FOUR
Paige hurried through breakfast the next morning and then left for work. She was running late as usual. If she was lucky she might be able to sneak into her office before her boss knew she was late. As she turned the corner just two blocks from social services she was almost immediately stopped by a police roadblock.
"I'm sorry, miss," said the officer. "This area is blocked off right now. You'll have to find another way around."
"What's going on?" Paige asked.
"Please, miss, just move on," said the office. "We need to keep this road clear."
As Paige turned her car to take an alternate route she noticed Darryl talking to another uniformed officer. Since she was all ready late she figured it wouldn't hurt if she were a little later. She could always use the police roadblock as an excuse for why she was late in the first place.
She parked her car two blocks up the road well away from the roadblock. She walked back to the roadblock and looked around for Darryl. She found him off to one side talking on the radio. As she walked up to him he finished speaking to whomever he had been speaking with.
"What's up?" Paige asked.
"Oh, Paige, hi," said Darryl. "We have kind of a situation here."
"What is it?" Paige asked.
"One of our officers suddenly went berserk," said Darryl. "He's holding a young girl hostage. He's threatening to kill her if we try anything."
"Oh my God, what happened?" Paige asked.
"We don't know yet," said Darryl. "This is the second occurrence in as many weeks. We were able to keep the first one quiet but we can't do that this time. Every major television station is here. So are most of the papers and radio stations."
"Any idea why he went crazy?" Paige asked.
"Not yet," said Darryl. "We're trying to get the hostage free first. This doesn't make any sense. I know that cop. He's a good cop. He just got back after spending almost a year in Afghanistan. He's been back for about three weeks and everything seemed to be fine. Then, about an hour ago he just kind of snapped."
"That's terrible," said Paige.
"Hang on," said Darryl. "Something is coming over the radio."
"The hostage has been released," said a voice over the radio. "I repeat, the hostage has been released."
Paige watched as a young woman ran across the street into a group of waiting police officers. The officer that had taken her hostage simply stood in the middle of the street holding his pistol in the air. He seemed to be crying. He was saying something but Paige couldn't figure out what it was.
"At least the girl is safe," said Paige.
"Yes," said Darryl. "But as long as he has that gun he's a danger. I'm just afraid the lieutenant will think he's too much of a risk and have one of the S.W.A.T. members take him out."
"They can't do that," said Paige. "There's obviously something wrong with him. He needs help."
"I know," said Darryl. "But he has a loaded gun and he's definitely a threat. We can't just stand by and do nothing. Someone is going to get hurt if we don't do anything."
"What are you going to do?" Paige asked.
"Well," said Darryl looking around, "normally I wouldn't ask this. But we're running out of options. Is there anything you can do?"
"Magic?" Paige questioned in a hushed voice. "You want me to use magic?"
"I wouldn't ask but this could get out of hand real quick," said Darryl.
"Well," said Paige. "I suppose…."
She was interrupted as the officer in the middle of the street suddenly starting screaming at the top of his lungs.
"I'm sorry," screamed the officer, tears streaming down his face. "I don't' know why I did it. I didn't want to hurt anyone. I can't take this anymore. It's too much for me. I just can't do it any more."
Everyone watched in horror as he raised the pistol he was holding and put it against his temple. Paige didn't hesitate. She called for the pistol and it instantly orbed out of the officers' hand into hers. She looked up to see the officer looking around confused. She also saw a news crew behind the man. With a video camera pointed directly at her.
"Shoot," said Paige, turning to hide her face from the camera. She shoved the gun into Darryl's hand. "I have to get out of here."
Paige turned and ran up the street while everyone stood round in apparent confusion. As she turned the corner of a building she looked around real quick to make sure she was alone. Not seeing anyone around she orbed out of the street and back to the manor.