fragments of my life [MERDER]

THIRTY

The Seattle PD had put into place certain measures to make sure Noah was reunited with his family safely and that Meredith wasn't put into harm's way during the confrontation. Ever since Meredith had received the text from Delaney, the police had not only identified and located the warehouse building where her son was being held, but they had also set up sniper points and surveillance was being constantly carried out from blind spots along the dock. They had all three suspects completely visualised, every second. They could see every footprint move on an infrared camera, every droplet of water that fell through the cracks of the dilapidated warehouse with zoomed in lenses. There wasn't a corner of that building that wasn't being monitored by the multiple officers that had been assigned to this case; it was an infant abduction, after all.

One thing that made the many detectives worried was the kind of people Delaney and the two Whelan's had shown themselves to be thus far. They could tell that these three weren't exactly at the height of criminality, which made the chances that this could go wrong higher. They'd never broken the law in such a way before, clearly, and their experience meant that they could understand that this fact was a detriment to their plan to get Noah and Meredith back unharmed, rather than a strength or asset to them. Their assessment showed that the three were obviously volatile, so the police force had to approach not only them but their demands with extreme caution. They couldn't try to change things mid-meeting, everything had to be kept as demanded in the text, and they had to go along with everything they wanted, by the book. Meredith needed to bring the cash they had requested, and she had to play the illusion that she was alone, even though she had backup in the form of highly trained police snipers from all angles. Stealth and staying hidden from the three, so they didn't know that Meredith had involved Seattle PD, was the most important thing. If they had clocked on to the fact that they were being watched, the deal they had agreed could easily go awry. Regardless, the police knew every detail of exactly what was happening in that warehouse, so they could fill in some of the gaps that the two anxious parents had been waiting for.

"We've located your son, that's the first thing. The warehouse where he's being kept is under constant watch from our specialist teams, and we have a plan to get you and him out safely."

"Go on, then." Meredith tried to hurry the conversation; she was in no mood for warnings and small talk, she just wanted Noah.

"Mer..." Derek trailed off, sighing quietly.

"Don't tell me I'm being impatient, Derek, because this is our son they're talking about." Meredith barked, turning her away from her husband.

"I was going to say let him finish his sentence before you question him again. Save your energy." Derek motioned to the detectives to begin again, and Meredith simply growled in return.

"So, we're going to fit you with a microphone and wire, so we can just hear audio-wise what's going on. We have snipers positioned on roofs of other buildings nearby so they could jump into action if that's needed, which we hope it won't be."

"Is it safe?" Derek wondered.

"We can't assure it completely... but if anything were to go wrong... and that's an if, we have the exact precautions in place to get to your wife and son as soon as possible, and diffuse whatever situation goes on, if it happens... but."

"But what?" He continued to interrogate the detectives.

"We don't think they're looking for confrontation. You've already said that they want you to pay for the fact they're in debt... we don't think they'd sabotage the opportunity for their payday. They're not going to take any chances by injuring you or your son."

"How is he?" Meredith asked, worry gracing her features as the colour drained from her face.

"He looks... fine. Not entirely fine but... he's hanging on, and that's not a police opinion, that's a medical opinion. We have a paediatric medical team on standby. The second you get him out he'll go straight to the hospital, and you can have Dr. Robbins and Karev check him out."