"Mr. Newman." The Commander shot a cursory glance to the officers standing nearby. "I'm gonna need you to step back please."
"So that you can do what exactly?" Victor's voice bellowed through the darkness. "What exactly are you doing? He threw his hands up in the air. "What have you accomplished? Why should I stand back and let you do your job when your so called expertise has done absolutely nothing to get my son out of that house alive?!"
"Mr. Newman, I understand how upsetting this must be for you, but we are doing everything in our power to bring this to a peaceful conclusion." Sergeant Brunson shook his head at the officer who looked to him with questioning eyes. "Now I don't want to have to have you removed from the scene, but if you continue to interfere with this investigation."
"This isn't a damn investigation! You're just sitting here, waiting to see what happens. Am I the only one that heard a shot? We have absolutely no idea what's going on in there and you all seem perfectly content to just stand here and wait. I don't wait. I don't stand around. I make things happen and I'll be damned if I stand here and wait for you people to get word that my son has been hurt or worse …"
"Because that's all that matters to you, right?" Billy's voice was filled with a mix of venom and worry as he joined the group. "Your precious son is in the house, so it's important now. It didn't matter when it was only Phyllis' life because, let's face it, you didn't give a damn about her a few years ago when you put a drug lord in her bed and …"
"Billy …" Jack placed his hand on his shoulder. "Let's not do this now. It's not the time."
"You're right, Jack. This isn't the time to be rehashing old history. I'm committed to ending this by whatever means necessary and if that means calling my own people in to forget about the protocol and procedures and actually make some real progress then …"
"Mr. Newman, that is absolutely unacceptable. There will be no outside interference by you or anyone else. If your son hadn't taken it upon himself to go into that house, we might have already been able to bring this to a peaceful conclusion. As it stands, we are working very hard to get eyes inside the house. We have one of our surveillance experts on the roof and they are working on feeding a camera into the …"
"The door!" An officer screamed out, his voice easily heard through the quiet night. "Someone's opening the door."
"No guns," the Commander bellowed. "Just hold off. Be ready, but nothing yet."
Cameron pulled her body in front of him, his face growing more serious as he turned towards Nick. "She stays in front," he ordered. "If they get a clear shot at me, they'll take it and I'm not about to go out like that. Don't go trying to play the hero now. I've still got this." He gestured to the gun he held pressed into the small of her back. "I don't want to hurt anybody, but …"
"I won't. I'll do whatever you say … just let's get out of here. We'll get out of here and then we'll get to work on getting your son back." He could feel his heart pounding inside his chest and the slight tremble of Phyllis' hand proved she was just as anxious as he was. This ordeal could be over in mere moments, but if was far too soon to let their guards down.
"Walk." Cameron said the word as he shoved her slightly towards the door. "Walk right to the threshold and then stop. Then you're gonna tell them that we're coming out and you're gonna tell them not to show any weapons. No guns, no tasers, no nothing."
"Okay." Her throat felt almost impossibly dry as she attempted to sound less terrified than she felt.
"You better do better than that," he snarled. "Your life depends on it. I swear if you're trying to pull anything …" His eyes darted towards Nick again, the tension and mania returning to his body as his mind began to second guess his choices.
"We're not," Nick said quickly, desperately trying to keep him on course. "Just take it easy on her. You've got a gun to her back. It's not like she's able to relax."
"I'm not exactly feeling loose myself," he spat. "This isn't a damn spa. You seem to think I owe you something and I don't. If anything, you owe me."
"I don't think you owe me." Nick chose his words carefully, "but I'm asking you to put yourself in my position for a minute. If this was someone you loved … if this was your wife, how would you feel watching it?" He could see the momentary flash of understanding on his face before he snorted in derision.
"Walk," he commanded again.
"We're coming out!" Her voice shook as she called out into the night. The lights from the cameras and flashing police cars were too bright to recognize faces even if the gun in her back hadn't monopolized her attention. "No guns, no weapons of any kind," she repeated dutifully. "We're going to walk towards the cars on our own. No one should rush us or approach." She swallowed hard as she felt the gun press harder into her back. This was his not so subtle reminder. "There is a gun at my back," she said, pausing for a moment to collect herself, "and if you …. If anything is …" She turned her head to look back at Cameron. He hadn't given her the exact script for this.
"I'll kill her." His words were crystal clear and she felt them go straight through her.
"We understand," the Commander called out. "This is your show, Brooks. We're on your timetable. We just want to get everyone out of this okay."
"Little late for that isn't it?" The sarcasm still dripped from his voice as they slowly advanced towards the cars.
"Nick," she whispered, as she tried to turn back and ensure he was following.
"Forward," Cameron yelled jerking her arm hard.
She hissed and winced in pain.
"You don't have to do that!" Nick snapped. "We're doing what you want. I'm going to help you. All I'm asking is that you don't hurt her. This is almost over. Please … just let her go."