Sergeant Defoe noticed that the young nurse had stopped cutting the cable ties and was looking away distracted. He gave her an encouraging smile and did the scissor gesture to her again. She gave a pout.

Defoe nodded, still smiling and gesturing merrily, trying to keep her motivated. The last thing they wanted was for her to get side-tracked and wander off.

The nurse sighed and then much to Defoe's surprise pushed open the door and held out the scissors to him.

"I don't want to," she sighed oblivious to the consequences of her actions, "It's your turn."

Defoe caught the door before it slammed shut and the pulled the nurse through to the stair well.

"You did it!" he whispered, giving her a congratulatory hug before setting her down to sit on a step.

"I did what?" she asked confused.

The poor girl was still muddled and unsteady from whatever drug Ricardo Torres had dosed her with.

"It's okay," said Sergeant Defoe, "We are going to get you out of here."

"I'm afraid not." said Brot, joining them at the door, "We can't afford to alert anyone to the fact that we stayed behind."

The nurse Brittany was staring at Brot's face wide eyed, Defoe managed to clamp a hand over her mouth before she cried out. Defoe had long ago gotten used to the detective's injured face, so much so that he didn't really see it any more. It simply marked the man out as a hero; the nurse however was much too far gone to be able to marshal her reaction.

Brot didn't react to her response to his burns, he was too focused on the job at hand.

"I suggest instead she could be moved to the next floor up." He ordered, "Send a man with her, it should be safer than here… meanwhile I am going to go on a quick reccy so we can see what we are dealing with."

Defoe waited until the young woman had calmed down before he picked Officer Banning's, a good man with the patience of a saint, to accompany the nurse to a more secure location.

Defoe then took up position by the door, pushing it slightly ajar to watch Brot's progress. The ex-soldier's military training showed in the way he crept down the corridor, systematically checking doorways and junctions before moving on.

…

Brot could hear the wail of a child's voice up ahead. He moved a little quicker but he didn't want to be taking chances. He glanced back briefly to signal to the sergeant to stay put before peering around the corner making sure to keep low. Voices were coming from out of sight; from a hospital room obscured by the nurse's station.

Keeping his profile as small as possible, he closed the distance from the corridor to the nurse's station and then laying on his belly, he peered around the edge to get his first glimpse of the room where Ricky was holding out. Jesse had been right, Ricky was still in Bianca's hospital room. He could see the hostages lined up in the doorway. He made a quick assessment as he counted heads, Erica (angry), Jack (injured), Griffin (injured), Kendal (upset), Marissa (injured) and little AJ (terrified). Bianca was probably still in her hospital bed – but where was Miranda, he could hear her crying out ? She should be amongst the hostages.

In that moment Ricky paced across the room, he was looking down at a cell phone, his other arm was clamped around the neck of Bianca's little girl.

Brot quickly ducked back behind the desk.

Ricky was playing it smart, the wall of hostages in the doorway made him difficult to get to; not impossible, but there was increased risk of innocent casualties. Brot sat behind the desk for a good few minutes going through various strategies. They needed to stop this situation as soon as possible.

He ducked back down for a second look at the Bianca's room. Ricky hadn't been as clever as he thought in choosing a location to hole up in. The nurse's station offered excellent cover, if they could only get him into position in the doorway a trained sniper would be able to drop him with ease…

Yes, Brot had a plan!

Ducking down into a crouch he rushed back to the cover of the corridor before racing back to Alpha team for a briefing, the sound of Miranda's hoarse tears following him.

This siege was going to be broken as soon as possible.

…