The Princess and the Nerd 4

Chapter 6

Ashley's POV

It seemed like trouble tends to follow us. As I observed my surroundings, everyone's either sobbing or had their eyes closed. The kids were also able to find their parents and were hugging them protectively. I just hoped none of them would be stupid enough to play hero.

The mothers were cowering like a scaredy cat while the fathers were acting strong. It's not mu first time to be in this kind of situation but still, I can't help but fear for the safety of my son. It was also not the first time that I had a gun pointed at my face nonetheless threat my life and it still never got easier. I just hoped that they kept Dylan out of the loop because her situation's very delicate right now.

A phone rang that startled the hostage taker. "Who owns that?" He started waving the gun again. "Who? Where?" He yelled.

I followed the direction of the sound and it was coming from the phone installed by the wall. "I think it's coming from that phone." I nodded at the direction.

He pulled the phone and answered. "What!?" His face changed from agitated to irritated. Whatever the person he was speaking to wasn't doing really doing a good job. "You get my son here in one hour or a kid dies!" The moment his words were out, the kids started crying again. "No! She's not coming out! No one's coming out!" He slammed the phone back and slid to the floor.

Jill's POV

My team was already placed in position by the time the hostage negotiator arrived. Two men were located at the roof ready to pull the trigger but the curtains were down and people were used as shield.

Additional SWAT members were also called in to assist. Lt. Tom Collins and I were left at the command center with the hostage negotiator named Dave.

We tried to initiate the first contact and it wasn't successful as expected. He wanted something and he was determined to get it.

"He wanted his son." He reiterate even if we all heard it via speaker. "What do we know about the perp?"

Detective Malone, the key contact for this situation, relayed the information that they had. "The perp is Thomas Garcia. There's an outstanding warrant for his arrest for possession and distribution of drugs. His wife Anita Gracia was already in prison awaiting for trial for the same charges. Their son, Thomas Jr. also known as Timmy was placed into foster care. We're tracking him now."

"The boy's not in school?"

"The foster parents needed to transfer Timmy to public school near their place. Also, this private school worth's a fortune and they cannot afford it." The detective replied. "Apparently, Timmy brought a bag of cocaine for show and tell so the teacher called the child services then the police. They managed to arrest the mother but not the father who was out on errand that day."

"And now he wanted his son back." This was going to be hard. There were a lot of hostages in the room plus one wounded and probably in critical condition. Even if we managed to gun down the perp, the psychological trauma that it would cause the children would be huge. "Lt. Collins." Dave called. "Are your men in position."

Tom nodded. "They were all in position but we don't have a clear shot. What's your call?"

"Do you have any suggestion how we can subdue him?"

"First option's via sniper but due to lack of visual and clear shot then it's impossible. Second was to force our way in but the moment we bust the door, he could start shooting. Last, we need his son to lure him out to surrender."

"We got less than an hour. Have you tracked the boy yet?"

"Patrol's picking him up from school as well as his foster parents."