Page 26 of Captive Hearts
That only made Bernie angrier. ‘Oh, for the love ofChrist! I don’t care if you and Gina aren’t getting on, don’t be so bloody hyperbolic as to call it a-’
‘Bernie, please, would you just listen a second?’ Ashley interrupted tiredly. But Bernie was still going, saying something about the vicar threatening to sue him. Ashley wondered if she should just let him rant for a bit, tire himself out. She could have another go when he was hoarse.
But then Rick snatched the phone out of her hand. Ashley was sort of relieved. ‘Hello? Is this Ashley’s boss?’ Rick asked.
Bernie paused. ‘Yeah. Who’s this?’
‘I’m the gunman. From the hostage situation. She wasn’t kidding. Got her and the camerawoman with me now, at Jimmy’s pizza.’
‘Jimmy’s… What?’ Bernie said, his rage pivoting to bewilderment.
‘Fuck me, you don’t listen, do you? Typical fucking boss. She’s in a HOST-AGE SIT-U-AT-ION, mate,’ he said slowly, rolling his eyes at Ashley.
Bernie went quiet. ‘Could you put her back on?’
Rick nodded his permission at Ashley, but he kept hold of the phone, holding it out for her to speak. ‘Bernie?’
‘This isn’t a joke, is it? Because you know I’ve got absolutelynosense of humour about work.’
‘It’s real,’ Ashley told him.
‘Are… are you OK?’ Bernie asked.
‘Yes, I’m alright,’ Ashley said with all the reassuring calm she could generate under the circumstances.
‘And Gina?’
‘I’m OK, too,’ Gina answered.
‘Should I call the police?’ Bernie asked.
‘They’re already here, outside,’ Ashley told him.
‘OK… Err, I don’t actually know what to do,’ Bernie said, panic trembling through his voice.
‘I can help you there,’ Rick interjected. ‘What you’re gonna do is put this on the news tonight. Six o’clock headlines. You got it?’
Bernie paused. ‘Well, I guess I could send someone down now to cover it.’
‘Nah, we’ve got that in hand. Ashley’s doing it,’ Rick explained.
‘Oh,’ Bernie said. And then, ‘Hang about, what?’
Ashley jumped in. ‘I was… I happened upon the story, and I decided to cover it, and then things… took a turn. But we’ve got plenty of footage for you to use. I mean, you’ll be cutting it fine with the edit, but you might be alright. Gina will send it shortly.’
‘Right, right, right, OK, right, I’ll just, yeah…’ Bernie took a breath and gathered himself. ‘I can do that. It’ll go out at six.’
Rick cancelled the call with a delighted smile. ‘Right. Let’s get on that, shall we? Send them the stuff.’
‘You know we could have done it live, they’d have let it go out in real time, no delay,’ Ashley said.
‘I know, I’m not stupid,’ Rick said defensively. ‘But you can’t… If things go out live, if something happened… I just wanna make sure people see exactly what they need to, OK?’
Gina nodded. She knew precisely what he meant. But no point saying it. ‘Before we send it, I gotta shoot a sign off,’ Ashley said. ‘If you want it to look professional.’
Rick shrugged. ‘Crack on, then.’
Ashley turned to Gina. ‘Do you mind?’ she asked. Gina nodded and raised the camera. The red light appeared. Ashley saw Rick slide himself into the background of the shot, holding the gun, puffing his chest out. She ignored him as best she could, saying into the camera, ‘Things here at Jimmy’s Pizza are tense but stable. No one has been hurt, and we’re hoping to keep it that way. But whatever happens, I’ll be covering the situation until we can reach a hopefullypeacefulresolution. This is Ashley Quick for KTN. And cut.’
The red light went off, and Gina took the camera off her shoulder, setting straight to work, getting the footage sent over to KTN. Ashley watched her tensely while Rick watched Ashley, and the hostages watched all of them. As Gina tapped buttons on the camera, Ashley wondered if this might be her final broadcast.
