One of the masked men said, "So, kids, you like Mars Bars? Or Snickers, whichever you prefer!"
"We like neither!" Claire spat, bravely, from her spot on the floor, "We've seen the movies, we know what you're doing! That chocolate is drugged!"
"Do you also watch the news?" the man asked, "The Columbine High School shooting?" Claire was silent. Carter gathered this was the one in charge. The terrorist stood up and called to his accomplice.
"Tee! Tell Dee to bring in the others!" he said, "This is a nice place to keep them all!" the one he called to went out the door and returned, followed by two other terrorists. After them, Carter noticed three teachers following and twenty students.
"These are the students we have selected. Eenie Meenie Miney Moe!" said the man in charge and pointed at Claire, "You, come here!" Claire hesitated, then stood up and cooperated. The man's finger scanned the room, silently selecting students.
"You... You... You... You," he said, until he had selected five students. Angela, Alex, Mitch, Claire, and another girl Claire informed Carter was Kristen.
"The rest of you, can go!" the man said. And so they were left with twenty-five students and three teachers. Carter dared to stand up. The masked man's head turned swiftly and instinctively at Carter's movement. He pointed his gun at Carter.
"Name?" he demanded.
"Dr. Carter. You?" Carter asked.
"None of your business!" the man shouted.
"If we're going to be here with you for a while, don't you think we should call you something other than 'terrorist number one?'"
"You know me only as Jay. He's Dee, he's Tee, and she's Em."
"Oh, so you must be members of the alphabet team?" Carter couldn't resist. Jay looked angered by his comment.
"We are known to you only by these letters, nothing more," Jay tried to state calmly.
"Oh, then I guess you can call me C. For Carter?" as swift as a bird of prey going in for its kill, Jay's gun was now right against Carter's temple.
"You think this is a joke? That it's funny?"
"Jay..." the woman, Em said.
"Shut up, Em! I'll kill this one now and put him out of his misery!" but Em laid a hand on Jay's shoulder.
"We need as many of them alive as we can get," Em said, "Including teachers. They don't just want the students out, they want the teachers alive, too."
"But he's not a teacher!" one boy blurted out. His face went red when Jay and Em turned to look at him, "Well, it's true! He's not! I've never seen him before anyway."
"He's not a regular teacher, it's true. He's a substitute. And I am going to kill his friend when we get out of here for setting him up like this!" a female's voice proclaimed. Carter turned and realized that the woman was Jenna Morgan, the principal, looking paler than ever.
"He's a substitute, you say?" Jay asked. Jenna nodded, slowly, "It makes no difference. As this lovely young lady has told me," he patted Claire on the head who flinched at his touch, "You have all seen the movies, correct?" there was no answer, "Well, assuming you have, let me tell you, they don't always get it right. In real hostage situations, if things don't go according to plan, the hostage taker starts killing off his victims. One. By. One," He grinned down at Claire, "At least that's what happens when *I* take over!" the man didn't sound too old. Only about seventeen. But he sounded like he knew what he was doing. And he sounded serious. Carter looked at his belt and something caught his eye. A tiny device that looked like a phone. Suddenly, an idea formed in Carter's mind.
"Are you going to make demands or have you done it already?" he asked. Jay shot him a look.
"I will make demands in my own time," Jay said.
"But how will they know what's going on?" Carter asked, "Without any notice..."
"They'll know. Trust me, a whole school of children and teachers evacuating a building, someone's going to want to know why. And you think they'll keep quiet?"
"But if you call the police now-"
"I know what I'm doing, damn it!" Jay shouted, "Dee, watch this one closely..." another masked and muscular man nodded. Jay sat on the teacher's desk.
"Well, children, what have we learned today?" he asked, trying to sound like a teacher.
"Never to trust high schoolers!" Angela shouted.
"Good guess, young lady!" Jay said, "But that's the wrong answer," Carter could see the spark of excitement in his eye. He was enjoying this. Watching all these students cower in fear. What did these four teenagers have that Carter didn't? He knew. Masks. Intimidation. But worst of all, they had guns.
Carter glanced at the window. They hadn't closed the blinds. He slowly edged over there, trying to avoid Dee's eyes, which were less watchful than Jay's who had eyes like a hawk. Dee was big for his age, bold, bulky and muscular. He glanced at Carter often and gave him menacing looks. He circled Carter occasionally like a shark. Or a vulture, waiting for it's prey to die. Carter glanced at the female captor, Em. She was slender, but she was firm and strong, not to be fooled be appearance. But she looked smart and almost kind. But Carter saw the hatred in her eyes, and the love for her leader at the same time. She was simply a falcon, searching for a mate. Carter glanced at the last terrorist, Tee. Small and quiet, he looked slightly younger than the others. He was a chick, looking to earn his keep. This was all new to him. He was in training, Carter could tell. The whole family. The falcon, wise and strong, the vulture, bold and hungry, the chick, young and eager, and the hawk, the leader of the group, watchful and brave. All four, birds of prey. Carter glanced out the window. He saw a field of students below. Already, a police vehicle had appeared. He gasped as he noticed someone else's presence right next to him.
"This, Dr. Carter, is just the beginning," Jay said, expressionless. He was staring out the window.
"What do you mean?" Carter turned to him
"First one police car, then two, then four... Then maybe an army jeep, then more police rigs, then the television van and the radio cars. It's all how it works, you see. This is only the beginning..." without diverting his gaze, Jay replied.
"Why don't you contact them now?" Carter asked. Jay hesitated, then,
"I will, in time," he seemed less bitter than he had before. Almost as if he was considering Carter's advice, "Why are you so eager for me to talk to them?"
"No reason," Carter lied. He wanted to know what that phone on Jay's belt was for. Jay turned to Carter.
"You know what, Dr. Carter? It's really too bad that you're all brave and good."
"Why?"
"Well, I like brave men. Tee, over there, is really brave. Em's brother, that boy is. Bravery brings out the best in people."
"So why is that a bad thing in me?"
"Well, I like brave, but the combination of bravery and stupidity is something I don't like. It means that you're brave at all the wrong times."
"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Carter demanded.
"Kind of. And you're working for the wrong side, too. I hate to tell you, but people like you die fast when I'm in charge," Carter couldn't believe it. A teenager intimidated him; a young boy frightened him, a boy years younger than he was!
"Why am I so afraid of you?" Carter voiced. Jay leaned closer so only Carter could hear his next words.
"Because I'm your worst nightmare," he whispered. And he took out the phone and began to speak.
"Police? This is a direct, untapped line. It will stay that way..." he said.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Now *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Now, half the ER was busy watching the television, even Kerry was engrossed in the story. It had become so fascinating, but Romano finally brought Kerry back to life.
"You aren't getting paid to watch TV when there are patients waiting to be seen!" he said.
"But Dr. Romano-" Randi tried to say.
"Not now! Come on, all, back to work!"
"Robert, Carter is-" Kerry tried to explain why they were watching this.
"I said back to work!" and they all scattered. All that was left was Dave, whose back was to the screen, too full of guilt to face it.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 11:30 AM That Morning *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was perfect. Just as Carter had planned, that phone was a direct line to the police. At first, he waited, biding his time, waiting for the right minute to strike, using the pick-pocketing techniques an old patient had showed him. He looked out side the window. The News van was now pulling up and he saw a bushy brown-haired woman running out with a microphone, a cameraman running out. Still, they had forgotten to close the blinds. Carter watched as Jay spoke to Claire.
"Your brother was Charlie, wasn't he?" he asked. Claire looked past him at Carter, who was trying to tell her to keep him busy. She nodded, both to Jay, and to Carter.
"I knew it," Jay's lips curled into a smile.
"And you are?" Claire asked, pushing back her straight brown hair.
"A friend..." Jay's smile widened. As Jay was distracted with Claire, Carter looked around. Em was watching Claire, too, like the falcon she was. Or an owl. Tee was guarding the door. Dee was smirking, menacingly at the kids. With all the others occupied, Carter made his move, snatching the phone like an expert pickpocket. He silently thanked the thief that had been brought into the ER. Mitch was looking up at Carter with distaste. He had seen him do it. Carter hesitated. Mitch was unpredictably and Carter knew Mitch didn't like him. But would he ruin it all by telling their captors that Carter had stolen their direct line to the police? Carter saw Angela looking at Mitch. She crawled closer to him and whispered something in his ear. Had she seen it, too? Who else had seen? Apparently, no one. But Alex, being as nosey as he was, saw Angela whispering and wanted to find out what it was all about. Angela motioned for him to go away. While everyone was still distracted, Carter figured now was a good time. He turned and pretended to be looking out the window. He lifted the phone, which seemed more like a walkie-talkie, to his mouth.
"Police?" he whispered, "This is Dr. Carter. I... I am in the building. I was substituting for a science class this morning when the terrorists came."
"Carter? How did you manage to get a line?" an officer demanded.
"They don't know I'm in touch with you. Just keep it down," Carter told him.
"Could you be our inside man? Tell us what's happening?"
"I can do my best," Carter promised, "I'll signal you when I can't talk. I'm up by the window," there was a pause and then a reply.
"Alright, we see you," Carter turned his back to the window. Jay turned his head. Carter stuffed the communicator into his pocket. Jay came over and closed the blinds.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Now *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Abby! Where are you going?" Luka's thick accent cut through the air.
"To the school! I'm off, I have to see what's going on!"
"I'm off at three!" Luka told her, "I might meet you there!" Abby smiled and left. She jumped into her car and fumbled with the keys. She realized her hands were shaking. She had to get over to that Junior High. When she did get there, she realized there was no where to park. There was a traffic jam on the street to the school. No cars were moving. Some drivers were out of their car to try and see what was going on, at the same time, listening to the situation on the radio. Abby swung out of her car and weaved her way through the jammed cars up to the school, just to find it was sealed off with police tape. As she tried to get past, an officer stopped her.
"Excuse me ma'am, but where do you think you're going?" he asked.
"My good friend is in there!" she half screamed.
"And people's children are in there, ma'am! You are just going to have to wait out here for a while, for your own safety," Abby took a step back and then stopped, when she heard a familiar voice on the police radio.
"Jay's noticed his communicator's gone. Right now, he suspects one of the kids. He's threatening to shoot one if he doesn't find it."
"CARTER!" Abby screamed, again trying to get past the tape. The police officer held her back and another came to his aid.
"You... Know... That... Man?" the officer said between struggles.
"He's my friend! He's a doctor! I work with him, please!" she pleaded. The officer glanced at the man at the radio who hesitated, then nodded.
"Let her in," he said, then into the radio, "Carter, we have a friend of yours here."
"What?" Carter asked.
"What's your name, miss?" the man asked.
"A-Abby. Tell him it's Abby," The man smiled.
"You can call me Frank," he offered her his hand and she shook it.
"It's Abby, Carter."
"Abby? What's she doing here?"
"You're on the news!" Abby answered, "You think we'd just stand by and get back to work while you were being held hostage? Nuh uh, no way!"
"Frank, what should I do? He's asking each kid one by one. He's going to shoot Claire if he doesn't find the communicator!"
"Unnoticeably set it down and pretend to find it," Frank told him. There was silence. Carter left the thing on. That had been a mistake.
"Jay!" they heard him call, "I found your walkie-talkie thing!"
------
Jay turned to Carter.
"What?" he asked, Claire's arm in his grasp.
"Your little communication thing. You must have set it on the teacher's desk and forgot it there." Jay eyed him suspiciously.
"I don't forget things, Carter," he hissed. He walked over to Carter who stiffened. He snatched the phone from the desk and turned his back to Carter, beginning to walk away. But without warning, Jay turned suddenly and on both ends everyone heard the loud crack that split through the air followed by screams.
"I don't leave my line open to the police at all times, Carter. I turn it off when not in use," he smiled, wickedly.
To be continued
Well? What do you think? Gimme your thoughts and review!
"We like neither!" Claire spat, bravely, from her spot on the floor, "We've seen the movies, we know what you're doing! That chocolate is drugged!"
"Do you also watch the news?" the man asked, "The Columbine High School shooting?" Claire was silent. Carter gathered this was the one in charge. The terrorist stood up and called to his accomplice.
"Tee! Tell Dee to bring in the others!" he said, "This is a nice place to keep them all!" the one he called to went out the door and returned, followed by two other terrorists. After them, Carter noticed three teachers following and twenty students.
"These are the students we have selected. Eenie Meenie Miney Moe!" said the man in charge and pointed at Claire, "You, come here!" Claire hesitated, then stood up and cooperated. The man's finger scanned the room, silently selecting students.
"You... You... You... You," he said, until he had selected five students. Angela, Alex, Mitch, Claire, and another girl Claire informed Carter was Kristen.
"The rest of you, can go!" the man said. And so they were left with twenty-five students and three teachers. Carter dared to stand up. The masked man's head turned swiftly and instinctively at Carter's movement. He pointed his gun at Carter.
"Name?" he demanded.
"Dr. Carter. You?" Carter asked.
"None of your business!" the man shouted.
"If we're going to be here with you for a while, don't you think we should call you something other than 'terrorist number one?'"
"You know me only as Jay. He's Dee, he's Tee, and she's Em."
"Oh, so you must be members of the alphabet team?" Carter couldn't resist. Jay looked angered by his comment.
"We are known to you only by these letters, nothing more," Jay tried to state calmly.
"Oh, then I guess you can call me C. For Carter?" as swift as a bird of prey going in for its kill, Jay's gun was now right against Carter's temple.
"You think this is a joke? That it's funny?"
"Jay..." the woman, Em said.
"Shut up, Em! I'll kill this one now and put him out of his misery!" but Em laid a hand on Jay's shoulder.
"We need as many of them alive as we can get," Em said, "Including teachers. They don't just want the students out, they want the teachers alive, too."
"But he's not a teacher!" one boy blurted out. His face went red when Jay and Em turned to look at him, "Well, it's true! He's not! I've never seen him before anyway."
"He's not a regular teacher, it's true. He's a substitute. And I am going to kill his friend when we get out of here for setting him up like this!" a female's voice proclaimed. Carter turned and realized that the woman was Jenna Morgan, the principal, looking paler than ever.
"He's a substitute, you say?" Jay asked. Jenna nodded, slowly, "It makes no difference. As this lovely young lady has told me," he patted Claire on the head who flinched at his touch, "You have all seen the movies, correct?" there was no answer, "Well, assuming you have, let me tell you, they don't always get it right. In real hostage situations, if things don't go according to plan, the hostage taker starts killing off his victims. One. By. One," He grinned down at Claire, "At least that's what happens when *I* take over!" the man didn't sound too old. Only about seventeen. But he sounded like he knew what he was doing. And he sounded serious. Carter looked at his belt and something caught his eye. A tiny device that looked like a phone. Suddenly, an idea formed in Carter's mind.
"Are you going to make demands or have you done it already?" he asked. Jay shot him a look.
"I will make demands in my own time," Jay said.
"But how will they know what's going on?" Carter asked, "Without any notice..."
"They'll know. Trust me, a whole school of children and teachers evacuating a building, someone's going to want to know why. And you think they'll keep quiet?"
"But if you call the police now-"
"I know what I'm doing, damn it!" Jay shouted, "Dee, watch this one closely..." another masked and muscular man nodded. Jay sat on the teacher's desk.
"Well, children, what have we learned today?" he asked, trying to sound like a teacher.
"Never to trust high schoolers!" Angela shouted.
"Good guess, young lady!" Jay said, "But that's the wrong answer," Carter could see the spark of excitement in his eye. He was enjoying this. Watching all these students cower in fear. What did these four teenagers have that Carter didn't? He knew. Masks. Intimidation. But worst of all, they had guns.
Carter glanced at the window. They hadn't closed the blinds. He slowly edged over there, trying to avoid Dee's eyes, which were less watchful than Jay's who had eyes like a hawk. Dee was big for his age, bold, bulky and muscular. He glanced at Carter often and gave him menacing looks. He circled Carter occasionally like a shark. Or a vulture, waiting for it's prey to die. Carter glanced at the female captor, Em. She was slender, but she was firm and strong, not to be fooled be appearance. But she looked smart and almost kind. But Carter saw the hatred in her eyes, and the love for her leader at the same time. She was simply a falcon, searching for a mate. Carter glanced at the last terrorist, Tee. Small and quiet, he looked slightly younger than the others. He was a chick, looking to earn his keep. This was all new to him. He was in training, Carter could tell. The whole family. The falcon, wise and strong, the vulture, bold and hungry, the chick, young and eager, and the hawk, the leader of the group, watchful and brave. All four, birds of prey. Carter glanced out the window. He saw a field of students below. Already, a police vehicle had appeared. He gasped as he noticed someone else's presence right next to him.
"This, Dr. Carter, is just the beginning," Jay said, expressionless. He was staring out the window.
"What do you mean?" Carter turned to him
"First one police car, then two, then four... Then maybe an army jeep, then more police rigs, then the television van and the radio cars. It's all how it works, you see. This is only the beginning..." without diverting his gaze, Jay replied.
"Why don't you contact them now?" Carter asked. Jay hesitated, then,
"I will, in time," he seemed less bitter than he had before. Almost as if he was considering Carter's advice, "Why are you so eager for me to talk to them?"
"No reason," Carter lied. He wanted to know what that phone on Jay's belt was for. Jay turned to Carter.
"You know what, Dr. Carter? It's really too bad that you're all brave and good."
"Why?"
"Well, I like brave men. Tee, over there, is really brave. Em's brother, that boy is. Bravery brings out the best in people."
"So why is that a bad thing in me?"
"Well, I like brave, but the combination of bravery and stupidity is something I don't like. It means that you're brave at all the wrong times."
"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Carter demanded.
"Kind of. And you're working for the wrong side, too. I hate to tell you, but people like you die fast when I'm in charge," Carter couldn't believe it. A teenager intimidated him; a young boy frightened him, a boy years younger than he was!
"Why am I so afraid of you?" Carter voiced. Jay leaned closer so only Carter could hear his next words.
"Because I'm your worst nightmare," he whispered. And he took out the phone and began to speak.
"Police? This is a direct, untapped line. It will stay that way..." he said.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Now *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Now, half the ER was busy watching the television, even Kerry was engrossed in the story. It had become so fascinating, but Romano finally brought Kerry back to life.
"You aren't getting paid to watch TV when there are patients waiting to be seen!" he said.
"But Dr. Romano-" Randi tried to say.
"Not now! Come on, all, back to work!"
"Robert, Carter is-" Kerry tried to explain why they were watching this.
"I said back to work!" and they all scattered. All that was left was Dave, whose back was to the screen, too full of guilt to face it.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 11:30 AM That Morning *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was perfect. Just as Carter had planned, that phone was a direct line to the police. At first, he waited, biding his time, waiting for the right minute to strike, using the pick-pocketing techniques an old patient had showed him. He looked out side the window. The News van was now pulling up and he saw a bushy brown-haired woman running out with a microphone, a cameraman running out. Still, they had forgotten to close the blinds. Carter watched as Jay spoke to Claire.
"Your brother was Charlie, wasn't he?" he asked. Claire looked past him at Carter, who was trying to tell her to keep him busy. She nodded, both to Jay, and to Carter.
"I knew it," Jay's lips curled into a smile.
"And you are?" Claire asked, pushing back her straight brown hair.
"A friend..." Jay's smile widened. As Jay was distracted with Claire, Carter looked around. Em was watching Claire, too, like the falcon she was. Or an owl. Tee was guarding the door. Dee was smirking, menacingly at the kids. With all the others occupied, Carter made his move, snatching the phone like an expert pickpocket. He silently thanked the thief that had been brought into the ER. Mitch was looking up at Carter with distaste. He had seen him do it. Carter hesitated. Mitch was unpredictably and Carter knew Mitch didn't like him. But would he ruin it all by telling their captors that Carter had stolen their direct line to the police? Carter saw Angela looking at Mitch. She crawled closer to him and whispered something in his ear. Had she seen it, too? Who else had seen? Apparently, no one. But Alex, being as nosey as he was, saw Angela whispering and wanted to find out what it was all about. Angela motioned for him to go away. While everyone was still distracted, Carter figured now was a good time. He turned and pretended to be looking out the window. He lifted the phone, which seemed more like a walkie-talkie, to his mouth.
"Police?" he whispered, "This is Dr. Carter. I... I am in the building. I was substituting for a science class this morning when the terrorists came."
"Carter? How did you manage to get a line?" an officer demanded.
"They don't know I'm in touch with you. Just keep it down," Carter told him.
"Could you be our inside man? Tell us what's happening?"
"I can do my best," Carter promised, "I'll signal you when I can't talk. I'm up by the window," there was a pause and then a reply.
"Alright, we see you," Carter turned his back to the window. Jay turned his head. Carter stuffed the communicator into his pocket. Jay came over and closed the blinds.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Now *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Abby! Where are you going?" Luka's thick accent cut through the air.
"To the school! I'm off, I have to see what's going on!"
"I'm off at three!" Luka told her, "I might meet you there!" Abby smiled and left. She jumped into her car and fumbled with the keys. She realized her hands were shaking. She had to get over to that Junior High. When she did get there, she realized there was no where to park. There was a traffic jam on the street to the school. No cars were moving. Some drivers were out of their car to try and see what was going on, at the same time, listening to the situation on the radio. Abby swung out of her car and weaved her way through the jammed cars up to the school, just to find it was sealed off with police tape. As she tried to get past, an officer stopped her.
"Excuse me ma'am, but where do you think you're going?" he asked.
"My good friend is in there!" she half screamed.
"And people's children are in there, ma'am! You are just going to have to wait out here for a while, for your own safety," Abby took a step back and then stopped, when she heard a familiar voice on the police radio.
"Jay's noticed his communicator's gone. Right now, he suspects one of the kids. He's threatening to shoot one if he doesn't find it."
"CARTER!" Abby screamed, again trying to get past the tape. The police officer held her back and another came to his aid.
"You... Know... That... Man?" the officer said between struggles.
"He's my friend! He's a doctor! I work with him, please!" she pleaded. The officer glanced at the man at the radio who hesitated, then nodded.
"Let her in," he said, then into the radio, "Carter, we have a friend of yours here."
"What?" Carter asked.
"What's your name, miss?" the man asked.
"A-Abby. Tell him it's Abby," The man smiled.
"You can call me Frank," he offered her his hand and she shook it.
"It's Abby, Carter."
"Abby? What's she doing here?"
"You're on the news!" Abby answered, "You think we'd just stand by and get back to work while you were being held hostage? Nuh uh, no way!"
"Frank, what should I do? He's asking each kid one by one. He's going to shoot Claire if he doesn't find the communicator!"
"Unnoticeably set it down and pretend to find it," Frank told him. There was silence. Carter left the thing on. That had been a mistake.
"Jay!" they heard him call, "I found your walkie-talkie thing!"
------
Jay turned to Carter.
"What?" he asked, Claire's arm in his grasp.
"Your little communication thing. You must have set it on the teacher's desk and forgot it there." Jay eyed him suspiciously.
"I don't forget things, Carter," he hissed. He walked over to Carter who stiffened. He snatched the phone from the desk and turned his back to Carter, beginning to walk away. But without warning, Jay turned suddenly and on both ends everyone heard the loud crack that split through the air followed by screams.
"I don't leave my line open to the police at all times, Carter. I turn it off when not in use," he smiled, wickedly.
To be continued
Well? What do you think? Gimme your thoughts and review!