Not many Ray-fans out there, huh? Then I guess you'll like this chapter! ;)
Enjoy!
Another three hours passed by. Boredom was now stronger than fear for Ray and Greg. They both could feel how the mood changed over the hours. At first, all the hostages were scared and thought that, if someone in here could help them, it was Greg and Ray. But now they both felt the hostage's eyes all over them, in a negative way. They now sympathized with the hostage takers and felt that Greg and Ray were the bad guys in that situation.
"Why are they looking at us that way?" Greg whispered to Ray confused.
"It's called Stockholm Syndrome. They're sympathizing with the hostage takers."
"Why? I mean, I've heard about it, but I never understood how that could happen."
"We've been in here for, what, nine hours? From inside it looks like the police isn't doing anything to help us, but the hostage takers play nice. They saved them from more violent robbers. They give them food, let them go to the bathroom. They even released three hostages and they don't show any signs of aggression towards them. And then they try to bond with them by telling them some stories about how the police did them wrong. They're victimizing themselves and the hostages feel for them. It's fascinating to watch."
"Yeah... I'm thrilled," Greg replied sarcastically. "I just want to get out of here, I can't take this any longer."
"Calm down, don't panic. Everything's going to be fine, they don't gain anything from hurting anyone in here. They'd lose the hostages' affection."
"I know, I... I just need to get out of here... I can't sit around here for another few hours..." Greg was getting anxious.
Ray feared he might be having a panic attack. "Take long, deep breaths, Greg. It's gonna be fine," he said, trying to soothe him, and it worked.
When the hostages noticed Ray whispering to Greg, trying to comfort him, one of them walked over to them. "What are you talking about?"
Ray and Greg looked up to him, then looked a bit confused at the hostage takers. They didn't seem to care that the hostages were walking around, though.
"I asked you what you're talking about. Are you planning to get out of here? You probably wouldn't care if you'd kill us with your plan, right?"
"We're not planning anything. Please stay calm, Sir. The police will get us out of here eventually," Ray responded.
"Yeah right. Like they did in that hostage situation two weeks ago in Texas, right? All hostages but one died, as did the hostage takers! That's how the police are handling things?" he said quite angrily.
"They're doing their best to get us out of here safe. All of us," Ray said as he looked at the hostage takers.
"Well, I for one am sick of waiting for the police to storm this bank and kill us all!" he said with threatening gestures towards Ray and Greg. Another hostage walked up to them.
Ray stood up, trying to deescalate the situation. "Whatever you think, how the police did you wrong, doesn't matter. We're not police officers. We're CSIs, scientists."
"Scientists." One of the hostage takers laughed humorlessly, standing several feet away from them. "Did you ever plant evidence to get a conviction? Like they did in my case? Took my lawyers three years to convince them that I couldn't have done it because I had an alibi!"
Greg stood up as well, trying to support Ray. "If this is what happened to you, it's very unfortunate. But that's not how we do our work."
"IF?" one of the hostages said, standing up and walking over to them. "What do you mean, IF? You don't believe him?"
"No, I..." Greg was interrupted by a third hostage.
"Typical for the police. They make a mistake and won't even admit to it! That's exactly what happened to my cousin!" The hostage walked over to them as well.
Ray and Greg felt quite threatened from these hostages surrounding them. They also felt helpless, they had no idea what they could do to calm them down.
"Alright, let's all calm down... We're on your side," Ray said, hoping this would help.
It didn't.
"On OUR side? Bullshit! The police only cares for the police! You'd sacrifice us if it meant you'd get out of here five minutes earlier! You're the reason these men feel a bank robbery is the only way to support their families!"
"It's not our fault that..." Ray was silenced by being pushed against the wall.
"Hey, easy, now," Greg said, trying to intervene. But he was being pushed against the wall, too.
With their backs hugging the wall now, they had no idea what to do. One wrong word or one wrong move and the situation could escalate.
"Please... Calm down." Greg said with an insecure smile.
"I wonder if he begged like that before the cops roughed him up," one of the hostages said, pointing at the hostage taker.
Four hostages helped pinning the CSIs against the wall. Knowing fighting back would only make them more aggressive, Greg didn't move, but Ray tried to fight them off. Two more hostages assisted, trying to keep Ray pinned to the wall.
"Get off of me!" he yelled, shoving two of the attackers to the ground. Because of this, one of the others punched him in the face. The others came at him as well.
"No!" Greg yelled, trying to get out of their grip in order to help Ray.
While they were attacking Ray, the others held Greg back. They were punching and kicking Ray while he was already on the ground.
"Stop it!" Greg yelled desperately, still trying to fight them off. Instead of being able to break free from them and help Ray, he received a beating himself. They both struggled, but succumbed to them. All their effort to fight them off failed, and it ended in both of them lying on the ground beaten and battered.
"Okay, that's it," one of the hostage takers said calmly, walking up to them. "Let go of them."
The hostages stepped aside, making room for the hostage taker to take a look at the bruised CSIs.
"Are you two alright?" he asked.
Greg slowly sat up and helped Ray do the same. Ray received a far more aggressive beating, he was ravaged far worse than Greg.
Greg nodded rather exhausted. Ray just leaned with his back against the wall, closing his eyes.
"Good. People, I don't want something like this to happen again. We need to work together here!"
"Together? With them?" one of the hostages said mocking.
"Who knows, they might be of help later..."
An hour later, over ten hours in this situations, the phone rang.
"You got my car?"
"This is Captain Jim Brass. We have a car waiting for you outside. How many people are in there with you?"
"...22... Including your men."
"Now release some hostages."
"I changed my mind. You got me the car, fine. But I want your men gone from the entrance. At least a 100 yard. We need to be able to get in that car without fearing to get shot. Leave."
"We can't do that and you know that."
"Fine. Just so you know, trying to shoot one of us is unhealthy for the hostages. " He hung up.
The hostage taker went to get one of the cell phones he had everyone give up and used it to take a picture of Ray's bruised face.
"What are you doing?" Greg asked confused.
"Shut up." He turned around to the hostages. "You." He pointed at a young woman in the group. "Thank you for being so cooperative in the last hours. Take this and hand it to Captain Brass, show him the picture, alright?"
She nodded, smiled and went out.
A few minutes later the phone rang. "Hey Jim."
"Okay, got your message. Thanks for the hostage, though. But you promised me two."
"You'll get the second hostage when your men leave."
"That wasn't the deal. You got your car and promised to give me two hostages. I need to trust your word, or else negotiating with you is pointless."
"Okay, fair enough. I'll release another hostage. Maybe another pretty girl."
"How about you give me Ray Langston, the CSI you roughed up."
"Release your men?" the hostage taker said, loud enough for all the hostages to hear. "That's all you care about, right? As soon as they're safe you'll start a suicide mission, huh? I'm gonna send out another hostage, like I promised." He hung up on Brass.