By
Tru False
Chapter 11Danny came back from the counter towards the entryway with the cordless phone up to his ear. He was already in mid-conversation.
"Nine people, plus two FBI agents and one…well, one of their brothers."
Don watched Danny as he approached Redd and the doors, but then stopped short. He took the phone away from his ear and muffled it for a moment. "You should move away from the doors," he said quietly to Redd, who jumped back and to the side. Danny put the phone back up to his ear.
"Yes," Danny continued. "Yes…yes…no. Yes, one person. Badly."
Don watched Danny closely then. He was hoping the agents outside would offer to send paramedics in, or let them bring Charlie out.
"Umm…" he looked over at Don and Charlie, and Don's hopes went up. "We'll have to get back to you on that. Yeah, on that too. No. No, not yet. Umm…seated, in the back—"
At that, Redd shook his head furiously. "Hang up—now," he ordered sharply.
Danny looked at him, but kept the phone to his ear. "Uh…I can't anymore. No," he said into the receiver, then hung up.
"What the fuck was that?" Redd demanded, the anger clear in his eyes.
"They were asking me questions."
"Yeah, no shit they were asking you questions. Why did you tell 'em where the hostages were."
"They wanted our assurances they weren't harmed."
"So you say, 'no, they ain't harmed'—that's it. You don't say nothin' else." His eyes flashed to Don and then he looked hard at Danny. "You do that on purpose?" he asked suspiciously.
"Christ Redd, I wanna get out of here as much as you do. Look—next time they call, you can talk to them. Maybe you'll do better."
That seemed to settle Redd a bit. "Yeah, that's what we're gonna do." The anger and mistrust were still clear in his eyes.
Don spoke up then. "What did they say?"
Redd rounded angrily on him and raised his gun. "What did I tell you about talkin'?"
Don ignored him and looked at Danny.
Danny was smart enough to address Redd with his response, though Don felt as though he was maybe talking to him. "They want to know our demands."
That caught Redd's interest. "What are we gonna tell 'em?" he asked.
"I don't know…the usual stuff never works. A car, a million dollars in unmarked bills, free passage to Tijuana. Honestly, at this point, they're gonna catch us any way we play it."
"Not if we take a hostage with us," Redd offered. "I say we take her," he pointed at Terry, "she's a Fed, and she's a woman…it's perfect."
Don's pulse quickened at that and he looked over at Terry. But her eyes were firm—she was fearless, always. He felt a rush of affection for her.
Danny looked distraught at the notion. "Redd, they're still gonna catch us. They'll just tire-spike the road in front of our car, or waylay us at the border, or a hundred other things…that stuff never works anymore. Maybe it's time to start thinking about…" he trailed off.
"That's right Danny," Don interjected, willing him to stay on that track, "You're thinking everything through really well. You're being smart."
"Shut. The. Fuck. Up." Redd's eyes were cold. "I am not gonna tell you again."
"Take it easy Redd," Danny said, throwing a look at Don that said gimmie a break here Don decided he would ease off a bit…he didn't need to make things worse for Danny.
Danny switched topics then, not that he thought the next one would be any better received.
"They also want to send in some paramedics, for him," he pointed at Charlie.
"No way," Redd replied immediately. "No one goes in or out, period."
"We could cover them…they wouldn't be able to do anything," Danny countered.
"No. I've seen it on TV when these guys come in as medics and then one of 'em turns out to be some secret ninja voodoo-guy and takes everyone out. No way."
Don couldn't hold himself back anymore. "Danny," he implored, "You're right, you guys are gonna get caught. My brother can't hold out much longer. If he dies—" his voice almost broke around the word "then you're gonna go down for murder on top of everything else."
"That's it—" Redd started, his fury obvious.
"You moron," Don cut in towards Redd, utter frustration finally taking hold of him, "why don't you listen to what everyone is telling you? You're not gonna make it—"
Don stopped himself when he saw Redd draw back and shielded his face with his free arm, bracing himself for the beating he knew he was about to take. But instead, Redd had found a much better way to hurt him. He kicked Charlie instead—just once, hard, in the side.
Don dropped his arm, surprised when the pain didn't come, and realized what had happened. He froze momentarily in disbelief. Charlie came to suddenly, his face twisting in pain as everything that had gone blissfully numb inside him was set afire once more. He made an effort to curl away from where the kick had come, trying to escape the pain. His eyes opened wide and he rolled them, trying to get his bearing and comprehend what was happening. "Don?" he called, sounding scared, his free hand reaching out in front of him.
Don snapped into action, leaning forward over Charlie so that his searching hand found Don's shirtfront. Don held the sides of Charlie's shoulders and willed him to find his eyes. "It's okay Charlie," he said worriedly, "It's okay, I'm right here. It won't happen again, I promise… I'm sorry, I'm sorry I wasn't ready, I'm sorry—" His words tumbled out over each other as Charlie struggled to orient himself. He arched his back suddenly and squeezed his eyes shut, unable to draw a breath.
"Breathe Charlie," Don implored him frantically. "Come on Charlie, breathe for me. Charlie, Goddamn it—Breathe for me. You're okay. Breathe." Finally Charlie drew in a shuddering breath, his eyes watering from the effort. It was a process he would repeat over and over as he drew breath from then on, though Don wouldn't know it.
Don's muscles clenched reflexively and he literally began to shake with rage. He turned his head to the side and a low scream of frustration erupted from him. He let go of Charlie's shoulders and rose to a sitting position, his eyes locked on Redd, his face shaking. "You sonofabitch!" he exploded, "You're a dead man! When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna kill you!"
His tirade continued only to be matched by a similar one from Redd, who had leveled his gun on Don's head and was now simultaneously screaming threats back at him. The two yelled so furiously that they became both red-faced and incoherent…completely oblivious to what the other was saying.
"Redd! Back off of him!" came a yell from off to the side…Danny. He had raised his gun and was pointing it—at Redd.
Everything happened very suddenly after that.
Danny had forgotten his own advice and unconsciously worked his way back in line with the front doors.
The snipers outside got a bead on one of the robbers, yelling something and pointing a shotgun at persons unseen. They were cleared to shoot, and they did.
Suddenly the glass of the left half of the front door shattered, and Danny dropped to the floor like a rock. Terry dropped her head to her knees to shield herself from the falling glass, but most of it didn't reach as far back as she was.
Redd looked over at the fallen Danny in utter shock.
Don saw his second opportunity of the day, and this time, he was ready. Though it pulled Charlie so hard his left shoulder came well up off the floor, Don lunged forward with his good hand and grasped the barrel of Redd's shotgun, yanking it firmly away from him. In Redd's state of shock, it slipped easily from his hands. The second Redd realized what was happening, he took off towards the far rear corner of the building for shelter.
Don struggled to turn the shotgun around, using his left hand to help, which screamed in agony. He managed to fire a round, but as he was basically one-handed and that hand had Charlie's arm attached to it, he missed badly, catching the wall a full second after Redd had gone by. He struggled to clear the chamber and was straining to see where Redd had gone when Charlie grabbed his left arm weakly.
"Don?"
"It's okay Charlie," Don said distractedly. "I've got it buddy. We're okay now."
"Don," Charlie persisted, squeezing his arm weakly, "…I'm sorry."
He stopped breathing again—this time, he went limp as well.
123123123
Lonnie had been watching as best he could from his vantage at the counter. He couldn't see Redd and the Federal guy at all, but he could hear them yelling at each other…they were real mad about something. He could see Danny just fine though, and that made him happy.
He watched in confusion as Danny suddenly raised his shotgun and yelled at Redd. Was Danny mad at Redd now too?
Then something funny happened. The glass on the door broke and Danny fell down hard. Lonnie stared at him…Danny wasn't getting up. Lonnie's mouth dropped open slightly as he continued to stare in confusion. Was he hurt? A pool of red started to build around Danny's head. Lonnie slowly started towards his brother. The shotgun fell to the floor by his feet, completely forgotten.
123123123
Randall, the bank manager, couldn't believe it when the kid just dropped the gun to the floor and took off. Though he was one of the furthest from it, he immediately lunged forward and grabbed it, pulling it close to him. He was a semi-regular hunter, and he checked the gun to see if it was loaded. It was—bastards. He sensed the customers and his employees slowly grouping behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief…they had a fighting chance now.
Suddenly he heard a shot off to the right front of the building, where the one agent who had been fighting with the mean guy seemed to be. He tightened his grip on the gun, sure the guy had just executed the agent. That meant he would be coming for them next.
With a courage he didn't know he possessed, he slowly raised up to get a better view of the area. Suddenly, the mean guy came streaking back towards the rear of the building. Randall didn't even think about it…he stood up straight and pulled the trigger.
123123123
"…I'm sorry." Charlie's words rang in Don's ears and suddenly his mind processed them.
Don looked down at him. "Charlie…" he said, his voice a warning tone. "Charlie," he called, louder this time. Panic seized him. He dropped the gun down beside him and leaned over Charlie, checking for a pulse. "Charlie!" he yelled angrily. He leaned over him, placed both his hands on Charlie's chest, and started compressions. The pain from his left hand didn't even register with him, as if his body had finally given up on asking him to protect it. He breathed two breaths into Charlie's mouth and resumed the compressions frantically. "Charlie!" Don called again, sounding furious. "Charlie, don't do this! Don't you do this to me, you hear me!" There was a loud shot at the back of the building but Don didn't even try to see what had happened. His whole world was in front of him—and it was falling apart.
123123123
Terry had been utterly shocked when the glass shattered near her and Danny had gone down. She stayed huddled for a moment, unsure if there would be more shots fired.
She heard a loud shot then and immediately looked up, searching frantically for Don—sure that Redd had killed him. But instead, she saw Don holding the shotgun and trying to reload it one-handed. Charlie's right arm was stretched out awkwardly while Don worked.
She saw Charlie bring his other arm across his body to grasp the sleeve of Don's free hand. He said something, which Don seemed to ignore, and then he went limp. She saw Don look down at him, then drop the gun and check him. Her heart sank when he started doing CPR.
There was another shot fired at the back of the building. She strained that way but couldn't see what was happening.
Suddenly the front doors broke open and she ducked her head again as more glass went flying. She looked up after a moment and shook her head, hearing the subsequent clinking of small pieces of glass on the tiles around her.
Several agents streamed in, guns trained on them, then moved past. One stopped to secure Lonnie and drug Danny out of the way. More and more flowed in after that. Don didn't look up once…he was too busy screaming at Charlie to come back.
Finally one of the men who entered crouched down beside Terry and pulled the gag out of her mouth.
"Special Agent," she said, her mouth dry, "the keys to these cuffs are on that guy—" she nodded towards Danny, "—he should have two sets on him. That kid there is one of them," she added, indicating Lonnie who was handcuffed and kneeling beside Danny, just staring. "He shouldn't give you any trouble though."
The officer nodded and took off. He came back a few moments later with the keys. The first set didn't fit her cuffs. "Those are his," she said, indicating Don.
"Okay," he replied.
He used the other set to open Terry's cuffs, then headed over to free Don.
Terry took a brief moment to rub her wrists as her arms came back to life. She looked over to Don and saw him sitting back, panting as paramedics worked on Charlie. The officer had bent down and was unlocking his cuffs.
Terry stood up and made to walk over to him, but was surprised when he immediately stood up himself and turned, walking away from both her…and Charlie. She caught a glimpse of his eyes as turned; they were unseeing—blinded by a singleness of purpose. He walked in much the same way, as if you could have put a brick wall in front of him and he would have gone right through it.
Terry hurried after him as she realized his intent. Redd was sitting on the ground, his hands cuffed behind his back and his face twisted in pain—he had taken a round in the vest. The three officers who must have secured him stood a short distance away…they were already to the anti-crisis point, talking about the situation and taking a mild interest in the other officers who were assisting the hostages. As Don swept by them, they turned to look at him.
Terry watched Don draw back his right hand. He never said a word.
He blasted Redd in the face, again and again and again—always with his right…his left hung limply at his side.
After their initial surprise, the officers looked at each other. Redd took a fourth shot and one of them came forward and grabbed Don, pulling him back.
"Alright buddy…I think he's had enough."
But Don easily pulled himself out of the man's grasp and descended on Redd again, landing another punch, then another and another. This time two officers grabbed hold of him and pulled back. When they were unable to stop him, the third grabbed hold as well. Don went back several yards, but still he fought towards Redd and he actually started to make forward progress again, dragging the officers with him.
Terry approached them then. Though it hurt her to do it, she reached between the officers and found Don's left hand—and squeezed hard.
That elicited a scream from him and he turned wild eyes to her.
"Don," she said, unfazed, "Charlie…ambulance."
And like that, without a word, he was gone. She watched him walk towards the front doors with the same purposefulness as before, breaking into a jog when he crossed through them.
"Man," one of the officers commented to Terry, slightly out of breath. "I wouldn't want to piss him off."
"This guy shot his brother," she answered, and then walked off.
The officer nodded and looked at the other two. He crouched down in front of a clearly dazed Redd, whose face was now bleeding again. The officer pushed on Redd's vest where he had taken the round. Redd grimaced painfully.
"Hurts to get shot, doesn't it?" The officer asked. Redd just closed his eyes and turned his head away.
The officer looked back up at the other two and smiled.
123123123
Terry watched Lonnie as an officer made to drag him away from Danny's body. There was a point in every criminal's life where a decision was made, a decision as to direction and intent. She hoped Lonnie would learn from what had happened to Danny and make the right decision…the decision she knew Danny would have wanted him to make.
But as the officers pulled him up to his feet and turned him towards the door, she caught his eyes. They had gone cold, hard—filled with hatred and anger. She sighed to herself…the world's next great psychopath had probably just been born.
She turned to the counter and found Don's car keys. It felt surreal when she picked them up, like it had been a lifetime ago that they were all riding in the car together. She looked up at the clock. Two hours…not even. Unbelievable. She headed out into the blinding sunshine to find out which hospital they had taken Charlie to.