Chapter 10
Danny Messer raised his hands slowly and knelt on one knee, sliding over to place himself between Nathan Collier and Sheldon Hawkes. His forehead and upper lip shown with nervous sweat and his hands shook but he held his voice steady.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy now. Let's not let tempers run away here," he said.
The revolver never wavered. "Move out of the way, Detective."
"Dan," Sheldon whispered. "What are you doing?"
Messer never took his eyes off the revolver. "Shut the hell up, Hawkes. I'm tryin' to save your ass here."
Lindsay could not see the drama from her current angle. Though barely conscious, she struggled to roll over. Danny's left hand remained raised. His right dropped onto her shoulder and stilled the movement.
"Lay still, baby doll."
"Dannee?" Lindsay called, a soft, disjointed whisper.
"Everything's gonna be fine. You just rest."
Collier took a menacing half step forward. The gun's angle changed from Hawkes to Messer.
"You heard what I said. Move out of my way."
Danny braced against the threat of Collier's weapon and the pull of Hawkes' hands on his shoulders. He swallowed hard then licked his dry lips, breathed hard and deep but remained in place.
"I dunno what just happened here," Messer said. "I dunno what made you so angry, but it's not worth killin' someone over. Not yet."
Collier sneered. "If I am truly determined to kill him, do you honestly believe you can stop me?"
"Probably not," Danny admitted. "But I gotta try."
"What kind of man are you to protect a black bastard like him?" Collier spoke the word with a wealth of venom and hatred.
"Sheldon Hawkes is my friend. I can't let you kill him. An' even if he weren't, I'd still beg you to stop. He's the only thing keepin' Lindsay alive. We ... she ... needs him in one workin' piece. Besides, a gunshot goes off in here, SWAT'll be through that door faster than you can blink. If you want your plan to work, you have to stay calm, see it through to the end, am I right? If you shoot Hawkes, it's over, right then an' there. You have a plan an' it's workin' so far. You can't muck it up now."
A frown appeared on Collier's face. His eyes darted around as he thought over Danny's words. Something of Messer's calm, reasonable approach found a fissure in the professor's cracked logic.
"Yes, he ... he is a doctor. Isn't he. I do remember that. And I ... I certainly do not want a swarm of police coming in. But ... a black man touching a white woman is ..."
"He's a doctor. The only one we have in here. We need him. Detective Monroe needs him. Please."
"Yes. Yes, I ... I do see your point."
Collier reset the gun's hammer and stumbled back to sit in his chair, the weapon no longer threatening his prisoners. Hawkes and Messer watched him several long, nerve-wracking seconds before deciding the immediate danger had passed.
Limp with relief, Danny Messer sank down onto his heels and braced himself with his left hand against the cold linoleum. Sheldon Hawkes' trembling hand rested on his shoulder.
"Thank you."
Messer smiled then shrugged away his friend's gratitude. "Whatever we did to set him off, let's don't do it again."
Hawkes smiled back and said, "Deal."
"You have won a brief reprieve, Detectives," Collier said. "For the moment, I have no desire to kill any of you."
"But you will kill us," Hawkes said, "if the desire comes back?"
"Lord Byron once wrote, 'The law of heaven and earth is life for life.'(1) That is what is happening here, Detective. The last days or weeks of my life will pass with the knowledge that, however illusionary the situation, I am not the last of my line. Something of my blood will outlast me. If I do not have the end-life that I wish, I will take away life. I will not be the only tragic figure in this sorry tale."
Sheldon worked his memory for a quote that might fight the occasion, saying, "'Law is not law, if it violates the principles of eternal justice.'(2)"
Collier came straight back with, "'If the law supposes that, the law is an ass, a idiot.'(3)"
Danny twisted back and forth, staring from Hawkes to Collier and back again.
"What's goin' on here? Are we in a quote war, like some TV game show? Okay, I got one for you. 'At his best, man is the noblest of all animals. Separated from law and justice, he is the worst.'(4) There, how's that one? Fits the occasion well enough, don't you think?"
Collier beamed at Danny as though he were a favored student making a particularly insightful observation. As quickly as that, Collier reverted to the kindly, benevolent Professor of Literature. All trace of the previous bigotry and hatred vanished as though it had never existed.
"Ahhh. Aristotle. Detective Messer, you surprise me."
"What, that I know a few t'ings?" Danny offered a sarcastic whoop-di-doo swirl of his shaking hand. The momentary retreat of immediate threat turned his insides to jelly and gave his Staten Island accent a sharp edge. "Yeah. Big surprise."
The phone rang. Not expecting the sound, everyone in the break room jerked and stared at the machine.
By the third ring, Danny asked, "Aren't you gonna answer that?"
"I ... I suppose I should. Both of you, lay flat on the floor."
Once his prisoners obeyed, the professor made his way around them. He stepped over packets of sugar and creamer and nearly slipped on a clump of swizzle sticks. He reached the telephone on the ninth ring.
"Collier here."
"Professor?" Mac Taylor's voice came over the speaker. "It's been awhile since we talked. I wanted to see if there was anything you or my people in there needed."
"We need nothing except an assurance from the Governor that my demand would be granted. Televised, of course. Ah, which reminds me. I will need a television to witness the broadcast. I did overlook that necessity, I'm afraid."
"The Chief of Police is contacting the Governor's Office even as we speak. We hope to have news for you soon. The television may take a few minutes. We'll have to run a cable onto the floor and into the room."
While Collier spoke with Mac, Hawkes whispered details of the situation into the air--number of weapons, presence of the drugs, their conditions, anything he could think of that might help Mac decide how to handle the situation. Adam would easily be able to filter his report from the ambient background noise of the recording.
Realizing what his friend meant to do, Messer left him to it. He lay down beside Lindsay once more and brushed her hair off her forehead.
Carding his fingers through Lindsay's short hair, he called, "Montana? Sweetheart?" She did not answer or give any indication that she'd even heard him. "Lindsay? Lindsay, answer me. Shel. She won't wake up."
Breaking off his murmured report, Hawkes moved closer, examining Lindsay's wound and vital signs. His expression was especially grim.
"She's unconscious. Respirations rapid and shallow. Her heart rate is 125 and rising."
"And that's bad?"
"With her low blood volume, yes."
"You seem to be handling everything quite admirably, Detective Taylor," Collier said. "I trust that I do not need to remind you that time is critical in this situation. Detective Monroe's condition continues to deteriorate despite the doctor's every effort. I am-"
After several seconds of silence, Danny and Sheldon looked up. Collier's attention was not on them or the telephone but on something in the direction of the glass wall.
"Professor? Is something wrong?""What is that?" Collier muttered beneath his breath.
"What's what?" Mac asked.
"Is that a camera?"
Danny and Sheldon followed Collier's line of sight. Sheldon saw it first--a thin silver cable stuck under the break room door. An elbow to Messer's side and a nod brought it to Danny's attention, as well.
"You will withdraw your camera device this very instant. I will not be spied upon!"
"Okay, all right. We'll pull it out now."
Fifteen seconds later, the fiberoptic cable disappeared under the door.
"I am very disappointed in you, Detective Taylor. I thought to deal honorably with you. I expected the same degree of civility in return."
"I have dealt honorably with you." Mac's voice rang with barely contained desperation. "You never forbade us to set up surveillance. We're concerned for our friends, nothing more. We had to know they're still alive."
"They are alive. For how long remains to be seen."
Collier slammed the phone down and began to pace. Messer braced himself like a sprinter at the starting line. If he moved fast enough, he could take Collier down before the madman saw him coming. At the very least, he'd keep him busy until SWAT could rush in.
Hawkes held him back with a firm grip on his forearm. The distance between them was too great. Collier would shoot Danny before he moved five feet.
The professor stopped and turned toward his hostages. He stared from Danny to Lindsay and back again. An unhealthy gleam in his eyes belied the otherwise benevolent expression on his face.
"I did warn them not to play games with me," Collier said. "Some form of payment is due, I believe."
Collier's watched beeped a pre-set reminder. He stepped over to the row of medicine bottles on the kitchenette counter. He tipped one tablet out of the nearest bottle and swallowed it, chasing it down with bottled water from the refrigerator. He thought for several minutes more before he smiled and turned his attention back to his hostages.
"I have one final quote for you, Detective Messer. 'Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.'"
Something in the ominous way Collier said the words caught Danny's attention.
That old bastard has something planned. Danny broke down the quote, to find its hidden meaning. Love. Carry love with us. With us ... when we go. An easy end?
Collier looked at Lindsay Monroe and smiled. Danny's blood froze.
God. No.
QUOTES:
(1) The law of heaven and earth is life for life.
- Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron), The Curse of Minerva (st. 15)
(2) Law is not law, if it violates the principles of eternal justice.
- Mrs. Lydia Maria Child
(3)"If the law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble, "the law is an ass, a idiot."
- Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (ch. LI)
(4) At his best man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst.
- Aristotle
(5) Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.
- Louisa May Alcott