Second Chances, Chapter 4:

"What's that?" the gunman asked as Leslie's phone started to ring. Jake knew immediately what was happening, he had seen the police gathering outside and he knew that they would have noticed Leslie's car parked on the corner. The last thing he needed was for Leslie to blow her cover, so as she reached for her phone, slowly, he made his move.

"I said no sudden moves."
"Look, I'm a cop. That will be my partner on the other end of that phone, if you don't let me answer it then things are going to get a lot uglier very quickly."

"No."
"You have no other way out of this. It's gone too far."

"He could be right." His associate told him, "What could it hurt?"
"Fine. But any silly business and they will pay the price." He threatened. Pulling the phone out of her Jacket pocket, Hood's voice was loud and clear.

"Bennett. What's going on in there?"
"We have 8 hostages including the shop keeper and 3 armed gunman." The husky voice answered back.

"Wh…" Hood stuttered for a second. "What do they want?"
"They haven't said. Would you like me to ask?"
"Yeah. That would be a good place to start." He shouted back down the line.

"What are you doing?" Leslie whispered to Jake,

"My job." He winked at her, "Like the badge says."
"What did he say?" The gunman asked.

"He wants to know what your demands are."

"My demands?"
"What do you want so we can all walk out of here alive?"
"We just wanted the money." The second gunman told him.

"Jake, Jake, answer the phone." Hood screamed down the line.

"Hang on a minute would ya."

"Look. You need to ask for something, they give it to you in return for letting the hostages go."

"I need to think about this." Jake couldn't believe what he was hearing, were these guys for real?

"Tell them we want a car, parked out the back and a million dollars in cash." The second gunman suggested, "We can take off and leave this place behind."

"Yeah. Ok." He looked at Jake to confirm what he wanted to do. "Tell them that."
"Did you hear that?"
"I'll see what I can do." Hood bluffed, "And Jake, try to keep your cool in there."
"Sure thing partner."

^^^^ 0o0 ^^^

"This is ridiculous." Leslie whispered to Jake, "They're just kids and we both know how this is going to end."
"What do you want me to do about it?"

"I don't know." Leslie looked at the other hostages, they weren't taking things too well. Back behind the counter Henry the store owner was placing the last of the cash into the bags. He knew who they were, and he was playing along for now. He gave her a look, pleading with her to do something. Jake noticed it and nodded for him to stay put.

"Listen b'y I understand I really do and if it was just me I'd let you walk right out that door." Jake wanted him to keep engaged in conversation, the last thing he needed was a gunman with too much time on his hands. "But you have to face facts, that's just not going to happen right now."

"Here." Henry threw the last bag at him and waited for his next instruction. As the gunman checked to make sure it was all there, the middle aged hostage started to freak out and headed for the back door. Freaking out, the third gunman raised his gun and shot towards the running hostage. Panicked the other hostages hit the ground and covered their heads, Jake grabbed Leslie and hid behind the shelves in the middle row.

"Get back here." The first gunman yelled as the middle aged man stopped in his tracks. "That was a big mistake."

^^^^ 0o0 ^^^

"This is getting way out of control." The second gunman pleaded with the first.

"She's right." Jake called out from where he was hiding. "Just turn yourselves in. This is a no win situation." Jake decided that, since the other hostages were out of the line of fire for now, he told Leslie to stay put and stood out from behind the shelf. "Just give me the guns and we can walk out of here together."

"Not a chance."
"Boy, how do you think this is going to end?" But before the gunman could answer, Henry pulled out his shotgun and aimed it at the gunman.

"Henry, no!" Jake yelled but it was too late. In defence, the gunman shot his gun off as well, and unlike Henry he hit his mark.

"You stupid old man." Now someone had been shot, the gunman knew there would be no walking away from this.

"No, no, no, no, no what have you done?" Jake questioned as he watched Henry fall to the floor. Leslie didn't waste any time, she left her shelter and raced across the room behind Jake to see how injured he was. Spooked by the sudden movement, the gunman took aim again and fired just as Jake hit the end of the barrel and forced the shot into the air.

"Leslie. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine."

"You have no idea how lucky you are right now boy. If anything had of happened to her you'd be begging for the cops to save you."

"His going to need an ambulance." Leslie yelled out. "He's been hit in the shoulder. He's out cold." Without hesitation, Jake began to dial Hoods number, but before he could punch in the last digit the gunman ordered him to stop.

"No ambulance, I'm not a fool. The police will rush in here and take us out."

"Are you an idiot or what? You let him die and you'll be charged with murder." This guy was out of his freakin mind.

"No ambulance." He insisted.
"He's right D, let the guy go" the second gunman pleaded again, at least someone in the group had some sense.

"Listen to her." Leslie pleaded as she stood up to help negotiate. "You have us, let Henry go."
"No."

"What good is he to you if he dies?" Leslie questioned him as she studied how far away Henry's shotgun had landed.