Page 59 of All He Takes
Silence on the other side of the garage made Ken's blood run like ice. He held his breath. But when he heard a whimper from Maggie and a sound from the baby, he let out that breath. They were still alive.
He could still do this.
"Harold, can you hear me, buddy?" Ken called out.
"Yeah... yeah, I'm here." His voice was thick with tears now. This gave Ken hope. Hope that Harold would find a heart in himself and come out of this.
"Please, Harold," Ken said. "Come on out. Deal with me face-to-face. Leave your family out of it. How does that sound?"
"B-but, if I come out, you'll shoot me," Harold said.
"I promise, Harold, no one's gonna hurt you," Ken said. He hoped the officers would abide by that too. If Harold would just come out without hurting anyone, then Ken would see to it that he’d be treated fairly and not harmed.
"Okay... okay, I... I'll come out," Harold said.
Ken didn't know if Harold would do that, but he and the officers formed a semi-circle in front of the garage door, rifles trained on the door.
Ken raised his megaphone. "Okay Harold, just open the door, and we'll be right there, man-to-man. No one has to go to jail here. Just open the door, and we'll talk about it."
The garage door shifted. It began to slowly open, revealing Harold holding a knife to Maggie's throat, and the baby on the floor next to them.
"Okay, Harold, let's just talk about this," Ken said as he slowly walked into the garage.
Not a single officer moved. They stood outside, and Harold stood in the garage, with his wife and his son and his knife, and Ken.
No one moved.
"Is this what you want, Harold?" Ken asked as he approached Harold. "You want me here, so you can kill me?"
"Yes," Harold said.
"Okay, then that's what we'll do," Ken said. "I'm here, Harold. You want me to die, you can kill me. But I'm not gonna move any closer, and you can't do anything to Maggie and JJ. Let Maggie go."
"If I do that, you'll shoot me," Harold said.
"We won't shoot," Ken promised. "Just drop the knife and let Maggie and the baby go."
Harold's eyes were filled with tears, but he shook his head. "No. If I let them go, you'll take them from me."
"Harold, please," Ken said. "You don't want to keep doing this. You want me to die, you can do that. But let Maggie and JJ go."
Harold shook his head. "No. I want them to die too."
"I won't let that happen," Ken said. "I'll shoot myself before I let that happen."
"I'll shoot you first," Harold said.
"Harold, let's just talk about this," Ken said. "What do you want to do? Do you want me to die? Do you want Maggie and JJ to live? Just tell me, and I'll make it happen."
"I want Adaline back," Harold said. "I want her to come back, and I want her to be happy with me. I'm going to kill you and Agent Lyons. And then I'm going to kill Maggie and JJ. And then I'm going to kill myself, and I'll be with Adaline in hell, and no one will be able to stop me."
"Harold, I'm here," Ken said. "You want to end this, here's your chance. Let her go, and I'll come closer. We'll work this out. We can find a way to fix this, Harold."
"No, it's too late for that," Harold said.
"No, it's not too late," Ken said. "It's not too late to turn this around, Harold. It's not too late to save your family. Just drop the knife."
"You son of a bitch!" Harold spat, and shoved Maggie away.
