The Hostage

Chapter five

"Oh man…….. please stop it hurts……..it hurts." Van moaned as he grimaced in pain and tried weakly to push Chris's hand away.

Deaq once more grabbed his partner's hand holding it away so Chris could work.

"I know it hurts, but we got to stop the bleeding."

"Oh God……….." Van groaned as he slowly rolled his head back and forth on the floor. He had never felt this much pain before, it felt like his stomach was being stabbed over and over. "Can't …….cccccan't you give me ……ssssomething?" He felt like his insides were on fire and just wanted the pain to go away.

"I can give you a little something but not much, you're too weak." Chris said as he looked through his bag. He pulled out a syringe and began filling it from a small blue bottle.

"What's that for?" Winston asked.

"Just something for the pain." Chris said as he wiped Van's arm with alcohol.

"No!" Winston knocked the syringe out of his hand.

"What do you mean no!" Deaq said standing up. "The man's suffering!"

"Let him suffer. He and his pig partner took away three years of my life."

Deaq looked over at Gibson hoping since he looked like he was in charge he would allow the shot.

"If this man is a police officer and he dies, all three of you will be up for murder one. All we're asking is to give him a shot to relieve some of the pain. It will help him to relax and slow the bleeding."

"The son of a bitch shot me! Let him suffer. The way he looks he won't be suffering long." Clark said.

Gibson looked down at Van. "He's right, looks like he's just about bled out………. Anyway, why waste the shot on a dead man." He grabbed Chris's arm and pulled him up. "Go take care of the security guard."

"Look, let me at least run an IV drip on him. With all the blood he has lost he's going to become dehydrated."

"That's just too bad isn't it………Now go take care of the guard."

Chris looked at Deaq who once more knelt next to his partner.

"I'll take care of the guard you stay with him." Chris picked up Deaq's hand and placed it over Van's gauze covered wound then pressed down causing Van to gasp in pain. "It's going to hurt him but keep the pressure on. We've got to get the bleeding to slow down."

Chris left and went over to the security guard, with Gibson and Clark following him. Winston walked over to a window, pulled back the shade, and watched what was happening outside. Deaq kept the pressure on Van's wound.

"God Deaq it hurts………." Van said quietly when they were alone. "I'm…….I'm scared Deaq. I……..I don't want to die. Not here……..not like this."

"You're not going to die Van, trust me on this, but you got to hang in there. You gotta hang tough. We're gonna get you out of here. I'm not leaving without you." Deaq blinked back tears as he watched his partner's agony and was powerless to do anything about it.

Van reached up and weakly grabbed Deaq's hand.

"No………..they let you go………..you get out of here. Don't …….don't you stick around here."

"I'm not leaving you partner. We're getting out of this together."

Van winced as a sharp pain shot through his stomach, he waited till the pain subsided a little before continuing.

"No…………they release you……….you go. Don't ………don't stay…….. Please Deaq…………promise me." Van knew the situation could get ugly and wanted his partner far away from it. He didn't want to die, but even more he didn't want his partner to die with him.

The more agitated Van became the more he seemed to bleed. Deaq knew he needed to calm him down somehow. He'd tell him what he wanted to hear.

"Okay, I'll go. If they let me, I'll go." He lied. If there was any way that he could stay, he was staying. His partner needed him, and unless he was manually dragged out of the bank, he wasn't going. Just then the phone rang and Gibson answered it. It was Billie.

"I'd like to talk to one of the paramedics."

"Hang on a second." Gibson put the phone down and walked over to Deaq.

"They want to talk to a paramedic." He grabbed Deaq by the arm pulling him up. "Tell them we have an injured man and that we have a cop. But don't tell them the cop is hurt; just tell them the cop will be the first to die if they don't meet our demands." Deaq leaned down and picked up Van's hand and put it over his wound.

"Try to keep pressure on this. I'll be right back."

Deaq wiped his hands, covered in his partner's blood, on his pants then picked up the phone.

"This is Ludwig." He used the name on his uniform.

Billie had been watching everything from the monitor. She could see Gibson holding the phone away from Deaq's ear so he could listen.

"Is everyone okay in there?"

"We have a man with a slight injury to his arm. Everyone else is okay. They also want me to tell you they have also have a police officer. They said he would be the first to die if you don't give into their demands."

"What are their demands?"

Deaq knew Gibson heard her so he looked at him for an answer.

"Tell her we want a van and an airplane fully fueled waiting at the airport. The van needs to have dark windows. We will be taking some of the hostages with us."

Deaq repeated what he was told.

"Tell them we need them to release some of the hostages and we'll talk to the mayor about their demands."

Gibson said it was a deal and he hung up the phone.

"Okay, the security guard, the paramedics, and you two." He pointed to an elderly couple. "You're out of here."

"What about him?" Deaq pointed toward Van.

"He stays."

TBC