee. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed by the court."
[A/N: Now that my customary whodunit subplot is done, I'm going to incorporate the storyline of GTA V in the subsequent chapters. Stay tuned!]