Page 13 of Captive Hearts
Six
Yes, Gina had kind of, maybe, sort of decided to hang about on this unsanctioned job, shooting a potentially dangerous hostage situation. But she had a caveat. ‘I’m not getting into any of this with the big boss man. You have the argument with Bernie about this, if there’s shit to get into.’
‘It’s all my idea, sure, yeah of course,’ Ashley quickly agreed.
Gina didn’t like it put that way, and she was quick to say so. ‘Look, it’s not about blame or whose idea it was. I couldn’t care less. But I’m just not invested enough in this to debate what we’re doing. If I lose this job, I won’t lose any sleep over it. There’s always another job. Just don’t expect that I’m in the foxhole with you on this. I’m gonna point my camera at whatever the hell this is for a few hours and hope it was worth it. But that’s all I’m doing. OK?’
Ashley nodded, unmoved. ‘Yeah, that’s fine.’ What she said next, Gina could have sworn was said with a tinge of sadness. ‘Trust me, no one is ever in the foxhole with me. I didn’t expectyouto be.’ Gina wasn’t sure what to say to that. She’d only known Ashley a couple of hours, and in that time, there had been nothing to indicate that she even knew the meaning of the word, ‘vulnerability.’ But look at that. A little humanity had popped up. Gina didn’t have time to process the surprise, however, because Ashley had already shaken it off and was back to being the same hungry little shark she’d been all morning. Ready to sniff out blood in the water. ‘But I appreciate you staying. I’m sure this is going to be something.’
‘So… What now?’ Gina asked.
Ashley gazed out of the window, watching officers sealing a cordon around the car park. ‘I think, for now, we just wait.’
Gina nodded. ‘OK. How long, you think?’
Ashley shrugged. ‘How long’s a piece of string?’
So they sat, and they watched. They watched the restaurant. They watched the police officers, DI Conway in particular. But everyone was staying in their vehicles. Other than that, about half an hour passed with absolutely nothing to shoot.
Gina started to feel a bit disappointed. Ashley had promised her action. So where the hell was it?
KNOCK KNOCK!
Gina and Ashley both gave one shriek of shock apiece and spun around to see a police officer knocking on the window. ‘You’ve got to move back.’
Ashley wound her window down. ‘What?’
‘You need to move back down the road. We need to clear the street.’
Ashley turned and looked up the street. ‘I don’t think we can.’
The officer’s hackles went straight up. ‘And why is that, then, Madam?’
‘Because… we’re press. We’re covering this,’ Ashley said.
The officer slapped his forehead. ‘Well, why didn’t you say so? That changes everything.’
Gina could tell he was taking the piss, but she wasn’t so sure Ashley did. ‘Does it?’ Ashley asked hesitantly.
‘No, of course it doesn’t. Move your vehicle, or I’ll move you into a cell.’
Ashley’s lip curled in anger. ‘You know, there’s really no need to be such a pri-’
Gina jumped in, raising her voice over the last part of that word. ‘PRINCE! You’re a real prince, officer. I’ll move the van.’
The officer raised an eyebrow. ‘You do that. Right to the end of the road.’ He gave Ashley one last hard stare and moved back from the van, chest puffed, hand resting on his truncheon. Gina wondered if he knew much about Freud.
Ashley folded her arms across her chest angrily as Gina drove down the street, where a policewoman waved her through a barrier that was being set up. They were not far off an intersection, all traffic behind them being diverted around the road.
Gina pulled up to the pavement and peeked out of the window, back the way they’d come. They were now completely outside the line of sight of the restaurant, the only part of it still visible was the big ugly neon sign. ‘Well, that’s that.’
‘What do you mean?’ Ashley said.
‘We can’t see. Which means we can’t shoot,’ Gina explained, though she was pretty sure Ashley knew that.
Ashley let out an angry little snort. ‘For now.’
‘What does that mean?’
