Chapter 24: A Frozen Moment
“Alright, is everyone ready?” Officer kit announced to us the morning of the exchange. Three officers dressed in casual apparel accompanied me while George himself wore a black SWAT outfit complete with a pistol, radio, and a number of other items attached to his vest. The weather helped worsen everyone’s mood of anxiety and sadness towards what was about to go down. Faint radio buzzing sounded off in the quiet police station while dribbling rain from last night’s storm splashed off of the outside pavement. Officer Kit looked hard at his fellow officers, moving slowly across our single file line, and then getting to me.
“Our mission today is to secure the hostage and bring her back home safely. All in all, it’s going to be a clean sweep; you all will lure them with the money and our snipers will do the rest. Keep your heads up for anything fishy; these types of people will hardly ever play fair.” He explained sternly.
And again, his walk from end to end returned to me. His eyes burned with resolve as he placed a firm hand to my shoulder.
“This is it.” He said softly. “Whoever their leader is, he knows who you are. Out of anyone here, you have to remain strong when he approaches you, which he will.” His finger poked the center of my chest.
I gulped slightly before finally nodding to his words.
“Let’s head out…” George mumbled as he began to turn for the door. His three officers followed him as he took a hold of the knob.
The sound of running footsteps came to me as Amber grabbed me by the arm. Her eyes were on the verge of crying as she looked fiercely back at me.
“Be careful Marsh… please…” She said tearfully.
I turned completely around and lifted her chin to me for a soft kiss.
“I’ll be okay.” I replied with a smile.
After another brief kiss, I followed the rest of the group out and entered the silver SUV.
I didn’t think it necessary to bring a watch or anything, so the current time we left at was unknown to me. Thoughts on what could happen ran all around my mind. Doubts and fears resurfaced with every second of the drive passing me. The gun I hid under my jacket came to mind, and I felt unsure as to why I even brought it in the first place. My head fell to the soft leather of the car seats.
About ten minutes passed when the odd silence inside the car became disrupted by the officers’ comments of uncertainty toward what was going on. I lifted my head back up and saw two people on a black motorcycle shouting instructions to our car’s driver while discreetly showing off the pistols that they held in their jackets. Their helmets made it incredibly difficult to properly distinguish them as our car was forced to follow the two criminals. Murmurs between all three officers came as we continued turning on a number of different streets. The “supposed” plan that the kidnappers gave us was to drive to Marina Avenue alone. Now for some reason, we were being instructed to go practically the opposite direction of the original exchange point!
“What’s going on?” I called to the men upfront.
“Quiet! Something… isn’t right…” One officer snapped.
“Where could they be bringing us?” Another wondered.
“Why are you all changing courses? What’s happening people?” A voice over the earpiece asked.
The buzzing earplug continued calling out to the officers inside.
“Fuck… Yeah, I have no idea where we’re bein’ taken…” The driver muttered in response.
“For some reason th- -ignal kee- ss- rkin- uh-shh-shh-shh…” Our connection to the outside was being lost as all four of us continued driving the wet and muddy path.
“Damn… Is it me or did we just lose signal with headquarters?” An officer announced as he took his earpiece out.
“All I hear is static…” Someone else responded.
My stomach began to churn as the situation only worsened and worsened. The motorcycle began to slow down after a couple of minutes onto a seemingly abandoned neighborhood adorned with all kinds of filth. One more turn on the block led us to a deep alley way where a dozen or so men and women stood with automatics, surrounding a dark blue SUV that was placed in the middle of it all. The two on the motorcycle returned to their group as the rest of us rolled up into the alley to face our possible demise. The engine finally turned off as we placed ourselves a good number of meters away and I noticed something particular about one of the men standing.
“That’s him…” I silently told myself.
The man’s face clicked immediately with who I saw at the park that day! His stature and build only verified my thoughts as we all slowly approached them. Each one of us carried a heavy, bullet-proof suitcase of money in our hands, so if whoever their leader was decided to just end things right here and now, we’d have a difficult time reacting to their gun fire. I felt sweat building up on my forehead and palms. How could we even stand a chance against all of them?! Including the two others from the motorcycles, there stood more than a dozen people-all heavily armed- facing the four of us, who carried mere pistols to their Uzi’s and AK’s.
For a small moment, we all just glared at each other, until a man in a light gray suit, white shirt, and pink tie walked up to my group.
He slowly pulled off his sunglasses as his steps made a sharp stop.
“Just four? At least I know you’re true to your word.” The man said with an arrogant chuckle.
“Oh, that’s right… You honestly believed I would allow my own men to fall into an ambush like that? Puh-leeze!” He added wickedly.
“We brought our end of the bargain, now where’s yours?” The officer on the other end said coldly.
“Heh, you mean the girl? Oh she’s just napping in the back of that car over there…”
My eyes switched off from the leader ranting, over to the tinted windows of the vehicle. It was difficult to make out but I could definitely spot little Lea’s face from my position. From everything that had occurred these past days, she looked surprisingly relaxed.
“So! I’m assuming those little cases you have there hold my money?” He remarked snidely.
“Every dollar…” One of us muttered.
The man let out a small chuckle.
“Good…”
With one swift motion he pulled a black silencer pistol from his coat pocket and shot the officer in the shoulder, causing him to fall back. He continued staring at the injured man as another officer rushed to his aide.
“Hi Marshall,” He said turning straight to me.
I gulped nervously as the man slowly stepped closer.
“I’m sorry you had to see that…” He said with a frown.
“I’m sorry this all had happen. I’m sorry my friends had to mess your big friend up that day at your apartment. He just wouldn’t give your kid up without a fight!” His head shook slowly in disappointment.
“I’m sorry Mr. Soel… It had to end this way.”
“W-what are you talking about?” I silently scolded myself for having such a shaky voice.
The blonde criminal simply laughed at my words.
“What do you mean what am I talking about? Marshall… Look around buddy.” I felt a hand press on my shoulder.
My eyes slowly moved from his cruel smile over to the bleeding officer, around our own car, past a rusty garbage box that sat just a couple of feet away from me and back to the kidnappers in front of me.
“See what I mean?” Another wicked chuckle erupted from him.
“I’ll tell your little girl you couldn’t make it…” He added softly just before lifting the gun to my face. Time felt slower as I stared down the black barrel in front of me. What could I do? How… could I save Lea? Everyone’s dead now…We lost. His finger began to squeeze the trigger and I let out a small sigh. My eyes closed and I saw Lea’s face once more.
“I let you down…” My voice uttered painfully.
Her face began to form a number of other circles, all surrounded by a near-blinding light. Each figure began to detail more people from my life. I saw Toby… and George… and Amber! Courage bubbled from inside me as their sacrifices and words dug deeper into my train of thought.
“…can’t… I can’t give up that easily!” I felt like I was going to explode in a fury of thoughts on what to do next. My eyes jolted open and I swung the case in my right hand toward the man’s gun. It successfully deflected his shot as I leaped behind the garbage box. The officers managed to deflect off the bullets raining on them with their suitcases and dragged themselves to a garbage can close by. They pulled out their pistols from the holster attach to their ankles and returned fire.
Countless shots engulfed our side as the remaining two policemen meticulously aimed their guns to the main threats of the group. Fortunately, it seemed that the kidnappers never really had much training firing a weapon since their bullets pretty much hit everywhere but us.
The bullets continued raining as the officers managed to take safety behind their car doors, leaving me abandoned with the garbage box. I quickly peaked behind me to see a stray shot just miss my eye. The 9mm I had in my pocket made its way into my mind and I desperately pulled it out.
Once again, I lifted myself up slightly to see what was going on and noticed that the remaining kidnappers were closing in on the two officers. I stared at my gun for a moment, questioning if I could. Taking a firm grip to its handle, I aimed its top carefully. All seemed to have forgotten about me as my aim made its way directly to an enemy’s skull. The trigger exploded the bullet out of its barrel, directing it toward the man, ending his life instantly. I continued firing and ended up shooting another man, but ultimately revealed my position and caused them to turn back. Long-due relief swept over me.
“Damn, I killed someone…” I contemplated for a moment.
My calmness immediately ended as I saw a shadowy figure approach my hiding spot. Slowly, it crept closer and closer and I noticed my gun had run out of bullets. With a heavy sigh, I prepared to engage the figure. A pale face popped next to me, to which I responded with a punch directed toward his nose. My knuckles hit its mark perfectly as I followed it with a kick to his face. The man fell unconscious before he could even pull the trigger of his gun. More gunfire erupted around me as I noticed the officers were back to shooting the enemy. The tables had almost entirely turned around in a matter of seconds!
Three more fell on their side as it looked like we were making progress against the kidnappers. I yanked the gun out of the unconscious man’s hand and rushed over to where Lea was. The officers were keeping the remaining enemies distracted as I put my hand over the dark blue door handle. Before I could even open the door, an unknown figure grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me on my back. Mud and dirt splashed all over me, causing the gun I just had to suddenly lose its way from my grip!
“You’re dead now pretty boy…” The rough woman’s voice said as I attempted to lift myself back up.
A powerful kick landed square on my stomach as I continued struggling. Almost instantly I countered by tackling her to the ground. Call it chivalry but I had never fought a woman until then, and I could easily say she was as strong, if not stronger than me! My lunge seemed to do very little against her as she continued throwing me effortlessly back on the ground. I looked back up from my muddy face plant and saw that she was in the action of planting her boot in my mouth. Like a saving grace, a random bullet flew and caught her under the chin. The blood spattering from the hole in her throat landed on my clothes as I saw life vanish from her eyes. I turned and saw the distributor of the shot was none other than the injured officer from earlier! The moment slowed once as things unraveled too quickly from there on.
The echo of the bullet lingered on as I turned back to the SUV.
“No.”
I felt my heart drop from my chest.
One single stray bullet hole directed in the middle of the window looked back at me. With an unprecedented might, I sprinted to the car door. She was alright. She had to be alright! It couldn’t have hit her… What happened?! My eyes burned with tears as I nearly ripped the door’s hinges off in desperation.
“LEA!”