Page 44 of Every Last One
“As will I. It’s why I insisted on coming down here despite Myron’s admonition that I stay away.”
Myron? They are chummy!
Ilene went on. “I wanted to look into the eyes of the people responsible for shutting this down. So I will kindly ask again, what are you doing?”
Sandra glanced at Hamilton, but he gestured at Ilene. So much for hoping the director would come to her rescue.Verywell…She shared their progress thus far, leaving out names. She included the latest scenario.
Ilene’s hand fluttered over the lapels of her jacket. Just a brief movement that disclosed her anxiety.
“We can take some comfort in the fact he didn’t shoot your son,” Sandra assured in a calm voice.
Ilene turned to Hamilton. “You need to extract Jordon.”
“Ma’am,” Sandra petitioned, drawing the woman’s assessing eye back on her. She let the heat in them defuse before speaking again. “If we were to go in there now, there’s a greater likelihood that things could go sideways.” Sandra was showing mercy by not providing details. “I ask that you trust me here.” Sandra’s heart ticked up speed. She always thought before she spoke, yet she’d gone ahead anyhow. Ilene Maddox would likely take her words as a promise.Shit!
“Agent Vos, I don’t trust easily, let alone when it involves Jordon’s well-being, but I don’t suppose I’m given much choice.” She shot Hamilton a hot glare. “But know this, I remember people who break their word to me.” With that, Ilene turned and left.
“Shut this down as quickly as possible.” Hamilton jabbed a pointed finger at the ground and hurried off to catch up with Ilene.
“Well, that was intense,” Brice said.
Sandra faced him. “How was that intense for you? You lose your voice?”
“I was reading the room. Ilene Maddox wanted assurances from another woman.” Brice went back inside the command vehicle.
Sandra stood there for a few moments. Was that all she had done? Offered assurance? Or had she made a promise?
TWENTY-THREE
1:50 PM
Don’t think I won’t shoot you… Easier the second time…
Jordon was sure the stranger was going to make good on his word when he dragged him out of the break room. He should just be grateful he was still in one piece, but he was having a tough time forgiving himself for not pulling the trigger when he had the chance. He tried to excuse his inaction as being noble, but the truly noble thing to have done would have been to shoot this man. He could have saved others from suffering and relieved Mahoney from his. So far, Mahoney was hanging in there, but that could change in a heartbeat.
When the gunman returned to the break room, he sat at the table going through their phones. Apparently confiscating them wasn’t enough. The man wanted to further violate their human rights by having them provide him with their passcodes. But surely sitting around in a nurse break room couldn’t have been the point of today. And from the sound of it, there were others. Plural. He also didn’t talk like someone in charge. So was he just hanging around, biding time?
It fit with Jordon’s image of the man. A subordinate. Also, he suspected he wasn’t a hardened criminal, or he would have shot him a moment ago.
Easier the second time…
He clearly hadn’t shot someone before Mahoney. And Jordon wasn’t sure it was something the man particularly enjoyed doing. But he could be wrong. He vividly recalled the cold, calculating look in the man’s eyes when he gave his gun back. Still, he hadn’t pulled the trigger. Was that a testament to the stranger’s character? Jordon had a hard time accepting that. He had shot Mahoney and was putting countless other lives at risk for the duration of the lockdown. Had this gunman thought of all the repercussions? Maybe if Jordon pointed this out… “It’s been hours. People will need their meds.”
The gunman slowly raised his eyes from the screen of Jordon’s phone, but he dipped them back down again without a word.
“He’s a father,” Leah Winters said about Mahoney. “I’ve got two little girls.” She hadn’t left her spot on the floor in favor of returning to the couch. “They need me. I need?—”
“Cut that out. Right now,” the man barked without prying his gaze from the phone’s screen.
Jordon imagined that the nurse was trying to humanize them, but the endeavor was failing. He flipped the scenario around in his head, trying to see another angle. All he landed on was what he had tried before. “Let them go. Hold on to me.” He was accustomed to being viewed as a commodity, with a target on his back for kidnapping and ransom. Being the only child of billionaires, he grew up with a bodyguard over his shoulder twenty-four hours a day.
“And why would I do that?”
“As long as you have me, the police won’t touch you. You know who my mother is. Her philanthropic interests and my father’s business have earned them friendships with powerful people in DC. If that’s not enough, my family has a crapload of money. I’m talking more money than God.” Jordon didn’t enjoytouting his family wealth, and he hated how he sounded.But if it works…
“That’s quite a claim, but what does it have to do with me?”
The man’s reaction had Jordon faltering. “You’re kidding, right? You let all of us go, I can make sure you’re set for life.”
